A Glutton's Guide to the Square

Harvard Food Services cuisine has never exactly excited anybody's palate, and with food prices eliminating some of what you like and soy substitutes replacing the rest, Harvard Square restaurants may be visited by more summer students than they have in the past.

This list of restaurants does not pretend to be comprehensive--it almost totally excludes the more expensive restaurants around Harvard, and it misses more than one good Harvard snack spot. We've included a brief guide to some of the Square's watering holes on page 6.

Ice Cream

Ice cream is a staple in summertime Cambridge, and there are three well-established places to find it: Baskin-Robbins (1230 Mass Ave.), Brigham's (1702 Mass Ave.) and Bailey's (21 Brattle St.).

Among the three, it's largely a matter of personal taste. Baskin-Robbins has the most flavors and often has good, offbeat treats like Pralines and Cream. Brigham's, with its screaming red, white and blue decor, is a little over-packaged; it has a good selection but is usually the most crowded of the three. Its ice cream is a little softer than the ice cream at Baskin-Robbins or Bailey's. Bailey's has by far the most charm of the three--marble floors and highquality ice cream--but its selection is limited and its prices high. A Bailey's single scoop cone is 40 cents, as opposed to 30 cents at Brigham's and Baskin-Robbins.

This summer there is a new challenger to the traditional troika. It's called Sticky Fingers (52 Boylston St.) and its major selling point is its prices; for a little less dazzling efficiency you can get a chocolate or coffee cone for ten cents and other flavors for a quarter.

Pizza

When the late-night munchies strike, Harvard students usually flock to the fast-food places around the Square. Besides Elsie's, Tommy's and others of that genre, a variety of pizza and sub shops cash in on the nocturnal hunger pangs.

A Crimson review of pizza last year touched off a "debate," as the pizza gourmets came out of the woodwork to defend their favorites. Joe's Pizza at 1 Linden St., and its sister shop on Plympton St., feature a thin crust. Pinocchio's at 74 Winthrop St. sells subs and pizza; most people who like a thicker crust frequent Pinocchio's.

The 24, at 24 Holyoke St., serves Greek food, but offers a small pizza that boasts nice cheese. The 24 also features grinders. Other pizza parlors exist farther away from the Square--check the Yellow Pages for the ones which deliver.

Feeding Spots

The Harvard greasy spoon is a well-established institution impervious to almost anything short of a full-scale nuclear attack. Elsie's and Tommy's have been feeding Harvard students since Christ was a corporal, and at 24 Holyoke St., where the 24 Restaurant recently replaced Hazen's, the greasy spoon will endure until the resurrection. Each eatery has its adherents, but they all serve about the same kind of food. Prices are highest at Tommy's. Bartley's Burger Cottage at 1246 Mass Ave has the best hamburger on the Square, far and away the best.

As You Like It

1326 Mass Ave

To each his own. That is how we feel about this eatery, which can--if vitally necessary--be found on the corner of Mass Ave and Holyoke St. The fare is motley, ranging from some moderately expensive dinners to some overpriced delights. The menu, filled with cheesy Shakespearean quotes, nicely complements the fake-brick wallpaper.

Barney's

22 Boylston Street

Within spitting distance of Harvard Square, Barney's serves New York style steaks with New York style prices. The latest gimmick is a 10 per cent surcharge to cover the rise in food prices. On football Saturdays, there are hordes of alums--the type who prefer not to drink from a make-shift tailgate bar. Downstairs at Barney's serves excellent hot sandwiches and beer at more moderate prices.

Blue Parrot

123 Mt. Auburn St.

For a lunch of reasonably good taste and moderate expense try The Blue Parrot. The Parrot is a hang-out for artsy types who linger over their meals, and if you don't mind waiting for a table or sharing your table with an artsy type this is as nice a place as any to get a sandwich or a snack of cheese and crackers. The luncheon menu is varied--the offerings range from a simple BLT sandwich to Hungarian goulash. Beer and wine is served, but the coffees are your best bet. The Parrot Viennese Velvet (coffee with ice cream, brazilia, and whipped cream) is the best of them. The Parrot stays open at night with a slightly more expensive version of the lunch menu.

Casa Mexico

75 Winthrop St.

Tucked away in a cramped but opulent cellar on Winthrop St., Casa Mexico is one of the best restaurants around. Go there for spicy Mexican food, candle-lit atmosphere, and fine service. Bring a lot of money.

Everything on the menu is spicy, and expertly prepared. Casa's straight-forward fare is based around enchiladas and tostadas (mainly combinations of meat, chicken or cheese rolled in dough, and usually served with beans and rice) and a few seafood dishes.

The fruit desserts are especially good, and the restaurant's unique blend of coffee is excellent. No liquor is served, but you can bring your own, and the restaurant staff will chill your wine and provide you with glasses.

All this comes at a price, however. The restaurant's cellar room is over-crowded with revenue-producing tables, and the floor arrangement allots little space to groups of two or three. Casa's prices, already high, have been raised by 10 per cent in the wake of recent increases in food prices, and a $4 minimum per person has been decreed, even though it is difficult to wheedle a $4 meal out of the menu. An average meal runs close to $8 a person, excluding tip.

La Crepe

1274 Mass Ave

Only a chain restaurant like La Crepe would promenade its waitresses in French costume and headdress to impersonate an intimate cafe. The effort, needless to say, fails miserably.

La Crepe's specialties are limited to crepes and omelettes, which are not well-concocted, not satisfying and not cheap--considering the $2 to $3 a la carte price. If you find yourself trapped at La Crepe, take refuge in the onion soup gratine and be sure to get a table in front so you can watch people walking to better restaurants in the Square.

College Grille

Near Radcliffe, on Mass Ave

We didn't find out about the College Grille until recently, probably because it's located up near Radcliffe on Mass Ave. If you're looking for decent pizza, good draft beer, and a nice atmosphere, don't wait that long.

But if you do decide to take the walk, wait until 11 p.m. and just order pizza. One group of eight made the mistake of going to the Grille for dinner--and one of the eight waited an hour for a hamburger. The pizza eaters had finished their meal and ordered another one.

Duck Soup

58b Boylston St.

Soup is, obviously enough, the thing to have at Duck Soup. Though the menu has more than just soup on it, Duck Soup's versions of traditional offerings (which most people have tasted only out of the Campbell's can) are so much better that they can literally be meals in themselves. And the chili is hot enough to make an antihistamine spray seem like a good idea to clear smashed sinuses. Duck Soup is buried in the little jungle of specialty shops on Boylston St., but it's well worth the trouble to find it. And as long as the coffee is only a dime a cup, the prices will be hard to beat.

Fromage Imports

56 Boylston St.

Doubtless more than one high school French class has visited Fromage Import. In addition to having the kind of quaint setting every French teacher depicts as "typically" French, the restaurant's specialties--quiches and omelettes--are among those elementary French foods attempted by every French class at one time or another. Prices at Fromage Import are very reasonable--for under $2 you can get one of the specialties, a salad and a beverage ranging from mineral water to apple beer. A serving of mushroom, bacon, feta, chive, ham, spinach, mussel or ratatouille quiche is 95 cents. Even without your French class, a "field trip" to Fromage Import is worth it.

Grendel's Den

1 Winthrop Square

Interesting restaurants and reasonable prices are a rarity around Harvard, but both can be found in Grendel's Den.

Grendel's serves a European fare, either in their small dining room or outside on the patio. For lunch, the restaurant offers a buffet with two choices--"soup and salad" for $1.50 or "the works" for $2.25. The dinner menu includes shish-ke-bob variations and an eggplant dish, and the desserts are worth more than the price. A pleasant place where a meal costs under $5.

Hong Kong

1236 Mass Ave

The Hong Kong has gone through an interesting metamorphosis: two years ago its food was generally lukewarm, usually greasy, and always mediocre. With its building renovation last year, however, came a renovation in food, and for a quick, relatively cheap Chinese meal, Hong Kong is now a good deal.

Lunch is recommended: low prices, more than you can eat, wide selection, reasonably fast service. Prices are higher at dinner, as is the caliber of the food in many cases, but it remains a pretty good buy.

Hungry Persian

14a Eliot St.

The Hungry Persian offers good food at cheap prices. The fare consists mostly of combinations of meat and salads stuffed into Syrian pita bread. You can eat quickly, but the pleasant atmosphere makes a leisurely meal a promising prospect. The Hungry Persian is a refreshing change from hamburger sameness. Be sure to try the Phase Four special, a Nixonomics soybean variation of the standard Hungry Persian dish which the management claims is as tasty and more nutritious than the original. Friendly and informal, this place is certainly a Boylston St. bargain.

Legal Seafood

237 Hampshire St.

For law-abiding seafood lovers Legal Seafood in Inman Square is the place to go. There are not many seafood houses in Cambridge but this one is excellent and probably the most reasonably priced around Boston. It is advisable to get there early since a two-hour wait later in the evening is not unusual. But if forced to wait, the clam bar upstairs is not a bad place to do it. The shrimp in garlic is one of the menu's highlights, and a bucket of steamers is always a good and relatively inexpensive dinner. All the salt water entrees are fresh, of course. The Legal Sweetshop is also worth a visit.

Lehmann

In the Yard

Mother Harvard doesn't exactly provide home cooking in Lehmann Hall. As a matter of fact, the food isn't any better than standard dining hall fare, and the prices aren't so hot either--though they're certainly no worse than anywhere else. But the place is convenient, and you'll almost always find one of your sectionmen (past, present or future) sitting over coffee. Officially Lehmann Hall is run for Dudley House students, but anyone is welcome and the place has a reputation as a graduate student hangout.

Joyce Chen

500 Memorial Drive

Good Chinese food requires hours of preparation, and as fewer smuggled-in aliens find their way to restaurant kitchens, lovers of Oriental cuisine can expect their eating expenses to skyrocket--and even achieve parity with the prices of a less-interesting European diet. Joyce Chen, who long ago began providing Chinese food to Cambridge students wary of a venture into Chinatown, is leading this drive to respectability and the higher prices that come with it.

In short, the food is consistently good and the prices are just as dependably painful. Genuine Chinese delights can be found under Westernized names--"Peking Ravioli" is a delicious appetizer difficult to find outside New York. For a sampling generally satisfying to the most American of palates, the buffets are good occasions to run wild (Tuesday and Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons). Unfortunately, they will set you back $4.75 a head.

The Midget

1712 Mass Ave

The Midget (up near Radcliffe) is best at preparing the kind of food usually available from delicatessens. Although this Jewish-style deli is not in the same league as Katz's Delicatessen on New York's lower east side (and it is not Kosher), in the Harvard Square area the Midget is probably the closest you'll come to a decent corned-beef-on-rye with a side order of kishka. The triple decker "College Sandwiches" are well worth their prices, and bagels with cream cheese and lox are available (a rarity in this town). The adjoining maxi bar and lounge is comfortable and its booze is served at reasonable prices. (Try the scotch-and-milk).

Natalie's

1672 Mass Ave

Pasta lovers will not find a plethora of Italian restaurants in the Square area, and the best spot--Natalie's--is near Radcliffe. Although the spaghetti is superior, the best item on the menu is a $3 antipasto salad which is almost a meal in itself. The Caesar dressing adds just the right tang.

The spaghetti dinners start at $1.85 for a good mushroom sauce. The pasta noodles are excellent. The wine list is ordinary, but the prices are reasonable. The restaurant has a loyal clientele, so first-time customers can expect a line at the height of the dinner rush.

Osaka

617 Concord Ave.

The best Japanese food in Cambridge can be had for a short trip to Fresh Pond. The prices are by no means low, but the food is good enough to make you forget how much you are shelling out.

The restaurant, patronized by the area's Japanese population, is divided into three parts roughly according to the kind of food served in each. The most exotic, and least crowded, section is the raw fish, or sushi, bar. Osaka's sushi is as good as any you are likely to find in the Northeast.

In the most popular section, Osaka offers teppan yaki, a preparation of bite-size pieces of tender beef broiled in front of you on an open stove. The third section, with standard restaurants and chairs, serves the traditional Western favorites--sukiyaki, teriyaki and tempura. All full meals are accompanied by a delicious Japanese soup called miso, sunemono, a crab meat salad, and all the green tea you can drink. Of the liquors, the sake and plum wine are particularly worth trying.

Patisserie Francaise

54 Boylston St.

The Patisserie Francaise, hidden in Boylston Street's collection of below street-level restaurants, offers relief from the madding undergraduate crowd common in Square restaurants. In exchange for somewhat expensive prices, the Patisserie provides several varieties of croissants, coffee, sandwiches and pastry. And if you are fortunate to find a seat it is yours for as long as it takes you to read the paper or write a portion of your current manuscript.

Su-Shiang

158 Prospect St.

If Su-Shiang can be translated into English, it probably means "spicy." The food there is quite unlike what you've eaten at most other conventional Chinese restaurants. It's not that the chef at the Su-Shiang gets a sadistic threill out of seeing his customers reach for the water glass, but rather that authentic Szechuan-Hunam-style food does not have that bland taste that characterizes so many Chinese-American dishes. For the less-than-ambitious, Su-Shiang's menu also offers a multitude of seafood, poultry, beef and pork dishes without the distinctive Szechuan flavor.

To get a good sampling of Szechuan food without shelling out a lot of money (prices are reasonable but not inexpensive), bring a few friends along with you. The four or five of you will leave fully satiated and most likely stuffed.

So if you're willing to venture a few blocks outside of the Square, your efforts will certainly be rewarded. The Su-Shiang is located at 158 Prospect St., between Central and Inman Squares. Just opened a month ago, Su-Shiang's friendly service (the waiters and the chef will gladly explain what each dish is and how it is prepared), relaxed atmosphere and tasty food already easily surpasses that of any Chinese restaurant in town.

Underdog

6 Bow St.

If its only distinction were that Underdog is the only place nearby where you can get a Hebrew National hot dog, that would enough. But there's more: a wide variety of excellent sandwiches--including such delicacies as hot New York pastrami, corned beef, and combinations thereof--homemade desserts and other nasherai.

Prices may seem high at first glance, but your taste buds will overrule your wallet by a longshot. The people are unusually friendly, and Underdog's pinball prices are lower than most places in the Square. (It also has the distinction of having a copy of Outer Space, undoubtedly the best machine ever made.)

If you're passing by, you might also check out the Underdog cart in Forbes Plaza--regular hot dogs only, but the same high quality.

Young and Yee

27 Church St.

Young and Yee is at least the second best Chinese Restaurant in the Square, and given the Hong Kong's unreliability Young and Yee may well be number one. Young and Yee's food may not be great, but it is always reliable. The chow mein is passable but the best food Young and Yee has to offer are the specialties listed on the back of the menu. The servings are generous in size and relatively low in price. Two people can eat there for about $5.

Zum Zum

9 Brattle St.

Nothing is particularly pleasant about Zum Zum, but it's quick and it's cheap and you might want to have your lunch there if you are ever in a rush. The standard fare is a 55-cent frankfurter which is as good as any for sale in the Square. Sandwiches are also served; if you are not in the mood for a hot dog, order the pastrami on a bun. The side dishes at Zum Zum beef up what might otherwise be a skimpy meal. Light and dark beer is served, but if you are on the wagon Zum Zum's birch beer will do.