When I found out I was going to Boston, I contacted a fellow Boston food blogger, Rhymes With Hungry, to find out some good places to eat. When I told her that I was staying at the Omni Parker House Hotel, she ooh'ed and informed me that that was the birthplace of the Boston Cream Pie.
Lobby at Parker House Hotel, Boston
Boston is one of the oldest cities in the US, and its history dates back to the 1600's. I really enjoyed my stay, and found Boston to be a very charming city. I loved the energy and diversity of downtown Boston.
Back to the Boston Cream Pie. It was invented at the Parker House Hotel, in Parker's Restaurant, 1867. It is also the official dessert of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
A Boston cream pie is a round white cake with a layer of vanilla custard or cream in the middle, and topped with a thin layer of chocolate ganache. I had never tried Boston cream pie before, so I decided to order it one morning for breakfast. Yes, I had it delivered to my hotel room for breakfast, and I'm not ashamed of it :)
The verdict? It is now one of my favorite cakes! It is definitely up there with the strawberry shortcake.
Some fun facts about the hotel:
- Ho Chi Minh was a pastry chef at Parker's Restaurant from 1911-1913.
- Malcolm X, then known as Malcolm Little, was a bus boy at Parker's Restaurant in the 1940's.
- John F. Kennedy had his bachelor party at the Parker House Hotel. He also proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier in Parker's Restaurant.
- The Parker House roll was also invented at Parker's Restaurant, and the recipe was kept secret until 1933 when President Franklin Roosevelt requested it.
Here was the lovely view from my hotel room.
View from Room at Parker House Hotel, Boston
Oh yea, and if you ever hear the term "scrod", it means catch of the day (usually a white fish...likely cod). This term was also invented at Parker's Restaurant.
Parker's Restaurant
60 School Street
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Telephone: 617-227-8600
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4 comments:
I hope you know a mission I will have at one point is to make such a beautiful Boston cream Pie..It is gorgeous..thanks for all the info and my goodness your pics are fantastic:) Did you find out how to make it exactly like that?:) :)
It was a beautiful pie, wasn't it? Unfortunately, I didn't find out how to make it exactly. With a bit of experimenting, I'm sure we can figure it out. I will try one of these days...
Hi Nooschi! Looks like you got to go to some good places while you were here! I'm impressed that you had Boston Cream Pie for breakfast - that certainly is the breakfast of champions. There is a food network episode of Chefs vs. City where they have a head to head competition in pie making in Boston. Because speed is of the essence here, the pies turn out really ugly, but you could figure out the steps from watching them go to it!
was never a fan of boston cream... but i may have to rethink that.. looks delicious. I would have never ordered a boston cream in Boston but i will now.
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