Eating my way around the world, Part 1: Nebo – Boston, MA

When I was younger some friends and I “dined around the world” at Epcot one time – tried to eat at as many of the countries there as possible in a single day. You might be surprised how difficult it is to actually get them all in, both from a time and cost perspective. I think we only managed to get to 6 or 8 during our visit. Now that I traveling for real instead of just going to a Disney park, I have the opportunity to dine around the world for real. Whether it is steamed buns filled with sweet bean paste at the dock on the Chao Phraya in Bangkok, sushi from a hole in the wall restaurant in Narita, langoustine ravioli in Paris or any of a number of great meals I’ve had here in NYC, the opportunity to eat great food is one that I will savor forever.
Fortunately (in this regard, at least), work keeps me on the road a fair amount, so that also means finding places to eat that may not be the best meal ever, but they are comfortable and tasty when done correctly. On this week’s trip to Boston I managed to discover one such place: Nebo.
Located in a bit of no man’s land between Government Center, the North End and the new Garden, and just outside the North End station on the Blue and Green lines of the T, Nebo is basically an upscale pizzeria. They also happen to have the kitchen open late, so at 10pm when I needed dinner, they were the place to go for me. Nice amount space inside and a pretty long bar, both of which I appreciate. Plus a couple of nice flat screen TVs above the bar so I could catch the end of the Mets-Braves game didn’t hurt the situation.
The bartender on Wednesday night, Lisa, is one of the managers who just happened to also be tending bar. The service was pretty good, though it was a slow night (just me and two other couples in there that late) so she did get a bit distracted with dealing with the staff/kitchen stuff when I could have used a refill, but nothing so egregious that I really was bothered.
The drinks were a little light on the pour, in my opinion, though charged for as such. A Kettle One on the rocks, my drink of choice, should be a lowball glass, filled with ice and then filled with vodka. At most there should be about 3/4 of an inch at the top of the glass with no Vodka in it. In reality that is about 2.5-3 ounces of Vodka. A healthy pour to be sure, but the right amount considering what most places charge for the drink. In this case the pour was 1.5 ounces, carefully measured using the metered pour spouts. As I said, a bit light on the pour, but it was also rather less expensive than I would normally pay for the drink, so it is probably a wash.
The food, however, was phenomenal. I initially was debating between pasta and a pizza, as the 16” pie is often too much food to finish, and I don’t like to waste. Lisa was emphatic about trying the pizza, and I’m glad I listened to her. I had the scampi pizza, topped with shrimp, pecorino romano, garlic and evoo. It was delicious. I had no problem finishing the entire thing, and probably would’ve eaten more given the opportunity.
I am very much looking forward to returning to Boston, preferably on a night where there are a few more people in the place, to enjoy the atmosphere and the food again. This is definitely one that I’m putting on my keepers list. And maybe next time I’ll just order a double and not fret about the pour.