Classic Food in a New Boston Neighborhood

From: He Who Cannot Be Named

With all the development in Boston's Seaport District, from high-rise condos and hotels to glass-curtained pharmaceutical and high-tech headquarters, it's easy to forget that this part of the city used to be a working waterfront that was served by a railroad. There are still some maritime activities afoot here, although for the most part they are hidden in areas that are difficult to photograph. There are some food industry reminders of the times before the neighborhood blew up into the hottest real estate market in the Hub. I present here two such reminders, as well as a bridge that nobody seems to know what to do with.

Long before the arrival of foodie destinations such as Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse, Legal Harborside, Chickadee and Ocean Prime, there were Jimmy's Harborside, the No Name and Anthony's Pier 4. And that's about it. Oh, and a dance club called Polly Esta's (or probably Polyester's, my memory is fuzzy and I like to think it was spelled with a Boston accent). Jimmy's dated to the early 1920's; the building was demolished in 2007 to make way for Liberty Wharf. The No Name closed recently after more than 100 years in business.

As for Anthony's, where I ate only once, it was known as the place to see and be seen for celebrities and locals alike. Opened in 1963, the restaurant became one of the highest-grossing eateries in the U.S. by the 1980s. It closed in 2013; the site is now condos, natch.

But amid all the shiny newness and sameness of the Seaport (and close environs), you can still find some old-school.

Open since 1994, the Barking Crab isn't ancient, but for the Seaport District, a 26-year-old restaurant is a relative graybeard. Located right on the Fort Point Channel, close to the Joseph Moakley Courthouse, the restaurant has become a destination for tourists and locals alike. I ate there once and it was damn good.

It's got a great kitsch quotient.

Looking at the eatery from the Seaport Boulevard bridge, you can see the the glass-walled buildings that have come to define this area.

While all the gleaming newness dominates the Barking Crab's view to the east, to the west customers get a glimpse of the past.

This is the Northern Avenue Bridge, which once spanned the channel. As a matter of fact, when I worked in the Seaport District -- back in the early '90s, when it was known as "the mud lot and artist warehouse district" -- I used to walk across the bridge to get from my temp job at the World Trade Center Boston (now known as Seaport Boston Hotel & World Trade Center) to downtown. Cars were allowed on the bridge back then, too. Auto traffic was discontinued in 1999; pedestrians were barred in 2014. I wrote a little about the bridge last year and featured a photo of it along with a former floating firehouse nearby.

Built in 1908, the bridge also "carried a single track for the Union Freight Railroad," per Wikipedia. The railroad "was a freight-only railroad connecting the railroads coming into the north and south sides of downtown Boston," per Wikipedia. I'm not sure when the tracks were taken out of service.

Here's the view of the bridge some of the Seaport's gleaming towers in the background, including the world headquarters of Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

The bridge's middle span was swung open a few years ago, as the Coast Guard informed the City of Boston that the span was a hazard to navigation. The city held a competition three years ago, soliciting ideas for just exactly what to do with the bridge. The ideas ranged from replacing the bridge with a more modern span to turning the century-old bridge into a walkable park with lots of greenery.

The Northern Avenue Bridge used to make land right next to the James Hook & Co. seafood wholesaler. A Boston institution since 1925, James Hook suffered a catastrophic fire in 2008 but has bounced back. Below you can see the pier where the lobster company's main facility once stood; the Northern Avenue Bridge is in the background.

Boston being a hot development market, naturally there is a plan afloat to plop a new building on the pier where Hook's distribution facility once stood. At least in this case the developer isn't some corporate behemoth, but rather the Hook family, which owns the property. The family plans to build a 22-story building designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects, per this Bldup article. "The Hook Wharf building will feature a new ground-floor seafood restaurant with residences on upper floors....The [Municipal Harbor Plan] guidelines will require the Hook family to contribute $1.5 million towards the construction of a new continuous Harborwalk connection linking Hook Wharf to the other side of the Moakley Bridge."

Below, you see what's holding up the pier.

I'm not sure if the small buildings below escaped the fire or were built after the fact.

Here's a detail from one of those small buildings.

The new Hook restaurant mentioned above would replace the family's current takeout trailer.

No word on when that project might get off the ground.

For more about the Seaport District, see February 1, 2017, "Bon Voyage, Lady," about the former Chapel of Our Lady of Good Voyage.