Each time we go to Boston to drop off or pick up Becca we try a new restaurant in the North End. I was hoping to visit one we had been to last winter, but the line to get in was long and we were hungry.

On our first visit to the North End last year we realized that there are A LOT of great restaurants in the North End. Quite a few are on Hanover St., the main drag through the North End. Those restaurants are usually busy and pricey. We’ve discovered some awesome places a block or two away from Hanover St. that have amazing food and the prices are a bit more reasonable for our budget. So far we’ve been to some pretty great restaurants and enjoyed some awesome meals.

Except today. Today we ended up at Pagliuca’s. The food was okay, the group at the tables next to us were super loud and we had to ask for napkins as they didn’t have any. Which seemed kind of odd. My dish was pretty good, John’s was okay. We decided it was an okay spot, but we’re probably not going to go there again.

Afterwards we walked to Bova’s. On our first visit we tried Modern Pastry and it was okay. I’ve never been to Mike’s as the line at the door has always dissuaded me from wanting to go there. I had been to Bova’s once years ago and had great pastry memories, so we went back there again. It was super packed but the pastries are worth the wait! I got my selections pretty quickly, but Becca and Mira were at another counter and the line was a bit longer. While I was waiting for them I went down 2 doors to Parziale’s Bakery. No one was in there. They have a few pastries, it’s mostly breads … and they had fruit turnovers! So I of course picked up some rolls for school lunches next week and a raspberry turnover for me since I can’t eat most of the dairy-rich pastries from Bova’s

I would post a pic of my raspberry turnover, but I ate it as soon as we got home. It was huge and I’m calling it supper.