Red's Best @ Boston Public Market

When I visit the east coast, I love to take advantage of the seafood variety that we just don't have in San Francisco.  Seriously, east coasters, you might know that people rave about Maine lobster, or your clam chowder, but, do you realize how lucky you are to have haddock? Or atlantic cod? Skate wing?  I really, really love, and miss, these proteins.

So when I planned to meet up with a friend after work for dinner in Boston, I had one thing in mind: quality seafood.  The only problem?  After nearly two weeks on the road, I really didn't want to deal with a fancy restaurant.  I just wanted something super casual, where we could hang out, catch up, and have tasty seafood, but no effort required.

For our destination, I thus selected Red's Best.

"Red’s Best is Boston’s neighborhood fish market featuring fresh, local catch from New England fishermen. Located inside the Boston Public Market in downtown Boston we also have a complete menu including a raw bar, grab and go salads and sandwiches, soups and classic, prepared foods. We are your hub for all things seafood."

Red's Best is located inside Boston Public Market, just a few blocks away from Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, but, way, way, way lower key.  No hoards of people.  No street performers.  But it is filled with an assortment of food stalls, even places to buy fresh produce, but just not ... all the people.  It is peaceful.  Far more what I was looking for.

That said, it is just food stalls, and, although Red's Best sounded like it had a great pedigree, I wasn't quite aware of how little they had in terms of actual kitchen facilities.  There is also no where in the building that sells alcoholic beverages (except the wine shop, but that is just for purchasing bottles), and seating is kinda scattered throughout, which would be great if you were with a group that wanted things from different vendors, but meant there wasn't really a place with nice atmosphere for us to sit.

The highlight of the experience was the very friendly staff at Red's, who took time to recommend things, suggest sauces to add on, and really, were just kinda awesome.

Mediocre Meal.

I wish I could say that I loved this meal, but ... everything was very mediocre.  I think the seafood quality was likely fine, but, nothing was very freshly prepared, not quite what I was expecting.

Fresh Seafood.

Since Red's is actually a seafood market too, they have a counter full of locally caught seafood, for you to take home and prepare.  It all looked fresh.

Ready to Cook Items.

Plus plenty of items that are ready for cooking, like their house made salmon burgers, crab cakes, and stuffed lobster tails.

Grab N Go.

Near the register is an assortment of pre-packaged grab n go meals including a tempting looking kale salad topped with lobster salad (the same portion they put into the lobster rolls), sushi, poke bowls (including a really tasty looking spicy crab version), and packaged soups.

I tried samples of both soups (also served hot and fresh), mostly out of curiosity and future planning, since it was definitely not warm soup weather at the time (it was nearly 90 degrees outside).

The clam chowder was fine, thicker than most, very potato forward.  Hearty, stick to your ribs style.  I didn't find many clams in my little sample.   I didn't really care for how thick and potato-y it was.

The lobster bisque though was fabulous, very very rich, great depth of flavor.  A bisque though, no bits in it.

I was going to purchase a lobster salad topped salad, and asked if it would hold up ok for a day, and the person ringing me up said that normally it would, but pointed at the special mark on the package, which meant ... it was yesterday's product.  He didn't recommend getting that one, and saving it.  This might have been sign of what was to come, not exactly the freshest offerings.

Menu.

The menu is broken into "Red's Favorites" (standards like fish & chips, fish tacos, crab cakes, fried oysters), lobster (steamed), sandwiches (lobster rolls, oyster po' boys, etc), soups, oysters, a single salad (with optional toppings), and a few simple sides.

I was honestly considering many things.  I do love a good crab cake.  People rave about the lobster rolls.  I can't resist a good fish and chips.  And, hard to resist scallops ...

Kitchen.

I ... thought Red's Best had more of a kitchen.  I thought they freshly grilled fish when you ordered the fish of the day grilled.  I thought they freshly fried things.

But ... here you can see the ... kitchen.  A single staff member worked the area, really just assembling dishes from pre-made components.  I thought the food was going to be more freshly made than it sadly was.  Even the fish just came out of a hot box, not actually cooked to order.  This made me very sad to see, once I saw it.

Salmon Burger. $10.

My companion opted for the house made salmon burger, which I had read rave reviews of.

It really was a decent looking patty, thick, well seasoned.  Served on a fairly boring bun, but with a dill (I think?) aioli and arugula.  I think she liked it.  A good value for $10.

Red's Best House Salad with Catch of the Day (Haddock). $8 + $4.

"Chopped romaine, arugula, sliced red peppers, shaved carrots, Old Bay Buttermilk Vinaigrette".

I'm the last one to really order a salad when I go out, but, I ordered it for several reasons.

First, I read a lot of reviews about it.  People really did like the salad, and all claimed it was far better than expected, particularly the mix of veggies.

Second, they *all* rave about the dressing, saying that it turned a good salad into a crave-able salad.  They talk about wanting to go back just for the dressing.  For a dressing lover, of course this was tempting me.

Still, those reasons alone wouldn't make me order the salad.  It was the optional toppings that sealed the deal.  For $4 ($4!) I could add the fish of the day (haddock), or other things like grilled scallops or a crab cake, or other types of fish.

Since I adore haddock, and we don't have it on the west coast, I wanted one more chance to have a great piece of fish.  At this time I thought it would be freshly grilled or roasted to order, and was really, really looking forward to it.

The salad ... was ok.  The base (romaine, arugula, carrots) wasn't very crisp or fresh, and was just pulled out of the fridge.  The sliced red peppers at least still had some snap to them, although again, not freshly cut, and were slightly slimy.  I saved half the salad, but it didn't even hold up until the next day (in the fridge), and was wilted nearly immediately.  I don't think it was very fresh.

The dressing, was ... fine?  Creamy, seasoned, but ... certainly not as life changing as people had made out.

And the fish?  Well, sigh.  Entirely unseasoned.  Dried out.  Pulled out of a hot box.  It was still haddock, but ... the moist, buttery nature of the fish I adore was lost.  I didn't really want it, and honestly, my office cafeteria does a better job of serving mass produced seafood.

Let's just say, I was pretty sad.  Even for the reasonable price, it wasn't worth it.

Side of Lobster Salad. ~$6.

I really did want to try the lobster salad used in the lobster rolls, but I didn't want a lobster roll (I'm a hot with butter, not cold with mayo type).  I also didn't want the day old pre-made salad with kale base, boring dressing, and the lobster salad on top.

So I asked if I could just buy some lobster salad.  It took a little working out, but was no problem in the end.  The cashier quoted me a price per pound, weighed it, and I was ok with the pricing (~$6), although this wasn't that much lobster at all.

It was ... fine?  It was nicely cooked lobster, sure, not rubbery, no shells, and certainly not overdressed (which people either love or hate in the lobster rolls), but ... eh.  I'm glad I didn't opt for this.

I appreciated them selling me a side of it.

Coleslaw. $4.

My companion also got a side of coleslaw, since the sandwiches don't come with anything (no chips even). Everything is a la carte.

She took one bite and immediately starting looking around for salt.  She said it was horribly bland.  She got salt from a nearby vendor (since Red's didn't have any), but even that didn't save it for her.  She found it very bitter, and made me try it.

It was ... yeah, wow.  Flavorless.  It was fresh tasting, crisp, and not overdressed, but insanely lacking any flavor whatsoever.

I almost ordered slaw for myself, so I'm glad I didn't.  Certainly not worth $4.

Onion Rings. $6. (Side of Cherry Pepper Aioli).

For my side, I went for the onion rings, even though I asked the person taking my order how they were, and he immediately said, "well, they used to be great!  We used to make them here, but it was so much work, you have to coat them in buttermilk, and then fry them separate, etc, etc so now we just buy them.  They aren't as good."

I was deflated, but really craving onion rings, so I still ordered them.

The portion was large, and I appreciated the variety of sizes of rings, big ones, small ones, juicy ones.  They were reasonably crispy, although not very warm.  The coating stayed on, but was uninteresting, no real flavor.  They were ... standard.  Fine.  Nothing special, basically as he said they would be.

I asked if they came with anything to dip into, and he told me they had ketchup down on the end in the condiments section, but then, got very excited, and said, "oooh!  you could ask for a side of the CPA!!!"   I looked up quizzically, and he explained that was the "Cherry Pepper Aioli" that they use on other items, and that it would be great.

Since I adore sauces, and aioli, this was a clear "yes!" from me.  It was good, a bit of heat, interesting flavor, although not quite what I actually wanted with my onion rings.  I used it later with sweet potato fries, and then later still with taro chips, and really enjoyed it with those items.  Probably my favorite thing from teh meal

Tartar Sauce.

I also asked for a side of tartar sauce, to dunk my haddock into, and it was fine.  Good bits of things in it, creamy.  Fairly standard tartar sauce.