WHET Boston Market?

I loved Boston Market. It came to Toronto for a quick second then left. It was so much better than Swiss Chalet.

Whenever I go to NYC, I always visit the one on 23rd St.

Ugh...only once in Las Vegas mid 1990's while on a training course. The vegetable of the day was creamed spinach. ??? Creamed spinach is not a vegetable!! For this and multiple other reasons I proceeded to have the worst panic attack of my life.

Lol r2 what did the panic attack entail?

I like their food. The aroma of the rotisserie chickens is intoxicating. The Goods:

The roast chicken alone is worth it.

Creamed spinach is their best side.

Mac and cheese has a good combo of cheeses in it, including blue (adds a bit of a tang)

Skip the cornbread, ask for half of one of their sandwich rolls.

The Not-So-Goods:

Their gravies need a bit of work.

Meatloaf is too meaty, could use a bit of filler.

Ixnay on the uffingstay. No amount of gravy will help.

Dammit! Bring back the mashed butternut squash. They removed it from their menu years ago(not a big seller), but would bring it back for the Fall and Winter holidays. That stopped as well.

I remember liking the mac and cheese.

I get emails from them at least once a week for BOGO. I used to like the meatloaf many years ago, but now it has the processed meat material like you would get in a TV dinner or a school lunch.

R4, all you say is null & void given your mistake in not using graxies/graxy.

r7 Mea culpa. As atonement, allow me to treat you to a meal at Boston Market. Whaddya' say?

[Quote] Whenever I go to NYC, I always visit the one on 23rd St.

I did too. The first time with a sweet guy I dated who took me there. Miss you A!

I’ll second the sentiments on the roasted chicken alone. And then confirm that the meatloaf recipe did, indeed, change for the worse early 2000’s.

I loved eating Boston Market in Boston at that time. There was something poetic about eating food that quite clearly never originated in that city. But I’ll never forget the first time I ate at a Boston Market...

Picture it: Las Vegas, mid 90’s. I had just bumped into Linda Hunt coming out of the spa at the Luxor hotel. I remember congratulating her on an eccentric movie I loved at the time, Pret a Porter. I really fancied it for the soundtrack, but It also started Julia Roberts, and Linda was her consistent self in it as well, always at the sides, almost out of scene, but still there.

Rupert Everett was also in that movie, and I still think to this day that’s how he and Julia got it off enough to have the chemistry that made My Best Friend’s Wedding a hit. That was. A great movie for a just blossoming gay man to share with some of his nearest and dearest faghags. Oh the lengths I went to to see that movie with my girls... but that’s another story. Anyway, that’s why I was fond of Pret a Porter.

So in the middle of my gushing over her, Linda confessed she was a bit peckish. I suggested Boston Market, she said it couldn’t be any worse than the tripe at the Luxor buffet (sooooooo correct!) so, Allons-y!

We were ravenous by the time the taxi maneuvered through the Strip traffic. You think it’s bad now? You should have seen it while they were constructing the second lane in each direction AND the Mirage was being built!

But the scene into which we walked was nothing I’ve ever seen since! Some unhinged queen was screaming at this cashier poor who was cowering behind his register, at least that’s what it seemed. Then we noticed that he was actually screaming at the manager who was standing behind the cashier, who has hiding behind his register. I couldn’t imagine this queen’s complaint would have been about the food, seeing as he had a firm grasp of a drumstick in his left hand, taking bites between each utterance. Little specks of chicken skin flew out of his mouth, like some unkempt waif being given a free meal.

I processed this entire scene quicker than my new friend Linda, and thankfully so! It seemed the queen was indeed complaining about the food, specifically the provenance of creamed spinach. As he picked up his little paper bucket of creamed spinach, I sensed his histrionics demanded a dramatic emphasis. Without a thought to my personal safety I threw myself in front of Linda, channeling my momentum to move us both out of harms way (she really is a light, little thing. Looks sturdy, but easily moved. Like an IKEA bookshelf) JUST as the queen flung his spinach at the entry doors at which we had just been standing!

Once I got a full grasp of the abhorrent and sociopathic behaviour we had witnessed, I girded my loins to face the specter again. But by that time store workers had already pinned down the spinach flinging queen and we’re holding him at bay with two of those long rotisserie skewers that they used for roasting.

Well that cemented a fast friendship that had lasted I guess 25 years now. It’s a story we both live to tell, Linda and I. Unfortunately since COVID, we haven’t had the occasion to meet in person, but last time we did, a year or so ago, she confessed to me that her and Karen still can’t eat creamed spinach without wanting to throw it at one another.

On a sad note, the Boston Market that was in my neighborhood when I first moved to Boston closed down almost 10 years ago. I’ve since learned to roast my own chickens. I don’t cook creamed spinach but I have found a terrific recipe for tangy, spicy collard greens. And I usually make a Mac and cheese from all the leftover cheeses I have from my and my husband’s afternoon charcuterie boards.

Went to the original in Boston many moons ago. I thought my dinner was excellent.

Haha, r11 here! I was thinking of Legal Seafoods!

So few people are counterintuitive enough to order Legal’s roasted chicken dinner, but it IS delicious!

Though the meatloaf comes with an unfortunate shrimp and bacon topping, with none of the delicious sweetness of the requisite molasses ketchup

The creamed spinach was my favorite! I found a copycat recipe for it that I make for Thanksgiving

They seem to be dying here in the metro Chicago area. They've closed at least 6-8 suburban locations in maybe 2 years, and there is exactly 1 (one) still open in the entire city of Chicago.

That having been typed, they're now hyping themselves as being open after 9 p.m. for their sliders and other stuff. So what do I know?

Pity, too. Everybody knows Boston M. was never haute cuisine, but it remains a far sight better than most of its fast-food competition.

BM used to have the best hot sandwiches. I really liked their cornbrea.

used to go there. but when i found out the supermarket we go to has cheaper and maybe better rotisserie chicken, i stopped.

Mmm, their chicken pot pies are the best

When I first moved to back to LA from NYC (2005), there was a BM right by my place. Sorry, but I loved it! I don't remember what I ordered, but I know I loved it.

I don't know about the '90's, but I was a regular there in Phoenix in the 2010's! Still around, as far as I know.

New ad slogan-(perhaps why they never abbreviate)

“I have to go do BM”

loved ther creamed spinach and their tasty sweet potato whatever

No, never did. Is it gone now?

I remember when it was called Boston Chicken.

Boston Chicken had a lot of buzz around it when it started expanding and I was eager to try it when they opened one near me in Alexandria, VA circa 1994. Kenny Rogers was also a mid-90s fad, hence the Seinfeld episode where Kramer became addicted to it. I don’t know how much territory they covered, but it must have been smaller than BM. I only ate at one once, in Burbank in 1997. I don’t remember how the menu compared to BM.

Quality dropped after the sale to McDonald's (2000). No improvement after the sale to Sun Capital Partners (2007). Perhaps the sale to Rohan Group (2020) will turn it around.

[quote]Kenny Rogers was also a mid-90s fad, hence the Seinfeld episode where Kramer became addicted to it.

What?

They were fine for a quick meal. I neither loved nor hated it. The one closest to my home just closed a bit ago apparently, but TBH, Peruvian pollo a la brasa was just as easily obtainable in the area and more often than not WAY better.

I think the addition of rotisserie chicken to supermarkets dealt them a big blow. You can go into Stop and Shop and walk out with a rotisserie chicken for about 6 bucks. Many other stores are doing the same thing.

It was bad in the 1990s and now it’s terrible.

I didn’t like it, maybe the one near me wasn’t good. I don’t associate Boston with food. It’s like naming a beauty brand British.

I used to work in a lower income part of Brooklyn and Boston Market was a welcome change from all the fast food joints in the neighborhood, but in no way did I believe it was healthy. Most of their offerings have a little salt shaker icon, warning of high sodium content.

The people who worked there were unfailingly pleasant and the dining room was always immaculately clean. It was a nice trip out of the office. I agree, the cornbread was awful.

The one near Roosevelt Hospital on Tenth Ave has closed and I'm not going all the way to 23rd Street for roast chicken when Pio Pio is closer, and like R28 says, the Peruvian roast chicken is better anyway.

They used to have an Oriental chicken salad which timed badly with the word, “Oriental” falling into disfavor. I ordered the salad at a drive-through in Orlando and was called out by the cashier for saying the word. When I pointed out that I was simply calling it by its name she said, “ Well I didn’t name it.”

Worth noting, it changed to Asian chicken salad soon after.

PS - I much prefer Nando’s these days.

Skip the cornbread? It is rightly viewed as one of the best things on the menu. It’s awesome sweetness. No respectable southerner would say otherwise

[quote] Skip the cornbread? It is rightly viewed as one of the best things on the menu. It’s awesome sweetness. No respectable southerner would say otherwise

And that's why Baskin-Robbins makes 31 flavors.

I never understood 'sweet tea' either. It makes my teeth hurt.

It was great as Boston Chicken, but as usual they got too big for their britches.

[quote] and there is exactly 1 (one) still open in the entire city of Chicago.

No there's not

Ooh, people are getting cunty. It’s just rotisserie chicken, guys.

They were OK. I liked the creamed spinach. The last one closed here last year.

I worked at the first Boston Market in Newtonville, MA in 1986 when I was a junior in high school. It was my first job and I thought the two men who founded and ran it were a gay couple. They worked so many hours together and got along so well I just assumed. I was wrong about the younger one, I remember being surprised about that.

Isnt it funny that I liked their food,ate there all the time,yet totally forgot they existed .The creamed spinach was everything !

Food used to be better. Tried eating there last summer and the food was all right but they only had plastic flatware. That just ruined it for me for some reason.

The Carver sandwiches were excellent. My favorite was the meatloaf, which was still stopped with the molasses/ketchup last time I had it. The stuffing WAS awful, as was the gravy. The chicken soup was very good too, with homemade stock and plenty of chicken. I remember specifically getting the soup for myself or loved ones with a bad cold if I was too busy or sick to make it myself. OMG I just remembered their double chocolate cake! It was so dense and moist with dark chocolate fudge frosting. To die for.

R44 that cake does look amazing.

I went once and haven't had rotisserie chicken since. It sucked.

r10, I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

R44 = Augustus Gloop

You'd think this sort of restaurant would be in demand right now. People get a 'homemade' meal they can just drive-up and collect.

[quote]I worked at the first Boston Market in Newtonville, MA in 1986

You worked there nine years before it existed.

I used to order the baked beans, spiced apples, and cornbread. Sounds terrible now, but IIRC, that was my regular order. I think I used to order either mashed potatoes or stuffing with gravy as well.

Don’t be so pedantic r50. It’s obvious the poster was talking about working at the first Boston Chicken, which opened in 1985 under that name and changed it name to Boston Market in 1995. Same entity.

It's still good but very expensive so not a meal I can justify more than once every 4-6 months. The calories are outrageous. Funny enough, I can never get the portions correct based on my hunger. The food is not good reheated. I either order too little or too much there is no happy medium.

The chicken is good. The Sweet Potatoes have way too much sugar but my fat ass still gives it a shot at least once a year. There is only one in my city and it's 15 min from my house so when the craving hits I can get to it.

r49 is expensive and unhealthy that's two major strikes against it right now.

See you at Sweetgreens then, R54?

A Boston Chicken opened about a half mile from where I worked in the mid 1990s. Was a fantastic alternative to the fast food joints that were nearby, so I ate lunch there several times a week.

Place started going downhill when they changed the name to Boston Market and added meatloaf and turkey. Overall, the place was still good, but would have been better to stick to what they did best.

By the late 1990s, all of the Boston Markets in my area closed.

When I moved to LA in the early 2000s, was delighted to find Boston Markets still in operation in the area. However, almost all of the LA area stores have now closed. Only one that's still open now that I know of is in Torrance, near the South Bay Galleria.

Koo Koo Roo was better

The one I used to go to was okay but the quality of the chicken really dropped the last few years . The closet to the bone the less cooked it is

[quote]Koo Koo Roo was better

Definitely. Loved Koo Koo Roo. But it went downhill fast. What happened?

I think Boston Market's turkey is the best! Some mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing and it's Thanksgiving every week!

You don't find something off about the stuffing? The taste and the weird tiny cubes of undercooked carrots were unappetizing to me.

I used go to the location at Church & Market in San Francisco, (late 1990's). The last time I went to one, some years back, I found the food too salty.

Re - supermarket rotisserie chickens - is it true they are so cheap because those raw chickens used are just about to expire and be thrown out?

r63 Nope. The deli(who is in charge of the "ferris wheel") orders, and is charged for, chickens just like the meat dept. is. I worked in a supermarket for decades, and never saw it happen(using soon-to-be-outdated chickens) The deli manager would never take merchandise like that, charge herself full price(inter-departmental transfer), and then waste time cooking something that might ultimately never sell, or make someone ill. There's an old saying that goes: "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

right now, I'm craving carbs. ANY carbs. Don't be jealous bitches... just get me some carbs, loaded with gravy!!!

It was good food for what it was.

[quote] No improvement after the sale to Sun Capital Partners (2007). Perhaps the sale to Rohan Group (2020) will turn it around.

You would actually think a private equity firm could make it better? PE is just parasitic.

It used to be good but it’s sucked for years. Basically, all fast food started to suck around the time McDonalds got rid of the beef tallow in their French fries. That tipped off a wave of “healthier” fare (which is not even possible given the types of food we are talking about). Taco Bell made their chicken soft tacos all white meat (and stopped melting the cheese), McDonald’s did the same with their nuggets, etc.

If somebody wants to make a killing in fast food they should open a proto-McDonald’s and bring back the dark meat and beef tallow.