Daisy Buchanan's on Newbury St.
A blustery afternoon led me to this downstairs tavern named after Gatsby's great love, offering authentic Boston feel from the heavily accented, female barkeep to the Patriots' fans cheering their team to victory.
I was worried that the holiday spirit had gotten the best of me when I ordered the candy cane martini, nervous I would end up with a glass of peppermint Schnapps, but was pleased to find fresh espresso from Ciao Bella (the bay-windowed Italian eatery upstairs) and vodka as the base of the drink, the candy cane making its only appearance in the crystallized red and white rim and mini stirrer.
Bar food is an art form and Daisy's canvas was the deep fryer. Some of the best wings reside here with crispy skin and tender meat, along with mozzarella sticks and cheese fries that are greasily gourmet.
Though I've never been at night (which seems lucky since hearing it turns into a crowded, underage hangout), the service and finger-licking libations warmed me from the inside out.
get more dish at www.worldlyidventures.blogspot.com
popandkate
Apr 11, 2008 07:03PM
"Bar food is an art form and Daisy's canvas was the deep fryer"
Glad you enjoyed it. I don't think most Bostonians would describe Daisy's with such flowery prose..:)
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This is a funny post! Daisy Buchanan's is legendary in Boston - but surely not for its food - I don't think they even served food til the 90s. (I lived across the street in the early 80s for years.) Its sister restaurant - named, of all things, The Great Gatsby - was in Park Square in the 80s where the Heritage on the Garden is now and they served food - which was not all that bad - and the scene was a lot of fun too. But Daisy's is and always has been a bar - a meat market even (not a bad thing) - a place to party with the Bruins and the Red Sox players. I don't mean to be negative - I am charmed by this post - and I love that Daisy's is still around, but it is not a place I will ever eat.
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As a Jersey girl living in San Diego, I had no idea of this bar's scandalous reputation! Maybe I had one too many candy cane martinis, but my wings were G-O-O-D! And I'm picky. I guess grease and alcohol created a monster- go Daisy's!
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When were you there if the Patriots were being cheered on?
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If you click through to the blog link, it appears to be a delayed review from a Thanksgiving/holiday trip...
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allow me to chime in with an alternate perspective....
Daiy Buchanan's is a hideous establishment: a meat market for gold digging young ladies to attach themselves to phonies and/or professional athletes. They have some nice happy hour prices, but the food is strictly lowest common denominator sysco fare (I've had the mozzarella sticks you speak of...they come frozen in a big plastic bag), there to soak up the booze and nothing else. Like Ciao Bella, it exemplifies all the worts aspects of Newbury Street dining.
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Is there any other way that mozzerella sticks come at a bar? I didn't think they were homemade, but they gave me what I look for in a mozz stick- crispy crust and gooey cheese (not the soggy breading I get most times out). When I say Daisy's "canvas is the deep fryer", I thought that insinuated it wasn't being hailed as a high end food establishment, but rather a tasty way, as you put it, "to soak up the alcohol".
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The wings are also the frozen sysco variety. There are many pubs in the Boston area that serve genuinely good, non-sysco food, and that aren't so hideously obnoxious as a plus: Matt Murphy's, Silvertone, Publick House, Washington Square Tavern, Deep Ellum...hell, Bukowksi's is an order of magnitude better than Daisy's.
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Yes, I LOVE Matt Murphy's, will have to try the other suggestions when I'm back. For me, as a visitor to Boston, I didn't have the background of the 70's, 80's and 90's reputation that followed Daisy's. I went in the middle of the day (no crowds w/ gold necklaces or meat market atmosphere), I had a fabulous drink and my fried treats were greasily satisfying. I can see why those that live there and know of the past history are so disgusted by hanging out there (forget about eating there), but I stand by the fact that it was a good time and my wings were tasty.
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That's okay, I was forced to watch a World Cup game there once, and I had no excuses....
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no need to defend yourself. you went and had a good time with some good food. nothing wrong with that at all.
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No kidding, poor woman is browbeaten for going against the grain.
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When I first saw this topic I thought I had fallen into some crazy 1980's time warp or something. I saw big hair, gold chains ... smelled Aramis.
It frightened me.
I totally agree with you.
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80's, nuthin! Any faithful 70's era Bruins fans who read Derek Sanderson's autobiography( "I've Got to Be Me", deep...) will know that's where the Turk went to pick up chicks!
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and not always from a chair, barstool or standing.
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Any time I walk by that place I'm always suprised it's still there.
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I've always assumed that one could get good meat here. From the way people talk, they must have their own in-house butchers.
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Daisy Buchanan's is still open?!?!?!? Wow!!! Never ate there, but spent time at the bar many years ago. .. many, many years ago. . . .actually I had hair last time I was there. . .. I believe the "Fall Guy" was still on TV.. . . . .what happen to Farrah's hair? . . . .where did the rest of Charlie's Angels go? . .. . . .whoops sorry momentary flashback. Wow, Daisy's is still open.
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i've seen some pretty nasty things at night going on there. not only in the bar, but on top of the physical bar itself. that said, i never in a million years would have thought to eat off of any surface in there. to be honest, i didn't even know they served food.
however, i think it's kind of cool that popandkate found a place in an unfamiliar city and had herself an enjoyable meal. and it makes me think, maybe there are so many more little food gems that we bostonians are missing out on because of previous reputations. in the case of daisy's, though, my eyes don't lie so i still don't see myself eating off of that bar.
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See Taralli's response above....
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And UTT.
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Yikes- I'm listerining my mouth as we speak!
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Not to worry, they clean the place very thoroughly every night.
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