Before I left for the airport on my last day in Boston, I
had a clear mission. The first part was to have lunch at the Shake Shack which
I saw on Newbury Street during my walks the day before. You can’t imagine how
thrilled – yes, thrilled – I was to realize there was one in Boston that was in
easy walking distance of my hotel. I love Shake Shack burgers. I’d only had it
once when I was in Manhattan many years ago and I still remember it. That’s how
good I thought their burgers were.
I went right after church service when they had just
opened so there were no crowds to worry about. I ordered a single cheeseburger,
fries and, of course, a chocolate shake. Their prices for burgers and fries
were quite reasonable, especially for a metropolitan city like Boston. $5.29
for the single cheeseburger and a couple of bucks for the crinkle cut fries. It
was the shake that took me aback, also at $5.29, the same price for the
cheeseburger. Huh. I know that’s what they’re known for but that seemed like a
lot for a shake. Don’t get me wrong; it was a great shake but $5.29? Yes, I’m
kinda cheap. Still, no regrets. The burger was as good as I remember, the fries
were good and the shake was delicious.
More importantly, it fueled me properly for the second part
of my mission and that was a 3-mile walk to Clear Flour Bread. I had time
before I had to leave for the airport and I wanted the exercise so I could
justify buying whatever caught my fancy for the plane ride home. Forget the
joke about airplane food – truth is they don’t feed you anymore, even for a
cross-country flight, so I was bringing my own snacks. And I wanted those
snacks to come from another bakery I’d heard about and had been recommended to
me by another foodie.
I walk as much as possible when I’m on vacation. It’s a
great way to explore wherever I’m at and there’s less likelihood of missing
anything by taking the subway. 3-5 miles one way is my typical walking range in
a day. I enjoyed the walk to Clear Flour Bread, passing Boston University along
the way. It was somewhat drizzly during my walk but it didn’t rain hard enough
to detain me from my purpose. When it comes to bread bakeries, short of a
typhoon, not much can deter me.
Clear Flour Bread is tiny. As in, tiny. Most of the space
is taken up by the bakery in the back, the baking racks and a counter where
they take your order and conduct the payment transactions. Beyond that, if you
have to leave room for the bakery door to open and close to let customers in
and out, the remaining space can fit about 4-5 people in line. Small people or
skinny people. No joke. But that shouldn’t deter anyone from going because you
can always form a line outside as well and, having stepped in as the 4th
customer in the shop, the smell of freshly baked and baking bread was enough to
bring me to my knees. Seriously, nothing smells as good as bread baking. I
didn’t mind waiting in line because I was just happy to be in that heavenly
smelling shop. Just happy.
I really wanted to try their croissant as yelp reviews
called it top notch. Unfortunately they didn’t have any left when I got there
so I had to settle for the pretzel croissant. I’ve never had a pretzel
croissant and had no idea what the counter person was talking about when she
described it “like a pretzel but a croissant”. But I stepped out on a limb of
faith (it doesn’t take much) and got one.
 |
| Pretzel Croissant |
And since I don’t walk 3 miles one way and 3 miles back
for one croissant, I also bought a chocolate croissant. I would’ve like the
more traditional pain au chocolat but the chocolate croissant was close enough.
 |
| Chocolate Croissant |
I had both croissants later in the day. One when I was at
the airport waiting for my flight to board and the other one during the 6 ½ hour
flight back home. It was a bit of a shame that I hadn’t eaten at least one of
them when I bought them but I wasn’t hungry then since I was still fueled up
from Shake Shack. I say it’s a shame because I think I could have raved more
about the croissants. They were good at room temperature but I think I would
have found them far more amazing had I had them fresh out of the oven and
somewhat warm. As it was, they didn’t stand out for me as much as I could’ve
wished. Don’t get me wrong, they were good. The pretzel croissant really did
taste like a pretzel but had the texture of a flaky croissant. The chocolate
croissant was as good as a pain au chocolat (at room temp). Next time I go
back, I’m going hungry and will consume on premises. Or just outside since there’s
no room inside.
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