Being from Buffalo, I don't really get the same "fresh fish" selection Bostonians have the luxury of finding at every corner. Oh, sure, we're situated on/near a river, a canal, and two Great Lakes - but really, who's ever heard of a restaurant serving the delicacy of fresh, Lake Erie...er, whatever sort of fish you'd find swimming around in that place? (Side note: I'm almost positive whatever fish you could find in there has three eyes. Then again, Boston has the Charles River, so I guess I can't talk too much about contamination, huh?)
In any case, I've spent my last three years being spoiled by the choices for seafood in this city. Where else do you have a school that has "Lobster Nite" in the dining halls? (Yeah, those were goooooood.) However, no matter what restaurant I find myself at, I always end up ordering clam chowder. It's become a comfort food for me, almost, like mac & cheese or mashed potatoes. If I see it in the dining hall, I have to get it. If I'm out walking around the city and can find a place to get chowder, that basically trumps all other food choices. And if you can get it in a bread bowl, it's like you've won the lottery (OK, maybe that's a liiiiiiittle over-the-top, but you get the idea).
But, seriously, in a city so full of good places to get chowder, how are you supposed to find the best? Well, dear readers, that's where I come in. Because I have become so enamored with this great Boston soup-like substance and I needed some way to pay my respects before I graduate and depart for home, unemployed and ready to move back into my parents' house, I bring you *dun-da-da-dunnnnn!* Chowder Hunt '09! ('09...'09...'09) Or, you know, I needed a good, quirky idea for my final project for my multimedia journalism class at Boston U. You make the call.
In the coming weeks (two weeks and three days, to be exact; that's when the project's due), I'll be trekking around the city (hopefully with some other willing taste-testers) to sample clam chowder from a few of the restaurants in the area. I'm working off a list of 20 restaurants, compiled in a new-fangled, highly-scientific manner, but I will only be sampling from five or 10 of the places. (I'm a broke college student who is graduating in May and doesn't have a job, what do you want from me?) However, the end result will be a spiffy-looking website (which is linked above, but isn't up yet) that shows you, dear readers, some of the places to find clam chowder in the Boston/Cambridge area. I promise all 20 restaurants will have a page on the site, but the ones we sample from will just be a little more in-depth and personal than the others.
So I invite you to join me on this quest - those of you who haven't been thrown off by my snark yet and are still reading - and follow along with the blog as I build this site. I promise you, the end result will be worth it (and will hopefully get me an A and give me a pretty sweet sample site to show all those places I will frantically be applying to when I get home - that is, if anyone's even hiring journalists in this economy). Also, I promise fewer links and more pictures and other fun stuff the next time I get writing. And, if elected, I promise world peace.
*blank stares*
OK, just kidding. About the election/world peace thing, not about the pictures.
In the meantime, vote in the poll on the side and stay tuned...I'm off to get some food (chowder? If the GSU has it!)
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