I had the BEST day today, and not just because I got to try a new restaurant, but I got to try it with my daughter. I am one of the luckiest mothers alive with a daughter in college only 3.7 miles away from our house. If that wasn’t good enough, she has Mondays almost free of classes and wants to spend them trying new lunch spots with me!
My daughter’s school and our home is just North of Boston. You really can’t ask for a better location to try new restaurants, there are thousands. I’m guessing at thousands, but it’s really big however many it actually is. Since I am the type of person that goes to the same favorite places over and over, the idea of trying something new every week is so exciting.
We decided our first restaurant to try would be Flour Bakery in Harvard Square. They have three locations in Cambridge, but we headed towards Harvard Square not just because it was the closest to her school, but because it’s Harvard Square. If you have never been to Harvard Square, make sure to put it on your bucket list. It is such a fantastic spot filled with restaurants, shops, and of course that University you may have heard of, Harvard?
Parking in Harvard Square isn’t always the easiest to find, but we were quite lucky to find a parking spot pretty close to the restaurant. I was also able to have a very interesting discussion with an eccentric gentlemen sitting on the sidewalk near where we parked about the crazy bike lanes recently installed. My daughter didn’t seem as enthralled with the conversation as I did, but our eccentricity is what makes life interesting, right?
Flour Bakery was quaint and bustling. We arrived just before the peak lunch rush and were able to find a little two person table where we sat, ate, and chatted for hours. We each got a sandwich which we really enjoyed. My daughter rated hers an 8.5, and I rated mine a 6.5 only because of the bread. I just do not like bread with tough crust, and their multigrain bread was that kind of bread. The soft part of the bread was very good, but the crust just kind of ruins it for me. Next time I go there I will request a different bread and then I am pretty sure my rating would also be around an 8.5.
My daughter ordered the Applewood Smoked Bacon sandwich which consisted of bacon, arugula, tomato, and mayo on focaccia toast. I ordered the Smoked Turkey Sandwich which consisted of turkey, cheddar, cranberry chutney, and apple dill slaw. The contents were delicious! It was just my own personal dislike of tough crust that made me dislike it somewhat. I am actually really looking forward to going back and either trying something else like the Chicken and Broccoli Rabe Panini, or Roast Chicken with mashed avocado and jicama (if you have read my fish taco blog you know I love jicama), or the Smoked Turkey again but on different bread. Maybe focaccia, that sounds so good!
As you can see from my photos they include a strange little vegetable “salad” of sorts on the dish. Well, my daughter’s had more of a salad than mine did, mine was actually pretty sad. Some people like my husband would probably think that was lovely and delicious, but my daughter and I looked at it like it was an absolute waste of food because why would anyone want to eat that with their sandwich. I know, we aren’t proud of that but it’s the truth. Where are the chips?
They also had some wonderful looking salads on their menu, as well as baked goods.
Overall the Flour Bakery was a thumbs up for us and we would definitely recommend it to others!