Fenway Food Crawl: Mouth-Numbing Mushrooms, Oysters, Fried Cheese, and Biscuits

Part of Food and Drink Crawls Through Boston and Beyond

Welcome back to Food Crawls, a series in which Eater Boston staffers guide you (virtually) on various food (and booze) crawls in the Boston area.

When we go out, we often find ourselves wanting to try more than one restaurant or bar at a time — a drink and a snack here, another drink and perhaps a dessert there — and want to share our favorite multi-stop combinations with you. These crawls are meant to be relatively walkable, and the amount of food and drink is meant to correspond roughly to a couple of average appetites (so bring a friend), although your mileage may vary. Email us if there’s a particular theme, specific dish or drink, or neighborhood you’d like to see covered in a future installment.

Anyone who’s been paying attention will know that Fenway has undergone quite the transformation in the past decade. (Hooray for all the good restaurants and bars; to hell with all the unaffordable housing.) The Red Sox are still — and always will be — the neighborhood’s biggest draw, but as the area continues to evolve, more and more Bostonians (and visitors) find themselves venturing to Fenway for more than just a ballgame.

This crawl will require at least two (but probably three to four) mouths, and there is no real theme other than “all of this food is very good.”

Stats for this food crawl:

Total stops: 5
Oysters slurped: At least half a dozen per person. Any less is too few oysters.
Mouths numbed: How many are there?
Old Howard Johnsons visited: One, unless you’re a BU student living at 575 Commonwealth Ave.

Oysters at Eventide Fenway

1321 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02215

Oysters are always a good way to start a meal (even if that meal will be eaten among five different restaurants). Eventide’s oyster menu is always changing, but the prices are not — $16 for half a dozen, and $29 for a full dozen. Wash them down with a clean, crisp white wine.

Biscuits and Honey Butter at Sweet Cheeks

1381 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02215

biscuits sweet cheeks — These things are unmatched

Exit Eventide, walk for about 23 seconds, and enter Sweet Cheeks. Order a beer and a bucket of biscuits with honey butter. The bucket comes with four, so we hope there are four in your party — these things are big and rich, and eating more than one (although they’re sublime) is not recommended in the middle of a food crawl.

Grilled Halloumi at Saloniki

4 Kilmarnock St., Boston, MA 02215

The interior of the Fenway location of Saloniki — Saloniki may be a casual, counter-service spot, but the dining room is cozy

Grilled halloumi is transcendent, and Saloniki is doing a great version, drizzled with EVOO and Greek oregano. Best served with a Saloniki Saison.

Mala Mushrooms at Tiger Mama

1363 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02215

The interior of a colorful, tropical restaurant, featuring a leaf-covered live wall — The mala mushrooms at Tiger Mama will numb your mouth (in a good way)

Back to Boylston Street we go. We hate to make you retrace your steps, but these mushrooms are the most intense dish on the crawl, so they’re best eaten as the last food item. Served with smashed garlic and mustard greens, these mushrooms will actually numb your mouth.

A Frozen Cocktail at Hojoko

1271 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02215

Hojoko grasshopper — Hojoko’s frozen grasshopper makes for a sweet nightcap

Close the night with a frozen cocktail at Hojoko. The selection changes occasionally, but keep an eye out for the Grasshopper, made with crème de cacao, fernet, vanilla ice cream, and white miso — and topped with chocolate sprinkles — or the pina colada, made with rums, pineapple, coconut, and Fluff. (And if you’re still hungry — and adventurous — try the crispy calves’ brains.)

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