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Boston is known for New England clam chowder, lobster rolls, local oysters and Boston cream pie, which is the official Massachusetts state dessert. Add cannoli and brick-oven pizza from the North End, fried clams, and a Fenway Frank at the ballpark, and you have the ten things most visitors come to eat. Each one below comes with a place in Boston that serves it, so you can eat the list rather than just read it. A guided North End pizza tour is bookable on Viator.
Most of these are seafood, because the city grew up on its harbor, and several are tied to a single historic kitchen. For a sweet-only route, see our dessert tour of Boston, and for the history of the city's oldest dining rooms, see the oldest restaurant in Boston. For a guided way to taste several of these, see our guide to Boston food tours beyond the North End.
1. New England clam chowder
Boston's chowder is the cream-based kind, with clams and potatoes, not the tomato-based Manhattan style. The classic place to order it is Union Oyster House on Union Street, which has served seafood since 1826 and lists its own Oyster House Clam Chowder. Neptune Oyster in the North End serves a Wellfleet clam chowder, and Row 34 in Fort Point has a New England clam chowder on its dinner menu.
2. The lobster roll
A lobster roll comes two ways in New England: warm with melted butter, or cold with mayonnaise. Neptune Oyster serves both, on a toasted brioche roll with sea salt fries, at market price, and the restaurant is walk-in only, so arrive early or mid-afternoon. Row 34 calls its lobster rolls a signature and gets its lobsters from Maine. Union Oyster House also has one on the menu.
3. Local oysters
Row 34 is named for the 34th row of oysters on a farm in Duxbury Bay on the South Shore, and its raw bar is the reason to go. Neptune's raw bar lists Massachusetts oysters from Wellfleet, Island Creek, Katama Bay and Cotuit alongside oysters from Maine and the West Coast. At Union Oyster House you can eat them at the semi-circular oyster bar, which the restaurant says has stood in the same spot since 1826.
4. Boston cream pie
Boston cream pie is a cake, not a pie: sponge cake layered with custard and topped with chocolate glaze. The Omni Parker House on School Street credits its own kitchen with the recipe, which it says chef Augustine Anezin created as the Parker House Chocolate Cream Pie, and it still serves it in Parker's Restaurant. Massachusetts made Boston cream pie its official state dessert on December 12, 1996.
5. Parker House rolls and Boston scrod
The same hotel credits itself with two more Boston staples: the soft, folded Parker House roll and Boston scrod, a dish of young white fish. Parker's Restaurant serves breakfast daily and lunch, and has a dress code, so it is a daytime stop rather than a late dinner.
6. Cannoli on Hanover Street
The North End's bakeries are known for cannoli, filled to order. Mike's Pastry at 300 Hanover Street has been open since 1946, and Modern Pastry is a few doors down at 257 Hanover Street. Both were open when we checked in October 2026; buy one cannoli at each and compare.
7. North End pizza
Regina Pizzeria has made brick-oven pizza on Thacher Street in the North End since 1926. The plain cheese pizza is the benchmark, and the original location is at 11 1/2 Thacher Street, not the branch counters elsewhere in the city. For more pizza ideas, see our guide to where to eat pizza in Boston.
8. Pizza and lamb skewers in East Boston
Santarpio's on Chelsea Street in East Boston, near Logan Airport, pairs Italian cheese pizza with barbecue: single skewers of lamb, steak tips or chicken, served with a hot cherry pepper and Italian bread. The menu is short and fixed, and it is a good last meal before an evening flight.
9. A Fenway Frank
The Fenway Frank is the hot dog sold at Fenway Park, and the Red Sox build ticket packages around it. Concession stands at the ballpark do not take cash, so bring a card. Outside the baseball season, a Fenway Park tour is the way to see the park, but the concession stands will not be open.
10. Fried clams
Whole-belly fried clams are a New England summer dish. In Boston, Neptune Oyster serves fried Ipswich clams. For the original, head north to Woodman's of Essex, in business since 1914, where the family says Lawrence Chubby Woodman invented the fried clam; our guide to things to do north of Boston pairs it with Crane Beach.
Where to buy Boston food to take home
- Boston Public Market, above Haymarket station, sells only food produced in or originating from New England, including seafood from Red's Best and cider from Red Apple Farm.
- Salumeria Italiana on Richmond Street, open since 1962, cuts Italian salumi and cheese to order.
- Polcari's Coffee on Salem Street, open since 1932, sells coffee by the pound and more than 150 spices; it is closed on Sundays.
Boston's food is not only New England classics. Chinatown is the place for dim sum and hot pot; see our guide to things to do in Chinatown.