History with a Slab of Cornbread at the Union Oyster House

What do you do when you’re in one of the country’s most historic cities and you get hungry?  Dine at the country’s oldest restaurant!  The Union Oyster House has been feeding hungry diners since 1826, making it the longest continuously operating restaurant in the United States.  Daniel Webster drank there, a king of France lived there, a college president worked there, and the toothpick was first used there.  With such an intriguing history, I’m surprised I hadn’t stopped in before.  While my family was visiting Boston, the Union Oyster House was kind enough to invite us for lunch and a tour.  We started with the lobsters of course!

The first things you’ll see when you arrive are the famous oyster bar and their live lobster tank.  My daughter was absolutely fascinated by those little guys!  My son was a little hesitant to approach the lobsters at first, but it didn’t take long for him to make friends.

This place is more than a restaurant.  There are several different rooms and so much to see here that you can spend a good amount of time just looking at the walls.  Each room has it’s own personality, so you’ll want to explore them all.  My favorite?  The Freedom Trail Room.

Beautiful, right?  There is so much interesting and gorgeous detail here; I most definitely held up the tour a little too long just so I could stare.

When you’ve been around as long as the Union Oyster House has and are as popular as they are, you’re bound to see a lot of faces come through, and some of those faces are famous.  Golden plaques highlight their celebrity diners and you can see some of them brought to life in their “Legends of the Union Oyster House” painting.

Speaking of celebrities, we had a very special seat for our lunch that day:  the Kennedy Booth.  JFK was a frequent patron of the Union Oyster House, and as you might have guessed, this was his favorite spot in the restaurant.  In 1977, the booth was dedicated in his memory, and you can find it marked with a plaque upstairs in the Pine Room.

Our arrival at the Kennedy Booth concluded our tour, so we all piled in and began our lunch.  We were hungry and excited to try some real New England fare!

If you’ve ever dined with small children, you can appreciate the importance of having a fun distraction to keep them from disrupting the entire restaurant.  The Union Oyster House doesn’t just give you a couple of activity placemats; they give you a whole coloring book, and not just any coloring book either.  This one has both fun pictures and interesting historical facts about the building.  I read along with them as they colored, and we all learned something.  It’s little details like this that really make a place stand out.

As much fun as we were having coloring together, we were more than ready to dig into our lunch.  What did we eat?  Too much.

These photos really don’t do the food justice, but it’s the best this non-photographer can do when taking pictures in the dark with a less than fabulous camera.

Every meal at the Union Oyster House must start with the Oyster House Clam Chowder.  This is not optional.  (Only because I say so, but trust me; I’m right.)  Thick and creamy, it’s full of clams and perfectly tender potatoes.  If you’re a chowder fan, don’t miss this one.

Everyone gets a big slab of what I think is the best cornbread ever.  Seriously.  If I hadn’t been worried about the effects of overeating every day of our trip, I would have requested seconds.  It’s possible that I just like cornbread too much in general, but this one was really good.

For the main course, I went with Herb Marinated Chicken Breast, which was served with rice and a very generous portion of veggies.  It was delicious and helped me feel a little less guilty about devouring an enormous piece of cornbread.  It was the Pan Seared Haddock for the hubby, since he never gets seafood at home, and he enjoyed it even more than the clam chowder.

My 3 and 4 year old kids each got sliders (burgers and fries are second only to pizza for my little ones), and they each gave their meal a thumbs up, although they probably could have split just one between the two of them.

Even though we were all full, we couldn’t resist ending our meal with  a dessert, so we sampled the Hot Indian Pudding.  Wow.  I’d never had it before (or even heard of it), but it was warm, had just the right amount of sweetness, and was just very satisfying.  Next time, we’ll get two.

A National Historic Landmark, the Union Oyster House is rich in heritage, and the evidence is displayed throughout the building.  With simple and delicious food for seafood fans, land lovers, and even picky kids, the whole family can enjoy a meal here.  Visit the Union Oyster House online to see their menus and make a reservation.  Stop by to see them at 41 Union St. in Boston for some oysters or a full meal…and don’t forget the cornbread!

Lunch was on Union Oyster House, but the pleasure was all ours.  All opinions contained here are my own, as are the extra calories that I’m still trying to work off.