On day final of my sojourn into Boston, I lunched at Joe’s American Bar & Grill, a casual restaurant with a nice outdoor seating area. We took a table outside to enjoy one of the last remaining nice days in Boston’s summer season and then got down to menu business.

We arrived around that strange hour where you’re not sure if you want breakfast or lunch, so we were given both the Brunch menu and the lunch menu. After long deliberation between the menus, I settled upon lunch and the Blackened Chicken Sandwich. This sandwich was made with Cajun spices, cheddar and sauteed onions. It also came with all the typical sandwich fixing, like lettuce, tomato and pickles. I ordered mine without any of those, and also no fancy onions.

Luckily for Joe’s, my meal was prepared to my perfect specifications. The chicken was good, but the Cajun spices could have used a bit more kick. Overall though, Joe’s was a very safe restaurant choice for a casual American food lover like myself.

After hearing so much about seafood in Boston, we finally got the chance to test it out with a visit to Legal Sea Foods. We were told it was a “very Boston” thing to do, and that was really all we had to hear.

When we arrived and saw that there are Legal Sea Foods restaurants located all over the East Coast, we a were a little disappointed. I guess it wasn’t simply a Boston thing. Still, I could not penalize the restaurant for someone else leading me on.

After looking at the menu for a while, I decided to start off with the Lobster Quesadilla appetizer and finish off with the Double Stuffed Baked Shrimp, including a side of mashed potatoes. Since I was splitting the appetizer with my girlfriend, I didn’t ask them to hold the greens or pico de gallo. At $25 for most entrees, I hoped Legal Sea Food could deliver me some good unvegan eats.

The lobster quesadilla came and looked mighty tasty. Luckily, they consisted of only lobster meat and cheese. Unfortunately, the lobster had a slight fishy taste. Being so close to the coast, you would think their seafood might be a bit more fresh, but apparently not. Nonetheless, with enough sauce, the fishy flavor kind of faded.

My entree looked quite daunting after polishing off the quesadilla. I didn’t quite expect the shrimp to be so huge and so filling. The crabmeat was delicious, and

the shrimp had a decent crunch without tasting too rubbery. Even the mashed potatoes tasted great. Unfortunately, I was so stuffed already that I felt like I could hardly make a dent in my entree.

In the end, the experience was a pretty positive one, but not perfect enough to merit the inflated price tags.