Morin's Diner - Attleboro, MA

I think that Morin's might have moved up in the world after Guy paid them a visit because the official name of the restaurant has the word "diner" in it but the sign on the door now says "restaurant."  Morin's wasn't a diner, a drive-inn or a dive.  I'd call it a bar/restaunt because you walk into the bar area and can either eat and/or drink there or walk further into the dining area.  Definitely too nice to be called a dive.

I was resetting my expectations downward because it was shaping up to be another middle of the road okay restaurant when I first approached.  The sign might not say TGIFridays or Chilis but the pattern for these types of places is all a cut from the same cloth.

Luckily, that didn't turn out to really be the case.  In terms of atmosphere, there really isn't anything anywhere else in the country like a good Boston area bar.  I like the Boston people.  They laugh like they mean it.  They talk with conviction and know how to really tell a story passionately.  They just seem to do a better job of living out loud than the rest of us.  I think that I have a pretty neutral American accent but, when I'm in New England I find New York accent words from my earlier years rolling off my tongue un-commanded.  It's like it's okay to let everything about yourself hang out here.

I started off with a cup of the seafood chowder.  Evidently the Rhode Island chowder is red and the Massachusetts style is white.  Who knew?  This was the white creamy chowder with huge chunks of potato and big chunks of fish.  Both the potato and fish tastes really popped out without being too salty.   It was really good.  They must have used some wine or something else in the chowder sauce because even though it was creamy, it was also light in viscosity.  I would go back and just have a larger bowl of chowder next time.  It was that good.

I ordered the baked Atlantic scrod for the main course.  They bake it with crushed ritz crackers on top served in a stainless steel dish with cole slaw, mashed potatos and gravy.  The presentation was completely "diner." 

The gravy was beef gravy.  This was a little bit of a disaster because I started out sampling everything and found that the beef flavor was competing against the fish flavor and not in a good way.  Verdict: Abandon beef gravy.


The scrod was really very nice.  The ritz cracker flavor was immediately evident.  I wasn't expecting much out of the cheap crackers but, it really added a nice buttery, salty flavor that complimented the scrod and kicked the scrod flavor into high gear.

Because the fish was baked and served all in the same dish, it kept all of its juices which was like a gravy of its own.  I was back in business with the mashed potatoes.  I mopped up the juicy, ritzy juices out of the stainless steel dish with the potatoes.  Delightful.

I'd give Morins a 9.2 on my ddd-scale.  Worth checking out if your in the neighborhood.  I wish that I had more time and wasn't driving.  It might have been fun to hang out for a while here.

Morin's Diner
16 S Main St
Attleboro, MA 02703
(508) 222-9875
http://www.morins1911.com

Rino's Place - East Boston, MA

Rino's is probably one of the best kept secret's in East Boston.  It was kind of strange because I went looking specifically for this restaruant and drove right past it the first time because the sign was not at all obvious and the shades were drawn, so it didn't even look like a restaruant on the side of the building that I drove by on.  So, on one hand they have been featured on national television but, on the other they don't stand out on a typical Boston neighborhood street.

There is no doubt that this is an Italian restaurant.  There were people actually speaking Italian in the restaurant and the look of the dishes being served at the other tables was pure Italian.

It was a pretty small restaurant.  The ceiling was like a plywood wood arch down the length of the single room.  It reminded me of an old railroad car but, it didn't match the outside of the building unless they built the brick building on top of the railroad car.  The only bathroom was though the kitchen door and to the right.  The whole kitchen was probably about 10 to 12 feet square

This was definitely not Giada's Italian kitchen.  This was a tough middle class Italian neighborhood.  People talk to you like they might sock you in the mouth at any time.  You'd better behave yourself.  The wait staff wasn't tripping over themselves with kindness here.  But, boy could someone in back cook.

I ordered the lobster ravioli.  I read some reviews on yelp.com before I came here and everyone raved about it.  Wow!  They raved for good reason. 

The pasta was obviously freshly made maybe after I ordered it.  It had that hard, chewy a-dente texture and taste that you only get with super fresh pasta.  The lobster was also obviously super fresh because it could not have spent much more time than the time to cook it inside of the pasta before being served.  The lobster still had its firmness to it.  The ricotta cheese inside was really flavorful.  The sauce was a really nice tomato sauce that tasted like the old country.  Just really great.
 
It came with a salad which was okay but, I didn't think that it was anything special.

Rinos Place
258 Saratoga Street
East Boston, MA 02128-1616
617.413.6390
www.rinosplace.com