Plant a Seed at Park
ByPark Street is the perpetual crossroads of Downtown Boston, that intersection at which you always seem to find yourself, but only on your way to somewhere else. It’s the transfer point for work, school, the ballgame, your friend’s awesome party across town. Anyone looking to avoid tourists will also keep some distance from Park, unless they want to get caught up in a crowd of Freedom Trailers or a Revolution-era tour group. As a result, Tremont Street alongside the Common is a culinary wasteland of fast food chains and ritzy high rises.
Fortunately, the Black Seed Café offers a welcome respite from the mass-produced burgers.
Formerly known as Bagels Plus, this Middle Eastern-leaning eatery offers much more than bagels. Black Seed essentially operates as a full sandwich and smoothie shop, favoring fillings like kabobs and falafel (in the sandwiches, not the smoothies). The Chicken Kabob Wrap, for example, consists of a handful of spiced meat, vegetables, and a tangy sauce, for under $7. Most of the wraps are available in multiple ways—either as a sandwich or a dinner platter, so be sure to ask for details depending on your hunger level.
Another notable sandwich option is the Chicken Salad, offered as an occasional special ($6.50). The cranberries and walnuts in the mix hold this one together, providing the much-needed tart/sweet balance of a good lunch.
What happens when your daily commute brings you through Park Street early in the morning?Breakfast doesn’t disappoint, either. Among the economical platters is the French Toast, pairing a pile of delicately airy cinnamon toast with eggs and a side of fruit ($6.50). While the fruit—assorted cubes of honeydew and cantaloupe with grapes—could have been riper, the heaping serving of French toast more than made up for it.
Lest you think Black Seed has forgotten its roots, the bagels have not been swept under the rug. Rather, they are here and softer than any other bagel I’ve found in town. The Everything is full of seeds that I’m not sure exist on other bagels (not all of them black, even).
As far as beverages, I’m pleased that they’ve recently started carrying Sweet Leaf Tea Mint & Honey, which is a refreshing fallback if their fresh-squeezed orange juice isn’t available.
The clientele is fairly diverse; Black Seed draws the downtown work crowd, college kids from nearby Emerson and Suffolk, and the occasional street character since this is, after all, Park Street. During busy afternoons, tables are hard to come by, but that’s okay—Black Seed is really more of an eat-and-get-on-with-your-busy-life kind of place, anyway. It fits in well with Boston’s great intersection.
Black Seed Café
131 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02111
