Restaurant Review - Gourmet Express

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

On Mass Ave, across the street from the Porter Square station, there is a stand-alone 24 hour convenience store called Gourmet Express. Well, it used to be simply a convenience store. Then they started making sandwiches. Followed by a really nice pizza oven. And they put in some griddles. Plus some tables to eat at. Without getting rid of the convenience store goodies (including English candy bars and gummy root beer). But can such a hybrid actually have good food? The answer is "oh hell yes!"

Today my companion and I decided to head over there for breakfast. For not much money we got rather a lot of real food ($6-8 will get you a heaping breakfast plate, omelette with sides, or a real breakfast burrito with salsa) and it was all extremely tasty. As my companion said, "IHOP is now dead to me." Why would you go for more expensive mediocre food when you can have real pancakes with real maple syrup and plump juicy sausages and eggs as you like them, with damn fine home-fries and melon to boot, just around the corner 24 hours a day? They also have pizza and sandwiches and Mediterranean foods (including falafel, which I can't wait to try). They are going to be renovating soon (planning on being done by September) to make more space for diners, but in the meantime it's a nice cozy place for a good meal. I highly recommend making the trip and giving them a try, because being able to get good food after midnight around here is too awesome to not support ;).

Comments

[afty.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the review. I had seen the positive reviews on Yelp and keep meaning to try this place.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

It is certainly atypical even solely on the convenience store side.

But honestly, I've never really understood why anyone would go to IHOP under pretty much any circumstances. 8)

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Drunkenness keeps IHOP in business.

Back when I was a little kid, The International House of Pancakes (later becoming IHOP) was actually good, and a real treat to go to. But then, when I was a little kid I thought McDonalds was heavenly delicious, too. :-)

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

i think that to some (myself included) ihop is its own food group. it doesn't happen often, but once in a blue moon i crave their bacon supreme omelet, fries and the stupid pancakes.

it was great when you could smoke in places, we'd go in just to chainsmoke and drink milkshakes and wait for the drugs or booze (or hangover) to wear off :p

i know, it all sounds delightful ;)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Not to incur too much of the wrath of thetathx1138 here, but since I grew up in Brooklyn, we had no shortage of family-run Greek diners where you could get pretty much anything you wanted (their menus were often the size of short novels) at any hour of the day.

I was my own special sort of bumpkin when I left there: "Why would anyone go to IHOP when they can just go to a real diner?", "I don't understand.. what do you mean I can't get a freshly-baked bagel at 4am?", "Can't we just take the bus?", that sort of thing. :)

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

hee, totally understandable XD

if only we had real diners! (tear)

...i do like south street though, they actually cook hash properly! just that i'm pretty much never, ever near there.

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

Preach it. I miss real diners. What if I want a Greek salad in the middle of the night? Or spicy curly fries? Or a milkshake? I'm supposed to make that myself or something?

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

But honestly, I've never really understood why anyone would go to IHOP under pretty much any circumstances

Price.

Even when I lived in New Jersey, home of the world's greatest family-owned diners (with "Baking On Premises"), I knew people who went to IHOP because it was significantly cheaper.

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

i've been going here & enjoying all this stuff since the days i lived near the lesley campus and it was white hen. you can always count on it, and the haribo gummy colas happen to be on of my favorite things in the world so it's nice to have a reliable place to get them.

in some senses, like the dudes peeing or vomiting in the parking lot right outside your car late at night, it will always be a white hen. but it's still worth it.

this past year on thanksgiving, bf and i were both experiencing extreme family drama/tragedy/etc as well as hangovers and decided to bail on our typical 'orphan's thanksgiving' at a friend's. of course, we were still hungry for thanksgiving dinner, and everything was closed! but not gourmet express. the guy working took pity on me and opened the deli case to slice me a pound of turkey, and i was able to get the rest of the fixings for hot open faced turkey sandwiches, and they were even selling pies. totally made my night.

[kelkyag]

because being able to get good food after midnight around here is too awesome to not support

Hear, hear! Thank you for the heads-up.

[ron_newman]

Even though I've gone there numerous times for snacks or super-late dinners, I had no idea they did breakfast. Thanks for posting this!

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

They've been serving freshly-made sandwiches, and had seating, there for many years, since it was a White Hen. It's good to know that they now serve hot breakfast, pizza, and other stuff.

[duneidieann.livejournal.com]

I am intrigued by the gummy root beer! Is it possible they were gummy cola bottles (which I have seen at Cardullo-ish places before)? I've never seen gummy root beer so thought I'd ask if you recall this detail before I get my hopes up. :)

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

I've had both cola and root beer gummies in bottle form and can't tell the difference from appearance (and didn't look on the underside to get specifics), so I'm not sure. Sorry if I got you hopes up mistakenly!

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

Because of this review, I just had an epic hangover breakfast burrito there... and it was amazing. Actually only ate half, so for $8 I actually got two meals out of it! Yum. Now it's time to sleep off this hangover/food coma...