Some of the best food in the Boston area can be found at Clover Food Lab, a side-street breakfast-lunch takeout truck nestled into the MIT campus that might be one of my favorite food carts in the whole US. While droves of staff and students choose Clover above several other adjacent vendors, their small, cheap, eclectic menu (something resembling a Mediterranean mishmash) remains a relative secret to the outside world. The rotating selection generally features a handful of innovative sandwiches (like egg & eggplant or chickpea fritters), soups, and drinks, all five dollars or less. It was forty degrees outside when I went recently, but the fast-acting chefs and eager patrons provided ample entertainment as I ate right there in the open. Don’t expect too much information from their website; instead, jump on a T train as soon as possible and join Clover’s adoring crowd just off the Kendall/MIT stop.
RECS: Anything and everything. All the items I tried were top top notch: a cornmeal-crusted chickpea fritter bowl (for those with gluten allergies, they can make any sandwich into a bowl); borscht soup unlike any I’ve yet tasted; and rosemary french fries and hot apple cider (both house specialties). With such low prices, you can afford to try them all.
