THE BAYSIDE CLUB
367 East Eighth St.
South Boston.
TELEPHONE: 268-4772
HOURS: Monday through Saturday 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Sunday
11:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
For handicapped persons: Street level entrance; men's room
down one flight; women's room on same floor as restaurant. To the world at large, the Bayside Club is known as the placewhere Senate President William Bulger serves up his annual St.Patrick's Day roast, a time for corned beef and cabbage spiced withpolitical barbs, Irish songs and a beer or two.
In South Boston, the Bayside Club is known as a place with,among other things, good steak tips. The restaurant portion is onthe ground floor of a structure built into a hill so it's almostlike a basement, although there is a level below that, too. Theentrance is off Covington Street, a fairly steep hill.
The atmosphere is indeed clubby, like a neighborhood gatheringplace. True to South Boston's sports tradition, you can usuallyfind at least two different games being broadcast on televisionsets at opposite ends of the bar and maybe a third on a big-screenaffair down at the end. And if that's not enough entertainment,there's a small basketball hoop next to the jukebox, a jukebox thathas selections ranging from Jerry Lee Lewis to New Kids on theBlock.
But back to the steak tips ($5.95) -- sweet, tender andplentiful (doggy-bag plentiful for some appetites.) The marinade islisted on the menu as 'secret' and would be well worth knowing. Aswith most Bayside entrees, they come with a slightly odd choice ofpotato, rice or salad, but you can have it both ways by orderingone of these and getting another as a side order.
The Bayside is one of those places where you're likely to getin the rut of ordering the same meal every time because it's sogood, but there are other things not to be overlooked. Baked scrodwith crabmeat topping ($5.95) was also a big portion, although weactually didn't notice the crabmeat. Another seafood selection,baked scallops ($6.95), showed that the sea scallop variety can bejust as tasty as the little bay scallops. These were fairly smalland obviously fresh.
In the appetizer department, the shrimp cocktail ($1 pershrimp) is a good choice -- big, plump, firm and fresh. The samecan be said of the many shrimp found in the scampi ($7.25).
Another Italian specialty, baked ziti ($3.25), was rich,heartily cheesy, and there was lots of it.
The serving of chicken teriyaki ($5.95) was also large, allwhite meat on wooden skewers, although it could have stood a littlelonger marinating time.
Baby back ribs ($5.95 for half a rack, $9.50 for a full) areunique, sort of a Boston variation on the dish, not hot and spicy,but having more of a baked-beanish flavor -- different anddelicious.
The regular menu is always supplemented by blackboardspecials, and each night there is an all-you-can-eat item. The onlything they don't appear to have is corned beef and cabbage. MACDON;11/20 LDRISC;11/30,16:12 BAYSIDE Caption: DRAWING Fran O'Neill illustration
