Moogy’s
The atmosphere is eclectic. The menu is absolutely wild. And the food is definitely delicious. We are on Chestnut Hill Ave on the outskirts of Boston between Brighton Center and Cleveland Circle at a place named Moogy's. And technically you would consider this a sub shop. But trust me on this. This ain't anything like your typical neighborhood sub shop.
Sure, they do sandwiches and they do them really, really well. But they have a lot more. I mean everything from breakfast to baked goods. And it's all made fresh. It's all outrageously good. And it's all served with the side of nostalgia. Now this place has been around for quite a while, it opened 27 years ago, when it first opened it was more of a typical sub shop and over the years, the menu has expanded and expanded and expanded. Customers kept coming into this place and they requested more and more interesting and outrageous sandwiches and the ones that worked eventually made it onto the menu. And once it makes it onto the menu, it also goes up on a hand painted chalkboard right on the wall and there are dozens of them. Every sandwich has a weird name, a wacky combination of flavors and ingredients. And somehow it all just works.
Believe it or not. one of the top selling sandwiches is the Phantom Royale with Cheese, a steak and cheese that has been blessed by the Phantom Gourmet himself. It all starts with the same kind of steak they use in Philadelphia, that gets thrown onto the grill. And that's where you'll find Phil, Phil on the grill. This guy is a steak and cheese master. I mean, he whips these things up like he's a Japanese hibachi chef. To kick up the flavor, they drizzle on some barbecue sauce. Then on comes not one, not two, four slices of cheese, and then right over the top, right out of the fryolator, piping hot onion rings. And here we have it: the Phantom Royale with cheese. This is the large so this is a 14 inch sub. Steak. Cheese. BBQ. Onion rings. That's a lot of food. And I'm just the guy to take it down (bite) Mmmmm… hmmmmm.. I’m doing the steak sizzle.
They also do a lot of chicken based subs and this is the one I recommend above all others, the Hail Caesar. So this starts with fresh white meat chicken tenders. Then right over the top you get some thick slabs of provolone cheese. Then onto the bread, he has some fresh romaine lettuce, and absolutely addictive Caesar dressing. And if it has lettuce and salad dressing, you might as well consider it a salad. Mmmmm. Salad.
On the side, they have like 10 Different kinds of fries. You can get the curly fries, bacon cheese fries. I happen to be a huge fan of their chive fries. Piping hot crinkle cut fries that are smothered and that powdery seasoning of the chive and the sour cream and then it comes with some homemade ranch dressing on the side. Salty, sweet, crispy. I could drink this ranch by the gallon.
One of my biggest culinary obsessions is the Monte Cristo sandwich. And this is Moogy's version of it. They call it the Love Child. So they start by throwing on some freshly battered French toast onto the griddle. Once that starts to brown up a little bit, they throw on some Swiss cheese get that melting. Then right onto the grill comes some ham and some turkey. Then they stack it all together, they slice it up into pieces, throw it onto a plate, and serve it with a side of maple syrup. If you're still getting just a plain old boring French toast, what are you doing with your life?
You don't want to leave Moogy's without getting something sweet for dessert. Every single day their head baker Marnie, she makes something different and something incredibly good. Today coming out of the oven, they have some gooey chocolate chip cookies, some enormous cinnamon butter sugar cookies. But the house favorite is definitely the banana bread. It is dense and it is moist and it is buttery…. oh boy… Who would have known the best banana bread in New England is from a sub shop in Brighton? That's why I love the show!
You take a look around this place and you will notice immediately that this is the real deal. It is locally owned and operated. And it is funky. Everything here is really handmade, the furniture, the signage. It's all a little mismatch. But that's kind of the fun and the flavor of the place. Moogy’s is the kind of place that attracts everybody from families to college kids. Basically anybody who's looking to eat a lot of food for not a lot of money. There's a reason why this place has been around for almost 30 years and they have so many regular customers, because as soon as you taste your food everybody says the same thing.
“We love Moogy’s!!!”
