Toro, Boston

There are places in Boston that are popular for reasons I do not understand. And then there are places like Toro, 1704 Washington Street, Boston, MA, Tel +1 (617) 536-4300. Toro is popular because it is good. The food is good. The venue is good. The service is good. The coffee is not horrible. You can even get an Aperol Spritz.

Hampton Inn, Princeton

For an illustration of the moral hazard of serving a free breakfast, look no further than the Hampton Inn, 4385 US Route 1 South, Princeton, New Jersey, Tel +1 (609) 951-0066. I don't know what scared me the most. Was it the yellow crumbles that may well have been powdered eggs? Or was it the collection of pale brown digits that looked like a crime scene from Law and Order: SVU? The hash browns also looked horrible. But at least I could tell they were hash browns.



Now, I'm not saying the eggs were powdered. Nor am I saying any sex crimes were committed during the preparation of the breakfast buffet. And I'm not even saying the food tasted bad. I didn't eat it. I'm just saying it looked a little scary to me. That's all. It may well have been delicious.