Boston Cream Pie and Omni Parker House Hotel

I realized my last few posts have been a bit long (sorry about that) - sometimes there is a lot to share.  However,  I promise this one will be short.

As you know Boston is chopped full of history.  It is home to some of the nation's "oldest" this, and "longest running" that, or "first" something.  Today, I decided to walk around town to enjoy the beautiful weather (no rain makes me happy) and I stopped by the Omni Parker House Hotel.  From the numerous guided tours I've been on with visiting friends and family, I have heard tidbits of information and stories of the hotel so I wanted to check it out.

Specifically, I went in to try the hotel's Boston Cream Pie.  The yellow, sponge cake filled with vanilla custard and covered in chocolate originated in the hotel's kitchen.  As writer of "The Omni Parker House: A Brief History," Susan Wilson shares, the pie (which is actually a cake) recipe became popular enough to become a Betty Crocker box mix in 1958 - who knew?  The dessert also became the official Massachusetts State Dessert in 1996.  As one might expect, the pie was delicious.  It was definitely sponge and the semi-sweet (I'm guessing thats what is was) was really rich.  It also served with strawberries and whip cream.  It was a great way to end my stroll through the city.

Besides the famous dessert, Omni Parker House is famous for a number of other reasons.  I love the fact that both Ho Chi Minh and Malcolm X once worked in the hotel - Minh in the kitchen and Malcolm X as a bus boy - helps make these two seem more normal, instead of just the famous individuals they are.  Charles Dickens once stayed in the Omni Parker House during his American literature tour.  One of the most interesting things (I think) about the hotel are the numerous ghost stories.   My favorite one involved one of the elevators mysteriously being called and stopping on the third floor when no one is there.  (The hotel has a handout with stories, but if you know of any other ghost stories, I would love to hear them.)If you want to learn more about the hotel's interesting history, Wikipedia has a decent post and I found this link that also had some great information.

By the way if it seems strange to go somewhere just for an original dessert, I wasn't the only one.  As I was waiting for my pie, I overheard a group lamenting that they did not get a photo with her Boston Cream Pie.  I love my fellow tourists!