From Food to Fenway, Todd Snyder Takes the Ultimate Tour of Boston

Target is celebrating all things local with the Local Pride by Todd Snyder line, which will highlight great American cities with location-specific apparel, home goods and more. To celebrate the first Local Pride launch in Boston, we introduced menswear designer Todd Snyder to Beantown blogger Kristen Uekermann of The Boston Fashionista, and tagged along while they enjoyed a tour of local hot spots.

Needless to say, their adventure was wicked awesome and has already inspired some of the next Local Pride designs. Journey along with the duo and take a look at some of the best that Boston has to offer, below:

Modern Pastry

First stop: Modern Pastry—a cash-only joint with a mouth-watering spread of sweets. Their order? Two ricotta cannolis and a coffee for Kristen and a pistachio cookie and an espresso (in his Boston Pride mug, of course!) for Todd.

According to Kristen, “One of the great Boston debates is Mike’s Pastry versus Modern Pastry.” Kristen claims that the shells at “Modern” are harder and the filling a bit less sweet than “Mike’s.”

Boston Harbor

Offering sweeping views of the Boston skyline, the East Boston Harbor was an easy choice for Kristen and Todd’s next stop. One of Todd’s current t-shirt designs was inspired by the site!

“East Boston is often overlooked by the tourist maps,” says Kristen. “It’s very diverse, and the waterfront offers one of the best views in the entire city. The folks in Eastie know all about it. It’s an important part of what their neighborhood is.”

Union Oyster House

At the next stop on the trail, Kristen and Todd took a trip to America's oldest restaurant, The Union Oyster House, where two senior shuckers gave them a crash course in oyster shucking 101.

The Oyster House boasts fresh-off-the-boat East Coast oysters from the likes of Duxbury, Mass. and Westpost, Conn. Considering the shuckers go through two to three thousand oysters per day, we think it’s safe to call this seafood select a real Boston staple.

China Pearl

“Chinatown holds a small but vibrant community with tons of small businesses and shops unlike any of the other places we’ve been,” said Kristen of their next pit stop: China Pearl.

Located on an unassuming street in Chinatown, the restaurant is housed among other dim sum joints, gastropubs and tea shops, where locals stop on their way home from work.

Fenway Target

Last on the list was the brand new Fenway Park Target—a location that gave Todd the opportunity to show off his design chops with the Boston-specific Local Pride line, now on sale in select Boston stores. Once inside, they made a beeline straight for the Local Pride by Todd Snyder collection, where Todd walked Kristen through each of his Boston-specific creations.

“You’ll notice a bit of a sports theme with the foam fingers, the water bottle, the coozies and the baseball hats,” says Todd. “We tried to keep all of the colors uniform with the local teams. We give a nod to the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics and the Bruins.”

The jars of Marshmallow Fluff and Skippy Peanut Butter displayed amongst Todd’s designs in the store peaked Kristen’s curiosity (and her desire to make a “Fluffernutter” sandwich!). Todd explained that those products had been curated with the local pride theme in mind: Marshmallow Fluff is native to Lynn, Mass., a city just North of Boston.

The pair resisted the urge to break open a jar then and there for a taste test, but Todd did get to enjoy a Fluffernutter sandwich at the Fenway Target store opening the very next day!

Stay tuned for more of Todd’s adventures, coming soon on A Bullseye View.