North Shore Eats

Trying to get into one of the popular restaurants along route 1 at 7 pm in the midst of school vacation week probably wasn't one of our best ideas. Border Cafe gets pretty crazy, but I've never seen it so mobbed. Kind of makes you wonder why they didn't keep the original location open on the other side of the road to handle all the business.

It was the same story up the road at the new Santarpio's: things were not quite as chaotic there, but we were told the wait would be at least 45 minutes. One of our group suggested a Chinese restaurant on a side road nearby, so we drove over there.

Su Chang's in Peabody is the kind of place you could easily miss if you weren't looking for it. It's in a building that looks to have been a house at some point, and its signage is low-key. It was also busy, but even though there were six of us, we had to wait less than five minutes to be seated.

Some people think Chinese food is Chinese food, but I'm very fussy about it. I wouldn't be telling you about it if I didn't think it was good. The atmosphere is pleasant, the prices are very reasonable, the staff were friendly and joked around with the two children in our group, and an elegant woman who appeared to be the owner stopped by our table to make sure we were enjoying our meal.

(It also happens to be close to the Northshore Mall, making it a good choice for dinner after a shopping expedition.)