Omni Parker House
Hotel · Downtown ·
Home of the Boston Cream Pie and Parker House Rolls
Home of the Boston Cream Pie and Parker House Rolls
"The historic hotel credited with inventing the Parker House roll in the 1870s and the Parker House custard-sponge-dessert in the 1880s; a landmark for classic New England culinary origin stories and a place to try legacy dishes tied to the state's culinary identity." - Erika Adams
"Invented at a Boston hotel in the 1870s, the famed enriched roll is celebrated for being incredibly soft and feathery as well as buttery, with a signature folded shape that makes it easy to pry the rolls open and spread them with more butter. The author's home bake, following a King Arthur Baking recipe, emphasized precise weighing of ingredients, an initial rise until the dough was 'puffy like a quilted winter coat,' shaping by pressing into a large rectangle, brushing with butter, folding lengthwise to tuck the butter into the center, cutting into pieces and placing them folded-side down, a second proof of about 45–60 minutes, and roughly a 25-minute bake. The resulting rolls were lopsided but evenly golden with a fluffy, feathery interior that was 'improved with an added pat of butter' and described as ideal for sopping up gravy or making sliders with leftover turkey or ham. The author concludes that, given modest active time (especially with a stand mixer), making these rolls from scratch is worth the effort for holiday meals." - Kat Thompson
"The birthplace of the famed Parker House rolls, known for their soft, buttery texture and signature folded shape." - Kat Thompson
"The Parker House roll was invented at this storied Boston hotel in the 1870s; Susan Wilson, the hotel’s historian, calls it "the inspired creation of an in-house German baker named Ward," and notes that "the rolls’ precise ingredients, incidentally, remained a well-kept secret until 1933, when, according to legend, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt requested the recipe be forwarded to them in Washington." Bakery supervisor Laura Figueroa goes through about 220 Parker House rolls per day, selling them by the dozen at the hotel’s two dining venues, Parker’s Restaurant and the Last Hurrah." - Adam H. Callaghan
"Leave it to one of the longest-running hotels in the United States to be home to not one ghost but two. Omni Parker House is a luxury hotel located in Boston, where the spirit of its founder, Harvey Parker, is rumored to roam the halls to make sure guests are enjoying their stay. Others swear that the ghost of Charles Dickens may still linger somewhere on the third floor adjacent to a room where the author briefly lived." - Brooke Bobb, Christina Pérez