Tuna Salad Wrap, Uninterrupted

Especially in the summer months, I try to get out for a true lunchbreak at least once a week.  Sometimes I'll eat first and then go for a walk or sit in the Common to read for 45 minutes, or I'll go sit at the bar somewhere (no beer I swear...) and order a quick meal.  Eating at the bar too often turns into a $15 lunch, and I'm not rich woman... there are times that tab could break the bank!

But, I discovered the perfect compromise: lunch at Boston Common Coffee Co. Typically, this is my breakfast spot.  I indulge myself in an iced mocha and a croissant every Friday, my little weekly treat to myself (okay, my one-of-many weekly treats).  Lunch here is great, you can order your meal "for here," and eat it at the large counter facing the windows.  It's the best of both worlds - lunch out without the tip!  Plus, it'll only run you about $7.

I've been wrapped up in my book lately, The Island, a story about 2 generations of sisters dealing with the blows of life on Tuckernuck, a small island off of Nantucket.  I'm always drawn to books that are set in areas familiar to me.  When the writer mentions places I've been to like Something Natural and the Chicken Box, I feel so much closer to the story.  Also, I'm going to Nantucket in September for my annual reunion with my girlfriends from home, so it makes me even more giddy for that trip (love you, rats!).  Because the 10 minutes of reading I do on the bus every morning isn't enough, I really wanted to get a good read in during my break.

This place is the best spot in Downtown Crossing to sit, relax, eat, and read read read.  I ordered my tuna wrap with a side of cold tortellini salad, grabbed a seat at the counter, and started to read.  My order number was called within a few minutes, and I took this beautiful plate back to my seat:

Lately I've been big into tuna salad wraps.  I've been craving one from Atlantic Bagel in Hingham but, poor me, I don't have a car to get me there.  Their tuna wrap is perfect: crisp lettuce, fresh tomatoes, diced pickles, and they make it on the same board they use for bagels so you get that leftover-bagel topping taste that I looove.  Boston Common Coffee Company makes a pretty good wrap, they don't have diced pickles, but I can't complain.  And you cannot go wrong with pasta salad, ever.  Maybe it was a little too much for one person at lunch, but, oops, I cleaned my plate anyway.

For 45 minutes, I ate and read, uninterrupted and happy as a clam. The food is good, the atmosphere is good, and, as they say in Tuckernuck, "life is good!"