Kerri Lynch-Delaney ran Babycakes Bakery in Wollaston for many years before opening 16C in Quincy Center. The restaurant is known for pan pizza — she collaborated on the dough recipe with aunt Barbara Lynch — and steak tips. She celebrates three years in business this week.
What’s the first restaurant you ever ate at in Boston? A&A Fisheries on L Street. They had broiled chicken, and I loved it. It was my most favorite thing.
What’s one thing you’d like to fix about the restaurant industry here? Is it rude if I say social media? I think it’s cyberbullying. Not every restaurant always runs 100 percent. If you have a bad experience, so many people won’t say anything to a server or manager. I ask, ‘Is everything OK?’ And you won’t say it to me, but you’ll leave here, sit down at a computer, and trash it. It’s impossible to fix something if you don’t tell someone, yet you hide behind a computer screen! The world has changed so much. Who has the time do that?
How has the restaurant landscape changed since you arrived in Boston? Being in Quincy Center, growing up in Quincy, there [weren’t many] restaurants at all. Now, it’s so nice to see all these new places come in. It’s on the upswing. It’s awesome. Back in the day, there used to be cool restaurants, but I’m 40 and don’t remember many. It’s awesome to see everything changing.
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What other restaurants do you visit? We love Bar Mezzana — any kind of pasta — and as far as locally, the Townshend and Idle Hour.
What’s your earliest food memory that made you think: I want to work in restaurants? I’m a pastry chef. I owned a bakery for 10 years before I did this. My most favorite memory is baking with my auntie — not Barbara, the other side of the family. We’d make chocolate chip cookies and a chocolate Easter bunny cake. You cut out the bowtie and the ears. We did it every year. We used Twizzlers for the whiskers. My auntie was awesome. To this day, I use all of her baking recipes. The basic ones are all from my auntie.
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What’s the worst restaurant experience you’ve ever had? Oh, God. I’m a waitress through and through. Sitting at a bar, sitting at a table, when it’s not busy, and being ignored? That drives me crazy. It will happen! You let anything slide, but when nobody’s there, that kind of kills me.
How could Boston become a better food city? I think it’s great the way it is.
Name three adjectives for Boston diners. Loyal, funny — we have so many regulars here, and we have some really funny regulars — and cool. They’re laidback. It’s a family-friendly place. We’re not stuffy.
What’s the most overdone trend right now? I don’t want to offend anyone. Let’s say foams.
What are you reading? Oh, I don’t read books at all. People magazine, probably!
How’s your commute? I live in East Milton. It takes me three minutes to get here. I don’t have much of a commute.
What’s the one food you never want to eat again? Any kind of sweetbread. Cow’s tongue, brains, not my thing. Not up my alley.
What kind of restaurant is Boston missing right now? Quincy has a lot of everything, but honestly, I think we need a cool deli.
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What’s your most missed Boston restaurant? The European in the North End.
Who was your most memorable customer? We have two ladies, regulars at the bar, Diane and Margo. They’re here every Sunday night. It’s the cutest thing. I’m pretty sure they worked together; they have a group of friends they always go out with. I think they just appreciate things. They never go up to the kitchen without thanking them. They’re sweet women.
If you had to eat your last meal in Boston, what would it be? I would go to my Aunt Barbara’s at No. 9 [Park]. Lobster gnocchi!
Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @kcbaskin.