A QUICK CUP OF TEA AT THE KOOKOO CAFE

Last week Leah mentioned that she had seen a new bakery had opened up in Brookline Village on Station Street. And strangely enough that same week, Daily Candy had a little write up of the same place, called the KooKoo Cafe. Now, the pottery studio I used to work out is also located on Station St., so I knew that the only place this new cafe could be located was where this cute Middle Eastern sandwich place had been. So, since I need to return a DVD in Coolidge Corner, which was also where Jayna was having lunch, we decided to meet up for a quick snack and check out the new cafe.

Here's their door:So upon entering the KooKoo, I noticed that they'd really opened up the space. It's still tiny. With only 3 tables, but it was also very cozy and cute. There's a very simple sandwich menu and there are a bunch of baked goods, which they get from Iggy's.

Since neither of us was particularly hungry, we didn't order much. Jayna got a steamed milk while I got a tea and a pecan bun. It's kinda funny, cause I used to order these exact same pastries for my store (though the pecan buns kept attracting fruit fries, so we got rid of them pretty fast). Anyway, here it is below. Sticky , sweet and totally yummy. And no fruit flies.So since we didn't have much food to document, I took interior shots of the place so you could get an idea of what it looks like. Here's one of their cases, along with Jayna's shoulder. Here's some random food and nicknacks they have for sale.In addition to the pastries and sandwiches, there's a scattering of random foodstuff you can buy, like bags of coffee and tea. I was surprised to find that they served Terroir Coffee, from George Howell's coffee company. This is the first time I've seen it sold anywhere in Boston and I'd like to go back sometime to try it. For those of you who don't know, George Howell is this super famous coffee guy in Boston. He used to own a company called Coffee Connection, which he eventually sold to Starbucks. But he recently started another company called Terroir Coffee located out in Acton. Hopefully I'll get out there one day and review it for all of you.

But back to Kookoo cafe. I think it's a cute place to stop and relax with friend or on your own. They have some magazines to flip through or games to play with. We learned from the highly inquisitive owner that they've been open for 3 months now. He liked asking lots of questions, particularly where we lived (though we attempted to be vauge about it) and where we'd found out about his store, but he was nice enough to let us stay a bit late, even though they closed at 5.

And just as a little side note. After we got kicked out of Kookoo, we wandered over to a little grocery store on Harvard called the Village Store or something of that sort and were surprised to find a fully stocked Korean grocery store, replete with little Korean women. Who knew that there was a population of elderly Korean women? We browsed their aisles and though we didn't pick up much, it's great to know there's a place to stock up on kimchi if you ever need it.

A SEMI-DELUXE DINNER AT DELUXE TOWN DINER

On Friday night my sister took her last exam as a med student, so we decided to celebrate by having dinner at the Deluxe Town Diner in Watertown. I was pretty excited to go to this restaurant, which I had driven by a few times, but had heard more about of late due to the cupcake shop that they'd opened next door. That's right, a cupcake shop. But we'll get back to that later.

So like I said, the diner is located in Watertown. Which for those of you without a car, may seem like a world a way. It's funny how small a city Boston is, but you never realize it until you get a car and find out that the trip which once seemed unreachable by the T is only a 5 or 10 minute drive away. (which is what I figured out one I got a car and started going to JP, Watertown and Brighton) This diner is less than a 10 minute drive north of Harvard. So for those of you without a car, what can I say, find a friend who has one.

Upon entering the diner, you immediately see that it really is like one of those old school diners. This one wasn't super fancy, but what they're known for is having an untraditional diner menu. And it was actually fairly empty, which I was a little surprised about, but I guess this place is also more famous for their breakfast/brunch. We sat in a booth in the back and I already knew what I wanted to order, having perused the menu online prior to arriving. You can find it here on their website: www.deluxetowndiner.com. So back to that untraditional menu, i did consider ordering off their all day breakfast menu. And they do have the traditional diner stuff, but they also serve stuff like sweet potato pancakes, veggie sausages and you can add sun dried tomatoes, avocados and goat cheese to your omlettes. But I opted instead actual dinner food.

Still, I didn't order the regular diner dinner. (though they do have the burgers, sandwiches, etc.) Instead, I got an order of polenta fries with garlic aioli. These were actually pretty good. Though not really what I had expected. When I read "polenta fries" on the menu, I kinda imagined in my head these thick cut pieces of polenta, panfried and served with the sauce on the side. Instead, these were literally french fries that just happened to be made out of polenta rather than potatoes. They were crunchy, corny and had a little head to them, which I liked. And the garlic aioli was a great accompaniement. I kinda wish I had gotten sweet potato fries instead.

For dinner, I ordered the Maine crab cakes. Here they are below. And i got to pick two sides. I chose the "real" mashed potatoes and broccoli.
As you can see, it's a very generous portion. I ended up taking two of them home. I actually ended up liking the sides more than the actual crab cakes. Those mashed potatoes were great! The crab cakes were ok. They clearly been made ahead of time, which i think contributed to their dryness. Also, these crab cakes had been deep fried, so they developed a very thick crust on the outside. And you'd think this would help seal in the juices (kinda like fried chicken) but again, they were quite dry. Lots of tartar sauce helped, but I would've preferred panfried crab cakes.

By then time our entrees had arrived, the restaurant had started filling up. With a lot of family with young children. And I could see why parents would bring their kids here. It's very low key, no fuss, and it's the kind of place where it's so loud that people don't care if your kid is screaming their head off, running around the restaurant or throwing food on the floor. So not exactly the romantic date type place. Also, I think there was only one waiter for our entire half of the restaurant, so even though we ordered quickly and the food came out fast, it took almost as long to get our check. Oh, and here' s my sister's mealoaf dinner, just so you can get a look.In conclusion, I guess the food at Deluxe Town Diner is a hit or miss. I think next time I'll order off their all day breakfast menu, since that's their specialty. Oh, and back to that cupcake store. So by the time we had finished dinner (around 8) the place was closing.It's located just around back of the diner. But we were able to get some cupcakes to go at the front of the diner. and though my chocolate cupcake was very pretty with its colored frosting, it turned out that the cupcake itself was very dry and I could've made better cupcakes at home with a box of cake mix. So the next time your in Watertown, check out the diner, order the all day breakfast and skip the cupcakes.

DIM SUM AT THE PEARL

My friend Noel was in town last weekend and she had one request, that we have dim sum. Noel lives up in Maine where she's attending grad school, and apparently, there's a lack of decent Asian cuisine, especially dim sum. So we trekked down to the only place to get decent dim sum in Boston- China Pearl in Chinatown.

Back before I had the store, going to dim sum was more of a monthly thing. It was easy to go on the spur of the moment and with a large group of people (plus it's better with a group since you get to order more stuff). But I hadn't been to dim sum in months, so I welcomed the opportunity to go. Now, I will admit that there are other places to get dim sum in Chinatown. I'm just saying that China Pearl is really the only one worth going to. You can ask me about my experience at Chau Chow and Empress Garden some other time.

For you dim sum novices, this is how it works. You push through the large number of people who will inevitably be waiting for tables at the top of the stairs and walk up to the host stand where you're given a number. And then you wait until your number is called. (for us, this took about 20 minutes during which we observed all the people entering and leaving the Pearl. Our final conclusion was that everyone has dim sum at the Pearl- students, families, friends- EVERYONE. I even ran into a customer). When your number is finally called, you push your way back to the host stand and are given a ticket. Which is basically what they use to keep track of everything you'll end up ordering that day. Then you eventually get seated. Either on the main floor or the 3rd floor. And you may be forced to share a table, but luckily we got our own table. This is how it works at almost any dim sum place you go to. Be it in LA, NY or Boston. It's not that much different than when I went as a kid, except it's a lot more accessible now. And I gotta say that the service has improved since the earlier days. When i went to dim sum as a kid, my parents would wake us up super early on the weekend and drive an hour just to get good dim sum. And that was back in the day when the only people you'd see having dim sum were Asian.

So at the Pearl, they have the traditional dim sum going around on various carts, but they also have a stationary hot station. (the Pearl is the only place where I've ever seen this.) Each cart has different food items on it. And certain carts have set items, like the steamed bun cart. or the dessert cart. At the hot station, you can pick some different dishes. And since we weren't getting any good carts, I got up and ordered us some fried tofu with shrimp and chinese broccoli. Don't forget your ticket, you gotta get it stamped.
So if you're a vegetarian, you can just forget about going to dim sum. Unless all you're going to be eating is that steamed broccoli above. But if you love pork of shrimp, you'll be all set. Now since I don't eat pork, the majority of the dishes we got contained shrimp. (except for the shu mai which Noel consumed on her own, and which i did not photograph). Which was a good thing cause that's what Noel wanted. She let me do all the ordering, and I'll admit that ordering can be a bit difficult sometimes. Not all the waitresses speak English (though this has improved) and even if they do, they won't be willing to stand there and explain what's in every dish. If you're a dim sum novice, your best bet is to point and be open to trying new things. Or go with an experienced person.

Here are the shrimp dumplings that Noel wanted:
And here's a different version of the shrimp dumpling with some bamboo shoots and some green veggie. It turned out that Noel liked this the most.
Oh, let me mention that pacing yourself is a very important thing to do at dim sum. It's so easy to get carried away and order a table full of food that may not get eaten. so i highly suggest ordering a few things at a time and then ordering more if necessary, or taking a big group of people.

Here are some shrimp wontons:
And shrimp spring rolls with celery in fried tofu skins:
By this point we were so full we couldn't eat anything else. And to be honest, I'm not a giantic fan of the desserts served at dim sum. I'd much rather have an almond cookie for the corner bakery.

The last great thing about dim sum is that it's really affordable. All this food, and inevitably, no matter how many people you go with, you always end up spending around $12 per person. So the next time you're hosting friends from out of town, take them to dim sum. It's the perfect place to try something new and fill up on great food.

GROTTO: A LITTLE HIDEWAY ON BEACON HILL

Last night my sister, Leah, Tina and I all got together for Restaurant Week. I had made reservations at Grotto on Beacon Hill, which I had wanted to try for a long time, but never made it over there. So of course, Restaurant week was the perfect opportunity to check it out. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, during a typical Restaurant Week, restaurants will offer a set menu (with a few choices) and you get to have three courses. It's $20.06 for lunch of $30.06 for dinner. In my experience, Restaurant week meals tend to be a little disappointing. The restaurants are generally packed, trying to keep up with the demand, and they don't showcase their best dishes, cause it's just too expensive to do that. Grotto was an exception, because I knew in advance that they were offering their full menu for restaurant week. Which means you could pick anything you wanted off the normal menu, and still pay just $30 for 3 courses!

When we arrived we discovered a very cute restaurant in a basement location. It was small and cozy. Clearly not as finished and polished as other places, but I liked it. They had painted the roof all red and there was also lots of black. Truthfully, I think the name matched perfectly for the location. When we were given the menus, there was some slight confusion over what we could order, but we soon got it all figured out. I ended up picking an appetizer portion of the crab ravioli (which I could've also gotten as an entree size) and I got the halibut for my entree. I did seriously consider ordering the lobster mac and cheese as a full size entree which was a side order for the salmon entree, but i decided to avoid the decadence. of course, i'd regret this choice later on....

But here's my appetizer of crab ravioli. It was very yummy and colorful. Homemade pasta, and you could definintely taste the crab middle. Plus i like the tomatoes and toasted almonds that it was served with. I gobbled that down fast.
And here's a pic of Leah's potato gnocchi with some type of meat sauce. She also enjoyed it lots.Here's a pic of my halibut entree. To be honest, I wasn't thrilled with it. It had come out dry and a bit overcooked. You could tell it'd been sitting under a heat lamp, waiting for all the entrees to be served. Plus all those other extra things on the side didn't really make up for the bland taste. I should've gotten the mac and cheese!(which looked great on Tina's plate, and she liked it a lot).I did get to try my sister's duck entree, which was very yummy. And Leah got the same thing. Here's a pic of it below. The leg was super juicy and very flavorful. I would've ordered this had part of it not been wrapped in bacon. (But that's exactly why Leah ended up ordering it).
And of course, we had our dessert course remaining. Three of us ended up ordering the warm chocolate cake. Mine had a side of cinnamon ice cream, that was super intense. It reminded me of red hots. I didn't finish the whole thing, cause by this point, i was stuffed full.But i did pass it onto Leah, after she had finished her Bread pudding with caramel ice cream. (below).I'll admit that the service was a little neglectful, especially considering the large ratio of staff members to the actual number of customers. With 4 waitresses on the floor, they really could've been more attentive. But I blame this on restaurant week. Those waitresses probably weren't thrilled that they were working extra hard with more customers while making less in tips. I know i'd feel that way. Perhaps they'd be better on a slower night. Overall though, I think this deal was excellent. And dare I say, one of the better meals that i've had in Boston.

So if you're looking for a romantic little hideway for dinner, I would certainly suggest Grotto for a delicious meal in an unexpected setting.

LEMONY CHICKEN AND POTATOES

I apologize for my very non creative title. But i'm on my 10th hour of a fifteen hour day, and I stayed up late last night to watch the finale of Project Runway, so my brain is a bit fried. But taking advantage of some of the spare time I have at work right now, I figured I'd write about the the chicken with roasted lemon and rosemary sauce that I made a few nights ago. I had chicken left over from the fried chicken that I had made, and potatoes from a boston organics order, plus thyme, so this recipe was perfect.

Now, there are a couple of chefs on foodtv that i always trust. One is Ina Garten and the other is Michael Chiarello. So here' s the ingredients below, courtesy or Mr. Chiarello.

5 large lemons
Gray salt
6 boneless chicken breast halves, skin on
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds small new potatoes, such as red bliss, halved
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 cups double-strength chicken stock, or 2 cups canned low-salt chicken broth boiled until reduced by half
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, optional
Rosemary sprigs, for garnish

The first thing you wanna do is cut the lemons in half broil them. I'd never done this before, so it was kinda interesting to see the results after about 15 minutes of broiling. The lemons come out super soft and kinda brown. So you're supposed to let them rest and then juice them over a strainer. So here's my warning, you gotta really let them cool cause if you try to juice the lemons when they're still hot, burning hot juice will come squirting out at you. I learned that the hard way.
Next, I browned the chicken thighs that I had left over from the chicken frying. It took about 5 minutes per side and those got place on the side for later. Next, using the same pan, I browned the potatoes which I had cut in half and seasoned with salt and pepper. This took about 15 minutes and they came out very pretty.

Then i rearranged the chicken thighs on top of the potatoes and stuck the whole thing in the oven for what was supposed to be 15 minutes at 425F. It actually ended up taking longer than that, cause the potatoes took longer to cook than the chicken. So i just removed the cook chicken and put it to the side until the potatoes were done cooking.

When the potatoes were finally done, i took those out of the oven and moved them onto a different dish. Then i finally started to work on the actual sauce. I tossed in garlic and olive oil into the pan from which i'd just removed the potatoes. Then i added in thyme (no rosemary), the chicken broth and the lemon juice. It was super super lemony. Which is why you toss in the butter, which helped cut the citrus a bit. And then you pour all the sauce over the chicken and potatoes. My final verdict on the whole dish? Those potatoes were great. I'm definitely doing that again. But the sauce? Just way too much lemon for me. If i ever make it again, I'd decrease the lemon and increase the chicken broth and it was certainly worth making so I could get all those extra ingredients used up. And if you wanna talk about the finale of Project Runway, give me a call.

IS THERE ANY BUTTER AT THE BUTTERY?

Which is what one of our fellow customers asked while we ate. A couple of weeks ago, Jayna and I decided that we wanted to go have lunch. She needed to go to the South End to visit a site and I wanted to go to the South End to check out some coffeeshops. So with that in mind, I suggested that we visit the Buttery, which opened not too long ago on Shawmut St. and Union Park St. First, let me just say that I was thrilled to have found VISITOR PARKING in the south end! it'll probably never happen again in my lifetime.

Upon arriving at the South End Buttery, I realized that I'd driven by this place many times before, and had always wondered if it was ever open. After looking at the hours, I realized that I was just driving by at the wrong time. The Buttery does an intense lunch crowd, so they're only open until 3pm on weekdays, 5pm on weekends, but they're packed the entire time.It's a super casual place, but they have lovely salads, sandwiches, homemade soups and pastries. I think they make everything on premises in their basement kitchen. It's also pretty small, so I was glad that we were able to grab a table (though they turn pretty quickly). I also admired their lovely espresso machine. It was old school and beautiful. Too bad they didn't know how to use it properly. Jayna ordered some chicken soup (she was just starting to get sick and remains so even now). While I ordered a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich.

And here are the remnants of that sandwich. ( I apologize, i forgot about photographing until I'd consumed most of it.) But it was yummy and melty and cheesy. I liked it a lot. Sometimes the simplest things in life are the best.

Here's Jayna's soup. It looked good, and they used real chives. How rare.

And lastly, we shared a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie which was fantastic. Loaded with butter, it probably set me back a week at the gym, but it was worth it. So in response, yes, there is butter at the south end buttery, and it's all in the cookies.

MEET ME AT RENDEZVOUS IN CENTRAL SQUARE

Yes, I've heard your questions, wondering if I had abandoned the blog. But no! Not at all. Let's just say that February was a very busy month (valentine's day and all) and my camera was on a play date. But here I am, back to blogging and filling you in on all my recent eating adventures, so you have something to read if you're stuck at home sick or sitting at work having finished reading updates on Project Runway. Speaking of which, have you read Andy's blog on Bravo's website? It's excellent. You should all take a quick detour and take a look. I'm doing that right now.

Ok, I've returned. So a few weeks ago, my friend Huong was back in town visiting her bf, Kjell. So we decided to get dinner, and since they lived in Central Square, i suggested that we try out Rendezvous, which Leah had been to the previous night and had enjoyed quite a lot. Perhaps many of you are asking where Rendezvous is located and it now occupies the space that was once the home of Burger King on Mass Ave. When we entered, I was pretty impressed at what they had done with the space. They honestly hadn't made any huge structural changes from the previous occupant, but it had become a beautiful warm and comfortable space. Lots of yellow helps.

This restaurant happened to be very busy that night, because it was a holiday, but we got seated at table right away anyway. After perusing the menu, we figured out that this place is a bit on the pricier side. And nothing on the menu was wow, extraordinary and unusual. Lots of the typical stuff, which meant that the ultimate judgement would be based on execution. Both Kjell and I decided to order 2 appetizers in place of an entree. While Huong got an entree of duck 3 ways (yeah, i considered it momentarily, but I'm over my whole duck craving).

So here's my first appetizer of scallops.Very colorful and yummy. I loved the addition of blood oranges. And the scallops were very well seared. I gotta figure out how to do that at home. I think I have the wrong pans...

I also took a picture of Kjell's appetizer of saradines. Ok, I admit these were a bit unusual, cause they're so much bigger than the sardines I'm used to seeing it. Kjell enjoyed them a lot, but they were too fishy for my taste. It was a very generous portion, though. My second appetizer was the shrimp risotto. Again, nothing extradordinarily new, but very well prepared and I enjoyed it a lot. Plus they were pretty generous with the shrimp. For dessert, we decided to pick two off the menu and share it. Nothing was super fascinating, but I wanted to try the pear tarte tatin cause as you all should know, tarte tatin is my favorite dessert and I make a killer one. And we also shared a chocolate almond cake? (i think that's what it was). Here's the pear tarte tatin.It was allright. Nothing spectacular. I could've made a better one. And here's the chocolate cake.

I enjoyed the candied hazelnuts that were crushed and sprinkled on top. But again, nothing extraordinary that couldn't be produced at home.

Overall, I enjoyed Rendezvous. It's a great addition to the area. When I lived in Central, it was hard enough finding anywhere decent to eat. (now, everyone will say, but what about Central Kitchen- I don't like it). It's definitely a great place to go if there's a special occassion or if someone else is paying, but a little to pricey for an every week visit. And I'd skip the desserts. If you need something hit, visit Toscanini's, just 2 blocks away.