BITES
The Amateur Gourmet likes to call his random thoughts section "Nibbles". So I'll call my random thoughts section "Bites". THAT'S how creative I am. I haven't eaten out at many new places lately, though I have been to a number of places I hadn't visited in a while, so I thought I'd give you a quick update on my dining thoughts during the last week.
- Hey, have you guys noticed the cool new addition to my website? It's a meebo widget. It's right here, to the right. So basically it's this chat program, and when I'm shown as online, you can message me using the little window. And we can chat. Cool huh? We have Tom to thank for this fun new edition. Try it out.
- Now that restaurant week is over, I have rather unsuccessfully attempted to save money and eat in more. I think I've eaten in once during the last week. Which is the number of times I've gone to the gym. But I blame this on my friend Jess being in town. It's just hard to eat in when you have house guests. Speaking of house guests, I also have a new addition to my apartment, the mouse. He runs around in my room late at night, scurrying around, finding caches of chocolate that I've long forgotten about and generally keeping me awake. Hopefully my building maintenance ppl will actually do something about it and soon. Otherwise I'll be borrowing my friends' cats.
- I went to Wilson's again this weekend. I love that place. I saw cherries and they were $5/lb. But I decided this would be my last cherry purchase until next year. So I splurged, and spent $13 on a bag of cherries. Yeah, it's a lot. But not as much as the $25 that I spent on a bag at Whole Foods last year. Sigh. I love cherries.
- And speaking of Wilson's, I also bought these fantastic golden cherry tomatoes. They're so much sweeter than regular cherry tomatoes. I bought two baskets for Tom, but ended eating one myself. I haven't bought any heirloom tomatoes yet, even though I know it's prime heirloom tomato time and all anyone can talk about is heirlooms. I wasn't excited about the ones I saw at the South End Open Market and the ones at Wilson's were kinda big. (Leah bought an enormous man-tomato), but I'm gonna pick some up tomorrow at the Brookline Farmer's Market.
- We tried out brunch at Toro last Sunday, and I would advise you guys to pass. Toro is much better for dinner. They had far fewer tapas on the menu than I expected. We did get some great potatoes and crepes, but the egg dishes were generally disappointing, and pretty pricey. Both Jess and Leah got the scrambled eggs with avocado and aspargus, but they arrived without avocado. I guess they ran out and forgot to mention it, so that was disappointing. My huevos rancheros weren't so great either. Though I did enjoy the flavorful salsa, there were far too many beans and not much of anything else. And $12 was a lot for the size. Next time, I'll visit my other favorite South End breakfast places, like Metropolis.
- Don't ask for wine recommendations at Petit Robert. It's been months since I've eaten at Petit Robert. Oh, and did you know they've already opened a second location in the South End? Anyway, I digress. We went there for dinner a few nights ago for Jess's last night here. And it was a pretty decent meal. Jess enjoyed it and that's what's important. I like it when you can get 3 courses for dinner and still pay under $35 for good food. However, I was very annoyed at our waiter. Jess wanted to order wine with dinner and asked for a glass of Riesling (which they didn't have. Oh, and she picked up the Riesling habit from me, since it's one of my favorite wines). I realize that Jess truly enjoyes Riesling cause it's a sweeter wine (but that's offset by the acidity of the wine, so it complements food well), so she asked the waiter if there is another wine that he can recommend that is also sweet? And what does he do, but takes out the DESSERT MENU and starts to recommend a muscat and then a banyuls to her. I nearly flipped. I hated the waiter's assumption that since we looked younger and were dressed casually that we'd have no knowledge of wine. And if he lacked the knowledge to recommend a good wine, he should've admitted it, and looked to someone else for help. I scanned the wine menu and realized there probably wasn't anything on there that Jess would've liked, so she ended up not ordering a wine. But it would've been worse had she ordered a muscat to go with her skirt steak. Yikes.
- A French macaroon does have meringue in it. Don't question the pastry cook that used to pipe out 400 of these things every few days for a petit four plate. Actually, all macarroons have meringue in it. Even those coconut ones. Yeah, I've spent many an hour rolling hundreds of those too.
and that's all folks!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
RESTAURANT WEEK: RIALTO
For our second Restaurant Week dinner, I made a reservation at Rialto. I already had some mixed feelings about Rialto before dining there. Kjell and Huong had a not so great Restaurant Week dining experience a couple of years ago. Apparently they had a late reservation and by that time, Rialto had begun running out of food. And Big Ed had visited Rialto the previous week and advised to get the bluefish, but to stay away from the pork. Lastly, I checked out the comments on Chowhound regarding Restaurant Week, and they were pretty mixed. However, Jody Adams is still a pretty famous chef in Boston and my friend, Brendan, was working at the dessert bar that evening, so I was looking foward to a free dessert with dinner. (it's kinda standard in the industry to send out freebies if you're working back of the house. I overabused this power while working in a kitchen myself. Plus I gave him a huge bar of cocoa butter).
Our reservation was for 7:45 and we arrived exactly on time. We were told that they were a bit backed up and could wait in the bar area where mini appetizers were being passed. Well, after scanning the bar area, we realized that there weren't any seats available. And there were about 10 other groups of people who were also waiting for their reservations. We decided to go across the corridor and check out the marketplace at Henrietta's table, and then went back to Rialto to check on our table. However, judging by the sheer number of people waiting, I could tell that we wouldn't be seated at our table for quite sometime. We eventually snagged a small table in the bar area and got to sit down. We grabbed a few of those appetizers (they were ok, too salty for my taste) and I was a little annoyed that the guy circulating about never bothered to ask us if we wanted to order drinks. Then I started placing bets on when we'd get seated. I said 8:30. Tom said 8:45. Leah hoped for earlier. We were seated at 8:25. Yes, even with a reservation, we were seated 40 minutes late. That was not good. Especially considering the number of Restaurants Weeks Rialto had participated in. They should've had this down like clockwork. And yet, I wasn't annoyed as I normally would have been, considering I had good company, I wasn't starving and this was Restaurant Week, you need to have some patience.
We were seated at a large booth, which, though dramatic looking with its high back, was not all that comfortable and you could feel the old springs beneath the cushions. When we were given our menus, I was pleased to see that Rialto was also offering a good number of choices for Restaurant Week. In addition, you could "upgrade" your meal by adding different entress or appetizers for additional sums of money. (For example, I could've gotten a duck entree for an additional $15.) Needless to say, the restaurant was packed, and our waiter was a bit rushed, but still pretty pleasant and not hostile at all. If you'd like to see the menu, Tom's got it posted on his blog, so I'm not gonna repeat it here.
We put our orders in, and Tom, who was pretty hungry by this point, ordered an extra appetizer, something involving clams and sausages. At any rate, they made me take a pic cause they liked the plating. So here it is. I won't offer any opinions since I didn't try the dish myself.
Moving on, Leah and I both started with the gnocchi gratin. I normally do not order gnocchi. I typically find the texture much too chewy. (though i've had had good gnocchi, like the ones at Radius). However, this dish was described as a gratin, so I imagined gnocchi in a little cast iron dish, smothered in cheese and baked. Kinda like a fancy mac and cheese. This is what we actually got. I don't know why they described it as a graint, but it wasn't bad, though still a bit chewy. And not a huge portion, tho I enjoyed the mushrooms it was served with. Leah liked it more than I did.
While I considered ordering the bluefish, I actually ended up ordering the chicken breast. (Leah ordered the bluefish and enjoyed its slight heat). Now, I know that this is a huge risk during restaurant week. Chicken breast is already hard enough to prepare without totally drying it out. And it'd be even harder during Restaurant Week. So I was very pleasantly surprised with my order. The breast was a generous portion (much bigger than Leah's bluefish) and it was very moist (though a bit under cooked as you got to the drumette). I definitely enjoyed it.
Lastly, I finished with the tropical fruit sorbet with almond tuille. My friend Brendan had already warned me that the Restaurant Week desserts weren't going to be overly impressive. But i still enjoyed my sorbet (though they clearly been pre-scooped and frozen, so were served a bit too cold and icy). Tom found it a bit tart, but I really like the passion fruit flavor. It's one of my all time favorite flavors.
And finally, here's our free dessert. It was a dessert you could "upgrade" to on the Restaurant Week menu, and I think it would've been worth it. All of us clearly enoyed this dessert the most, which was essentially a molten chocolate cake, though it was described as a hot chocolate cream(why??). Leah loved the ice cream, which had alcohol in it, while i just liked the gooey-warm chocolate.
So all in all, despite the initial wait and the rushed and often missing waiter, we did have a successful restaurant week dinner. Leah said that she'd definitely bring her father for dinner in the future, and I certainly wouldn't mind going back again. It's been a good Restaurant Week for us, and once I recover from all the food and lack of money, I look foward to trying a few new spots next year.
For our second Restaurant Week dinner, I made a reservation at Rialto. I already had some mixed feelings about Rialto before dining there. Kjell and Huong had a not so great Restaurant Week dining experience a couple of years ago. Apparently they had a late reservation and by that time, Rialto had begun running out of food. And Big Ed had visited Rialto the previous week and advised to get the bluefish, but to stay away from the pork. Lastly, I checked out the comments on Chowhound regarding Restaurant Week, and they were pretty mixed. However, Jody Adams is still a pretty famous chef in Boston and my friend, Brendan, was working at the dessert bar that evening, so I was looking foward to a free dessert with dinner. (it's kinda standard in the industry to send out freebies if you're working back of the house. I overabused this power while working in a kitchen myself. Plus I gave him a huge bar of cocoa butter).
Our reservation was for 7:45 and we arrived exactly on time. We were told that they were a bit backed up and could wait in the bar area where mini appetizers were being passed. Well, after scanning the bar area, we realized that there weren't any seats available. And there were about 10 other groups of people who were also waiting for their reservations. We decided to go across the corridor and check out the marketplace at Henrietta's table, and then went back to Rialto to check on our table. However, judging by the sheer number of people waiting, I could tell that we wouldn't be seated at our table for quite sometime. We eventually snagged a small table in the bar area and got to sit down. We grabbed a few of those appetizers (they were ok, too salty for my taste) and I was a little annoyed that the guy circulating about never bothered to ask us if we wanted to order drinks. Then I started placing bets on when we'd get seated. I said 8:30. Tom said 8:45. Leah hoped for earlier. We were seated at 8:25. Yes, even with a reservation, we were seated 40 minutes late. That was not good. Especially considering the number of Restaurants Weeks Rialto had participated in. They should've had this down like clockwork. And yet, I wasn't annoyed as I normally would have been, considering I had good company, I wasn't starving and this was Restaurant Week, you need to have some patience.
We were seated at a large booth, which, though dramatic looking with its high back, was not all that comfortable and you could feel the old springs beneath the cushions. When we were given our menus, I was pleased to see that Rialto was also offering a good number of choices for Restaurant Week. In addition, you could "upgrade" your meal by adding different entress or appetizers for additional sums of money. (For example, I could've gotten a duck entree for an additional $15.) Needless to say, the restaurant was packed, and our waiter was a bit rushed, but still pretty pleasant and not hostile at all. If you'd like to see the menu, Tom's got it posted on his blog, so I'm not gonna repeat it here.
We put our orders in, and Tom, who was pretty hungry by this point, ordered an extra appetizer, something involving clams and sausages. At any rate, they made me take a pic cause they liked the plating. So here it is. I won't offer any opinions since I didn't try the dish myself.
Moving on, Leah and I both started with the gnocchi gratin. I normally do not order gnocchi. I typically find the texture much too chewy. (though i've had had good gnocchi, like the ones at Radius). However, this dish was described as a gratin, so I imagined gnocchi in a little cast iron dish, smothered in cheese and baked. Kinda like a fancy mac and cheese. This is what we actually got. I don't know why they described it as a graint, but it wasn't bad, though still a bit chewy. And not a huge portion, tho I enjoyed the mushrooms it was served with. Leah liked it more than I did. 
While I considered ordering the bluefish, I actually ended up ordering the chicken breast. (Leah ordered the bluefish and enjoyed its slight heat). Now, I know that this is a huge risk during restaurant week. Chicken breast is already hard enough to prepare without totally drying it out. And it'd be even harder during Restaurant Week. So I was very pleasantly surprised with my order. The breast was a generous portion (much bigger than Leah's bluefish) and it was very moist (though a bit under cooked as you got to the drumette). I definitely enjoyed it.
Lastly, I finished with the tropical fruit sorbet with almond tuille. My friend Brendan had already warned me that the Restaurant Week desserts weren't going to be overly impressive. But i still enjoyed my sorbet (though they clearly been pre-scooped and frozen, so were served a bit too cold and icy). Tom found it a bit tart, but I really like the passion fruit flavor. It's one of my all time favorite flavors.
And finally, here's our free dessert. It was a dessert you could "upgrade" to on the Restaurant Week menu, and I think it would've been worth it. All of us clearly enoyed this dessert the most, which was essentially a molten chocolate cake, though it was described as a hot chocolate cream(why??). Leah loved the ice cream, which had alcohol in it, while i just liked the gooey-warm chocolate.So all in all, despite the initial wait and the rushed and often missing waiter, we did have a successful restaurant week dinner. Leah said that she'd definitely bring her father for dinner in the future, and I certainly wouldn't mind going back again. It's been a good Restaurant Week for us, and once I recover from all the food and lack of money, I look foward to trying a few new spots next year.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
RESTAURANT WEEK: MISTRAL
I often approach Restaurant Week with a wary attitude. After having both worked behind the scenes during Restaurant Week and gone to a number of Restaurant Weeks in both New York and Boston, my tummy has learned to keep my expectations low, and to allow myself to be pleasantly surprised. There's actually a lot of debate going on right now, about the usefulness of Restaurant Week and whether the tradition should be continued, but I'm not gonna discuss that too much. You can just check out the discussion board on Chowhound if you're curious. Oh wait, I was just on chowhound and found a posting written by someone who sounds just like me, except certainly less creative and adventureous in trying to find dining options. But I digress. This year, I was able to find out about restaurant week well in advance, and snagged reservations at two restaurants that I had wanted to try for some time. The first is Mistral, and we had reservations at 6pm last Monday.
I was quite proud of myself for getting reservations at Mistral, especially considering their average entree costs more than our entire restaurant week dinner. And I was actually pretty surprised they were offering dinner at all, since restaurants of this price point tend to offer only lunch. So despite our early reservation (which may have turned to be to our advantage anyway), I was looking foward to dinner at Mistral.
When we arrived, Kjell and Huong had not appeared, so we waited in the the little lounge area where I ordered a very nice glass of Viognier. When Huong and Kjell did arrive, we didn't even have to go up to the host stand to notify them, they came and led us immediately to our table. The dining room was actually much smaller than I had expected but it lent a cozy atmosphere to the place. Most of the tables were already full when we arrived, and we started look around at all the diners, trying to figure out what we should order.
Our waiter arrived promptly to take our drink orders. Actually, he was quite attentive and efficient. Shockingly enough, throughout our entire meal, I would experience better service than I'd had at most restaurants in Boston, and this was Restaurant Week! So for my meal, I decided to order the Chilled Summer Corn Soup with Maine Crab, Avocado and Jalapeno Oil for my appetizer, the Seared Scallops with Ragout of Sweet Corn and Summer Chantrelles and the Stone Fruit Cobbler. I was also pretty satisfied with the selection of appetizers and entrees, 3 of each. Oh and also, the waiter was very gracious, and didn't come with the condescending "you're only eating here cause it's Restaurant Week and you can't afford to eat her normally" type attitude.
First we were given this nice loaf of sourdough bread. To be honest, I was surprised that they'd even bother with the bread during Restaurant Week.
And here's my bowl of summer corn soup. I really like this, though Huong found it too sweet for her tastes. The mixtures of textures from the crab to the avocado to the soup were so pleasing. I didn't really notice the jalapeno oil, but that was a minor thing. I was also happy that they even bothered to put crab on the soup and didn't skimp on portions at all.
And here are my scallops. I was happy to find a generous portions of 4 plump scallops on my plate plus there were a generous number of the chantrelles and I just love those. I could tell that all our entrees had been sitting under a heatlamp for a while. It just had a bit of that dried out look on the surface. But I was happy to find that my scallops hadn't suffered too much. They were still moist and tasty. Tom's sirloin did not fare as well. He'd ordered it medium and it arrived well done. He ate it anyway, and I had far too much food and gave him two of my scallops. 
Lastly, I had the stone fruit cobbler. I'll forgive restaurants for desserts during restaurant week. I realize that it's the easiest place to skimp and simplify. But I still enjoyed my cobbler. I mainly finished the fruit beneath the crust. The topping was just a bit too sweet for me.
All in all, I must say that this was the best Restaurant Week meal I've ever experienced. Service was great and we didn't feel that rushed. True, the appetizers, entrees and desserts came out pretty quickly, one after another, and true, the porter (the guy who actually brings the food to you, not the waiter) was kind of abrupt and not so fluid in how he served us, but in reality, everything was superbly done. They actually bothered to crumb the table several times, and when Huong got up to use the restroom, someone folded her napkin. And I like those small details. For me, the best service is that which you don't notice. One that doesn't intrude upon your meal or dining experience, and at Mistral, they did that very well. Without a doubt, I would go back for a non-Restaurant Week meal, albiet, for a very special occasion.
I often approach Restaurant Week with a wary attitude. After having both worked behind the scenes during Restaurant Week and gone to a number of Restaurant Weeks in both New York and Boston, my tummy has learned to keep my expectations low, and to allow myself to be pleasantly surprised. There's actually a lot of debate going on right now, about the usefulness of Restaurant Week and whether the tradition should be continued, but I'm not gonna discuss that too much. You can just check out the discussion board on Chowhound if you're curious. Oh wait, I was just on chowhound and found a posting written by someone who sounds just like me, except certainly less creative and adventureous in trying to find dining options. But I digress. This year, I was able to find out about restaurant week well in advance, and snagged reservations at two restaurants that I had wanted to try for some time. The first is Mistral, and we had reservations at 6pm last Monday.
I was quite proud of myself for getting reservations at Mistral, especially considering their average entree costs more than our entire restaurant week dinner. And I was actually pretty surprised they were offering dinner at all, since restaurants of this price point tend to offer only lunch. So despite our early reservation (which may have turned to be to our advantage anyway), I was looking foward to dinner at Mistral.
When we arrived, Kjell and Huong had not appeared, so we waited in the the little lounge area where I ordered a very nice glass of Viognier. When Huong and Kjell did arrive, we didn't even have to go up to the host stand to notify them, they came and led us immediately to our table. The dining room was actually much smaller than I had expected but it lent a cozy atmosphere to the place. Most of the tables were already full when we arrived, and we started look around at all the diners, trying to figure out what we should order.
Our waiter arrived promptly to take our drink orders. Actually, he was quite attentive and efficient. Shockingly enough, throughout our entire meal, I would experience better service than I'd had at most restaurants in Boston, and this was Restaurant Week! So for my meal, I decided to order the Chilled Summer Corn Soup with Maine Crab, Avocado and Jalapeno Oil for my appetizer, the Seared Scallops with Ragout of Sweet Corn and Summer Chantrelles and the Stone Fruit Cobbler. I was also pretty satisfied with the selection of appetizers and entrees, 3 of each. Oh and also, the waiter was very gracious, and didn't come with the condescending "you're only eating here cause it's Restaurant Week and you can't afford to eat her normally" type attitude.
First we were given this nice loaf of sourdough bread. To be honest, I was surprised that they'd even bother with the bread during Restaurant Week.
And here's my bowl of summer corn soup. I really like this, though Huong found it too sweet for her tastes. The mixtures of textures from the crab to the avocado to the soup were so pleasing. I didn't really notice the jalapeno oil, but that was a minor thing. I was also happy that they even bothered to put crab on the soup and didn't skimp on portions at all.
And here are my scallops. I was happy to find a generous portions of 4 plump scallops on my plate plus there were a generous number of the chantrelles and I just love those. I could tell that all our entrees had been sitting under a heatlamp for a while. It just had a bit of that dried out look on the surface. But I was happy to find that my scallops hadn't suffered too much. They were still moist and tasty. Tom's sirloin did not fare as well. He'd ordered it medium and it arrived well done. He ate it anyway, and I had far too much food and gave him two of my scallops. 
Lastly, I had the stone fruit cobbler. I'll forgive restaurants for desserts during restaurant week. I realize that it's the easiest place to skimp and simplify. But I still enjoyed my cobbler. I mainly finished the fruit beneath the crust. The topping was just a bit too sweet for me. 
All in all, I must say that this was the best Restaurant Week meal I've ever experienced. Service was great and we didn't feel that rushed. True, the appetizers, entrees and desserts came out pretty quickly, one after another, and true, the porter (the guy who actually brings the food to you, not the waiter) was kind of abrupt and not so fluid in how he served us, but in reality, everything was superbly done. They actually bothered to crumb the table several times, and when Huong got up to use the restroom, someone folded her napkin. And I like those small details. For me, the best service is that which you don't notice. One that doesn't intrude upon your meal or dining experience, and at Mistral, they did that very well. Without a doubt, I would go back for a non-Restaurant Week meal, albiet, for a very special occasion.
TWO POUND LOBSTERS AT TWO LIGHTS LOBSTER SHACK
After lunch at the Clam Shack we continued on our Maine eating adventure, but took a break and spent the afternoon in Portland. We visited the Portland Museum of Art and walked around a bit in Old Port before heading off to Cape Elisabeth to the Two Lights Lobster Shack. The place is actually just a short drive from Portland, it probably took 20 minutes to get there. Here's a view of the sign from the parking lot. As you can see, the rain didn't stop for the entire day, and it had grown even colder when we arrive at Two Lights. It felt like a typical fall day.
So Two Lights is named and known for its view of the two lighthouses , one of whic is still in use. And a foghorn, which was definitely in use throughout our entire visit. In front of the restaurant is a lovely view of the ocean and you can climb all over the rocks. I gave up after a bit cause i wsa freezing. But Kjell made it to the water's edge.
Instead, I went running up to the actual restaurant, which was pretty packed when we entered. It was also exceedingly cute, and basically what you expect from the typical Maine lobster shack. It was warm and cozy on the instead, with everything made of wood, and filled with locals enjoying their lobster dinners. There was also a lovely view of the ocean. Actually, maybe it wasn't so bad that the weather sucked. Because we were able to order and grab a table right away. (i'd read stories about people waiting an hour for their food).
Whic wasn't to say that we didn't wait. We waited a bit for our lobsters to emerge from the steamers. But I was fine with that because it meant that they were being made fresh. I ended up order they typical lobster dinner. At Two Lights, they only serve two pound lobsters (at other places you're often allowed to pick the size of your lobster). But you can add a second lobster for $10 extra. However, I found that unnecessary. Along with my dinner below, I ordered a cup of clam chowder.
I'll admit that I wasn't a huge fan of the chowder. It was much more watery than I like. (Yes, i know there's debate about this all over New England as to whether chowder should be thick of thin. I like my chowder thick and chunky). But I did thoroughly enjoy my dinner. Along with the lobster came a big cup of surprisingly yummy coleslaw, plus fries and 2 buttery homemade biscuits. Along with all the sides, this was basically the perfect sized meal for me. (well, I was quite hungry, so probably consumed more than i usually do). The lobster was perfectly cooked. It wasn't a softshell like I'd hoped, but the shell also wasn't terribly tough. I was able to break it fairly easily with my hands. (Huong had more problems with that, though).
All in all, it was a great gustatory trip to Maine. And a great week to start off my week of gluttony.
After lunch at the Clam Shack we continued on our Maine eating adventure, but took a break and spent the afternoon in Portland. We visited the Portland Museum of Art and walked around a bit in Old Port before heading off to Cape Elisabeth to the Two Lights Lobster Shack. The place is actually just a short drive from Portland, it probably took 20 minutes to get there. Here's a view of the sign from the parking lot. As you can see, the rain didn't stop for the entire day, and it had grown even colder when we arrive at Two Lights. It felt like a typical fall day.
So Two Lights is named and known for its view of the two lighthouses , one of whic is still in use. And a foghorn, which was definitely in use throughout our entire visit. In front of the restaurant is a lovely view of the ocean and you can climb all over the rocks. I gave up after a bit cause i wsa freezing. But Kjell made it to the water's edge. 
Instead, I went running up to the actual restaurant, which was pretty packed when we entered. It was also exceedingly cute, and basically what you expect from the typical Maine lobster shack. It was warm and cozy on the instead, with everything made of wood, and filled with locals enjoying their lobster dinners. There was also a lovely view of the ocean. Actually, maybe it wasn't so bad that the weather sucked. Because we were able to order and grab a table right away. (i'd read stories about people waiting an hour for their food). 
Whic wasn't to say that we didn't wait. We waited a bit for our lobsters to emerge from the steamers. But I was fine with that because it meant that they were being made fresh. I ended up order they typical lobster dinner. At Two Lights, they only serve two pound lobsters (at other places you're often allowed to pick the size of your lobster). But you can add a second lobster for $10 extra. However, I found that unnecessary. Along with my dinner below, I ordered a cup of clam chowder. 
I'll admit that I wasn't a huge fan of the chowder. It was much more watery than I like. (Yes, i know there's debate about this all over New England as to whether chowder should be thick of thin. I like my chowder thick and chunky). But I did thoroughly enjoy my dinner. Along with the lobster came a big cup of surprisingly yummy coleslaw, plus fries and 2 buttery homemade biscuits. Along with all the sides, this was basically the perfect sized meal for me. (well, I was quite hungry, so probably consumed more than i usually do). The lobster was perfectly cooked. It wasn't a softshell like I'd hoped, but the shell also wasn't terribly tough. I was able to break it fairly easily with my hands. (Huong had more problems with that, though). All in all, it was a great gustatory trip to Maine. And a great week to start off my week of gluttony.
LOBSTERS ON A ROLL!
Ok, sorry for the title. I've been inspired by Leah, who's very excited to see Snakes on a Plane tomorrow night. And for some reason, obvious, banal statements with an exclamation point amuse me. Like "Jeans in a store!" which Leah has written on a poster in her display.
So Sunday kicked off our week of gluttony. And spending obscene amounts of money on food. As you all know, one of my summer goals was to go to Maine to eat lobster. I don't know why, but I've always felt that eating lobsters in Maine makes the lobster taste better. It's sweeter and has a better texture...and for this trip, I decided that we'd go to two well known lobster places. After driving for nearly two hours, we arrived at the Clam Shack in Kennebunk, Maine. Which oddly enough is across a small bridge from Kennebunkport. Here's the sign that divides the two towns. Sadly, it had to be the first rainy day in like a week. Of course! On my day off and the day of my lobster-eating! You could tell that the area is really quaint and lovely. Set right on a river with a nice view. But it was raining, and kinda cold.
Ok, back to the Clam Shack. Here's the view from the bridge.
It's pretty much your typical seafood shack, that you'll find all along the coast of New England. But the NYTimes had said that it had one of the best lobster rolls in Maine, so that's what we tried out. You order at the outdoor window. And are asked if you want mayo or butter. We ordered butter. Here's Tom paying for our lobster rolls. (Isn't he soooo cute everyone??? He's gonna kill me for writing that).
And here are the lobster rolls. They look pretty basic. Just some buns with lobster meat on them, but really, they are so much more than that. The buns were slightly toasted and then slathered with butter. Lots of butter. And the lobster meat was sooooo sweet and juicy. Simple and perfect. I liked this much more than the lobster roll I had at B&G a while back.
Huong actually got a lobster dinner rather than a lobster roll. It was very reasonably priced and I think she enjoyed it. She ordered in the larger market space next to the outdoor ordering window. You could also get all types of silly lobster paraphenalia indoors. The only thing that took away from the whole experience was the rain. This place is obvious designed for outdoor dining, with benches and tables made of lobster traps to the side. But with the rain, the only place to sit was on a couple of outdoors benches which were slightly sheltered from the rain. We still got wet. Plus there wasn't enough room for all the ppl ordering and eating. So a lot of people just ended up dining in their cars. Other than that I was very satisfied with my roll and looked foward to more lobster that evening.
Ok, sorry for the title. I've been inspired by Leah, who's very excited to see Snakes on a Plane tomorrow night. And for some reason, obvious, banal statements with an exclamation point amuse me. Like "Jeans in a store!" which Leah has written on a poster in her display.
So Sunday kicked off our week of gluttony. And spending obscene amounts of money on food. As you all know, one of my summer goals was to go to Maine to eat lobster. I don't know why, but I've always felt that eating lobsters in Maine makes the lobster taste better. It's sweeter and has a better texture...and for this trip, I decided that we'd go to two well known lobster places. After driving for nearly two hours, we arrived at the Clam Shack in Kennebunk, Maine. Which oddly enough is across a small bridge from Kennebunkport. Here's the sign that divides the two towns. Sadly, it had to be the first rainy day in like a week. Of course! On my day off and the day of my lobster-eating! You could tell that the area is really quaint and lovely. Set right on a river with a nice view. But it was raining, and kinda cold.
Ok, back to the Clam Shack. Here's the view from the bridge.
It's pretty much your typical seafood shack, that you'll find all along the coast of New England. But the NYTimes had said that it had one of the best lobster rolls in Maine, so that's what we tried out. You order at the outdoor window. And are asked if you want mayo or butter. We ordered butter. Here's Tom paying for our lobster rolls. (Isn't he soooo cute everyone??? He's gonna kill me for writing that).
And here are the lobster rolls. They look pretty basic. Just some buns with lobster meat on them, but really, they are so much more than that. The buns were slightly toasted and then slathered with butter. Lots of butter. And the lobster meat was sooooo sweet and juicy. Simple and perfect. I liked this much more than the lobster roll I had at B&G a while back.
Huong actually got a lobster dinner rather than a lobster roll. It was very reasonably priced and I think she enjoyed it. She ordered in the larger market space next to the outdoor ordering window. You could also get all types of silly lobster paraphenalia indoors. The only thing that took away from the whole experience was the rain. This place is obvious designed for outdoor dining, with benches and tables made of lobster traps to the side. But with the rain, the only place to sit was on a couple of outdoors benches which were slightly sheltered from the rain. We still got wet. Plus there wasn't enough room for all the ppl ordering and eating. So a lot of people just ended up dining in their cars. Other than that I was very satisfied with my roll and looked foward to more lobster that evening.Wednesday, August 23, 2006
SIMPLE SUMMER SALAD
My Boston Organics order arrived yesterday and with it came a number of lovely summer ingredients. So as usual, I began my search on epicurious.com to find recipes and plan some meals. I stumbled upon this recipe for zucchini, tomato and corn salad, and lo and behold, i had zucchini, cherry tomatoes and corn in my organic's order. But after taking a quick look at the recipe and the comments section (always read the comments section, you get good tips), I realized that most of the ingredients in the recipe were uncooked, so i proceeded to make my own version of the recipe.
I want to cook all the ingredients cause i thought it'd bring out the flavors more. So i roasted some garlic cloves in olive oil and then tossed the cherry tomatoes into the same roasting pan. Meanwhile, i cut the kernels off the corn and cooked them quickly in some boiling water. Lastly, I diced the zucchini and sauteed them on high heat just to caramelize them. I tossed all the ingredients together with salt, pepper and some basil from my herb garden and finished it with the juices from the roasted tomatoes. so simple and yet so good. the perfect salad for a summer evening.
My Boston Organics order arrived yesterday and with it came a number of lovely summer ingredients. So as usual, I began my search on epicurious.com to find recipes and plan some meals. I stumbled upon this recipe for zucchini, tomato and corn salad, and lo and behold, i had zucchini, cherry tomatoes and corn in my organic's order. But after taking a quick look at the recipe and the comments section (always read the comments section, you get good tips), I realized that most of the ingredients in the recipe were uncooked, so i proceeded to make my own version of the recipe.
I want to cook all the ingredients cause i thought it'd bring out the flavors more. So i roasted some garlic cloves in olive oil and then tossed the cherry tomatoes into the same roasting pan. Meanwhile, i cut the kernels off the corn and cooked them quickly in some boiling water. Lastly, I diced the zucchini and sauteed them on high heat just to caramelize them. I tossed all the ingredients together with salt, pepper and some basil from my herb garden and finished it with the juices from the roasted tomatoes. so simple and yet so good. the perfect salad for a summer evening.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
CASUAL BITES
I've eaten at a couple of new restaurants lately, but they were so casual that I didn't take the time to photograph them for the blog. But I figured I'd give you a quick recap, anyway. Also, I've discovered that making a quiche is the best way to get rid of leftover ingredients. I was inspired by a post on the Amateur Gourmet after he'd made a quiche lorraine and I thought, wow, I haven't made a quiche in a while. With leftovers from Juliet's Birthday dinner (chicken, corn souffle, onions) and this crust recipe from epicurious.com, I made a chicken and corn quiche, topped with a lot of gruyere cheese (my fav!). It turned out pretty well and I was able to bring a slice for lunch two days in a row. Since we've still gotten some of that corn souffle left, as well as some ricotta, I think I may make a second version for lunch today.
MULAN:
Last Friday night, we were finally able to check out Mulan in Kendall Square (where the Pho Lemon used to be) . I had driven by this place a few times (it's right on Broadway) and was curious about it because it serves Taiwanese food, but had never made it over there because it's in Kendall. But we were seeing a movie at Kendall Cinemas (we tried to see Little Miss Sunshine, but it was sold out, and ended up seeing Oh in Ohio instead, which was very good), so this was a great time to try it out.
Tom had also dug up a review about Mulan in the Weekly Dig, which I was annoyed at for two reasons. First, the author had written "If naming your restaurant after a Disney character is a bad idea, then putting that character on the cover of your menu is an even worse one. " Ummm, if you had bothered to do even a modicum of research, you would've figured out that Mulan is a legendary character from a 6th century Chinese poem. The movie was based on that character. While I may agree that it isn't the best restaurant name in the world, maybe try some cultural enlightment next time. And on the theme of cultural enlightment, this line also bothered me, "Taiwanese food is a branch of Chinese cooking that tends to focus on simpler, more rustic preparations of standard dishes we’ve all encountered before." Ahh, written by a man who has never spoken to a Taiwanese person in his life. First, calling Taiwanese food a branch of Chinese cooking is like calling Ecuadorian food a branch of Mexican cooking. It's an ignorant statement. We're talking about two distinct, albiet intertwined cultures, with their own ingredients and sensibilities. And, after speaking with people who have spent decent amounts of time both in China and Taiwan, (I've been to Taiwan, and can confirm that the food is awesome, though I can't comment on food in China), I have found that the majority prefer the food in Taiwan to that in China. It's not an offshoot.
Ok, now that I'm done with my little rant, let me tell you about the restaurant. When we walked in, it wasn't packed. But the good thing was that the majority of the ppl in there were actually Chinese/Taiwanese (always a good sign). We were given some very tasty seasoned peanuts and pickled veggies and menus, but I'd already looking it up online. The reviewer from the Dig was right in some respects, there were a lot of typically "Chinese" entrees on the menu, but if he'd consulted someone, he might have figured out that there were many distinctly Taiwanese dishes on the menu. (like the spicy beef soup, that I used to love as a kid) Unfortuantely, I had eaten lunch just a few hours before, so I wasn't terribly hungry. I ended up just ordering a chive pocket and a scallion pancake. Juliet ordered the fried porkchop with rice (classic Taiwanese) while Tom ordered the salt and pepper shrimp and some fried, roasted pork thingy.
The scallion pancake was pretty good (I've had much better, esp. at the Taiwanese dim sum places in Belmont and Watertown), but the chive pocket was disappointing. The pastry wasn't crispy and the filling was not great. I did love Tom's salt and pepper shrimp. Dare I say, they were even better than the ones at Victoria's, much juicer and plumper. Of course, I couldn't try out the other dishes, but I think Juliet and Tom both enjoyed them.
I was hoping to find Taiwanese dim sum serve at Mulan, but unfortunately, they don't do it. Guess I'll have to keep going to Belmont/Watertown. But the food was decent enough that I'd like to go back at a later point, when I'm actually hungry, and try out more dishes.
CAFE HAN RIVER
Normally we refer to this place as Han River, but everyone online calls it Cafe Han River. Anyway, it's this tiny Korean restaurant located right on Beacon and St. Mary's, around the corner from my place. I've lived at my apt for over a year now and tried virtually every restaurant around it, (I refuse to go to Chef Chang's) except for this one. I was quite wary of the tiny Korean restaurant in Brookline, though, so wasn't eager to check it out.
Luckily, Tom tried it out first. He got some take out lunch from the place and said it was pretty decent. (and since Tom's Korean, I tend to trust his opinion in this area.) After work, I was completely exhausted and not interested in cooking at all, so I also decided to get take out from Han River. After looking at the take out menu (which is pretty tiny, just like 15 options), I decided to get the grilled chicken dish and then waited 15 minutes before I ran out to pick it up. Turns out that the restaurant is actually really cute. It is tiny, with just five tables, so they do mainly take out business, and it's run by an adorable elderly Korean couple. The wife does the cooking while the husband takes care of everything else.
Back at home, I was starving and proceeded to wolf down my dinner. Along with the grilled chicken, there was rice, a little kimchi and a side of my favorite seasoned bean sprout salad. Tom was right, it was pretty decent for take out. True, I could've easily made everything myself and probably a better version of it, but sometimes it's nice just to have someone else do the cooking for you. I'll probably be back, on the next day I'm exhausted and just can't muster the energy or inspiration to cook.
I've eaten at a couple of new restaurants lately, but they were so casual that I didn't take the time to photograph them for the blog. But I figured I'd give you a quick recap, anyway. Also, I've discovered that making a quiche is the best way to get rid of leftover ingredients. I was inspired by a post on the Amateur Gourmet after he'd made a quiche lorraine and I thought, wow, I haven't made a quiche in a while. With leftovers from Juliet's Birthday dinner (chicken, corn souffle, onions) and this crust recipe from epicurious.com, I made a chicken and corn quiche, topped with a lot of gruyere cheese (my fav!). It turned out pretty well and I was able to bring a slice for lunch two days in a row. Since we've still gotten some of that corn souffle left, as well as some ricotta, I think I may make a second version for lunch today.
MULAN:
Last Friday night, we were finally able to check out Mulan in Kendall Square (where the Pho Lemon used to be) . I had driven by this place a few times (it's right on Broadway) and was curious about it because it serves Taiwanese food, but had never made it over there because it's in Kendall. But we were seeing a movie at Kendall Cinemas (we tried to see Little Miss Sunshine, but it was sold out, and ended up seeing Oh in Ohio instead, which was very good), so this was a great time to try it out.
Tom had also dug up a review about Mulan in the Weekly Dig, which I was annoyed at for two reasons. First, the author had written "If naming your restaurant after a Disney character is a bad idea, then putting that character on the cover of your menu is an even worse one. " Ummm, if you had bothered to do even a modicum of research, you would've figured out that Mulan is a legendary character from a 6th century Chinese poem. The movie was based on that character. While I may agree that it isn't the best restaurant name in the world, maybe try some cultural enlightment next time. And on the theme of cultural enlightment, this line also bothered me, "Taiwanese food is a branch of Chinese cooking that tends to focus on simpler, more rustic preparations of standard dishes we’ve all encountered before." Ahh, written by a man who has never spoken to a Taiwanese person in his life. First, calling Taiwanese food a branch of Chinese cooking is like calling Ecuadorian food a branch of Mexican cooking. It's an ignorant statement. We're talking about two distinct, albiet intertwined cultures, with their own ingredients and sensibilities. And, after speaking with people who have spent decent amounts of time both in China and Taiwan, (I've been to Taiwan, and can confirm that the food is awesome, though I can't comment on food in China), I have found that the majority prefer the food in Taiwan to that in China. It's not an offshoot.
Ok, now that I'm done with my little rant, let me tell you about the restaurant. When we walked in, it wasn't packed. But the good thing was that the majority of the ppl in there were actually Chinese/Taiwanese (always a good sign). We were given some very tasty seasoned peanuts and pickled veggies and menus, but I'd already looking it up online. The reviewer from the Dig was right in some respects, there were a lot of typically "Chinese" entrees on the menu, but if he'd consulted someone, he might have figured out that there were many distinctly Taiwanese dishes on the menu. (like the spicy beef soup, that I used to love as a kid) Unfortuantely, I had eaten lunch just a few hours before, so I wasn't terribly hungry. I ended up just ordering a chive pocket and a scallion pancake. Juliet ordered the fried porkchop with rice (classic Taiwanese) while Tom ordered the salt and pepper shrimp and some fried, roasted pork thingy.
The scallion pancake was pretty good (I've had much better, esp. at the Taiwanese dim sum places in Belmont and Watertown), but the chive pocket was disappointing. The pastry wasn't crispy and the filling was not great. I did love Tom's salt and pepper shrimp. Dare I say, they were even better than the ones at Victoria's, much juicer and plumper. Of course, I couldn't try out the other dishes, but I think Juliet and Tom both enjoyed them.
I was hoping to find Taiwanese dim sum serve at Mulan, but unfortunately, they don't do it. Guess I'll have to keep going to Belmont/Watertown. But the food was decent enough that I'd like to go back at a later point, when I'm actually hungry, and try out more dishes.
CAFE HAN RIVER
Normally we refer to this place as Han River, but everyone online calls it Cafe Han River. Anyway, it's this tiny Korean restaurant located right on Beacon and St. Mary's, around the corner from my place. I've lived at my apt for over a year now and tried virtually every restaurant around it, (I refuse to go to Chef Chang's) except for this one. I was quite wary of the tiny Korean restaurant in Brookline, though, so wasn't eager to check it out.
Luckily, Tom tried it out first. He got some take out lunch from the place and said it was pretty decent. (and since Tom's Korean, I tend to trust his opinion in this area.) After work, I was completely exhausted and not interested in cooking at all, so I also decided to get take out from Han River. After looking at the take out menu (which is pretty tiny, just like 15 options), I decided to get the grilled chicken dish and then waited 15 minutes before I ran out to pick it up. Turns out that the restaurant is actually really cute. It is tiny, with just five tables, so they do mainly take out business, and it's run by an adorable elderly Korean couple. The wife does the cooking while the husband takes care of everything else.
Back at home, I was starving and proceeded to wolf down my dinner. Along with the grilled chicken, there was rice, a little kimchi and a side of my favorite seasoned bean sprout salad. Tom was right, it was pretty decent for take out. True, I could've easily made everything myself and probably a better version of it, but sometimes it's nice just to have someone else do the cooking for you. I'll probably be back, on the next day I'm exhausted and just can't muster the energy or inspiration to cook.
Friday, August 18, 2006
ANOTHER ATTEMPT AT PEACH PICKING
Well, it was a beautiful, sunny day and finally finally, peaches were ready for picking. (or so it said on the Cider Hill Farm website). I actually called around to a few places to make sure peaches were ready. But most places said it was a still a week off. Cider Hill said they had peaches, though.
And so we drove up to Amesbury. I was plannning on making a peach tarte tatin as part of Juliet's birthday dinner. And we wanted to get peaches so Katie could make a peach pie. Here's a lovely shot of the fields at Cider Hill farms. (goregous day huh?). We had to hike up that path on the left, past the grove of trees and off to the right to get to the peach trees.
So we get all the way up there, and sure, there were plenty of peaches, but none of them were ripe. It was still too early. I think if we'd come a week of two later, it'd be perfect, but perhaps the peach picking gods are against me this year. After searching around for 15 minutes, and Tom breaking a tree in half (or rather just ripping off a large branch), we had gathered about 6 peaches and gave up. I decided to just buy some peaches down at the well stocked farm store.
Here's another shot of the farm house on the way back from the trees.
Luckily, the farm house was pretty impressive. Mainly because they were making fresh cider donuts, lots and lots of them. Here they are coming out of the fryer.
And here they sit, getting ready to be sold. We ended up getting half a dozen (they're no good the second day). And i was happy to find these cider donuts really well made and not greasy at all. (The last time i had a cider donut, last fall, it was totally greasy and gross and made me sick).
I was also able to pick up some ingredients for Juliet birthday dinner. Like fresh corn. And I did get a bag of peaches, which were still not super ripe, but good enough. It turns out it doesn't make a huge difference when you're cooking them anyway.
Katie's pie turned out very pretty. She did a lattice top. Unfortunately I didn't get any. Tom and I were supposed to be "sharing" but he'd finished off the slice before i got a chance to have any. (he does love pie). I did have some of my peach tarte tatin, though, and that was very good. I just love puff pastry. And you can't go wrong with caramel sauce. As for peach picking, I'm looking foward to better luck in the fall with apple picking.
Well, it was a beautiful, sunny day and finally finally, peaches were ready for picking. (or so it said on the Cider Hill Farm website). I actually called around to a few places to make sure peaches were ready. But most places said it was a still a week off. Cider Hill said they had peaches, though.
And so we drove up to Amesbury. I was plannning on making a peach tarte tatin as part of Juliet's birthday dinner. And we wanted to get peaches so Katie could make a peach pie. Here's a lovely shot of the fields at Cider Hill farms. (goregous day huh?). We had to hike up that path on the left, past the grove of trees and off to the right to get to the peach trees.
So we get all the way up there, and sure, there were plenty of peaches, but none of them were ripe. It was still too early. I think if we'd come a week of two later, it'd be perfect, but perhaps the peach picking gods are against me this year. After searching around for 15 minutes, and Tom breaking a tree in half (or rather just ripping off a large branch), we had gathered about 6 peaches and gave up. I decided to just buy some peaches down at the well stocked farm store.Here's another shot of the farm house on the way back from the trees.
Luckily, the farm house was pretty impressive. Mainly because they were making fresh cider donuts, lots and lots of them. Here they are coming out of the fryer.
And here they sit, getting ready to be sold. We ended up getting half a dozen (they're no good the second day). And i was happy to find these cider donuts really well made and not greasy at all. (The last time i had a cider donut, last fall, it was totally greasy and gross and made me sick).
I was also able to pick up some ingredients for Juliet birthday dinner. Like fresh corn. And I did get a bag of peaches, which were still not super ripe, but good enough. It turns out it doesn't make a huge difference when you're cooking them anyway.Katie's pie turned out very pretty. She did a lattice top. Unfortunately I didn't get any. Tom and I were supposed to be "sharing" but he'd finished off the slice before i got a chance to have any. (he does love pie). I did have some of my peach tarte tatin, though, and that was very good. I just love puff pastry. And you can't go wrong with caramel sauce. As for peach picking, I'm looking foward to better luck in the fall with apple picking.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
OMELETTRY CAFE, BROOKLINE VILLAGE
My friend, Juliet, was in town this past weekend, visiting Boston to celebrate her bday. For breakfast Saturday morning, I suggested that we check out the Omelettry Cafe in Brookline Village, which I'd read about in the Globe in an article about migas. It was a pretty good review and after checking the comments on Chowhound, I figured it'd be a great new breakfast place to try out.
So when we walked into the restaurant, we were able to find a table pretty quickly (it was two small tables placed side by side). Unfortunately on one of the tables the glass top was missing and the table cloth underneath had clearly been used, with some remnants of the previous diner's meal. Juliet changed seats, and my side really wasn't that dirty, so I dealt with it. The Phoenix was pretty spot on when it described the Omelettry as having a "collegiate" type atmosphere. It's cute, with large murals on the wall, especially one with a big tree and eggs falls from it (get it, omelette tree?) and was filled with young locals.
We perused the menus our table and all decided to get the Tex-Mex inspired breakfast plates. Tom ordered the migas, which came with a side of refried beans and potatoes. Here it is below.
Migas are basically scrambled eggs with with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, and Monterey Jack cheese. I thought Tom's breakfast wasn't too bad. I like the tortilla in the eggs. And i think he thought it was ok. Nothing spectacular.
Here's my order of chilaquiles, which are eggs scrambled with along with peppers, onions, tomatoes, cheese, and salsa. They also came with a side of refried beans and potatoes and 2 tortillas. I found my eggs overcooked and kinda watery. They weren't great. And i thought the refried beans were too salty.
Leah and Juliet both got huevos rancheros, and neither of them really liked it. The menu advertised "homemade salsa" on top of the eggs, but it was pretty clear that the salsa they used was bottled. It was watery, had a dull color and didn't look good at all. Also, Leah asked for a side of extra crispy bacon and from the looks of it, the bacon hadn't been pan fried, put microwaved. Furthermore, the service was pretty spotty. The place was clearly understaffed, with only two girls working as both servers and as counter help. They should've hired someone to work exclusively at the counter to deal with take out orders.
Despite it's cute atmosphere, this was not the best breakfast place. I think I would have much rather gone across the street to Family Restaurant or even driven a bit further and gotten brunch at Toro (apparently they're doing that now). So keep this experience in mind when looking for breakfast spots in Brookline.
My friend, Juliet, was in town this past weekend, visiting Boston to celebrate her bday. For breakfast Saturday morning, I suggested that we check out the Omelettry Cafe in Brookline Village, which I'd read about in the Globe in an article about migas. It was a pretty good review and after checking the comments on Chowhound, I figured it'd be a great new breakfast place to try out.
So when we walked into the restaurant, we were able to find a table pretty quickly (it was two small tables placed side by side). Unfortunately on one of the tables the glass top was missing and the table cloth underneath had clearly been used, with some remnants of the previous diner's meal. Juliet changed seats, and my side really wasn't that dirty, so I dealt with it. The Phoenix was pretty spot on when it described the Omelettry as having a "collegiate" type atmosphere. It's cute, with large murals on the wall, especially one with a big tree and eggs falls from it (get it, omelette tree?) and was filled with young locals.
We perused the menus our table and all decided to get the Tex-Mex inspired breakfast plates. Tom ordered the migas, which came with a side of refried beans and potatoes. Here it is below.
Migas are basically scrambled eggs with with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, and Monterey Jack cheese. I thought Tom's breakfast wasn't too bad. I like the tortilla in the eggs. And i think he thought it was ok. Nothing spectacular.
Here's my order of chilaquiles, which are eggs scrambled with along with peppers, onions, tomatoes, cheese, and salsa. They also came with a side of refried beans and potatoes and 2 tortillas. I found my eggs overcooked and kinda watery. They weren't great. And i thought the refried beans were too salty.Leah and Juliet both got huevos rancheros, and neither of them really liked it. The menu advertised "homemade salsa" on top of the eggs, but it was pretty clear that the salsa they used was bottled. It was watery, had a dull color and didn't look good at all. Also, Leah asked for a side of extra crispy bacon and from the looks of it, the bacon hadn't been pan fried, put microwaved. Furthermore, the service was pretty spotty. The place was clearly understaffed, with only two girls working as both servers and as counter help. They should've hired someone to work exclusively at the counter to deal with take out orders.
Despite it's cute atmosphere, this was not the best breakfast place. I think I would have much rather gone across the street to Family Restaurant or even driven a bit further and gotten brunch at Toro (apparently they're doing that now). So keep this experience in mind when looking for breakfast spots in Brookline.
RANDOM MUSINGS
What's up with the food at Fenway?
I made my second trip to Fenway park yesterday to watch the Red Sox lose to the Tigers (sigh) and I've now decided to boycott all food at Fenway. I really do feel that this year, they've gone too far with seeing how far you can push customers price and quality wise. On my first trip to Fenway, I'd discovered that they'd gotten rid of my beloved chicken sausages (they've decided to replace them with a chicken breast sandwich). I got ice cream instead. But I also had a pretzel later in the game and discovered that they've started serving much smaller pretzels (like 1/3 of the size smaller) but are still charging the same price. Bastards.
On this trip, I had just come from work, so got the chicken strips and fries. And I seriously think they give you fewer chicken strips this year. For $7.25, you get two pieces of chicken on a pile of fries. WTF. I'm still shocked that they charge $4.25 for a 20 oz. bottle of Coke. How do you come up with that number? I mean, I know that you expect to get ripped off when attending sporting events, but when you're also paying for the highest ticket prices of any ballpark in the U.S., you'd think you could pay just a little less.
Family Restaurant, Brookline Village
I am now a fan of the Family Restaurant in Brookline Village. It's just located on Washington St., next to Beacon Hill Athletic Club, but I had never noticed it before. But Leah had a great dinner there (they serve Turkish food) and said that I had to check it out. So when my friend, Noel, came into town (with our high school math teacher in tow), Katie, Dustin and I took showed them a bit of Brookline and lunch at the Family Restaurant.
The menu is actually quite big and we all decided to order sandwiches. I got a sandwich that had ground chicken and it was great. It was served on a big bun (which I thought was a little strange, I had expected pita), but the chicken was really well seasoned and cooked. I think we all enjoyed our sandwiches and lunch cost less than $10/person. I've got to go back for dinner sometime.
Truly Jorg's is now open
Ok people, the patisserie is open, so stop asking me. Due to the location of my store, and since I'm friends with Jorg, EVERYONE has felt the need, over the last 3 months, to ask me when the new patisserie will open. So my friend Jorg just opened a second location here at the hotel. (it's in between the bank and the wine shop) and i think it looks great. I think he makes some of the best pastries in Boston and he has beautiful stuff. Plus he and his wife are super nice people. Check it out and then come up to buy some chocolate from me!
What's up with the food at Fenway?
I made my second trip to Fenway park yesterday to watch the Red Sox lose to the Tigers (sigh) and I've now decided to boycott all food at Fenway. I really do feel that this year, they've gone too far with seeing how far you can push customers price and quality wise. On my first trip to Fenway, I'd discovered that they'd gotten rid of my beloved chicken sausages (they've decided to replace them with a chicken breast sandwich). I got ice cream instead. But I also had a pretzel later in the game and discovered that they've started serving much smaller pretzels (like 1/3 of the size smaller) but are still charging the same price. Bastards.
On this trip, I had just come from work, so got the chicken strips and fries. And I seriously think they give you fewer chicken strips this year. For $7.25, you get two pieces of chicken on a pile of fries. WTF. I'm still shocked that they charge $4.25 for a 20 oz. bottle of Coke. How do you come up with that number? I mean, I know that you expect to get ripped off when attending sporting events, but when you're also paying for the highest ticket prices of any ballpark in the U.S., you'd think you could pay just a little less.
Family Restaurant, Brookline Village
I am now a fan of the Family Restaurant in Brookline Village. It's just located on Washington St., next to Beacon Hill Athletic Club, but I had never noticed it before. But Leah had a great dinner there (they serve Turkish food) and said that I had to check it out. So when my friend, Noel, came into town (with our high school math teacher in tow), Katie, Dustin and I took showed them a bit of Brookline and lunch at the Family Restaurant.
The menu is actually quite big and we all decided to order sandwiches. I got a sandwich that had ground chicken and it was great. It was served on a big bun (which I thought was a little strange, I had expected pita), but the chicken was really well seasoned and cooked. I think we all enjoyed our sandwiches and lunch cost less than $10/person. I've got to go back for dinner sometime.
Truly Jorg's is now open
Ok people, the patisserie is open, so stop asking me. Due to the location of my store, and since I'm friends with Jorg, EVERYONE has felt the need, over the last 3 months, to ask me when the new patisserie will open. So my friend Jorg just opened a second location here at the hotel. (it's in between the bank and the wine shop) and i think it looks great. I think he makes some of the best pastries in Boston and he has beautiful stuff. Plus he and his wife are super nice people. Check it out and then come up to buy some chocolate from me!
SAY NO TO SEIYO
A couple of weeks ago, Leah mentioned that one of her customer's brothers owned a Japanese restaurant in the South End, right across the street from Toro. I couldn't think of which restaurant this was, but after a breakfast at Mike's, I ran across the street and realized that the restaurant was Seiyo. I'd read about this place before, it's a sushi/wine bar. And peering into the windows, I noticed that it's a beautifully designed restaurant, with a wall made of empty wine bottles and just bar seating no tables.
So Leah and I decided to head over there and check it out. Given its location and the fact that they were serving sushi, I had expected the prices to be quite high, but I looked at their menu and prices online and realized that the prices were reasonable. When we arrived, the restaurant was basically deserted, which was surprising since Toro just across the street was packed and it was 7:30 in the South End. We were quickly seated at a bar, right in front of the window. Here's a pic of our view and the cool chopstick holder that I liked. You can also notice that the bar isn't straight, but in an angle.
And here's a pic of the interior of the space. that's the sushi bar on the left and at the back you'll see the wall of wine.
I decided to order a tofu salad and a vegetarian sushi dinner. Leah ordered the Sushi Regular dinner that came with 6 pieces of sushi and a tuna roll. She also ordered an extra spider roll. First we got our miso soup that came with the dinner...
Oddly enough, they served the soup with metal spoons. Which is almost never done at a Japanese restaurant. (uh oh) You're just supposed to pick up the bowl and drink it as is.
Here's my tofu salad. It was ok. As you can see it's just iceberg lettuce, so nothing special. And really, there wasn't a whole lot of tofu.
Ok, and here's the pic of my sushi dinner. There's an avocado roll, a cucumber roll and an aspargus roll.
So as most of you guys know, there's a big difference between good sushi and bad sushi. This wasn't the worst sushi I'd ever had (That award would go to the premade sushi I once bought at a Costco in LA. We both came down with food poisoning. Never buy sushi from Costsco.) but we did agree that the sushi bordered on the passable/mediocre. It was quite disappointing given the beautiful setting.
Here's leah's spider roll
and her sushi dinner.
Even I could tell that the sushi wasn't well made, and I don't even eat raw fish. (it's a texture thing, i find it too chewy). The pieces of fish were very large and not cut well.
After hearing the waitress talking with the guys behind the sushi bar, I realized that they were speaking Chinese. And I'm not saying that people other than the Japanese can make good sushi, it's just that I've never had it. And the lack of a trained Japanese sushi chef really hurt this place. I mean, sushi is a pretty easy thing to make, you can do it at home, but doing something simple really well is always the hard thing. My advice to the owners of Seiyo is to hire a trained sushi chef, someone with a name, and get more people into your place. It's a shame to let such a beautiful restaurant go to waste.
We were hoping for some ice cream post dinner. Maybe some green tea or red bean ice cream. But the waitress just brought us our check, so I guess they don't serve dessert. We hopped over to Flour Bakery instead. It was just 2 blocks down and I had parked right in front of it.
Leah asked for a recommendation for the counter help and she suggested the brownie. I got this peanut butter oreo.
I did like my oreo, but like Leah said, I don't know why Flour is such a popular place. Their desserts just really aren't they great. I can tell just by looking at them. That's why I didn't order the brownie, it looked a bit dry and certianly not chocolatey enough. And Leah ended up disliking it. I think we've given them too many chances. I much prefer the desserts at the Buttery on Shawmut.
So even though our dinner wasn't stellar, it was still great to hang out with Leah and just sit outside at Flour, watching all the double parked idiots in the South End scramble when the cops showed up and made them move their cars.
A couple of weeks ago, Leah mentioned that one of her customer's brothers owned a Japanese restaurant in the South End, right across the street from Toro. I couldn't think of which restaurant this was, but after a breakfast at Mike's, I ran across the street and realized that the restaurant was Seiyo. I'd read about this place before, it's a sushi/wine bar. And peering into the windows, I noticed that it's a beautifully designed restaurant, with a wall made of empty wine bottles and just bar seating no tables.
So Leah and I decided to head over there and check it out. Given its location and the fact that they were serving sushi, I had expected the prices to be quite high, but I looked at their menu and prices online and realized that the prices were reasonable. When we arrived, the restaurant was basically deserted, which was surprising since Toro just across the street was packed and it was 7:30 in the South End. We were quickly seated at a bar, right in front of the window. Here's a pic of our view and the cool chopstick holder that I liked. You can also notice that the bar isn't straight, but in an angle.
And here's a pic of the interior of the space. that's the sushi bar on the left and at the back you'll see the wall of wine.
I decided to order a tofu salad and a vegetarian sushi dinner. Leah ordered the Sushi Regular dinner that came with 6 pieces of sushi and a tuna roll. She also ordered an extra spider roll. First we got our miso soup that came with the dinner...
Oddly enough, they served the soup with metal spoons. Which is almost never done at a Japanese restaurant. (uh oh) You're just supposed to pick up the bowl and drink it as is.Here's my tofu salad. It was ok. As you can see it's just iceberg lettuce, so nothing special. And really, there wasn't a whole lot of tofu.
Ok, and here's the pic of my sushi dinner. There's an avocado roll, a cucumber roll and an aspargus roll.
So as most of you guys know, there's a big difference between good sushi and bad sushi. This wasn't the worst sushi I'd ever had (That award would go to the premade sushi I once bought at a Costco in LA. We both came down with food poisoning. Never buy sushi from Costsco.) but we did agree that the sushi bordered on the passable/mediocre. It was quite disappointing given the beautiful setting.Here's leah's spider roll
and her sushi dinner.
Even I could tell that the sushi wasn't well made, and I don't even eat raw fish. (it's a texture thing, i find it too chewy). The pieces of fish were very large and not cut well.After hearing the waitress talking with the guys behind the sushi bar, I realized that they were speaking Chinese. And I'm not saying that people other than the Japanese can make good sushi, it's just that I've never had it. And the lack of a trained Japanese sushi chef really hurt this place. I mean, sushi is a pretty easy thing to make, you can do it at home, but doing something simple really well is always the hard thing. My advice to the owners of Seiyo is to hire a trained sushi chef, someone with a name, and get more people into your place. It's a shame to let such a beautiful restaurant go to waste.
We were hoping for some ice cream post dinner. Maybe some green tea or red bean ice cream. But the waitress just brought us our check, so I guess they don't serve dessert. We hopped over to Flour Bakery instead. It was just 2 blocks down and I had parked right in front of it.
Leah asked for a recommendation for the counter help and she suggested the brownie. I got this peanut butter oreo.
I did like my oreo, but like Leah said, I don't know why Flour is such a popular place. Their desserts just really aren't they great. I can tell just by looking at them. That's why I didn't order the brownie, it looked a bit dry and certianly not chocolatey enough. And Leah ended up disliking it. I think we've given them too many chances. I much prefer the desserts at the Buttery on Shawmut.So even though our dinner wasn't stellar, it was still great to hang out with Leah and just sit outside at Flour, watching all the double parked idiots in the South End scramble when the cops showed up and made them move their cars.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
AN AFTERNOON IN ARLINGTON
So it was Monday afternoon. I had some time off, so I called up Katie and we decided to check out Penzey's Spices in Arlington. We also decided to get some lunch. It seemed a bit to hot for bbq from Blue Ribbon, so I did some digging and found an interesting Russian cafe for us to check out instead.
We drove up to the place, and as usual, with address in hand, we walked up to the restaurant... and found that it no longer existed. How this has happened to me twice in one week I don't understand. But suffice it to say, when looking up info on Chowhound, call to verify that the place still exists. If only I had taken my own advice. However, it was a serendipitous mistake because in place of the former Russian cafe was a cute little bakery/coffeeshop called Sweet Sue's. So we went in, hoping to find a nice, light lunch, which we succeeded in doing.
Here's an interior shot of the place.
It's got big windows, so is very light and has a comfy seating area. There was a fairly large case up front that contained some very yummy looking pastries, especially muffins. But we were here for lunch. The options, written on large chalkboards scattered throughout the place, were pretty limited, but still looked very decent. I ordered a chicken club (minus the bacon) while Katie got a lovely Oriental chicken salad. (do they only call is Oriental cause it has mandarin orange slices and almonds?)
At any rate, here's my sandwich. It was quite tasty. A bit too much mayo, but i really like the baguette it was served on. Plus the potatoes.
Here's Katie's salad, which also looks great and she enjoyed a lot. In retrospect, I might have ordered this, but there's always next time.
At the table next to us, there was a family having lunch together. And towards the end of their meal, they had ordered these mini pies which were so cute! Katie and I both wanted one. But when we went back up to the counter to order, they were already sold out! So note to self, order early next time. I also like the fact that this place was very reasonably priced, so I will certainly be back for that mini pie.
After lunch, we headed up the street to Penzey's Spices. I'd heard about this place from my older sister who enjoyed going while she lived in Pittsburgh. And I knew that they'd opened a store in Arlington, but I hadn't made my way up there.
So Penzey's really does just sell spices and herbs. Dried ones that is. They're well known for these spice kits that you can get people as gifts. I had a small list of stuff that I needed: vanilla, bay leaves and cinnamon. Here's a pic of how a shelf is layed out.
They have different size bottles of stuff and next to each one, they have a covered glass jar that you can open and smell what's inside. That's how i ended buying more than I'd originally planned. Plus, buying spices at Penzey's is much much cheaper than buying them at your regular grocery store. And they quality's much better. I ended getting the 3 seasonsings i needed, plus a jar of European peppercorns, a smoked paprika and 2 types of red pepper flakes. Here's a pic of all my goodies when I got home.
Katie also got something cool- vanilla sugar. And a few other ingredients. All in all, it was a great way to spend a sunny summer afternoon with a friend.
So it was Monday afternoon. I had some time off, so I called up Katie and we decided to check out Penzey's Spices in Arlington. We also decided to get some lunch. It seemed a bit to hot for bbq from Blue Ribbon, so I did some digging and found an interesting Russian cafe for us to check out instead.
We drove up to the place, and as usual, with address in hand, we walked up to the restaurant... and found that it no longer existed. How this has happened to me twice in one week I don't understand. But suffice it to say, when looking up info on Chowhound, call to verify that the place still exists. If only I had taken my own advice. However, it was a serendipitous mistake because in place of the former Russian cafe was a cute little bakery/coffeeshop called Sweet Sue's. So we went in, hoping to find a nice, light lunch, which we succeeded in doing.
Here's an interior shot of the place.
It's got big windows, so is very light and has a comfy seating area. There was a fairly large case up front that contained some very yummy looking pastries, especially muffins. But we were here for lunch. The options, written on large chalkboards scattered throughout the place, were pretty limited, but still looked very decent. I ordered a chicken club (minus the bacon) while Katie got a lovely Oriental chicken salad. (do they only call is Oriental cause it has mandarin orange slices and almonds?)At any rate, here's my sandwich. It was quite tasty. A bit too much mayo, but i really like the baguette it was served on. Plus the potatoes.
Here's Katie's salad, which also looks great and she enjoyed a lot. In retrospect, I might have ordered this, but there's always next time.
At the table next to us, there was a family having lunch together. And towards the end of their meal, they had ordered these mini pies which were so cute! Katie and I both wanted one. But when we went back up to the counter to order, they were already sold out! So note to self, order early next time. I also like the fact that this place was very reasonably priced, so I will certainly be back for that mini pie.After lunch, we headed up the street to Penzey's Spices. I'd heard about this place from my older sister who enjoyed going while she lived in Pittsburgh. And I knew that they'd opened a store in Arlington, but I hadn't made my way up there.
So Penzey's really does just sell spices and herbs. Dried ones that is. They're well known for these spice kits that you can get people as gifts. I had a small list of stuff that I needed: vanilla, bay leaves and cinnamon. Here's a pic of how a shelf is layed out.
They have different size bottles of stuff and next to each one, they have a covered glass jar that you can open and smell what's inside. That's how i ended buying more than I'd originally planned. Plus, buying spices at Penzey's is much much cheaper than buying them at your regular grocery store. And they quality's much better. I ended getting the 3 seasonsings i needed, plus a jar of European peppercorns, a smoked paprika and 2 types of red pepper flakes. Here's a pic of all my goodies when I got home.
Katie also got something cool- vanilla sugar. And a few other ingredients. All in all, it was a great way to spend a sunny summer afternoon with a friend.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
DINING IN TH E BERKSHIRES, DAY 2
For day 2 in the Berkshires, we decided to have breakfast at Joe's Diner. I'd noticed this place while driving over to Tanglewood and thought it'd be a nice place to pick up a quick cheap bite before heading off to do some hiking. Little did I know how famous Joe's Diner actually is.
Well, first let me tell you about our experience there. When we arrived, there was a small line of people. They were able to snag a table and while waiting, I got to watch the kinda funny interaction between the waitress and her regular customers. After waiting about 10 minutes, we were able to grab some seats at the counter. (pictured below).
The place seemed to be full of locals and some tourists. So that was kinda cool, but then things started to go awry pretty quickly. Turns out that there was only one adult waitress. The rest of the places was being manned by teenagers (and younger). The little girl standing and washing dishes was probably 12. Needless to say, they were truly not interested in helping us at all. After sitting there for a good period of time, I had to ask for menus. During this time, i was able to observe the inordinate number of large house flies buzzing around us. Oh, and all the newspaper articles about the place. It took another long wait before we were even approached to place our orders. And after we'd ordered, strangely enough the food from the two couples next to us, who had arrived and ordered after us, arrived before we got our food. Basically, service was crap. The fact that there were teenagers manning the place was no excuse. You're still in food service and we're still paying.
I ended up ordering a little mix of stuff. Here are my eggs, toasts and home fries. I also got a side of french toast. Really, it's hard to screw this up. I was just annoyed that we had to share all our condiments with the neighboring couple because i knew if I asked the "waitress" for anything else, we'd just be stuck waiting for it.
Tom got an order of the corned beef hash. I think he found it ok. Not great. And again, it's breakfast, one of those difficult meals to truly screw up. We were finally able to get out check and get out of there. Luckily it was cheap.
So to give you a background on Joe's Diner, it's particularly famous because of this Norman Rockwell Painting called the Runaway which is set inside the diner. The place has been around forever, and was run by the same family for like 50 years. However, in 2000, Joe decided to retire. And since then, it's changed ownership. You can read all about it here. From what I've read, the place now is nothing like it used to be. So even though they keep up all those old new articles, expect a totally different, and pretty crappy, experience.
After a little hike in the hills around Lenox, we were ready for lunch so headed into town to walk around and grab a bite. We felt like getting something casual and had noticed someone walking around with a pizza box, so hopped into Betty's Pizza Shack.
The place was a little funky, with its beach themed decor. I liked the bar that had seats made out of metal trash cans and the funny pink flamingos on the walls.
We placed our orders with the waitress (again, teenagers and after having teenagers as my servers twice in a day let me just say that i would never, ever hire teenagers to work for me.)
I just ended up getting a slice of cheese pizza while Tom ordered a pizza with Chicken, Cilantro, Jalapenos, Avocado, Mozzarella. And the the waiting began. Which was ok at first, but then it felt like it was taking forever. We watched one customer get super pissed off about the wait. And actually, his complaint wasn't so out of place. Plus the teenager handled it very very poorly. What was bad was his complete belligerence. Turns out that there was this one big order that the kitchen had to make and meanwhile, everyone else had to wait until that order was completed before getting any other food. This took about 20 minutes.
So here's Tom's pizza (i think you all know what a cheese pizza looks like). His was actually pretty good. A bit unusual with the toppings, but the addition of the avocados helped turn down the heat of the jalapenos. My pizza was also fairly decent. Overall eating in Berkshires was not amazing. It was pretty good, but I was glad to get out of the city for a while and just relax for a day.
For day 2 in the Berkshires, we decided to have breakfast at Joe's Diner. I'd noticed this place while driving over to Tanglewood and thought it'd be a nice place to pick up a quick cheap bite before heading off to do some hiking. Little did I know how famous Joe's Diner actually is.
Well, first let me tell you about our experience there. When we arrived, there was a small line of people. They were able to snag a table and while waiting, I got to watch the kinda funny interaction between the waitress and her regular customers. After waiting about 10 minutes, we were able to grab some seats at the counter. (pictured below).
The place seemed to be full of locals and some tourists. So that was kinda cool, but then things started to go awry pretty quickly. Turns out that there was only one adult waitress. The rest of the places was being manned by teenagers (and younger). The little girl standing and washing dishes was probably 12. Needless to say, they were truly not interested in helping us at all. After sitting there for a good period of time, I had to ask for menus. During this time, i was able to observe the inordinate number of large house flies buzzing around us. Oh, and all the newspaper articles about the place. It took another long wait before we were even approached to place our orders. And after we'd ordered, strangely enough the food from the two couples next to us, who had arrived and ordered after us, arrived before we got our food. Basically, service was crap. The fact that there were teenagers manning the place was no excuse. You're still in food service and we're still paying.I ended up ordering a little mix of stuff. Here are my eggs, toasts and home fries. I also got a side of french toast. Really, it's hard to screw this up. I was just annoyed that we had to share all our condiments with the neighboring couple because i knew if I asked the "waitress" for anything else, we'd just be stuck waiting for it.
Tom got an order of the corned beef hash. I think he found it ok. Not great. And again, it's breakfast, one of those difficult meals to truly screw up. We were finally able to get out check and get out of there. Luckily it was cheap.So to give you a background on Joe's Diner, it's particularly famous because of this Norman Rockwell Painting called the Runaway which is set inside the diner. The place has been around forever, and was run by the same family for like 50 years. However, in 2000, Joe decided to retire. And since then, it's changed ownership. You can read all about it here. From what I've read, the place now is nothing like it used to be. So even though they keep up all those old new articles, expect a totally different, and pretty crappy, experience.
After a little hike in the hills around Lenox, we were ready for lunch so headed into town to walk around and grab a bite. We felt like getting something casual and had noticed someone walking around with a pizza box, so hopped into Betty's Pizza Shack.
The place was a little funky, with its beach themed decor. I liked the bar that had seats made out of metal trash cans and the funny pink flamingos on the walls.
We placed our orders with the waitress (again, teenagers and after having teenagers as my servers twice in a day let me just say that i would never, ever hire teenagers to work for me.)I just ended up getting a slice of cheese pizza while Tom ordered a pizza with Chicken, Cilantro, Jalapenos, Avocado, Mozzarella. And the the waiting began. Which was ok at first, but then it felt like it was taking forever. We watched one customer get super pissed off about the wait. And actually, his complaint wasn't so out of place. Plus the teenager handled it very very poorly. What was bad was his complete belligerence. Turns out that there was this one big order that the kitchen had to make and meanwhile, everyone else had to wait until that order was completed before getting any other food. This took about 20 minutes.
So here's Tom's pizza (i think you all know what a cheese pizza looks like). His was actually pretty good. A bit unusual with the toppings, but the addition of the avocados helped turn down the heat of the jalapenos. My pizza was also fairly decent. Overall eating in Berkshires was not amazing. It was pretty good, but I was glad to get out of the city for a while and just relax for a day.
DINNER IN THE BERKSHIRES
As i told you in my previous post, I spent the weekend in the Berkshires. No, not for some nice relaxing vacation. I had a booth at the Tanglewood Wine and Food Classic. So I was giving away free samples of chilled hot chocolate to some really wealthy folks. Good times. This did afford me the opportunity to explore the Berkshires for the first time, though, so I decided to spend that evening and the next day (my day off) checking it all out.
Before I left for my trip, I did some researching on where to eat. Lately, I've been a big fan of Chowhound, especially since they've revamped the site and made it much easier to search. I searched for places to eat in Lee and Lenox (we were staying in Lee) and found an interesting place called From Ketchup to Caviar. The people on Chowhound had given it pretty good reviews, but I was a little confused by their website. It was obviously a catering company, but they wrote nothing about the actual restaurant. After a little more digging online, I found an address for the place, but was a little skeptical about the lack of info on the actual website.
Fast foward to Saturday night. With address in hand, we went looking for the restaurant. And couldn't find it. I'd written down the phone number in case something like this happened, and when we called, found out that the restaurant was located across from the fire station. I knew where the fire station was, but there was no sign of a restaurant called "From Ketchup to Caviar." The only place we saw was one called Chez Nous. We were pretty hungry by this point, so we gave up and went to Chez Nous, a French bistro type place. (Turns out that From Ketchup to Caviar had closed and been replaced with Chez Nous at some point. So just call ahead if you do plan to use Chowhound and verify info).
I had wanted to sit outdoors, but the wait would've been 15 minutes. And like I said, we were hungry. The rest of the restaurant was booked, but in the bar area there were 3 small tables with stools, and we were seated there. It was a bit cramped and uncomfortable because we were perched on these hard stools. I think I was more ok than Tom, but looking at all the other diners, I don't think anyone was a fan of the stools.
We were quickly given bread, water and menus. It was pretty much your typical French bistro type fare. I decided to order 2 appetizers. Tom and I shared the crudite plate below.
It had a roast pepper sauce thingy, an olive tapenade and some chevre. My favorite was the cheese, though they gave us far too few pieces of bread and veggies, so we had to order extra.
For my "entree" (though it was the appetizer size portion) I ordered the crab cakes.
I must say it was a pretty generous portion for an appetizer size. And i was suprised that it even came with corn on the side. I did like the crab cakes. It wasn't too stuffed with filler, and they had put in lots of whole grain mustard to give it more flavor. A bit unusual, but not bad at all.
Tom ordered a steak, but he didn't seem to really like it. I think it was too fatty. Also by this point, service had become very spotty. I think they were too busy trying to take care of all the ppl in the main dining room. But dinner was dragging a bit by this point, and we were tired. So we opted to skip dessert.
Overall, it was a decent dinner. Better than going to Friendly's, but in the future, I think I'll drive the extra 10 minutes to Lenox, where there are more dining choices.
As i told you in my previous post, I spent the weekend in the Berkshires. No, not for some nice relaxing vacation. I had a booth at the Tanglewood Wine and Food Classic. So I was giving away free samples of chilled hot chocolate to some really wealthy folks. Good times. This did afford me the opportunity to explore the Berkshires for the first time, though, so I decided to spend that evening and the next day (my day off) checking it all out.
Before I left for my trip, I did some researching on where to eat. Lately, I've been a big fan of Chowhound, especially since they've revamped the site and made it much easier to search. I searched for places to eat in Lee and Lenox (we were staying in Lee) and found an interesting place called From Ketchup to Caviar. The people on Chowhound had given it pretty good reviews, but I was a little confused by their website. It was obviously a catering company, but they wrote nothing about the actual restaurant. After a little more digging online, I found an address for the place, but was a little skeptical about the lack of info on the actual website.
Fast foward to Saturday night. With address in hand, we went looking for the restaurant. And couldn't find it. I'd written down the phone number in case something like this happened, and when we called, found out that the restaurant was located across from the fire station. I knew where the fire station was, but there was no sign of a restaurant called "From Ketchup to Caviar." The only place we saw was one called Chez Nous. We were pretty hungry by this point, so we gave up and went to Chez Nous, a French bistro type place. (Turns out that From Ketchup to Caviar had closed and been replaced with Chez Nous at some point. So just call ahead if you do plan to use Chowhound and verify info).
I had wanted to sit outdoors, but the wait would've been 15 minutes. And like I said, we were hungry. The rest of the restaurant was booked, but in the bar area there were 3 small tables with stools, and we were seated there. It was a bit cramped and uncomfortable because we were perched on these hard stools. I think I was more ok than Tom, but looking at all the other diners, I don't think anyone was a fan of the stools.
We were quickly given bread, water and menus. It was pretty much your typical French bistro type fare. I decided to order 2 appetizers. Tom and I shared the crudite plate below.
It had a roast pepper sauce thingy, an olive tapenade and some chevre. My favorite was the cheese, though they gave us far too few pieces of bread and veggies, so we had to order extra.For my "entree" (though it was the appetizer size portion) I ordered the crab cakes.
I must say it was a pretty generous portion for an appetizer size. And i was suprised that it even came with corn on the side. I did like the crab cakes. It wasn't too stuffed with filler, and they had put in lots of whole grain mustard to give it more flavor. A bit unusual, but not bad at all.Tom ordered a steak, but he didn't seem to really like it. I think it was too fatty. Also by this point, service had become very spotty. I think they were too busy trying to take care of all the ppl in the main dining room. But dinner was dragging a bit by this point, and we were tired. So we opted to skip dessert.
Overall, it was a decent dinner. Better than going to Friendly's, but in the future, I think I'll drive the extra 10 minutes to Lenox, where there are more dining choices.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
