GUESS WHAT I ATE FOR DINNER LAST NIGHT?

If you guessed pastries and fondue, followed by a bowl of french fries, you would be correct. I had grand plans to go to the gym last night. Followed by some grilled panini sandwiches and a viewing of Grey's Anatomy courtesy of Leah. But I was invited by Jorg, of Truly Jorg's, to attend their official grand opening party. So I grabbed Leah and off we went to the party. There were a ton of pastries and little pots of fondue, and not many people. So of course we gorged ourselves, filling up on fondue, strawberry tarts and cakes. We then stole a handful of cookies on our way out for the next day. (I've just eaten three of them). I really do love Jorg's pastries. They're delicious and he doesn't skimp on butter, cream or sugar.

The thing is, I've almost always had Jorg's pastries fresh. Like at parties, or when I've gone to his kitchen in Saugus. I've only had pastries from his Kenmore store once, and it was a bad bad experience. Last week, a bunch of us went there post dinner to get dessert and we were disappointed with every single thing that we got. It was clear that the pastries didn't turn very often and sat in the case far too long. There needs to be more quality control down there. Jorg isn't there very often, so he has to rely on his staff, but most of the time, I find them not very willing to help or having long conversations with friends while ignoring customers. The cakes we had were way too over soaked (they do this to keep the cakes moist, but went way too far). Leah got soggy cookies that'd been in the fridge far too long and it was all kinda sad. So the tip for the day: buy pastries from Jorg's if you're in Saugus. And the breakfast pastries in Kenmore are ok, they come in fresh every morning.

After Jorg's we were gonna go have sandwiches. But i wanted french fries. I'd actually wanted french fries since earlier in the day, but the consumption of mass amounts of sugar made me crave salt even more. So off we went to Eastern Standard. Now I've never reviewed ES in my blog before, but most of you know how I feel about it. Love the bar, and all upper management; have serious issues with the restaurant. But they make great fries. Leah and I thoroughly enjoyed our fries. They hit the spot. And after our evening of gorging we went back to my place to watch an ok episode of Grey's Anatomy. Are they really gonna drag out with whole threesome thing all season? And that's what I had for dinner last night.

GELATERIA, NORTH END

Yesterday I created a lovely blog entry for all of you. I worked on it, added little links and promptly closed my browser window while the post was still loading. Then I got mad. And here I am, back trying to recreate the post that I came up with yesterday. So here it goes (and with pictures, too! You should all be so proud.) and though it might not be as great as the original one, at least I bothered to retype it at all.

On Sunday morning we had brunch at the Pearl and afterwards, Tom and I decided to take a walk to the North End. I wanted to get some of my favorite almond macaroon cookies from Modern Pastry and I also wanted to check out a new gelato shop that I'd heard about, Gelateria.

Our first stop was Modern. I hadn't been in there in quite some time (I go to the North End about once a year cause I hate taking the T and there's never any parking in that area.) I was quite surprised to find that Modern had made some improvements to their space. They didn't remodel or expand, they just reorganized the space and now it seems much bigger and cleaner. The refrigerated cases which used to be up in the front taking up a to of room had been moved behind the counter. And it looks like they cleaned, making it a much nicer shopping experience. I picked up a dozen cookies (enough for me and some for Leah) and then we moved on to Gelateria.

Ok, here's a pic of the exterior. You might remember that his space used to be a little market. But now it's a gelato shop with seating inside.
And now for my little rant. I love gelato and I'm very very picky about it. When I'm in Italy, I eat gelato 1-2 times a day. Minimum. Regardless of weather. And yes, you could have a valid claim that I am picky about many foods. But I'm especially picky about things that I would consume on a daily basis when I was studying abroad. So I only drink cappuccinos when I'm in Italy, or from this one cafe in LA, I buy cans of Fanta when I'm in Europe and bring them back with me and if I am in Italy, I always bring back olive oil, balsalmic vinegar and dried porcinis.

With that said, I've had gelato at one place in the U.S. that makes gelato just like the stuff you have in Italy. And that's at Capogiro in Philly. (which unfortunately did not exist during the 4 years that I actually lived in Philly). This place has artisanally made gelatos and they are amazing. I've started reading a new blog called Ed Levine Eats and it's funny, cause he just wrote about Capogiro, too. The place is not cheap, though. It costs $5 for their smallest cup and apparently, it's $10 a pint. It is worth every penny though, (and is certainly less than a plane ticket to Italy) and I'm hoping to get some if I swing down to Philly during Thanksgiving. Il laboratorio del gelato in NYC also makes some nice stuff, but it's a hike to get there. (I did see Frances McDormand buy gelato the one time i went, tho).

But back to Gelateria. When we walked in, I was suprised to find the place pretty empty. It was a warm Sunday afternoon (about 80F out) so I'd expect more people would want gelato. When i peered into the gelato cases I was a little disappointed. The articles I'd read about Gelateria promised 50 flavors made fresh daily. There weren't 50 flavors. Maybe 30. In addition, you could tell that some of the gelatos were very melty. Gelatos are supposed to be served at a slightly higher temp than ice cream, but it isn't supposed to be gloopy. And lastly, look at the colors in the pic below! They're basically uniform and kinda bland. Those gelatos should be bright and vibrant. And one thing I love about the gelatos in Italy is that they are always decorated with whatever happens to be inside the gelato. (like strawberry gelato would have a bunch of fresh strawberries on top- refer back to the Capogiro website for pics).

I ended up picking two flavors. Bacio and passion fruit. The bacio (chocolate with hazelnuts) was actually pretty good. But the passion fruit was much too sweet and not passion fruity enough. Plus, it was super melty. I finished up the bacio and tossed the rest.
Tom ordered the lime and pear. I gotta say that I did enjoy the lime. It had a nice flavor and was clearly the winner out of all the ones we tried. Gelateria might brag that they imported their gelato machine all the way from Italy, but that's pretty useless when the person making the gelato has never had true Italian gelato. They should've taken the money and flown the chef to Italy to learn how to make gelato. I actually think the gelato at Cafe Graffiti across the street (which they also make in house, but have a much smaller selection of flavors) were better than the ones at Gelateria. So for true Italian gelato in the U.S., look up Capogiro and skip Gelateria. 

RESTAURANT WISH LIST CONTINUED....

I am once again at work, bored and hungry. As you may have noticed, lately I've been going to a lot of restaurats that I've gone to before. I haven't found many cheap places that I'd actually like to check out in Boston (if you saw in my previous post, I'm basically too poor to actually go to any of the restaurants listed.) But here I sit at work, and so I started reading a copy of this week's Dig and noticed that they did a review of restaurants in JP. Now, I've always liked going to JP for eats. They have some casual places that aren't too expensive, and tho parking can be a pain, it's not like driving to Back Bay. And my interest was peaked by a Salvadoran restaurant called La Pupusa Guanaca. The last time I had a pupusa was when we went to Orinoco in the South End. And if you recall my review, I did not enjoy it. It was a little too hoity toity. Pupusas are street food, and making them fancy kinda destroys the whole spirit of the food. So I was happy to read a review about a place that serves them for $1 ea, and located in JP!

So of course, I started searching the web and chowhound to read more about JP and stumbled upon a whole host of postings about eating Latin American food in Boston. Now I have a ton of places I wanna check out, and the best part about it all is that it's unquestionably cheap eats. So here's the best post that I found, and additions to my restaurant wish list for cheap eats in Boston.

1. La Pupusa Guanaca, JP, 378 Centre St. Boston, MA.
2. Alex's Chimis, JP
3. Tacos El Charro, JP
4. Rincon Limeno, East Boston.
5. Miami Restaurant, JP
6. Reef Cafe, Allston
7. Tacos Lupita, Somerville
8. O Cantinho, Inman Square
9. Muqueca, Inman Square
10. Singh's Roti Shop, Dorchester

RESTAURANT WISH LIST

Ok I admit it, I'm bored. Like really, truly bored. Yes, I have some work I could potentially be doing. (don't we all?) But I don't feel like it. So there. Anyhoo, Tom asked me why I don't blog anymore, which just isn't true. I just haven't blogged as frequently nor written an actual review in a while. But he suggested that I come up with a Restaurant Wish List. And I thought that was a pretty good idea. I'll be revising this frequently, but hopefully I'll be able to actually go to a few of these restaurants this year. You'll notice that many of them have been around for a while, but that's the thing, I haven't actually gone to any of these landmark restaurants. Something I'll definitely have to do before I move from this coast. One day. And so, in no particular order...

1. The French Laundry, Napa Valley, Thomas Keller
2. Per Se, NYC, Thomas Keller- and as you all know, I'm going here in November.
3. Jean Georges, NYC, Jean Georges Vongerichten
4. Daniel, NYC, Daniel Boulud
5. No. 9 Park, Boston, Barbara Lynch- I've asked to be taken for my bday. (January)
6. Lupa, NYC, Mario Batali
7. Ten Tables, Boston
8. Craigie Street Bistrot, Boston, Tony Maws
9. Aujourd'hui, Boston
10. Moto, Chicago
11. El Bulli, Spain, Ferran Adria
12. Minibar, Washington, D.C., Jose Andres
13. Chez Panisse, San Francisco, Alice Waters
14. Joel Robuchon, Paris, Joel Robuchon

THINGS TO DO THIS FALL

Well, this weekend marks the official end to summer, and so it's time for fall. In July, I posted a "Things I want to do this summer" list. And I managed to do quite a few of them. White water rafting didn't happen (and I learned that you need to make reservations more than a week in advance). I never saw a movie at the Mendon drive-in; they tend to show those summer blockbusters or family friendly films. And this year(so far, Volver is coming out in November), my favorite movies have been Thank You for Smoking, Oh in Ohio and Little Miss Sunshine, not exactly movies with a huge market. But I did go to Wilson's Farms, had my lobster in Maine and went peach picking (sort of.)

So what's up for the fall? To be honest, I don't know. Fall is when it's supposed to get busier at the store. (My November and December are pretty much shot). And it's also the time for tradeshows! I'll be going to the Salon du Chocolat in both Paris and NYC. Thus, I give you my short list of things I want to do this fall:

1. Go apple picking and make an apple tarte tatin. Fall is the only time I make apple tarte tatins, and I only do it with apples that I've picked. For some reason, it just tastes better to me. And I make a damn good apple tarte tatin. Maybe I'll also make some more apple turnovers. I had some left over from Jayna's bday and have been pulling them out one by one when the mood strikes me. The only problem is that I keep eating them. Sigh.

2. Go for a hike and see the foliage. I've never actually taken a trip to see the foliage. Sure, I see it changing while driving down to NY or something, but it'd be nice to actually go out and see it for once. I'm trying to decide where to go, depending on how much time I have, but I think a daytrip to Mount Monadonack in NH might be fun or if I just wanna stay close to Boston, a hike at the Blue Hills Reservation would also be good.

3. Visit the Topsfield Fair. Everytime we drive up north on the 95, we drive through Topsfield. And I always say "Don't the have a fair here?" And the answer is yes, they have the Topsfield fair. It's a state fair, so they have the animals and carnival rides and carnival food! (do they include pirogies or is that a thing in Pennsylvania?) Anyway, I haven't been to a state fair before, or at least not as an adult (if you can call me that), so I definitely want to see some piglets, pet a rabbit, and eat some fried dough.

I mean, what else do people do in the fall? It is my favorite season. The crispness in the air and that smell of fall. You know what I'm talking about. But if you've got more suggestion, post the in the comments section and I'll try to check it out.

MORE THOUGHTS...

Yes, it's another delayed blog and another blog without pictures. I've been such a bad blogger, but really, things have been so busy that I haven't eaten anywhere new. Or at least anywhere worth taking a camera to. So instead, I'll give you a brief recap of places where I have eaten and my experiences there. Plus other random thoughts....

We visited the All Star Sandwich Bar again last week. But this time we went with Leah and Jayna and we decided to eat in. The place was not as full as last time (luckily), but we still had to wait for a table since there were 4 of us. Had we been a party of 2, we could've sat down right away. So there's a tip, don't go with a big group, cause you'll probably have to wait. The wait wasn't too bad tho. And the staff, though rushed and busy, were kinda as usual. I got my same Rachel, which was good, but I thought it was better the first time. Oh, and if you eat in, they give you a little side of pickles, which is nice. The fries were pretty good, but the gravy that we got to go on the side was just awesome. I'm glad we put the gravy on the side, too, so the fries weren't sitting there getting soggy. I think everyone enjoyed their sandwiches. Tom tried a Texas reuben, but decided he enjoyed the classic version better. When i was at work the next day, I was all excited to have my leftovers for lunch, but then discovered that the waiter had mixed up the sandwiches. I ended up with Jayna's grilled cheese, which I ate anyway. And it was also great.

Tom and I had dinner at Mulan last week. This time we went a little later in the evening (and it was Saturday night) and the place was packed with Asians. And big tables of them, too. We ordered three dishes and I really enjoyed a steamed fish. We had a bit too much food for 2, but I definitely enjoyed it. It's a great alternative to Victoria's (minus the twin lobster specials, of course), especially when you're not in the mood to deal with the crowded and noisy scene that's typical of Victoria's.

Oh wait, i did eat somewhere new. Well actually, I'd eaten there before, but I haven't blogged about it before. But it's not really worth it's own entry. I had lunch with Jayna at b.good the other day. (the Harvard location.) For those of you who don't know, b.good serves "healthy" fast food. Or i guess, healtheir fast food. I'd been to their first location in Back Bay before, and I seem to recall more options at that location. At any rate, I ordered the BBQ Chicken Sandwich for lunch. It had oven-crisped chicken breast topped with our homemade bbq sauce, fresh tomato and crisp letuce on a toasted whole wheat bun. ( I just noticed they spelled lettuce wrong on their website). It was just ok. I liked the whole wheat bun, but for whatever reason, they felt the need to coat the chicken in some weird panko crust thingy. I would've a plain grilled chicken breast. and this is still fast food. So the lettuce and tomato were kinda sad. Most of all, it had some onion thing on it which i found kinda bitter and rather unpleasant. ah well.

Have you guys been reading the Amateur Gourmet lately? He gave a pretty harsh critique of Le Cirque a couple of weeks back (and from what I understand of that restaurant, a pretty accurate assessment), but the thing is that the sone of the owner actually replied back in his comments section. He claimed to be hurt by the harsh critique, but the ridiculous thing is that he suggested that the Amateur Gourmet come back and become a regular and see what a great place the restaurant really is. But that's one big thing Adam was critiquing. You shouldn't have to be a wealthy regular to get stellar service. All patrons are deserving of the same great service, especially for a restaurant that costs as much as Le Cirque.

Ok, and that's it for today. Thanks for reading.

Ok and that's it for today. I'm gonna do some cooking this week, so I'll try to post some pictures. Really. I promise. (sort of)

JAYNA'S BDAY DINNER

Yes, once again I've forgotten to take pictures of a dinner that I've cooked. Well, not really forgotten than I didn't take pics cause I didn't want to destroy my camera like I did my last camera. Lucky thing for all of you that Big Ed loves to take pics and doumented all the food from last night's birthday dinner for Jayna.

When I asked Jayna what she wanted to eat for her bday dinner, she had two requests. No chicken (perhaps fish?) and apples. I knew we'd have a large number of guests for dinner, and fish is not the easiest thing to make for a lot of people. It has a tendency to overcook and then it tastes like crap. So I had to think of a way to cook a large amount of seafood for a crowd, and after surfing through epicurious, I decided on making a cioppino. (A fisherman's stew that was invented in SF). The recipe was pretty easy, and I liked the fact that it could be made the day before and finished the day of. And what to do with apples? Well, apple pie (or my favorite, a tarte tatin) seemed to be the easy answer. But i always gotta go the hard way and decided to make apple turnovers, again with a recipe from epicurious.

So here's a pic of the cioppino. I gotta say it turned out really well. I used a bunch of different seafood (ok, i gotta warn all of you that this does not qualify as cheap eats. Seafood is freaking expensive). And I went kinda nuts, buying scallops, tiger prawns and fish from Costco, clams and smaller shrimp from 88 and mussels from Shaws. I served this with a demi baguette from Costco and it was totally yummy. Ok, so I got bored on Monday night, and decided to make cupcakes as a second dessert. So here they are. Just boxed mixed, but still so yummy. Plus, who doesn't love a cupcake? Lastly, here is my apple turnover.Those also came out really well. But I gotta say, this was the most time consuming part of dinner. I had to make the filling and it took a lot of time to cube the 6 apples. Then you gotta cook the apples. Unlike the epicurious recipe, i wasn't planning on freezing the apple mixture, which meant that I had to thicken the sauce using some cornstarch. It turned out fine. Finally, i froze them overnight and stuck them into the oven while we were having our entrees. (Just like the Pepperidge Farm ones you buy in the supermarket). We still have a few in the freezer. I'm looking foward to eating one on a chilly fall night. Or maybe tonight.....I do love puff.

All in all dinner turned out great. I still love those recipes from epicurious and was happy to be able to throw Jayna a nice dinner for her bday.

SOULFIRE AND ALL STAR SANDWICH BAR

I know, I've been a terrible blogger of late. I have been trying to make an effort to eat more at home (which lasted about 3 days-It really is hard to eat at home when you have friends visiting, friend's coming home, friends moving, etc....) and I've forgotten to take my camera out during all the meals I've had lately, so this will be another pictureless post. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to all of you at some point. And thanks for those who have been using my meebo widget to chat with me. It keeps me entertained during my long boring days at work.


Allright, so in the last week I visited two new places. The first is SoulFire BBQ in Allston. I'd read about this place in the Globe and had wanted to check it out. But Tom went first. He came back with a lukewarm review. Which was basically, eat the ribs and stay away from everything else. Now Soulfire isn't like Blue Ribbon up in Arlington. Blue Ribbon serves wet bbq (where the sauce is applied during cooking) while Soulfire serves dry rub bbq. And I think I'm more of a fan of the wet bbq. At any rate, Leah, Jayna and I decided to head over to Soulfire. Leah and Jayna stuck with Tom's advice and shared an order of ribs (but not the baby back, Leah read reviews on Chowhound that said those weren't good). Meanwhile, I got the only option available to me- the hickory smoked chicken.

The places was pretty empty when we arrived, so our orders came up super fast. Because this is dry rub style bbq, we had a choice of 5 different sauces. I picked like 3 of them and ended up liking the yellow mustard sauce. However, my chicken was pretty dry and basically tasteless. You had to add sauce just to make it palatable. I did like the corn bread with my dinner and the potato salad was ok. I think Jayna and Leah were ok with their ribs. Leah felt that all the sauces basically tasted the same, while Jayna felt that everything was too sweet (the sauces, the pickles, etc.) I think this place will be pretty popular because of it's fairly reasonable prices, quick eats and ideal location. But if I want bbq, I'll be heading to Blue Ribbon while Leah still favors Redbones.

Wait, mini break in between reviews. I'd just like you all to know that I GOT RESERVATIONS TO PER SE. For those who don't know, that's Thomas Keller's Restaurant in NY. It was a bit of an ordeal. They only take reservations 2 months in advance (which is pretty good considering that for the French Laundry that's 6 months in advance). I was looking for reservations on November 11 (I'll be in NYC for the Chocolate Show), so after looking for some tips on Chowhound, I prepared to make my call. So the first time, I called a bit too early and got voicemail. I redialed immediately and dammit! Got a busy signal. On my third call...I got lucky and it went through. I was now on hold. Where I sat for 30 minutes. The phone rang at the store, but I didn't pick it up. I couldn't give up my place in line. And finally, I got through to an actual person. They'd only take a reservation for 6:15 or 9:15, so I went for the 6:15, but I'm super excited. Finally! I get to eat at a Thomas Keller restaurant. I'll definitely take pics and let you all know how it goes.

Ok, back to the reviews. The other place I ate last week was at the All Star Sandwich Bar in Inman Square. Tom and I had been in Kendall and I wanted a slice from Emma's, but it was closed. So I said we should get ice cream for lunch and Tom suggested going to Christina's. That's when I remembered that the sandwich place was open, so we headed up there. This place has been highly anticipated. It's opened by Chris Schleshinger of East Coast Grill and the place had already had an article in the Globe before it'd even opened. But we were still surprised at how packed it was when we arrived. The line was basically out the door and there were a huge number of people loitering about, waiting for their sandwiches. It took nearly 20 minutes before we got to the front counter so we could order. But even with all the mayhem, the staff was super super nice. Tom ordered a Reuben while I got a Rachel. After ordering, we were told it'd be another 20 minutes for our sandwiches, so we decided to go outside to wait.

When we got outside, we figured out why the line behind us had shrunk. A staff member was turning away all the people who were trying to get in. Apparently, the place was so busy that they were running out of everything and a line cook had walked off in frustration. They were gonna close (it was about 2:30), regroup, and reopen at 4. When I stopped to talk to the guy, I found out that'd only been open for 6 days and had never expected such madness. But again, they were being super nice about it.

So even though it took forever to get our sandwiches, we both found them quite tasty. We ended up taking them home and having them at a park near my apt. It was true that they'd been running out of stuff. I think they kinda skimped on the toppings, but I was thrilled that the turkey in my Rachel had been roasted in house, and was moist and super flavorful. Tom also really liked his Reuben, though he would've preferred it with more sauerkraut. At any rate, my suggestion is look up their menu online, call in your order and pick it up. Don't even attempt to eat in or if you want to order in person, be prepared for a wait.

GOURMET INDIA, COOLIDGE CORNER

Ok, I've had dinner two nights in a row in Coolidge Corner, and I've actually tried two different places both nights. On Thursday night, Katie and I visited the Brookline Farmer's market and eventually made our way over to Gourmet India for dinner.

So first let me tell you about the Brookline Farmer's market. Actually, if you remember at the beginning of summer, I had made a vain attempt to visit it (The market hadn't opened yet). And at that time, I thought that was my last shot to go to the Brookline market, since I normally work all day on Thursday. But lo and behold, I got a Thursday afternoon off (a rare occurence indeed) and so off I went, looking for heirloom tomatoes at the Brookline Farmer's market. When we arrived at 4:30, the place was packed. I was happy to see a large number of booths and a really great selection of produce, but I was a bit dismayed at the long lines and the tons of children running rampant. There was an ice cream truck there, and I totally wanted some, but the line was just too long and so I set about my goal to get heirloom tomatoes. I was not disappointed by the large selection of variety of tomatoes. I eventually ended up getting like 4 different varieties and paid nearly $10 for just tomatoes. I was also really disciplined and only spent money on that singular thing, though i really did want to run rampant, and buy turkey pot pie, a mini mixed berry pie for Tom (I resisted, he's trying to lose weight and I feel responsible for some of his weight gain), some fresh fish and other goodies.

Maybe next year I'll be able to get more time off and can visit the market more frequently. We can all dream, right? I do have a trip planned for LA in December, though, so i can visit my all time favorite farmer's market when I'm home.

After Katie made herself a batch of rice pudding, we set off for dinner. Katie decided to make the rice pudding after trips to Gourmet India's buffet lunch, where they set out their version of rice pudding, so we decided to go there for dinner. Now, I drive past Gourmet India all the time, but I'd never been there and I'd never even looked in. I expected it to be a normal restaurant, but it turns out that it's a take out type place, much like the ones you find in malls, like an Indian version of Panda Express (which makes sense since they have like 6 locations, most of them located in malls.)

After I took a quick look at their menu (which is all really really cheap-nothing's over $9) Katie and I ended up order the exact same thing. The combo #1 with Chicken tikka masala, Gobhi Mutter and a side of rice (you could get naan instead of rice if you wanted). Total cost was $6.25. I actually also ordered an orange Fanta (which I almost never get in the U.S.) and it tasted exactled like Sunkist Orange soda. I was so disappointed that I personally think they were serving the Sunkist Orange and just had the Fanta label up. I mean, Fanta in the U.S. can't really be that bad is it? I'm accustomed to the European formulation (yes, it's really that different). It takes a lot more like Orangina in Europe. I've still got two cans of it in my fridge at home, that I brought back from Spain in my backpack- too bad i won't be able to do that on my next trip to Europe. Anyway, here'a pic of my dinner:

As you can see, it's a pretty generous serving. Actually, I'm kinda hungry right now and wouldn't mind having that for lunch. And the food was pretty good. Especially for a take out place. I definitely wish that the food was hotter, it was more lukewarm than hot, but for the price, I think it's a great deal. Katie was telling me that the lunch buffet is also a great deal, so I think i'll be back in the future to try that out and a chicken naan. 

DATE NITE IN COOLIDGE CORNER

Tom and I decided have a date night last Wednesday. Mainly because we still hadn't seen Little Miss Sunshine and both the Kendall and Coolidge Corner Theatres were going to stop showing it as of Friday. (And if it's still playing around you, and you still haven't seen it, you just gotta. It is hilarious). So we also decided to check out Rami's, which I'd been wanting to do for some time; Katie kept telling me about how great Rami's is- she and Dustin eat there frequently since they just live a few blocks away.

When we arrived at Rami's, the place was already packed. And there was a line. And all the tables were taken (we ended up sitting at a little bar area towards the back of the restaurant). The menu board wasn't very helpful in describing what each item actually is. So if you don't know what a boureka is (Puffed Pastry Dough Topped with Hundreds of Sesame Seeds filled with An Assortment of Scrumptious Delights- that's according to menupages) then you're kinda screwed. And the people there aren't gonna be so helpful. Their objective is to keep the line moving. Luckily, we had both checked out the menu on menupages prior to arriving. I had considered ordering the shwarma (since it's made from turkey), but all the people kept whispering around us "they're out of shwarma". So instead, we ordered the Rami's special with an extra side of hummus (which was totally unnecessary).

Here's my extra side of hummus. it was nice and smooth, with lots of tahini, but i don't know, i just feel like i can make a better hummus than all the places i've visited. I just like it with more garlic.
And here's our Rami's special. It came with Lamb Kebabs, Grilled Chicken, Houmos and Falafel
Along with a salad
And two pieces of pita.
It was a ton of food. Maybe if I hadn't ordered that extra side of hummus, we would've had a better shot of actually finishing it all, but that didn't happen. And it's a great deal. Just $12.95 for the Rami's Special. Acutally, everything there is reasonably priced. You can definitely have a very filling meal for under $10. It's also a cool place to go people watching. It's certainly a local hang out for lots of Jewish kids and adults. And maybe even a Jewish gangster? (On my way out, I saw an older man having dinner. His shirt was unbuttoned to his stomach and around his neck he wore an enormous diamond encrusted Star of David on a gold chain. You don't see that very often in Brookline). At any rate, check out Rami's for quick cheap and very decent Middle Eastern food.