BETTER THAN JUGGLING BEARS, DINNER AT RADIUS RESTAURANT

I'm going to be blogging out of order here, because dinner at Radius was one of the last meals I had with my parents during their trip to Boston. But I've wanted to blog about it for some time, and I took some pretty pics that I wanted to share with all of you. So last Saturday night my family celebrated my sister's med school graduation with dinner at Radius. Now, I will start by saying that we had an excellent dining experience at Radius, and I think this was in part because the owners of Radius also have a restaurant here at the hotel, so they knew we'd be coming. And i was promised a dinner that'd be great, like juggling bears great, by one of the owners. (his words, not mine).

Radius is located in an odd location for a restaurant. It's right in the financial district, 2 blocks from South Station, but that doesn't seem to have affected its popularity. The restaurant was full when we went. I was also surprised to find that Radius is actually a pretty small restaurant. (unlike Great Bay or Via Matta which have the same owners). But I liked the smaller dining room which created a more intimate feeling. You can also tell that Radius is the most serious of the 3 restaurants, with all the waiters dressed in suits and the sheer number of staff on the floor.

Ok. So onto the food. Radius changes its menu pretty frequently to keep things seasonal. So we were first given this amuse bouche. Which was really good, but I actually don't remember what was in it other than shrimp. I suppose this is what i get for blogging a full week after my meal.

Oh, and i wanted to show you these really adorable salt and pepper shakers. The thing about Radius is that the dining room is actually in the shape of a circle, and they reflect the same motif in the light fixtures, decorations, etc. So these were a nice touch.Back to the food. I ordered this really lovely carrot soup with shrimp. The chef really likes serving soups where the components of the soup are first served to you in a bowl and then the soup base is poured from a metal tea pot. (they do the same thing at Great Bay with their clam chowder). So here are my shrimp in the bowl.And here's the carrot soup poured over the shrimp. I really enjoyed the soup, with its intense carrot flavors. Very suitable for spring.
Next our whole table was served the famous Radius gnocchi with mint and peas. Ok, I'll admit that I am not a big fan of gnocchi. I find it too chewy. But i did enjoy this one. I think the mint was an interesting component and the sheer numbers of peas offset the chewiness of the gnocchi.Here's my entree of scallops. Which are very very big. and served with different types of sauces. I especially like the little salad in the middle. But by this point in dinner I was so full that I could only finish eating one. (especially since I knew I wanted to order dessert).But before that, let me show you pics of the two vegetable plates that my aunt and sister order. I actually seriously considered ordering this myself. So basically, you get 5 different veggie dishes for your entree. And they just use whatever they have in season. The coolest thing is that my aunt and sister got 5 totally different dishes. Just think 10 different dishes for just 2 entrees. That takes a lot of work and creativity, so I appreciated it a lot. And here they are below.
Finally, we've reached dessert. We were all very very full at this point. But dessert's my thing, so I wanted to try it out. We ended up ordering a cookie plate (and they gave us an extra one) and I ordered a dessert called the Cinema Paradiso. Here are the cookies, which were served warm and were very very good.
And here's my Cinema Paradiso, which wasn't so great. The whole idea of this dessert was a fancy version of snacks you get at the movies. So there were homemade rasinettes, homemade caramel corn (actually, i did like that), an orange slushy and a chocolate mousse topped with popcorn ice cream. I really liked the idea of the dessert, but the components didn't really work all that well together. So I continue to search for a dessert in Boston that will truly wow me.
So in summary, dinner at Radius was one of the first really great meals that I've had in Boston. The staff was attentive and helpful. And they really made an effort to make it a special dinner for my big sis. The food was great and the overall experience was very pleasant. Of course, I didn't pay for dinner, so my impression of the entire meal might have been a bit different had I actually paid. (Believe me, this place isn't cheap. I'll admit I didn't really pay attention to the prices, but entrees range in the $30-$40 range). So when you parents are in town, I suggest taking advantage of them like I did, and have a memorable dinner at Radius.

A RESTAURANT FOR ALL SEASONS

I think the name of the restaurant, American Seasons, is a little misleading. Because after checking out their menu, I think it's focus is more regional than seasonal. What I mean is, the menu is organized in a bit of an unusual fashion. Under titles like "New England", "Down South", etc. Under each heading are two appetizers and two entrees which reflect the regional cuisine. A little confusing. But at least it's different.

So American Seasons is a little restaurant located in Nantucket. I was on Nantucket with my family on Thursday, since I was doing a talk at the Nantucket Wine Festival. So after a ferry ride where I managed to get myself a little sunburnt and a short bike trip to a lighthouse (where i managed to run into a hedge), we headed to the restaurant on the advice of my publicist (who is a little biased since she also represents the restaurant).

The restaurant is a bit dark, but very cozy with funny murals depicting wine harvests. And other quirky pieces of decor. I think they were trying to evoke the California wine country in some way, cause the entire wine menu was very California-centric (too bad for me since one of the things i learned from a trip to Napa Valley a couple of years is that I do not like California wines). So I ordered my appetizer from the "New England" section. Which was this english pea soup. The little spoon on the left has a lobster salad. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to mix it into the soup, or to eat it separately. So I tried it both ways and learned that I liked it alone. It had very bright flavors. The soup was also very good. The white stuff on top is truffle foam. And I gotta say, I'm not a big fan of flavored foams. It's overdone and I'm waaaayyyy over it.Next I ordered the duck. I don't remember what section it was under. Or what it was served with. (maybe that's a bed of couscous on the bottom?). At any rate, i can say it was prepared very will. Cooked perfectly, it also had some sweetness to it, which I enjoyed a lot.And here's a pic of my sister's porkchop. I show you this mainly for the cute mini skillet of mac and cheese (where they used orzo instead of macaroni).As you can see from the pics. The portions are pretty generous. So I was quite full, and still insisted on getting dessert. So here's a pic of my sister's mixed berry cobbler. I'm not a fan of the berries (except for strawberries, which I love). So i didn't partake in the cobbler. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it, though.Instead, I ordered this layered lemon thingy. Ok, I don't remember the name. I also don't remember most of the layers. Well, there's a layer of lemon poppyseed cake. And a layer of lemon mousse of some sort. And then a layer of something i don't remember but i think it involved ricotta cheese. And it' s all finished with a layer of caramelized sugar. Ok, I'll start off by saying my dessert was not great. None of the layers were sweet enough and the cake itself was quite dry. After picking off the top layer of sugar and eating just that, I pretty much gave up on the whole thing.
All in all, the duck was my favorite part of dinner. The service was really pleasant (I guess it didn't hurt that I'd also met the owner before) and maybe people on Nantucket are just nicer than us here in Boston. Would I go back? Well, I think I'd want to explore some of there other restaurants on Nantucket first, it is well known for being a foodie's haven, but certainly, I suggst that you give it a shot if you're ever on the island.

LINEAGE, COOLIDGE CORNER

Allow me to first apologize for my spotty blogging of late. I just haven't been eating out all that much. Yeah, and I know i totally cheated with that TJ's blog entry a few days ago. But i just felt bad that i hadn't posted in a while. And Sue Min needs something to read when she's trying to avoid studying for her exams. But i promise to have some great blog entries for you next week...American Seasons on Nantucket, Radius here in Boston and who knows what else. Cause my parents are coming! and you know what that means...someone else is going to pay for my food! Yeah! And they're bringing me some yummy treats from la.

Ok, so back to this entry. Last Friday, Jayna, Leah and I headed over to Lineage in Coolidge Corner to celebrate Jayna finishing up her studio project. Leah and I had been trying to go to Lineage for some time now. The owner and chef, Jeremey Sewall, used to be the chef of Great Bay and he's also one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. But for some reason, we could just never make it over there until we had something to celebrate. The place has been getting some great reviews and it's so great to see another small business owner succeeding.

So when I arrived at the restaurant the place was packed. I found Leah at the bar chatting with Josh, who'd been a bartender at Great Bay, but was now the bar manager at Lineage. He was super nice to us and made me some cocktail that was pink, involved some really high quality vodka, which was the smoothest vodka I'd ever had, and was totally yummy. Even though we had made a reservation, we waited a bit to get our actual table, which was fine cause it was fun hanging out at the bar. When our table was ready, we were seated in the not greatest table in the house. towards the back and right near the door where people were entering and leaving the kitchen. we didn't really mind tho.

so if you've ever eaten at great bay, you'll find the menu here kinda similar, but certainly less pretentious and not as expensive. after we were seated we were given these super warm and tasty rolls that were baked in the kitchen's open oven. leah calls them "great bay rolls". they were so good, we each had 2 of them. and it's kinda funny cause if you read the nytimes food section last week, there was a whole article on the revival of this type of roll (which was invented at the the parker house in downtown boston!) but i digress. leah and i had already analyzed the menu while we were at the bar. we both started with the soup below. it's an english pea soup with crab beignets.it's super green. and i'll be the first to admit that i ordered this mainly for the beignets (aka donuts aka fried dough). but i was disappointed that they weren't very crabby. i did however, enjoy the yummy soup. There were a lot of things on the menu i wanted to order, and i ended up getting two appetizers. my other one was a soft shell crab appetizer. with guacamole! (ah, my favorite) Katie avert your eyes here. you won't like the pic.This was crispy and yummy. i was slightly disappointed that they charged $14 for this one crab, but i was so full at this point, i didn't mind too much. ok, here's a pic of leah's salmon entree. she wanted the gnocchi and asparagus that came with the fish.And here's a pic of jayna's entree. which is a whole fish. (i don't even know what type) and menupages isn't being much help. oh katie, avert your eyes here, too. i was totally proud of jayna for ordering this. cause she'd never ordered a whole fish before. so applause to her for trying something new. (i was also proud of her when she ate the shishamo at sumi).

Ok, so i almost always order dessert. without a doubt, cause that's my thing. but we were so so full by this point that i couldn't do it. which is why i had some mixed feelings when jeremy sent out this flourless chocolate cake.
it was very good. it had coffee in it and reminded me of the flourless chocolate cake that we made at gotham. (though this one was certainly a more solid cake).

so all in all we had a great dinner. the food was very good. the service was mostly helpful and attentive and the atmosphere was warm and neighborhoody. very brookline. so if you want to try great bay like food in much nicer atmosphere and at a lower price, check out lineage and say hi to jeremy.

WHAT TO DO WITH KALE....

ok, so i told you guys that i had my first convert to Boston Organics (katie) and she got her first order a few weeks ago. And one thing we discovered is that you get different things in your order depending on what day you get your shipment. She got kale (which they've never given me, but i do get a ton of rainbow chard) and since neither of us had ever cooked kale before, we decided to try out a new recipe. So katie picked out one for a portuguese kale soup and i showed up to help make it.

I admit that we made this a few weeks ago, so i've now forgotten the exact steps and must rely on the pictures to remind me what we did. so it looks like i started off by chopping and sauteeing garlic and onions.while katie cut up the sausage. i'm sure in an actual portuguese recipe you'd be using linguica (traditional portuguese sausage). the recipe asked for kielbasa, but tj's doesn't sell chicken or turkey kielbasa. so i chose an andouille, which ended up being great cause it added a little kick to the soup. (i don't know if katie was a huge fan of that, though). but here she is cutting up all the sausage. we used a lot of it and dumped it in with the onions.
here's a pic of the kale and celery that we chopped up and added to the soup. at some point, (i think prior to the carrots and kale going in) we added chicken broth and water to the soup. and here's the first tip i have for this recipe. don't add water. use all chicken broth. it's just has more flavor.
and here is the whole things bubbling away. yeah, i know. we make a lot of soup. despite all the ingredients, it ended up lacking a little body. (if that makes any sense). it just tasted kinda watery, but we were able to cure that by adding a veggie boullion cube. i think it had to do with the chicken broth/water thing. oh wait, i'm looking at the pic now and i'm realizing that we also added rice at some point. i think with the carrots. ok at any rate, i think this soup turned out great. i didn't think the kale actually had much flavor, but it was undoubtedly healthy. and this turned out much better than some of our other soup experiments, like a very runny and ultimately pink white bean soup. (which still tasted fine). so now if you ever end up with a bunch of kale, you'll know what to do with it.

A MINI TRADER JOE'S FOOD REVIEW

ok, I know that you readers (a.k.a. my friends living in boston who read this blog) all shop at Trader Joe's. Maybe it's not your main grocery shopping store (how can it be, they don't sell Oreos, and other such yummy, bad for you stuff), but we all drop by there occasionally to pick up ingredients, convenience food and Pirate's Booty for some. So spurred by some recent trips to Trader Joe's, I decided to create a little pro/con list of foods that i've tried recently. So here's it is below. Feel free to add your own list in the comments section. (to which only Leah ever posts. yeah Leah!)

So many of you may know (or maybe not) that Trader Joe's has a no questions asked return policy. They want to encourage you to try new things, so if you don't like a particular product, you can take it back to the store and get a full refund. Even without a receipt. It works! I tried it last week. So here's my list with mini-explanations:

PROS
bag of avocados: though maybe slightly con since i ate 4 avocados in a week, by myself.

frozen mushroom risotto: i'd had the asparagus, and it was ok, but when i gave the mushroom version a try, i thought it was great. takes 5 minutes. garnish with some parm and basil and you're all set.

cheddar popcorn: even though it has a good amount of fat, it's still tasty.

chicken taquitos: pop them in the over to get them crispy

chicken bean burritos: i am so in love with these that i only allow myself to buy one pack at a time, or else i'd eat them for every meal.

CONS
vanilla almond granola bars: this is the product i returned to TJ's. A took one bite and threw it out. The texture was too soft, and the vanilla flavor was waaaaaaayyyyyyy too overwhelming. Plus the bars weren't sweet enough.

frozen cod filets with basil and garlic: i had this last night. And I need to figure out how you return a dish that's been cooked? Cause this was expensive and it sucked. Hands down. If you overcook it even slighty, it become like leather. Literally. Tough, stringy, it didn't even seem like fish. Though I did like the seasoning.

Shabu Village, Brookline

Once again, I've lost the ability to come up with a creative title for my post. But I hope you'll forgive me because I'm about to tell you about the best alternative to Shabu-zen in Chinatown. Well, not even an alternative, I would certainly go to Shabu Village before venturing to Shabu-zen.

So on Saturday night, Leah and I decided to go to dinner. Leah suggested that we check out a new Shabu Shabu house that'd just opened on Harvard Street between Beacon and Comm Ave. So we set off to look for the restaurant and found it located right next to Duk Bao (a pretty well known Thai restaurant in Brookline). For those of you who have never tried it, Shabu Shabu is Japanese hot pot. (or even think of it as fondue). Basically, you're given a pot with boiling broth to which you add veggies, meat and really, whatever else you want. So it's a cook it yourself kind of deal. Now you can share a big hot pot for the entire table or you can get little individual ones by sitting at a bar. When i was growing up, my parents made the best hot pots at home and would add all kinds of great stuff, like shrimp, snow crab, etc. But now I like having my own little pot so your beef or pork doesn't contaminate my chicken.

So we were seated immediately at the Shabu bar. Score one for Shabu Village, unlike at Shabu Zen where it's impossible to find parking and you'll wait at least an hour for a table. Score 2 for Shabu Village, the people there are really really nice. (as Leah commented on many times). Personal score 3 of Shabu Village, the owner is Taiwanese, and it's nice to hear Taiwanese being spoken in Boston, you don't hear it very often. Oh, and you always know an ethnic restaurant is a good place if you see lots of the given ethnicity eating there, which was also true of Shabu Village.

We looked over the menu, which had a large selection of hot appetizers, but we went immediately to the dinner sets. I noticed that the prices were pretty much in line with Shabu Zen, so i ordered a chicken dinner while leah got a double meat combo of chicken and beef. We were given our individual pots of broth, and then got the ingredients to make our personal dipping sauces.
Here you'll see garlic, thai chilis, japanese bbq sauce, and green onions. Then you're given a little bowl of soy sauce and you mix everything together to suit your own tastes (like the one below- sorry for the bluriness).

Next we were given a big plate of veggies with napa cabbage, watercress, etc, and this looked exactly like what they give you at Shabu Zen, too. Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic until after we'd added everything to our broth. Here's a pic of it cooking away.Ok, so one tip about eating shabu. You can't dump everything into the water at the same time. First, it lowers the cooking temp really quickly, so you'll just be sitting there forever waiting for stuff to cook. (believe me, i learned this as a kid) Second, you wanna eat stuff as it cooks, rather than scrambling to eat it all before it sits in your pot too long and overcooks. So patience is key.
Here are our plates of meat. Kinda pretty huh? This is my chicken plateAnd here's Leah's combo plate.Lastly, and some may regard this as the best part, come the noodles. We both ordered the udon noodles which you drop into the pot last.

Then you get to have a tasty noodle soup cause the broth has absorbed all the flavors of the veggies and meat that you cooked earlier. The dinner ends up being a lot of food and by the time I'd finished it all off, I was stuffed!! The great thing about Shabu is that it's also a really great bargain. My entire dinner cost a little under $12. (well not including the tax, tip and tea i drank.)

So in conclusion, I'm thrilled that we now have a great little shabu house so close to my home. I'm also happy cause now i don't have to make the trek to Chinatown, wait for at least an hour and be treated not so nicely for dinner. Instead, go to Shabu Village, where there's parking, the service is great and the food is just as yummy as Shabu Zen.

QUICK VIETNAMESE BITES IN CHINATOWN

I was attending an event in the Ladder District last week and was fortunate enough to find a parking meter (a broken one too! talk about good parking karma) in Chinatown. So after my event, I figured I'd take advantage of this rare free parking situation and made a quick trip to the Vietnamese sandwich.

No, the name of this store isn't actually the Vietnamese sandwich shop. That's just what i call it cause i don't know it's name. (i think it involves Saigon, though) And yes, the are other places to get a Vietnamese sandwich in Chinatown, but this is the one i like the most. it's located right between Empress Garden and McDonald's on Washington St. and is just a little store with no seating. I like this place cause it has great, cheap sandwiches. I always order the chicken teriyaki sandwich.

So for those of you've who hadn't had the joy of eating a Vietnamese sandwich, it's basically a chewy french roll and piled on top is your choice of meat, cucumbers, some lightly pickled veggies, cilantro and some other ingredients (like mayo and thai chilis, which i never get). All of this makes for a yummy flavor packed sandwiches that also has all these great textures. And one large sandwich will cost you just $3.50. Great deal huh?

Ok, so i don't have a pic of the sandwich, since i gobbled it down in my car before i got home. (yeah, like you've never done that before.) But i did also pick up some quick stuff for snacking on later on. Here's the pic of some summer shrimp spring rolls. That's shrimp, basil, bean sprouts and rice noodles all rolled up into a bundle and served on the side with some sweet dipping sauce. Leah knows how to make these by herself, but i'm too lazy, and these were very good.
And here's a little chicken to go box with rice. Also a great meal to go.

And for all this, I paid $8.50. Amazing huh? You gotta love Chinatown. I know I do.