MORE TIDBITS
1. As a follow up to yesterday's story about the governor of Oregon trying to live off food stamps for one week, Katie sent me this article in the NYTimes about how government policy is related to making the less healthy food the cheapest. Which of course effects lots of other issues, especially obesity in the U.S.
2. Wagamama, a popular noodle chain in the U.K. has arrived in Boston. It's first location is in Fanueil Hall, which has a tendency to make even the good chains taste bad. (Ever had a Baja Fresh burrito or a Beard Papa cream puff in Fanueil Hall? It never tastes as good as the same product elsewhere). We're still going to check it out, but I have a feeling that the upcoming location on Harvard's campus will be a better bet.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
KEN ORINGER LITE
As I mentioned yesterday, Tom and I went to Ken Oringer's newest venture, La Verdad, for dinner last night. It's quite a departure from his usual m.o. His first restaurant, Clio/Uni, is ultra upscale and where he won his James Beard Award. His second venture, Toro, which I love, is a little more casual, though still serving excellent food to a very yuppie crowd. This third restaurant, La Verdad, is what I would call Ken Oringer for college students. It inhabits the former space of Tiki Room on Lansdowne Street, sandwiched between Tequila Rain and Jillian's. I'd never been to Tiki Room when it was open, but upon entering the restaurant, you could pretty much suspect that not much has changed since Tiki Room. I wouldn't be surprised if they're still using the same decor and same plastic cups. It was very much your typical college bar, with the central bar dominating most of the room and some small tables for two sprinkled around it.
But unlike Ken Oringer's other places, this was not an expensive night out. You can easily have a meal there for under $15, $10 if you're not super hungry. It was pretty empty when we entered and we were quickly seated at a high table from where we could peer into the kitchen. The Tortilla ladies (as we called them) were directly behind me, handmaking fresh tortillas. As befits it's setting, everything is casual. And there are still a lot of kinks that need to be worked out, which isn't surprising since the place has only been open one month. But I also think these problems will be taking longer than usual to resolve. When Toro first opened, and for months afterwards, you would always see Ken there. At this spot, he was nowhere to be seen, and I have a feeling that he's spending more time working on his latest venture, opening a steak house in the former Spire space.
Our waiter was friendly and super casual. We were given xeroxed copies of the menu which had a vast taco selection, and a few other items. He quickly offered us chips, salsa and guacamole, which we ordered. As usual, and per Leah's comments, I had already heard several things about La Verdad, and most were right on. First the guacamole was quite good.
And unlike Leah's experience, I felt that the chips were very well salted, almost too salty. But like everyone else had mentioned, the chips are cut far too thickly, so when they're fried, they don't cut out nice and crispy. Instead, they're a little chewy and tough.
We were also given this duo of salsas and a side of pickled carrots.
By this point, our waiter had become quite neglectful. We had finished eating, the plates were cleared and it was at least 10 minutes before anyone noticed. (He was drinking a soda at the opposite end of the bar) And it wasn't even our waiter, but a woman serving the next table that asked if we needed anything, and it took another few minutes to get the check for our original waiter.
Overall, the meal was quite good. I don't think we'll be returning to eat in the restaurant, but they have an area dedicated entirely to take out, so I imagine will be returning for some tacos to go. We grabbed a menu, but they're so new that they didn't even have the phone number printed on it. Normally I'd be thrilled to have a Mexican place like this near me. However, with El Pelon just 3 blocks away, I suspect that we'll still be getting our Mexican food from there. La Verdad is a little pricier, but to be honest, El Pelon is just better. I think it'd be wise of Ken to take a trip over to El Pelon and check out the competition. Maybe it'd help La Verdad become a truly great spot.
As I mentioned yesterday, Tom and I went to Ken Oringer's newest venture, La Verdad, for dinner last night. It's quite a departure from his usual m.o. His first restaurant, Clio/Uni, is ultra upscale and where he won his James Beard Award. His second venture, Toro, which I love, is a little more casual, though still serving excellent food to a very yuppie crowd. This third restaurant, La Verdad, is what I would call Ken Oringer for college students. It inhabits the former space of Tiki Room on Lansdowne Street, sandwiched between Tequila Rain and Jillian's. I'd never been to Tiki Room when it was open, but upon entering the restaurant, you could pretty much suspect that not much has changed since Tiki Room. I wouldn't be surprised if they're still using the same decor and same plastic cups. It was very much your typical college bar, with the central bar dominating most of the room and some small tables for two sprinkled around it.
But unlike Ken Oringer's other places, this was not an expensive night out. You can easily have a meal there for under $15, $10 if you're not super hungry. It was pretty empty when we entered and we were quickly seated at a high table from where we could peer into the kitchen. The Tortilla ladies (as we called them) were directly behind me, handmaking fresh tortillas. As befits it's setting, everything is casual. And there are still a lot of kinks that need to be worked out, which isn't surprising since the place has only been open one month. But I also think these problems will be taking longer than usual to resolve. When Toro first opened, and for months afterwards, you would always see Ken there. At this spot, he was nowhere to be seen, and I have a feeling that he's spending more time working on his latest venture, opening a steak house in the former Spire space.
Our waiter was friendly and super casual. We were given xeroxed copies of the menu which had a vast taco selection, and a few other items. He quickly offered us chips, salsa and guacamole, which we ordered. As usual, and per Leah's comments, I had already heard several things about La Verdad, and most were right on. First the guacamole was quite good.
And unlike Leah's experience, I felt that the chips were very well salted, almost too salty. But like everyone else had mentioned, the chips are cut far too thickly, so when they're fried, they don't cut out nice and crispy. Instead, they're a little chewy and tough.
We were also given this duo of salsas and a side of pickled carrots.
I found both salsas watery and tasteless, though Tom did like the salsa verde. I enjoyed munching on the pickled carrots, though.
At this point, we put our order in. We decided to get 3 tacos each (we knew that they were small) and Tom ordered a chicken burrito while I ordered my beloved "Toro" grilled corn. The list of tacos is quite extensive and I would have liked to try quite a few of them, with fillings ranging from steak and chicken to the more unusual tongue and tripe. What annoyed me a little was that when the first plate of tacos came out, the waiter didn't bother telling us what was on the plate. We assumed all tacos were Tom's but figured out one of them was mine (after Tom had bitten into it.) But here they are:
At this point, we put our order in. We decided to get 3 tacos each (we knew that they were small) and Tom ordered a chicken burrito while I ordered my beloved "Toro" grilled corn. The list of tacos is quite extensive and I would have liked to try quite a few of them, with fillings ranging from steak and chicken to the more unusual tongue and tripe. What annoyed me a little was that when the first plate of tacos came out, the waiter didn't bother telling us what was on the plate. We assumed all tacos were Tom's but figured out one of them was mine (after Tom had bitten into it.) But here they are:
At the top position is my turkey pastor with cinnamon, brown sugar, mole and toasted sesame seeds. I wasn't a big fan because I found the turkey far too tough and chewy. At the bottom of the plate is Tom's carne asada taco with caramelized onions, guac and salsa ranchero. The last taco is Tom's Benny Lengua: smoked tongue, salsa roja, lime, cilantro and onion. Tom enjoyed both of his tacos. After a little time, Tom's burrito came out.
Despite being from LA, I have no idea why they call this the East LA Burrito. It was a heavy little guy, but we soon found out that it was mainly filled with rice and beans. There was chicken in there, but so much other filler that you couldn't really taste it.
Then our last plate of tacos showed up:
Tom and I had both ordered fish tacos, and I also ordered a taco with chile relleno: roasted poblano, monterey jack and batter fried. For our fish tacos, it was a little odd, because Tom's was over battered and too crispy, while I had the opposite problem. We traded half way through. As Leah mentioned, I prefer El Pelon's fish tacos better. Rather than one piece of fried fish, El Pelon has little chunks of fried fish, which are all perfectly crispy. And I love the pickled veggies they add. As for the chili relleno, that was my favorite taco. Kind of hot, with lots of cheese, it was delicious.
My last dish was the famous "Toro" grilled corn. It took a good long time to come out, cause the corn takes a while to grill. So we'd already finished eating our meal, and were stuffed by the time this showed up. I finished it off, though, cause it's just so damn good. I think they put too much cheese on this one, and Chowhounder complaints that the kernels of corn are small were well founded. (it is still ealry in the season). But it was still tasty.
Then our last plate of tacos showed up:
Tom and I had both ordered fish tacos, and I also ordered a taco with chile relleno: roasted poblano, monterey jack and batter fried. For our fish tacos, it was a little odd, because Tom's was over battered and too crispy, while I had the opposite problem. We traded half way through. As Leah mentioned, I prefer El Pelon's fish tacos better. Rather than one piece of fried fish, El Pelon has little chunks of fried fish, which are all perfectly crispy. And I love the pickled veggies they add. As for the chili relleno, that was my favorite taco. Kind of hot, with lots of cheese, it was delicious.My last dish was the famous "Toro" grilled corn. It took a good long time to come out, cause the corn takes a while to grill. So we'd already finished eating our meal, and were stuffed by the time this showed up. I finished it off, though, cause it's just so damn good. I think they put too much cheese on this one, and Chowhounder complaints that the kernels of corn are small were well founded. (it is still ealry in the season). But it was still tasty.
By this point, our waiter had become quite neglectful. We had finished eating, the plates were cleared and it was at least 10 minutes before anyone noticed. (He was drinking a soda at the opposite end of the bar) And it wasn't even our waiter, but a woman serving the next table that asked if we needed anything, and it took another few minutes to get the check for our original waiter.Overall, the meal was quite good. I don't think we'll be returning to eat in the restaurant, but they have an area dedicated entirely to take out, so I imagine will be returning for some tacos to go. We grabbed a menu, but they're so new that they didn't even have the phone number printed on it. Normally I'd be thrilled to have a Mexican place like this near me. However, with El Pelon just 3 blocks away, I suspect that we'll still be getting our Mexican food from there. La Verdad is a little pricier, but to be honest, El Pelon is just better. I think it'd be wise of Ken to take a trip over to El Pelon and check out the competition. Maybe it'd help La Verdad become a truly great spot.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
TIDBITS
Here's a few random thoughts and musings....
1. I've cancelled my Boston Organics membership. Yup, after about a year, I've ended it. My last two orders had been pathetically small. I could go to Whole Foods and buy the same amount of organic produce for $15 rather than the $27 I was spending. Plus, the quality of the produce was in decline, and I was sick of it. And now that Tom lives with me, we go shopping once a week, so it's not such a big convenience anymore. I was going to cancel anyway, since I've joined a CSA for the summer, so I think it's all for the best.
2. I finally found some salt packed anchovies. I had discussed this with Leah. All these recipes and chefs call for salt packed anchovies, but you know what? They're damn hard to find. Whole Foods doesn't carry them and South End Formaggio had run out. An impromptu trip to Lionette's proved to be the key. They had them (at nearly $28/lb!) and we bought a quarter pound for a total of five fish. Luckily, that'll make at least 2 dishes. And during my next trip to NY, I plan to buy a giant tin (well that's how they're sold) and bring them back.
3. It's my store's birthday today. We're two years old. Actually, I'd forgotten about it, and didn't do any promotions for it, because I was busy with the Vermont trip and focused on the fact that it's also Tom and my one year anniversary today. (Makes it easy to remember, huh?). We weren't planning on doing anything, we're not really big into that stuff, but I was reading Leah's blog and discovered that Ken Oringer's new Mexican restaurant, La Verdad, had opened. More importantly, it's 4 blocks away. So we're gonna go check it out tonight for our anniversary dinner. I'll report back tomorrow.
4. I'm planning a roadtrip to Toronto. Am looking foward to trying all the ethnic eats, and visiting the two Chinatowns. Plus, unlike visits to Europe, the exchange rate is quite favorable to us, so I won't have to spend tons of money. Suggestions are welcome.
4. There's an interesting AP story about the governor of Oregon living on food stamps for one week. Which got me thinking, what would I do if I had to survive on food stamps for a week. (His total was $21) My conclusion...starve. Or live off of ramen and peanut butter and jelly. or the McDonald's dollar menu. This really could be one of the causes of our current obesity problem. Unfortunately, unhealthy food is cheap. And fruits and veggies are more expensive. I complain about being broke all the time (which truly I am, but it's more debt than broke), but the article reminds me that at least I'm lucky enough to lead a healthy and happy life.
Here's a few random thoughts and musings....
1. I've cancelled my Boston Organics membership. Yup, after about a year, I've ended it. My last two orders had been pathetically small. I could go to Whole Foods and buy the same amount of organic produce for $15 rather than the $27 I was spending. Plus, the quality of the produce was in decline, and I was sick of it. And now that Tom lives with me, we go shopping once a week, so it's not such a big convenience anymore. I was going to cancel anyway, since I've joined a CSA for the summer, so I think it's all for the best.
2. I finally found some salt packed anchovies. I had discussed this with Leah. All these recipes and chefs call for salt packed anchovies, but you know what? They're damn hard to find. Whole Foods doesn't carry them and South End Formaggio had run out. An impromptu trip to Lionette's proved to be the key. They had them (at nearly $28/lb!) and we bought a quarter pound for a total of five fish. Luckily, that'll make at least 2 dishes. And during my next trip to NY, I plan to buy a giant tin (well that's how they're sold) and bring them back.
3. It's my store's birthday today. We're two years old. Actually, I'd forgotten about it, and didn't do any promotions for it, because I was busy with the Vermont trip and focused on the fact that it's also Tom and my one year anniversary today. (Makes it easy to remember, huh?). We weren't planning on doing anything, we're not really big into that stuff, but I was reading Leah's blog and discovered that Ken Oringer's new Mexican restaurant, La Verdad, had opened. More importantly, it's 4 blocks away. So we're gonna go check it out tonight for our anniversary dinner. I'll report back tomorrow.
4. I'm planning a roadtrip to Toronto. Am looking foward to trying all the ethnic eats, and visiting the two Chinatowns. Plus, unlike visits to Europe, the exchange rate is quite favorable to us, so I won't have to spend tons of money. Suggestions are welcome.
4. There's an interesting AP story about the governor of Oregon living on food stamps for one week. Which got me thinking, what would I do if I had to survive on food stamps for a week. (His total was $21) My conclusion...starve. Or live off of ramen and peanut butter and jelly. or the McDonald's dollar menu. This really could be one of the causes of our current obesity problem. Unfortunately, unhealthy food is cheap. And fruits and veggies are more expensive. I complain about being broke all the time (which truly I am, but it's more debt than broke), but the article reminds me that at least I'm lucky enough to lead a healthy and happy life.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
VERMONT DAY 2
It was the day of our big cheese tour (sort of). Though the Cabot factory in Montpelier was closed, we discovered that the Cabot store in Quechee (about an hour south) would be open. So first we visited the Morse Farm and Maple Sugar Works which was located just 3 miles from Montpelier.
I'm going to post more pictures of this in my next post, but when we arrived, it was pretty deserted (it was early in the morning and syurping had ended for the season). There's a self guided tour where you can check out the syrupmaking room and the trees, but we didn't wander too far. The paths were still quite wet from melting snow and it didn't make walking too easy. Anyway, we were more interested in the store where we were able to buy some real Vermont Maple syrup.
After our purchase of maple syrup, we headed down to Quechee. It turned out to be a much bigger town than Montpelier and it's famous for a cool gorge. We arrived at the Cabot store in Quechee to find out that it was in sort of a shopping complex along with other shops, an awesome antique market and a toy/train museum (that wasn't open). 
First, we checked out the people who had setup outside in a sort of flea market. Then we went inside to try cheeses. I was disappointed to find that the Cabot store didn't have much information about cheese making or Cabot, but they did have tons of cheeses to sample.
I stayed away from the stuff I could buy in Boston, but did get to try some of Cabot's reserve line. The fridge in back is stuffed with Cabot cheeses from huge blocks to little square. Tom picked up quite a few cheeses for his friend, Evan. I was also happy to see that they had a small fridge filled with cheeses from local cheesemakers that I had wanted to visit. I was able to buy some gouda for my sisters, camembert for Leah and cultured butter for myself. Tom also picked up some cheeses for himself and we came away with a huge haul of cheese. Luckily, I had thought of bringing along a cooler. Otherwise or cheese would've melted on such a hot day.
We spent some time looking at the antique dealers. There really take up a barn like space. No kidding. And there was some cool stuff. Awesome antique kitchen supplies, cast iron cooking implements and funny things like lunch boxes, comic books- basically anything you can think of. I was tempted to buy some cast iron stuff, but decided against it.
Our next stop was at Sugarbush Farm, another maple farm and also a cheesemaker. Luckily, Tom had been to Quechee before, so he thought of this place, and it was an excellent decision. Even though we had to drive up a long, unpaved windy road (they called it scenic, I say, be careful), it was worth it. We arrived at a farm and parked our car. Like Morse farm, you could explore the trees, see the operations. So we walked among the trees for a bit, checked out the cows and looks at the mapling shed.
We finally entered the store and found ourselves in a the tasting/cheese wrapping room. You can see from this pic, this is where the wrap the cheeses in wax and get them ready for shipping.
We were greeted by a really nice woman who showed us the cheeses we could try. She kinda reminded me of myself on a good day, encouraging ppl to try stuff and giving them more info on the product. I think there were 14 of them. She offered let us to try all of them, but we thought that was too much. 
Since Tom was familiar with some of the cheeses, we started with the sage cheese. This was my favorite cheese of the day, with lots of sage flavor. It was suprising and different from anything I'd tried before. Tom tried a few more cheese. We picked up some blue for Leah and some smoked cheese for my sisters. We didn't try any maple syrup, since we already had plenty, so we went to check out the rest of the store, which was packed with more samples:
Tom bought a few jars of unusual mustard, we picked out a bunch of cheeses and set off for our last destination, Grafton. It's a small historic town about an hour's drive away. When I mapped out this trip, I used Google maps. But as some of you know, Google gives you the shortest, though not usually the most economical route for driving. As we headed out for Grafton, we ended up on a long, unpaved, windy road for quite a while. It was not fun driving.
We arrived at the town hoping to find some lunch. But EVERYTHING in this little town was closed. Even the local town shop. (It was only 3:00) We were hungry and had driven nearly an hour to arrive at a place where there was no food and the closest town was another 30 minute drive away. We headed to our last stop, the Grafton Village Cheese Co., just a 1 minute drive away and set on a lovely part of the Saxton river.
Luckily, it was open, but none of the cheese production was taking place (how not surprising). The store was deserted, except for one employee who ignored us. So we picked out a piece of cheese, cheddar bread, and some crackers and headed out to the picnic table.
Tom asked me what my favorite part of the trip was, and this was it. Though the drive out to Grafton wasn't worth it, since we were already there, I greatly enjoyed snacking on my cheese bread with cheddar, sitting in the sunshine and watching the river flow by. It was peaceful, quite and warm.
It was the end of our trip. We came back with a ton of cheese and though we missed all the cheese production, I had a great time. Hopefully we'll be back in the fall, to see some leaves changing and some cheese being made.
It was the day of our big cheese tour (sort of). Though the Cabot factory in Montpelier was closed, we discovered that the Cabot store in Quechee (about an hour south) would be open. So first we visited the Morse Farm and Maple Sugar Works which was located just 3 miles from Montpelier.
I'm going to post more pictures of this in my next post, but when we arrived, it was pretty deserted (it was early in the morning and syurping had ended for the season). There's a self guided tour where you can check out the syrupmaking room and the trees, but we didn't wander too far. The paths were still quite wet from melting snow and it didn't make walking too easy. Anyway, we were more interested in the store where we were able to buy some real Vermont Maple syrup.
After our purchase of maple syrup, we headed down to Quechee. It turned out to be a much bigger town than Montpelier and it's famous for a cool gorge. We arrived at the Cabot store in Quechee to find out that it was in sort of a shopping complex along with other shops, an awesome antique market and a toy/train museum (that wasn't open). 
First, we checked out the people who had setup outside in a sort of flea market. Then we went inside to try cheeses. I was disappointed to find that the Cabot store didn't have much information about cheese making or Cabot, but they did have tons of cheeses to sample.
I stayed away from the stuff I could buy in Boston, but did get to try some of Cabot's reserve line. The fridge in back is stuffed with Cabot cheeses from huge blocks to little square. Tom picked up quite a few cheeses for his friend, Evan. I was also happy to see that they had a small fridge filled with cheeses from local cheesemakers that I had wanted to visit. I was able to buy some gouda for my sisters, camembert for Leah and cultured butter for myself. Tom also picked up some cheeses for himself and we came away with a huge haul of cheese. Luckily, I had thought of bringing along a cooler. Otherwise or cheese would've melted on such a hot day.We spent some time looking at the antique dealers. There really take up a barn like space. No kidding. And there was some cool stuff. Awesome antique kitchen supplies, cast iron cooking implements and funny things like lunch boxes, comic books- basically anything you can think of. I was tempted to buy some cast iron stuff, but decided against it.
Our next stop was at Sugarbush Farm, another maple farm and also a cheesemaker. Luckily, Tom had been to Quechee before, so he thought of this place, and it was an excellent decision. Even though we had to drive up a long, unpaved windy road (they called it scenic, I say, be careful), it was worth it. We arrived at a farm and parked our car. Like Morse farm, you could explore the trees, see the operations. So we walked among the trees for a bit, checked out the cows and looks at the mapling shed.
We finally entered the store and found ourselves in a the tasting/cheese wrapping room. You can see from this pic, this is where the wrap the cheeses in wax and get them ready for shipping.
We were greeted by a really nice woman who showed us the cheeses we could try. She kinda reminded me of myself on a good day, encouraging ppl to try stuff and giving them more info on the product. I think there were 14 of them. She offered let us to try all of them, but we thought that was too much. 
Since Tom was familiar with some of the cheeses, we started with the sage cheese. This was my favorite cheese of the day, with lots of sage flavor. It was suprising and different from anything I'd tried before. Tom tried a few more cheese. We picked up some blue for Leah and some smoked cheese for my sisters. We didn't try any maple syrup, since we already had plenty, so we went to check out the rest of the store, which was packed with more samples:
Tom bought a few jars of unusual mustard, we picked out a bunch of cheeses and set off for our last destination, Grafton. It's a small historic town about an hour's drive away. When I mapped out this trip, I used Google maps. But as some of you know, Google gives you the shortest, though not usually the most economical route for driving. As we headed out for Grafton, we ended up on a long, unpaved, windy road for quite a while. It was not fun driving.We arrived at the town hoping to find some lunch. But EVERYTHING in this little town was closed. Even the local town shop. (It was only 3:00) We were hungry and had driven nearly an hour to arrive at a place where there was no food and the closest town was another 30 minute drive away. We headed to our last stop, the Grafton Village Cheese Co., just a 1 minute drive away and set on a lovely part of the Saxton river.
Luckily, it was open, but none of the cheese production was taking place (how not surprising). The store was deserted, except for one employee who ignored us. So we picked out a piece of cheese, cheddar bread, and some crackers and headed out to the picnic table.
Tom asked me what my favorite part of the trip was, and this was it. Though the drive out to Grafton wasn't worth it, since we were already there, I greatly enjoyed snacking on my cheese bread with cheddar, sitting in the sunshine and watching the river flow by. It was peaceful, quite and warm.It was the end of our trip. We came back with a ton of cheese and though we missed all the cheese production, I had a great time. Hopefully we'll be back in the fall, to see some leaves changing and some cheese being made.
ON THE VERMONT CHEESE TRAIL (ALMOST): DAY 1
Two weeks ago (Patriot's Day/Marathon Monday in Boston) I had planned for us to go up to Vermont and explore the Vermont Cheese Trail. Artisanal cheese making is very popular in Vermont right now, and even though it's winter, you can still visit a number of the farms and cheese makers. Combined with a baking class at the King Arthur Baking School, this was to be a fun weekend of cooking and eating. But then in typical New England fashion, a spring noreaster rolled in. We had to cancel our plans, but the the innkeeper at the place we were staying at wouldn't cancel our reservation. He'd only let us postpone AND we had to show up by the end of the month. So we ended up going this weekend. This turned out to be a mixed blessing. It was great cause the weather was gorgeous. Sunny and 75F both days. But since I had originally planned on visiting all the cheese places on a Monday, I was disappointed to discover that most businesses in Vermont are closed on Sunday. I discovered this after arriving in Vermont. It took a bit of scrambling and replanning, but we were able to redraw our plans for Sunday. Unfortunately, this meant that we couldn't visit those artisanal cheesemakers and even the Cabot Factory was closed on Sundays!
We drove up Saturday afternoon, checked into our inn and explored the tiny town of Montpelier.
It wasn't more then 10 blocks long and 5 blocks wide. After an ice cream cone at Ben and Jerry's (hey, it is Vermont after all). We had dinner at a local pizza joint called Girasole (after all the driving we weren't looking for anything fancy).
The place was not fancy. The booths and tables looked like they were from a different era (the 80s), but they did have a brand new wood fire oven that looked pretty spiffy. It was staffed by teenagers who weren't too attentive, but that was ok. We ordered two "small" pizzas and an appetizer of friend calamari.
The calamari wasn't too bad. It was fried and rather tasteless. I just liked the fact it was crunchy.
And here are our pizzas.
They were much larger than we'd planned. Actually, we could've ordered one pizza between the two of us and been fine. I ordered a special pizza of the day, that had chicken, asparagus, onions, tomatoes, portabello mushrooms, pesto and asiago cheese. I thought it was quite yummy, especially where the asiago had melted onto the crust. Tom ordered a pizza with roasted vegetables, asiago cheese and a spicy roasted pepper spread. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but he enjoyed it, though he wished that the veggies had been roasted more before they were put ontop of the pizza. We took the rest to go, thinking we might snack on them later, but that never happened.
We had been up earlier, so retired for the night, looking foward to maple syrup and cheese the next day.
Two weeks ago (Patriot's Day/Marathon Monday in Boston) I had planned for us to go up to Vermont and explore the Vermont Cheese Trail. Artisanal cheese making is very popular in Vermont right now, and even though it's winter, you can still visit a number of the farms and cheese makers. Combined with a baking class at the King Arthur Baking School, this was to be a fun weekend of cooking and eating. But then in typical New England fashion, a spring noreaster rolled in. We had to cancel our plans, but the the innkeeper at the place we were staying at wouldn't cancel our reservation. He'd only let us postpone AND we had to show up by the end of the month. So we ended up going this weekend. This turned out to be a mixed blessing. It was great cause the weather was gorgeous. Sunny and 75F both days. But since I had originally planned on visiting all the cheese places on a Monday, I was disappointed to discover that most businesses in Vermont are closed on Sunday. I discovered this after arriving in Vermont. It took a bit of scrambling and replanning, but we were able to redraw our plans for Sunday. Unfortunately, this meant that we couldn't visit those artisanal cheesemakers and even the Cabot Factory was closed on Sundays!
We drove up Saturday afternoon, checked into our inn and explored the tiny town of Montpelier.
It wasn't more then 10 blocks long and 5 blocks wide. After an ice cream cone at Ben and Jerry's (hey, it is Vermont after all). We had dinner at a local pizza joint called Girasole (after all the driving we weren't looking for anything fancy).
The place was not fancy. The booths and tables looked like they were from a different era (the 80s), but they did have a brand new wood fire oven that looked pretty spiffy. It was staffed by teenagers who weren't too attentive, but that was ok. We ordered two "small" pizzas and an appetizer of friend calamari.The calamari wasn't too bad. It was fried and rather tasteless. I just liked the fact it was crunchy.
And here are our pizzas.
They were much larger than we'd planned. Actually, we could've ordered one pizza between the two of us and been fine. I ordered a special pizza of the day, that had chicken, asparagus, onions, tomatoes, portabello mushrooms, pesto and asiago cheese. I thought it was quite yummy, especially where the asiago had melted onto the crust. Tom ordered a pizza with roasted vegetables, asiago cheese and a spicy roasted pepper spread. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but he enjoyed it, though he wished that the veggies had been roasted more before they were put ontop of the pizza. We took the rest to go, thinking we might snack on them later, but that never happened.We had been up earlier, so retired for the night, looking foward to maple syrup and cheese the next day.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
NEPALESE BUFFET IN ARLINGTON
I'm not a huge fan of Boston.com's food writing, but I do enjoy reading their suggestion for Cheap Eats. I've tried a few and they tend to be pretty good. And if they're not, it's not a huge loss of money. (Normally meals are under $15 per person, a lot of times, it's under $10). So on Marathon Monday, we braved the rain and crowds (turns out it was easier to leave our place than get back) and headed out to Arlington for meal at Kathmandu Spice, a Nepalese fusion restaurant.
I've never had Nepalese cuisine, but from what I'd read, it's heavily influence by Indian and Chinese cuisine. So I'll let you know now, lunch was more like an Indian buffet. Here's a pic of the interior. It's nicely decorated (though the booths we sat in weren't all the comfortable) and divided into two rooms. When we entered, there were only a couple of tables filled, but more people would arrive. The buffet was set up towards the front of the room and you just help yourself.
This isn't one of those huge Indian buffets that you may be accustomed to. There's one appetizer, one soup and 4 or 5 other dishes. I think Tom and Sue Min sample some of each. Here's my plate below. 
You can seen an onion pakora towards the top (yummy, especially when they're fresh), a side salad and Tandoori chicken. I really liked the tandoori chicken. It was well cooked and flavorful, and it was the first time I'd seen it served with different types of peppers (rather than just onion). Tom liked the chicken curry, but I disliked the heavy use of cinnamon, and Suemin generally enjoyed everything.
But my favorite thing was the fresh naan. It comes with the meal, and I chose garlic naan. It comes out super fresh, warm, bathed in clarified butter and simply delicious. I could've eaten these and been perfectly happy. And you can get as much as you want. Overall, I had a delightful meal. We stuffed ourselves and spent around $10/person. That's an excellent deal. I'd like to go back in the future for dinner, so I can try some actual Nepalese dishes, but if you're in the area for lunch, it's certainly worth a visit.
I'm not a huge fan of Boston.com's food writing, but I do enjoy reading their suggestion for Cheap Eats. I've tried a few and they tend to be pretty good. And if they're not, it's not a huge loss of money. (Normally meals are under $15 per person, a lot of times, it's under $10). So on Marathon Monday, we braved the rain and crowds (turns out it was easier to leave our place than get back) and headed out to Arlington for meal at Kathmandu Spice, a Nepalese fusion restaurant.
I've never had Nepalese cuisine, but from what I'd read, it's heavily influence by Indian and Chinese cuisine. So I'll let you know now, lunch was more like an Indian buffet. Here's a pic of the interior. It's nicely decorated (though the booths we sat in weren't all the comfortable) and divided into two rooms. When we entered, there were only a couple of tables filled, but more people would arrive. The buffet was set up towards the front of the room and you just help yourself.
This isn't one of those huge Indian buffets that you may be accustomed to. There's one appetizer, one soup and 4 or 5 other dishes. I think Tom and Sue Min sample some of each. Here's my plate below. 
You can seen an onion pakora towards the top (yummy, especially when they're fresh), a side salad and Tandoori chicken. I really liked the tandoori chicken. It was well cooked and flavorful, and it was the first time I'd seen it served with different types of peppers (rather than just onion). Tom liked the chicken curry, but I disliked the heavy use of cinnamon, and Suemin generally enjoyed everything.
But my favorite thing was the fresh naan. It comes with the meal, and I chose garlic naan. It comes out super fresh, warm, bathed in clarified butter and simply delicious. I could've eaten these and been perfectly happy. And you can get as much as you want. Overall, I had a delightful meal. We stuffed ourselves and spent around $10/person. That's an excellent deal. I'd like to go back in the future for dinner, so I can try some actual Nepalese dishes, but if you're in the area for lunch, it's certainly worth a visit.
MY FIRST TRIP TO POPEYE'S
Well, Popeye's had finally opened in Kenmore Square. You could tell by the Popeye's boxes and cups littering the street and the line of illegally parked cars on Brookline Ave. So it was time to make our long planned visit. I had mixed feelings about trying Popeye's. When I told people about it, I got the same response from everyone: "I love Popeye's. It's so greasy!" My little sister had told me that I wouldn't like it, but I tried to be enthusiastic and even invited my staff to join in.
When we arrived at Popeye's, a game had just started at Fenway Park, so most of then fans had cleared out. What we had instead was a lot of students. The space is a tiny little basement space and there was already a long line. Luckily, my employees had already arrived and snagged us one of the few tables. Most people were taking out, and I wouldn't blame them. The space is small, crowded, hot and strangely lit. We immediately got in line and planned what we'd be ordering. As you can see from the pic below, it was a bit hard reading the menu, cause it was blocked by the soda machine. That's how little space they had.
There was also an ENORMOUS pile of fried chicken ready to go. They had 2 people taking orders, and the rest were just boxing up the orders. It took us a little while to finally put our orders in and I got a 2 piece meal (which came with a drink and a side). They were super efficient there. I got my food 5 minutes after ordering. If you also look at the pic above, you can see a computer screen. I'm not sure if they do this at all Popeye's, but it's a game. When you place your order, you have the option of rounding your order up to the nearest dollar and you get two choices. The more you spend, the better your options tend to be. One of my employees got to pick two apple pies. But I was presented with the option of 2 extra biscuits, or an extra side of rice. I passed. Here's my meal below.
And here's my side of mashed potatoes and gravy.
So I gotta say, I liked Popeye's. The chicken that is. But there are qualifiers. First, the night we went, it was crazy busy. It was clear that they were turning all the food pretty quickly, so the chicken didn't have time to sit and get lukewarm and super greasy. The chicken breast I had was crispy on the outside and perfectly moist on the interior. I did enjoy that. I ordered spicy, but it really didn't taste spicy at all, which makes me wonder what the original tastes like. I was not a fan of the biscuit, it was too greasy and I prefer KFC's biscuits. Ditto goes for the mashed potatoes and gravy. The gravy had little chunks of chicken and jalapenos, which, while good in theory, weren't that delicious in practice. It was an enjoyable meal. Certainly not somewhere I'd visit often, but it's nice to have another junk food option in Kenmore Square.
Well, Popeye's had finally opened in Kenmore Square. You could tell by the Popeye's boxes and cups littering the street and the line of illegally parked cars on Brookline Ave. So it was time to make our long planned visit. I had mixed feelings about trying Popeye's. When I told people about it, I got the same response from everyone: "I love Popeye's. It's so greasy!" My little sister had told me that I wouldn't like it, but I tried to be enthusiastic and even invited my staff to join in.
When we arrived at Popeye's, a game had just started at Fenway Park, so most of then fans had cleared out. What we had instead was a lot of students. The space is a tiny little basement space and there was already a long line. Luckily, my employees had already arrived and snagged us one of the few tables. Most people were taking out, and I wouldn't blame them. The space is small, crowded, hot and strangely lit. We immediately got in line and planned what we'd be ordering. As you can see from the pic below, it was a bit hard reading the menu, cause it was blocked by the soda machine. That's how little space they had.
There was also an ENORMOUS pile of fried chicken ready to go. They had 2 people taking orders, and the rest were just boxing up the orders. It took us a little while to finally put our orders in and I got a 2 piece meal (which came with a drink and a side). They were super efficient there. I got my food 5 minutes after ordering. If you also look at the pic above, you can see a computer screen. I'm not sure if they do this at all Popeye's, but it's a game. When you place your order, you have the option of rounding your order up to the nearest dollar and you get two choices. The more you spend, the better your options tend to be. One of my employees got to pick two apple pies. But I was presented with the option of 2 extra biscuits, or an extra side of rice. I passed. Here's my meal below.
And here's my side of mashed potatoes and gravy.
So I gotta say, I liked Popeye's. The chicken that is. But there are qualifiers. First, the night we went, it was crazy busy. It was clear that they were turning all the food pretty quickly, so the chicken didn't have time to sit and get lukewarm and super greasy. The chicken breast I had was crispy on the outside and perfectly moist on the interior. I did enjoy that. I ordered spicy, but it really didn't taste spicy at all, which makes me wonder what the original tastes like. I was not a fan of the biscuit, it was too greasy and I prefer KFC's biscuits. Ditto goes for the mashed potatoes and gravy. The gravy had little chunks of chicken and jalapenos, which, while good in theory, weren't that delicious in practice. It was an enjoyable meal. Certainly not somewhere I'd visit often, but it's nice to have another junk food option in Kenmore Square.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
A MEAL FOR MEAT LOVERS
Tom's friend, Evan, had been asking about Churrascurrias in Boston. I'd only been to one, Greenfield's, and it wasn't that great. But Suemin had recently gone to the Midwest Grill for a friend's birthday and had said it was quite good, so I suggested to Tom that we invite Evan and try it out. I did my normal research and found that I would be able to find things to eat. They reportedly served chicken breast on skewers, so I'd be fine with that. There was also a buffet involved, so I figured I'd find things on that, too.
The Midwest Grill is located in Inman Square, so parking can be kinda tough. It's got some funny decor and goes for a rustic look. (Looks of wood). Here's Jayna posing with one of the plastic cows outside.
The place doesn't take reservations, but it's a pretty big restaurant, and as we were quick to find out, the perfect place for a large group dinner. (There are 3 dining rooms). While we were there, there was a wedding party taking place, and another dinner party of at least 20 people. Suffice it to say, it doesn't lend itself to a quiet meal. We were seated in the smallest back room, which was also the location of the bar. As we sat back there, we were able to watch concert footage from Carnival in Brazil on two very very big screens. (I assume this would also be perfect for watching football).
Once we everyone arrived, we were off to the buffet. Here's one shot of it.
There were both hot and cold entrees. And I picked some from both. Here you see chicken stew, fried fish and some salad items. Both the chicken stew and fried fish were surprisingly good. We'd figure out that the hot buffet was best when the food had just come out of the kitchen. Then it was delicious. But if it'd been sitting out for a while, it was not so good. I tried to be moderate and hold out for some chicken to arrive.
The rest of the table was occupied eating a variety of roasted meats. I think the sausages were a big winner, but there were like 6 other cuts of meet. I waited patiently for the chicken breast to arrive. In the meantime, I had some of the chicken hearts. (which I usually love, but as reported on a different website, they aren't exactly a popular item, so they tend to get overcooked and tough. That assessment was right on. I ate them anyway). I also had some delicious grilled garlic rolls.
As the dinner kept going, I felt that I would never see the chicken breast. Everyone was filling up, and when we finally asked for it, I found out that the chicken breast was wrapped in bacon. Sigh. It was time for me to return to the buffet and fill up on things I'd actually eat. I did enjoy the all you can eat ice cream on the buffet and did fill up by the end of the meal. The rest of the dinner party seemed to have enjoyed the meal and as for me, the next time I'll do a little more research before heading out to another Brazilian bbq.
Tom's friend, Evan, had been asking about Churrascurrias in Boston. I'd only been to one, Greenfield's, and it wasn't that great. But Suemin had recently gone to the Midwest Grill for a friend's birthday and had said it was quite good, so I suggested to Tom that we invite Evan and try it out. I did my normal research and found that I would be able to find things to eat. They reportedly served chicken breast on skewers, so I'd be fine with that. There was also a buffet involved, so I figured I'd find things on that, too.
The Midwest Grill is located in Inman Square, so parking can be kinda tough. It's got some funny decor and goes for a rustic look. (Looks of wood). Here's Jayna posing with one of the plastic cows outside.
The place doesn't take reservations, but it's a pretty big restaurant, and as we were quick to find out, the perfect place for a large group dinner. (There are 3 dining rooms). While we were there, there was a wedding party taking place, and another dinner party of at least 20 people. Suffice it to say, it doesn't lend itself to a quiet meal. We were seated in the smallest back room, which was also the location of the bar. As we sat back there, we were able to watch concert footage from Carnival in Brazil on two very very big screens. (I assume this would also be perfect for watching football).Once we everyone arrived, we were off to the buffet. Here's one shot of it.
There were both hot and cold entrees. And I picked some from both. Here you see chicken stew, fried fish and some salad items. Both the chicken stew and fried fish were surprisingly good. We'd figure out that the hot buffet was best when the food had just come out of the kitchen. Then it was delicious. But if it'd been sitting out for a while, it was not so good. I tried to be moderate and hold out for some chicken to arrive.
The rest of the table was occupied eating a variety of roasted meats. I think the sausages were a big winner, but there were like 6 other cuts of meet. I waited patiently for the chicken breast to arrive. In the meantime, I had some of the chicken hearts. (which I usually love, but as reported on a different website, they aren't exactly a popular item, so they tend to get overcooked and tough. That assessment was right on. I ate them anyway). I also had some delicious grilled garlic rolls.
As the dinner kept going, I felt that I would never see the chicken breast. Everyone was filling up, and when we finally asked for it, I found out that the chicken breast was wrapped in bacon. Sigh. It was time for me to return to the buffet and fill up on things I'd actually eat. I did enjoy the all you can eat ice cream on the buffet and did fill up by the end of the meal. The rest of the dinner party seemed to have enjoyed the meal and as for me, the next time I'll do a little more research before heading out to another Brazilian bbq.
BEST COFFEE IN LA?
On my last morning in LA my mom took me to a new coffee shop on Montana Ave. that reportedly sold some of the best coffee in LA. I hadn't had time to go to my beloved Cafe Balcony for a cappuccino, so I was looking foward to trying out Caffe Luxxe and getting my coffee fix in.
When we walked in, I noticed that the space is very sleek and chic. There was a small line and it grew after we'd gotten the coffee. They have a very large espresso machine and they were using Mazzer grinders (a good sign). They had two guys making coffee and one person ringing people up and it was a little disorganized, but fine. There was also a small case of pastries, as you can see in the pic below, but not much that interested me.
So I put in an order for a cappuccino for myself and a coffee for my mom. As I watched them work, I found it a bit odd that one person worked on the espresso while another was doing the foam. (Normally the barista completes a drink by themselves). I'm not sure if that was standard protocol or if they were trying to save time, but it may have effected the resulting drink. I prefer that the barista take their time to make an excellent coffee. So here's my cappuccino below. 
It looks pretty nice. Much better than most places out there. And they do latte art on every one of their drinks, even for the takeout cups, so that's a nice touch. But you can see that the foam isn't perfect. It's not smooth and mirror-like, which it should be. As for the espresso, I'm not sure what they're using, but it had a bitter note, even with the sugar that I'd added. I'm still a bigger fan of illy.
Here's my mom's coffee. As you can see, it's not normal drip coffee. It's two shots of espresso. I don't think they even have drip coffee on the menu, which is quite Italian. I do respect that.
I also purchased this bag of mini muffins to munch on. (Allright, it's also cause they were cute). They were too sweet for my taste. 
I think the prices were a little higher than usual. (About what I charge). And despite the use of latte art, I still like my funky, comfy Cafe Balcony more. I'll need to make a bigger effort to get there the next time I'm in town.
On my last morning in LA my mom took me to a new coffee shop on Montana Ave. that reportedly sold some of the best coffee in LA. I hadn't had time to go to my beloved Cafe Balcony for a cappuccino, so I was looking foward to trying out Caffe Luxxe and getting my coffee fix in.
When we walked in, I noticed that the space is very sleek and chic. There was a small line and it grew after we'd gotten the coffee. They have a very large espresso machine and they were using Mazzer grinders (a good sign). They had two guys making coffee and one person ringing people up and it was a little disorganized, but fine. There was also a small case of pastries, as you can see in the pic below, but not much that interested me.
So I put in an order for a cappuccino for myself and a coffee for my mom. As I watched them work, I found it a bit odd that one person worked on the espresso while another was doing the foam. (Normally the barista completes a drink by themselves). I'm not sure if that was standard protocol or if they were trying to save time, but it may have effected the resulting drink. I prefer that the barista take their time to make an excellent coffee. So here's my cappuccino below. 
It looks pretty nice. Much better than most places out there. And they do latte art on every one of their drinks, even for the takeout cups, so that's a nice touch. But you can see that the foam isn't perfect. It's not smooth and mirror-like, which it should be. As for the espresso, I'm not sure what they're using, but it had a bitter note, even with the sugar that I'd added. I'm still a bigger fan of illy.Here's my mom's coffee. As you can see, it's not normal drip coffee. It's two shots of espresso. I don't think they even have drip coffee on the menu, which is quite Italian. I do respect that.
I also purchased this bag of mini muffins to munch on. (Allright, it's also cause they were cute). They were too sweet for my taste. 
I think the prices were a little higher than usual. (About what I charge). And despite the use of latte art, I still like my funky, comfy Cafe Balcony more. I'll need to make a bigger effort to get there the next time I'm in town.
AN IMPORTANT DAY OF THE YEAR
Ok people. Are we all paying attention? Because I'm here to tell you that today is the most wonderful day of the year. Yes, it's arrived. It's FREE CONE DAY AT BEN AND JERRY'S. Somehow I had forgotten to put this on my calendar. Actually, I thought it'd be taking place next week, so thanks to Big Ed for reminding me. I missed free cone day last year, cause I was working, but I'm gonna make a big effort not to miss it this year. We here in Boston are lucky, because there are 3 Ben and Jerry's within a quarter mile of each other in downtown Boston. Which means a lot of ice cream. Or you can just get in line repeatedly. I know ppl do that, too. So go out there and get some free ice cream!!
Ok people. Are we all paying attention? Because I'm here to tell you that today is the most wonderful day of the year. Yes, it's arrived. It's FREE CONE DAY AT BEN AND JERRY'S. Somehow I had forgotten to put this on my calendar. Actually, I thought it'd be taking place next week, so thanks to Big Ed for reminding me. I missed free cone day last year, cause I was working, but I'm gonna make a big effort not to miss it this year. We here in Boston are lucky, because there are 3 Ben and Jerry's within a quarter mile of each other in downtown Boston. Which means a lot of ice cream. Or you can just get in line repeatedly. I know ppl do that, too. So go out there and get some free ice cream!!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
A DAY OF DINING IN LA LA LAND
Well I've returned to life in Boston...frigid temperatures and snow in April. (I'll admit, this is not an unusual occurrence.) And not like it was so warm and balmy out in LA. After three cloudy days at home, the sun finally came out on the day I left. This is the second time this has happened to me. So here I am, ready to recount to you my first day back in LA. It was a very busy day for me, and I started it off with breakfast with my little sis. She happened to have the day off since those neocons that she works for at Fox give Good Friday off. So my sister took me to a popular weekend brunch spot (since it was a weekday, there wasn't a line) called Doughboys. I had already looked at the menu online back in Boston and was pretty excited to go and try it out.
I could see why this place was popular. It was a super casual place that is comfortable. It's in a key location and it doesn't have many seats. Look at this pic I took of the ceiling. It's lined with egg cartons. Isn't that funny?
The menu is really extensive. I had a tough time picking between sweet and savory, but ended up going for savory. I ordered a scramble with potato, turkey sausage, spinach, tomato, scallion and mushroom. I admit that I mainly ordered it cause it came with a side of cornbread, and I love cornbread. Here it is below.
It comes in this gigantic bowl. (Actually, all their servings are gigantic). I wasn't in love with it, though. I think they could've cooked the sausage a bit before adding it in with everything. That would've brought the flavor out. And the cornbread was disappointing. It wasn't vary flavorful and had this dense, greasy quality to it. Meanwhile, Cathy ordered a frittata with cream cheese, onion and smoked salmon.
It was another enormous portion. I really did like the walnut bread it came with, and I think that's where I made my mistake in ordering. This place if known as a bakery and in the future, I should order a baked item.
After a day of running around the city, I finally ended up at Mozza for dinner with my family and Katie.
When we entered the space, it was already packed, with people waiting for tables. The restaurant was much smaller than I had expected, but I liked the high ceilings and sort of rustic feel to the place. We perused the menu for a bit, and decided that it'd be easier to order a bunch of appetizers and a number of pizzas to share. So let's start off with the appetizers:
Actually, I'm look at the menu right now and a lot of the appetizers we ordered aren't on there. At any rate, here are classic fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta.
These were perfectly fried and salted. I thought they were delicious and wish there were more.
Next up, marinated beets.
These don't look like the typical red beets, but after visiting the farmers markets, I found out that there are a larger variety of beets in CA, including these light colored variety. These were also very tasty.
My dad wanted the bruschette with chicken livers, capers, parsley & guanciale. I took a nibble, minus the guanciale and found it delicious, but too dense and rich for my taste. (it is liver after all.)
We finished with this side of polenta topped with some shredded chicken. The chicken ontop was amazing, but I found the texture of the polenta a little disconcerting. It's hard to tell cause the pic is blurry, but the polenta was a lighter color than the polenta I cook. And the texture was almost smooth and custardy. I wasn't a big fan of that. I like to feel some of the grains when I'm eating polenta.
The we waited for the pizzas to arrive. It was kinda hard for me to decide what pizza I wanted, because in typical Batali fashion, almost every pizza contained some ingredient I didn't eat. But there were also some very typical Batali ingredients all over the menu; anchovies, rapini, burratta, etc. As we waited for the pizzas to arrive, I noticed that working near the oven was Nancy Silverton herself. Ok, now here's a listing of the pizzas we ordered:
My pizza:Funghi misti, fontina, taleggio & thyme.
Katie's pizza: Coach farm goat cheese, leeks, roasted garlic & bacon (minus bacon)
Fennel sausage, panna & red onion
Littleneck clams, oregano, parmigiano & pecorino
And this pizzette (mini pizza). That involved green peas and bacon, but I can't find it on the menu and I don't remember what else was in it.
So what was my opinion of all this pizza? It's hard for me to answer that question. Cause I don't really think you could call it pizza. Sure when you look at the pics it LOOKS like pizza, but for me, when I'm eating pizza, I have a certain idea in mind of what pizza should be like. Be it a thin crust or thick crust, it has a certain type of crust. It normally involves some sauce (even if it's not tomato) and it normally involves cheese. These weren't pizza-like to me. The crust was more like bread. Very few of the pizzas had cheese and almost none of the had sauces. This isn't what pizza in Italy is like, either. It was its own entity. I enjoyed it and my older sister loved it.
However, my favorite part of the meal was dessert. Because finally, after years of searching, I have found gelato that tastes exactly like what gelato tastes like in Italy. Il laboratorio del gelato came close, but this was exactly it. Here's my dish with chocolate, strawberry and nociolla. My little sis kept trying to get me to order the olive oil ice cream, but I was happy with the classics.
My big sister and Katie shared this Meyer lemon gelato pie, but my dessert was my favorite.
So was it worth it? Well, if I lived in LA, I'd wait until all the hoopla died down to visit, but since I'm there very rarely, I'm glad I go to try out Mozza and tell you guys all about it.
Well I've returned to life in Boston...frigid temperatures and snow in April. (I'll admit, this is not an unusual occurrence.) And not like it was so warm and balmy out in LA. After three cloudy days at home, the sun finally came out on the day I left. This is the second time this has happened to me. So here I am, ready to recount to you my first day back in LA. It was a very busy day for me, and I started it off with breakfast with my little sis. She happened to have the day off since those neocons that she works for at Fox give Good Friday off. So my sister took me to a popular weekend brunch spot (since it was a weekday, there wasn't a line) called Doughboys. I had already looked at the menu online back in Boston and was pretty excited to go and try it out.
I could see why this place was popular. It was a super casual place that is comfortable. It's in a key location and it doesn't have many seats. Look at this pic I took of the ceiling. It's lined with egg cartons. Isn't that funny?
The menu is really extensive. I had a tough time picking between sweet and savory, but ended up going for savory. I ordered a scramble with potato, turkey sausage, spinach, tomato, scallion and mushroom. I admit that I mainly ordered it cause it came with a side of cornbread, and I love cornbread. Here it is below.
It comes in this gigantic bowl. (Actually, all their servings are gigantic). I wasn't in love with it, though. I think they could've cooked the sausage a bit before adding it in with everything. That would've brought the flavor out. And the cornbread was disappointing. It wasn't vary flavorful and had this dense, greasy quality to it. Meanwhile, Cathy ordered a frittata with cream cheese, onion and smoked salmon.
It was another enormous portion. I really did like the walnut bread it came with, and I think that's where I made my mistake in ordering. This place if known as a bakery and in the future, I should order a baked item. After a day of running around the city, I finally ended up at Mozza for dinner with my family and Katie.
When we entered the space, it was already packed, with people waiting for tables. The restaurant was much smaller than I had expected, but I liked the high ceilings and sort of rustic feel to the place. We perused the menu for a bit, and decided that it'd be easier to order a bunch of appetizers and a number of pizzas to share. So let's start off with the appetizers:Actually, I'm look at the menu right now and a lot of the appetizers we ordered aren't on there. At any rate, here are classic fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta.
These were perfectly fried and salted. I thought they were delicious and wish there were more.Next up, marinated beets.
These don't look like the typical red beets, but after visiting the farmers markets, I found out that there are a larger variety of beets in CA, including these light colored variety. These were also very tasty.My dad wanted the bruschette with chicken livers, capers, parsley & guanciale. I took a nibble, minus the guanciale and found it delicious, but too dense and rich for my taste. (it is liver after all.)
We finished with this side of polenta topped with some shredded chicken. The chicken ontop was amazing, but I found the texture of the polenta a little disconcerting. It's hard to tell cause the pic is blurry, but the polenta was a lighter color than the polenta I cook. And the texture was almost smooth and custardy. I wasn't a big fan of that. I like to feel some of the grains when I'm eating polenta.
The we waited for the pizzas to arrive. It was kinda hard for me to decide what pizza I wanted, because in typical Batali fashion, almost every pizza contained some ingredient I didn't eat. But there were also some very typical Batali ingredients all over the menu; anchovies, rapini, burratta, etc. As we waited for the pizzas to arrive, I noticed that working near the oven was Nancy Silverton herself. Ok, now here's a listing of the pizzas we ordered:My pizza:Funghi misti, fontina, taleggio & thyme.
Katie's pizza: Coach farm goat cheese, leeks, roasted garlic & bacon (minus bacon)
Fennel sausage, panna & red onion
Littleneck clams, oregano, parmigiano & pecorino
And this pizzette (mini pizza). That involved green peas and bacon, but I can't find it on the menu and I don't remember what else was in it.
So what was my opinion of all this pizza? It's hard for me to answer that question. Cause I don't really think you could call it pizza. Sure when you look at the pics it LOOKS like pizza, but for me, when I'm eating pizza, I have a certain idea in mind of what pizza should be like. Be it a thin crust or thick crust, it has a certain type of crust. It normally involves some sauce (even if it's not tomato) and it normally involves cheese. These weren't pizza-like to me. The crust was more like bread. Very few of the pizzas had cheese and almost none of the had sauces. This isn't what pizza in Italy is like, either. It was its own entity. I enjoyed it and my older sister loved it.However, my favorite part of the meal was dessert. Because finally, after years of searching, I have found gelato that tastes exactly like what gelato tastes like in Italy. Il laboratorio del gelato came close, but this was exactly it. Here's my dish with chocolate, strawberry and nociolla. My little sis kept trying to get me to order the olive oil ice cream, but I was happy with the classics.
My big sister and Katie shared this Meyer lemon gelato pie, but my dessert was my favorite.
So was it worth it? Well, if I lived in LA, I'd wait until all the hoopla died down to visit, but since I'm there very rarely, I'm glad I go to try out Mozza and tell you guys all about it.
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