Category — Boston Food

We all have those nights – they happen more now that school’s in, I think.  The day gets away from you and you’re sitting at your desk (or in your car, mid-schlep) at 4:30 and you’re suddenly caught up short.  “What are we going to have for dinner?”  The easy choice is takeout or fast food, but the angel on your right shoulder says “You should be feeding your family something healthier.”  And face it, are you really going to be able to get to the market before you have to sling hash?  Probably not.

Enter Healthy Habits Kitchen of Wellesley.  I discovered Healthy Habits Kitchen last spring – I was Googling meal assembly places (a la Dream Dinners) nearby, and the HHK site showed up.  I put them on my to-try list and never got around to it.  Then the Foodie Mommy favorably reviewed HHK in early September.  Her review incentivized me to finally check it out.  [Read more →]

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D. and I had a sitter on Saturday night, and we didn’t have a plan.  We were in the mood for a delicious dinner, and hadn’t been to Scampo in a while, so at 5:30 I gave them a call – their tables were booked ’til 10:30, but the Mozzarella Bar was wide open, and the seating there is first-come, first-served.  We were in!

We had a fabulous meal, there at that bar.  It’s a fun place to sit if you haven’t before – lots of theater behind the little glass screen.  This is where all the breads, pizzas and the mozzarella dishes are prepared.  That’s a lot of food being readied in a small space, and it’s fun to watch the various players do their thing.

We both love to sample lots of things, so we went the small plates route.   We started out with an order of the flaky puffed pan bread with zataar & lemon labneh.  Our bread came, all puffy and warm, in its own little pan.  The lemon labneh was drizzled over the top and the zataar was sprinkled over the top.  The bread was delicate and just a little crunchy and delightfully messy, the labneh was subtly lemony and provided just the right amount of coolness and creamy richness. 

Then came the mozzarella with prosciutto, napoleon of crisped pear and potato and handmade quince preserve.  The prosciutto was super flavorful and expertly sliced into wafer-thin pieces.  The mozzarella was delicious and the crisped potatoes were spectacular – crispy and just a tiny bit greasy and super salty.  The pear chips were interesting – hard to distinguish by looks alone from the potato chip, but not on taste.  They were a bit chewy and super sweet.  The quince preserve was delicious, but I felt that it overpowered the delicate tastes of the prosciutto and mozzarella – but the sweet was a nice counterpoint to the prosciutto.  I think I’m just a prosciutto-purist.  Love the stuff.

Next out was a choice of mine – the pizza with whipped bacala, romesco and soft egg – definitely like no pizza I’ve ever had before.  It was so delicious.  Delicate, crunchy and flavorful crust, topped with fluffy, creamy whipped bacala – no overt saltiness here, only a nice brininess.  The romesco was delicious, but overly abundant.  That’s my only criticism of this dish – the romesco overpowered the thing.  The eggs . . . oh those eggs . . . broke those open and let the warm yokes run all over the mess – they added a great richness to the pizza and were a perfect foil for the peppery romesco.  I look forward to ordering this again – next time I might make this and a simple salad my entire meal.  [Read more →]

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“Insanely good super cheap porky goodness.”

How could you not try out a restaurant that served a dish described like this??  We’d been to the bakery portion of Great Taste before – they have dan tat that make my daughter swoon.  Their cream buns are better, in my opinion, than Eldo’s.  They have mini butterfly cookies that are super crispy and sugary and tasty.  The baked char siu bao are very good.  Their bubble teas and smoothie drinks are supposed to be superb.  But we’d never tried the restaurant side, which serves primarly Cantonese food, ’til tonight.  And people, it was fantastic!

It took some serious selling to get L. to be OK with not going to Vinh Sun for BBQ pork.  Great Taste is kitty-corner across Beach Street from Vinh Sun, and when she realized we were trying something new, L. kicked up a fuss.  We prevailed upon her to branch out, and even she wasn’t disappointed.

We got there at 5, so unfortunately we missed dim sum, which is served ’til 4.  They serve their dim sum off the menu, and there were lots of good choices on that menu.  Next time we’ll time it better.

We’d read that the scallion pancakes were good at Great Taste, and since D. is a scallion pancake fanatic, we had to try those.  They were indeed great – nicely fried so they were crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, with good scallion flavor.  The dipping sauce was very tasty – I hinted a little kick – not the usual.  Maybe more ginger than usual?  All in all, a good call.

For L., we ordered Dry Fried Pork Udon, and out came thick chewy udon noodles, slathered with just enough of some savory brown sauce and nice tender pieces of pork.  She was in porkitarian-carbo heaven. 

D. and I ordered, of course, the Spicy Salted Sparerib With Rice.  Six large, meaty ribs arrived.  They were battered, crispy-fried and sprinkled with fried garlic, dried red and fresh green chilis, and perched atop a generous mound of white rice, also sprinkled with chilis and remnant bits of fried crispiness, along with some greens, which were super garlicky and consequently, super delicious.  I can assure you that this dish lives up to its billing on Chowhound.  I could only manage two ribs – this is rich stuff, but man, with all its crunchy, salty spiciness - it didn’t leave me wanting.

But wait!  There was more!  We decided to try something from the Casserole Specials section of the menu, so I chose the Deep Fried Fish Fillets with Bean Curd.  Out came a piping hot casserole dish full of deliciously seasoned (this dish is not spicy, but is full of flavor) boneless fish fillets and fried tofu, along with lots of ginger, scallions, mushrooms and bits of pork.  Fan-freakin’-tastic.

We are definitely headed back for more.  The service was super friendly and helpful (they were more than OK with our usual off-menu mishigas – some plain pork bits for L. mixed with some white rice) and although the place lacks atmosphere, it’s clean and bright. 

And of course, afterwards we stepped through to the bakery next door and ordered up some dan tat to go . . . . stretcher, please!

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I bet you never thought you could get fresh, high-quality, authentic Chinese food in the ‘burbs, did you?  And I bet you never thought you’d find it at a little restaurant, tucked into an unassuming strip mall, and located next to a laundromat called “The Lost Sock,” right?  Guess again, peeps!

Saturday night D. and I were up in Burlington doing errands and shopping – I know, just the kind of exciting stuff you do when you have a sitter.  Well, even if you’re not bordering on the desperately lame like us, Billerica should be on your list of destinations for some of the most fantastic Sichuan cuisine around Boston.

Sichuan Gourmet has been around for a while – there are two locations, one in Framingham and one in Billerica.  We’ve only ever gone to the Billerica outpost, but the Framingham site gets great reviews too.  The Billerica restaurant is small, very casual and is consistently packed with larger parties comprised of multi-generational Chinese families.  It’s warm, and smells so, so good when you enter.  But the highlight, friends, is the food – oh!  It is so spicy, so tasty, so irresistible.  Every time we go, we ask ourselves, “why don’t we come here more often?”

So first off – make sure you understand that food from the Sichuan province of China is known for its heat.  And while they will tone down the spiciness for you, if you want the full-frontal experience of Sichuanese food, you’ve gotta crave the heat.  And then there are those famous Sichuan peppercorns – they produce a numbing sensation on your tongue after you eat them . . . really hard to describe, but addicting.

Highlights for us from the menu are: 

• Sichuan Wonton with Spicy Chili Sauce:  warm, delicate pork-filled wontons floating in a spicy chili sauce.  Slurp them up and fight over who gets the last one!
• Fresh Bamboo Shoots with Spicy Wonder Sauce:  fresh bamboo shoots bear absolutely no comparison to the ones you’ve had from the can.  The fresh ones are tender and super-tasty and not fibrous like their canned cousins.  These are drizzled with “wonder sauce” (who can resist that name?) which definitely contains chili oil, and then sprinkled with a few sesame seeds.  This is a cold dish.
• Dan Dan Noodles:  is a classic Sichuan dish, but if you’ve had it in Americanized Chinese restaurants and tasted peanut butter or sesame paste, those are not authentic.  The real  dan dan noodles are paired with a spicy sauce with preserved vegetables, chili oil, Sichuan peppers, pork, and scallions, and they are damn good.
• Dried Chicken with Chili Sauce:  small crispy-fried cubes of chicken with fresh green chilies and dried red chilies – literally a sea of chilies – and yes, there are people who eat the entire plate (we can only handle the chicken and some of the green chilies).  I had the rest of this for breakfast on Sunday morning!
• MaPo Tofu with Minced Pork:  this is another a popular Sichuan dish. Large cubes of soft tofu are set in a spicy chili- and bean-based sauce, then topped with minced pork.  Again, this is not the dumbed-down version you might have had elsewhere – true Mapo Doufu is super spicy with both conventional “heat” spiciness and the characteristic “mala” (numbing spiciness) flavor of Sichuan cuisine.  

You should know that most of the waitstaff does not speak a ton of English – but the woman who does the seating does, and she’s super friendly and ever-eager to answer questions.  Don’t shy away from hailing her and asking questions about the menu – you will learn a lot and you may discover dishes you’ll dream about the next day. 

And while Sichuan Gourmet does serve more Americanized Chinese food, we’ve never tried it, so I can’t vouch for its taste.  L. has snarfed down their lo mein, and for the truly faint of heart, there is always boiled white rice.  But if you crave spicy, flavorful food and want to experience authentic preparations of traditional Sichuan dishes, this is a place you’ll want to find.  Enjoy!

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Like it or not, it’s September, and for me, one of the great joys of fall is apple picking.  I love to load up on crisp, sweet-tart apples for snacking and baking.  But what’s a pesticide-avoiding mama to do?  Apples rank number 2 in the EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pecticides, with a 93/100 score for pesticide load.  Every year so far, I’ve thrown caution to the wind and gone to an orchard that uses conventional pest management practices (Honey Pot Hill in Stowe is my favorite, but more for the doughnuts than anything!). 

I decided that this year, we need to get serious and find a place that uses low-spray or organic practices in its orchards, and let me tell you, they’re tough to find.  It’s difficult and expensive to grow organic orchard fruit – apples are beset by many pests and diseases.  Your only choice for certified organic, pick-your-own apples around here is the Old Frog Pond Farm in Harvard.

Far more farms in the area use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems.  What’s IPM?  IPM has been used by growers and researchers for over 25 years in New England orchards. It’s a “best practices” approach that primarily relies on cultural practices to maintain tree health, and the action of beneficial organisms to manage pests. IPM growers seek to use the lowest possible dosage of the least disruptive pesticide, only when pest populations exceed economic threshold levels and alternative methods are ineffective. As with organic farming, IPM emphasizes plant health and cultural practices as the first line of defense against pests. But unlike organic farming, which allows only the use of pesticides derived from natural sources, IPM does allow the use of synthetic pesticides.

There are 10 choices for IPM pick-your-own in the Greater Boston area:

1. Shelburne Farms in Stowe
2. Bolton Spring Farm in Bolton
3. Nicewicz Family Farm in Bolton
4. Autumn Hills Orchard in Groton
5. Clearview Farm in Sterling
6. Connor’s Farm in Danvers
7. Ashby Apples in Ashby
8. Russell’s Orchard in Ipswitch
9. Kimball’s Fruit Farm in Pepperell
10. Cider Hill Farms in Amesbury

If you know of others, add them in the comments, please!  And do yourself a favor and call the orchard before you pack up the car and head out – find out what they’re picking on any particular day so you’re not disappointed.

Enjoy!

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I’ve been out a lot (for me) in the last couple of weeks, and although Picco was transcendent, as usual, La Casa de Pedro was only OK.  Although I’d been anxious to try it, and the company was great, the food was, unfortunately, a disappointment.

La Casa de Pedro has been around for a long time (first in Watertown Square, now on Arsenal Street, also in Watertown), and gets mixed reviews.  I was there on a beautiful night, and there were 5 of us.  We sat outside, which was pleasant.  You’re far enough away from the street so you don’t feel like you’re sucking back exhaust from the main drag while you eat and drink.

The highlights here were the starters.   La Verde salad, with Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, arugula, roasted peppers, etc. was served with a great cilantro dressing and was a standout for me – the lettuce and veggies were all fresh, and the dressing was delicious, if a bit salty.  We asked, and learned that the dressing is made with pureed cilantro, a little bit of garlic, olive oil and salt.  It was bright green and earthy, and everyone agreed it was fantastic.

We also ordered a plate of the calamari – fried and served with a poblano and jalapeno sauce.  I am usually very mixed on calamari, and I rarely order it for myself or a table – I have issues with its sometimes very chewy texture.  But this calamari was tender and cooked perfectly, and the sauce was zesty and tasty.   

I should’ve quit while I was ahead – the salad and the calamari would’ve made a great dinner.  Instead, I ordered the Quesadilla con Chorizo.  This is a tortilla filled with sliced chorizo and melted cheese . . . I mean, what could be better than sausage and cheese?  Well, to start, it came out cold.  The cheese wasn’t completely solid yet, but it was getting there, and the tortilla was stiff as a board.  There were some plantains on the side that would’ve been OK if they’d been warmed up, and some simply awful rice that tasted as if it hadn’t been cooked long enough.  Lackluster at best.  So . . . maybe this was partly my fault.  CdP is a Venezuelan restaurant, not a Mexican restaurant, and I ordered a Mexican entree.  But really folks, a quesadilla is really hard to screw up, and I feel like they succeeded. 

The service was good, and Pedro did graciously greet us when we arrived, so they get good marks for hospitality, but I won’t go back here on my own – it’s one of those places – if friends are dying to go, I won’t refuse and dig in my heels, but I will probably order that salad and the calamari again and cross my fingers.  Know what I mean?

And a quick postscript about CdP’s website – there is LOUD music that plays when you view the homepage . . . scroll down to pause.  I could write a whole post on how much I hate webpages with music, but I’ll save that for another day.

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A few people have asked for a run-down of my favorite spots to eat/get food in Boston’s Chinatown.  We’re there a few times every month.  Sunday is our favorite day to go – we head in there in the late afternoon for some shopping, maybe a haircut for our daughter, and then an early dinner and dessert before we head back to the ‘burbs. 

Our favorite spot for dinner is Vinh Sun BBQ & Restaurant, on Beach Street.  We think their roasted meats are the best in Chinatown – they beat the pants of Hong Kong Eatery (on Harrison).  Our daughter’s true love, and rightfully so, is the roast pork and rice plate.  A generous portion of freshly roasted pork, complete with a lovely glaze on its exterior, is served atop a bed of white rice and some steamed choi.  The pork is tender, perfectly cooked and super flavorful.  Vinh Sun’s hot & sour soup is pretty good, and their ma po dofu does have a kick to it (although never enough for my taste).  They have some nice Hong Kong style noodle soups – I often get my favorite shrimp dumpling soup – a large portion of tasty shrimp-filled dumplings in chicken broth with loads of noodles to boot. 

After we finish up at Vinh Sun, we usually hit a bakery or two.  Our favorite for butterfly cookies is Hing Shing, also on Beech Street (right next to the Chinatown gate).  These butterfly cookies are sweeter and more flavorful than other butterfly cookies I’ve had (and, um, I’ll admit to trying many a butterfly cookie in my time) – in fact, these are the only butterfly cookies I like.  The others are too bland and lardy for me – these have great flavor. 

Next door to Hing Shing is the Great Taste Bakery and Restaurant – a newish place.   We haven’t yet eaten at the restaurant, but the bakery has great dan tat (egg custards) and cream buns (my #1 Chinatown bakery vice, a slightly sweet super-soft bun, dusted with finely shredded coconut, then slit partway through the middle and stuffed with light sweet cream filling).  For some chat on the food at the restaurant, check out this threadon Chowhound.  A meal there is on our “must do soon” list, as are their baked cha siu bao. 

Ho Yuen bakery is also on on Beach street, just a couple doors up from Vinh Sun, towards Harrison.  They have great almond cookies.

Eldo Cakehouse on Harrison Ave. is a well-loved place.  I used to love their cream buns, but I think that Great Taste has them beat.  Their cakes are beautiful and delicious, if you like whipped cream frosting.  They boast beautiful fruit decorations are are pretty reasonably priced.  Some people think their baked cha siu bao are the best, others rave about their beef curry turnovers.  Adjacent to the bakery is the Eldo Candy House – lots of little treats there – another favorite stop for our daughter. 

Sometimes we go to Chinatown for dim sum, and we have two favorites there:  China Pearl and Hei La Moon.  Both offer the traditional dim sum with carts and crowds.  I think Hei La Moon has an edge over CP food-quality-wise, but be forewarned, it’s on Beach Street, across the surface artery from Chinatown proper.  Our strategy is to get to either of these places by 11 a.m., because then we’re seated almost immediately.  If you get there anytime after that, be prepared to wait. 

Boston’s Chinatown is small – you can cover it all in a flash.  Chowhound is a super resource – there are lots of other notable places to eat in C-town that we just don’t get to.  Search for yourself (sea food?  hot pot?) and find some favorites of your own.

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Grub Street (NYMagazine.com’s food news) has released its Where And What To Eat in Boston for Fall ’09.  I really need to get to Olecito, period.  Haven’t been to the Inman location, and here they are, opening an outpost.  I’m feeling skeptical about Todd English’s new venture, Curly Cupcakes . . . but maybe Todd has what it takes to change my mind about cupcake boutiques?

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