MC Slim JB's Profile
Looking for Good Cocktail Bars in Boston
It's basically a second room with an entrance just past the far end of the bar on the left. Cool little space. And it has its own bar, but I'm guessing that it's only staffed for private events.
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Local Chow on the tube
I normally don't care for Zimmern (or most food-TV programming, for that matter), but I'm DVRing this episode.
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Strip T's increasing funkiness
For those wondering, this photo doesn't quite capture the precariousness of the water closet, but it's the best I could do. Imagine a low ceiling over this.
Welcome to Chowhound, where we discuss the *full range* of the dining-out experience. Ask me about my Trattoria Toscana interesting-bathroom photos sometime.
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Looking for Good Cocktail Bars in Boston
Descent in the basement of the W actually has some real bartending talent on hand. Probably a good idea to get there before the vodka/soda club crowd show up around midnight.
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Guchi's Midnight Ramen
You know this is all going to be read as sour grapes, right?
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February 2012 Openings and Closings
Sweet Caroline's in the Fenway opens at 9pm on Sat, Feb 25: http://www.sweetcarolinesboston.com/Sweet_Carolines_Menu.pdf
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Strip T's increasing funkiness
I think that bathroom would be extremely challenging to use if you were a man much over 6'1", and/or drunk.
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Zo's original = best sandwich-ish offering downtown?
It is Cafe Latino, and I'm overdue to get back there. Chowhound led me to their amazing pernil asado, which I've been trying to avoid for fear of eating it once a week. A sandwich sounds like a good compromise. Worth noting that they put lettuce and tomato on the Cubano there unless you explicitly nix it. Wonder if they still do the plantain "lasagna"?
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Strip T's increasing funkiness
I admit to being a little nosy on my way to Strip-T's one-of-a-kind bathroom, too.
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Guchi's Midnight Ramen
Where on the Great Taste menu are the pork buns, Striper? Is that a weekend dim sum thing only? Just a bakery item?
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Zo's original = best sandwich-ish offering downtown?
The sardine bocadillo at Neptune is a sometime special, so be prepared for Plan B, which isn't too hard there; the vitello tonnato sandwich is always reliable.
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age old question....
And yet somehow I find Frank's fine in its own way, whereas I find places like Fleming's and Del Frisco's repellent.
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Guchi's Midnight Ramen
Incidentally, Myers + Chang is doing shrimp and tofu ramen noodles with green chives, scallion butter and fermented tofu broth as a lunch special this week.
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age old question....
For beef quality, I'd call these all interchangeably unremarkable, except for Grill 23 and Davio's, which serve prime Brandt Farms beef. Grill 23 also has two dry-aged cuts, ribeye and sirloin, which I prefer in a steakhouse steak.
And while I love the idea of Bob Dobalina's demographic breakdown, I don't really see that much differentiation in the crowds at these places. The vast majority of the crowd in all of them looks exactly the same to me.
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Guchi's Midnight Ramen
Both seatings of the Guchi's at Sportello event sold out in about 30 seconds, not even a minute. Talk about a tough table! I expect some of those tickets to show up on the "secondary market" at inflated prices. Meanwhile, Uni's late-night ramen will be happening every Friday and Saturday from 11pm to 1pm, so those seats should be less tough to score.
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February 2012 Openings and Closings
The most interesting aspect of this announcement for me was the news that Mare's "official" name used to be Mare Natural Coastal Italian Restaurant. Who knew?
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Sweet Cheeks
I hate undercooked legumes, too -- a big kitchen mistake, in my book. These did not exhibit that problem.
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Sweet Cheeks
Only had the brisket (which was oddly firm and unstriated, I agree) and the pulled pork so far, but quite enjoyed both of them. Great BBQ baked beans, maybe my new favorite in town. Quite liked the broccoli cheese casserole, too, not something I expected to be wowed by. Good carrot/raisin salad. Out of the famed biscuits, alas. Butterscotch pudding and giant Nutter Butter both seemed worth the indulgence. Decent cocktails, good beer. Seemed like a pretty good deal to me, a lot of food on the plate for $20 or so. Will definitely give it a return bout.
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Del Frisco's must trys? [moved from Boston board]
What, they've moved away from fishnet stockings and stripper heels? I'd say "classy", but I don't really think that. (Maybe it's just a cold-weather thing.)
But thanks for the detailed follow-up!
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Zo's original = best sandwich-ish offering downtown?
Most of my favorites have been mentioned: Zo's original, Zo's chicken gyros, Chacarero's chacarero, La Grassa's pastrami, Pita Kabob's kubideh in pita, Falafel King's falafel with babaganoush or hummus.
Some others I'll mention: pastrami sandwich at JM Curley's, which puts slaw, fries and pickles inside the sandwich; doner kebab at Sultan's Kitchen; frikandel speciaal at Saus; crispy sardine bocadillo at Neptune; corned beef at Emmett's Pub; Mrs. Marliave at Marliave; Cubano at Volle Nolle; chicken kabob in pita from Karo's.
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February 2012 Openings and Closings
Looks like Moogy's Sandwich Shop in Brighton went up in flames this morning: http://www.universalhub.com/2012/four-alarm-fire-takes-out-brighton-store-block
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Del Frisco's must trys? [moved from Boston board]
I think it's dull even by the dull standards of luxury steakhouse chains. And the female servers have to wear tacky uniforms. Very nice Harbor view, though.
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Strip T's increasing funkiness
Finally ran into a Young Chef Maslow dish here that wasn't awesome, though I still mostly enjoyed it: a lunchtime special of sauerbraten. Very fine version of German sour beef, but marred by being served atop a mound of cold potato salad. The two elements side-by-side would have been much better, as both were of high quality, but this suffered from a temperature combination that rarely works in my experience. That beef would be better piping hot, instead of being cooled to lukewarm by contact with a cold base.
Excellent filter coffee served alongside, with cream in one of those cunning little porcelain pig pitchers. I am gratified to see that the list of "Tim dishes" is growing at lunch, mostly in the form of a longer specials list. Most of the lunch menu is still dad's fine but dull old stuff, which I don't consider worth hauling out to Watertown for.
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Looking for Good Cocktail Bars in Boston
Casa B does have a bar that is stocked with an assortment of spirits and such that is worthy of a craft cocktail bar; it's a beautiful space, too. I have not sampled the cocktails yet, only had time for a quick glass of wine on my last stop, but I will note that the bartender-staffed bar (as opposed to the bar seating in front of the open kitchen) is tiny: maybe 4 or 5 seats, with a few lounge seats nearby, enough for another 5 or 6 people. I imagine this getting crowded fast on weekend nights. They do take reservations.
Echoing many previous recs here, my craft cocktail short list: No. 9, Drink, Green Street, Rendezvous, Craigie on Main, Brick & Mortar, Backbar, Clio, Eastern Standard, Island Creek Oyster Bar, The Hawthorne.
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Who can tell me what I ate at Gaga Seafood?
Hmm. Maybe one is live-tank and the other is frozen?
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Latino grocers in the Boston area?
Chelsea Market Basket: I heard the heavenly choirs singing the first time I walked in there. Gigantic, spotless, incredible dairy and produce and meat departments, two entire Goya aisles, spacious enough to easily accommodate their SUV-sized shopping carts, no demolition derby going on in the huge parking lot, and excellent prices. Worth the trip and Tobin toll.
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Who can tell me what I ate at Gaga Seafood?
A friend of a Facebook friend offered this:
笋壳魚 = "bamboo shell fish", it seems to be a name for Oxyeleotris marmorata, aka "marbled goby" or "marbled sleeper".
Would still welcome any attempts to translate the rest of that menu!
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Who can tell me what I ate at Gaga Seafood?
Really been enjoying this place lately: nice live-tank options, pleasant (still kind of shiny-new) atmosphere, a staff that is friendly and patient with the customer who only speaks English but has a lot of questions about the seafood and the menu.
Got a live-tank offering recently with an off-menu preparation: slow-cooked in oil was the way my very helpful server described it to me, and she said she prefers this prep to steaming. I took a photo of the specials menu (attached), which includes pricing by the pound for the live-tank offerings. In the tanks, I have recognized eel, tilapia, cod, sea raven (a favorite of mine, but they only do it as a soup), and shrimp, but not the smallish fish I ordered.
It's the one in this wall blackboard photo listed as $14.95/lb., left column, fifth entry. Would love a reader of Chinese to tell me what I ate (it was lovely). Sadly, my picture of the fish in the tank was terrible.
Any help? Feel free to translate the rest, if you care to.
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February 2012 Openings and Closings
A shame: I remember Namaskar being good two or three years ago.
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Breakfast near Gvt. Ctr, State House
I'm happy to report is indeed open (Boston Phoenix review dated 1994 on the wall). I'm guessing they had a brief hiatus before the Korean couple took it over, which I happened to spot. It does indeed look like a good basic breakfast option for the OP.
A lot of the menu changes daily; they claim they keep this website up-to-date: http://thehungrytravelerboston.com/mainmenupdf.pdf They have one Korean dish on the menu every day, rotating between beef bulgoki (had it today, delicious), bibimbap, and japchae (Wednesdays). A nice rediscovery, thanks again!
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