musicman's Profile
Top picks in the Dennis area ?
I posted about this yesterday, but under an unintentionally cleverly disguised subject line. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/794538
Count me among those who consider the new Marshside a culinary disaster. Nice room, if you like loud and to be seen.
Not a fan of Kate's, either. The mosquito's there are ferocious (but probably pretty tasty after a dunk in the fryolater).
And not wanting to be all bad news, but Brewster Fish House has expanded the room but dropped in quality. Great for so many years...
Love Sesuit Cafe and The Ocean House!
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Ocean House Restaurant
425 Old Wharf Rd, Dennis Port, MA 02639
Brewster Fish House
2208 Main, Brewster, MA 02631
Marshside Restaurant
28 Bridge, East Dennis, MA 02641
Mid-Cape Summer 2011: One guy's opinions
Thank you, CCG.
I have no issue with anyone challenging the Keltic Kitch rating. I can believe on another day I'd write a rave.
Fin was the one place I wanted to check out but didn't. If you like fish, it's a great looking menu. Oh well, next time.
Mid-Cape Summer 2011: One guy's opinions
For the past 40 years, I’ve spent at least a few days each year on The Cape, in Brewster. For most of the past 15+ years, eating out has occurred infrequently. But get the kids out of the cottage and laissez bon temps roulez! Below are some opinions. Feel free to comment, challenge, or add.
Only time will tell if this summer is a death knell for the Brewster Fish House, or merely a speed bump. We’ve had excellent meals there for more than 20 years. However the two during these past two weeks – one lunch, one dinner - were not good. Bland, uninspired preparation. The end of an era? It'd be a shame.
Ratings are 10-point scale, with 10 as the largely unattainable top rating.
Breakfast:
- Brewster Coffee House (Brewster); uninspired basic breakfast. Rating: 2.
- Grumpy’s (Dennis); well known, decent overall. I think their better items are things like waffles with a pile o’ berries and whipped cream, vs. standard breakfast fare, although the homemade hash deserves a shout-out. Rating: 7.
- Home Port (Orleans); basic breakfast done well. Rating: 7.
- Keltic Kitchen (West Yarmouth); killer menu, great outdoors area, good execution. OK, the home fries are manufactured, but overall a good filling breakfast. Rating: 6.
Lunch:
- Café Alfresco (Brewster); didn’t try the lobster roll (which I’ve always liked), good fried shrimp po’ boy. Rating: 8.
- Sesuit Harbor Café (Dennis); great clam shack, outside seating next to water channel. Rating: 9.
Dinner:
- Beacon Room (Orleans); really like it, although kind of generic, blue-hair ambience. Strong calamari appetizer, duck, linguini with clams. Rating: solid 8.
- Del Mar (Chatham); good vibe, good eats. Good calamari, refreshing cuke and avocado gazpacho, pumpkin raviolis, and tuna entrée. Rating: solid 8.
- Inaho (Dennis); we love our sushi (family fave is Oishii Too in Sudbury), and this place does pretty well. Rating: 7.5.
- JT’s Seafood (Brewster); busy as always, but food not so great. We prefer Sesuit Café by a lot. Rating: 3
- The Ocean House (Dennis Port); great view, excellent food. Who knew? (Given a Zagat’s 27 rating for food, apparently everyone but me.) Lobster with 4 dipping sauces, kung pao shrimp, chopped veggie salad were all winners. Rating: 8.5.
Them's the culinary results from this year's vaca. Do with it what you will.
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Keltic Kitchen
415 Rte 28, West Yarmouth, MA 02673
Oishii Too
365 Boston Post Rd, Sudbury, MA 01776
Ocean House Restaurant
425 Old Wharf Rd, Dennis Port, MA 02639
Sesuit Harbor Cafe
357 Setucket Rd, Dennis, MA 02638
Brewster Fish House
2208 Main, Brewster, MA 02631
Home Port Restaurant
North Rd, Menemsha, MA 02552
Brewster Coffee Shop
2149 Main St, Brewster, MA 02631
Beacon Room
23 West Rd, Orleans, MA 02653
LA transplant looking for the Best Mexican Food /Markets in the Area (ESPECIALLY MOLE!!!)
Big fan of Angela's, and also El Sarape in Weymouth.
Indian in Boston
Bummer about India Quality - was a long-time favorite. Interesting is that Punjab Palace is owned by the same people.
4 nights in Seattle - 25th Anniversary
We're just finishing 3 days of our first visit to Seattle, for our 19th anniversary. Here's what we experienced.
Breakfast:
As implied above by lorcaswan, Lola was terrific. The eggs bene, and the eggs with smashed potatoes were really good. The homemade donuts with the vanilla mascarpone were delicious, and the bloody mary was probably the best we've had.
Cafe Presse was different and very cool. The Coque Madame was tasty, and the pomme frittes with homemade mayo was delicious. The staff there were really fun, happy folks, and the place had great energy.
Planet Java had nice decor, and the food was good basic, but nothing special.
One afternoon we stopped in at Japonessa Sushi Cocina for happy hour, and were very impressed. I'm kinda a sushi fanatic, going pretty much weekly to one of the top Boston sushi joints, Oishii. Needless to say, given the high dollars I'm used to spending back home, getting two delicious maki, a four-piece sushi set, and a bowl of miso for $16 blew my mind. The maki were very well done, and I recommend this place highly. What's interesting is that the sushi chefs are Hispanic, and apparently it is a very conscious decision to fuse the two styles. It works well.
Dinners:
Wild Ginger is as good as advertised. Great atmosphere, friendly unrushed service, and really tasty food. My wife, formerly a very limited eater loved the chilean sea bass and seven flavor beef - as did I.
The Steelhead Diner near Pike Place also offered an interesting and strong menu. Both the crawfish tacos and the salmon scored well. The service was iffy - we felt rushed - but overall we enjoyed the meal.
Shuckers would be a good choice for happy hour with their $1 oysters, and we both enjoyed (sharing) the fish and chips. Service was friendly, and this restaurant qualifies as a safe choice.
Two places friends raved about, but which we didn't try, were Lark and Spanisse. Both seem appropriate for more adventurous or modern appetites, and that's just not us. But again, the raves were very strong.
Last note: we also heard great things about Gellatiamo. But what I don't understand is why a place like that closes at 6pm weekdays, and 8pm on Fri / Sat. Located across the street from Wild Ginger, we might have tried it were it open for dessert!
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Cafe Presse
1117 12th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122
Steelhead Diner
95 Pine Street, Suite 17, Seattle, WA 98101
Cajun/Creole in the Boston area
If you're going back that far, I'll sing the praises long and loud for Chef Chandler's, esp when he was cooking at Tim's Tavern. I still think those were probably the best meals I've eaten in Boston, period.
Tell me which Concord Area restaurants a Camberville Foodie would like?
Count me as a Concord resident who recommends the drive back towards Cambridge (although I *love* living here). But if you're out this ways...
About 15-20mins from Concord Center, in Sudbury, is Oishii Too. Great sushi joint. Expensive. Try the crispy sake maki in mango sauce.
I am a fan of Cast Iron Kitchen in Maynard, and also the Blue Coyote Grill. Neither is exquisite, but both do well.
Unless you just want alcohol, stay away from Sierra's on 117. Terrible food, but decent margarita.
In Concord, well, I like the sandwiches at Nashoba Brook Bakery. Both the cafe at the West Concord train station and Helen's in Concord Center do good, basic breakfast (with the train depot joint getting the #1 spot). Helen's is a former Brigham's, and the lunch and dinner aren't quite to Brigham's standards (laughing as I write that). You'll learn to accept Chang An for take-out. Serafina's can be pretty decent, but is a bit expensive for what it is. I've been to Papa Razzi a few times, and feel safe with the chicken caesar salad. I don't know your age, but The Concord Inn is terrific if you're 70+.
Again, I love living here, but as a former Cambridge and Belmont resident, you're in Kansas now when it comes to food.
Verrill Farm Opens New Stand Today
I'm a local, and have to say they did a pretty amazing job of staying open this past year. They were simply a model for treating employees well at a time when it would have been very easy and understandable to not do so. It is a tribute to Steve Verrill, family, and employees that other local businesses immediately offered to help so VF could stay operating while awaiting the new stand. Not to get sappy, but this truly is a story of how classy people stayed cool and brought a happy outcome.
Sick of all food and need a jumpstart
I've been there. The last time I needed such a jumpstart I said to a friend, "I just want someplace *tasty*." The friend recommended The Helmand in Cambridge. Tasty indeed.
Boston's Best Authentic Mexican/Tex Mex
Having lived in CA for a few years in the 80's, I've long bemoaned "East Coast Mexican." My favorite around here is easily El Sarape on Rt 53 in Weymouth. I also enjoy Taqueria Mexico in Waltham, and although I haven't been for a while, Cafe Azteca in Lawrence. Anna's is a darn good burrito, but I don't really think of what they serve as true Mexican. I've not enjoyed Jose's in Cambridge the last couple times I tried. At some point I do want to try Angela's, having read many good reviews of them on this board.
Mustache has re-opened
I loved Moustache. If the stories I've heard are true, the despicable human who ran Moustache ($2MM in bail may suggest the accuracy of "despicable") stole the restaurant name, menu, and recipes from a place in NYC (and those weren't even his despicable acts!). But if he did in fact steal, he at least had the decency to do a great job with the food. The new owners of Marhaba have "copied" the menu, but apparently they didn't get the recipes.
Excited to try this new incarnation, I ordered the same meal that marked my first happy visit to Moustache, fetush salad and lamb pitza. Service was prompt and pleasant enough. The fetush lacked the tasty dressing from before. This one was oily and probably not seasoned the same. The raisins were overly chewy, and the pita seemed stale (I'm not confusing stale with toasted). The lamb pitza arrived too early - curious since the kitchen looks out over the dining room, the place wasn't very busy, and they could have easily seen I was working my way through the large salad. By the time I ate the pitza, it had cooled off substantially and was working its way to soggy. The pitza had pretty much the same fire as before, but not much flavor. I asked for salt to liven it up.
I realize I'm being hypercritical. It wasn't awful. I really like this type of food, as it can be really tasty and not heavy. But in a town with excellent eateries like Bell's Tavern, the two Thai joints, Tortuga's, and Caffe Galleria (for starters), Marhaba is going to have to pick up their game a lot if they hope to compete.
best lobster roll
I've had nothing but great lobster rolls from Belle Isle in Winthrop and The Raw Bar at New Seabury. Both places have done right multiple times. Sesuit Cafe in Dennis and Cafe Alfresco in Brewster are reliable second-place finishers. I miss the lobster rolls from Rachel's Kitchen, but since Rachel's now doing very well with Hungry Mother I can let it go!
Arlington - What's Always Good?
I further support the votes in favor of Thai Moon and flora. Toraya is ok, and Punjab is disappointing. (Khushboo / Lexington is far, far superior.)
Kingfish Hall not what it was?
I was recommending Kingfish Hall to an out-of-town visitor (immediate family). They responded by telling me they went there for lunch, and were, um, disappointed. The discriminating palates in the group called the clam chowder "wretched," and the greek salad "a sorry excuse." The less discriminating palates described very tired-sounding fish and chips. I haven't been in a while, but the 2-3 times I've been they did pretty well. Is Kingfish Hall known to have lost it?
For the visitors, the overprice was to be expected, but the rotten quality, not to mention the nasty waitress, was pretty dramatic. Of course, this happened the day after they were lied to at Legals, where after a two-hour wait, having been told 40 minutes, they were told we don't know when we'll seat you.
Y'all come back now, y'hear? Not a good show for Boston.
Improving Western 'burbs?
I don't know if I'm finding restaurants previously missed, or the new places are worth noting, or both, but here West / Northwest of Boston there are several places worth noting.
Lexington: Lexx offers comfort food done well. Khushboo is an excellent Indian restaurant, where I very much enjoyed the House Special Biryani and the Peshawari Nan.
Maynard (yes, Maynard): Blue Coyote prepares pub / comfort food quite well, and the Cast Iron Kitchen is an excellent newcomer. CIK's "little plates," like the fried baby artichoke hearts with an aioli dipping sauce, the sizzling shrimp tapas, and especially the sweet potato fries (piled a la Jenga) are terrific. The large plates, like the tuna steak and the recent special Beef Wellington are also terrific. I have yet to try either the mac 'n cheese or the beefy mac 'n cheese, but that's coming.
Sudbury: Oishii Too has been often noted in here, and rightly so. Two dishes of special merit at Oishii: the crispy sake maki with mango sauce is an incredible combo of flavors, and the cooked lobster with a spicy sauce is very special. The price is high, and you have to call the day before so they have your 2-lb. lobster on hand, but on those occasions when you're willing to spend, you won't be disappointed. For more standard fare, Sky is a solid performer.
Westford: If you're willing to cruise that way, Bamboo's sushi specials, like the salmon ceviche are excellent. I haven't tried the Chinese food at Bamboo, as I'm a sushi nut.
Groton (continuing to move further out): Filho's Cucina is a tremendous little Italian joint. They don't sell alcohol, but the liquor store accessible through a door inside the restaurant will take care of that need. Of course, the Gibbet Hill Grill is an excellent option for more high-end dining.
Concord and Acton both have many eateries, but unfortunately none are stand-outs. That's kind of a bummer as they're the closest drive!
Brunch recommendations - esp. North & West?
J's looks pretty cool - thank you!
(*All* recs are appreciated!!!)
Brunch recommendations - esp. North & West?
Looking to go for Sunday brunch, somewhere in the overall Concord - Westford region. When closer to Boston, favorites include The Blue Room and East Coast Grill. Further out we've had a good buffet at Gibbet Hill in Groton. The Concord Inn is not high on the list. Recommendations would be appreciated.
What restaurants don't we talk about enough?
About a year ago I was catching up on the posts and learned about this new place, The Hungry Mother. I've now been twice and loved it. I haven't looked at the posts now for probably 2-3 months, but I'm not seeing new names. Of course, a down economy will certainly slow things up quite a bit, but there's got to be something different / noteworthy / recently upgraded out there. Where do you like?
Personal faves include: East Coast Grill, Oishii, Casa Portugal, The Helmand, Oleana, Chez Henri, Vinny's at Night, Shangri-la, China Pearl, The Blue Room, India Quality, Lala Rokh, Belle Isle Seafood (lobster rolls). For those of you who are more "old-timers," the original Green Street Grill, and Chef Chandler's were particular standouts.
Sometimes, it's just about inspiration...
Thank you!
Favorite Little-Known Italian Restaurant Outside of Boston Proper?
If you're willing to go a bit further outside of Boston proper, Filho's Cucina in Groton is outstanding. The only dish I've had there that I didn't love was linguini with white clam sauce, but everything else is really, really tasty.
Current consensus on best "everyday" sushi?
Sorry, forgot to second the vote for Toraya in Arlington.
Also, if you're out along 495, NW of Boston, I highly recommend Karma in Westford. They have a great salmon ceviche sushi, among other dishes. Westford ..... who knew?
Current consensus on best "everyday" sushi?
I'm a big fan of Oishii Sudbury - the Crispy Sake Maki with Mango Sauce is outstanding - but the pricing is such that this place wouldn't qualify for "everyday" sushi.
Fugakyu - both in Brookline & Sudbury is eh.
A great everyday place is Shogun in West Newton. No pretense, reasonable prices, and excellent sushi. You won't find the very wide variety of fish that you will at Oishii, for example, but Ito-san (chef) is careful and proud. I also highly recommend his maki - especially the dragon roll.
I want THE best of everything at the cheapest price.
Thank you - I only checked the Yellow Pages before writing that. I think they are the folks who opened Hungry Mother in Cambridge (a great place, by the way).
I want THE best of everything at the cheapest price.
The originator's visit is now over, but when it comes to lobster rolls I was surprised to not see anyone listing Belle Isle Seafood for cold, and Rachel's Kitchen for hot (on Fridays).
Mid-Level Portuguese Restaurant with Pleasant, Comfortable Atmosphere?
I've been quite happy with Casa Portugal in Inman Square for many years. They did change ownership along the way, but recent visits have proven no drop-off in quality.
Best Boston Area Mexican
I've only been to Mexico once, but lived in CA for years. Around here I'm a long-time fan of El Sarape (Braintree / Weymouth Landing).
And when it comes to salsa, should I be ashamed to admit I love Trader Joe's Salsa Verde? Very tasty.
Magnolia, Inman Sq.
I haven't found it since Chef Chandler retired / died. His food, however, was awesome.
dim sum
Another vote for China Pearl. Large, loud, very good food, vast majority of diners are Chinese.
Where's Breakfast?
Good reminder on Nancy's Airfield Cafe. I've been a couple times and enjoyed it.
