hondodog's Profile
Olives in Charlestown Has Reopened
Ah, slow me. I get it now: "But at ... a place I once considered the best restaurant in Boston?"
*sigh* A lost love. A most bitter fruit.
Well then, a toast to new adorations! Drink deep and drink often!
Olives in Charlestown Has Reopened
I can't wait to see how you describe what Craigie did to the concept of a doughnut when they added that to their menu as well.
Your description of the Craigie burger reminds me of the words "there's a little too much going on in that burger for my taste". That was written about the Radius burger.
Maybe I'm just a sucker for deep-fried food. One of my favorite restaurants growing up was a place that fried hamburgers in lard. This was a "nice" place, a destination restaurant. So maybe, if L'Espalier deep-fried their nacho plate, I'd be happy.
"Regret every minute of my life spent in an ... outlet?" I don't need Craigie for that. I suspect you don't either.
"There was nothing special about Olives' onion strings"? It's dang hard for me, a great lover of all things deep-fried, to find better onion strings around. Perhaps you could point me in multiple directions so I could see the errors of my Olives-strings-loving-ways. I would be grateful for that.
Olives in Charlestown Has Reopened
As you say, tastes change. Wind the clock back 10 or 20 years and attitudes then towards hamburgers are what you say now are attitudes towards onion strings; that is: no _decent_ place would _ever_ server . My point remains that your idea of which restaurants _should_ serve which foods is stuck in time.
And, yes, the serving size of the onion strings at Olives is too darn big.
If onion strings are such a naughty food for the mighty to serve, why do high-end steakhouses all serve them? My fave rendition of them from a high-end steakhouse was at Harris' in SF...from the late 80s (yes, their serving size was spot-on and not huge).
Olives in Charlestown Has Reopened
Tastes change, I suppose. Hamburgers used to be considered some sort of pedestrian fare and now, well, there's lots of expensive options out there and people go way out of their way for a wunnnnderful burger and there's places that get huge media coverage for openings of their extra super-duper hamburger outlets.
The Ninety-nine serves hamburgers. Does that make hamburgers bad or unworthy of attention? Obviously not.
So why pick on onion strings? They're difficult to make well (and most places don't even "make" them as they buy them pre-made, frozen, and just open a bag and dump into hot grease) and Olives does an admirable job with theirs.
Onion strings ain't low rent. Not in this neighborhood. Try them...you might like them!
Olives in Charlestown Has Reopened
What's wrong with giant bowls of deep-fried onion strings? I _like_ those alot and, frankly, it's hard to find them as well-executed as they were at Olives. The servings were over-sized, tis true, but I don't see how one equates excessive servings of well-executed onion strings with ratty carpets.
But, then again, maybe those of addicted to anything fried can't see past the ends of our greasy little fingers.
BUENO Y SANO IS ALMOST HERE!!
I was just there and I won't be making this report again...so pay attention.
I am not making this report again as this place gets an absolute thumbs down from both my SO and me. SO ordered a pair of steak tacos specials. When the order was called I zoomed to the counter and grabbed what I thought was my burrito. I said, "Oh my burrito" and the guy gave a A Look and said, "No these are the tacos".
Wow. Must be halloween and the tacos are dressing up as burritos cuz I ain't never seen tacos look like a burrito before (imagine a burrito cut in half along its narrow equator...that's what they served my SO as tacos).
My burrito looked like it had been wrapped by a 10 year old just learning to wrap a burrito. The only less-well wrapped burrito I've ever had was at some podunk airport at a chain.
But, who knows? Maybe food that looks weird tastes good? It's happened before...
So, chowed down...but no. Pretty is as pretty looks. And the food looked pretty bad.
SO's tacos were cold. My steak burrito left me with a slightly weird (and not good) feeling in my stomach. The steak in my burrito was AWOL (as least as far as my taste buds were concerned).
I know of others who were excited about this place arriving...I can't fathom where the excitement comes from. Maybe the teething pains in Acton are acute.
My guess is that traffic on 2 won't be getting any worse. That's my guess.
Boston Area Barbecue Restaurants
Onion rings. Onion rings. Onion rings.
Did I say: onion rings?
Are my picks okay?
Monica's is quite good and one could be quite happy there with their pastas.
Carmen might be good but they have significant problems honoring reservations and treating you well while you wait for your reservation. That is, they seem entirely indifferent to the niceties of being in the service business.
BUENO Y SANO IS ALMOST HERE!!
When I went, they were staffed with local kids who acted as if they'd received no training and had never worked in a restaurant before. That is: service was painful slow. Food OK, but not worth the frustration of watching someone learn while you wait.
Perhaps in a couple of weeks, after they've had more on-the-job training, it'll be less teeth-grindingly-slow and the overall experience will be something to savor.
SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN
If this is Carmen's in East Kingston, it seems to be closed. Oops.
Antojitos Cafe in Waltham
I dialed their phone # and it appears it's no longer in service. Bad news.
Grill 23 Restaurant Week
So this sounds to me like this: if you go to a restaurant and you know you're going to be sitting in your seats a long time (for whatever reason), you always should let the server know, at the beginning, you'll be there a long time and you WILL make it worth the server's time and effort (and lost potential extra tip from the slow table turn) by leaving an outsize tip.
During RW, maybe it makes sense, at the beginning of the meal, to let the server know that you know it's, you know the server is doing double humping, and you appreciate their effort both in thought (by what you're saying) and in deed (by leaving a generous tip).
Hotoy - the "entree equals dessert" story says much. Worth some bittersweet mirth.
ISO Great Boston Doughnuts
I'm with Jpan. DP didn't do it for me a coupla years ago. Nothing special there at all except vibe. Lotsa vibe. Good vibe.
Grill 23 Restaurant Week
So, then, I gotta ask: why would a restaurant engage in RW? They don't have to, so they do have a choice. And so many do engage...and do so year after year, so there must be a reasonable reason why they do so.
Certainly, if as MC says, the crowd RW attracts is so mercenary, there'd seem to be small reason for many of the restaurants we're discussing to "do" the week. Margins during RW must be compressed, so it wouldn't seem to be in a restaurant's short term interests to engage in RW...yet they do. So what am I missing?
Sign me,
Looking For Enlightenment
Grill 23 Restaurant Week
Also sold at Concord Provisions, which is just down the street from Concord Prime and Fish. Looks like Concord looooves Brandt....
Re-tinning copper pans
Note that BBB of NJ gives Atlantic Retinning a grade of "F" on a scale of A-F.
Re-tinning copper pans
I claim only negligence in not looking for this thread before I engaged with Atlantic. Unlike jmljr66, I only needed 41 phone calls and no letters and 6.5 months to get back my inexpertly retinned pot.
If Atlantic Retinning were the only retinning place on the planet, I'd toss all my copper pots and pans and go with some other metal rather than having to use them again.
Okonomiyaki in Boston area?
Rather than being served okonomiyaki, anyone know of a place where one can make their own okonomiyaki? You may know the drill: a hot griddle, a bunch of ingredients served by the restaurant (along with beer) and, some good friends, and then you make your own. Then the argument of whether it's gloppy or not or chock-ful of cabbage or not doesn't need to occur in this forum: it occurs at the table.
I suspect such a venue doesn't exist around here...but I gotta ask.
Shishito Peppers
The irritating question is everywhere up and down the food chain. Just ate at Strip T's and guess what question they asked?
Bingo. And you win a kewpie doll.
Where to get New Mexican food in the Massachusetts/NH area?
Los Dos Molinos is closed. So I guess there's no point in going to NYC...
Shishito Peppers
No need to guess if they have them at HMart. They _do_ have them at HMart. And they're tasty when greased and grilled and salted.
Big Bugs for Cheap at Super88
Very helpful. So what would the season(s) for Maryland blue crabs be? (I like the idea of the hibernation season...they're sleeping and dreaming and folks topside are waiting and dreaming of eating those who are sleeping and dreaming.)
Big Bugs for Cheap at Super88
Blue shell crab. But perhaps what I had was not what was labeled (yes, that's a different thread!). Is there somewhere around here you can steer me to which for sure for sure for sure serves Chesapeake blue shell crab so I can verify or negate my crab-beliefs? is there a time of year when blue shell crabs are at their best/worst?
Big Bugs for Cheap at Super88
Dungeness is sweeter and has a flavor that's more substantial than the crab meat I've been eating on the East Coast. Because of the sweetness, it doesn't taste excessively seafood-y, just a strong hint that "yes it came from the sea".
My wife, who does not like seafood, likes dungeness. (But then again, she likes the crab rolls at the Clam Shack in Kennebunkeport as they're so very fresh). I find that my crab cakes are a lot more interesting, alot more substantial, better mouthfeel, with dungeness crab meat than with east coast crab meat.
Law & Order at JM Curley
Refreshing and funny. By a mile.
"It's food and drink. Not life and death.": how can that anything other than refreshing?
Carnivore Corner: Looking for great Boston butcher shopping
Concord Prime is sometimes good and sometimes a-w-f-u-l. The worst, and most expensive (this is not a good combo), standing rib roast I've ever bought (and I've bought a fair number) was from these guys. Did they dry age the meat? Nah. Instead, they cryovac'd the darn thing. And what does a cryovac'd 7 rib prime grade standing rib roast taste like? Sorta like cardboard. Wet cheap cardboard.
Oh, and when I ordered lamb stew meat from them, I had to trim it myself, and the meat was so un-trimmed (is that a word?), that when I was done trimming, the trimmings easily were 20% of what I had bought from them (and I was trying to trim carefully).
Those two events happened a few years ago, and I have shopped there since (convenience can be a very compelling force) and their meats these days are good. But I am wary.
For all you Neptune lovers.
I'd complain...but no one listens to me.
I find the chowder uninteresting in the extreme. I just don't "get" it.
Pastry flour and rendered leaf lard in Boston area?
Pete and Jens Backyard Birds in Concord has rendered leaf lard.
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Backyard Birds
159 Wheeler Rd, Concord, MA 01742
