Sgt Snackers's Profile
Best (or decent) Chinese in QA/Fremont/Wallingford/Univ. District?
All of the best Chinese food seems to be in far flung neighborhoods, not down the street from where I live in QA. I have no problems driving to Bellevue for great Sichuan, but sometimes I just want to grab quick takeout in the 'hood. Any recommendations for good Chinese spots -- doesn't need to be Sichuan, nor even all that authentic -- in Queen Anne, Belltown, Fremont, Wallingford, or the University District?
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Queen Anne Cafe
2121 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
Where to find Golden Boy fish sauce?
Recently moved to Seattle from Boston (am loving it by the way) but don't know where to get some of our much-needed Thai ingredients. Yes, yes, we know about Uwajimaya and Central Market but, frankly, I am looking for a Thai market run by Thai people (or something close). One good yardstick is anywhere that carries Golden Boy or Tra Chang brands of fish sauce. So far have not been able to find it. Other things we have yet to find are nam prik pao, ta-dang, and pea eggplants.
Any suggestions? Thanks!
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Uwajimaya
600 5th Ave S, Seattle, WA
Family Time - Filipino Restaurant
Found this place up in Shoreline today and it was FANTASTIC. Really good and simple home-cooked Filipino food. The pork adobo was pretty spicy. The lechon kawali was exactly as advertised: a bowl of deep-fried pork belly. HOLY CRAP that was delicious. Only downside: the entrees come with just meat and rice, no vegetables in sight (fine with me).
Private party
Hi folks,
I am looking to host a private cocktail+hors d'oeuvres party for around 40 people and am looking for suggestions. The emphasis is going to be on the cocktails and if possible I'd really like to get a place with amazing drinks -- think Drink, Green Street, Eastern Standard -- but am not sure if any of these places can host an event like this. Before I start calling around I wondered if anyone had suggestions or could share their experiences.
If it's not possible (or way too expensive) to host at a restaurant, I wonder about having the party at my house, hiring a bartender from one of those places for the evening, and having the food catered. Any suggestions on that approach? I assume bartenders wouldn't mind doing a bit of moonlighting but not sure how to best approach it.
Thanks for any suggestions...
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Eastern Standard
528 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215
Seattle vs. Boston?
Hi all,
We are considering relocating from Boston to Seattle and are wondering about the relative merits of the food scenes in each city. We're big foodies and love diverse ethnic food of all kinds: favorites being *authentic* Mexican, Thai, Ethiopian, and Sichuan but also a real love for fresh local ingredients and good produce. Some of our favorite spots in Boston include Craigie on Main, Rendezvous, and Deep Ellum. We're also big fans of craft cocktails and good beer (Drink and Lord Hobo being good spots in Boston).
Before coming to Boston we lived in the SF Bay Area so know a lot about the tremendous food scene there. While Boston has some great chow, it pales in comparison to SF which is a total foodie mecca.
We're wondering how Seattle stacks up - what will we find there that we can't get in Boston, and vice versa? Anything we'll miss in Seattle? Mainly we want to know if we can get a decent burrito there :-)
Thanks!
Bergamot Report
Bergamot just opened (last week, I think) in the space formerly occupied by Evoo, which has moved to Kendall Square. I was hoping for good things since Evoo was a nice standby in the neighborhood and I was not disappointed. You'd never know they had only been open for a week -- the food was great and the service was excellent. We'll definitely be going back.
The space is little changed from the Evoo days and the restaurant projects the same kind of sophistication and attention to good food. It's a lot nicer and less casual than the whimsical website and logo would suggest; I was expecting something more along the lines of Hungry Mother, but it was closer to Rendezvous (both places I like a lot). The menu has a focus on seasonal and local ingredients - green peas, fiddleheads, and green garlic abound.
We all agreed that the appetizers were good but not great; but the entrees we tried (roast lamb loin with black trumpet mushrooms and stinging nettle sauce; halibut with fava beans; seared scallops with asparagus) were all excellent. Desserts were a real highlight; we loved the guajillo chili chocolate pavé with milk stout ice cream. They have a strong wine list heavily leaning towards French and a focus on chenin blanc and bandol. Good craft cocktails too.
Only downside was that service was a little slow at times, but heck, they've only been open a week, so I give them a pass. And it was not that slow. The service was extremely friendly and knowledgeable, and very attentive. My only other complaint is what is the deal with giving each diner a tiny stale slice of bread? Second time in as many weeks this has happened to me (the other being at Pigalle) -- leave enough bread for the table, thank you.
I was not expecting much from a first visit, but the place seems to be hitting most of the right notes so far. Worth checking out.
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Pigalle
75 Charles Street South, Boston, MA 02116
EVOO Restaurant
350 Third Street, Cambridge, MA 02143
Hungry Mother
Cambridge, MA, Cambridge, MA
Bergamot
118 Beacon St, Somerville, MA 02143
Report - Triangle eats from a couple of Bostonians
Frankly this is how I heard about the place too.
Report - Triangle eats from a couple of Bostonians
Ah. I could care less about the lack of a sign. I just felt that the place might not be drumming up enough business, since it's so hidden, and in a pretty quiet neighborhood (at least on the weekend). Would hate to see them go under because nobody knows about them....
Report - Triangle eats from a couple of Bostonians
Well, originally I am from North Carolina though I have not lived there in many years and am not really on the up and up on the food scene. Just spent the weekend in Raleigh visiting my folks and decided to check out some of the great local food there. Quick report follows.
Allen and Son BBQ, Chapel Hill - this was, of course, a must do based on the many recs I've seen here and elsewhere. The BBQ and Brunswick stew are excellent. Hushpuppies a bit too dry and sweet for my taste. Beans, eh, they're beans. Well worth the 30 min. drive from Raleigh.
Jibarra, Raleigh - Here in Boston we have decent Mexican food but the HUGE Mexican population in NC encouraged us to check out this "upscale" Mexican place. The trouble started when the greeter welcomed us to "Gee-barra" (with a hard "J"). The fact that they were playing a Thievery Corporation record from 2002 on repeat was not a good sign either. Margaritas were excellent though and some of them were fairly inspired ("margarita del mar" with a "salty sea foam", for example). The quesadillas de camaron were basically microwave hotpockets with some kind of fake yellow cheese sauce... weird. Much better was the cabrito, which was served on the bone with tortillas and guacamole - very nice. DC ordered the sea bass in vanilla oil with mashed potatoes - the whole dish was monochromatically white and fairly bland. I do give them credit for not falling into the trap that so many other Mexican places do of serving only "obvious" dishes covered in melted cheese with rice and beans on the plate. So, some tweaking is required here, but keep in mind we have very high standards for Mexican (having lived in California and Mexico).
For REAL Mexican food we went out to Watson's Flea Market on Rock Quarry Rd in Raleigh. If you had any doubt that there is a burgeoning Mexican population in the Triangle, this is the place to disavow yourself of that misconception. Numerous taco trucks, pollo asada, you name it, blaring music, pirated DVDs... just like TJ. Went for tacos as Tacos El Corral. The lengua and al pastor were very good and at $1.50 a pop you can't complain. Horchata from the woman dishing it out from big jugs next door was a little too sweet for my taste. For 20 minutes we could pretend we were in Mexico with not a gringo in sight.
Finally, we got a few drinks at Foundation in downtown Raleigh one evening. This place really blew us away. I'm a huge fan of craft cocktail making (and we have great choices here in Boston) and Foundation really put a great Southern spin on the concept. Large bourbon selection, though I was disappointed to see few small producers represented, and they could certainly afford to have more rye. Bartending was fantastic and very inspired: Northern Aggression cocktail with Fighting Cock bourbon, Dubonnet rouge, and "homemade" amaro was fantastic. Legal moonshine was on offer too (we don't get that up in Boston). This is a place I will be going back to every time I make it back to the Triangle. Pity the location, though, and no sign from the street, but awesome concept.
Boston Best Mexican Food?
Oh, god, please do not send someone from SF to Casa Romero. We went there shortly after moving here from SF based on several recommendations that this was "the" Mexican place in Boston. It was so bad, and so disappointing, that we were sure that we had made a huge mistake moving here :-) Casa Romero is definitely NOT authentic, has terrible, sloppy food, and seems to cater mostly to people who don't know what Mexican food is supposed to be.
Since then we've found quite a few gems that stand up to Californinan Mexican restaurants. We're fans of Angela's in Eastie, Taqueria El Amigo in Waltham, and Rostiria Cancun also in Eastie. If you want more of a "sit down restaurant" experience, we like Ole in Inman Square - like everywhere it has its ups and downs but lately has been more up than down.
Top-notch, inexpensive sushi
In the same vein I'm a big fan of Toraya in Arlington - the food is excellent and fairly inexpensive.
What's going into the Three Aces location?
Three Aces - the pizza joint on Mass Ave between Harvard and Porter - seems to be closed for good. A while back there was a sign saying that the original owners were renovating but that seems to not be going anywhere, but recently they've been doing some demolition work. Does anybody know what's going into that location? (It might not be a restaurant. Most of the businesses in that building are closed down, all except for the old barber shop. At some point I thought Harvard was the landlord and they were reclaiming the space, but I have no idea.)
Salsa roja?
For the last year or so I've been in search of a good red salsa picante recipe that would be like the kind you find at a Mexican taco stand -- spicy, fairly thin consistency, but with seeds and small chunks. I'm not talking about Tapatio or one of those homogenous "hot sauces", nor am I talking about American "salsa" of the Old El Paso variety. I've tried a bunch of recipes, some tomato-based, some not, but have never really nailed it. It's possible that the typical salsa picante you get at a taco stand is actually a commercial product but it would be awesome to duplicate it at home.
The attached image is roughly what I'm looking for (the right one, obviously).
Any suggestions or pointers?
Where have you bought fresh kaffir lime leaves in the past month?
You can buy a kaffir lime tree and have fresh leaves year round (we have one, and it's awesome). I think we got our from here: http://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/lore/kaffir_lime.html
They're not too big and keep well indoors.
Old School Boston?
Watching the "Disappearing Manhattan" episode of Tony Bourdain's show this weekend, which featured a bunch of places in NYC where they still do things in an old fashioned way, I was wondering where there might be similar places in the Boston area. You know -- places that have been around for generations, that haven't changed much, that might not be all that great but take you back to the 1940's or even the 1890's and give you a glimpse of history.
The obvious places on the list include Union Oyster House, Locke-Ober, Durgin Park. But I wanted to go beyond the obvious choices to some places that might be nearly forgotten, or tucked away in not-so-obvious neighborhoods. I'm sure there must be some quintessentially old-school Italian places in the North End and elsewhere (Caffe Vittoria notwithstanding). Kowloon's in Saugus comes to mind, but I was hoping for something closer into Boston proper.
So, where are some good (or not so good) Boston places that are still kicking it old school?
Fasika bleh
That's strange - the one time I have been to the new location it was fantastic. Service was fast, the food was hot, and really good. Sounds like they are being somewhat inconsistent.
Which restaurants serve grass-fed beef?
Hmmm. Hungry Mother used to serve a grass-fed steak, but I believe they have changed their supplier -- which is still local, but not one that appears to require their cattle to be grass-fed. That's too bad since that was one of my favorite dishes on their menu.
Have you been to the Craigie St Bistro at it's new location?
I always loved the somewhat casual atmosphere at the original Craigie Street, and would hate to see it become yet another place where people do the whole dressing-up-for-the-sake-of-dressing-up thing. There are, of course, restaurants where that is mandated, and makes sense, but at CSB it would just come across as fake and pretentious. That place is about the food, which is stellar, and it need not be any fancier than it has to be to have a good time. So wear your sweaters with pride.
Best authentic chinese food in the area?
For Sichuan, I'm a fan of Chili Garden in Medford. They have some really authentic Sichuanese dishes that veer towards the somewhat exotic (the spicy beef tongue is fantastic).
Fasika FTW!
Wow, that is such a big difference from my experience. All of the food was had was incredible. My guess is that the standards can vary a lot depending on who's in the kitchen (and perhaps who they think they are cooking for - we made it pretty clear that we wanted the real stuff).
I think to make a blanket statement like "don't go there" based on one bad meal is probably going too far; the reviews of Fasika on this board have generally been positive.
The grubby atmosphere doesn't bother me, but it's not a place I'd go for an introduction to Ethiopian food. Far better to get to Addis Red Sea, although IMHO the food there is dumbed down.
Great chow at Hungry Mother
This is one of my new favorites in the area. Unfortunately every time I've been the staff have been very inattentive and slow to bring out orders - so good to hear that perhaps they are working on that.
Seafood (not Legal) in Cambridge?
I'm drawing a blank on this one.
I have an important out-of-town visitor to entertain for dinner next week. They are on a diet and suggested that we find a place with seafood - or otherwise something light. Another member of the party is vegetarian. Ideal location would be in Cambridge, with a slight preference for Harvard Square. Does not need to be very fancy - Rialto would be overdoing it - but we're not talking Courthouse Seafood either.
Any ideas? Of course the place need not be solely seafood, but a couple of lighter options is what we're looking for.
Come to think of it, Oleana would fit the bill, although I was just there recently. Others?
Thanks!
Fasika FTW!
Somehow I never managed to make it over to Fasika in Somerville until last night. I should have gone long ago. This place is just incredible -- extremely authentic, very well-prepared Ethiopian food that is not to be missed. To be sure, the decor is nothing to write home about, but it makes you feel that the place is really catering to the local Habesha ex-pat population, not to Americans. The staff are extremely friendly and you really do feel as though someone's Ethiopian grandmother is cooking for you back in the kitchen (which is the case for all I know).
Anyway, having been to Ethiopia I have not been blown away by the food at Addis Red Sea (either location) or Asmara (which is technically Eritrean). Those places are not bad at all, but Fasika is a real gem. The food there is about as authentic as I can imagine it being outside of Ethiopia. They use real teff flour for the injera which imparts a sourdough quality you don't get with the wheat flour variety served at other places. The kitfo is served raw (if you ask for it, which we did). They serve the tej (honey wine) in glass flasks the way you'd find in a tej bet in Lalibela. They had a few Ethiopian beers in bottles, including Hakim 'stout', which is more like a malty brown ale - really good.
The Fasiki Combo ("for two") lets you pick three meat dishes and four veg dishes for around $20 - definitely the way to go if you want to sample a lot of things. Everything was just fantastic - kitfo, lamb tibs (nicely caramelized), doro wat (quite spicy), three different lentil/split pea dishes and cabbage, potatoes, and carrots.
On a Friday night we were the only diners apart from an Ethiopian family that seemed to know or be related to the owners. (Imagine three kids, just eight years old, piling into a big platter of raw beef kitfo together!)
The decor and ambiance are pretty strange. I wouldn't go on a (first) date here. It would be a ballsy choice for a second or third date though. The restaurant is attached to a bar which mostly caters to townies and they've put some strange plexiglass partition up between the two. Definitely a hole in the wall. But never mind the decor -- go for the food.
Chili oil
Just make your own. Put a couple of cups of peanut oil into a saucepan with a tablespoon or two of chili pepper flakes. Bring it up to high heat for a few minutes then let it cool down, and bottle it with the chilies. Tastes better than commercial stuff and is dirt cheap.
TW Food or Clio?
I'll second this. Craigie Street has to be one of the best restaurants in Boston. It makes TW Food look very amateurish by comparison. Go there instead.
Vegitarian Pho in Chinatown
No idea, but just for clarification, Pho is generally based on **beef stock**, not chicken -- unless you were referring to "Chicken Pho" which some places carry (pho hoac mi ga).
Anyone been to Benatti lately?
If they're really Italian they should be taking most of August for vacation... I would not worry about that. When we were in Rome last year just about every decent restaurant was closed for at least two weeks, if not a month...
B-Side to be sold? Say it ain't so
Yeah - all right! My fears have been abated in that case. I'm going to miss the B-Side in its current incarnation but it sounds like they're not going to replace it with another sports bar.
B-Side to be sold? Say it ain't so
Please, please, please, don't let this turn into another beer bar. There are more than enough places to get a good beer around here and what sets the B-Side apart is its great cocktail selection. My nightmare is that they'll turn it into another "Tavern on the Square" style knockoff with a generic bar menu of crappy burgers and pizza. B-Side is pretty unique and I'd hate to lose that.
Ali Baba Name Change?
I gotta say, though, retaining those Afghan dishes on the menu when it's really a different restaurant and owner altogether is pretty confusing. Though, I enjoyed the few times I grabbed takeout from Buzkashi, er, Ali Baba - everything I ever had there was very tasty.
What's interesting is that it is very difficult to find all of these interesting Nepali dishes in Nepal itself - even in Kathmandu you are overwhelmed by Western cuisine catering to the tourists, and out in the mountains you're unlikely to find anything other than plain dal bhat or simple soups. So interesting that we can eat better Nepali food in the US than you can typically find in Nepal!
