kristinayee's Profile
Need help with a restaurant recommendation
Hi Everyone,
4 of us will be in the City on Saturday, February 13 and need a recommendation for a restaurant. I currently have reservations at WD-50, but I think for this particular night we want to do something less pricey but with good food and a fun atmosphere. Something fun or innovative would be great. We are up for ethnic food as an option. Someplace in the Village, SoHo or the LES would be great (or around those areas).
Any suggestions? Thanks!
Good for Groups? Need suggestions please!
Hi,
A group of 8-9 of us are looking for a good place for dinner in DC on Nov. 7. I'd like someplace fun, that has great food for foodies and that will take reservations. Any location in the City is OK, but the U Street corridor would be ideal as we have somewhere to go in that area after.
We like all types of ethnic food, but have been looking at places like Founding Farmers and Marvin. The former only has a 6:30 reservation and the latter doesn't take large parties on weekends. Mid-priced would be great.
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
P.S. Any good brunch places in Georgetown?
Best Brunch in East Hampton (or surroundings)???
Hello,
Will be in East Hampton for a weekend starting July 24. Any recommendations for a really great bunch place? Looking for really good, chowish food with a nice atmosphere. Doesn't have to be super expensive, but will consider all options! Thanks!
Community sustainable seafood
I requested it, but I guess there weren't enough people interested in a Boston/Brookline drop off, which I find hard to believe.
Community sustainable seafood
I was so looking forward to this. I am disappointed by the lack of pick-up in and around either downtown Boston or somewhere in Newton or Brookline. Unfortunately, it's just not possible with the current pick up locations. Oh well, I hope everyone else enjoys! Can't wait to hear how it goes.
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Reservations Questions - No. 9 & Craigie
I'll confirm. I made a reservation for a bar area table as well. I also prefer sitting over there because, as heypielady said, you can order of the bar and the regular menu. The cool thing about sitting in the dining room though, is getting to see the open kitchen clearly.
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Gelato in Boston area?
I second this recommendation. I am very picky about my gelato ... I can't seem to find any that I like, including Athan's in Washington Square in Brookline - they are so close to where I live, but always are a let down ... until I tried Melt in the Natick Mall. It's delicious.
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Clear Flour Bakery
Same here, we live right near there and go often. A favorite to be sure.
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Snubbed by Scampo
Went to Scampo last night. Had a few of our faves ... gnocchi and spaghetti with cracklings, but more importantly, we were seated in Mario's section! He was great as usual.
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Snubbed by Scampo
Can anyone describe him? Our Mario was as people described, straight out of a movie - Italian, dark hair, average to short height, on the heavier side, super friendly, great personality ...
Snubbed by Scampo
Did anyone go to Copia for the short time it was open? Is this per chance the same Mario that worked there? Because if so, he was seriously the best waiter we'd ever had and would request him again in an instant.
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Best Shabu Shabu
My favorite place outside of chinatown is Shabu Zen in Brighton. I personally like it better than Toki. They have this delicious chinese bbq sauce that they serve with the meal. I love it so much I had the waitress bring out the container so I could buy it at Super 88.
http://www.shabuzen.com/map.html
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Best Peanut Butter Desserts
I am going to revive this thread because I had the MOST delicious dessert ever at Craigie on Main. I seriously wanted to lick the plate. It was the Peanut Butter Parfait with house-made hobnob cookie and Sangiovese grape coulis. Basically, it was a peanut butter cookie, filled with semi-frozen parfait, topped with the grape coulis. In other words, it was a like a frozen peanut butter and jelly! It was to die for. Pic attached.
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sushi grade fish in Boston?
Kotubukiya is reopening, though not in Porter Square: this from another chow board:
"The former Kotobukiya employees plan to open a market in Medford Square, in the former Medford Furniture store space at 65 Riverside Ave. (next to the CVS and
almost directly across the street from the Medford Square Market location).
The market will sell Japanese, Chinese and Korean type groceries and fresh fish
items. The opening is slated for August, pending all the required permits are
obtained.
(This info was confirmed by City Clerk [ ], whose sister was a long-time
employee at Kotobukiya.)"
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The Beehive - not impressed and check your bill!
A recent trip to Beehive for brunch was definitely disappointing. I've been for dinner before and had a good meal, but I'd never been for brunch. We'd looked at the menu online ahead of time and it looked promising. The food when delivered looked good as well, but when tasted, the dishes seemed to be lacking flavor.
The Poutine with Sunnyside Eggs sounded devilish. What could be better than gravy smothered cheese frites, topped with runny eggs? I normally am a big fan of Beehive's frites alone, so the dressed up version sounded amazing. But I should have known better - there really is nothing compared to the original Quebecois version; the Poutine was disappointing at best. The meat omelet of the day likewise sounded appealing - steak with horseradish ricotta, yum! Nope, no dice - the eggs needed salting. Never a good sign for a chef.
The saving graces of the day? The bloody mary. The rim of the glass was dusted with what tasted like Old Bay seasoning, which added a great amount of spiciness. It was topped with an olive and peperoncini, which were crunchy and fresh. The other saving grace was the Tomato and Farmhouse Cheddar Grilled Cheese. That was definitely yummy. Though a bloody mary with dinner isn't quite the same as a bloody mary with brunch, I'd skip brunch at Beehive next time and just order the bloody mary and grilled cheese for dinner, as both items are available off the evening menu.
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Fried Ice Cream
I noticed that they have it on the menu at Jo Jo Taipei in Brighton. Jo Jo is definitely a chow worthy place, but I can't personally attest to the fried ice cream, anyone?
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Boston's burger wars: a new leading contender
I've got another one to add to the mix. I know it's been discussed on this board before, but it's worth mentioning again!
Anyway, not too long ago, my hubby and I went to Craigie on Main. We kept seeing these big, seemingly juicy, burgers come out from the kitchen and we totally wanted one. Having just had the 6 course tasting menu, we were a little full and decided that the next time we went back, we'd test the burger out. Well, last weekend we did go back and we ordered the $18, 8oz., local, grass fed burger. I would venture to say that it's the best, that I've tasted so far, high-end burger in the metro-Boston area. Being so in lust, we had a lot of questions for our waiter.
According to our waiter, the challenge with working with local grass-fed beef is adding flavor. Though the meat is readily available, it is very lean and we all know that fat adds tons of oomph. Though our waiter continued to answer our questions, like where the meat came from, the types of meat involved and the fats used to flavor the beef, we wanted to learn even more, so we searched the internet and found a good posting here: http://www.goodeater.org/2/post/2009/04/cheffing-with-tony-maws-not-just-a-cheeseburger.html. Tony seems to have worked out the challenge very well. Essentially, this is what Tony does to make the perfect burger:
1. Start with three cuts of beef, brisket, short rib and flap meat.
2. Make up for the lack of natural fat by adding pure beef fat, a combination of suet and bone marrow. Genius. The fat content ends up being about 15% - surely not for the dieters among us.
3. Add "umami", essentially a flavor enhancer. For Tony, the perfect umami addition is dehydrated miso paste.
4. Cook in a steam-injected, pressure and temperature controlled C-Vap oven, which locks the moisture inside. Yeah, I don't have one of these either.
5. Brown the meat on both sides.
6. Add accompaniments, black diamond cheddar cheese from Vermont, watercress, deep fried onions and mace ketchup.
7. Serve atop a sesame seed bun with crispy shoestring sweet potatoes.
I will definitely be getting the burger at Craigie on Main again. I did learn a couple of things though. Next time, I will ask for no cheese. The cheese was delicious, but I scraped most of it off, wanting only to pay particular attention to just the flavor of the meat. I will also be more careful with the shoestring potatoes - though yummy, they are hard to maneuver and I ended up snapping a small portion off and watched as it flew into my left eye - causing for a very painful encounter.
OH and most importantly, in order to order the burger, which is on Craigie's bar menu, when you make your reservation, request to sit in the bar area. The bar menu is only served in the bar area. No worries, the full regular menu is also available there as well.
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Kotobukiya closing?
Just read the same thing! Can't wait!
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Framingham for birthday lunch
Check out this thread.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/610449
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T.W. Food & Craigie on Main -- Service is no match for the food
I have had complete opposite experiences concerning service at Craigie. We have been twice within the last month, both on weekend nights, and were seated promptly. Each time the service was attentive. In a previous posting about my Craigie experience, I described how our server even offered (and delivered) a fully customized menu of the specific dishes that we got in our tasting menu (which differs slightly by the table and is therefore not a standard printout). Yes, each dish may be served by a different server or even multiple ones at the same time, but I never found that to be a problem. Our bread was brought quickly, our water glasses refilled and all the dishes accurately described.
I am disheartened that people have had bad experiences, but it's not something that I have personally experienced.
Best Cupcakes, for sure!
They won't be stale, most likely if you keep them in an air tight container, but they won't be fresh. I think picking them up the same day if at all possible, is the best. They may be a bit dry, but not stale.
Gaslight Fuels Fiery South End Dining Scene
Yes, I understand the concept and the context that you point out. It definitely makes sense to me, but that doesn't mean that my meal was any less delicious than it was. It is important, in my opinion, to continue posting positive experiences, even if amongst negative ones, to point out that people are still having good meals at this restaurant. It allows people to decide for themselves whether their experience was a one-off and whether they should try a place out again. If the fact that there are negative reviews out there means that my review is taken less seriously, then so be it. But at some point, if Gaslight can get it's act together and provide consistent experiences, the positive reviews may again begin to outweigh the negative ones and Gaslight would get its credibility back.
Gaslight Fuels Fiery South End Dining Scene
I seem to have had just the opposite of those who think Gaslight has deteriorated in the most recent months, as indicated by my "very current" posting. =) We had a great meal and were treated wonderfully by both the GM and staff in planning our gathering.
Community sustainable seafood
They are also considering a Boston drop-off (according to their latest email) depending upon the amount of interest, so for those of you in Boston who are interested, let them know! At $3 per pound, this deal can't be beat to get your hands on local, fresh seafood!
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best bloody?
I am a picky bloody mary drinker and I must say, I was impressed by the bloody mary that I had at Beehive yesterday for brunch. The rim of the glass was rimmed with what I believe was Old Bay seasoning, or something similarly spicy. The drink was the perfect blend of vodka and bloody mary mix. The garnish was a delicious olive and a juicy peperoncini. It was delicious!
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Gaslight Fuels Fiery South End Dining Scene
Thanks for the great report. I've been to Gaslight a few times, once for dinner, once just for drinks and more recently for appetizers and drinks. We were having a gathering of about 30 people and needed to find a place that would host a group of that size for just after work appetizers and drinks. Trying to get a place to reserve a space for that number of people was not easy. But Gaslight's GM, Chris Glionna came through for us. Gaslight was the perfect location - it was great for groups and there was no food and beverage minimum. We had all of the cafe tables reserved just for us. The bar area was lively and fun.
With such a large group, it was great to order and share a bunch of different appetizers. The cheese plate, shrimp cocktail and fondue were good, but not really worth mentioning, but the oysters were delicious and priced just right at $2.25 each, the fried mussels the perfect blend of juiciness inside and crunchiness on the outside and the steak tartare was delicious with the runny egg on top. The steak frites and roasted mushrooms are also worth ordering.
I'd definitely recommend Gaslight for a large group gathering. They did a great job at making us feel welcome and gave great service.
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What you drank at "Drink"
Just hit up Drink for our second time this past Thursday around 10:00 or so. Though there weren't a ton of seats at the bars, it was surprisingly uncrowded for a Thursday night, which was great for our group of about 10. We were quite impressed the last time we went. This time we got a round of champagne to celebrate our friends' engagement, an "original martini", made with gin, sweet vermouth and orange bitters, as well as an "Old Monk Daiquiri", Old Monk Rum from India mixed with fresh lime juice. Drink remains on our list of fun bars to frequent and seemed to be a big hit amongst our friends. Cheers!
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What's good at Prezza?
=) Next time around, now that we have a better idea of what we liked there, we will definitely take everyone's advice and share the orders!
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Best Korean food in Boston?
Hi Everyone,
This post is a little old, so I was hoping to get it updated. I have a Korean friend coming in town next weekend who used to live in Boston and declared that he was not satisfied with the Korean food options when he lived here. That was some number of years ago, so I want to bring him somewhere authentic while he is visiting and see if I can't get him to change his mind.
What is the BEST place for authentic Korean food in the Boston area? We don't need fancy, we just want good chow. What is the pricing like also? Unfortunately, my knowledge of this food is zero. So far on the list of considerations:
Han River
Wu Chon
Buk Kyung
Koreana
Minsok - but maybe too Japanese food focused. I want pure Korean.
Thanks much!
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What's good at Prezza?
Oh, we were well aware of the portion sizes going into all of this. It was our first time however and the 4 of us wanted to taste a bunch of the things. We knew we'd be taking a lot of food home and we don't have problems with leftovers. The over ordering was deliberate and the high bill definitely our fault, but ... we got a great meal!
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