passing thru's Profile
Gourmet Hotdogs/Hamburgers close to Western, Massachusetts?
yep. that's the most classic burger joint out that way, I think.
Blood sausage
Armando's Meat market in Pawtucket, very near providence generally carries a Latino type or two.
Russo's vs. Whole Foods
I really love Russo's in general, but I bought some apples there a couple weeks back that were pretty much the worst apples I've ever had in my entire life. They tasted like nothing.
Razor Clams- Season? Boston Vendors?
for what it's worth, I've seen razor clams for sale once in a rare while by a seafood vendor at the Pawtucket winter farmer's market. Dug in li'l Rhody.
restaurant for lunch near Omni Hotel New Haven
when I stayed at the Omni during the summer of 2010, I ate at Thali a really nice Indian restaurant that's about a five minute walk away. Should be prior chowhound posts on the place, that's how I found it.
Website is here:
http://www.thali.com/nh3_7.html
Los Angeles Hound in Boston for 18 hours, what to do??
absolutely agreed. Boston's puritan legacy has left the city with very little to do late at night...
Chinatown Crawl
I love that place in Flushing. Looking forward to scoping these out next time I'm up in Boston!
Looking for farmstand, 495 between Norton & Sandwich
too late for this now, but maybe for future reference there is a farmer's market on Friday afternoons 2-6 at La Salette in Attleboro that just started up...
30 day challenge finale: Degustation
this whole venture was fantastic. kudos for all your hard work.
Coneys
the Del's version is kind of weak, in my experience. The ones I have had at The Breakfast Place are definitely better. Standard breakfast fare in general is good here--it's no destination trip, but it's solid for a local spot.
-----
Breakfast Place
187 Pleasant St, Attleboro, MA 02703
Coneys
agreed--this place is classic. Attleboro was once loaded with all sorts of diners and the like, but this is the last remnant.
Not too far away at 187 Pleasant St (aka Route 123) there's a decent spot called The Breakfast Place that serves a solid blademeat sandwich, which is a somewhat vanishing SE mass specialty for another stop down this way.
-----
Breakfast Place
187 Pleasant St, Attleboro, MA 02703
Fresh Vegetables in Attleboro, Ma/Pawtucket, RI area
the Sat.market has more'n that--there's plenty of radishes these days, and some Jerusalem artichokes are in as well. A fair bit of hothouse cucumbers & such too these days, and other stuff should start to trickle in as things warm up.
I should also mention that there are a couple seafood people who come to the Sat market since the OP was looking for a fishmarket--there's one RI vendor with littlenecks, mussels and occasionally cod, another CT vendor with great Bomster scallops and recently there's been a guy selling slipper shell limpets. (He also had oysters over the winter). There's also Maine shrimp & squid people who turn up once in awhile.
Fresh Vegetables in Attleboro, Ma/Pawtucket, RI area
I'm in this area, + the Pawtucket Farmer's market Science Chick notes is def. the best bet. There's also a Sunday farmer's market in North Attleboro: http://is.gd/Yd37TW I haven't been to this during the winter, but there were some good vendors there last summer.
The best butcher in this area is Armando & Sons in Pawtucket http://is.gd/RFahro Nothing's very free range or anything, but the selection is fantastic & they have lots of organ meats and the like as well as multiple kinds of latino blood sausage.
4 nights in Minneapolis--got the basics, looking for input
oh hey, that's perfect--I hadn't seen this spot at all. Thanks!
4 nights in Minneapolis--got the basics, looking for input
Hi all,
Coming to town for four nights later this week, staying at the Hilton downtown. It's a conference thing, so I'm thinking breakfasts at Hell's Kitchen mainly and area lunches at La Loma Tamales/My Burger/Brothers Deli and while I guess it's sadly too early for the food trucks maybe I'll scope out a turkey sandwich from the Turkey To Go guy if he's set up in the food court near La Loma. That all seems to fill breakfast/lunch downtown comfortably, but if I'm missing something basic let me know.
For dinners, one day I want to get out and do the Mercado Central/Midtown Global markets thing and I'll probably eat at Los Ocampo and maybe grab an octopus taco or two from La Sirena Gorda. I also managed to stumble over the fact that I can get the local Spring Grove soda at some place in Midtown Global--any other specialties I maybe should look out for here?
One other early night is probably a trip to M.I.A. and then it seems like the Vietnamese spots for dinner, probably Pho Tau Bay or Quang's. I do love Vietnamese food too and this seems a real strength of your city, so I may even decide to go to both these places on separate nights. Seems to be good other options nearby, too.
I also feel like one day I'll go slightly north and eat at maybe 112 Eatery or bar Legrassa or some such slightly more upscale option. Those seem like good dinner choices fairly nearby. Or I may even cheap out and venture to sub in a fish fry dinner for this instead--I haven't done enough research yet to see if there's one of these near enough downtown to make that an attractive choice, but it seems like the time of year to check out this tradition.
Anyway, that's what I've got as basics so I think I've got myself in good shape. (and thanks for all the pointers--as always I found plenty of solid information here on chowhound to get me started). What I'm looking for is just any additional hints as to anything that's near to the area I've mentioned that's special enough to make it worth a side trip. I love anything local or classic, and though I'm mostly interested in less expensive options I'm open to anything from road food to haute cuisine. I also think maybe I'm weakest here in bakery/dessert, so if anything stands out as a glaring omission on my part please just clue me in.
Thanks in advance for any tips.
-----
Hell's Kitchen
80 South 9th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402
La Sirena Gorda
920 E Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 55407
112 Eatery
112 N 3rd St, Minneapolis, MN 55401
Pho Tau Bay
2837 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55408
do we have a best of list?
You people rock. I'm coming to Minneapolis in a couple weeks, and these links are like solid gold.
JaJangmyun (자장면; 짜장면);
phew, that's good news. I like the Hometown way more'n Wuchon.
JaJangmyun (자장면; 짜장면);
NO! please tell me the Hometown isn't closed, that's one of the places I like to go when I get up to Boston. That was always my fave place for jajangmyun noodles, too.
Who is taking Ken Ramen's place?
nice. I liked Ken's Ramen, but slotting in a Cafe Mami there would be spectacular.
-----
Cafe Mami
1815 Massachusetts Ave Ste M4, Cambridge, MA 02140
Good bakeries near Taunton
Andrews Bakery in South Easton is pretty good. http://www.andrewscafe.com/
Looking for meat markets in Northern RI/Providence area
Armando's is fantastic. I love that they generally have both cabrito and older stewing goat as well. They also have a great range of different blood sausages. Plus, it's clean and (as you mention) cheap.
Sunday Lunch near Pawtucket RI
I like Pho Horn's for Vietnamese on Ann Mary St
-----
Pho Horn's
50 Ann Mary St, Pawtucket, RI 02860
ISO Kenyon's Stone Ground Johnny Cake White Corn Meal
you may just need to look somewhat closer to the RI border. I live in Attleboro, & Kenyon's is generally available at the Stop and Shop here. I believe Shaw's down this way carries it as well.
Chinatown?
the old Pagoda space is often misidentified as a porn theater, but I think this is due to the fact that after they carved the space up into a couple of theaters, there was usually one screen devoted to HK Cat III softcore stuff. But mostly what played there in the 80's were the usual Chow Yun-fat and Shaw Bros pics.
A BBQ Joint in a Former Bathroom? Looks like it
that sounds great. one needs a little barbecue to go with one's chop suey sandwich.
New Deal Seafood Really is Superb
I don't live in Somerville anymore, and I miss New Deal very, very much. The guy there has the best eye for what's available--Courthouse is just fine, but New Deal is The King.
Where would Guy Fieri visit if he were in Boston.
hey, Crazy Burger is actually pretty good. Poochie gets one right!
Where would Guy Fieri visit if he were in Boston.
given that he came to Attleboro and went to Morin's, which pretty much has no atmosphere and weak food, he'd probably seek out somewhere lame in Boston to hit up. In Attleboro he'd have been better off going around the corner to Tex's Coney Island. At least that place has some charm.
LA Xmas trip recap (long!)
OK folks, here's the payback for all your help on the way to eating in LA--a way too lengthy recap of some of the spots we hit. As usual, I didn't get to everything I wanted to, which is the way these things usually go (especially when you start out with a list that's too long in the first place!) but I feel like I did pretty darn well. Really helpful was a host who squired us around to near anywhere we wanted to go, making some further flung spots reachable. In any case, to the breakdown--a virtual roach coach of the mind in a rough chronological order...
--first thing we ate in LA were sweet Korean pancakes from a vendor outside a grocery store somewhere in ktown. There was a fried squid vendor or some such as well, but we skipped that to go home and eat delicious kimchi quesadillas provided by our host.
--had some pastries at Wien Bakery on Olympic when we went for an early walk the next AM. Nothing special, but not bad. Place was nice too, and for a New Englander it was simply good to be able to sit outside and drink coffee on a December morning.
--Langer's--just *had* to go here and have the Number 19 and wash it down with a vanilla egg cream. It was really, really great and I was full for hours. In all honesty, I think this place is better than Katz's in New York--I'd be surprised if there were a better deli anywhere, in fact.
--Jitlada: one of the first places we went was also maybe my favorite. That specials menu is pretty overwhelming, but eventually we settled on the Jitlada steamed mussels, raw blue crab salad with lemongrass & chili and some rice dish with vegetables and yam. Everything was spectacular, and I wish I could stay and work my way through that entire list.
--La Flor de Yucatan: this little place is really excellent--the tamale colorado was so moist & flavorful, the empanada de calabaza was spot on and my gf loved her corn muffin. On top of that, the people who work here are warm and friendly and were totally impressed by my printout of Exile Kiss' blogpost on their spot. If you haven't gone here, please do--they deserve all the success in the world.
--Din Tai Fung: changed plans from Elite/Huntington library to Gamble House/Din Tai Fung, and it worked out nicely. Since it was Sunday we waited forever to get in (I fought temptation to run across the street to 101 Noodle express for a Shandong beef roll) but it was worth it. Dumplings galore--pork and crab, fish, veggie, red bean were all really delicate and tasty. Baby bok choy and rice cake w/ vegetable were nice accompaniments. Also had something just called generically "appetizer" (we ordered it because of that fact, actually) which turned out to be a good sesame oil/bean sprout/tofu thingie.
--Mariscos Chente: made it to the famed raw seafood spot and gobbled down many shrimp as ceviche de camarone aguachile. I don't think anyone else with me really cottoned to the fresh, nearly raw shrimp as I did, but oh well. Also good was the ceviche mixto (though the "crab" in this one seemed un-crablike) and my gf had a grilled sea bass which was fine. Staff was nice + they were having a sort of work party with blaring music they seemed to think was annoying us, since they kept asking us if it was too loud.
--So Kong Dong: loved the spicy raw crab panchan here (something I've not seen elsewhere) and the seafood soon dobu was a solid, comfort food lunch dish. Nice.
--Giang Nan: trucked out to the SGV for dinner here one night, + was surprised it only took 15 min or so. Did a little mis-ordering and got both chicken + chestnuts and eel in claypot, both of which were good but too similar. Degreased pork knuckle was tasty but a bit on the dry side. Vegetable dumplings were only fair. Standout dishes were the excellent hot braised eggplant and the fantastic meatball with duck egg yolk. The latter was probably the best Shanghai lion's head type thing I've ever had. Overall though, while this place was good I admit that I wasn't totally blown away.
--Shamshiri Grill; made this the pre-Burchfield show stop and was satisfied with the choice. House made doogh was nice, + the lamb shank zereshk polo was juicy with the barberries adding a nice piquant touch. Companions got felafel wrap + felafel respectively, with the former happy and the latter slightly disappointed by a "hockey puck" consistency. We all loved the fresh made bread, though.
--Daikokuya: another wait for this one, but again repaid itself with a spectacular pork ramen kotteri style. Noodles are nothing special, but the broth is totally delicious. Companion's chicken teriyaki bowl also satisfying and well made.
--Fugetsu-do: this mochi place is very cool in itself inside and the couple items that we sampled were very good. They were making the big giant New Year's ones that cause choking deaths in Japan every year too, but we didn't run that particular gauntlet.
--Tacos Tumbra a Tomas: walking thru Grand Central I noticed a long line of Latino-Americans at this place and a sign saying "special de hoy: trompa". Sold! Wolfed down a very tasty if fatty and a bit gristly snout taco smothered in hot sauce and lime. Now that's *real* breakfast food.
--Izayoi: some floundering on my part resulted in our going here twice, as it seemed a good spot for varying tastes the night after my gf & I had gone alone. That chopped my ability to go elsewhere for a meal, but I really liked this spot so no big deal. The litany of things we tried is very long: mozuku seaweed (slimy!), grilled dried baby barracuda and stingray fin, monkfish liver (I love this), homemade tofu + satsuma-age, curried king oyster mushroom, fried lotus & plum sauce, Izayoi potatoes, roasted garlic, miso eggplant, chicken gizzards, some sushi. All in all a solid spot, and one that happily accounted for a range of tastes across the spectrum.
--El Parian: since I had mostly abdicated on this choice to do the 2nd time around at Izayoi (their seemingly limited meat heavy menu not being the best group choice for all!) our host surprised me with a goat taco for breakfast when she picked us up to head to LAX. Though at this point my body was crying a Roberto Duran-like "no mas" given all of the above, I soldiered through about half of its goaty goodness at 8:30 AM and was really happy with the way it tasted. The tortillas were really fantastic, as well. I do wish that I could have made it to a sitdown here for some birria + the carne asada, but there's always next time.
Phew. That's about it beyond churros from a churro truck, some Little Tokyo baked goods and a chain frozen yogurt, I think. We did walk thru Phillipe's to check it out, but the long lines and 'hound input convinced me to skip it. Kind of missed out on the taco truck thing and I feel like I could spend weeks happily wandering the exotic strip mall cuisines of the SGV, but largely I had a deeply satisfying and filling week of eating in your fine city. Thanks again for the helpful pointers provided in both the pre- and post- research phases of my LA board experience. As always, the wealth of info here helped make my trip a worthwhile chow experience.
Lastly, for reference sake here's a set of the food related photos taken during the trip at some of the aforementioned places: http://www.flickr.com/photos/galenp/sets/72157623129149830/
Thanks!
-----
Shamshiri Grill
1712 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Daikokuya
327 E 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Jitlada
5233 1/2 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Langer's Delicatessen
704 S Alvarado St, Los Angeles, CA 90057
El Parian
1528 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Fugetsu-Do
315 E 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Izayoi
132 S Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
So Kong Dong
2716 W Olympic Blvd Ste 104, Los Angeles, CA 90006
Tacos Tumbras a Tomas
317 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013
La Flor De Yucatan
1800 S. Hoover Street, Los Angeles, CA 90006
Giang Nan
306 N Garfield Ave, Monterey Park, CA
Mariscos Chente
4532 S Centinela Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90066
Din Tai Fung Dumpling House
1088 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007
