New BBQ in Bedford!!!

So I went in today about 3pm. Really, REALLY friendly service, laid back atmosphere, cheery music, HD TV set on ESPN with a comfy couch facing it. I think it could be a great place to hang out with friends or if everyone in there wants to watch the same sports event. Beer and wine are available in the evenings. I had a combo platter with pork ribs and pulled pork. Ribs were quite tough; I was disappointed. Pulled pork was more "chunk pork" style which I like. Although it didn't really "pull" very well with my fork, it tasted good, especially when dipped in NC vinegar sauce. Sides were average. There's a "bar" of various flavored liquid sweeteners for their brewed iced tea, which was neat, but they'll have to brew the tea stronger to handle the dilution from the sweeteners. Nothing wowed me, but I filled out a comment card, and they were friendly and the place looks fun, so I'll give them another chance. More $$$ than Lester's, so they'll have to improve to keep my business (or my car will have to break, as I can get to FireBox on foot if I have to).

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FireBox BBQ
347 Great Rd, Bedford, MA 01730

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Cafe Luigi's- Bedford

Love Luigi. Good, non-fancy food with a non-fancy price. You can use the money you save to tip the waitstaff well--they work hard.

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Asiana in Bedford?

Went there last night. 2/8/08. Yum. They started serving Mon 2/5 and have their official opening this coming Monday 2/11/08.

Some non Asian people may wonder whether Bedford can support a fifth Asian restaurant (in addition to Great Wall, Lemon Tree Cafe, Ginger, all in the town center vicinity; and Bamboo on the Bedford-Burlington line--correct me if I'm missing any others). We think Asiana Bistro is a good addition. The menu is extensive, spanning Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and "House specialities." You'll find many of your favorites listed. Since they haven't had their official opening yet, not all of the menu items are available, and you have to order before you find out something's not available, but we're confident that will change. We had Thai iced tea, which tasted just as we wanted it to; there is also a full bar for all those fancy umbrella-containing alcoholic drinks. To start we had scallion pancakes (gyoza were not available)--very light and crispy; I have found that many scallion pancakes outside of Chinatown tend to be heavy and soggy. For entrees we shared Crispy Tofu stuffed with minced shrimp. This was fried, as you might imagine from having "crispy tofu" in its name. It was presented as 10-12 pillows of crispy fried stuffed tofu arranged over orange slices with a soy/ginger/scallion dipping sauce on the side. Tasty, but without veggies or sauce over it, it was a little strange as an entree--probably best ordered as one of several items for a party of several diners to share. We also shared Chicken Basil (Duck Basil was not available), which was presented as a whole piece of chicken in the familiar basil sauce, cut into chopstick-sized pieces and left together so you could see the shape of the original piece of cooked chicken. Next to it on the same plate was a pile of brilliantly colorful stir-fried veggies. A far cry from the tiny chunks of chicken and soggy veggies in basil sauce that I remember from the dive Thai places of my younger adulthood. Fortunately you will forget within a minute of entering that the restaurant used to be a Boston Market. There is a small (+/- 4 seats) sushi bar area with a television in one section, but the remainder of the restaurant is arranged so that the TV is not intrusive. The menu states invitingly, "Traditional dishes available upon request." In my experience these are best when requested by someone who knows both the culture and the language of the traditional dishes, whether the menu says they are available or not. Not having such a person with us, we didn't try. We thought the prices were reasonable. Ricky Ho, the owner, came over to chat and get our feedback as we were leaving. We'll go back.

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