terrystu's Profile
LOBSTER ROLL TIME!!
Tam, your suspicions are warranted. You will find no lobsters at the Beach Plum. They use pre-cooked lobster meat from one of the area food purveyors.
Not my idea of a "fresh" lobster roll. Beware of the "good deal" lol.
Where to get Soft Shell Crabs
Bernard's has the best SSC I've had outside of NYC Chinatown. A tad pricey, but worth it.
Best fried clams in New England
Good to agree on the main point. I always ask for big bellies and they are absolutely the best anywhere. If you want the best lobster its Maine. If you want the best fried clams, gotta be Ipswich.
Best fried clams in New England
Prior to "crumbing", they must be dipped in egg wash, commonly referred to in the trade as "the batter". Purely a matter of semantics.
Best fried clams in New England
You couldn't be more wrong, pass. I have tried all the places you mentioned, and the Clam Box beats them hands down. Top quality with light flaky batter, never greasy, and huge portions - I have trouble finishing them and that's saying something! Plus the individual clams are much larger at the CB, allowing for optimal clam/batter ratio.
Prices are pretty much the same at all four.
Mid-Coast Trip report
I have to agree with many of your conclusions, cookinggirl, we tried Brevetto once, and while we had no issues with service, the food is boring and underseasoned, no interesting flavors. Roberts is just a horrible tourist dump, one visit was enough for both of these.
On the plus side, Seabasket is one of our regular stops, never been disappointed and a great value.
Thanks for the excellent post.
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Brevetto
43 Mechanic St Ste 12, Camden, ME 04843
Bonta- Always good
I tried the bar at Bonta with some friends a while back, and I would agree the burger is quite good. So my wife and I went with another couple for dinner and were generally disappointed. I will grant you, comparisons always depend on your frame of reference, so I suppose this would be acceptable Italian for the NH seacoast, but certainly not worth the exhorbitant prices. Guess the four of us are just not "cat-like denizens". (corrected for sp.)
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Bonta
287 Exeter Road, Hampton, NH 03842
Arrows or White Barn Inn
This is too easy.
WBI is classy, elegant, and the service is always spot-on. Even though they are both expensive, at WBI the food is beautifully prepared and the portions are surprisingly adequate.
Arrows, on the other hand, is pretentious, stuffy, and overpriced. We have eaten there twice, and both times left hungry. On our last visit, the waiter actualy argued with me when I asked for tap water, eschewing the half-dozen or so pricey bottled selections.
My wife and I often eat at fine restaurants in Boston, NYC, and SF, and have never had this sort of negative vibe from any of them.
White Barn Inn is miles above.
Top 5 Mid-Cape Italian
I feel the need to apologize if my "Medicare" comment came off as a negative to the restaurant. I'm just not used to being the youngest one in the place. As for the parm, when I inquired the waitress said the chicken is always fried in advance to save time at rush times, she didn't specifically address the veal, though it would make sense to do it the same way.
Maybe this shortcut is only taken "in season" because of the crowds.
Top 5 Mid-Cape Italian
Tried Villa Roma for the first time and it was quite a disappointment. Large portions and low prices seem to be the draw here, which would explain the "older" crowd . By older, I mean "Medicare" older, lol.
I had the veal parm and another member of our party of four had the chicken parm. They both suffered from a common problem with lower priced Italian resto's. A proper version should be breaded and fried to order and then immediately baked just enough to melt the cheese. Here the cutlets are fried in advance and then baked as they are ordered. This ties up the kitchen less at busy times, but causes the breading to get very soggy in the sauce, not especially appealing. The marinara sauce was ok, but lacked the depth of flavor one would hope for with the proper use of herbs. It tasted basically like cooked tomatoes. Not bad, mind you, just sort of bland. The one dish that seemed pretty good was the lasagna. Our DC who got it said it was quite flavorful, with a mix of veal, ground beef, and sausage.
I suppose if you want inexpensive Italian and your not overly picky, its a decent value for the buck. Just not my cup of tea.
BTW, the sign is pretty funny.
Dress code at Arrows...
"Snotty" would be a compliment to these people. We had dinner there last year and the waiter got very confrontational when I asked for a glass of water. He insisted that we had to buy one of their overpriced varieties, some of which were actually filtered tap water! The arrogance of the owner equalled that of the waiter. I admit the food is good, but dinner for two with a bottle of mid-range wine came to $325.00. Its good, but its not $325.00 good!
Overall, just a very unpleasant experience.
SPEED'S Not the SAME
I've always preferred natural casings, but speed's new dogs are much tougher to bite through than before.
I always thought they used to have just the right amount of "snap".
Lobster Roll Recommendations
Beal's and Red's are both excellent, if you can stand the wait at Red's. (I can!)
Bob's and Beachplum both buy pre-packaged lobster meat, so they won't be getting any more of my hard-earned cash!
Also, I'll second Two lights, thats a very good one too.
Best NH Lobster Roll?
I would recommend Markey's in Seabrook. They cook the lobster and prepare everything on premise. As for Dipsy Doodle, if you are a fan of a proper lobster roll, this is NOT the place. Tried this place a few weeks ago, they use pre-cooked lobster, comes is a bag from a commercial supplier, completely lacking in fresh sweet lobster flavor.
Dining near the Shubert?
We have several favorites in Chinatown, but I was hoping to find something other than
C.T. since we dine there pretty regularly. Guess I should have mentioned that.
I am thinking perhaps Marliave, I understand it is the same ownership as the Grotto, which has always been first-rate.
Thanks for all your suggestions.
Dining near the Shubert?
My wife and I have tickets for "Jersey Boys" at the Shubert next week and I was wondering if I could ask for moderately priced dining reco's within walking distance. We enjoy any and all types of food. Also, does anyone happen to know what time the parking meters go "off duty" on a weekday evening?
Thanks.
Flo's Hot Dogs - huge dissapointment!
I'm aware of that, pass, it's just that the tpk. happens to be the road I am on when I'm down that way, so that's the way I know to get to Rutt's.
Flo's Hot Dogs - huge dissapointment!
If ever you are travelling down the N.J. Turnpike, take a brief detour in Clifton and stop in at Rutt's Hut. Ask for a "weller" or a "cremator". This is a life changing hot dog experience.
One caveat - you may never be able to eat a hot dog anywhere else again.
A Hound Comes To Hampton Beach and Portsmouth
I will second winecafe's suggestions. The Friendly Toast is probably the best breakfast place anywhere in this area. Homemade breads and many local ingredients, plus a great, funky atmosphere.
I'll add Steve's Diner in Exeter to the breakfast list, especially if you like homemade corned beef hash.
Mimmo's and Bob's are below average tourist dumps, don't see how anyone could recommend them.
If you are willing to drive 20 minutes or so south, The Clam Box in Ipswich has absolutely the best fried seafood, bar none.
Enjoy your trip!
The Friendly Toast!
In a recent conversation I had with Melissa, she told me she hed "no financial interest" in the new restaurant, other than ownership of the name. She also said that she was helping out as much as possible doing staff training etc.
This is not an unusual arrangement in the restaurant business, as a way to leverage the name and reputation without actually running another location. I am not surprised at all that media outlets would not spell out all the details. since they often give innaccurate impressions for the sake of brevity.
BTW, Melissa is spending virtually all of her time in Portsmouth, which would seem to be the most important indicator.
The Friendly Toast!
There seems to be a popular misconception here that this is "another location" of the FT. To set the record straight, this place was opened by a former FT employee and operates independently of the FT. The owner of the Portsmouth FT is helping as an advisor and consultant, but has no decision-making authority.
As a regular at the Portsmouth FT, I feel that its success is largely due to her fanatical emphasis on quality ingredients, along with obvious cooking skills and menu creativity.
I have never visited the Cambridge FT, so I wouldn't make a judgement, except to say that it isn't really fair to try and compare the two restaurants as though they were simply multiple locations.
Car for the weekend
I agree the clam shack tour or Federal Hill are excellent choices, but I would not waste a trip to Portsmouth. It is a gastronomic wasteland, populated by tourist traps. Jumpin Jays is avoided by locals due to their frequent use of frozen fish.
A trip to the Cape might be just the ticket, maybe for some fine local scallops?
Biscuits and gravy for breakfast
Guess I'm gonna hafta disagree on that one. I've had excellent NE clam chowder in several different cities around the country, including the South and West Coast, and many have been excellent. Overall just as good as you can get here.
Now that I think about it, I've had some really lousy NECC in Mass and ME.
Wild Willy's Burgers in Watertown
Can't comment on this location, but I tried the one in Maine a few weeks ago and found the burger way too compacted, like it was made in a press, and the fries limp and soggy.
BTW, grass fed beef has less fat than grain fed, making the burger drier, not juicier.
Great chow in Lawrence
That's right, info, and none too soon. The article I read said their busines has declined steadily since the original owner died a couple of years ago.
Restaurants everyone seems to love but you don't
Sorry, but I must make a correction - the app was crostini.
My bad.
Restaurants everyone seems to love but you don't
Damn, how I wish this thread had been started a day earlier!
Last night my wife and I tried Trattoria Toscana for the first time, mainly because of rave reviews here and on Yelp, and I must say, we were very disappointed. To be fair, part of the reason was because of a large party of 6 adults and 5 or 6 screaming kids turned the place into a raucous circus. The owner didn't want to push tables together to seat them, but one guy got very confrontational, started creating a scene, and the owner gave
in and seated them. These were people obviously more used to the "99".
OK, sorry for digressing.
We started off on the wrong foot when my wife asked for butter for her bread, and we were told they don't have butter. They don't have butter? Americans seem to think that all Italians dip their bread in olive oil, but in our travels throughout Italy, we have found good old bread and butter to be far more common.
Gonna try and condense this:
crispini app - delicious and good sized
house salad - very ordinary
papperdelle - very small portion and not at all memorable
shrimp with gnocchi in pesto sauce - see house salad
I apologize for the lengthy post, but last night is still fresh in my mind.
Steve's Diner (Exeter, NH) in the old Pizza Hut?
After reading about it here, my wife and I tried las olas the other day. OMG, this is the worst excuse for Mexican I have ever tasted! Three words to describe the food - bland, bland, bland. OK, so that's only one word, you get the idea. The rice and black beans are both completely flavorless as though they were unseasoned, and the "grilled steak" for the burrito was lying in a pool of liquid as though it was grilled yesterday. I requested the hottest of the available salsas and it had no bite whatsoever. The place is run by a lilly-white Irish looking group with no Latinos on the premises. The only positive I can offer is that the place is very clean - sort of sterile - like the food.
Best Seafood in Portsmouth, NH
I recently had a similar experience at Pesce. Their seafood just doesn't seem very fresh, and I don't believe they would stay in business if not for the tourists.
We were there on a Saturday night and ate on the patio, which was full. Then I went inside to use the bathroom and not one table was occupied. Very bad sign.
Plus, I see that they are now offering coupons on restaurant.com, which is basically the last stop for bad restaurants.
JT Farnham: Dissapointed This Time
I used to be a regular at Farnham's, then last year someone here on CH recommended the Clam Box. I will never return to Farnham's again. While Farnham's has the view, Clam Box does a lighter fry, much less greasy, and the clams are bigger and sweeter.
I don't even use tartar sauce anymore. As if that weren't enough, their onion rings are way better.
