grant.cook's Profile
Tenoch - Medford square
I haven't seen any kinks (although as a parent, I did give my obligatory "changing table in the bathroom" comment).. my wife and I had takeout torta's this weekend, and yes, very very delicious..
Arlington area dinner with 1yr old.
I'd head over to Davis Sq. and eat at Flatbread.. its loud, with big booths.. very kid friendly..
Largest Greek Festival Around! June 1 - 3, 2012
I'll second this... I try to hit the festival a couple of times - a gyro for lunch, and some spit roasted lamb and dolmathes for dinner. Very tasty. Don't try to go late on Sunday and expect to get a full selection of chow..
Super 88 Allston
But you can still get the tasty bahn mi's and summre rolls at Pho Viets, and that other place - One of the Kind - has tasty noodles.
Boston Japan Festival in Copley
Made a trip into Copley Square to try to get some food at the Japan Festival. Bad idea- the place was mobbed, and the layout was a bit boxed in, so it was slow going moving around.
Realizing it was a hot mess, we ended up having lunch at the Rattlesnake nearby. When we passed the square again closer to 2, I saw a sign that food tickets were sold out, and there were still massive crowds around the food tent, to the point that I couldn't even see if things looked tasty.
So did anybody actually eat anything there, and how was it?
Tenoch - Medford square
We probably passed each other.... it was my lunch.. and yes, the carnitas torta again..
Kaffir Lime Leaves - Lowell?
Where in the Burlington MB? In the lettuce/normal herbs area or in the area where they focus more on asian vegetables?
Restaurants open late Saturday nights in Arlington or Lexington?
Tryst should still be serving in the Center. Maybe Little Q Hot Pot, but that's cutting it close for a long meal... and hot pot tends to take a while. Worst case, head down Mass Ave to Joe Sent Me - more of a bar, but they do have a bar food menu.
Kaffir Lime Leaves - Lowell?
I ended up buying a Kaffir Lime tree from a nursery in northern CT... couldn't find them anywhere in Boston, even dried. But lately, I have seen them in the Asian section of WFM's, dried..
Dolsot (Korean stone bowl/pot) Suggestion, Please.
BTW, how hot do you have to get these things to get that crispy bi-bim-bap experience? Does it have to sit in the oven at 500 for like an hour?
phony "Kobe beef" on US menus (Forbes magazine)
I can't see how grinding it up for burger form is worthwhile.. - the marbling is what makes a Wagyu steak tasty, but with a burger, you can always add more fat into the mix...
Eating Raw Oysters, Is it safe?
Go for it.. I just downed a dozen on Tuesday. Don't get $1 oysters at some random bar during happy hour.
Go somewhere that has a proper raw bar, where they'll shuck to order. Know where the oysters are from - if they don't, don't bother ordering. I prefer oysters from the colder waters - e.g. north of Cape Cod on the East Coast. I've never really had a good Gulf oyster. They should be served on the half shell with liquid from the oyster still in the shell. The oyster belly shouldn't be pierced during shucking. Just spoon on a bit of mignonette sauce and slurp 'em down..
phony "Kobe beef" on US menus (Forbes magazine)
I think for the most part its true.. some idiot food blogger here in Boston was raving about the kobe-beef flatbread he was given at a restaurant tasting event, calling it "the most delicious beef in the world." If you had true beef from Japan, is someone really going to throw it on a pizza?
I may have seen actual Kobe beef on a menu once - at a Japanese restaurant called Musashi in Southfield, MI (now closed).. they called it Wagyu beef, and it was like $100 an order. Who knows if it was true Kobe beef, but it was not in any way cheap. I think at various points in the last decade its import has been banned, so it would never be available. Your article states it import has been banned for the past couple of years.
This is another situation like Extra Virgin Olive Oil - very lax standards, so producers and chefs can take great liberties with the term "Kobe" or "Kobe-style" beef..
Lunch near Mt. Auburn Cemetary? Cambridge, Watertown area?
Maybe Sofra - right at the intersection of Mt. Auburn and Belmont Ave. They have some outdoor seating. The menu has a sort of Easter Med / Middle Eastern take on things. Very good food..
You aren't far from the Watertown Mall - there's Strip-T's not far away or if you want to go the other direction, an Old Country Buffet.
Tenoch - Medford square
I was in there today for lunch.. pretty crowded. I was being repetitive and got the carnitas torta, which was delicious. They seemed to be selling a good many of them. One other customer got the red posole, which was a special for the day, and it looked good. Customer base was pretty diverse - I heard probably as much Spanish as English spoken while I waited in line..
need advice on affordable New England wedding venues
I hope she got married already.. the OP was in 2010
Bob and TImmy's Pizza - Chow comments?
I had the Classic Grille yesterday on Federal Hills.. good pizza. I wished the crust had a bit more firmness - maybe another 30 sec on the grill, but the toppings were very well done. Definitely deserving a repeat. I'll have to give the white w/ clams a try, as that's my Frank Pepe's ATF standard..
Blood sausage
Well, if you can handle driving a bit east of Providence to Fall River, there's lots of places that carry it (morcilla).. Michael's Provisions, Chaves Market..
Not sure where to find the Irish black-pudding version.. I know I've seen in in Boston in markets that carry Irish items, but it wasn't common..
Eagle Trading Co - Used Cookbook heaven - Assonet MA
I will say, this is one of the better used cookbook stores I've been into in my life.. tons of inventory across a pretty wide range of subjects. The owner knows his stuff, which is fortunate because he has a serious pile of inventory that isn't exactly fully organized. Prices can be great on out of print stuff, not reasonable on stuff still available on Amazon, or somewhere in between. I was wrestling with cookbooks dedicated to tempeh and eggplant in my visit today. I was impressed with a big selection of junior league cookbooks, camping cookbook, and even a large section for cooking with the kids. Call for hours - I know he's pretty consistently open on Monday and Tuesday, but if you call, he's always open to appointments. If you have anything particular you want, know it walking in.. otherwise, have fun browsing...
Does anyone know how to build a colonial/medieval style cooking hearth/fireplace?
Alton Brown did a show about I believe dutch ovens, and the other posters comments are correct.
I have to say though there are some traditions that technology renders obsolete for very good reasons. Electricity allows for refrigerators, which is important for food safety. And a gas (or propane) burner allows you to get water boiling in 10 minutes versus the good hour or so it takes to get a good bed of coals to heat on (and in the summer, having a raging fire going on in the kitchen? not ideal..). In older times, a lot of workers brought their dinner in vessels to the local baker, where the residual heat of the ovens could cook things during the day.
I found this link on the web:
http://spitjack.com/FIREPLACE-COOKING.html
He makes no bones about this - his first quote is:
"....authentic fireplace cooking (where entire meals are cooked in the fireplace), truth be known, is a tedious, time consuming, physically demanding, dirty, and somewhat dangerous endeavor."
hand-pulled noodles
I know - they had a pu pu platter menu up.. sort of feel bad most chinese places are forced to fit the stereotype.
Xian Famous Foods in Boston-- A conversation with Jason
I'd hit up Foumami before hitting Gene's again.. but if I was nearby, I definitely would give the noodles a try..
Wegmans strategies?
I concur.. first, if you go, tie it to eating a meal - like lunch, so you can hit up their prepared foods area. I will say the one area I was impressed with was the meat department. There was a large variety of cuts, and I picked up some rendered duck fat on a lark. Part of the reason I praised this area is just due to the paucity of local butchers around these days - I'd still rather know a good meat cutter than visit a well stocked meat department at a grocery store.
Very little in the way of private label stuff that I'd consider trip-worthy for. Bulk foods were good, but not any more expansive that a typical Whole Foods. Ethnic foods were not anything eye opening, especially with lots of local Indian and Asian markets. Produce was solid, but again, a good WF's or Market Basket is going to have an equivalent selection. The employees were very energetic and friendly. And they had a nice electric train hanging from the ceiling
Basically, being in Metro Boston, I know where I can get anything that I saw at Wegmans, often with better quality (e.g. New Deal seafood), though the quality at Wegman's seemed perfectly fine. If I lived 10 minutes from the store, it would be my go to place, but 45 minutes makes it a store unlikely to be revisited, though through no big fault of its own.
Gene's Chinese Flatbread Cafe, Chelmsford
I tried the flatbread yesterday... agree, it wasn't a sandwich I'd return for. The bread had an odd doughiness and a cardboard-y outside and the pork didn't have a lot of depth of flavor. Hopefully the noodles are better - most people seemed to be eating those when I arrived.
I compare it to Foumami in the Financial District, and Foumami's sandwich is far better..
SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN
This seems like an exceptionally bad idea to try at home, even if the equipment was there to do it.... one failure, and you'd need industrial-level fire suppression or the Mass Gen burn unit.. I mean, I love good fried chicken, but there's definitely a line..
Grandparents Wedding Anniversary! Please help
I best you could find private rooms at places like Bistro du Midi that cater to business diners, or ask about a "chef's table" - that really cuts the noise (well, maybe not a chef's table), and allows you to sit in a family setup. The tasting menu was something my parents hadn't done a lot of, so it was a treat for them
Where can I buy fresh duck?
Fresh Pond WF had duck in the refrigerated-meat area this morning... not sure what variety
Andrina's Pizza - Arlington - Best pizza I have had in MA
Hmmm.... got a couple of weeks before the new job starts up - maybe a Providence run is in order..
Grandparents Wedding Anniversary! Please help
This is probably a haul for your group, but many other posters could recognize something similar in Boston proper.
My wife and I did our rehearsal family dinner in a private room at Gracie's, in Providence. I think we had a 7-course tasting menu, for about 12-14 people.. they have a couple of rooms of different sizes. Great meal and experience, sitting around the table as a big family..
Andrina's Pizza - Arlington - Best pizza I have had in MA
Then you have the idea setup, Blumie - because you can stop in New Haven and hit up Frank Pepe's..
