PinchOfSalt's Profile
Dried rosebuds
I tried Arax first before ending up at Cambridge Naturals. Yeah, I would expect Arax to have that sort of thing but in this case I guess they were simply out of stock. Scored some great honeybells, though. :)
FWIW, in addition to all the usual Middle Eastern suspects in the Mt. Auburn Street area I had also tried Formaggio in Cambridge. They are another great place to check when seeking unusual ingredients. They had the cubebs I needed for the Ras Al Hanout recipe (which also called for the rose petals) but then I also found cubebs at the FP Whole Foods.
I would dearly love a Boston Odd Ingredient Locator website where you could type in an ingredient and see locations on a map of the Greater Boston area where it has been spotted. Hehe well at least we can search the CH Boston board!
Dried rosebuds
I bought some last week at Cambridge Naturals in the Porter Square shopping strip (near Porter Square Books).
Chinese dinner on Christmas day, near Dulles
I'll be in Sterling, on Leesburg Pike (route 7) and not far from 28. So, to the north. But that menu has my mouth watering, and I will be traveling west on I66 on my way to my hotel. So, depending on when I arrive, this could be an option. Thanks!
Chinese dinner on Christmas day, near Dulles
It's a year later and I am doing the same thing - traveling on Christmas Day and stopping to spend the night near Dulles on my way to some holiday visiting. Anything new over the course of the past year? I am so grateful for all the help you gave me then. Happy holidays to all!
Tell me about eating in Boston...
Do you like to cook and are you interested in sources of locally-grown food (e.g. Massachusetts, maybe including southern NH)? Boston has a wonderful array of local produce during the warm weather months. There are many farmers' markets (unfortunately most are coming to the end of their season right now) around the area. There are also a good number of veggie CSAs (mostly June-October) and some year-round meat CSAs, PLUS if you like really fresh fish, you can join Cape Ann Fresh Catch for amazingly fresh seafood.
Blue Fuji Any Good? Medford Japanese/Chinese
I doubt it is possible to generalize about this question. There may be low odds but that does not dictate reality. The food depends on the specific restaurant and who is cooking there. About this restaurant? The only way to know is to try it.
July 2011 Farmers' Markets, CSA, Farm Stands Ect.
This kind of complaint has been posted before by other people, probably about other CSAs. Why not go to one of the farmers' markets where your farm sells and see if their selection is any different from what you are getting? That is the only way to know if you are being treated fairly or not.
My CSA (Waltham Fields Community Farm) has been going gangbusters with all sorts of good stuff. Plenty of greens - that is the backbone of the June harvest around here - but yesterday, for example, my share partner and I got fennel, beets, cucumbers (okay, just one!), garlic scapes, kohlrabi, chard, cabbage, leeks, fava beans (just 20 pods, but enough to use with something else), green beans, parsley, basil, dill, cilantro, and snow peas. There were some small carrots, regular radishes, escarole, frisee, lettuce, kale, collards, arugula, summer squash (small, but it's the beginning of the season), baby onions, scallions, a few varieties of lettuce, and a few other things I can't remember also available as choices. The bottom line is the summer vegetables, such as squash, are just beginning. Last week was the first week we got basil and summer squash, for example, and this week was the first week for green beans and cucumbers. Hang in there - things may improve for you.
Restaurants in Salem Ma
OC, how do you define best?
- bang for the buck?
- highest quality chow?
- most creative?
- caters to the widest audience?
- etc?
It's really an individual and situational thing, so perhaps some more explanation of what you are looking for would help get the most useful answer.
Seeking good "bad" Chinese-American food in the inner western burbs (Belmont / Arlington / Lexington / Watertown / Waltham, maybe Cambridge and Somerville)
Ha, it's been a few years since I have tried Sichuan's Garden. I drive by frequently. It's been a few years since I tried it. My last impression was not bad but not especially good. But that, if memory serves, was the buffet. Certainly, with your recommendation, it is worth another taste.
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Sichuan's Garden
411 Waverley Oaks Rd, Waltham, MA 02452
Seeking good "bad" Chinese-American food in the inner western burbs (Belmont / Arlington / Lexington / Watertown / Waltham, maybe Cambridge and Somerville)
Indeed, I can walk to Yours. However I don't. Many many years ago, when they first opened, they were actually kind of okay. They even had a few dishes I liked. But that was many many years ago.
Great Taste (or some similar name), also on Trapelo Road, is even closer to my home. Very nice people. That's where I go these days when The Craving hits, but really, every time I do that I wish I had a better alternative. Hence this thread.
I wonder if the Tiki Inn in Arlington has any connection to the Tiki Inn near Watertown Square that I used to like. It is just down the street from Barismo, a definite plus when considering whether I want to drive to get a meal.
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Great Taste
201 Main St, Milford, MA 01757
Barismo
169 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02474
Seeking good "bad" Chinese-American food in the inner western burbs (Belmont / Arlington / Lexington / Watertown / Waltham, maybe Cambridge and Somerville)
Holy cow, it (still) exists! The Chinese-language label thing is intriguing.
Seeking good "bad" Chinese-American food in the inner western burbs (Belmont / Arlington / Lexington / Watertown / Waltham, maybe Cambridge and Somerville)
I completely agree. My early years were spent in Brooklyn. There were no crab rangoons. Even though I have lived most of my life here, I still don't "get" crab rangoons!
Seeking good "bad" Chinese-American food in the inner western burbs (Belmont / Arlington / Lexington / Watertown / Waltham, maybe Cambridge and Somerville)
My family would get wonton soup and egg roll instead of the spare ribs and chicken wings. Bread and butter was not part of the C-A menu in my old neighborhood. But we did get a bowl of crispy fried noodle bits - flat and blistered from frying - that were intended to go into whatever soup was ordered. They rarely made it that far. This is something I have NEVER seen in the Boston area. Has anyone noticed them?
(Stop and Shop used to have an interesting variety of very regional foods until its most recent change of corporate hands... but that is another discussion...)
Spumoni we got in the red-sauce Italian restaurant. This stuff was unique. I have never seen pistachio-cherry ice cream anywhere else, then or since.
Seeking good "bad" Chinese-American food in the inner western burbs (Belmont / Arlington / Lexington / Watertown / Waltham, maybe Cambridge and Somerville)
PF Chang's oh dear!
FWIW, really, I am seeking a place that is not too far from my home, somewhere I can go on the spur of the moment with a friend for an unfussy meal, or drop by to grab some take out when the gotta have hits. So far Jade Garden is leading the pack (decent proximity, definitely does the good bad C-A food thing) with Yummy Hut coming in second (LOVE the name, but Arlington is much easier for me than Somerville). But this discussion is fun and it is indeed so interesting to see "certain people" chiming in. Ha ha! Guess I am not alone in the occasional craving for the stuff.
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Yummy Hut
217 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA 02143
Seeking good "bad" Chinese-American food in the inner western burbs (Belmont / Arlington / Lexington / Watertown / Waltham, maybe Cambridge and Somerville)
Haha thanks, JO. Yeah, this kind of cooking might well find its experts in the cadre of older cooks who learned it back in the bad-old days.
Personally, I have been leery of New Asia in its various branches. There was one in Belmont that was okay when it opened, but then was largely empty for years (for reasons that shall not be discussed here) before being seized. The bad rep of the Belmont location has influenced me to stay away from its other branches. I will be most interested to read responses to your question about it.
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New Asia
93 Trapelo Rd, Belmont, MA 02478
Vegetarian in central Boston
Much of the Indian action around the greater Boston area is probably outside your desired geography. Would Chinese be okay? There are any number of excellent choices in Chinatown that would fit your price range and have a range of meatless dishes. Perhaps others on this list can make some specific suggestions if that would be a possible option for you.
Seeking good "bad" Chinese-American food in the inner western burbs (Belmont / Arlington / Lexington / Watertown / Waltham, maybe Cambridge and Somerville)
Well, no, let's not revive that old debate, but for me the problem with ordering "bad" things from "good" places is that I expect to get a better version of what I want (whatever it may be) from a place that specializes in it. Practice makes perfect, plus, they will have tuned their recipes to customers who want just what I am craving at the time.
Seeking good "bad" Chinese-American food in the inner western burbs (Belmont / Arlington / Lexington / Watertown / Waltham, maybe Cambridge and Somerville)
I have eaten at Mary Chung's for years and years and years, spanning multiple physical locations. While many Hounds would say it is not authentic, it is definitely MORE authentic than anything I am thinking about for my bad Chinese American cravings satisfy-er.. Love the suans and the fried tofu with ginger sauce, though. Come to think of it, there was no tofu in those 1960's dishes, heh. There was no General Gao's on the menu either, but plenty of sweet-and-sour variations.
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Mary Chung Restaurant
460 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139
Seeking good "bad" Chinese-American food in the inner western burbs (Belmont / Arlington / Lexington / Watertown / Waltham, maybe Cambridge and Somerville)
Hehe, I don't remember celery being used in my old neighborhood. But I do have very fond memories of the pistachio ice cream served for desert at one of the two Chinese-American restaurants within a few blocks of my home (in a neighborhood where the Italian kids were still beating up the Jewish kids on account of events since addressed by John XXIII). Looking back, it was terrible ice cream - artificial color, no doubt artificial flavor, ice crystals - but it had cherries in it. (I have to reproduce this. Maybe this summer.)
I suppose what is Chinese-American is regional. There was a great article in the NY Times a few years back about a midwestern (or was it Missouri?) version of chicken with cashews that is immensely popular, but nothing like what we would be served if we asked for it around here.
May 2011 Farmers Markets, Farm Stands, CSAs and other local food sources
Belmont's Farmer's Market opens for the season on June 9. Its hours are 1:30-7 on Thursday afternoons. One change for this year is that the BFM will be participating in the SNAP program (formerly food stamps). (It is sad but true that the number of people enrolled in SNAP has approximately doubled in the past two years.)
http://www.belmontfarmersmarket.org/
Full disclosure: I am a volunteer at the BFM.
Seeking good "bad" Chinese-American food in the inner western burbs (Belmont / Arlington / Lexington / Watertown / Waltham, maybe Cambridge and Somerville)
So, I tried it, and Kowloon just does not satisfy my occasional cravings for good, "bad" Chinese-American food. This is the stuff I grew up eating in the '60s. It is NOT authentic. We are talking chicken fingers, egg rolls, egg foo yong with gloppy (but tasty) sauce, that sort of thing. My criteria for what makes it good is
- fried foods are not greasy, but should be nice and crispy. For things like chicken fingers, there should be enough batter to make a definite batter layer, but not too much.
- no western vegetables used (e.g. no celery or zucchini)
- the sauce that is part of a stir-fried item should not be some gloppy brown substance that is the same for everything at the restaurant. (There is an avoid-at-all-costs restaurant in my area, Yours, that does that. A cardinal sin.)
- When served the food should be hot and fresh. It may be inauthentic but it should be done well.
I used to sometimes get take out from the Tiki Inn near Watertown Square to satisfy this need, but have not gone there in several years after some disappointing experiences.
Suggestions, anyone?
Kowloon-Awful!
Okay so I went. A fellow Hound, who shall remain anonymous unless they out themself, bravely came too.
My verdict? The nay-sayers are right. I found the food overall to be greasy. I was left with the feeling that at least some of the food may have been pre-cooked and then finished when ordered. (This was especially true for the lo mein, which was soft to the point of the noodles breaking up when you tried to lift them from the plate.) The Kowloon wings left me wondering why so many people (including a friend who does not frequent CH) rave about them. How disappointing. I was all set to fall in love with a place that could satisfy my periodic cravings for good bad Chinese-American food. (You know what I mean.)
This is NOT to say that people who love Kowloon are wrong. It could be a matter of what we grew up eating, or simply differences in taste. By all means, enjoy. It's just not for me.
For the record, I had a build-your-own-plate with chicken fingers, egg roll, egg-foo-yong, and lo mein. I shared an order of Saugus wings with my fellow Hound.
Strawberry season begins at Russo's
Snagged a quart of Pennsylvania-grown strawberries at Russo's yesterday. Not quite as luscious as local berries, practically still warm from the sun, but still oh-so-welcome. About half of the berries I've nibbled so far had that heady flavor of early summer. The others were still nice compared to the usual specimens shipped from a thousand miles away or more.
Boston Restaurant Recommendations
There is a lot of great chow here in the Boston area, but it would help us give the best recommendations if you could please say a little more about yourselves and your plans:
- Do you have any favorite cuisines, or cuisines you would rather avoid?
- Where will you be staying?
- When in Boston, how will you be getting around? (e.g. public transportation, taxi, rental car)
- When you have visited here before, did you have any favorites back then? They may not be around now, but that would help us match your taste with the best places to dine now.
Kowloon-Awful!
At this point I think I am just going to have to try the place! I have to go to the North Shore next Tuesday anyway to pick up my last winter veggie CSA share of the season, and that means I have to stop at Karl's Sausage Kitchen along the way, so I WILL be going up route 1. Plus I need to leave time to visit a quilt shop up in that area. So the timing is perfect for a lunch at Kowloon, and a chance to determine my own opinion. To compare with my childhood, my lunch will HAVE to include egg rolls, chicken fingers, egg foo yong.... starvation diet until then!
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Karl's Sausage Kitchen
142 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906
Kowloon-Awful!
I have never eaten at Kowloon, as I am rarely in that vicinity. However, even though my general taste in Chinese cuisine is generally aligned with other Hounds', sometimes I get a craving for the "Chinese" food of my Brooklyn childhood. My parents did not know any better and at that time, in that neighborhood, it was what was available. Chicken fingers, alone or in combination with some gloppy vegetables. Egg rolls. Sweet and sour fill-in-the-blank. Those fried noodles that were intended to go into your egg-drop soup but always ended up being treated as an appetizer. And so on. So even though on any given day I would probably want to eat at Golden Garden or Qingdao or Shangri-La or any of a number of places in Chinatown, at least in my book there IS a place in the food universe for restaurants that cater to "pu pu platter cravings".
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Shangri-La
149 Belmont St, Belmont, MA 02478
Golden Garden
63 Concord Ave, Belmont, MA 02478
skate wing
Call the Fresh Pond Whole Foods. Their seafood is pricy but I have never had problems with its quality. They sometimes have skate wing. They may even be able to get some for you if you order in advance.
Fresh or Frozen Cranberries nearby?
Fresh is out of season. I have not seen frozen anywhere, but have not been looking. Would dried work for you? You might try Trader Joe's or Whole Foods for dried cranberries. I know I have seen them in both places, most often sweetened.
4th of July in Boston
You've received a lot of excellent advice regarding this event and the need to come early if you want a good spot. Please do come! This is one of the defining events of the year in the Boston experience. Just bring picnic lunch AND dinner. You can probably pick up some excellent picnic fare the day before at a Trader Joe's or maybe Whole Foods. (Tell us where you will be staying and we can provide July 3 picnic shopping suggestions.) The fireworks are amazing in person up close along the river. Seeing them on TV just does not compare. Plus, there is the ritual of the 1812 Overture complete with real canons. The crowd is also a great opportunity for people watching and the atmosphere is almost always very positive. Just DO IT! You will not regret it.
May 2011 Openings and Closings
Yes, Pasha is the Turkish restaurant in Arlington Center.
