Zatan's Profile
Wasik Cheese shop, sad news
Yes, very sad news indeed. The shop is a great one, word is out that friends are encouraging shopping there this week in order to clear inventory for the holidays so the family can take time away to grieve. If you need good cheeses for Christmas go there!
Wings wings wings
If you haven't tried it yet, Bon Chon chicken is definitely a must, and has brought some devoted Buffalo wing lovers over to the Korean side. Ultra crispy and amazingly spicy, I love the version at Privus in Allston....
Boston to Italy, Farewell
Joanie and I were sitting next to each other at the bar at Washing Sq Tavern a long time ago.....did not know each other, but I overheard talk of an interview with said "Angel" and interrupted to say I was an old friend of his younger brother. Funny way to meet a fellow ChowHound!
Duozo, or Shiki, or .....?
I've been to Shiki over a dozen times and never had anything but friendly and attentive service......
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Shiki
9 Babcock Street, Brookline, MA 02446
Boston to Italy, Farewell
Galleygirl, you were the leader of tha Dok Bua dinner. I have not seen you since, but that meal made a great impression on me......you were the one who suggested I was to do the writeup of the event! It was my pleasure.
Grazie
Boston to Italy, Farewell
Probably not appropriate for this board, but somehow I wanted to say it.
Chowhound has been a great resource for me, as a guide to local ingredients, restaurants, sources, sure, but also as a place to go and "discuss" all of those things with others who, though maybe not of same opinion, are of same mind.
I have spent countless hours reading posts here, and the board has given me a guide to all good things for food. I have found something here that interests me whenever I've been hungry, curious, or bored, and I have read many things that have impressed or intrigued me.
I still recall my first chowhound dinner at Dok Bua, where I arrived first and sat directly in the middle of the table and felt like, "who am I to be here? I am a lurker....". And I wrote up the report about that meal and have been hooked ever since.
This year I lost my job in the corporate world and am really happy about it. In three days I will leave Boston to relocate to Parma, Italy, where I will go to school to study, of all things, gastronomy ( http://www.unisg.it ). I am happy about this as a food-obsessed person, but sad to be leaving such a vibrant and constantly evolving food scene here. I will be checking in to see what's up, and on my visits to Boston will rely heavily on you all to guide me to the most interesting ways to spend my limited time in this wonderful city.
Thanks all, especially all of you regulars and those I have met over the years, and, well, see me on the Italy board!
Zatan
Karl's Sausage Kitchen Trip
Yes, as above in my comment about the smoky bacon, braising them in sauerkraut is a winning situation, just use a good one and add some wine and spices as suit you (caraway or juniper would be good). They are particularly suited to braising I think, though you could brown them ahead of time to add another dimension.
Oysters + Cherrystones + Martinis
My first pick would be Eastern Standard. Lively place, lovely bar, excellent oysters and cherrystones. As noted, some of the other food has seemed to slip a bit, but for what you're after it's perfect.
and cold and empty Fenway Park is just a ball-toss away......
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Eastern Standard
528 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215
Fenway Park
82 Lansdowne Street, Boston, MA 02215
Fantastic fresh Uni at Court House Fish in Cambridge
that sounds awesome, now I have a craving.....
And how was it?
I got all excited, I saw the generated link for Fish Market and the map showing it to be just near where I'm going tonight (to Myung Dong 1st Ave.) but realized quickly that was an error and of course I'd know if there was a Courthouse market around there. Damn.
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Fish Market
170 Brighton Ave, Boston, MA 02134
Singh's Cafe in Wellelsey
Went today as well. Seems they are still getting warmed up; the spinach soup, as I was hoping it was, was not noted as soup and there were no bowls. They took a while to put up labels, but those were helpful. Also saw some funny things like the manager trying to remove some of the liquid from the chana dal because it was too soupy. The naan was good. All in all standard buffet fare, but the price was decent and the space pleasant. I think it would be worth checking out for dinner if you're in the area.
Offal for a newbie
I think any of the more "difficult" (not for me, but based on reactions I've seen in others)offal taste great fried; sweetbreads, brains, kidneys, it's an easy way to approach them.
A bowl of beef pho will intro you to some of them, including tripe and tendon.
Tripe at dim sum is easy and a cheap way to get a small sample. Can also get some "black tofu" or blood cooked in sauce there. Have not had a particularly good one in Boston though.
Eastern Standard, Craigie, Toro, Estragon, will all give you ample opportunities to try variations, all in really delicious ways (headcheese, ears, etc.).
Chinese places like Taiwan Cafe, JoJo Taipei, and others have tendon and pig-ear snacks that are certainly worth trying. When you're ready they also have more offal things like kidneys and intestines.
I considered sweetbreads to be my intro to offal until I thought about all of the German lunchmeats I had been eating for years already....just had tongue sausage last week, which is pork tongue in a blood sausage with plenty of pork fat. Brought me back, and I must say it's delicious. Can get that at any of the Russian delis and Karl's sausage kitchen.
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Eastern Standard
528 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215
Toro
1704 Washington St, Boston, MA 02118
Looking for a nice bar with cured meat/cheese options in Cambridge
Craigie on Main has great charcuterie, it varies over time though so if you are looking for something in patrticular worth calling them to see what's on. Less focus on the "cured" meats I think and more on terrines and pates. nice cheese too of course. And then there are those pig tails!
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Craigie on Main
853 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
Best Roasted Meats Rice Plate in Chinatown
Sure, I know, but it was my first thought when I heard the word in my Mandarin class so perhaps a stretch for some but not me....probably just coincidence.
Biscuits and gravy for breakfast
long gone, a distant childhood memory from my visits to the place down South. I dream of having something like it again....I feel deprived now.
Myung Dong
Anyone been? I will go this Thursday, and I know they are supposed to have versions of Korean street-food. Not sure just what though, didn't find a menu online and the stuff on Yelp mostly talks about the drinks (I will be having soju, though probably not from a watermelon!).
A friend mentions intestines in spicy sauce, I might go for it but not a big fan, I usually don't go further South with offal than tripe.
Best Roasted Meats Rice Plate in Chinatown
I love their soy sauce chicken too! Need to get to the salty chicken, and whatever other versions they have there, not so clear on the differences for the chicken or the duck offerings. Anyone?
I enjoy watching the butcher guy chopping up the meat, thunk thunk thunk, methodical and precise, wish I could ask him to teach me, but he always seems a little uncomfortable when I watch.
Biscuits and gravy for breakfast
it is, sadly, one of the recipes I did not learn from grandma. I got her cornbread, fried chicken, blackeyed peas, and many more, but not this one, guess I was too bleary in the morning. I'll try what you said and see how it works out. My biscuits never taste as good as hers did.... and in the earlier days she would have taken bacon straight out of the smokehouse in back instead of using plain old fatback. hmmmmmm
Best Roasted Meats Rice Plate in Chinatown
In studying a bit of Mandarin I learned that Canting (or something like it, Pinyin transliteration....) means restaurant, dining hall, cafeteria, something along those lines. So perhaps Kantin means that, and also wonder if our "canteen" comes from that word as well. Ok, so I'm a nerd about these things, but seems too coincidental to me.
The bbq at Kantin in Super 88 is ok. I like Vinh Sun more, have not tried the place by Hei La Moon yet, though have often wondered....
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Hei La Moon
88 Beach St, Boston, MA 02111
Vinh Sun
58 Beach St, Boston, MA 02111
Kantin
1095 Commonwealth Ave Ste 203, Boston, MA 02215
Biscuits and gravy for breakfast
Very interesting. That part of my family is Scotts-Irish, but they clearly called that "tomato gravy", not "sauce" as non-Italians are wont to do. I wonder if there is some Italian connection to that dish.
Best authentic chinese food in the area?
different tendons from different animals cut differently.....I was impressed. I don't know, may have been a "tendon" restaurant, though I do recall a young man pouring tea from a long-spouted teapot with great precision from several feet away. Based on the food I would not think it's a tourist place though, haha.
As with many things Chinese, it's all about texture, and then infinite variations with their wonderful flavorings....
Market Baskets all the same?
Ok, I've read about these for a long time but never make it to them because I'm in Brookline and car-less. This past weekend had a ride, and went to the one in Ashland. I was beyond disappointed. Aside from a few items that looked like specialy ethnic foods (a very few it seemed, some NY produced Mexican cheeses for example) the place was full of cheap but clearly substandard meats and vegetables. The meat, well.....ahem, I could not buy any of it. And the produce, I was honestly shocked at how poor most of it was. A lot was clearly rotting or well past any freshness, even things like garlic were withered and brown. I checked a couple of the ethnic sections in the aisles and there was nothing special there either.
So what's the buzz? Maybe I am missing something. I clearly understand the economics of shopping at a place like this, and I might stock up on pantry items, but for the rest, I'd steer well clear.
Are they all like that one?
Best authentic chinese food in the area?
Do any of those, or do you know of any places, that serve other tendon dishes? The cold, thin-sliced (or shaved) tendon is great, as is the stewed one from HKE, but now I'm recalling that long ago banquet and want more.....
Biscuits and gravy for breakfast
To add a new dimension....my grandma used to make biscuits everyday (she was from Arkansas), and would sometimes do a gravy like the one we're all talking about here. But mainly she liked to do a "tomato gravy" and serve some fried up fatback alongside, who has ever seen such a thing outside of the South? Minus the fatback this would be a healthier (somewhat, as I am sure it contained a lot of pork fat as well) version of "Biscuits and Gravy".
Homemade Corned Beef Hash-Boston Breakfast
hmmm, sounds interesting. Not many would dare to alter the original, but honestly the other day I was debating about my brekkie and thinking "I want hash, but then I won't get any cheese". Lol. Sounds like this would solve that problem.
I love a good hash, just hate the stuff from a can, and have sadly even been to places that claim to make their own but it obviously came from a can. Busy Bee makes one themselves, and I love it when I need a good greasy spoon fix. They are not open on Sundays though.
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Busy Bee Restaurant
1046 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02446
Best authentic chinese food in the area?
Love that stuff. Actually, I'm a big fan of tendon, and at HKE I usually get the wonton noodle soup with that.
Years ago in Beijing, a friend of mine arranged a banquet dinner for several people attending a conference, and his preferences showed clearly as I kept asking "so, what's this dish?" and he would reply, "umm, that's another tendon dish....". Haha. There was an amazing variety of textures and flavors.
I also dig deep for it in pho when I'm eating that and am disappointed if I don't get any. It always seems that my friends who don't like tendon get all of it and they find it amusing that I want to take it from them.
And I can snack all day on the cold spicy tendon from Taiwan Cafe....
Cooking Octopus followup [moved from Boston board]
I used to believe that the beating/long cooking method was it for octopus, but the superior version I had at Erbaluce was, as clearly described by the bartender, quickly seared on each side, and that's it. It was wonderful, not at all rubbery, lightly browned, and very fresh tasting. Then again, it was a smaller and presumably (though I do not know this) younger creature......
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Erbaluce
69 Church Street, Boston, MA 02116
Fresh Octo at New Deal
yes, it was "baby" .....not tiny, about the size of my hand (toddler? ahem, sorry). Served whole, just cleaned.
Best authentic chinese food in the area?
Acquainted I'd say, and it is true he knows that I am familiar with "real" Chinese food so it's possible the dishes were even tweaked for me. Since it is billed as Shanghainese I wouldn't expect the heat levels to go too high anyway.
But yes, some the items I mention were not on the regular menu, rather part of the new "dim sum" menu. This would not be my choice for authentic Chinese, but if I lived in Wellesley and didn't want to drive too far I think it would be fine. I had the feeling that they were beginning to see that Americanized is not the only way to go, and that the chef can actually cook the real thing if he wants to (I believe this).
Best authentic chinese food in the area?
FWIW I normally stick to the places we all know of as authentic (with a couple of exceptions and as the mood strikes me), but see my recent comment on CK Shanghai http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/659469 and I will stick with my impressions then that the dishes we had were mostly well executed and fit into the "authentic" category well enough to make me happy. Then again, it was my first and only visit there, and I'm not sure how they've done in the past.
