grg's Profile
New Restaurant Coming to Inman Square
went there a week ago (on opening night), won't be back.
the menu is best described as "pan-asian" but the food is best described as "bland-american". tried tom yum soup, which needed a lot more flavor; we ended up getting some limes and hot sauce to add some taste ourselves. ordered "spring rolls" which arrived - surprise - deep fried, filled only with some sort of pureed paste (the menu's entire description is "seafood or vegetarian"). ordered "unagi w/avocado" from the nigiri menu, and were served unagi w/avocado maki (after inquiring, the explanation was that 2-ingredient nigiri is impossible to make, so of course it only comes as maki) which was fine, though we thought the sauce they squirted over it was too sweet.
we were hoping to see some ramen or udon or soba; they have none of that. it looks like they've geared up to be a sushi & cocktail bar primarily. didn't try the cocktails (ordered a couple of drinks but due to opening night glitches they didn't have the ingredients to be able to make either, eventually we gave up) so we can't comment there. the one maki we tried suggested it could be an average sushi joint. but based on our other dishes I don't have much hope for the rest of the menu.
Shangri-la in Belmont -- what to order?
at the weekend dim sum brunch, two excellent options are:
* taiwanese pork bun with pickle
* 5-spice beef in crispy sesame bun
both are consistently delicious.
Easter Dinner in Port Douglas
I'm pretty sure I showed up for my reservation in jeans and a button-down, and if my trail running shoes weren't white it was only because of all the trail dust on them. ;) They didn't seem to have any problem with that whatsoever.
Maybe that marks me as an american tourist several seconds before I would otherwise be so identified, but hey, I'm a tourist from america. The best I can hope is to be a nice, polite, dignified one. :)
FWIW, we found Nautilus to be extremely friendly and gracious, even to an obvious american tourist, in addition to being delicious. I didn't rave enough about it in my original post here, but they really did have exceptionally friendly & helpful service - they'd interrupt whatever they were doing to handle our requests promptly, they had amazing communication in the back with each staff member who talked to up updating every other one with everything we said & needed, they were attentive to the table without hovering at all, and they followed our lead in the level of friendliness we wished. (Why I say all this: we wandered in apparently through the side and a busboy noticed us, asked us to wait there for a sec & immediately brought the maitre d' over, who had the reservation list and helped us straight to our table, orienting us along the way; our server quickly showed up & she already knew the small talk we'd had with the busboy about the air travel troubles; when she saw we appreciated the mint sorbet she brought an additional round of mandarin orange sorbet (which was her favorite); etc.. In other places, the busboy would have ignored us, since people aren't his job; or he would have told us to go to the maitre d' instead of bringing her over; or the maitre d' would have taken us back to the entrance because that's where you check in, etc. - every choice was made correctly for our comfort & convenience. Really impressively & consistently good.)
[BTW susaninsf, your second post on 4mar says that in your earlier thread you were more concerned with the host looking to the room "and" looking you up&down, but reading the thread you referenced I think you meant "than" looking you up&down? the original thread doesn't mention the host scoping out your attire at all, and you just wondered if it were attire or a $20 which was the problem...]
the best food in Israel?
Uri Buri in Acco (just up the coast a bit from Haifa, with a nice view of Haifa - also written as Acre or Akko) is a delicious seafood restaurant. They do a very good job with fish and seafood both, ranging from raw to cooked-just-right (for calibration, I find most "standard" places overcook seafood and fish a little bit (and sometimes a lot)). Each dish is a relatively simple and fresh combination of two or three well-paired flavors. Get their "tasting menu," which means they keep serving different items until you give in. FWIW, I know several Haifa residens who say that it's the best restaurant in Haifa (even though it's not actually in Haifa).
Uri Buri is a little on the expensive side - with wine & dessert it came to about 250 sheckels/person. You might want reservations (04-9552212), as it's not a large place and is fairly popular. Their dinner hours seemed a touch on the early side (cleared out by 9:30 or 10). They're located right by the lighthouse in old Acco (address is "Light House Place"); Acco is a reasonable train ride from Tel Aviv, and old Acco is an interesting place to look around for a day.
I see there's a longer post also mentioning Uri Buri (with one naysayer): http://www.chowhound.com/topics/266162
Also near Haifa is a place I've heard about but haven't been to called Rak Knafeh ("just knafeh"), between Haifa & Dalia El Carmel. Said to be the best knafeh in Israel, it has very limited days of operation and hours on those days (closes when they run out of the batch they made for the day), so you should do some research before showing up. (Knafeh/knafe/kanafeh/kunafeh/etc is a sweet arabic dessert with shredded phyllo, white cheese, and syrup; apparently their version is delicious and not sickeningly sweet like most.)
Amsterdam with baby - help!
I passed the question on to friends who just did the same thing; here's what Audrey had to say:
Gosh, this was a difficult feature of Amsterdam. Lots of stairs and small spaces.
Cafes that were okay during the day were Walem (smoky, but NO stairs) and the Bagels and Beans chain.
All of these places except Walem required 2 people to get the stroller up at least a small amount of stairs.
We did not find any place that wowed us and that we were able to get into with a stroller.
EXCEPT the chocolate tea room Pompadour - the original one with the interior imported from Antwerp, around the 9 streets area. I walked past on my own with the stroller and drooled but had to wait for my husband to join me to actually go in, and then we were both very glad we did. Only chocolates and pastries, though.
The only place besides Walem I was able to go to on my own with the stroller was a large department store in the big old square (whose name I can't remember, but it's easy to find). It had a couple of places to eat on several floors, and a working elevator, and wireless internet I believe. Not particularly delicious, but manageable in a city without many options for this circumstance.
Easter Dinner in Port Douglas
I highly recommend Nautilus, which provided our best meal in Australia. Their signature whole coral trout is outstanding - lightly spiced, tenderly cooked and topped with a tropical fruit chutney. The crabs and bugs are also great; can't vouch for their skill with turf (would you order a roast chicken at a place called Nautilus?). I forget if it came with the dessert or was just a palate cleanser, but after dinner they brought out the best mint sorbet we've ever had - wish I knew their trick. Service is attentive and appropriate, the setting is beautiful. Reservations are necessary (make them now!); get a table out on the patio among the palm trees and ferns under the stars.
Moscow
Na Melnitse has very good authentic Russian food in a slightly gimmicky setting (water wheel and fowl inside). they have a couple locations, see namelnitse.ru.
Tiflis had a pretty complete set of good Georgian food; I think they also have a couple locations?
First time to St Petersburg
Highly recommend the blini shop Samovar for lunch. It's a neighborhood cafe, much better than the other blini we had there, and according to my native Russian companion as good as homemade. Ulitsa Gorokhovaya 27, near Kazanskaya. A few blocks off Nevsky Prospekt and well worth the trip. I don't think they do English; but you can just point at the fillings on the counter if you can't translate off the Russian menu.
Kavkaz Cafe/Restaurant/Bar has decent Georgian, if a little touristy. Ulitsa Karavannaya 18. They have an English menu and take credit cards.
Dvorianskoe Gnezdo is a dotingly fancy french-russian restaurant. A tasty conservative high-end meal; for $200pp you can get similar food anywhere in the world, though DG does offer the novelty of having bear meat or beluga in some of their dishes.
Bob the Chef replacement
coast cafe on river st in cambridge. take-out, or camp out on their two stools.
Breakfast in Harvard Square
I second upstairs, and will add that casablanca always puts together a very well-executed brunch.
the harvest has a somewhat pricier prix fixe brunch which I haven't tried yet, but which I expect would also be good.
What's all the fuss about Jose's in Cambridge?
no fuss here, though to my surprise I had some tasty pozole one night at jose's.
sushi in harvard square?
we gave bluefin another shot yesterday, and probably hit an 80% night. the squid and scallop were very good, the clam and tuna were a little sub-par. the maki & nigiri assembly was unimpressive (I know, now I'm getting more picky than I have the right to expect) - soggy nori, loose sushi. but none of the fish was old and gross, so it was at least better than my accumulated traumatic memory. :)
blue fin's portions were smaller and cheaper than takemura. even within this one meal I feel like takemura is more consistent; blue fin's scallop and squid were quite good and better than what takemura usually serves, but the rest of it wasn't quite as good as takemura. overall they're both decent meals and I'll have to do some more comparisons to call it anything other than a tie.
honestly just curious: have the hounds who recommend blue fin in this thread also tried takemura and found it to be clearly inferior to blue fin?
New Year's Eve & Caviar
just for the record, the result on the paddlefish caviar was "eh."
it was fine and we certainly ate it all; it was fresh and cared for, so bazaar did their job. we just weren't so excited about this particular product itself - a bit metallic, thick, and lifeless. for my $40 at bazaar I'd rather have 2lb of great salmon caviar. :}
Meh tacos from Taqueria la Mexicana; what should I have ordered?
if it's within your limits, TLM's tongue tacos are really superb (much better than Lupita's).
other than tacos, I'll echo the recommendations above for chiles rellenos and tamales, plus their "chicken mole" dish (it's not what I think of as a mole, but it's really good anyway).
I've been going to TLM for a dozen years or more and haven't noticed any slide in quality. and aren't they really just mexican, rather than mexican/salvadorean? don't see how they could even pretend to be salvadorean without pupusas. ;)
New Year's Eve & Caviar
in addition to the pre-packaged jars, bazaar has three types of salmon caviar they sell by the pound ($10/lb, $16/lb, and $20/lb). you can ask to try all three of them and pick your caviar and your amount. I find these to be better than the caviar in the jars. I usually end up getting the $20/lb, but occasionally the $16/lb is better (today it was too salty, so I got a pound of the $20 as usual).
for black caviar, I think they may not carry surgeon caviar, but they do have black paddlefish caviar (n.america's answer to sevruga). got some today for the first time ($40/2oz), haven't tried it yet so can't offer any opinion.
sushi in harvard square?
fwiw, I think Takemura is much better than the other two, but that's more because the other two are exceptionally bad than because Takemura is particularly good. Takemura isn't a contender for Boston's best sushi but it does deliver an acceptable meal; in contrast, you'd do better at Star Market's sushi bar than at Cafe Sushi or Shilla.
Koreana just outside Central Sq is not too far afield and isn't bad, but I think Takemura is better.
I've had enough memorably disappointing sushi (pretty far from fresh) at Blue Fin that I avoid it now, but I know I'm in the minority.
Milan -- Last Supper
assuming this is meant to be the La Scaletta at piazzale stazione genova 3, at the train station plaza (facing the bus/trolley front entrace to the train station), the restaurant at that address says la scaletta closed years ago.
best tacquerias
I'm a fan of lengua tacos, and find Taqueria La Mexicana's lengua consistently and clearly preferable to Lupita's. TLM's has a richer flavor and is softer; lupita's is more bland and sometimes a little rubbery.
Best BBQ?
I second the "too much sugar" assessment - everything I've had there was far too sweetened. Meat, beans, slaw, cornbread, sauce - I think of it as Uncle Pete's House of Corn Syrup.
"Oversweetened" has always been my review of Pete's, but we seem to be the only two.
deep fried whole fish?
"Spice" thai restaurant in harvard sq. has a decent whole fried sea bass in a tamarind & chili sauce too. it's deep fried with a ood crisp exterior, tangily sweet, spicy and sour.
Where to buy Vermont Maple Syrup for Christmas gifts????
not from VT (why is that a requirement??), but I've had some delicious maple syrup from berkshiresweetgold.com. they seem to be fanatically artisanal maple producers, doing only single-batch harvests and wild fermentation. I think it varies a lot with the batch, but their flavor palette is rich and subtle - nutty, buttery, earthy, floral, and more. interestingly, they say the color grade is determined not by how much they cook it down but by the weather and wild yeast & bacteria at the time they harvest.
it's not cheap, but it's only about the level of a midrange wine. we'd all get a bottle of wine for a meal or for a gift, and it doesn't last as long as maple syrup. (and that's enough rationalizing for me! :)
just don't tell them you'll be putting it on pancakes or you might not get any.
Less "well done" omelettes?
I've only had it twice, but Casablanca has made impressive poached eggs in a weekend breakfast.
Taqueria La Mexicana in Somerville
IMHO they have the best tamales around; I like the pork when eating in but I find that the ground beef reheats better. You can get a bag of frozen tamales to keep at home for when the urge hits.
Chiles rellenos are also excellent. The heat level varies basd on the batch of chiles they get, but there's almost always a nice warmth to them. I like pork or chorizo.
Their catering menu has "mole with chicken;" I'm not sure you can get it to eat in. While it's not what I'm used to for mole sauce (or for chicken, which they serve mostly shredded), it's delicious - I can't stop eating it when it's around.
For tacos and burros, I always choose the tongue. It's tenderly stewed and nicely seasoned and oh-so-yummy. I realize not everyone is willing to try it, but I recommend it to anyone who is.
As fenian said, guacamole is well above average, though it's more to my taste after I've spiced it up with some hot sauce (most guacamoles are beyond help). They also have a nice tomatillo-based salsa verde (mild). Their flan is a tasty and filling finish to any meal.
Sorry if I'm rambling, this has been my favorite taco dive for many years. Tacos Lupita can't be beat for salvadorean dishes like their pupusas, but where they overlap (mexican) I prefer Taqueria La Mexicana. (addendum: I don't go for tortas, so omit that from my comparison.)
Taqueria La Mexicana: http://www.lataqueria.com/
Tacos Lupita: http://www.tacoslupita.com/
Crispy Pad Thai in Somerville/Cambridge
And I haven't tried it, but noticed this weekend that Smile Thai Cafe in Harvard Sq. also offers it on their menu. They have some tasty dishes to offer, so it may be worth a try. http://www.smilethaicafe.com/
Cape scallops are in, goodbye Fresh Pond Seafood
For lobsters don't forget about Alive and Kicking! And you can get their excellent lobster sandwich (don't call it a roll!) to tide you over until yours are out of the pot.
Even has an expensive Whole Foods nearby, just like Fresh Pond does (did?).
Russo's today
I find Russo's to be hands-down the best source of vegetables in the area. However, while they have a fairly wide fruit selection I've never been impressed with the quality of their fruit. It's fine, but almost never delicious - it's usually not quite ripe enough, not quite fresh enough, not quite sweet or juicy enough.
Can anyone recommend a source of consistently delicious fruits?
Crispy Pad Thai in Somerville/Cambridge
I've always enjoyed the crispy PT at jae's (jaescafe.com).
gone from inman sq :(, but still in the south end, brookline, and north adams.
Shangri-la recs?
At yesterday's "dim sum" brunch the star was a Taiwanese Steamed Bun With Shredded Pork And Pickle. It was a sandwich made from a sweet dumpling bun cut in half, with salty BBQed pork, a sour pickle, a sweet mix of crushed peanut & sugar, and cilantro. Kept all the taste buds entertained - absolutely delicious.
Also good was Spicy Beef in Crispy Sesame Bun, another sandwich with sliced beef and scallions on dense layered fried sesame dough. Not nearly the flavor sensation of the first dish, but good in its own hearty way.
Disclaimer: I didn't make a point of remembering the exact names, so take the names here as a liberal reinterpretation. The beef/sesame bun was one of the numbered items on the menu, but the taiwanese bun sandwich was in an unnumbered addendum.
