fishmanator's Profile
Help me plan my own chocolate tour!
If you have any interest in places a little further away, Byrne and Carlson in Portsmouth, NH is the best in the region for high quality, in-house produced chocolate.
Their factory is in Kittery though. And you can get their chocolate locally at Formaggio
Savin Bar and Kichen (old Donovan's space) opening soon
Banner up saying opening soon and they were bringing furniture in yesterday. Same people as McKenna's so hopefully it will be just as good a value and consistent/friendly.
http://www.savinbarandkitchen.com/
Bourbon Ice Cream Question
I think your idea it good as well. I might suggest for the "smoosh-in" actually freezing (sticking it in the freezer, it wont freeze) the bourbon then processing a smaller amount of the ice cream (rather than sweetened cream) with ALL of the bourbon and then smooshing that into the rest.
新年快乐Where to take four 6'2" Fraternity Brothers for the Lunar New Year
Did you see if they had (can't remember Mandarin name) "shredded dough". I had it at a restaurant in Taiwan and it was a rolled puff pastry-like dough, griddled and then shredded. Just plain wheat dough with lard. Can't find it or the name for the life of me.
Also, how did you find the prices/value?
Bourbon Ice Cream Question
You cannot make it at home without an ice cream maker (which are quite affordable BTW).
You could try adding ice cream (vanilla) and bourbon in a food processor and then refreezing. Just don't add too much bourbon and don't mix too long (you don't want it too melt). The more commercial the ice cream, most likely the better the result as you will get better re-freezing with added stabilizers and higher overrun.
momofuku noodle bar type places in boston???
I had the noodles at the shop in that Times picture at 7AM. One of the top breakfast in my life.
Kefir grains?
trying to find some too
http://www.torontoadvisors.com/Kefir/kefir-list.php
Mixed review for Tupelo
I do mine with a corn porridge. Corn meal and a decent amount of hot water (let sit), eggs, salt, fat + cast iron pan really hot, then into oven. If I have jalepenos, ok, maybe some cheese. No sugar.
Mixed review for Tupelo
Last night my wife and I had dinner at Tupelo. We also ate there a few months ago for brunch.
While brunch was good, dinner was a disappointment. The fried oysters as an app were the highlight of the meal. They tasted fresh, properly seasoned and were served with a piquant dipping sauce. They also came with cumin/ginger pickles which were quite good.
Everything else was OK or bad. The cornbread served with dinner was cloyingly sweet served with unsalted, cheap butter. I had the pan-fried catfish which was properly cooked and fresh although under seasoned. It was served on unremarkable mashed potatoes with a roux or cornstarch thickened jalapeño sauce that was muddy and mushy. There might have been 2 pieces of mustard greens under the fish.
My wife had the chicken legs/thighs with black eyed peas and mustard greens. The chicken was undercooked, stringy, cooked at too low a temp so the skin was slimy and not crisp as well as being incredibly over salted. The peas were well cooked but again, quite salty. The mustard greens were tasty but portion size was small.
Overall, prices were reasonable to a tad bit high. Service was friendly and prompt.
For brunch I had the chicken and waffles which were excellent. My wife had a quiche/egg dish that was OK.
Maybe it is a case of too many chefs in the kitchen, I have no idea. There is clearly someone talented in the back however there is no excuse for over salted food and no excuse for undercooked chicken. If you can tell when you pull the chicken out of the oven that it isn't right, what do you put it on the plate? And bad cornbread is just a shame.
I wont go back again but I wouldn't advise others not to go. Just order carefully I guess.
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Tupelo
1193 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA
A little culture?
Just saw your post, you are welcome to some of mine if you want. It's active and in Dorchester by UMass.
New(ish) Guatemalan Bakery in Dorchester
Unless they have changed hands, they have been there for at least a year or more. I have gone there a couple of times but not recently. Food was OK but if you are craving Guatemalan food it definitely works.
Donovan's (Savin Hill)
I live 4 minutes from Donovan's and I share your wishes astrid. I would just add a request for one room without TV's. And an offering of a carafe of cheap, decent house wine. And to turn the burnt rubble/hole to the right of it into a patio. And Harpoon White on tap. That's it for now.
Exchange Street Bistro in Malden now has the chef from Zon's...anyone been?
I work in Malden, and I used to really enjoy a meal at Zon's.
Went there Friday night, got the burger and fries, my "I'm hesitant to order anything else" meal of choice. The burger was quite large, cooked properly but everything else was mediocre. Fries were pre-frozen, the cheese sauce that was included was bad and unnecessary, the caramelized onions (more of an onion confit) that were included were good but overpowered the burger so i had to scrape them off. The rolls that they threw in were pre-frozen as well and were served with some sort of "butter-spread".
That being said, it looks like they have a fantastic happy hour from 4-7 with super cheap food and drinks, the people were nice and the prices for food were fair to slightly pricey.
They need to shrink their menu and improve quality, then I will be back.
Tortillas/GOOD Mexican food in either Cambridge or Malden?
As there aren't really that many Mexicans in Boston, there isn't that much Mexican food.
I know of no place making tortillas in bulk with lard. That would not acceptable to any company's customer base here in Boston.
No-sugar ice cream without splenda?
Out of curiosity, why do you want aspartame but not sucralose?
Are you ruling out honey or agave?
What about fresh fruit sorbets?
Good latin (super)market in greater Boston area?
I would say the Chelsea Market Basket is the best option,
Cookie-Cutter Cool?
Look at the clientele around Inman, itinerants with too much money.
From your posts it seems like you haven't quite figured out Boston. Lower your standards or as one wise chowhounder put it "expectations are premeditated resentments".
Fishmanator
East Coast Grill - dinner report, 11/7/09
Myself and the SO went there last night. We were quite disappointed especially considering the positive opinions we had heard about the restaurant. After reviewing some of the opinions on the board about the place, it looks like our experience wasn't too far out of the ordinary.
Drinks were terrible. Their hard iced tea was weird tasting. I asked about ti and they said there was allspice in it. I had some punch that went down easy enough but wasn't worth the $8. And I also had a taste of the pepper martini because I was thinking about ordering it and I almost vomited. Yay!
Apps were OK. Oysters were fine but somewhat expensive at $2.15 apiece. Mango should never be put into a mignonette sauce. The Raw Tuna Poke would have been much better if they didn't cover up the flavor of the very nice tuna with what tasted like bottled ginger dressing.
Main course was awful. Tuna tacos with WAYYYY too much cumin and cheapo FLOUR!!!!! tortillas and some sort of weird sour dressing. Why do they have to ruin the nice fish? I had Burnt Ends BBQ sandwich. Everything about it and the sides that were served with it were terrible. Watermelon, in November, really?
Service was fine. Prices seemed reasonable to a bit high. We won't be going back.
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East Coast Grill and Raw Bar
1271 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139
Best chocolates?
How do you know so much about the Boston food scene? I am jealous of your knowledge bank.
On that cheese shop post from awhile ago, have you ever tried rubiners out in great barrington? I have heard they have nice chocolate as well from a small place in brooklyn.
Best chocolates?
I used to work in chocolate. Richart is much better than the others you mention but they still are more of a vendor rather than a on-site fabricator. They could be compared to Maison du Chocolate.
It is like comparing TGI Fridays to PF Changs. A difference of price category, not idea.
Check out the places I mentioned. You will be more than impressed.
Casey's Diner, Publick House
It is quite odd. The beers there are great but the food is foul. I don't get it.
Turkish delight
One turkish store in Allston carries it and the usual stores out in watertown but it is crappy boxed stuff. I would love to find some good stuff as well.
Best chocolates?
I would say that there is really no top shelf chocolate in Boston. The stores we have here carry either fairly corporate, factory based products or amateur productions. Byrne and Carlson in Kittey, ME is the best in the region. Garrison confections in Providence, RI does only mail order most of the year but they are excellent as well.
Mrs. Jones
Another thumbs up from me for Mrs. Jones. Their collards are very good as well. Mrs. Jones will also happily converse with you about her food.
SPEED'S Not the SAME
The “loaded” version is topped with a spicy brown and honey mustard mix, barbecue sauce, cranberry relish, chopped Vidalia onions and a chili-like sauce. To create a cavity to hold all those toppings, Gale slices the top of the hot dog length wise and sits it in a toasted sub roll made by Quinzani Bakery of Boston.
Sorry I got the price wrong. I remembered giving him a $10 for a hotdog, soda and tip.
Hazelnut flour?
I made a batch of Hazelnut macarons at Aroa a couple of moths ago. They had a giant tub of flour and I would be surprised if they wouldn't sell you some for personal use.
SPEED'S Not the SAME
I have to agree. The place just does not live up to the hype. Dry dog with weird cranberry relish, for 8 bucks.
