pocketviking's Profile
Cambridge Restaurant for Easter Brunch/Lunch with 87 year old Mom
Bergamot might be good. Great food, room, service, parking and acoustics.
Ancient Grandparents and Easily-bored Teen: Saturday Dinner
Yes, like the Northern Star. Thanks!
Ancient Grandparents and Easily-bored Teen: Saturday Dinner
Thanks, Blumie! You made the same suggestion last fall and we're good to go. Love Rendezvous, and the kid'll enjoy checking out the Central Square scene with or without the old folks. Perfect!
Ancient Grandparents and Easily-bored Teen: Saturday Dinner
Thanks for the suggestions, and I apologize to whole Boston Chow Board for posting the same question twice within a year! Forbearance appreciated.
Am liking Bergamot not only because of food but general comfort (acoustics, chairs, easiest parking around) - and it's blocks from my house.
For any of you who aren't bored to tears by this question which has more to do with family dynamics than food, any ideas for the outdoor mall known as Harvard Square? Teens love malls, and the rest of us love the Square. Harvest seems like a good bet but suggestions welcome.
Ancient Grandparents and Easily-bored Teen: Saturday Dinner
S.O.S., Hounds! Am looking for a place (preferably in Cambridge, but Boston fine) that works for antiques and a teenager who's...a teenager. Thankfully, we're all omnivores - eat everything but fish lips and chicken feet. Also, cost not important as we'll pay almost anything to make this night work--though the priciest places aren't necessarily the best in this case. Looking for good food of any type, comfortable seating, low decibels, easy parking (street or valet) & ambiance with enough energy to keep the kid off Facebook in between courses. Ideas?
Saturday Night w/Teenager and Old Folks: Cambridge Area
Hey Hounds, am in need of inspiration! Am looking for a place to take a 15-year-old (who would rather be XBoxing) out to dinner with his grandparents. Need easy parking (valet fine), comfortable chairs, low decibels, reliable service and, of course, good food of any kind--all adventurous eaters. Any ideas?
Where can I get good sourdough on the Cambridge side of the river?
Yes. Both Porter Square and Beacon Street carry Iggy's Francese and whole-wheat sourdough, an excellent pre-sliced loaf that sells out really fast!
Quinoa in rice cooker??
I have the same type of rice cooker, and cook just about every grain in it. I find that 1.5 cups water: 1 quinoa results in a fluffy, never-mushy quinoa.
Not happy with Trader Joe's coffee.
Pleasant Morning Buzz from Whole Foods might fit the bill. Always in stock and beans reliably fresh.
Good food along I-84?
Am driving from VT to Michigan at warp speed with a 13-year-old. Anyone have suggestions for fun lunch/dinner spots along Rt 84? Scranton area & Punxatawney (spelling?) are targets. Thanks!
Board favorite restaurant veggie burgers?
Veggie burgers are usually great or the opposite--little middle ground--so they make a risky order. Thanks, desuka, for this useful post!
The Druid and Four Burgers are two favorites. I agree with yarm about the Middle East's version, though not everyone will love their spice-spin.
Current consensus on best "everyday" sushi?
Cafe Sushi in Cambridge turns out exceptional everyday sushi & I don't know why they don't show up on these boards more. Maybe the name? The fact that they're in a wildly ugly building (along with Dolphin Seafood, New Asia, Zoey's)? Anyway, their fish is wonderful, and reasonably priced. [FYI: Nigiri is $1 on Sunday nights.]
Great Cilantro Dishes?
Mulan makes a fabulous beef w/cilantro. They throw in lots of slivered ginger and some jalapeno (I think it's jalapeno). Delicious.
Good Nachos: Where?
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone & for the link, too, S'ASR.
Good Nachos: Where?
Have spent a fair amount of time in Albuquerque, where it takes effort to get through a day of restaurant meals without eating some combo of chips, guacamole, pico de gallo, cheese, sour cream & jalapeno (fresh and/or pickled). Result: I'm addicted to these things & a simple plate of nachos is the ideal way to mainline them.
The best I've had around here lately have been at Redbones (nice surprise!). Cambridge Common and Qdobo tie for the worst; the former used bell peppers (why?) and the latter, liquid cheese, a sprinkle of cold cheddar and drenchingly wet pinto beans. Cantina Mexicana fell in the middle (lots of cilantro, but zero fresh tomato).
Any other hapless addicts have good tips?
Farmers' Markets, CSAs, etc week of 6/15/09
Thanks for info, yumyum. It's a relief to know that I missed religion, not food!
Let's talk Cambridge
Have never left MB without what I bought, but I did get a weird bonus last week: a 10-pack of noxious lemon-scented garbage bags. Who knew?
Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier, Kittery Point, ME - June 2009 report
I've been going to Chauncey Creek for decades and love it, though crowds & mosquitoes are non-trivial problems. If going for dinner, early is best and bug spray's a must by July 4. We bring salad, great bread, wine or beer, sometimes candles & order steamers, lobsters, fries & corn if in season. It's probably not so good or fun (for dinner, especially) if you don't kick in some of your picnic favorites.
Suggestions for best prix-fixe mid-week dinner?
EVOO really is a great experience. Went last night & everyone was happy. Favorites from the prix fixe were the steamed clam app. with tasso ham and white beans, the strawberry gazpacho and the diver scallops & all four desserts at the table: lemon tart & strawberry-rhubarb cobbler were exceptional, & the warm chocolate cake and the sassparilla (sp?) sorbet were v good. A la carte, the fried oyster app and the tenderloin with out-of-this-world orange bernaise.
Farmers' Markets, CSAs, etc week of 6/15/09
Can't believe I missed the goats! And who were the 5-6 guys in orange t-shirts and turbans? They were setting up tables with rows of soda as I was leaving--was so curious but had to run! That market's hoppin'.
Got there early because we are now addicted to B&R's pain levain, a giant 12-inch round of sourdough deliciousness available by the full or half loaf, & B&R's been selling out well before the end of the market. Love it so much I haven't tried any of their other breads--all tempting.
The best thing I found at the markets this week was a bunch of amazingly thin scallions from Dick's. In chow measurement, the fattest one was about one-sixth the width of an average disposable chopstick. They were delicious straight & amazing just cut in half & thrown into a chicken-shred stir-fry.
Let's talk Cambridge
WFs on River Street is pretty comprehensive & is where I shop most. Smtucker's right about Market Basket: it's excellent. In fact, even the produce section gets better and better as WF's IMO gets worse. Avoid peak shopping times, though--the parking lot gets insane (um, arrests aren't uncommon). Harvest Coop is great for spices (especially when you need tiny amounts) and Shalimar, the Indian grocery a few doors down, sells enormous bags of 20-25 types of spice (i.e., cumin, pepper flakes, mustard seed) for a song. They also stock hard-to-find things like fresh lime leaves.
Also, for the next 5 months, there are farmers' markets just about every day of the week within a 2-mile radius of your new place.
Farmers' Markets, CSAs, etc week of 6/15/09
Davis Square was pretty good today but oddly quiet--as were the Central Square and Cambridgeport markets last week. Maybe the economy, proliferation of markets and CSAs are having effects on market biz?
Kimball Farms has lovely hothouse tomatoes & strawberries. Crystal Brook's goat cheese ($6 for 6 oz.) is very good--bought the chive-rolled log for the 2nd week in a row. Also picked up a very pricey package of smoked salmon from Nantucket Wild Gourmet & hope it's as good as it looks. Hi-Rise had some trouble with their sourdough starter this AM so didn't have their Huron loaf but hope to get it and their fabulous flute in by mid-afternoon.
Ok, I'll give you 4 dollars, where are you going to spend it for lunch. And here's the catch- no pizza.
Chicken taco at Tacos Lupita--just $2.50 & quasi-healthy. Chunks of carmelized chicken stand up to raw, rough-chopped onion, & there's plenty of tomato & cilantro. Usually, taco is served with a lime wedge & jalapeno hot sauce, both of which are essential, so ask if one of the hard-working servers forgets.
Also, know that this is the kind of place that rewards regulars. The more I go there--even for a measly single-taco order--the bigger my taco gets. Heaven!
Let's talk Cambridge
Wow! It's nice to reminded of the sheer volume of good food here.
I'd add the Blue Room and Mulan in Kendall, and Mary Chung's in Central to this impressive roster. All-Star Sandwich Bar might work since you're a Bartley's guy.
North End Bummer
MC Slim! I agree with you on the buyer-beware front, but surely it's o.k. for a hound to write in to say that a meal flat-out s___ed without apologizing for having been idiot enough to order it. Tepid, qualified reviews of really awful restaurants/dishes make Chowhound less useful.
Rant continued: the North End can make most hungry diners stupid. Long lines at one place can make it tempting to walk down the block toward, say, that '50s accordian music and the menu-flak who's a dead-ringer for Paulie Walnuts.
Maybe we should be talking about the best & worst of the North End. Has that been done lately?
Ultra-clean but Chowish places ?
Mulan (Taiwanese) on Broadway in Cambridge is immaculate, inexpensive & really good. As far as I know, the owners/staff don't have OCD but a diner who does would probably be happy there.
White radish cake (萝卜糕)
The only place I've found them is at the Buddhist Center tearoom on Mass. Ave in Cambridge. Their white radish cakes are called turnip cakes (even though they're made with daikon) & are quite good. They serve them there but will also sell them frozen if they're not running too low.
Looking for the best cuban sandwich
Amen, says the athiest. In fact, everything I've had at Olecito has been good, really good. How great would it be if Ole reworked their menu, kept their liquor license and served some of their Olecito food (even at a mark-up)? Fantastic. [Athiest is praying.]
Week of 6/1: Farmers' Markets reports
I hit Central on Monday & it was sparse--not all the vendors show this early. There were lots of plants (really great herbs), mounds of greens, strawberries, some hothouse tomatoes, Hi-Rise and another bakery whose name escapes me, and a meat seller. Not bad for so early in the season!
