jfung77's Profile
Cantonese Restaurants
Just wondering where you find your dried fermented black beans in the area? I've been looking for the dried ones, but most places - e.g., Hong Kong Market, H-Mart - only seem to stock the bottled sauce.
Thanks in advance.
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H-Mart
3 Old Concord Rd, Burlington, MA 01803
Silk Road BBQ at Kendall?
Thanks for the report Kobuta. I need to remember to check them out. Do you know if they really only there Wednesday through Friday as their website says?
Silk Road BBQ at Kendall?
Their website http://www.silkroadbbq.com/ says they are in Kendall Square on Wednesdays and Fridays around Lunch. Has anyone see them or actually tasted the food? I've had it at the South End Food festival and they are great. I would love to have them in the area.
Recs for nice place in Amesbury/Newburyport area
Thanks for the recs everyone. I decided to give a gift certificate to Ristorante Molise as it's in their town and other web sites gave it the best reviews of all the places listed.
Recs for nice place in Amesbury/Newburyport area
Any recommendations for a nicer, upscale place in the Amesbury or Newburyport area. I am looking to give a $200 or so gift certificate to some friends that have a 3 year old. I would like it to be somewhere where the couple can get away without the kid for a nice, romantic dinner. I don't know their specific tastes or food preferences/allergies, but would assume somewhere with American cuisine or Italian would be fine.
Swissbakers in Reading
I just had SwissBakers cater a function where I work. Everyone loved their pretzel sticks (smaller and more reasonably priced than the regular pretzels), two loaves of bread, the veggie platter, fruit platter and cheese platter. The cheese platter was a selection of about 10 different premium cheeses including pieces of aged parmesan, excellent brie, blue cheese, etc. - this was orders of magnitude better than a Stop & Shop cheese platter and not too pricey - $89 for the platter which they said should feed 30 (we had about 30 people and came no where near to eating it all). The veggie platter had a nice dip that had some curry in the mix, which was well regarded as was some unusual sweet small pepper halves. Overall very good and not too pricey. The only annoying thing is their delivery charge, which is free for the first order and has some sliding scale down from $44 depending on how much you order.
Recs for a solo diner for Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day
If you like Japanese, I just found out that Douzo's is open on Christmas day - usual hours. I find that sushi bars are fine recourses for single dining.
Christmas Eve in Boston: What's open?
I just found out that Douzos is open usual hours for both Christmas eve and Christmas day.
Sick of all food and need a jumpstart
For anyone needing a jumpstart to get interested in food again, I strongly urge you to go to the new H-mart in Burlington on a Saturday or Sunday morning - get there before 11:00 to avoid the traffic jam. This market is amazing with an incredible variety of food that will at least whet your curiosity and jolt your senses. And going on the weekend mornings is best cause they have samples of all sorts of things so you can try before you buy.
Korean food is pretty healthy too - but there is a ton of other non-korean foods including fresh veggies, meats and fish.
Duozo, or Shiki, or .....?
I've been to both several times. I agree with the other posters that Shiki is more oriented to cooked food - e.g., no sushi bar. Though Shikis is very good, for $100 - $120, you'd get great sushi and a great variety from Douzo's which I find to have very fresh and pretty innovative sushi rolls and sushi type appetizers! I'd send him gift certs from Douzos!
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Shiki
9 Babcock Street, Brookline, MA 02446
Douzo
131 Dartmouth St, Boston, MA 02116
Cheapest (good) Fried Chicken for party? Save me from KFC!
For 40 people: Popeye's chicken!! Orders of magnitude better than KFC - though it is also a fast food joint. I haven't been to the one in the Fenway, but been to several in connecticut and they are great. Not very greasy, never dry, and always really crispy and tasty. And have both spicy and non-spicy chicken. Their dirty rice and beans are good too. Their fries are good too, but I don't think they have anything green.
It'll be way cheaper than those other places.
Best things to eat at H-Mart Food court (the one on Cheltenham Ave.)
Thanks Rsgdmd. I've had the kim chee jigae and bibampap there, both of which I thought were decent..
I didn't get to H-mart this weekend, but went to Seo ra Bol instead.
My mother and I had the lunch versions of Soon doo bu Jigae - soft tofu with seafood, jaeyuk bokum - stir fried pork in spicy sauce, and Haedupbap - raw fish with veggies and spicy sauce.
The pork was great - really tasty, lots of pork and nicely spicy. the haedupbap was good, but the soon doo bu jigae was not nearly as good as what you can get at the korean tofu specialty place on 5th street.
Best things to eat at H-Mart Food court (the one on Cheltenham Ave.)
Visiting my mother in Phila. this weekend. What have you eaten at the H-mart food court that you would recommend?
Temple Bar in Cambridge
I went to Temple Bar - on Mass. Ave between Harvard and Porter Squares - planning to just have an appetizer, but the Restaurant Week menu looked so good that I decided to go for it.
I got the: THE COUNTRY SNACK BOARD
HOUSE MADE DUCK LIVER PATE AND HOUSE CURED DUCK HAM, SOUR CHERRY JAM, CAMEMBERT TOASTS
The pate was very nice and velvety and tasty; the duck ham was a little salty and non-descript; but the sour cherry jam was good as were the camembert toasts and the bread basket with baguette slices and also some really good scone/muffin breads.
I got the BRAISED LAMB SHOULDER
ANSON MILL’S “SHARP CHEDDAR” GRITS, GRILLED ZUCCHINI & VERRIL FARM’S HEIRLOOM CHERRY TOMATO PAN SAUCE
for an entree and the grits, which I thought was creamy polenta when eating it, was awesome, and well complemented by the roasted cherry tomatoes and sauce. The lamb was very good though not especially lamby tasting (could have been beef as far as the taste).
I was sitting at the bar and the Bartendress recommended the creme brulee - GINGER & LEMONGRASS CRÈME BRULEE with TOASTED COCONUT MACAROONS - which had a very nice crust of burnt sugar and very creamy custard with a nice accent of ginger. The macaroon was a little dry, but by that point I didn't care.
Very nice overall and service from the bartenders was great.
One thing to note is that their menu on line is not current. So call first if you want something in particular from their online menu.
Large groups, good beer, tasty food in downtown Boston?
Not exactly downtown but T accessible is the Sunset grill and Tap which boasts 300 types of beer and the food is more pub food, but alledgedly good. It's also in poor student territory of Boston University:
http://www.allstonsfinest.com/
http://www.yelp.com/biz/sunset-grill-and-tap-allston
It is on the Green line - I'm sure there are directions of which line and stop on the websites.
Peach Farm Hits Another HR
Do you mind sharing how much the plate of geoduck sashimi is. I know it can be based on how big the clam is, but just wanted a ballpark figure. I love geoduck sashimi, but don't have anyone to share it with.
Restaurants for octogenarians?
I don't know if it meets all of your criteria, but I swear everyone that walks into Jimmy's Steakhouse on Mass. Ave. in Arlington has white hair and uses canes!
Where to find good meaty short ribs
Korean markets will definitely have flanken cut short ribs. Try Reliable Market in Union Square in Somerville or the Korean market (I don't know it's name) on Mass Ave in Cambridge between Mary Chung's and MIT.
UPPER CRUST goin Down
The AAs at my company have ordered pizzas delivered from Upper Crust a few times and I have been appalled at how bad they were. They may be better when served at the restaurant, but they were definitely not worth the price when delivered- they were on par with eating the cardboard boxes they came in. Give me Bertucci's delivery anytime!
Best linguine and clams?
I posted a similar query about a year ago. Here are the recommendations and my personal preferences:
My recommendations:
Giacomos - North and South End locations: Sometimes they are better than other times, but they usually have perfectly al dente linguine, along with chopped clams and whole fresh little necks in the shell. Their sauce is usually quite clammy and incredibly garlicky - dont' go if you don't like garlic. The thing I like most about them is they have a clammy sauce - I only ever get the garlic and oil based sauce. I don't know if it is canned clam juices, but it really makes for a clammy yummalicious sauce. The downside of Giacomo's version is sometimes they overwhelm it with olive oil or butter. The butter is fine, but the olive oil can be overwhelming at times.
My runner up so far is Antico Forno's - as many recommended in my original post. Their version is great because they let the juice from the roasted clams drip onto the covered pasta.
I have tried the linguine and clams at all these other places and none stand out as good as the two places above:
- Daily Catch in the North End - didn't like an odd flavor in the sauce
- Villa Francesa's in the North End - Fresh clams, nothing special
- Pagliuca's - Fresh clams, nothing special
- Vinny's at night - okay, not memorable
- Gran Gusto - small clams in shell, good al dente pasta, but nothing outstanding
- Alta Strada in Wellesley - better than the rest but not as good as Antico Forno or Giacomos.
- Il Paninos on Parmenter st. - good with tomatoes in sauce
- Moulton's in Medford - fresh clams, also just okay.
- Village Fish - the closed one that used to be in Arlington - not the recommended on in Needham - okay with cherrystone clams, but nothing memorable.
Recommended, but not tried by me:
- Terramia's in the North End
- Roccas in the North End?
- Massiminos in the North End
- Jumping Jae's in Portsmouth, NH
Suggestions for Team lunch (12 people) near a Red Line stop?
Looking for suggestions for a moderately priced place for a team lunch (not dim sum) . Preferably within a block or two of a Red line stop (between Alewife and South Station). We have about 12 people and I'd prefer a round table set up where we can talk without having to shout at each other. Any good suggestions. Food doesn't have to be fantastic, but would prefer at least good.
Ship-a-lobster rec's
I always use http://www.thelobsternet.com/. Their listed prices already include shipping and they are good value compared to other companies I've used. I've even gone to Hooks and shipped them myself and I think the lobsternet is cheaper - especially if you're sending 5 or more.
Help with Pizza in Needham
Try Pizzapalooza's silician. 244 Needham st. Newton. Strictly takeout.
One night in Arlington/Lexington/Winchester - where would you go?
Not even worth a takeout order of their wings. Definite the anti-version of what you described - breaded and immediately soggy with a not very interesting buffalo sauce.
Their sandwiches are pretty good and big though. Definitely not a date-night place.
when is Xiao Long Bao not Xiao Long Bao?
I can definitely appreciate the possibility that both of these items are what is typical of Beijing/Northern cuisine rather than the Taiwanese or Shanghainese versions of these items, which appears to be more typical in most area restaurants that serve them. But in either case, they weren't nearly as tasty as they could have been.
btw, I did get zha Jiang spicey pork noodle soup from Sichuan Gourmet in Billerica yesterday and it was spicey and delicious!
when is Xiao Long Bao not Xiao Long Bao?
when you get it at Qingdao Garden! At least not like any other XLB I've ever had.
Just had lunch there today where the menu says Hometown Dim Sum - Weekend Family Dim Sum. The first item is Steamed Meat Bun and I asked the waitress - is this xiao long bao and she said yes and I even heard her say xiao long bao to the cook.
What I got were basically steamed char siu bao-like buns with ground pork in them - i.e., thick, steamed bread around a not very juicy meatball. Not bad, but definitely not like the XLB at Joe's Shanghai or New Green Bao in NYC, or at Taiwan Cafe, or Mary Chung's little steamer buns or like anywhere else I've had them.
I also got the Peking Meat sauce noodles, which was also unlike anything else that I've ever had. I prefer the Zha Jiang Noodle Soup with Pork & Spicy Sauce version at Sichuan Gourmet in Billerica. Qingdao's had a non-spicey, dark, ground pork sauce with diced fresh cucumbers on wheat noodles and no soup!
Not bad, not great, but not at all what I was looking for. Guess I'll have to just try their dumplings next time.
is Four Burgers in Central Sq open yet?
Where on Mass Ave is it? (It's not in google maps yet). What is it near? Thanks in advance.
Santarpio's, best in a while!
My partner and I also stopped at Santarpio's last night 6/8/8 after dropping off a relative at Logan. It was about 6PM on Sunday. No wait and Our food was great! I was also a little worried on walking in as we went by tables with those orange colored pizzas that looked dried out and reminded me of cardboard pizza that I have had the misfortune of consuming in the past.
But we ordered the combo sausage and lamb appetizer and both were perfectly tasty and grilled nicely. The lamb in particular was perfectly done and nicely lamby tasting.
Then our pizza arrived - we got one with sausage, garlic and half hot cherry peppers - and instead of the dried out orangey ones we saw on other tables, ours was glistening white with cheese, moist with the perfect amount of sauce, a huge amount of hot peppers (perhaps more than most would like) and the sausage, though not abundant, was good. And the crust was nice and crispy. Overall the pizza was delish as was the appetizer. We also got a bottle of the Sensi chianti which was an excellent wine for $16, though served with water glasses.
Overall I was really happy my DC wanted to go to Santarpios - since I had been craving it since reading the original post on this topic. It didn't disappoint us!
