blink617's Profile
DD's Bavarian Cream donut, extinct?
I had a not-as-good-as-Tim-Hortons-but-close sour cream donut at one of the Dunkin Donuts in Brighton about two weeks ago (the DD that used to have the really retro sign, I forget what street it's on).
I had never before seen a sour cream donut at DD, so I had to buy one. But then Passover started, so I haven't had a chance to investigate whether there were other DDs selling sour cream donuts.
Solo lunch - Cambridge / Somerville / Arlington?
I have a rare afternoon to myself, and was thinking about going out to lunch. This hasn't happened in a long time, so I was thinking about trying somewhere new. Where would you go for lunch by yourself in the general vicinity of North Cambridge? Spicy food and counter service are good (I don't like doing sit-down restaurants by myself). I don't eat pork, but am otherwise open to meat or vegetarian food. The weather is good enough that takeout might be okay too.
Boston's best for cheap
La Summa is great.
For Middle Eastern, skip the Red Fez and go to Brookline for some falafel at Rami's.
Casual, affordable, vegetarian friendly
It's been a little while since I went to Istanbul'lu, but last time I was there they had plenty of entrees in the $10-$20 range, and you could get a great sandwich for dinner on the lower end of that.
Seven Star Street Bistro
I was sadly disappointed that Seven Star Street Bistro was closed on Christmas Eve. Who ever heard of a Chinese restaurant that wasn't open for Christmas?
September 2011 Openings and Closings
I went for lunch today. It has potential - very varied menu (including panini, burritos, salads, sandwiches, etc.) and plenty of veg and gluten free options. Not a lot of space to eat there, so definitely more of a takeout place. I got a burrito that was pretty good by sandwich shop standards (but not up to Mexican restaurants standards). The owner seems nice, and I hope they do well, but they need to figure out their niche because they're on a block with a lot of good options.
Dark Chocolate with salt [moved from Boston]
Lindt has a pretty good dark chocolate with sea salt bar.
Watertown tips?
Thanks for the tips! A Watertown taste-off sounds fun, and it would be great to meet people in our soon-to-be new neighborhood.
Watertown tips?
Thanks for all the recommendations, everyone! I'm excited to have so many new places to check out.
NYC 'Hounds Moving to Boston/Somerville
Lots of good suggestions in this thread, here are a few more:
For Sichuan food, check out Chili Garden in Medford Square.
For Ethiopian food, Fasika in East Somerville is worth a visit.
In Teele Square, Sabur (Bosnian) and Istanbulu (Turkish) are great options. Sabur is a little more upscale at night, but does a good casual brunch.
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Fasika
147 Broadway, Somerville, MA 02145
Sabur Restaurant
212 Holland St, Somerville, MA 02144
Teele Square Cafe
Somerville, MA, Somerville, MA
Watertown tips?
So, I'm moving from East Somerville to Watertown next month. The new place is near Red Lentil and Deluxe Town Diner. What spots do I need to know about - both restaurants and markets - and what do I need to try at them? Any tips would be appreciated.
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Deluxe Town Diner
627 Mt Auburn St, Watertown, MA 02472
Red Lentil
600 Mt Auburn St, Watertown, MA 02472
Lenox, MA - baby-friendly recs?
Thank you so much for the recommendations, everyone! We had lunch at Haven Cafe, and dinner at Spice Dragon. Both were great, and very accommodating of two ladies with a baby. The weather wasn't really good for outdoor dining, but we still did pretty well and it got nice out just in time for our friends' wedding at Tanglewood.
Lenox, MA - baby-friendly recs?
My wife and I are spending the weekend in Lenox with our 6 month old daughter. Any tips for good baby-friendly places to eat in the general area? We're coming from Boston, open to pretty much any kind of food, but looking for places with reasonably fast service and some noise tolerance. Thanks!
Golden Garden - More Hits Than Misses
If the restaurant prints up paper take-out menus, then it's totally reasonable to judge it on the quality of its take-out. Some dishes are definitely going to be better if you get them at the restaurant, but Chinese take-out is pretty much an American institution.
Restaurants for a wedding reception in Somerville or Cambridge?
We did ours 5 years ago at Davio's in the Royal Sonesta - Davio's has since been replaced by Dante, but the space was really nice so I'd still recommend checking it out.
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Davio's
75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116
Fun and inexpensive dinner/event for ~100?
Not sure about prices, but I think Summer Shack near Alewife can handle very large parties.
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Summer Shack
149 Alewife Brook Parkway, Cambridge, MA 02140
Downtown/Chinatown/Theater District dinner?
I'm looking for a place to take some visiting colleagues downtown for dinner on Thursday night. They're staying on Tremont St. in the Theater District, so somewhere in that vicinity would be good.
I used to have a lot of favorite restaurants downtown, but haven't actually made it to most of them in ages so I'm not sure what's good these days. Depending on what kind of food they're up for, I'm thinking about Montien, Penang or Legal Seafood, or possibly Gourmet Dumpling House for Chinese. Any thoughts on those or other similarly priced places that might be worth a visit?
Has Blue Ribbon BBQ gone downhill?
I should have heeded the warnings on this thread. Inspired by the arrival of a Redbones takeout menu in our mailbox, we stopped by the Arlington location around 6:30 on Saturday night - it was more packed than we've ever seen it and the crowd looked a bit more Groupon-y than usual. We didn't stick around to see if the food had gone downhill, we bailed and wound up at Golden Garden in Belmont instead.
Where do y'all recommend for good brisket or chicken, preferably with takeout and not too far from Somerville? Redbones is okay, but is there anything better out there?
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Redbones
55 Chester St, Somerville, MA 02144
Golden Garden
63 Concord Ave, Belmont, MA 02478
Yet Another Promising New Chinese Place - Golden Garden Belmont
That's really funny. We're expecting a baby in a few weeks, so my dining out days are dwindling rapidly or I'd say sure. But there are lots of neat-looking things to try on the menu, so the more people you can bring to share with the better.
We got the cumin lamb last time, it's also very good (both lamb dishes had similar preparations with carrot and green pepper, but the ma la flavor on the cumin lamb was more intense and of course it has cumin-y goodness). I had never tried green bean noodles before, but they're seriously good if you can get past the fact that they resemble Jell-O more closely than they resemble any Western notion of "noodles."
Yet Another Promising New Chinese Place - Golden Garden Belmont
My wife and I wound up eating there tonight and thought it was great. We got the cucumbers with garlic, green bean noodles in spicy sauce, dry lamb with chili, and tangerine chicken. Everything was really good, even the tangerine chicken (my wife's idea). I was just bummed we didn't have more people with us so we couldn't try more dishes.
Date with a Vegetarian; Indian?
Won't help you out right now, but keep an eye out for True Bistro, the new vegan place that's opening soon in Teele Square. I walked by on Friday evening and it looked really pretty.
In the meantime, if your date is just vegetarian and not vegan, there are lots of options in the North End. Pretty much every Italian place has at least a few good meatless options.
Guru the Caterer - wacky hours?
I stopped by at noon, so I'm pretty sure they hadn't run out of food. They must have had something else going on.
Guru the Caterer - wacky hours?
I work from home in Somerville, but can rarely schedule myself enough of a lunch break to go out for lunch. Today, I had time to run over to Guru The Caterer, but when I got there I was disappointed to find that the lights were on but the door was locked and the woman working there said they weren't open until 4 - I didn't catch the whole explanation, but it sounded like something about being busy. The sign on the door just had the regular hours, and there was nothing on the web site or Twitter about different hours for today.
Does this happen often, or is it usually a safe bet to go over there without calling first? Their food is great, but wasting a trip across town at lunchtime is a major bummer.
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Guru the Caterer
1297 Broadway, Somerville, MA
Good Parking + Good Food in/near Boston = Possible?
There's also The Similans, owned by the same folks as Brown Sugar, on the same block as Helmand - great Thai food and definitely in your price range. No parking lot, but we never have trouble finding street parking around the corner.
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The Similans
145 1st St, Cambridge, MA 02142
Brown Sugar Cafe
1033 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215
Golden Garden 63 Concord Av Belmont MA 02478 617 489-4428
I was there the Saturday before this past one, and it seemed like most of the tables were full.
Worthwhile Chinese food in the Boston Area?
Their web site is laosichuan.com, and if you Google "lao sichuan boston" they come up as the first result.
New to Arlington - Where should we eat?
Thai Moon is my favorite Thai place in Arlington.
Chilly Cow for ice cream (try the pumpkin custard if they have it).
Za is okay, but it's more like a local improvement on California Pizza Kitchen (from which it's a huge step up) than a replacement for real pizza.
Where did you move from? If you haven't lived in the general area before, there are good restaurants worth trying in nearby Cambridge, Somerville and Medford too.
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Chilly Cow
451 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02474
Thai Moon
663 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476
NY Foodie visiting Boston - lunch and brunch recs?
East Coast Grill is great for brunch, but it'll be about a 10-15 minute walk if you take the Red Line to Central Square.
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East Coast Grill and Raw Bar
1271 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139
Chicken parm w/ pasta and salad; take out for a party
If you go to Vinny's, get the mafalde. It's homemade and I think it's the best pasta on their menu.
Arlington coffee spots?
I'm meeting a friend in Arlington on Friday. Are there any non-Starbucks coffee shops along Mass Ave or nearby that would be a good place to hang out on a Friday afternoon? I don't think either of us is much of a coffee drinker, so coffee quality doesn't matter all that much but good snacks and a place to hang out and talk would be a plus. Any suggestions? Thanks!
