corduroy79's Profile
Carnitas
agreed, as a former bay area resident, felipe's makes a decent plate of carnitas. way better than anna's which is very hit or miss imo
Problems At Sagra
if this place closes down i think it'll be a good thing for everyone. i've never experienced service as bad as i did here. this is based on about half a dozen visits - each worse than the last. The split kitchen doesnt explain waiting 25 minutes for olives. And there are easy solutions to the split kitchen issue. i used to work at a restaurant with a similar setup and we just used an earset to coordinate. pretty easy. that space has so much potential - its really a shame no one can make it work.
traveling to vancouver - need recs for solo dining!
Thanks for all the tips guys (and gals). I ended up going to Salt Tasting Room, Guu with Garlic, Go Fish and JapaDog. All were very tasty and I had a great time in Vancouver.
Spent a lot of time at Guu and ate way too much but it was really fun - even alone. I'll have to come back to try some of the other places. Thanks again for all your tips!
traveling to vancouver - need recs for solo dining!
thanks for all the great tips everybody... will certainly be trying some of these things out.
one more question though.
i know its winter, but are there any cool markets open during the week? ill be there from monday-wednesday. thinking maybe a fish market? i dunno, just a thought. thanks.
traveling to vancouver - need recs for solo dining!
definitely don't have Izekaya restaurants in Boston - we have to go to NYC for that... is that something I can do alone like yakitori or sushi?
traveling to vancouver - need recs for solo dining!
yup, im flying in from boston... not great bbq here either! :) but these are all great recs! I've heard a lot about vancouver and the food there but i wanted to make sure i got some good recs from locals before i made the trip, so thanks for all the help - these will certainly come in handy!
traveling to vancouver - need recs for solo dining!
I'm going to be spending a few days in Vancouver in a couple weeks. I'll be traveling alone and am looking for interesting/fun eating destinations. Anything from a nice restaurant with a good bar menu to a hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant will do - I'm open to just about anything but keep in mind that
1. I'll be dining alone;
2. Am looking for something different (ie, i don't need to have Vancouver's best hamburger, as good as it might be...);
3. Don't mind spending money on good food, but don't feel like its necessary to have a great meal; and
4. Love seafood.
Any other suggestions about slightly out of the way or hidden things a foodie might be interested in seeing would also be greatly appreciated. I have no other plans in Vancouver other than to eat my way across the city, but I just don't know much about where to look at this point
thanks in advance for the tips!
Making our own sausages for sausage stuffing-ISO sheeps casings
yeah, market basket also sells hog casings, but dunno bout the sheep ones...
Making our own sausages for sausage stuffing-ISO sheeps casings
im not entirely sure this will be helpful, but whole foods makes their own sausages, including the smaller breakfast sausages, so it might be worth talking to one of the butchers there and seeing if he can sell you some of the casings... i guess pretty much any butcher that makes their own would be a good place to start.
Lucky's Lounge????
I've had some decidedly mediocre meals at Lyucky's recently. It's close to work so we occasionally go for lunch. A while back I had a "wild" mushroom pizza which was covered with semi-rehydrated portabello mushrooms. meh. Then i had the tuna melt, which was good. However the salad that accompanied it was not so good - waaaaaaaay overdressed. Most recently, I ordered the Lucky's burger with guacamole. The patty did not appear to be handformed nor was it seasoned in any way - a BIG problem. the guac, which was initially forgotten, was bland at best.
I've also had their mini-burgers (when I'm there for drinks) and those are usually pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm starting to think maybe it's the alcohol talking. I don't know, i like the vibe and I want to like the food. That burger may have been strike 3 though.
Ingredient trend in Boston?
haven't noticed this trend, but this sounds like a good thing to me :)
Vietnamese for kids (and adults)
I recommend starting with a place like Le's or Pho Pasteur if you're trying to sell your kids on Vietnamese. Places in chinatown might be more authentic, but not the best place to bring picky eaters. Another dish that hasnt been mentioned are the kho's which are basically meats (fish, pork, chicken...) cooked in a hot pot with caramel sauce. They're pretty sweet so that might appeal to kids. thats my $0.02. good luck and enjoy :) also, I'm very jealous. vietnam is an amazing place!
FYI--Chipotle in Davis SQ.
agreed. why anyone would go to chipotle, qdoba, boca or anna's with taco's lupita near by is beyond me.
Help: Parker Farm CSA Porter Drop-off
For various reasons, I'm switching my Parker Farm CSA pickup location to Porter Square, but haven't been able to get in touch with Steve since last week about it. Unfortunately i forgot to ask him where the porter sq location is. If someone could email me the location that would be extremely helpful...
tgvalentin@gmail.com
thanks!!!!
Restaurants near Logan
Santarpio's Pizza is about 40 seconds away, but I'm not sure what you consider fabulous, or what you consider near for that matter... what are we talking about here - 5 minutes, 10 minutes away? Blue Ginger is 20-40 minutes away depending on the time of day... probably not worth the drive.
Has Sagra Service improved?
i had a disastrous experience on Thursday. it was my third time there and unfortunately the worst yet. i really really want to like this place, but we ended up waiting an hour just to get our olives and eggplant involtini... then another 45 minutes to get the gnocci and a pizza... We got that at 9:15pm, and the place was full, but i think most people were already eating, so i have no idea what was going on. i dont think it was the waitresses fault cause when the food finally came it was warm. The only explanation i can come up with is that they must've had one guy working all the stations in the back kitchen as well as the pizza oven that night or something. i dunno. its gonna take a lot for me to actually go back, which sucks since i live 2 blocks away. oh and i guess the food wasnt too bad, but at that point, it really doesnt matter much...
business lunch: city hall or financial dist.
grotto and sel de la terre come to mind, but again, what kind of food are you looking for?
Know anything about Kickass Cupcakes, Somerville?
isnt it kick*ss cupcakes? ;-) either way, i'm less than excited about the whole idea... some sort of bakery would be nice... so would a fish market anywhere within walking distance of davis (not terribly impressed by the selection at pembertons) We can all dream right...
Favorite Pho
i routinely go to dong khanh as well, so i can't really recommend anything else... but for a change of pace, try the bun bo hue instead of pho. spicy and delicious beef broth, slightly larger noodles and all the random bits of beef that makes it so great. try it out, you wont regret it, i promise.
Finally tried Chacarero (OK) and Beard Papa (WOW!) downtown...
alls i'm saying is i would take a standard old BLTA over a chacarero any day of the week. but to each his own right...
Finally tried Chacarero (OK) and Beard Papa (WOW!) downtown...
my biggest complaint about chacareros is that the meat is not really seasoned or flavored whatsoever. sure theres other things going on in the sandwich, but you'd think they could marinate the chicken or season the meat a little before slapping it on the grill.
sure its unique, but that hardly makes it good and definitely not really really GOOD. as a matter of fact, i would call it really really underwhelming.
Spike's Junkyard Dogs: Veggie-style
even if its 80% bread, at least its good bread.... now if i could only find a place that sold me hot links inside that bread instead of hot dogs....
oh how i miss top dog.... and yes thats in that other state on the other side of the country...
Boudin Noir
Do any retail stores sell boudin noir in or around boston or is this something i'm gonna have to order online?
trio of pea appetizers...
sure... this was my first go at a brulee of any kind actually, but wasn't too hard... just took bourdain's standard brulee recipe and adjusted it.
basically I used a pint of heavy cream, 5 egg yolks, 3-4 teaspoons sugar, pinch of salt and peas.
with the peas, i blanched them and pureed them... then i passed the pea "goo" through a fine chinois to make it smooth. i used maybe 10oz of peas or so. i added that to the cream when i scalded it and then let it sit for a while as it cooled slightly. mix that in with the eggs+sugar, which i'd whisked and devided the mix into small tea cups... cooked it 45 minutes in the oven like usual creme brulees...
the mint sugar was just fresh mint and sugar mixed in the food processor...
thats bout it. quite simple and quite delicious. definately sweet, but not so much that you cant serve it at the start of a meal.
trio of pea appetizers...
pulled this out of a hat this weekend for easter... thought id share
pea creme brulee with caramelized mint sugar
medley of fresh porcini, english peas, confit onions and fleur de sel
chilled fresh pea soup with parm crisp
everyone loved it... the creme brulee was especially tasty....
Sagra is open
Went to Sagra tonight for some food and drinks and overall it was pleasant enough... the croquettes appetizer were quite tasty (deep fried crusted bechamel sauce, with grated cheese on top). As my entree i got the tagliatelle with a ragu of wild mushrooms. Unfortunately it wasn't much of a ragu at all and the pasta was all kindda clumped together - just a tiny bit more sauce wouldve improved the dish greatly. my friends ordered the chicken parm and the ravioli - neither of which were particularly inspired choices - nor where they inspired dishes. anyway, overall, it was good enough that Ill be going back, hopefully with a more adventurous crowd and try some, of what seemed to be, more traditional dishes on the menu... the service was a tad bit slow on a quiet monday night, but I'll give the kitchen some time to get used to things before judging them on that. this place has potential...
New Limited Menu @ All Star Sandwich Bar
For all the bad reviews here's a good one. I've been there three times now, twice for takeout and once to eat in. All three times I've been quite satisfied with my sandwich and didn't feel like i was being charged too much. It sounds like their main problem is consistency, but they've been 3 for 3 for me and i'm sure ill go back sooner rather than later.
