jtw's Profile
Buying kecap manis in orange county
I'm trying to find a grocery store that sells kecap manis, which I'm told is an Indonesian sauce that's like a cross between soy sauce and ketchup. Should this be easy to find? I'm in Irvine and have glanced at Mitsuwa Marketplace and Wholesome Choice, but didn't see it at either. That doesn't mean it wasn't there, just that I couldn't find it.
Does anyone have any ideas? And if it's easy to find, is there a recommended brand?
Thanks for any help!
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Wholesome Choice
18040 Culver Dr, Irvine, CA 92612
Driving along 90 from Boston to Chicago
Too late... Thanks though. I ended up going with Duff's wings in Buffalo and Rally Hamburgers in OH. I guess the latter probably doesn't sound too exciting, but a friend (who admittedly has never been to In-N-Out) recommended it.
Driving along 90 from Boston to Chicago
I normally can make this trip in one day, but this time I'm going to take two. That means I'll consider stopping for food that isn't fast food. Last time I did this I stopped at Swensons in Akron. I was glad I stopped, although it wasn't a perfect rec because (a) who wants to eat at a drive-in after driving for 12 hours and (b) it was about an hour out of the way.
Does anyone have a good Northern Ohio/Erie recommendation? I'd rather eat somewhere that inspires strong opinions than somewhere that everyone agrees is pretty good. I'm sure there is amazing food in Cleveland, but stopping in a major city just adds too much time (and stress in some cases).
Looking for the tourist traps...
Barking Crab is the best touristy place I've found. The food is pretty good (I honestly haven't found a seafood restaurant that I'd say is much better) and it has a busy atmosphere and you can sit outside (though the water view maybe isn't as nice as it sounds: you are right against the water, but it's just some channel...)
My alternative seafood choice would be Legal Sea Foods. Its clam chowder has supposedly been served at many presidential inaugurations.
I also have the impression a lot of the people at Bartley's Burgers in Harvard Sq are tourists.
Al Fresco in Boston
*Edit* Here's a link to the Boston Magazine article mentioned in the first post:
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/dining_food_wine/articles/eat_out/
I initially thought this would be of great help to the original poster, but then took the time to actually read his post. Can't find a way to delete my post....
moo ??
I've been there once. I liked everything a lot other than the steak itself (ribeye). The meat was fine, but nothing outstanding. (I've been to a lot of NY steak restaurants, and in Boston have tried Mooo, KO Prime, and Abe&Louie's. Mooo's meat was on par with those other Boston ones, but a notch below my favorite NY places, e.g. Strip House. Mooo was my favorite overall of the Boston three.)
Actually, the only reason I'm posting: Mooo has a few tables with completely different chairs, almost like thrones (you can see them in some of the cycling pictures on the website; they're just a lot bigger than most of the chairs). So my advice would be (a) try to reserve one of those tables and (b) don't talk up the meat too much beforehand.
On the other hand, if you've been to most of the Boston steak places, why not go to your favorite of those just to be safe?
Kendall lunch thread
I just tried the "Raspberry Chipotle Chicken" flatbread salad at Quiznos and thought it was really good. I think it's probably not any healthier than most of these other options (especially because of the buttery flatbread), but I don't know of any similar option in the area. (Does Sebastian's have a sweet salad dressing like this one? Regardless, I've never been a fan of the bread Sebastian's offers with its salads.)
I tried Izzy's and Newtowne Variety thanks to this thread and really like both, but they're slightly further than I can justify walking for lunch on a regular basis.
Nobu quality sushi in Boston?
Frank Bruni didn't really call O Ya the best American restaurant outside of Manhattan, did he? I know he said it was the best of 15 new, acclaimed restaurants that he tried. So, are you misremembering that article, am I misremembering that article, or did he write this somewhere else? (In my mind, this "new" qualifier is much more important than the "15" qualifier.)
(On the other hand, I've been to Nobu and O Ya once each and thought O Ya was many times better.)
Best sandwich... ever?
Boston_Otter, no offense, but I assumed you were the owner of this restaurant when I read your post originally. I didn't reply, but seeing as this seems to be one of the most popular threads, I can't resist.
I've been to Good Food Cafe three times, and each time I ask myself, "Why does this restaurant exist?" It's not actually bad, I guess my favorite that I've tried was the Thanksgiving sandwich. Also had the meatball sub and something else. Haven't tried the one you like yet. The owner seems nice, but it's a little too personal for me. I much prefer Greek Corner, Hana Sushi, Qingdao, Joe Sent Me (buffalo wings!), and that's just on the same block! For sandwiches, I prefer the ones at Pemberton Gardens about .5 miles away (so it does get best sandwich on the block award from me, unless we count the gyro sandwich at Greek Corner).
Ex-Boston hound needs seafood recs for birthday dinner
Two years ago for my birthday I wanted to go to a restaurant "similar to Legal Seafoods, but better". After lots of research, I chose Skipjacks. My friend and I didn't like the atmosphere, our waiter, or the food. (We were both quite optimistic because the bread basket was quite good as I recall.) I had some sort of plainly cooked fish (don't remember what type), and my friend had a fried platter. I much prefer Legal Seafoods, but am still hopeful of finding something better.
[Exeter] Casual places for solo tourist in Exeter?
Sorry, this is going to be a lazy summary of my 2.5 weeks in Exeter. By far my two favorite places to eat turned out to be Gandhi and Imperial (pub, a branch of Wetherspoons), which were both quite close to the University. I especially liked the curry night at Imperial, and in general they seemed to have good specials. Gandhi was good, standard Indian food.
Other places which I remember:
Red Rose was the other nice Indian restaurant I tried. I had their "Chef's Sampling" or something like that. It was fun but nothing blew me away. The staff was really nice.
Batter Place: Small Cod and chips with vinegar and salt. Fish was good both times. Chips were good the first time.
India Gate is casual Indian food and I returned there twice. I liked the chicken tikka wrap.
Pizza Express: Didn't seem that great to me, but I guess it's a popular chain.
Juice Moose: Their juices were great when I was feeling unhealthy from a month without my own kitchen.
When you go out of Juice Moose and turn left, you almost immediately come to a cafe (there are some video games inside, not much seating). It had a great sounding list of ingredients to put on grilled sandwiches, although I went on a Sunday and they only had ham and cheese. But the bread was quite good.
I liked the breakfast at Sunnymead Bed and Breakfast.
Actually, by far the best place I ate was "Bistro 46" in Brixham. Although we ate there after a long hike, so that certainly made the food taste better. I had a brie sandwich with onion jam and toffee pudding for dessert.
I'm sorry I didn't try more of your suggestions, but many of them sounded higher-end than I wanted. Of the places listed in the Good Pub Guide mentioned below, "Nobody Inn" intrigued me the most, but was a little out of the way.
Ten best things to eat in Boston
Wow, I think I have only had four of the above items. (fried clams at Clam Box, suan la chow show at Mary Chung's, chili at All Star Sandwich Bar, sushi at Oishii.) Here are the ten that came to my mind. Sure I'm missing some.
Char Siu Bao (steamed BBQ Pork Buns) at Hei La Moon, Boston.
City Girl Pizza at City Slicker Cafe, Somerville.
Codfish in Dry Bean Sauce at Mulan, Cambridge.
Foul Sandwich at Falafel Palace, Central Square.
Gnocchi at Sage, Boston.
Lobster Roll at (Jasper White's) Summer Shack. (Multiple Locations.)
Paramount Burger at Paramount, Boston.
Wild Bluefin Otoro at O Ya, Boston.
Yasai Katsu Curry at Wagamama, Harvard.
Yuppie Burger at Bartley's, Harvard.
Kendall lunch thread
Wow, I've been at MIT for four years (and reading Chowhound longer) and have never heard of many of these places. Izzy's especially sounds promising.
I try not to spend more than 6 or 7 dollars for lunch most days. Here are some of the places I go:
Chinese food truck near Technology Square. I like the Wheat Dough, Tofu Meatball, Garlic Chicken noodle. I assume I like their black pepper chicken, but I've only had it at the Mass Ave food truck which has disappeared. You can get a combination of two items for no charge (or maybe 25 cents).
The Goosebeary's food truck. Not very good in general, but some of it can be okay. My favorites are the Viet Combo (fried fish and bite-sized pieces of pork), mango salad with tofu or chicken (the salad part doesn't have much flavor, but it's light and has a sweet sauce that I like), BBQ chicken (I think that's what it's called. bite-sized pieces of chicken that are quite flavorful).
Cosi: I like their sandwiches but thought their salads seemed pretty boring. Seems to be the opposite of the last poster's opinion. I have enjoyed the tuna cheddar, meatball, and "Thanksgiving" sandwiches.
Sebastian's: This was one of my favorites when it required a trip to Downtown Crossing to eat there. Now that it's right next to me the mystique has worn off a little. But I like their salad station.
Salad Bar in the Kendall Square food court. The price is great- it's usually under three dollars for me. Downside is that the lettuce is always wet. I'm glad they wash it, but it's the only salad bar I've been to that doesn't successfully dry the lettuce. I've complained, but no one has ever even humored me that they would fix it.
Anna's Taqueria: I had a bad experience with the meat here once, but I've found a combination I consistently like: Cheese Quesadilla with guacamole, hot sauce, beans, and rice.
Grill next to Anna's in the student center: I like their tuna melt.
I'll throw out my credibility now and say I like the orange chicken + ma po tofu, or sesame pork + ma po tofu, both with fried rice, in the Kendall Square food court.
I think Steam Cafe and the sandwich place in the Building 68 are two of the worst restaurants I've ever been to. (The menu at Steam Cafe sounds so good.) Does anyone like anything at these? What about at the Mexican or Italian-ish food trucks near Goosebeary's?
[Exeter] Casual places for solo tourist in Exeter?
I think there is literally nothing on Chowhound about Exeter. Unless I'm searching incorrectly. I'm coming from Boston and would like to eat in cheap, casual places. I love Indian food (which isn't the best in Boston). I have already been to Gandhi twice, and Raj India once (although I panicked and had the Doner Kebab, which was fine). The food at Gandhi was quite good I thought, although a little mild. (I had vegetable malai korma (spelling?) and one of the chicken tikka dishes that wasn't masalla (sp?).)
Fish and chips?
Middle Eastern food?
Something obvious I'm not thinking of?
I'm open to almost anything where I won't feel awkward sitting alone and looking at a book or paper.
I have another ten days here, so help me out. I would like to make it the whole time without going to Subway, KFC, or Wagamama (which I like, but there is one by me in Boston. Are the ones in England better?)
I don't have access to a refrigerator, so I'm eating out a lot! (Anything good on the University of Exeter campus? The lunches have left something to be desired.)
Thanks!
MN State Fair Style Cheese Curds?
I have a craving and can't wait until August. Is there anywhere with state fair style cheese curds that are available year-round?
Moving to Porter Square
The friendliness of the staff may have something to do with it, but for Thai I like Benjapon's, which is about halfway between Porter and Davis. After adding hot sauce, I've liked everything I've tried there. I especially like their tofu more than most restaurants'.
Anybody tried Qdoba?
I actually prefer the Porter Sq Qdoba to the Davis Square Anna's (I don't know how these compare to the rest of the locations). Although I and probably everyone else prefer the atmosphere at Anna's.
Any update on SAGE?
I liked the food both times I went, but the space was a little too small and quiet for me. I'm hoping that the new space will be livelier in addition to being bigger. The website needs an update, so I don't know what's happening with their move.
Late Dinner at AOC?
I'm getting in to LAX at about 8:30 on a Wednesday night. I don't want to miss out on a dinner opportunity. Would a 10:00 reservation at AOC be reasonable? I don't want to feel out of place eating there at that hour. (AOC was on my list of places I was interested in trying.) Thanks!
