Bumping this thread to see if anybody has had any recent experiences here. Thinking of trying it out on Thursday night. Thanks!

I saw that too but I am just wondering if there is more too it or if anybody had any insider information. A business going on vacation and then closing indefinitely is never a good sign.

So I found out last night when I attempted to order pizza for dinner that Zing's in Porter Square is closed until further notice for a "reorganization". Does anybody know what is going on? I feel like this is an extremely bad sign and will be very disappointed if they are no longer an option.

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Zing Pizza
1923 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02140

The River Street Whole Foods in Cambridge is also nice and another Trader Joes that definitely sells alcohol is just down the street on Memorial Drive. I have never been to the Fresh Pond stores so don't know how they compare but I have always been happy with the River Street location. The Whole Foods on River Street also sells beer and wine.

If you go the Oleana route I would suggest Lord Hobo down the street for your pre-dinner drinks especially if you are interested in beer.

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Oleana
134 Hampshire St., Cambridge, MA 02139

Lord Hobo
92 Hampshire St, Cambridge, MA 02141

I just hope that Pinkberry's location in Harvard Square doesn't steal all of the Berryline Business!

We would like to spend Father's Day wandering around the Back Bay and South End (weather permitting) and are looking for someplace that does really good coffee and a decent iced tea and someplace for an easy lunch. Someplace that does both would be great. We will have our 9 month old daughter with us so someplace that we could pack up and leave quickly if needs be would also be appreciated. Thanks!

My parents are in town over the next and we will be doing lots of takeout with them for dinners (in the past we have always gone out and they have enjoyed dinners at Oleana, East Coast Grill, and Ole to name a few but we have a new baby so will be staying in). Our usual takeout options are Zoe's, Kebab Factory and Taqueria La Mexicana. I am sort of at a loss in trying to think of some other good takeout options in the general vicinty (Harvard Square, Porter Square, Inman Square, Union Square). What am I missing/overlooking? Any cuisine and price point is really fine - just looking for some additional variety to throw into the mix. Thanks!

ETA: Two of us are non-meat eaters so some place that has good meat free options would be good.

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East Coast Grill and Raw Bar
1271 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139

The Kebab Factory
414 Washington St, Somerville, MA 02143

Oleana
134 Hampshire St., Cambridge, MA 02139

Where is the Al's in Harvard Square going to be located? Any idea as to when it will open?

I will look into it. It looks to be near NYU and I am pretty sure were were going to be in that area one afternoon. As for the pizza, are they large enough to share or do you typically get your own? Any specific recommendatiosn?

RGR - thanks for the information on the Montorino lunch special. Can you tell me a if the pies are individual sized or are they large enough to share? And I am assuming the lunch special is $12 per person right?

Okay - I have been doing a little research and have come up with a few ideas:

Tulcingo Del Valle for Mexican for dinner one night.
Motorino for pizza in the East Village for lunch or dinner one day.
Malatesta Trattoria in the West Village for Italian for dinner one night (although we sort of wanted to do little Italy - is there anything you might recommend over this in Little Italy?)

I am still looking for breakfast type places near the hotel (the Roosevelt on 45th and Madison Ave) and possibly some sandwich places (although I am starting to wonder if there are any deli's that might have something for a vegetarian) or someplace to grab a good slice of pizza. We are really hoping to make the best of this trip as it will probably be our last for awhile (baby #1 is due at the end of September). Thanks again!

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Malatesta
649 Washington St, New York, NY 10014

Motorino
349 E 12th St, New York, NY 10003

My husband and I will be taking the train down from Boston this weekend (Friday morning to Monday) and are looking for some reasonably priced places to eat in the city that won't require reservations. For lunches and dinner I am thinking $15 a plate or less (not including drinks, etc). We are staying at 45th Street and Madison Avenue. I am hoping to get some ideas for breakfast near the hotel (diners or bagel type places). For lunch and dinner we open to most parts of the city (Midtown, LIttle Italy, Greenwich Village, Upper East/West side). For lunch we are hoping to some decent sandwiches (keeping in mind that we don't eat meat) and for dinner some good Italian and Mexican although we are open most cuisines. Thanks in advance for all of your help!

I will second Crema Cafe's drinks. My favorite is the blackberry limeade but they also have a pretty good orange limeade on occasion as well.

So my husband and I bought a Muscat Juice Concentrate to use in a home brew beer recipe and only needed about half of the can. We wanted to freeze the other half to use for another batch but the concentrate won't freeze. Is this normal? Do you think even if it doesn't freeze keeping it in the freezer will preserve it until we want to use it again (maybe in a few months)? Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Try the Wine Cask in Somerville (Kirkland & Beacon Streets and not too far from Porter Square). I have definitely seen the larger bottles of Magner's there (maybe 1L size). Plus they have a pretty good selection of other ciders as well including a number of the West County ciders.

We have a friend in town for the weekend and want to go out for Sushi. We have no car so it definitely has to be Cambridge or Boston. Our spending limits are about $50 to $60 per person (this includes tax, tip and drinks). I have wanted to try O Ya and Oishii but I am worried that we won't be able to have a decent sizes meal for what we can spend. So, the question is, where in Cambridge or Boston can we get good Sushi at a price point of about $50 per person?

I have to agree wtih gini on this one. My husband and I tried Cambridge One one night (based on recommendations here) when we were in the mood for pizza. While it was tasty, our comment at the moment (and ever since when we recollect our experience) was that it was like eating a cracker. We left still hungry and actually ordered pizza elsewhere on our way home (since we had been in the mood for pizza).

I just saw it at Whole Foods. It wasn't in the regular refridgerated cases with the regular orange juice though - it was in a case in the produce section.

The Spotted Apron has closed (a sign on the door says it is closed and will be relocating elsewhere).

I have to disagree with your reasoning on the expiration of gift certificates. Even though $1 or a $100 a few years ago is not worth the same as $1 or $100 today, I higly doubt that the restaurant hasn't adjusted its menu prices to reflect its rising costs. Therefore, the only person "losing out" if the restaurant chose to accept the gift certificate would be the OP because the $100 coudln't buy them as much food as it could have a few years ago and they will end up with more out of pocket costs.

On your second point, there is no indication anywhere in the OP that the gift certificate was sold any an incentive to come to the restaurant within a specific time frame. In fact, it was a gift presumably to be used whenever the recipient wanted. While restaurants often run promotions and coupons, most restaurants today offer gift certificates to be purchased at any time for use whenever the purchaser or the receiver wish.

All of this is not to say the OP should have been allowed to use the gift certificate. It would have been nice for the restaurant to accept it, but obviously they were under no obligation to do so.

Just because a vegetarian doesn't have a problem having meat in their home or isn't bothered by other people eating meat does not in any way obligate them to provide meat for a guest. If they are vegetarian for moral reasons they probably have a issues with purchasing meat (i.e. paying for something they believe is morally wrong) as well as preparing meat. If as a guest you think a vegetarian host is obligated to provide you with meat then you probably shouldn't accept an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner hosted by a vegetarian.

I think in the OP's case the host is clearly trying to make all of the guests comfortable and the offer to bring their own turkey was in no way inappropriate.

My husband has gradually become very serious about his morning coffee and would like to start roasting his own coffee beans. I have looked online a bit for home coffee roasters and was hoping I could get some advice and recommendations on good home coffee roasters. Does anybody have a model that they have been happy with and is still on the market? For a price point, from what I have seen, roasters can range anywhere from $70 to $500. Obvioulsy I would prefer to get something in the lower end of that range but don't want to sacrifice quality just because the price is right. Also, I am somewhat worried about the smoke factor. We live in an apartment so I am hoping to find a machine that wouldn't cause my husband to set off the smoke alarm every morning.

I have to suggest Oleana in Cambridge. My husband and I went there for the first time on Saturday and we both got the vegetarian tasting menu ($40). It was terrific. There are 5 "courses" plus desert. For 3 of three of the 5 and also for desert they brought us each different options so we ended up getting tastes of more than just 5 items each. All of the food was delicious and we really enjoyed the evening.

I will be leaving for Europe (Munich, Vienna and Florence) on Friday and was hoping to get some restaurant recommendations for Munich and Vienna. The catch is I don't eat meat so was hoping I could find some vegetarian or vegetarian friendly options in both cities. My husband has been in Munich for the last month and has had trouble finding many options to eat (I probably should have posted this before he left...). Any help and recommendations would be much appreciated. If it helps we will be staying right near the Marienplatz in Munich and close to the Opera house in Vienna.

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

(Edit - we would prefer something in a low to mid price range - we are young and my husband is a grad student)

My husband and I will be visiting my parents in Denver at the end of March and are looking for some restaurants to try. They are in Southwest Denver (Lakewood specifically) so we would prefer to stay somewhere in that vicinity. We are open to any type of food - specifically maybe a good Mexican or Indian restaurant in the area. Although I grew up in Denver I am not at all familiar with the restaurant scene and when we visit we always end up at the same Chinese restaurant. Thanks a lot!