Category — Boston Food

Happy Friday, everyone! Some of you saw this post from mid-day the other day, but for some reason, my feed burner didn’t pick it up to let all the feed subscribers in on the action.  Would you take two minutes today to fill out my little survey?  Let me know if you’d like to participate in a Semi-Sweet Supper Club.

We could try new restaurants, cuisines, explore a new neighborhood, etc.  I’ve drafted a very short survey to get a read on your interest and availability.  Click below to let me know what you think – even if you’re not interested, I want to hear that, too!

[polldaddy survey="408BEA53B396B205" link_text="Take my survey"]

Print This!

Happy Friday, friends.  Been another loooong week at chez Semi-Sweet.  More sickness and misery, this time me.  Better weather and a spring cleaning slated for this weekend and I am full of hope that next week our luck will turn around.  Cross your fingers for us, will you!?

But now it’s almost the weekend, and my thoughts turn to dining out.  I’m still thinking about dinner at Coppa  two weeks ago.  It was that enjoyable. While we sat stuffing our faces, D. and I agreed that it was one of our more memorable meals in recent history.  And we eat a lot.

We’d heard good things about Coppa, Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette’s newish South End enoteca, but it’s a small place (40 seats inside) and we’d heard that the wait was crazy (2+ hours, easy) . . . until later at night (read: 11 p.m. or so).  We’re waaaay beyond the going out anywhere at 11 p.m. phase of our lives, so we knew that we’d have to show up on the front-side to get a table at this hot spot.  Cue the sitter at 4:30 – we parked and walked over, arriving at 5:10 p.m. (Coppa opens at 5:30).  We were the third party in line.  The line eventually stretched around the corner, and not everyone made it in for the 5:30 open.  You’re hereby forewarned.

So, Coppa’s an “enoteca,” which is technically a wine bar, or a place where the wine comes first, food second.  But let me assure you, this coming from a virtual teetotaller, the food does not come second at Coppa.  These small plates of luscious Italian treats will be a highlight of your visit, for sure.  And even better, you’re encouraged by the very friendly staff to linger as long as you like – you can place an order for a few plates and drinks, then order more as you go along. Food is cooked to order and is served as it comes up, so if you need things in a particular order you need to let your server know.

D. and I ordered a boat-load of food, and ate all of it: 

• Meatballs al Forno – rich, super-flavorful meaty tidbits, moist with house-made lardo;
• Arancini– delightfully crispy on the outside, gooey with fontina cheese on the inside;
• Ricotta Stuzzi, crisp bread with fresh warm ricotta on top, a standout; 
• The Bruschetta de Cannelloni, was very good, but not as stellar as the other things we tried;
• The Brussels sprouts with pancetta, pecorino, and horseradish were so outstanding, even D., an admitted B.S.-hater said they were delicious.  For anyone who enjoys Brussels sprouts, they were pure heaven;
• The sautéed broccoli raabe with garlic, chili flake and golden raisins was so good I could’ve made a meal off it alone;
• The Arrosto di Peppe, (roasted sweet peppers with Turkish spices, feta, and aged balsamic) was good, but the flavors were flatter and less exciting; and
• Cavatelli di Pollo, a seemingly ordinary dish, elevated to outstanding.  The combo of house-made cavatelli, chicken sausage, slow-cooked broccoli and oregano with the teeniest bit of tomato sauce had amazing depth of flavor.

Coppa has only a beer/wine/cordial license, but they do such a good job with what they’ve got to work with.  D. had a couple of nice reds by the glass, and I enjoyed the “Italian in Vermont” cocktail (prosecco, maple syrup, blueberries) which was creative, fresh and delicious.

We didn’t even venture into the great-looking wood-fired pizzas or Bissonette’s house-made salumi (selection varies weekly).  Nor did we have room for dessert.  But N.B., South End Buttery is across the street, so you could score some sweets for later and walk-off a little bloat before tucking in for more . . . .

Print This!

Happy Thursday, folks!  As most of you know, I bought into a great winter CSA this year – the Shared Harvest CSA.  I’ve also already bought a share in the Picadilly Farm CSA for this summer.  It’ll be my first year with them, but I’ve heard great things and the produce they contributed to the Shared Harvest haul was outstanding.  If you’re interested in joining a CSA for the upcoming season, now’s the time to sign up.  Shares are going fast. 

But what’s that you say?  You don’t know where to go?  I have two resources for you.  One’s for anyone, anywhere – LocalHarvestprovides a searchable database so you can locate a CSA that’s near you (most have weekly pickup, so location is essential . . . don’t wanna schlep too far for those veggies, do we?).  The second is geared toward folks in the Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge and Lexington, MA zone -  a CSA Share Fair that’s taking place next month in Arlington – organized by the intrepid Gretta Anderson, the brains and brawn behind the Shared Harvest CSA.  See details below, and here’s to dreamin’ ‘bout all those “above-ground” veggies coming our way in just a few months!

What:  A CSA Farm Share Fair in Arlington!  CSA farmers will be on hand to tell you how their CSA works, what they are growing this year and how you can get a share of their harvest.

When:  Thursday, February 25, 6:00 PM

Where:  50 Paul Revere Road, Arlington, MA at the Park Avenue Congregational Church in Arlington Heights, the Parish Hall.

Who:  Farms that distribute CSA shares in Arlington, N. Cambridge, Lexington, Belmont, and nearby towns have been invited to participate, as have several local community farms.

Why:  If you haven’t lined up your CSA share yet, the Farm Share Fair is a great place to learn about what’s available. You will be able to sign up for summer and winter CSA shares at the Fair. For those of you who have already purchased your 2010 CSA share, this is a great opportunity to say hello to your farmer. We are also inviting farmers to bring and sell their produce to the Fair, so you may want to bring your shopping bags!

Want to help? Gretta’s looking for volunteers who want to help make this Fair a success. Contact her directly if you’d like to help in any way:  GrettaAnderson@earthlink.net, or 781.507.6602.

Print This!

We all have those nights – they happen more now that school’s in, I think.  The day gets away from you and you’re sitting at your desk (or in your car, mid-schlep) at 4:30 and you’re suddenly caught up short.  “What are we going to have for dinner?”  The easy choice is takeout or fast food, but the angel on your right shoulder says “You should be feeding your family something healthier.”  And face it, are you really going to be able to get to the market before you have to sling hash?  Probably not.

Enter Healthy Habits Kitchen of Wellesley.  I discovered Healthy Habits Kitchen last spring – I was Googling meal assembly places (a la Dream Dinners) nearby, and the HHK site showed up.  I put them on my to-try list and never got around to it.  Then the Foodie Mommy favorably reviewed HHK in early September.  Her review incentivized me to finally check it out.  [Read more →]

Print This!

D. and I had a sitter on Saturday night, and we didn’t have a plan.  We were in the mood for a delicious dinner, and hadn’t been to Scampo in a while, so at 5:30 I gave them a call – their tables were booked ’til 10:30, but the Mozzarella Bar was wide open, and the seating there is first-come, first-served.  We were in!

We had a fabulous meal, there at that bar.  It’s a fun place to sit if you haven’t before – lots of theater behind the little glass screen.  This is where all the breads, pizzas and the mozzarella dishes are prepared.  That’s a lot of food being readied in a small space, and it’s fun to watch the various players do their thing.

We both love to sample lots of things, so we went the small plates route.   We started out with an order of the flaky puffed pan bread with zataar & lemon labneh.  Our bread came, all puffy and warm, in its own little pan.  The lemon labneh was drizzled over the top and the zataar was sprinkled over the top.  The bread was delicate and just a little crunchy and delightfully messy, the labneh was subtly lemony and provided just the right amount of coolness and creamy richness. 

Then came the mozzarella with prosciutto, napoleon of crisped pear and potato and handmade quince preserve.  The prosciutto was super flavorful and expertly sliced into wafer-thin pieces.  The mozzarella was delicious and the crisped potatoes were spectacular – crispy and just a tiny bit greasy and super salty.  The pear chips were interesting – hard to distinguish by looks alone from the potato chip, but not on taste.  They were a bit chewy and super sweet.  The quince preserve was delicious, but I felt that it overpowered the delicate tastes of the prosciutto and mozzarella – but the sweet was a nice counterpoint to the prosciutto.  I think I’m just a prosciutto-purist.  Love the stuff.

Next out was a choice of mine – the pizza with whipped bacala, romesco and soft egg – definitely like no pizza I’ve ever had before.  It was so delicious.  Delicate, crunchy and flavorful crust, topped with fluffy, creamy whipped bacala – no overt saltiness here, only a nice brininess.  The romesco was delicious, but overly abundant.  That’s my only criticism of this dish – the romesco overpowered the thing.  The eggs . . . oh those eggs . . . broke those open and let the warm yokes run all over the mess – they added a great richness to the pizza and were a perfect foil for the peppery romesco.  I look forward to ordering this again – next time I might make this and a simple salad my entire meal.  [Read more →]

Print This!

“Insanely good super cheap porky goodness.”

How could you not try out a restaurant that served a dish described like this??  We’d been to the bakery portion of Great Taste before – they have dan tat that make my daughter swoon.  Their cream buns are better, in my opinion, than Eldo’s.  They have mini butterfly cookies that are super crispy and sugary and tasty.  The baked char siu bao are very good.  Their bubble teas and smoothie drinks are supposed to be superb.  But we’d never tried the restaurant side, which serves primarly Cantonese food, ’til tonight.  And people, it was fantastic!

It took some serious selling to get L. to be OK with not going to Vinh Sun for BBQ pork.  Great Taste is kitty-corner across Beach Street from Vinh Sun, and when she realized we were trying something new, L. kicked up a fuss.  We prevailed upon her to branch out, and even she wasn’t disappointed.

We got there at 5, so unfortunately we missed dim sum, which is served ’til 4.  They serve their dim sum off the menu, and there were lots of good choices on that menu.  Next time we’ll time it better.

We’d read that the scallion pancakes were good at Great Taste, and since D. is a scallion pancake fanatic, we had to try those.  They were indeed great – nicely fried so they were crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, with good scallion flavor.  The dipping sauce was very tasty – I hinted a little kick – not the usual.  Maybe more ginger than usual?  All in all, a good call.

For L., we ordered Dry Fried Pork Udon, and out came thick chewy udon noodles, slathered with just enough of some savory brown sauce and nice tender pieces of pork.  She was in porkitarian-carbo heaven. 

D. and I ordered, of course, the Spicy Salted Sparerib With Rice.  Six large, meaty ribs arrived.  They were battered, crispy-fried and sprinkled with fried garlic, dried red and fresh green chilis, and perched atop a generous mound of white rice, also sprinkled with chilis and remnant bits of fried crispiness, along with some greens, which were super garlicky and consequently, super delicious.  I can assure you that this dish lives up to its billing on Chowhound.  I could only manage two ribs – this is rich stuff, but man, with all its crunchy, salty spiciness - it didn’t leave me wanting.

But wait!  There was more!  We decided to try something from the Casserole Specials section of the menu, so I chose the Deep Fried Fish Fillets with Bean Curd.  Out came a piping hot casserole dish full of deliciously seasoned (this dish is not spicy, but is full of flavor) boneless fish fillets and fried tofu, along with lots of ginger, scallions, mushrooms and bits of pork.  Fan-freakin’-tastic.

We are definitely headed back for more.  The service was super friendly and helpful (they were more than OK with our usual off-menu mishigas – some plain pork bits for L. mixed with some white rice) and although the place lacks atmosphere, it’s clean and bright. 

And of course, afterwards we stepped through to the bakery next door and ordered up some dan tat to go . . . . stretcher, please!

Print This!

I bet you never thought you could get fresh, high-quality, authentic Chinese food in the ‘burbs, did you?  And I bet you never thought you’d find it at a little restaurant, tucked into an unassuming strip mall, and located next to a laundromat called “The Lost Sock,” right?  Guess again, peeps!

Saturday night D. and I were up in Burlington doing errands and shopping – I know, just the kind of exciting stuff you do when you have a sitter.  Well, even if you’re not bordering on the desperately lame like us, Billerica should be on your list of destinations for some of the most fantastic Sichuan cuisine around Boston.

Sichuan Gourmet has been around for a while – there are two locations, one in Framingham and one in Billerica.  We’ve only ever gone to the Billerica outpost, but the Framingham site gets great reviews too.  The Billerica restaurant is small, very casual and is consistently packed with larger parties comprised of multi-generational Chinese families.  It’s warm, and smells so, so good when you enter.  But the highlight, friends, is the food – oh!  It is so spicy, so tasty, so irresistible.  Every time we go, we ask ourselves, “why don’t we come here more often?”

So first off – make sure you understand that food from the Sichuan province of China is known for its heat.  And while they will tone down the spiciness for you, if you want the full-frontal experience of Sichuanese food, you’ve gotta crave the heat.  And then there are those famous Sichuan peppercorns – they produce a numbing sensation on your tongue after you eat them . . . really hard to describe, but addicting.

Highlights for us from the menu are: 

• Sichuan Wonton with Spicy Chili Sauce:  warm, delicate pork-filled wontons floating in a spicy chili sauce.  Slurp them up and fight over who gets the last one!
• Fresh Bamboo Shoots with Spicy Wonder Sauce:  fresh bamboo shoots bear absolutely no comparison to the ones you’ve had from the can.  The fresh ones are tender and super-tasty and not fibrous like their canned cousins.  These are drizzled with “wonder sauce” (who can resist that name?) which definitely contains chili oil, and then sprinkled with a few sesame seeds.  This is a cold dish.
• Dan Dan Noodles:  is a classic Sichuan dish, but if you’ve had it in Americanized Chinese restaurants and tasted peanut butter or sesame paste, those are not authentic.  The real  dan dan noodles are paired with a spicy sauce with preserved vegetables, chili oil, Sichuan peppers, pork, and scallions, and they are damn good.
• Dried Chicken with Chili Sauce:  small crispy-fried cubes of chicken with fresh green chilies and dried red chilies – literally a sea of chilies – and yes, there are people who eat the entire plate (we can only handle the chicken and some of the green chilies).  I had the rest of this for breakfast on Sunday morning!
• MaPo Tofu with Minced Pork:  this is another a popular Sichuan dish. Large cubes of soft tofu are set in a spicy chili- and bean-based sauce, then topped with minced pork.  Again, this is not the dumbed-down version you might have had elsewhere – true Mapo Doufu is super spicy with both conventional “heat” spiciness and the characteristic “mala” (numbing spiciness) flavor of Sichuan cuisine.  

You should know that most of the waitstaff does not speak a ton of English – but the woman who does the seating does, and she’s super friendly and ever-eager to answer questions.  Don’t shy away from hailing her and asking questions about the menu – you will learn a lot and you may discover dishes you’ll dream about the next day. 

And while Sichuan Gourmet does serve more Americanized Chinese food, we’ve never tried it, so I can’t vouch for its taste.  L. has snarfed down their lo mein, and for the truly faint of heart, there is always boiled white rice.  But if you crave spicy, flavorful food and want to experience authentic preparations of traditional Sichuan dishes, this is a place you’ll want to find.  Enjoy!

Print This!

Like it or not, it’s September, and for me, one of the great joys of fall is apple picking.  I love to load up on crisp, sweet-tart apples for snacking and baking.  But what’s a pesticide-avoiding mama to do?  Apples rank number 2 in the EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pecticides, with a 93/100 score for pesticide load.  Every year so far, I’ve thrown caution to the wind and gone to an orchard that uses conventional pest management practices (Honey Pot Hill in Stowe is my favorite, but more for the doughnuts than anything!). 

I decided that this year, we need to get serious and find a place that uses low-spray or organic practices in its orchards, and let me tell you, they’re tough to find.  It’s difficult and expensive to grow organic orchard fruit – apples are beset by many pests and diseases.  Your only choice for certified organic, pick-your-own apples around here is the Old Frog Pond Farm in Harvard.

Far more farms in the area use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems.  What’s IPM?  IPM has been used by growers and researchers for over 25 years in New England orchards. It’s a “best practices” approach that primarily relies on cultural practices to maintain tree health, and the action of beneficial organisms to manage pests. IPM growers seek to use the lowest possible dosage of the least disruptive pesticide, only when pest populations exceed economic threshold levels and alternative methods are ineffective. As with organic farming, IPM emphasizes plant health and cultural practices as the first line of defense against pests. But unlike organic farming, which allows only the use of pesticides derived from natural sources, IPM does allow the use of synthetic pesticides.

There are 10 choices for IPM pick-your-own in the Greater Boston area:

1. Shelburne Farms in Stowe
2. Bolton Spring Farm in Bolton
3. Nicewicz Family Farm in Bolton
4. Autumn Hills Orchard in Groton
5. Clearview Farm in Sterling
6. Connor’s Farm in Danvers
7. Ashby Apples in Ashby
8. Russell’s Orchard in Ipswitch
9. Kimball’s Fruit Farm in Pepperell
10. Cider Hill Farms in Amesbury

If you know of others, add them in the comments, please!  And do yourself a favor and call the orchard before you pack up the car and head out – find out what they’re picking on any particular day so you’re not disappointed.

Enjoy!

Print This!