Sweet and Sour in Boston

It seems like ages since either of us has written on the blog. Not that there has been much going on lately other than work, work and more work. However, we did happen to eat at a few places, and here are some short quick reviews:

PICCO

Picco stands for Pizza and Ice Cream Company. Located on Tremont St, near the Center of the Arts, Picco is exactly what it's name entails: a pizza and ice cream joint. We came here on St. Patty's day, just a couple of hours after coming home from our trip to Chicago, and we were looking for a light snack and a dessert. We came in and sat at the nice, clean, big bar. The pizza and ice cream prices weren't exactly cheap, but not too bad either. I ordered the Brown Cow (a root beer float using Virgil Root Beer) for $5.50. Abby got the Raspberry Chip Milkshake. (Ok, I know you ass-backward people here in Boston call it a Frappe, but seriously, what the hell is a FRAPPE? It's a god damn milkshake! Get with it people!!!!! I was told a story about how when people order a milkshake at places they end up getting something similar to milk in ice that was shaken up or mixed together...that's just messed up!) We also ordered the Grilled Cheese Panini to share. A little sample of their freshly made homemade pasta in pesto arrived first. The chef was trying it out before he put it out on the menu. The pasta was very good, but I didn't like the pesto very much. The Grilled Cheese Panini, however, did not disappoint at all. Perfectly cooked with cheese melting off the side and the sourdough bread grilled nice and crispy, this was a sandwich one would crave late at night after 7 or 8 drinks. Hell, make it the next morning to help you recover from your hangover. It was decadent...a great, great sandwich. My root beer float was equally impressive and tasty. Virgil's root beer is some of the best root beer I have ever had, but sadly it's usually too expensive for me to justify buying a 4 pack at the store. The vanilla ice cream was nice and smooth with just the right amount of sweetness. You know what ice cream I hate? The "ice cream" at Coldstone...yuck. Way too sweeet, way to fake in texture...it's disgusting. The ice cream at Picco? The exact opposite. Well worth the price, and seriously, it's basically the same price if not cheaper than Coldstone. (Did I mention I hate Coldstone yet?) I like that they gave me the entire bottle of Virgil too. I didn't need all of it for the root beer float, so I had some leftover to enjoy on it's own. Abby's raspberry chip milkshake was another winner. The portions of both our drinks were quite large. If you were coming here for a dessert after a meal at another restaurant in the South End, I do not think you can go wrong. I want to come back and try the pizza for sure. I give Picco a 4 out of 5.



5 Guys Burgers

Located in Robert Kraft's playground, 5 Guys Burgers is a Baltimore based burger joint. We were hungry after walking around Wrentham buying tons of new kitchen toys with gift cards we had, so we headed over to Patriot Place to give this burger place a try. I didn't know what to expect, whether it was a sit down type of place or if you just ordered food and took it to go. I did hear their burgers were cheap and supposedly very good, as were their fries. So we walk in and there are 15 or so tables scattered through out the entrance, along with a nice counter bar situated right in front of the order/pick up line. We walk to the left and get in line. The menu isn't that diverse, which is nice. You have your burger, cheeseburger, and bacon cheeseburger. Simple enough. Though a little more than $5 for a bacon cheeseburger seemed pricey, and I was thinking I might have to get two to fill me up. I did like that all condiments are free, so on my bacon cheeseburger I got mayo, ketchup, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce and grilled onions. Abby got a cheeseburger with random nearly similar condiments as well. I also ordered some of their fries. While we stood there waiting for our burgers, I noticed that the meat patties looked thin. Maybe I should have ordered two burgers. Then I noticed that that all the burgers were actually double burgers. OK! I get it know...that is a decent price for a double cheeseburger with bacon. Our order arrives and we sit at the counter bar to eat. The burgers were very, very tasty. Nicely cooked with just the right amount of grease dripping off the burger as I lifted it up to bite down. This burger could definitely fill me up. The fries on the other hand...well they were good, but nothing special. I guess when everyone tells me how good these fries are, I was expecting Bouchon or Les Halles greatness. Sadly, they were just very decent fries, nothing else. 5 Guys Burgers is what it is and nothing more or less. I actually wish they had a location in South End. I'd go there from time to time if there was. I give 5 Guys Burgers a 3 1/2 out of 5.



Myers and Chang

We've talked about Myers and Chang many times before on this blog. Not sure if we ever given a real review of it though. This will be a short one though, because we went there for a late dinner (after 9pm) and weren't really starving. Basically, you will do no wrong with any item on the menu. It's fantastic and tasty throughout. Yes it can be a bit pricey, but I find it to be some of the best Asian food in the city. As always, we sat at the bar in front of the open kitchen. I love open kitchens and I love watching chefs and cooks working. The night we went, the kitchen was trying out a new item (a Korean "taco": braised short rib meat in a fried wonton wrapper) and the chef asked us our opinion on it. We told him we loved the dish, but that the fried wonton wrapper was a bit odd to eat. It didn't fry up nicely enough in a taco shape. He mentioned how he noticed people having difficulties trying to figure out how best to eat it. Joanne Chang was present, as she always is it seems. We even got to have a brief chat with her, where I asked her what her favorite spots in the city to eat were. Abby joked that she would say Radius, which got a laugh out of the baker/chef-extraordinaire. She told us of how whenever Chris and her go out to eat (Chris being Chris Myers) they get treated very well because they either know the chefs working or the front of house. Must be a great experience to go into a place knowing you are going to be getting their best any time you go to dine. Joanne Chang told us of how she was working on the Flour Cookbook, which will be a must own for us so Abby can make her raspberry squares (which Joanne Chang said were easy to make...maybe for her). Anyways, along with the "tacos" we got the green papaya salad and also the beef chow fun. Both excellent, with the salad seeming to be a little bit spicier than normal. My only complaint, and this was very rare for Myers and Chang, was that our waiter was really, really slow and seemed to not want to be there that night. We overheard the people next to us also complaining about our waiter. This is not to put a downer on the entire waitstaff though. Everyone else seemed to be rushing plates out and refilling waters and drinks and clearing tables at a 5-star rate. It was just our waiter on the night we went that seemed to be out of place. That won't stop us from going back though. Myers and Chang gets a 4 out of 5.