Sweet and Sour in Boston

Happy New Years! Haven't posted since Thanksgiving, though not much has really happened to us culinary-wise. We did hit up a few places and here are quick hit reviews of them.

Tu Y Yo

We went with a big group to celebrate our boy Noah's birthday. They accommodated us but allowing us to take over the entire middle. They even separated checks out to us based on what table we were in, which is a great touch if you've ever been out to dinner with a large group and some people never know how much to pay. You won't be able to find guacamole here or other Tex-Mex treats. What you will find is authentic Mexican food which is absolutely delicious. I went with the Bisteces en salsa “Borracha” and it was fantastic. The portion was huge, the rice and beans that came with the dish was the perfect complement. In fact, I think I could eat their rice and beans by themselves for dinner. There are many items on the menu I want to try, especially their seafood offerings. I'll definitely be back. I give Tu Y Yo a 5 out of 5.



Lower Depths

Abby's brother has been telling us about this great beer bar with good hot dogs for a few months now. We finally went with Mike and Sam to check it out and it lived up to expectations. Tons of beer on draft and bottle/can form. A knowledable bartender that could tell us about all the beers. And a menu that includes hot dogs. I went with a couple of dogs, one with chili and one with kraut and pickles. Abby went with a specialty dog that had mac and cheese on it. We also go some tater tots. Everything was great. The dogs are $1 each and you build upon them with toppings that are mostly $1 each but some fancier ones are $2. Good cheap eats. I give Lower Depths a 4 out of 5.



Russel House Tavern

A gastropub with a good beer menu and a mixture of traditional pub fare with slightly more adventurous options. Service was great, our waiter being very attentive and knowledgeable about the beers and food offerings. We ordered some small plates to start: Crispy Pigs Head Parmigiana, Redondo Black Serrano Ham, Brandt Farms Marrow Bone. All of these were delicious. The pigs head came out looking like an arrenchini ball, but with pigs head meat instead of rice. Crispy and savory and surprisingly light. The serrano ham was salty with just the right amount of sweetness. The bone marrow was straight buttery goodness. The only problem is that the bread that came with the bone marrow was buttered and overpowered the bone marrow at times. Switching the bread that came with the serrano ham fixed this problem for us. For out mains I got the burger that I've heard a lot about (which when I ordered, the waiter told me it's on an english muffin and alot of foodies have been slamming the chef about using the muffin) and Abby got the duck. Both were great, though my burger seemed to have been seasoned a little too much with pepper. The fries were plentiful too. Overall, this is a place I definitely want to come back to and eat everything else on the menu. Service was good, though slowed a little towards the end of the night, but we weren't in a hurry so no biggie there. I give Russel House Tavern a 4 out of 5.

Holy crap I haven't posted in a long time. It hasn't been that we haven't gone out to eat anywhere, just been lazy. Here's some quick hits reviews.

Koreana

We got reservations for four on a Friday night for 8pm. Was told that if we weren't there by 8:15pm they were releasing our reservation. I can see why. When we arrived, it was freaking packed. The bar was packed, the sushi bar was packed, the entry way was packed. Our notoriously late friends (island timers) weren't there yet and it was only a couple minutes before 8. Luckily they showed up right on time and we were seated immediately. We ordered a lot of food and all of it good. Pros: bibimbop and bulgogi. The ok, but not as good: Wine Sam Gyup Sal and shrimp. Overall: a great night of food and friends. Definitely get a reservation when you go. I give Koreana a 3 and 1/2 out of 5.



EZ Grill

The greatest invention of all time? Maybe not, but it's close. The EZ Grill is the greatest tailgating accessory ever. Cooks fast, hot, and cleanly. I highly recommend. A 5 out of 5.







Pops

Went here for brunch. Not the cheapest spots for brunch, maybe a couple of dollars too much on each item, but the portions are huge. Huevos Rancheros had a nice touch with refried black beans and the Manwich was just crazy huge and filling. I give it a 4 out of 5. (This review is for brunch only.)





McRib

This is the greatest invention of all time!!!! I am so glad the McRib is back. 1 Million of out 5.




Home Cooking

Made bo luc lac and a Vietnamese fritatta with canned spicy tomatoes. Turned out really good.





I started buying sardines because Alton Brown said it's good for me in helping me lose weight. I made a sardine paste and put it on some toasted bread. Not a bad dinner.

Friday was a pretty gross and rainy night, but Jason and I ventured out in town to grab some drinks. I had a Groupon to Stoddards which was about to expire, so that was our first stop. It's a newish place that opened in late summer, located in Downtown Crossing on Temple. The space is very beautiful, with an extremely ornate carved wooden bar. There's not a lot of room by the bar, and it was packed with a bustling after work crowd, so we decided to come back later when (hopefully) it would be less crowded.

We decided next to try Battery Park, which was having its soft open. Located on Batterymarch in the Financial District, it's a nice, but kind of expected space. Pretty much like most of the new bars in Boston, it has lots of dark wood, a few flatscreens behind the bar, and current pop music soundtrack. It's not very big inside, but it has a large outdoor space (which I didn't see). We sat at the bar and chatted with the bartender, who told us that the kitchen wasn't fully operational, but offered us some free appetizers to try. I didn't see a drink menu, so I decided to try Hex Octoberfest, which is a Magic Hat product. I'm normally not the biggest fan of Octoberfest, but it was such a cold, rainy night, it seemed appealing. I enjoyed it a lot, it didn't seem as heavy as other Octoberfests, with a nice spice to it. They brought us some chicken tenders (very standard, which is not to say they were bad in any way, there's just not much to do with them) with a delicious spicy ketchup, and buffalo chicken wontons which were extremely tasty. We saw them bring another couple down the bar a plate of calamari that looked delicious. I'll definitely check it out again sometime, I'm interested to see what their menu will look like and how they manage cocktails.








After Battery Park, we went to one of my favorite haunts in Boston, Ames Plow. Located under Ned Devine's in the Quincy Market Building, this place is very no-frills and pretty divey, but I like it for the jukebox and $2 PBRs. Maybe as libations liaison, I shouldn't admit that so readily, but I'm also Abby's cousin, so there you go.



Finally, we headed back to Stoddard's. It was still really busy, but as luck would have it, we managed to grab two seats at the bar. This place has both extensive beer selection and craft cocktail list. The cocktail list has drinks from different time periods, such as an Aviation, Sazerac, etc. Since I was ordering a burger (which was very tasty), I had a BBC Steel Rail Pale Ale to start. If you haven't tried this western Mass brewery, I'd suggest it, they make some great beer. The pale ale is their flagship brew, and it's a great tasting, refreshing beer. It was perfect with the burger. After I ate, I ordered a Blood and Sand cocktail. This was phenomenal. It consists of whisky, vermouth, cherry brandy, and orange juice. It was garnished with orange peel and a dried tart cherry. It was an amazing balance of tart and sweet, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are a lot of drinks on the menu I'd like to try, so I'll probably go back. The drink prices are actually not bad for the craft cocktails compared to other higher-end places in Boston, each are $9. The only thing that bothered me is that the beer menu doesn't list prices. You don't want to order an interesting sounding beer and have it be $15 or some such, and it's sort of awkward to ask for the price first. But all in all, I liked the space, and the staff was friendly. Very worth a try.

Been wanting to go to Teranga since they opened last year. Finally went a couple of weekends ago and was not disappointed at all. We were greeted with the friendliest of smiles and sat down at the bar. After looking at the menu, I was slightly surprised (I say slightly because I read in passing earlier in the day about some Vietnamese influence in Senegalese cuisine) to see a few items that clearly had a Vietnamese twist to them. I asked the waitress how that came to be and she replied that as both were French colonized the mixture of cultures is evident in Senegal, which has a large Vietnamese community. Hm...learn something new everyday I guess.



A plate of toasted bread came out along with a dipping sauce that had hints of curry. We devoured this in seconds, not only because we were both starving but because the dipping sauce was highly addictive.



I had to order the Nem, which is Teranga's version of the egg roll. This came with a nuoc mam (fish sauce) dipping sauce. I have to say if you replaced the beef with pork you might be able to have this egg roll in a Vietnamese restaurant. Ok, the texture of the wrapping was a little different. Instead of being a lighter fried wrapper it had a chewier, ricey tasting wrapper. Not that this was bad, in fact, it was very, very good. Any future trip to Teranga has to include an order of Nem.




For our mains, I went with the national dish (Thiebou Djeun) which is a herb-stuffed white fish served with jasmine rice and some root vegetables. The fish came out looking a little dry, and it did taste a bit overcooked. The flavors itself were good, but I think I was expecting some bigger flavors. I've never had Senegalese food before, so my expectations might have been wrong to start, but I was thinking bold, spicy flavors. The rice was nicely cooked and the portion was huge.




Abby, who lately has been ordering a lot better (maybe luckier) than me, went with the Brochettes. This was grilled cubes of beef with yucca fries. Perfectly cooked beef with great flavors. She enjoyed the yucca fries a lot, but I thought they needed a little salt.



We weren't sure about dessert until our waitress described a rice pudding-esque one that comes with fruit. We both agreed that sounded fantastic and ordered it. The "sauce" of the rice pudding was very good and sweet and was complimented nicely with raisins and other chopped fruit. The "rice" was couscous and I wasn't a big fan of it, but Abby didn't mind it at all.



Service was very friendly and treated us great. Water was refilled in a timely manner, even though there were only two people working the entire restaurant. Some people had to wait because they had a large group (9 people I believe) but other than that it seemed like people were getting seated in a timely manner. Overall, I really enjoyed Teranga and want to come back to try other items. I do have to take half a point off because my fish was dry. I give Teranga a 3 and 1/2 out of 5.

JNJ Turo Turo is a very quaint, family operated authentic Filipino restaurant located in Quincy. They have some premade items you can choose from right by the cashier along with some made to order items that are listed on the wall. The menu changes daily.

We ordered the fried fish (I forget the name of the dish) and we got the last one of the day. The family ordering after us also wanted the dish and we were so very close to just giving it to them, but we really wanted to try it and I'm glad we did because it was the best dish of the night. We also went with the crispy pork belly, the pancit (stir fried noodles) and the beef BBQ on a stick.



The crispy fish was definitely the best dish. It was a milk fish, I believe that's what they said, and it was fried whole with a very nice crispy skin and tender flesh. The very soft bones were edible as well, so you didn't have to worry about that. It did have a bit of a vinegary taste, but I kinda liked that as a compliment to the dry white rice that we received with our dinner.




The beef bbq and pancit were just alright, nothing special. In fact the pancit was a little flavorless, but I added some of the fish sauce that was on the table to it and that helped it out.



The lechon was a bit disappointing though. They looked overly dry and tasted like day old pork chop. The dipping sauce, which I swear has some apple in it, was actually quite nice though.

I think we did this restaurant a disservice by coming in an hour to closing time. We probably got the dregs of the day since they weren't going to whip anything new right when they are closing shop. I'd come back and give it another shot if I was ever in the Quincy area again. I give JNJ Turo Turo a 3 out of 5.

I can't believe that we have not been to a Barbara Lynch restaurant in all the time we've been in Boston. We corrected this huge culinary hole on Saturday by going to The Butcher Shop for lunch. I have never, ever seen less than 20 people inside this restaurant. It always seems so busy that we always discount it as a place to go to for dinner because we think there's no way we will be seated quickly. While walking past on Saturday, we only saw on table taken and a list of lunch specials that sounded absolutely delicious. We walked in and sat down at the bar.

The restaurant itself is a very stylish layout. There's a large bar with a few high tops along the window and a large butcher block in front of some refrigerators filled with meats and other items for sale. All the servers in black t-shirts and jeans making for a very casual feel (we were nervous about eating here because we were just in t-shirts) and the butcher in his whites with a tie breaking down some meats.

Abby went with the duck hot dog and I went for the BLT. Some Italian soda bread was placed in front of us along with some butter (topped with salt) and organic honey. The honey was no ordinary honey...I forget the process it went through that our bartender explained to us. However, after one small bite, we both were hooked. I think all restaurants should provide this honey and salted butter to be served with bread. Fan-freaking-tastic.



After a short wait, our mains arrived. The tomatoes in my BLT stole the show of my sandwich. One would think the massive amount of bacon I got would be the main attraction, but the tomatoes were just so fresh and so perfect in this sandwich that that is all I can remember. The only way I think one could prefect this sandwich is to replace the Helman's mayo with Miracle Whip...however, maybe that's not a good idea because the tangy MW might take away from the sweetness of the fresh tomatoes. Abby's duck hot dog was likewise "to die for". I definitely enjoyed how little of a bun she got so there was no mistake that the duck hot dog was the star of that plate. And that was one damn good hot dog. I was very surprised that the sweetness of the brioche bun didn't make the entire dish too sweet (what with the duck and all) but it was perfect. The homemade potato chips earn my highest praise because it reminded me of my own potato chips. (This is not to say these chips were amateurish in any way, it was just that they were seasoned with a lot of pepper which is how I do it at home.)




At the end of our meal, we purchased a little 3oz jar of the honey for $3. The meal was decently priced too, with both entrees being $10 or less. And for the quality of our food, those prices might have been bargains. We will definitely be back to try their salumi's and charcuterie and give dinner a try too. Based on our lunch experience, I give The Butcher Shop a 5 out of 5.


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Hey JP, you wanna wait in a 2 hour line for M&M ribs with a bunch of annoying yuppies complaining about how there's no T in South End (false) who are constantly bumping into you while you stand there not being able to move because you don't want to get out of line? Do you want to wait 2 hours and try your hardest not to punch the pretentious jerks behind you talking about how they shouldn't have to wait in line and that they can just get better bbq elsewhere, but just stand there and continue to annoy you? Not even if you will be rewarded for your patience with a friendly server that sadly does not have much food left, not even their famous ribs? No? Not again, you say? Well, how about driving 2 minutes down the street, parking in a sand lot, and walking right up to the nicest BBQ Truck lady ever and ordering cheap BBQ and taking it back home in under 10 minutes?

That's basically what we did this past Friday night. Once again we were in a very indecisive mood, neither of us able to make a decision on where we want to go eat. Finally, the wife reminded me that M&M Ribs are open late on Friday. So after looking on the interweb to figure out exactly where it's located, and seeing that's it's a stone's throw from our condo, we were out the door faster than you can say "food truck festival".

We arrive and there's a family eating on some picnic tables to the left of the food truck. The menu is listed right underneath the window of the truck, along with some specials listed right at window level.



After some tough decisions, Abby went with the ribs dinner with mac and cheese and spicy beans and rice and I went with the ribs/chicken combo dinner with spicy beans and rice and candied yams. I also added an order of fried chicken wings. Once of the nicest ladies ever, who was all smiles, took our order and just seemed genuinely happy to be sharing the food with us. After a short wait, we paid and got our food. ("You'll be coming back soon, dear." How right she will be...)








We got home and unpacked the goodies from the bag. The chicken wings were the kind of wings you'd expect from a family cook out. Perfectly fried, a little greasy, with a great crispy, flavorful crust. The candied yams were sweet and succulent. The spicy beans and rice didn't look like what I was expecting, but were also delicious and with a nice little kick. The BBQ chicken looked dry, but wasn't at all. There was a little white meat and some dark meat all mixed together. The famous ribs had some bites that were more tender than others, but were fantastic. The BBQ sauce wasn't the best I've ever had, but did what it had to do without over powering the meat, which is key.

M&M Ribs is not the best BBQ I've ever had. However, it is by far the best value (very large portions over very good food) I've ever had in the Boston area. Both times I've eaten from this food truck (at the food festival and again this night) I've been left wanting more, in a good way. There are tons of specialties I would love to try (like the jerk chicken and rice) and since I know how close this food truck is I will most likely be back often. I give M&M Ribs a 4 out of 5.