Sweet and Sour in Boston

Where the heck have we been? Work and wedding planning and once again sure laziness has made us neglect our blog. There's a lot we need to catchup on. Reviews of Poppa B and Pita South End are on their way. But I'll start by recapping our weekend.

Kingston Station

Abby recently joined something called Groupon, which basically gives her random coupons from week to week. We jumped at a $35 worth of food for $15 coupon for Kingston Station. Basically a $20 off coupon. I've never heard of Kingston Station. I have no idea if it's a new restaurant or not. Normally when I'm in the Chinatown/South Station/Leather District area, I'll just eat in Chinatown.

We walk into a large opening with a few tables near the window and a large bar facing us. We walk through the bar and are brought into another large dining area. The first thing I noticed was that the tiled floor and bar reminded me of Gaslight in the South End. The tables are situated very close to each other. If the restaurant gets crowded (which it wasn't this Friday night) then you could easily hear and join in your neighbor's conversation.

The menu is very bistro-esque. Steak Frites, hamburgers, fried calamari, etc. We start with the fried calamari and both order the Station Burger.




The calamari was a fairly large portion. I like fried calamari that come with fried peppers (which Abby calls Rhode Island style). The marinara dipping sauce was ok, not great, but the calamari was nicely fried and very good. Abby complained that the pieces she ate were extremely salty, so I tried a few without the marinara and sure enough a couple of the bites were overly salty. Not enough to ruin the appetizer, but enough to make us remember the saltiness.




Did we really both need to order the burger that comes with a sunny side up egg and bacon on it? No, but we did anyways. This was a very, very good burger. Nice and juicy (though a little greasy) with the egg adding just the perfect flavor. I would have changed the cheese (gruyere) to cheddar or American, but other than that a very good burger.

I really don't know what Kingston Station is trying to be. I read something online that said it was suppose to be a train. I didn't really get that vibe. The food was better than average and the prices were high, but not overly so. Because of our coupon, this turned out to be a great dinner. However, if we didn't have our little discount, I'd just say "meh". I'd give Kingston Station a 3 1/2 out of 5.



Moat Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery

We went up to New Hampshire to go hiking on Saturday and after our hike we met up with one of my co-workers that has a house up there. Mike is a local at the Moat and always brags about how great the beers are there. From his descriptions, I always got the impression that the Moat was this dive bar with a mastermind brewer making wild concoctions. When we arrived to the brewery, I was a bit surprised by the very clean restaurant. There were quite a lot of tourists and locales eating in the dining area, but Mike took us into the bar area and we sat down immediately. Our server was a young guy that Mike knew (he's a regular, so he knew everyone in the bar) and he treated us very well. Abby got the sampler and I wanted to order the stout, but sadly was denied. I went with the weiss instead. Mike got the aptly named "Iron Mike Pale Ale" that arrived in his own special mug. I love bars that allows regulars to have their own mugs and glasses. We ordered the boneless chicken tenders and the pepperoni pizza and enjoyed our beers.





Both the pizza and the chicken tenders were well above average for a bar. The pizza was very large and had a nice thin crust. The tenders were cooked perfectly and the chicken was very tender and juicy. The buffalo sauce was nothing special, not bad at all, just didn't really stand out on it's own, but it didn't have to. Abby made her way through her sampler and I ordered another beer, the Mai Bock. The Moat's brewmaster definitely knows what he's doing. Every beer I tasted was delicious and had great flavor. Sadly, I judge all micro-breweries by their stout, so I'll have to come back and give the Moat another try one day. If you are in the North Conway, NH area, you should definitely drop by the Moat. I give the Moat Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery a 4 out of 5.





This is Mike and yes, ladies, he's single!

Warren's Lobster House

After we left the Moat, Abby and I took a drive to Portsmouth, NH to check out the city and grab dinner before we headed back to Boston. We knew about the Friendly Toast and also of Jumping Jay's Fish House from various TV shows (most recently Samantha Brown) but we chose not to go to either of them. Friendly Toast seems like a place to hit up for breakfast or for late night eats when wasted. Jumping Jay's menu didn't jump out at us. While walking through some shops we asked locals where they would dine for moderately priced seafood. Without hesitation we were told by numerous people to go to Warren's across the bridge in Kittery. So we got back into the car (too tired to drive) I drove us over the bridge and entered Maine for the first time in my life.



Upon arrival I could sense that Warren's Lobster House is an institution. And, if you didn't know about the salad bar, well after seeing this sign, you do now.

We walked past all the people waiting to be seated (and there were a lot of people waiting to be seated) and went to the hostess stand and told them we would like to dine at their fine establishment. Basically I just said "Two." We were given a pager and told it would be about 35 minutes. Fine, we weren't starving at the moment and it would give us time to contemplate our salad bar strategy.

It took us about 45 or so minutes before our pager magically went off. We were seated in a nice booth and were only separated by a group of tables holding two large parties (12-15 people in each party). I knew if we were going to survive the salad bar, we'd have to beat both large parties to the punch. Luckily we knew what we were going to order by the time we sat down. Abby went with the lobster and crab stuffed scallops and I went with the twin pound lobster. Both came with the salad bar and another side, which we both chose the baked potato. The second our waitress finished writing down
our order, we jumped out of our booth and attacked the salad bar.




I gotta say, the salad bar was nice, and I'm really glad there are places still holding onto the salad bar tradition, but I wouldn't rate Warren's Salad Bar above Ruby Tuesday's salad bar. This is by no means heavy criticism. Ruby Tuesday's salad bar is probably only second to Fogo de Chao's salad bar. Warren's was good, but not great. There was decent selection of iceberg, romaine, green leaf and spinach and decent toppings. I didn't understand the neon red spiced apple at all. The pasta salads were ok, like one would expect. No wild flavors hidden in the potato salad either. It tastes just like how it looks. Which isn't a bad thing.




After our salads I studied the place mat so I would know exactly how I would eat the lobster. Abby then let the place mat know what we would do to the two poor creatures we were about to devour.






Our plates came out and they looked fantastic.





It took me some time to get my bib on, but once it was on, I went to work. Thanks to the place mat's instructions, I was able to take apart the lobster like a pro. The meat in the claws were incredible. Dipped in the butter, it was like heaven in my mouth. So succulent, so buttery, so unbelievably tasty. The tail was just a tad bit chewy, but still delicious. I broke off some of the body and enjoyed some of the tomally as well. Good eats right there. Abby had nothing but good things to say about her scallops and I tried a couple of bites and thought it was fantastic, but was no where near as good as the lobster.




It was messy, and not that cheap, but well worth it. I'm sure there might be better, less touristy places than Warren. However, you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you chose not to go here because of how cheesy the place looks. Like most things food related, if the parking lot is so full that people are circling the surrounding neighborhood looking for parking, then you know there has to be something good inside. I give Warren's Lobster House a 4 out of 5.

Dude, do a guest post already. We're obv too lazy to update.

P.S. You smell :)

Found this article and was going to add it as a link, but this deserves it's own post.

What a great idea. My quick gut reaction is that Wylie or Hubert Keller will win this thing. I'll be rooting for Rick Bayless, not only because he's originally an Okie, but because his food is dead honest and good and he seems like such a nice person. I'll root for Michale Schlow too because he's a local guy and Radius is a very nice restaurant in Boston.

Oh...I also forgot to mention: NP-freaking-H! You know this show will be legend-wait for it-dary!

My Wednesday tv watching now does not end after Better Off Ted. (Assuming Better Off Ted is still on the air in June...a big assumption.)

Random and funny links I'd like to share. (Not many food related ones.)

Found this food blog on Chowhound.(MC Slim JB)

I didn't know that menupages had a blog, and somehow our review of Hamersley's was linked in it! (MenuPages Blog)

Found from the same link posting as our review, someone else isn't all about Hot Tomatoes either. I thought I was the only one who didn't think it was the greatest. Give me Dino's any day! (Dish This!)

Wrong and funny! Rock Band Nirvana. (Penny Arcade)

My favorite comedian and one of my favorite basketball players. (youtube)

Toby Jones is back! (youtube)

The Times

Friday was the first day in Boston this year to hit 70 on the thermostat. I'm not really sure if it did hit 70 or not, but I would be damned if I didn't bust out the shorts and flip-flops and try to enjoy the weather after work. So I met up with a bunch of friends at The Times bar on Broad Street to bask in the sun outside on their huge patio area. Sadly, the sun disappeared quickly behind the tall buildings in the financial district and it might have been a little too bold to be only wearing a short sleeve shirt and shorts and flip-flops, but I was able to get some rays before it went away. In any case, it was nice to hang out with friends outside and play the finger-bang game.





As a bar, The Times is pretty good. I've always have had a good time coming here, whether it's to play some darts on a Saturday early afternoon when the bar is dead quiet, or when it's packed with the after work crowd. No real beer specials, with the Times Lager being $3.50, but the location and the patio make up for it. The food is pretty good too, being slight better than average bar food. The potato skins are the best item on the menu, being really large potato skins and their burgers are nice and juicy and cooked well.

Stone Meadow Golf Course

Located in Lexington, Stone Meadow is a par-3 golf course and driving range. Abby has never played before, and I wanted to dust off the clubs since I haven't played since last summer, so coming here on a partly cloudy day with nothing else to do was the perfect idea. We started out with a small basket of balls to get our strokes down at the driving range, where I immediately shanked a ball and got mud all over myself. Fantastic!

The par 3 course itself is a nice simply course with a few sand traps and one creek running through a few holes. Nothing longer than 90 yards or so. A good course for a complete novice in Abby and someone just trying to get back into the swing of things (no pun intended) in me. I missed a few birdies but managed to save par each time, and Abby even got a birdie chance herself. Fun times.

Stone Meadows wasn't packed, but there was some slow play ahead of us. This was fine because we weren't the fastest players either and didn't feel rushed at all.

After our golfing, we punched in the GPS to find a place to eat some lunch. Nick's Place sounded like a nice bar-type joint so we headed there. When we arrived however, Nick's Place turned out to be a roast beef restaurant. While not necessarily bad, neither of us were in the mood for roast beef. Next door was Ixtapa Mexican restaurant, so we went there instead.

Ixtapa

Mexican food is so hard to come by in Boston. Correction, "Good" Mexican food is so hard to come by in Boston. There are a few nice hole in the wall joints that we have been to that met my high standards, but nothing that is convienent for us to get to. Being out in the burbs, we had a chance to try out Ixtapa.

As we walk in I started thinking that Ixtapa would probably be like Acapulcos in Sudbury, and that's not a complaint.

We were seated in a booth and brought out salsa and chips. (The waiters were very nice, constantly saying "Mi amigo" to us whenever they refilled our waters or salsa.) The chips were salted and the salsa, while a bit watery, was fresh and light.

The menu at Ixtapa has all the Tex-Mex staples one expects. Burritos, fajitas, chimichangas, etc. Abby decided for the chimichanga with pork and I went with the Ixtapa Enchiladas, which was three different enchiladas: shredded chicken, shredded beef and jack cheese. Both meals were served with refried beans and rice.

I have to say, my enchiladas were very respectable and were very above average. I've been craving some good Mexican for the last couple of weeks, and this hit the spot. The refried beans and rice were tastier than average as well. Abby had nothing bad to say about her chimichanga, so I take it that she liked it.

While we were eating, we could hear children playing in the back. This helps makes the place for me. Family run Mexican places (similar to Acapulcos in Sudbury) are usually a lot better than corporate run ones. I wish this place was closer than Lexington because I'd be back, especially for their lunch menus during the week. Deals starting at $6.50. That was probably my only knock on Ixtapa. $13 for my enchiladas seemed a bit steep. If it was $10 or so, I'd think it was a pretty good deal.

I give Ixtapa a very strong 3 1/2 out of 5.



Wine Riot

To end our big Saturday, we went to the Wine Riot festival at the Cyclorama in the South End. We met up with our friends Heidi and Sarah and proceeded to drink a lot of different wines. This turned out to be a great time. I have a few new wines that I want to purchase (perfect for steak nights) and we had a lot of fun sampling the various wines. South Afria and Columbia Valley in Washington were the big winners in my eyes.

This being a wine event, there were tons of douchebags out and about. A big group of them decided to wear blazers over turtle neck sweaters. Man, were they losers. They tried to make it their own personal party and took over the center of the wine tasting area and started their own dance party. Normally things like this would bother me, but really, they weren't bumping into anyone and were just acting like asses and having a good time. More power to them. When the d-bags go a dancing, they gotta go dancing.

And I, myself, had to have a d-bag like moment too. There was this young lady in a very tight dress doing some sort of reporting. Abby and her cousin Annie have a thing for something called the "bumpit". (You can find more about this here.) This young lady reporter had hair that looked like it was modified with a bumpit. Well I had to go find out for them. Sadly, when asked, she said it was her own natural hair and she wasn't wearing one. For some reason, me asking her this just made Heidi and Sarah laugh hysterically. I feel bad if I was bother this young lady and her friends, but seriously, it's a simple, honest question.

The Wine Riot was fantastic fun. I do wish the food inside was free though. Some pieces of cheese or bread to go along with the tastings would have helped immensely. I just didn't feel like spending more money ($45 for a ticket to go in) once we started the tasting.

A couple of pics are found here and here.

Overall, a very fun Saturday.

Sorry for the late post, but here was how we celebrated Abby's birthday.

Hamersley's Bistro

We arrived to our reservations a few minutes early and had a drink at the bar while we waited. While waiting for our table, I told the bartender that this was our first time here and if the famous roast chicken was a necessary order. He said without a doubt, get the chicken. So we already knew what one entree we were going to order.

Once we were seated, our waiter, who looked like Horned Rimmed Glasses from Heoes (Noah Bennett) gave us our menus and took our drink orders.



On the menu was this picture of a chicken, once again informing us that we should get the chicken.




We started with the "Country Pork Pâté and Chicken Liver Mousse with Mustards, Pickles and Toasts" and the "Crispy Duck Confit and an Onion Stuffed with Duck Livers,
Tomatoes and Herbs … Brandy Sauce". The duck confit was crispy and savory and perfectly cooked. The brandy sauce, though, didn't really bring much to the table and we ignored it while we devoured the duck. (This became a theme for the rest of the night.) The pate and mousse were equally as good. Spreading the mustard and pate over the toasted bread made us quickly run out of bread. No matter, we just scooped the pate and mousse directly into our mouths. If they had 3 extra pieces of bread then it probably would have been fine. I'm actually pretty sure if we asked for more toasted bread, it would have came, we just didn't care.





For our entrees, Abby did get the roasted chicken, and I went with the “Coulotte” Steak. This is one of the only times in my life I will probably say this, but dammit, I really, really wish I went with the chicken as well. Not because the steak was bad, which in fact was not the case. The chicken was just that damn good. The steak was perfectly cooked and had a great peppery seasoning on it. The blue cheese butter wasn't to my liking, so I just moved that to the side. The fries were just two pieces of steak cut potatoes, which were tasty and crispy as well, if not lacking in amount. And the sauce that everything laid in didn't add anything to the dish. I would have preferred if the sauce was left off all together, because the steak was juicy enough on it's own.

But you don't want to hear about the steak, you want to know about the famous roast chicken and if it lived up to it's billing. Well, as you can already guess, it not only lived up to our expectations, but it exceeded them. The chicken was moist and juicy with a nice crispy skin. People say chicken can be boring and, as Bourdain says, is usually ordered by people who don't know what they want. This can not be further than the truth at Hamersley's. The chicken is probably the most exciting dish on the menu and is the one dish everyone HAS to order when you come here. Again, there was way too much sauce on the plate and while not un-tasty, just wasn't necessary. I don't know if this is how the plates at Hamersley's normally are, but next time I come, I'm going to ask for very little sauce if possible.

Hamersley's Bistro is as well known and as well thought of any culinary institution can be in Boston. This man has been doing roasted chicken for years and he has it down to perfectly. The dining room was comfortable and inviting and the waitstaff was extremely professional and courteous. The prices were actually better than I thought: not cheap by any means, but $27 for that roast chicken is in my eyes a bargain. I give Hamersley's Bistro a 4 out of 5.



Beehive

We were all set to go to Masa for brunch but when we arrived we were told that there was a party of 50(!) about to come in and they would not be able to seat us. Needless to say, I was disappointed. I wanted the huevos rancheros so bad...

We walked by the Beehive and saw they had a jazz brunch and we went in to see if we could get seated. Sadly, it would be about an hour to seat our party of 5...however, the bar area was wide open, so we sat down on the stools and were greeted by 2 great bartenders who were in extremely positive good moods. This makes a big difference sometimes between a decent meal and a great meal.



We were served free beignets because the bartender could tell this was our first time at brunch at the Beehive and he wanted us to experience them. Well done bartender, well done. The beignets were light and fluffy and sweet and very good. I wanted to take a photo before they were all eaten, but as you can see everyone in our group just absolutely devoured these wonderful pastries. Definitely order them if you go.



The menu for brunch sadly did not have huevos rancheros, but did have a few items that sounded tasty. One dish was the "Eggs Shakshuka", which is an African dish that has a creamy tomato sauce over polenta with three baked eggs on top. Annie was the only one in our group to order this, but I think we all secretly wanted to. Mike and I ended up getting the Poutine and Abby and Sam got the Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and ham respectively.





None of us were disappointed with our meal. Everything was fantastic. The prices were a bit higher than I would have like by a dollar or two, but the service from the bartenders more than made up for it. I've been to Beehive before at night and while the music is good and the atmosphere fun, the waitstaff can be quite bitchy. We've had more than our fair share of run ins with waitresses giving us false prices on our drinks and forgetting to bring out drinks and treating us like crap. I was very, very happy to see that the Sunday Brunch crew (at least the upstairs bartenders) were very nice and knew what great service was. I give Beehive a very strong 3 1/2 out of 5.

Once again, been both too lazy and too busy to update the blog. Got a review of Hamersleys Bistro coming later today though.

Some images of fast food menu items compared with their advertisements. (Thispiggy.com)

Superfoods you should be eating. (Chicago Tribune)

Ruhlman has a new book out about the ratios in the cooking world. Doesn't it seem like every two months he has a new book? (Ruhlman.com)

Filed under strange: Kobe Bryant on Sesame Street. (FirstCuts via Deadspin)

While I may not truly hate Andrew Zimmern, I do agree with a few of these comments on this list. (Village Voice)

Cool video of Bourdain going to El Bulli. (bighospitality)

An article on Padma and her burger. (Electric Show)

The above commercial. (youtube)