Saturday, December 31, 2016

Red Heat Wilmington

I decided to skip the Tuna Tacos this year and instead went to Red Heat Tavern Wilmington for my New Years Lunch extravaganza. I really like the food here.



The Extra Extra Dry Martini is very reasonable priced at $9. That included an humungous twist.



It was a tough choice between the Mesquite Smoked Wings and the Korean Fried Ribs ($10.95), but the ribs won. "All-natural slow-cooked pork ribs braised in Harpoon cider, fried crisp w/ Korean-style BBQ sauce, toasted sesame seeds." Fall off the bone tender ribs with a delightful and sticky BBQ sauce that had a hint of heat.



This is another favorite, a side order of Jumbo Tater Tots ($6.95). "Hand-made, jumbo tater tots stuffed w/ applewood-smoked bacon, smoked Gouda, Provolone & American Grana cheeses, smoked tomato ketchup, beer cheese". These are substantial tots as they should be for $2+ a tot. If there was any smoke in the ketchup, I missed it, but the tots are excellent.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

BayBerry Woburn

BayBerry in Woburn is not only a vegetarian restaurant, but I found out today that they are also vegan, and the food still tastes good. I'm still confused about the name. Their website says Bay Berry but the sign outside says Bayberry.



This isn't just another picture of a Miso soup but something very rare, a Miso soup that actually tastes of something! Of course, the shitake mushrooms helps.



For my lunch, I picked Singapore Noodles with a salad ($9). The noodles were excellent, and I must admit that the lack of protein wasn't even noticeable. The salad was very fresh, and the red stuff is actually beets, and I don't like beets, but these strings went down easily. The dressing was the generic orange dressing so common in Thai and Japanese places. I told them that I thought they should change it to something better that reflects the quality of their food.



The interior is very nice with good quality furniture. Unfortunately, this is how it looked when I got there, and they only had one takeout order during my lunch.



Something has changed in their parking lot since my first visit.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Fiorella's Newton

I got an email from Fiorella's in Newton saying that if I stopped in before the New Year I would get an envelope with a nice surprise and I really like this place, so I headed down there for lunch today.



Getting here is a bit convoluted and confusing. You take a right onto Farwell St and then you are suddenly on Nort St where they are located.



After I devoured their great breadsticks that come with a warm marinara sauce, my Chicken Parmigiana ($12) arrived. "Homemade chicken cutlet covered with Fiorella’s signature marinara sauce & mozzarella cheese, served with linguini." The marina sauce was bright and very flavorful. The chicken was really crispy on the outside with a moist and tender inside. You also got a piece of garlic bread. So far, the kitchen has been perfect on the food delivery, and all the food is nicely seasoned. They were absolutely packed at lunch today. I also really appreciate that they use recycled materials for their leftover containers. 

Monday, December 26, 2016

Sawasdee Danvers

Sawasdee in Danvers comes highly recommended, and since I had business in the area today, I decided to try them for lunch.


They are located in downtown Danvers with free on-street parking.



This is the pleasant main dining area with a bar to my right and booths to the left.



They also had this nice sunny nook, and I promptly asked for a table in here. Customers arriving after me got seated in the other room.



For $2 you can add a salad and an app to your lunch. Yes, this was the color of the ginger dressing! Of course there was only dressing on the top.



I picked the Bangkok Gyoza as my app. They were crispy and tasty with a pleasing dipping sauce. Not sure where Bankok applies.



When I first cut into the chicken of my Hot Basil Crispy Chicken ($7.50) I had to use a knife, it was seriously dry. "Hot and spicy. Lightly battered sliced chicken breast, deep-fried until crispy with onions, green and red peppers, glazed with spicy basil sauce". My first thought was: "Oh no, not another terrible Thai restaurant" but the rest of the chicken was fine, and it was a very nice and tasty dish. The veggies were cooked well, and the sauce had a nice and complex flavor with a bit of heat. Turned out to be a very pleasant lunch.



The view from my window table of downtown Danvers wasn't very exciting.

Address 49A Maple St, Danvers, MA 01923Phone number (978) 774-8424

Sawasdee Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Capital Grille Burlington

To continue my Christmas Eve tradition I headed out to the Capital Grille in Burlington for lunch. They normally are not open for lunch on a Saturday, so I thought this would work out fine.



Extra extra Dry Martini with a twist. (code for "Give me a glass of chilled gin"). The house made chips are a delight except there was a lump of partially cooked chips included.



Well, my lunch plans was a bit thwarted since they only served from the dinner menu, and I really didn't fancy a $50 steak for lunch, so I went with apps instead. First was the Steak Tartare. Nicely presented and delicious even if was as many onions and capers as there was meat. The toast was very dry. I was missing the raw yolk in the middle, a boiled egg doesn't really hack it.



WEDGE WITH BLEU CHEESE AND NUESKE'S BACON. "Cool, crisp greens accented with a nice, smoky flavor." There is a reason that this has survived on the steakhouse menu for ages. It's a classic, and the bacon was very good. Really enjoyable.

Friday, December 23, 2016

Commune Kitchen Arlington

I had trouble picking a lunch place today but finally decided on Commune Kitchen in Arlington.



This is the real menu, the online one only shows a subset of what's available. They also had a Fried Chicken with biskets and gravy that was very tempting.



I started with the Grilled Caesar ($7.25) and added a chicken thigh (+2). It was very lightly grilled but the dressing was very good, and I really liked that you got parmesan crisps on top. The chicken was seasoned and cooked perfectly.



I was going to have the Breakfast pizza but when I saw this new addition I was sold. Rodeo Chicken ($15). "Rodeo Sauce, Espresso rubbed chicken, Smoked Mozzarella and grilled pineapple/jalapeno salsa". The pizza was really tasty with a bit of heat from the jalapeno salsa, and the crust is the best ever. It's light and very tasty. I usually leave the outside crust, but here it gets devoured.



The sun was streaming onto the window tables, and even my sweater came off. Is it Christmas Eve tomorrow?

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Ibasaw Malden

Things have changed a bit at Ibasaw in Malden. All of you have gotten the name now, right? The Lunch Buffet is still $12.95 (Mon-Thurs) for AYCE Sushi and Dim Sum, and you now can add Hot Pot for $3 more.



The clams in black beans sauce were really good today, not overcooked as they were on my last visit.



Cold chicken feet was very tasty even if the ratio between effort and edible bits are quite high.



The clams to the right are called baked seafood, and that's pretty accurate since they barely have any clams in them, mostly just the fake crab, but despite that, they are very savory.



Even if the salmon is fresh and very good, there's an enormous amount of cold and unseasoned rice in the Nigiri.



What used to be the Dim Sum section is now dedicated to the hot pot stuff. The good news is that all proteins are now available out here.



The Dim Sum now shares the space where the cooked items used to be so there was no Ribs in Black Bean sauce nor any Shrimp Parcels. Dim Sum without Ribs? I don't think so. I will give them some time to sort things out before my next visit especially since there were so few items that I was happy with today.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

The Porch Wakefield

I'm back at The Porch in Wakefield again since their daily special is hard to resist. I really like that they announce their specials on Facebook. This one I missed yesterday, but it was available today. Actually, Jonathan said that it will be available the whole week and they might keep it as a secret menu item.



The Dark Meat Platter ($10) is really a bargain, especially at this price and hard to pass up. A leg and two thighs of buttermilk brined chicken, crusty on the outside and cooked to perfection. The chicken is super moist and of good quality and the pieces are very generous. None of that quail sized stuff here! Mashed Potatoes are also delicious, and I'm happy to report that the Collard Greens, that was a bit bland on my last visit, now is back to its normal well-seasoned state.



This is where the good stuff happens, two fryers, one cooktop and an oven. Well, the really good stuff happens in the full sized smoker that replaced the Weber.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Blue Fuji Bedford

Blue Fuji in Bedford opened recently in the space vacated by Asiana Bistro. Their website is not up to date, the Cambridge location has closed, and the Bedford location has not been added.



They are very visible from the Great Road.



Sushi bar and dining area.



The main dining area was nice and bright with a delightful floor.



The offer both a Chinese lunch menu as well as a Japanese one. There was nothing exciting about the Chinese one, so I decided to order from the Japanese lunch menu. The miso soup was very thin, but you get linen napkins. I think the tables was a leftover from Asiana since they were a bit scratched up.



I ordered the Katsu Don ($9.95) from the Lunch Box selection, served with an "Organic House Salad." I envisioned a typical Japanese Lunch Box, but this is what arrived. The salad was nowhere to be seen. The steamed veggies were lukewarm apart from the ones that were cold. The chicken was nicely crisped on the outside, but the inside was very dry. The sauce was a bit harsh. Not a great lunch.



Nice water display at the entrance.

Address 200 Great Road Bedford, MA 01730
Phone 781-280-0707

Blue Fuji Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Bonefish Grill Burlington

I have been pleased with the brunch offerings at Bonefish Grill in Burlington, so on this warm but rainy Sunday, I headed back there.



You now get warm and crusty bread with butter and a very tasty dipping oil with your lunch. I went with my regular brunch fare, the Bang Bang Shrimp Eggs Benedict (11.7). Everything was cooked nicely and again I had a very pleasant visit.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Pho #1 Woburn

I'm not driving anywhere today since I don't have to and a walk down to Pho #1 in Woburn seemed reasonable since it's about 10 minutes away. It snowed on my way there but not on the way back.



The Woburn Specials comes with spring roll, dumpling, dipping sauces and a bowl of chicken and noodle soup and everything was really good today.



Duck Basil with nice crisp veggies and some really delightful pieces of crispy duck in a spicy sauce. Really nice dish, previously the duck pieces was from some unknown parts of the duck, but the last couple of times it has been a really high-quality duck, nicely rendered down crispy pieces of breast. And all this for a whopping $8.95!

Friday, December 16, 2016

Chinatown Stoughton

I had a hankering for the ribs that I had at Ten-Ichi a while back but much to my surprise, they had closed when I checked. So off to the mother restaurant, Chinatown in Stoughton. Quite a bit away but Ikea is nearby, and that's always worth a visit. Lunch offerings at Ikea aren't too exciting now that the Gravlax isn't on the menu anymore.



They must do a tremendous business since they had four hostess stations. The open kitchen can be seen in the background, and it was quite impressive.



Not very exciting interior but I managed to get a booth at the windows.



The seventies? The Hot & Sour soup wasn't really and it was thick enough to cut with a knife.



Nothing on the lunch menu looked very exciting, but I figured that Curry Chicken ($7.95) would be a safe bet. Well, the chickens were tender, and it was plenty of it, but the curry sauce had split, and it wasn't cooked enough, so the curry powder was a bit harsh. I like raw onions and peppers, so I was fine with that.



The real reason for the trip, a full rack of Chinatown Ribs ($19.95). The might not have been as succulent as the ribs at Ten-Ishi but were still delicious. Really delicious and super tender without falling off the bone. They were worth the trip.



I stopped by Ikea and picked up a couple bags of Daims, a chocolate covered nougat rectangle that's one of the better things to come out of Sweden.

Address 103 Sharon St, Stoughton, MA 02072
Phone number (781) 297-3886

Chinatown Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Thursday, December 15, 2016

The Porch Wakefield

The Porch in Wakefield announced this morning on Facebook that the Rib Tips was back. I had no idea what it was, but it seems to be popular in the Chicago area.



We will never know, will we, unless we were there.



The Rib Tips ($5) was really the collagen end of the rib plus some of the bits that tend to dry out when you BBQ ribs. The collagen meat was very good and tasty, but the dry bits was, well dry. The Mac & Cheese ($3.25) was as usual very good. All their prices include tax.



I thought they just had beer and wine but, it turns out that they have a full liquor license. Mixed drinks can be had for $8. Jonathan seems to have got a haircut prior to his TV appearance.