The Clam Box

When you think of New England regional food, you think of seafood, and fried seafood is shacks are ubiquitous on the New England coast. One of the oldest, and best, fried seafood shacks, the Clam Box, actually isn't located on the coast, but don't let that keep you from trying out this historic little roadside stop.

The Clam Box is a short drive north of Boston in Ipswich. While they offer a number of different items on their menu, it would be foolish to come here and order anything other than the fried, big belly clams.
One of the things that I don't like about a lot of fried seafood is that it usually comes out being a bunch of fried batter that completely dominates whatever it surrounds. Not so here. The Clam Box has achieved a harmonious balance between batter and clam. The big belly clams are dipped in evaporated milk and corn flower and fried to perfection. The batter is crispy and light, and the big belly, Ipswich claims are juicy, briny, and full of flavor. I'm glad we were able to fit this in on our farewell to Boston food tour. It truly is a New England classic.

Alive & Kickin' Lobster Sandwich

The Lobster roll is a New England classic, but they don't serve these at Alive & Kickin' Lobster's in Cambridge. Located off of Putnam Street in the Cambridgeport neighborhood, Alive & Kickin' is a small lobster shack filled with tanks of, well, alive and kickin' lobsters. In addition to selling fresh lobsters, they make an awesome lobster sandwich.
The lobster sandwich is pretty simple. It's just big chunks of lobster dressed with a small amount of mayo, served between two slices of buttered, toasted scali bread. I think that lobster rolls usually include too many other things that detract from the main event, the lobster. To me, this lobster sandwich is perfect. There's nothing here but bread and lobster, and the bread is pretty unobtrusive. It's pretty much there to ensure that you aren't just eating chunks of lobster with your bare hands. Not that there would be anything wrong with that.

Brunch @ East Coast Grill

The brunch at East Coast Grill is famous for their DIY bloody mary bar. In my experience, this doesn't always translate to great bloody marys (I often over do it on the habanero sauce), but it sure is fun. This is my favorite place to get brunch in the Boston area, so we decided to go here with some friends for our last day in Cambridge.

The bloody mary bar starts with a choice of tomato juice, ECG's house made bloody mary mix, and clamato juice. You then move on to a dizzying array of pickled vegetables and peppers, hot sauces, chutneys, salsas, and spices to add to your bloody mary.
When you order a bloody mary, the server brings you a large cup filled with vodka and ice. This time around, they included some beef jerky that they had made out of a brisket that had been served as a special the previous evening. The East Coast Grill always has great specials, and they often do some really cool theme dinners, such as Hell Night, and the previous night they had done a whole roasted pig. The leftover pork was used in the next morning's brunch menu with a carnitas plate served with fried plantains, cole slaw and grilled corn...

...and pork tostadas.
Both were good, but by far, my favorite dish on the brunch menu is the tortilla relleno. The tortilla relleno is a large tortilla stuffed with shredded duck and monteray jack cheese and topped with a red enchilada sauce. All of this is served over sauteed garlicky greens and yucca fries.

Dave's Fresh Cubans

Between Darwin's, All-Star Sandwich Bar, Hi-Rise, and Dave's Fresh Pasta, the Cambridge-Somerville area has an amazing number of great sandwiches. One of my favorites is the Cuban at Dave's Fresh Pasta. Dave's used to be a small storefront selling pasta and other select Italian groceries, and they would occasionally offer sandwiches. Every so often, they would offer their version of a cuban sandwich, which happens to be one of my favorite types of sandwiches. Dave's version is one of the better Cubans I've tried. Fortunately, you can get this sandwich anytime now thanks to their recent expansion.

L'Espalier

Our friends Leann and Josh gave us a gift certificate to L'Espalier for our wedding last year, and for some reason, it took us until one of our last nights in Boston to actually use it. I can honestly say that I would never have gone here without the gift certificate (this place is expensive. We spent $70 on a juice tasting for 2....juice!) So, in that sense, it was a really great gift. It was something that we really enjoyed that we never would have bought for ourselves. The previous two nights we had eaten at Prune and Oleana, so this just continued our excessive "Goodbye Boston" week.

Abby and I both decided to try the summer tasting menu, which consisted of the following dishes:

Butter poached Maine Lobster, Apple Street Farm brocolli with comte cheese sauce, black truffles, and a dehydrated fennel chip. This dish was really, really good. The lobster was perfectly cooke and the fennel chip was a nice complement to the sweetness of the lobster.
Torchon of foie gras with black truffle, Muscat gelee, stone fruit, red wine pickled shallots, and toast points. This dish was pretty good, but, honestly, I wasn't blown away by it. Foie gras and truffles are decadent, but they're also something that I've had a number of times before. I also can't say that I'm crazy about foie gras pates. If I'm going to eat foie gras, I much prefer it seared.

Roasted wild striped bass with black trumpet mushrooms, cauliflower puree, truffle emulsion, fried squash blossom, and dill. This was the highlight of the meal and may very well be one of the best seafood dishes I have ever had. The fish had an amazing texture to it, nice and firm with a crispy skin, and combining a little bit of each element on the dish into one bite created an incredibly complicated, yet well balanced flavor that was unlike everything I had ever tried. Usually I think of seafood dishes as light and delicate, but this was a full flavored, rich dish.

Loin of Colorado lamb with eggplant chips, roasted beets and carrots, and wild greens. This dish was a big let down after the bass. Loin is one of the most insipid cuts of any animal, and one of the things I like about lamb is its big bold flavor. The salad was good, but the lamb was just OK.

Cheese course. The cheese course they serve varies depending on the whims of the server and the requests of the customer. I don't recall the different cheeses that we had, but they were all fairly good and represented a nice variety of textures and strengths. By this course, we were pretty stuffed, so I don't think I was able to enjoy it properly. This was one of the things the surprised us about this restaurant. Usually when we get a tasting menu, the portions are so small that, while I may not be hungry after the meal is over, I'm certainly not full. Not so here. Everything was so rich that by the time we were done I was entering a food coma.

I don't recall the exact names of everything in the dessert dishes, but here are the pictures...as if we needed more food.

All in all, I thought eating at L'Espalier was a great, but pricey experience. The final bill was jaw dropping, and we didn't even order wine. That said, you get what you pay for. The setting, service, and presentation are all top notch, and while our dishes were not consistently awe inspiring, the high notes really were amazing. My only complaint was that we were seated next to a really, really annoying couple that, at the beginning of the meal could not stop talking about their trip to France and, by the end of the meal were trying to avoid each other because they got in some stupid argument about who knows what, but that's a different story.

Oleana

If I was going to recommend one nice restaurant to someone visiting Boston, I think Oleana would be near the top of the list. You can find fancy French, Italian, Japanese, and New American restaurants in any city, but I think top notch, innovative Mediterranean food is much harder to find. This the niche that Oleana fills, and it does so exquisitely. Abby and I had been hear a couple of times (including the day we became engaged) and it was one of the few restaurants we absolutely had to go to before moving to Chicago. Our previous trips to Oleana were in the fall and winter, so we opted for the dining room, but, being a nice summer day, we were able to get a table outdoors this time around. Oleana's patio, pictured above, is really nice and I would recommend asking for a seat out there if you go here on a nice day.

Again, Abby and I followed the strategy of ordering a number of appetizers and splitting an entree. We both agreed that the highlight of the meal was our first appetizer: shrimp cocktail and cucumber spoon salad with sorel ice.

This cold dish came served in a mason jar the contained the cucumber salad and the sorel ice with three large shrimp draped over the edge. All of the flavors worked together perfectly, and between the shrimp, cucumber salad, and ice, there was an interesting mix of textures and temperatures that combined to make a perfectly refreshing starter for a warm summer evening.

Next, we had fried mussels with hot peppers and Turkish tartar sauce. This was good, but nothing to write home about...
...so I'll just cut to the next dish, which was another home run: heirloom tomato kibbeh with heirloom tomato dolma and hot pepper labne. As with the shrimp cocktail, this was another dish that was perfectly matched to the season. The tomato for the dolma was lightly stewed, but not so much as to lose its firmness and fresh taste.
For the fourth course, we ordered one Oleana's signature dishes, Sultan's delight. This dish includes a smokey eggplant puree with urfa chiles and pine nuts and a tamarind braised short rib.
Our fish and sixth courses were Oleana's takes on two staples of mediterranean street food: falafel and shawarma.

I usually don't order falafel because it tends to be too dry, but that was not a problem here. The falafel were served on a thin flat bread with house made pickles. The shawarma sandwiches were filled with duck and served with fried potatoes and broccoli.

Hungry Mother

Fried Green Tomatoes.

Of all the Cambridge eateries, Hungry Mother probably has the coolest name. When I first heard it, I thought that it was just describing a ravenous home kitchen maven, whipping up some good old Southern comfort food for the hungry Yankees that inhabit the MIT side of Cambridge. Hungry Mother, I thought, was a name that evoked a Shaft like coolness....maybe not a bad mother...but a hungry one? Yes. It turns out the restaurant's namesake is actually a national park in Virginia, and it's the flavorful, comforting cooking of this region that inspires this restaurants menu.

The menu at this place is not expansive, but what they do, they do well. Like so many other restaurants, where this place really shines is the appetizers. I think that this has more to do with the creative process that goes into appetizers compared to main plates than it does the restaurant itself. So, as I'm sure I've suggested in other reviews, this is a restaurant the might best be experienced by forgoing the entree and just splurging on the appetizers.

The menu offers several small bites that can warm you up for the appetizers. Abby and I chose to split the biscuits with country ham and pepper jelly, which we forgot to photograph. The dish contained two tiny biscuits, ham shaved thin like prosciutto, and a dab of pepper jelly. It was delicious. We followed that up with fried green tomatoes with bacon, some sort of aioli, and frisee, pictured above, and mussels with tasso, new orleans bbq broth and corbread crumbs. Both of these were the epitome of comfort food, packed with savoury, layered flavors. The mussels had a hint of spice that was really nice, and we couldn't stop slurping up the broth. It may have been one of the better renditions of mussels that I've had.

For entrees we went with roast chicken with brussels sprouts, carrots, and potatoes and cornmeal crusted catfish over Hoppin' John.
Both of these dishes were good, and the Hoppin' John had a nice hint of vinegar in it, which is a good way to keep an otherwise starchy, heavy dish feeling light. Nonetheless, they lacked the punch of the appetizers.
For dessert, we had the banana pudding, which I highly recommend. The restaurant also has a great drink list that is worth checking out.

This restaurant is moderately priced, with most of the entrees checking in somewhere in the low to mid 20s. However, with so many great sides, drinks, and desserts, the tab can creep up if you aren't careful. Even so, I would rate this is a good neighborhood restaurant that is worth going back to. Since its located right next to the best theater in Cambridge, this would make a great first stop for a night out at the movies.

Oyster Po' boy @ the Barking Crab

The Barking Crab's oyster po' boy...calling out to you...
Last month, Sharlene, Sam, and I biked over to Southie to catch Boston's St. Patrick's day parade for the first time. It was a crazy mix of bagpipe n' drum contingents from every imaginable police precinct in new england, drunken pub-hoppers, fully-garbed colonial minutemen, politicians boasting names like Flaherty and O'Whatever, imposing military vehicles, and, uh, Star Wars characters.

Afterwards, we walked down the river to the Barking Crab, home of my favorite oyster po'boy. The fried oysters are wonderfully juicy and warm on the inside yet crispy and crunchy on the outside, and drizzled with a spicy aioli - the perfect complement with a kick. The fries are surprisingly delectable as well. All in all, it easily beats out the one I tried at Mary's Fish Camp in New York last summer.

On a side note, ordering lobster at the barking crab is fun as well - each table has a large rock, with which you are instructed to bash the lobster in with, so as to most efficiently get at the goodness inside the shell. My prior experience with lobster-bashing is documented here, in my blog post about my brother Tony's last visit.

Bagpipes and drums...n' more bagpipes & drums...

Which one of these stormtroopers doesn't belong?

The Butcher Shop

When we went to Hamersley's last week, we arrived in the South End with a bit of time to kill, so we decided to check out one of the bars in the area. There was a big line outside of the Beehive, so that was immediately ruled out. Across the street, though, there was a nice looking place that didn't seem too crowded. We walked in to see if we could grab a drink ad the host asked us to sit tight for a minute while he found us a place. This wasn't what I was expecting. Was this a bar or a restaurant? Turns out it was a bit of both. While I had heard of the Butcher Shop, I had never actually been there and wasn't paying attention to the signs above the door or wherever they post their name. I just saw it is a place to get a drink. Anyway, after a few minutes, the host comes back and says he found us a place. I thought that meant we had a table, but it just meant we had an assigned piece of floor space near the back of the room. We were right next to this:
While it has a great wine and beer selection, the Butcher Shop, as its name implies, also has a nice selection of charcuterie that you can get to accompany your drink. It's actually a pretty cool looking place, although I still can't quite get over the fact that we had to wait to get "seated" at a place with no chairs and no tables. Then, we had to wait for service, and after a few minutes it was almost time for our dinner reservation. We called it quits, waited out the remaining few minutes at the Hamersley's bar, and I ordered a Manhattan.

Hamersley's Bistro

Abby and I are putting together a list of restaurants that we need to go to before we move to Chicago (if you know of any can't miss places in Boston, please let us know and leave a comment), and last night we got to check out Hamersely's Bistro, a place that I had been wanting to check out for quite some time. This restaurants has a reputation that spreads beyond Boston, and I guess it's supposed to be a shining example of French bistro cooking. It wasn't disappointing. The meal was thoroughly satisfying and the service was good. If you're in the mood for unfussy French food, I would highly recommend this place.

Since there were four of us - we went with our friends Kyle and Susan - we were able to try out several different appetizers, including a roasted beet salad (comes with the vegetarian prix fixe), country style pork pate and chicken liver pate with toast points (below)...
warm oysters with periwinkles...
and a grilled mushroom and garlic sandwich on country bread.
All of the appetizers were great. The pate was good, but it was pretty much like any other I've had...not that I was expecting anything new. The warm oysters were a bit different than any I've ever had before. Usually I have oyster raw or battered and fried. I don't think that these oysters were cooked through, because the texture was closer to that of a raw oyster. Warming them up really brought out the briny flavors in the oyster, though. That's a good thing. The fact that they were topped with tiny little snails was also sort of novel.

Of all the appetizers, the mushroom sandwich was the standout. I usually hate mushrooms, but I actually liked this, which is saying something. In this dish, they don't hold back on the garlic or butter, so I think that helped a lot. (Abby's note: Sam is understating how deliciously awesome the mushroom sandwich was, although I have no idea why bread was involved - the mushrooms were tasty little explosions of warm, earthy goodness, and anything else just seemed extraneous. The bright, tangy notes of the side salad did provide a good counterpoint between bites, however.)

For the main course, Abby ordered the roast chicken and I went with the cassoulet. Both of these are classic bisto dishes, so, when in Rome....or when in a classic bistro, these seemed like the appropriate things to order. I've always maintained that you can judge a restaurant by it's chicken dishes - these are often the most boring dishes, so it takes some skill to make it shine - and by that standard, Hamersley's comes through in a major way. The skin was perfectly crispy, and the lemon and garlic flavors in the chicken were bold, without getting in the way.
The cassoulet is a different type of dish. It's the type of soul satisfying one pot meal that is just perfect when the weather takes a turn for the worst. I lacked the piquant, lemony notes and the variety of texture in the chicken, but it had the depth of flavor that one looks for in a dish like this. I liked it, but if I had to choose between the two, I would go with the chicken.
We finished off with a cheese plate (forgettable), chocolate cake (a bit dry) with coconut sorbet, and bananas foster bread pudding (awesome, a must order).

Cambridge area restaurants

Below, I posted my favorite place to buy ingredients, but I don't always cook my own meals. Here's a map of restaurants the I like and would recommend. I'm always looking for new places to try, so please comment if you have any suggestions. Click on link below to the full page and click on the markers for comments about each place.


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Here are my recommendations:
High end - Oleana
Mid range - East Coast Grill, The Garden at the Cellar
Inexpensive - Muqueca
Sandwiches - Darwin's, All Star Sandwich Bar
Burritos - Olecito
Tacos - Tacos Lupita
Mexican - Tu y Yo
Chinese - Shangri La
Japanese(Inexpensive) - Blue Fin
Other fun ethnic foods - Muqueca, Machu Picchu, Ortanique
Burgers - The Cellar (best fries), O'Sullivan's
Brunch - Sound Bites, East Coast Grill
Seafood - Muqueca

A Culinary Map of Cambridge

With just one more year left in Cambridge, Abby and I have started thinking about where we'll land next. While there are plenty of things not to miss about the Boston area (long winters) I will certainly miss the food. I have never lived in a city that has so many great places to get ingredients. Having access to Cambridge's culinary resources really allows you to get creative. Here's a map of my favorite places (click on the link below to get to the full map).

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East Meets West in Idyllic Boston Suburb

Being on TV doesn't necessarily make someone a good cook, and many of the best chefs in the country never show up on TV - they're too busy cooking. Nevertheless, there's something really exciting about going to a celebrity chef's restaurant, and Ming Tsai has been doing the TV chef thing for a long long time. I had been wanting to eat at his restaurant, Blue Ginger, for quite some time, but because a) it's way out in Wellesley and b) it's super pricey I kept putting it off. A couple weeks ago, Liane and Josh invited Abby and I out to Blue Ginger, so that gave us the perfect opportunity. We had the good fortune to show up on a night when he was at the restaurant.
One of the nice things about going to a good restaurant with a few other people, aside from the company, is that you get to try out tons of different dishes. We must have ordered over half of the appetizer menu. Everyone's favorite was the foie-gras shiitake shumai (pictured below, with Josh in the background)
We also ordered calamari with a thai dipping sauce, poke with a crispy sushi rice cake, tea-smoked salmon and beef carpaccio, and shiitake-leek spring rolls.
In our group rankings of what we liked and didn't like, the poke and carpaccio came in second and third after the shumai. The crispy rice cake on the poke (not pictured) added some nice texture. The calamari and spring rolls came in last. They were good, but not really that distinct. When you go to a restaurant like this that charges $12 for two spring rolls, you expect something different.

For the entree, Liane and Abby ordered the garlic-black pepper lobster with lemon grass fried rice. This dish was superb.
Josh ordered poussin with a tamarind-hoisin sauce. I didn't hear rave reviews, so the impression I got was that it was good, but not the best dish ever to come in front of him.
I ordered the Japanese braised pork osso bucco. This dish was OK, but I wouldn't order it again.
After all of the appetizers and some fairly large entrees, we were all pretty stuffed, but you can always find a little more room for dessert. We ordered a grapefruit-mascarpone torte and coconut donuts with kiwi sorbet...both great, light desserts.
My final verdict on this restaurant is that, while I thought it was good, it wasn't quite up to the level, both in terms of food and decor, of some of the other celebrity owned restaurants I've tried out...notably Nobu and Morimoto's. For those of you familiar with DC, I would say that it is like a slightly more expensive version of Ten Penh.

One bonus from going to this restaurant is that it reminded me that I have a Ming Tsai cookbook sitting on my shelf. While I didn't think that this was the best restaurant ever, I do really like this type of food, so I may start cooking some of his recipes over the next few weeks.

The Savant Project

Last weekend, Benny hosted a tasting for his new restaurant, the Savant Project. He's in the middle, his business partner, Luis, is in the foreground, and Isaac, the executive chef, is busily preparing plates in the background. Benny has been wanting to open a lounge as long as I've known him. I remember wandering into his dorm room in Lyon freshman year, and, with a set of turn tables, ambient lighting, a killer sound system, and a small crowd of students, he had something pretty close to a lounge going right then and there. Now, 9 years later, the real thing is about to open. Any of you in the Longwood area should check it out. It's located where the Solstice Cafe used to be.