Posted by roxiao on October 2nd, 2009 Amanda and I took advantage of the long Labor Day weekend and went to Boston to visit some friends. As with any of our other vacations, our itinerary revolved around our stomachs =) We went to the North End to enjoy some amazing Italian food, Boston Inner Harbor for their fresh seafood, and! even squeezed in a brewery tour. (We did visit the Quincy Market but were turned off by the tourists.)
Mike’s Pastry
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Located in Boston’s North End, this was at the top of our list of Bostonian restaurants to visit. The line (read: pushy mob) at the place was ridiculous, not to mention that it went out the door.
But it was so worth it.
The pastries were INCREDIBLE! The Chocolate Chip Canoli…a decadent chocolate-dipped canoli filled with cream and sprinkled with chocolate chips. Cream was nice and light and paired well with the supersweet chocolate. I had the La Sfogliatella (Lobstertail) which was 1) huge, could’ve fed a family of four, 2) had a nice flaky outer shell, and 3) stuffed with same delicious cream as the canoli.
Aside from that, Mike’s Pastry also sells authentic Italian cookies and confections so we are definitely coming back to try some of these!
Hint: There are two lines in here: one to order at the Pastry counter and the other to order coffee+gelato at the Cookie counter on the right. Do yourself a favor and get a coffee but also kindly submit your pastries order to the barista – you’ll get your pastries a loot quicker.
Giacomo’s
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Giacomo’s is a teeny-tiny restaurant also in North End and also verrry popular, so expect an hour-plus wait.
For their linguine entrees they have five different sauces: Pesto, Fra Diavolo (spicy red), Red, Giacomo (lobster-based), or Scampi but you can also get a blend of these. I chose to blend the Fra Diavolo and Giacomo sauces with my Frutti di Mare: shrimp, scallops, calamari, clams and mussels ($19). Amanda had the Giacomo sauce with her Mussels & Calamari ($14). There wasn’t a notable difference between our sauces but our dishes were still superb! Piping hot from the kitchen, perfectly cooked seafood, tasty sauces, and custom-sprinkled with cheese by the waiter. And the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo red wine we had was excellent with all of our food ($20 for bottle).
Despite the wait, I would come back to this restaurant again in a heartbeat. The food, price, and coziness more than make up for it. And if you’re still on the fence, it’s only a block away from Mike’s Pastry…
Yankee Lobster Co
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Marked by the giant lobster statue outside its doors, this place is out on the Boston waterfront near the Harpoon Brewery.
They have a Lobster lunch special, which is a whole lobster with coleslaw and fries for just $15! How could you possible say no? The meal was nice and hot, served with a freshly-cooked lobster, container of clarified butter, slaw, and lots of fries. The lobster was huge, tasty, and succulent. We also had a small bowl of their lobster bisque on the side and it was absolutely amazing: creamy, enticingly red-orange, and filled with chunks of lobster meat ($4.25).
If you’re not looking for a meal, you can also buy their fresh seafood to take home, which I’m assuming they get fresh off the boats. One of their specials was 20 lbs of Lobster for $99!
Harpoon Brewery
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The brewery sits right on the harbor by the Yankee Lobster Co. If you plan on visiting, go early in the morning to reserve your spots. We snagged the last tickets to the last tour of the day only because the bus driver was nice enough to drop us off right in front of the brewery!
For $5, you get a tour of the brewery facility from the hops to the bottling, a souvenir sampling glass, and twenty minutes of open bar at the conclusion of the tour. The open bar includes several hard-to-fine brews like their Leviathan series, and their most popular like their Harpoon IPA and UFO Hefeweizen. If you really like their beer, get a Growler: a ginormous gallon jug which you can fill with any beer they’ve got on tap for cheap. Amanda and I aren’t the biggest beer drinkers but it was still a fun
Continue reading Boston!
Posted by manda on September 10th, 2009 [Click image to show Gallery]
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We went on vacation to Hilton Head Beach in South Carolina and we found some really great food establishments there and along the way. Here’s just a few of them, enjoy!
Alligator Grille
This place bills itself as a seafood and sushi restaurant. We were skeptical of the sushi at first, but we went ahead and ordered the Alligator roll and the Lobster roll: the Alligator meat was a bit chewy, but we really enjoyed the Lobster which tasted very fresh. Good, but we’ve had better sushi. The entrees won us over! The Swordfish special of the day was pretty good, great presentation. We would’ve taken pictures but we forgot our camera =( But believe it or not, the best dish we had was a non-seafood one – Braised Pork Osso Buco. Enormous, tender fall-off-the-bone meat which was absolutely delicious (meat-lovers ftw!), and also comes with a hearty side of eggplant parmesan and garlic potatoes. I was secretly thrilled that there was some (decent) italian food served in said asian-fusion atmosphere =)
Sea Shack (pics above)
A true dive place, if it weren’t for all the buzz about it being featured on Rachel Ray’s “$40 a Day.” The line for this was looong but it’s got some of the best seafood around, for a great price! If you like spicy, they’ve got some great cajun-style blackened seafood. You can get just about anything blackened, fried or grilled here: scallops, tilapia, grouper, oysters, etc. Their sides are pretty varied: mac n’ cheese (gooey, cheesy, had 3+ types of cheeses), okra and sundried tomato (yummy!), coleslaw (eh, it was o.k.), hushpuppies (small fried balls of goodness), and more (which weren’t worth remembering).
Black Marlin Grill
This was our last and best restaurant we went to on our vacation! We had a gift certificate to this place and decided hit up their happy hour for their specials. The bartender Diego concocted some of the best hurricanes I’ve had – Bacardi 151, Malibu passionfruit rum, pineapple juice, orange juice…what could be better? Crab legs were big, juicy, and freshfreshfresh. The sushi nachos, crispy pita bread with slices of raw tuna, were recommended on Yelp but were heavy on the teriyaki sauce. Entrees were ginourmous! The Broiled Seafood Medley was pretty good, had a ton of lima beans in their rice side. The Lobster bake special was great: clams and mussels were so-so but the Lobster was delicious. Drink count for our party: 4 Hurricanes, 2 Mojitos, 1 Margarita, and 2 Cherry Cokes
Continue reading Hilton Head, SC
Posted by manda on July 24th, 2009 [Click image to show Gallery]
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The best way to enjoy pizza is to make it yourself! It’s super simple – all you need is yeast, flour, and toppings. This recipe is a blend of two recipes that we’ve tinkered with for better results, the first being Alton Brown’s Pizza Pizzas and the second Giada De Laurentiis’ Pizza with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil.
Servings: this will make two pizzas – one margherita and one sausage.
1 packet instant yeast
3/4 cup warm water
2 tbsp sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp kosher salt
3 tbsp olive oil
basil
tomato/pasta sauce
canned whole tomatoes
1lb mozzarella (this will make enough for two pizzas)
hot italian sausage
onion
hot pepper flakes, dried oregano, garlic powder (optional)
Preheat the oven to 450F.
Mix the water, sugar, and yeast together and let sit for a minute.
Put the flour in a big bowl and pour the yeast mixture in, along with the salt and olive oil.
Form the flour into a nice round ball of dough. Feel free to add more water or flour as needed.
Cover the dough with a wet towel and let sit. After 45 mins, knead slightly and re-cover for another 45 mins. Repeat this as many times as you can to make a fluffier dough (time permitting).
Take a flat baking sheet and sprinkle olive oil on it.
Cut the dough in half to make two dough balls.
Start on one dough ball, working with your knuckles and a flat floured surface to get it to fit into the baking sheet. Place into baking sheet when done. Repeat with second dough ball using different sheet.
Top with pasta sauce, dried oregano, then plenty of fresh basil (I rip mine into bit-size pieces).
From here, for the Margherita Pizza, roughly chop tomatoes and arrange on top. Thinly slice 1/2 lb of the mozzarella and distribute evenly. Sprinkle with more basil.
From here, for the Sausage Pizza, remove the sausage from the casings and sautee with the diced onion. Once cooked, drain fat and arrange on top. Grate 1/2 lb of mozzarella and sprinkle on top, along with more basil.
Place pizza into oven and bake for 10 mins.
Once done, remove and put somewhere to cool. Take pizza off sheet, slice, and top with hot pepper flakes, garlic powder, and
Continue reading Margherita and Sausage Pizzas
Posted by manda on April 29th, 2009 [Click image to show Gallery]
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Yay my first recipe entry! Really easy and simple. I’ve done this recipe many a time with my Mom, the italian cook extraordinaire, and it’s one of the few recipes I can do without ever measuring. Buuut for the purpose of entry I guess I will
Ingredients:
1 eggplant, medium to large
kosher salt, pepper
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1 cup italian breadcrumbs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
vegetable oil
Directions:
Slice the eggplant in 1/4 in. thick rounds.
Generously sprinkle kosher salt on both sides of each round and lay flat on a wire rack. Let sit for 1-2hours to draw all the bitter juice out.
Get the dredging bowls ready! Bowl 1: combine flour, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Mix well!
Bowl 2: scramble the eggs and add 1-2 tbsp of cold water.
Bowl 3: mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese together.
Rinse and dry slices and dredge in this order: flour, egg, breadcrumbs.
Add 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp veggie oil (per batch) in a pan and put heat on medium high – not too hot or it’ll burn!
Add coated slices to pan – cook for 2 minutes on each side, depending on your slice thickness. To check if it’s done, try a bite – it’ll be done when it is crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.
To serve, top with pasta sauce
Continue reading Eggplant Parmesan
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