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 15th, 2009 [Click image to show Gallery]
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I finally got to make this one! Ever since I saw this Shrimp and Green Onion Pancake it in the Bon Appetit, I’ve been dying to make it (along with the korean bulgogi recipe). Our first two pancakes were a bit chunky but our final pancake (third time’s the charm) was pretty enough to snap =) The recipe calls for a whole lot of veggies, which is fantastic, but make sure when you ladle it out onto your skillet that there is enough batter to contain your veggies. Also! the dipping sauce was WAY too oily for our taste – just omit those last 4 tblsp of veggie oil. Other than
Continue reading Haemul Pajeon (Korean Seafood Pancake)
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 roxiao on July 11th, 2009 [Click image to show Gallery]
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We got a little lazy with the posts so here’s another one! This diner was introduced to us by David and it’s called the Coach House Diner in North Bergen, NJ at the intersection of Kennedy Blvd and 10th St. The interior doesn’t feel like a diner at all; it’s more plush, roomy, with dark wood booths, featuring a long bar with flat-screen TVs but it still feels like a family restaurant. What we usually try to make it to is the 3 to 6:30pm Early Bird Special: any entree that you order comes with their unlimited salad bar, a glass of their house wine (red or white), and a dessert.
Now the salad bar is good but nothing special. They have freshly made croutons, some potato and pasta salads, leafy vegetables, stuffed grape leaves, pickled vegetables, etc. Half of the appeal is just that it comes free with the meal. For the entrees, you can choose from steaks, seafood, roasts, pasta… what you would typically expect at a diner. From the two times we’ve went there (in groups), we’ve ordered: Hamburger, Fish and Chips, Hamburger Steak, Pork Chops, Yankee Pot Roast – all were huge portions, well-cooked but frustratingly under-seasoned (to our palates at least). So with that said, the best choice is to order the pastas. They come in absolutely enormous portions and are delicious – but be warned they are usually very oily.
Finally, the BEST part of the meal: the dessert. They have cheesecakes, pies, tiramisu, pastries, and more – plus these also come in huuuge portions (yay!). When we’ve gone, we’ve had their Strawberry Cheesecake, Blueberry Cheesecake, Apple Pie, Tiramisu, and Chocolate Cake. The Apple Pie was okay: apples were the right texture, good crust, not too sweet, but was sort of flat (Amanda’s Mom makes an apple pie that is packed with apples and is probably twice the height of this one!) The Tiramisu and the cheesecakes were excellent, but the Chocolate Cake is to die for: chocolatey, fudgey, chocolate frosting, and oh-so-good; you will need water or coffee to consume this one!
Overall, the Coach House Diner serves up big portions but leaves a little something to be desired. This place is also well-known for their breakfast, namely pancakes, so one day we will write up a review on
Continue reading Coach House Diner
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