Learning Strategies » Food & Restaurants

Sea Breeze Mexican Grill

Larry Davidson — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:22:03 +0000

Yay, a real restaurant has opened in my neighborhood! Until this point all we’ve had has been two pizza-and-sub places and a café. There are real restaurants one neighborhood over — take your pick of directions, a couple to the south, the west, and the north, and even more if you go two neighborhoods north or south— but not right where we live. The Sea Breeze Mexican Grill has changed all that. Barbara and I waited a couple of weeks for it to settle in, and then had dinner there last night, along with our friend Jane. On the whole it was definitely a positive experience. We will return.

After the obligatory chips and salsa that appeared immediately at our table, Barbara and Jane started with fresh guacamole, made right at our table with a mortar and pestle. They report that it was delicious. I wouldn’t know, since I can’t stand avocado. Then Barbara had mussels, which were unfortunately unsuccessful, being small and overcooked. I had ceviche de camarones, which was served on small, crispy taco shells or something similar. It was excellent, though blander than I might have liked.

For our entrees, Barbara had quesadillas with mushrooms, Jane had an assortment of three different enchiladas, and I had Acapulco chimichangas with pork. All three were excellent, though not especially spicy. I think I’m detecting a theme here. Barbara also reports that her mango smoothie (smoothy?) was delicious.

The entire restaurant has only six tables, four for two customers and two for four. They do not yet have a take-out license, so several potential diners had to be turned away. (We got there at 6:30, which was early enough to be able to grab a table for four.) They also have not yet been able to acquire a license to serve alcohol, a deficiency that will surely limit their appeal and their profitability; I hope they manage to get it soon. Right now they’re open for three meals a day, seven days a week, presumably in an attempt to gain both customers and income, but they’re going to need to be able to serve at least wine and beer (and some people want margaritas for some reason). Service by the gracious co-owner was just fine, even though she and (presumably) her husband had to manage all by themselves until 7:30 since two other staff members had called in sick. (I don’t know whether they eventually showed up or whether it was a pair of substitutes who arrived.)

Diversity at dim sum

Larry Davidson — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 15:33:37 +0000

Once again we had delicious dim sum at Chau Chow in Dorchester…but one thing was different this time. Usually it happens that either Barbara and I are the only non-Asians in the place or else maybe there are one or two others. But this morning the restaurant was a hotbed of ethnic diversity! We saw a table of Latinos, a table of blacks, a mixed black-white couple, a table of people who were even whiter than we are…still of course an Asian majority, but it’s great to see such a diverse scene at a Dorchester restaurant. (Ashmont Grill, incidentally, is also becoming more and more diverse every month.) Let’s hope this trend continues.

Taste of Dorchester

Larry Davidson — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:58:54 +0000

Come to the Taste of Dorchester on April 28! The food is from Ashmont Grill, Big Moe’s M&M Ribs, Blarney Stone, Butcher Shop Market, Inc., Dot 2 Dot Café, Down Home Delivery & Catering, Flat Black Coffee, Freeport Tavern, Gerard’s Restaurant, The Ice Creamsmith, Irie Jamaican Style Restaurant, Ledge Kitchen & Drinks, McKenna’s Cafe, Pat’s Pizza & Catering , Phillips Candy House, Pho Hoa Restaurant, Restaurante Cesaria, Shanti: Taste of India, and Tavolo — and it’s all for a good cause. (This is an unsolicited and uncompensated ad!)

Lamb Jam

Larry Davidson — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:02:20 +0000

Mixed feelings about the American Lamb Jam held yesterday at the Charles Hotel:

On the one hand, the food was excellent and plentiful. Seventeen restaurants, mostly from the Boston area, provided a huge variety of lamb preparations and side dishes, all to be sampled in small portions. Also on the plus side was the company. Although Barbara was not interested, as she eats lamb only under duress, my friends Phil and Meredith accompanied me and we had a great time together.

On the other hand, there must have been 800 people there, so it was ridiculously crowded. Everyone was jammed into the Charles Ballroom, which made it almost painful to move around. Even worse, there were only five or six small tables (plus a couple of high stand-up tables), so there was no place comfortable where we could sit and enjoy the event. Fortunately I was able to approach one of the staff and explain that we needed chairs since Phil is elderly and Meredith is disabled; he quickly produced three extra chairs and we crowded around a table for four that already had three people sitting there. Then of course it was a continual up-and-down as we got small plates of food from various stations.

dBar/Chau Chow

Larry Davidson — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 18:22:34 +0000

It was a good way to end one year and start the next. For New Year’s Eve, Barbara and I went out to eat at dBar; then, for breakfast the next morning, we went to Chau Chow for dim sum. I’ve written about dim sum at Chau Chow enough in the past, so there’s nothing new to say on that score — except perhaps for the fact that it was very busy and the clientele was almost entirely Asian; I think we were the only non-Asians there. But dBar is worth describing in detail. Unsurprisingly they had a very limited (and special) New Year’s Eve menu, from which we had no trouble selecting delicious meals. Barbara had the following [capitalization verbatim]:

Three Oysters Chilled on the Half Shell with Champagne Grapefruit Sorbet
Adam and Larry’s Scituate Lobster Bisque Lightly Frothed & Perfumed with Saffron, Ginger & Lemongrass
Premium Angus Beef &, Sunchoke & Potato Gratinée, & Chantennay Carrot, Crispy Mushrooms, Sauce Bordelaise infused with Bone Marrow
Dulce de Leche Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crust with Winter Fruits

I managed to have an almost completely different dinner, despite the limited choices:

Herb Crusted Wagyu Beef Carpaccio, Roasted Cipollini Onions, Cornichons, Rosemary-Mustard Aioli, Manchego
Warm Salad of Forest Mushrooms & Duck Confit with Frisee, Truffle-Sherry Vinaigrette, & Blood Orange Supremes, Fine Herbs, Cranberry Port Sauce
Perigord Black Truffle Stuffed Giannone Chicken with Goat Cheese & Potato Croquettes, Sautéed Baby Spinach, Parsnips & Salsify, Crispy Beets & Sauce Perigeux
Dulce de Leche Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crust with Winter Fruits

Highly recommended to all for next year…but why wait? The regular menu is great too!

Shanghai dumplings and the gas tank

Larry Davidson — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 17:31:42 +0000

Just got back from another excellent dim sum at the Dorchester branch of Chau Chow. If you live anywhere near Dorchester, come here for dim sum! Unlike Chinatown, parking is easy in their own lot and the overflow lot across the street.

We particularly like one offering that we don’t always see on the carts. The solution, of course, was to take a photo and show it to the servers on my iPhone, since most of them don’t speak English. We eventually found out, from one of the English-speaking employees, that we’re talking about Shanghai Dumplings:

We happened to be seated where we could gaze out at the one remaining Corita Kent gas tank, a.k.a. Rainbow Swash. It was a good angle, as long as you could ignore the used car lot, its prominent lighting, and the Expressway exit sign:

Sel de la Terre (Back Bay)

Larry Davidson — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:15:18 +0000

As we had an about-to-expire Groupon for the Back Bay location of Sel de la Terre, Barbara and I had dinner there this evening. We’ve been to the original Long Wharf location many times, so it seemed appropriate to try out their newest incarnation. This is my fourth review of Sel de la Terre, but my first review of this location.

Capsule summary: food was excellent (almost the same quality as at Long Wharf); service started out hectic but calmed down; atmosphere was…well…a bit too young and trendy for us.

Barbara started with an Aviation (including the canonical crème de violette, unlike Mark Bernstein’s version) and a huge portion of curried chickpea purée, served with olive oil and “yummy breads.” She pronounced this appetizer excellent but had to take home half of it. I started with a small flatbread pizza, which came with mushrooms, onions, and feta cheese; it was good, but nothing special. For her main course Barbara had roasted monkfish with littleneck clams, cranberry beans, and brussels sprouts, all of which she liked; I had duck breast with fingerling potatoes and red cabbage. The duck was supposed to come medium rare, but it actually came rare — fine with me, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be fine for some other people. It was well-prepared and delicious, as were the sides. (The potatoes were there because I said I didn’t want the puréed squash that was supposed to accompany the duck; Erika, our server, volunteered the potatoes as a substitute, without my having to ask.) We had the same wine we had ordered 21 months ago at Long Wharf: Les Arbousiers Domaine La Remejeanne 2005 Cotes de Rhone. We enjoyed it just as much this time, and paid the same $40 we paid then. Erika encouraged us to aim a bit higher next time: she enthusiastically recommended a Regusci Cabernet at $80 a bottle. While this is distinctly above our price range — and our facial expressions must have shown that — she claimed that it was a steal as it would cost $120 anywhere else. Maybe so. Hmmm….

Speaking of our server, service was a tad inconsistent overall. The place seemed understaffed and overworked when we arrived at 6:32 for a 6:45 reservation. We were seated in six minutes (pretty good for a promised five-minute wait!) but then had to sit at our table for another eleven minutes before anyone came over to take our order for drinks. Since Erika was so busy with others, including a large party at another table, it was someone else who spotted us sitting there and stepped in to help. A third server came over at another point, as did the manager. So in the end we got plenty of attention and good service, but it didn’t match the calm atmosphere of the Long Wharf location. Valet parking works well in both places, as on-street parking would be a nightmare at either one and garages would cost more than the valet parking while being less convenient.

We would go back, but on the whole we prefer Long Wharf. It’s more relaxed, and for this kind of money we want a relaxing dining experience. The style fits us better.

224 Boston St. restaurant

Larry Davidson — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 01:29:33 +0000

Barbara and I used to go to 224 a lot, but we haven’t been there very often in recent years. This is partly because of a couple of meals that were only OK (but overpriced), and partly because Ashmont Grill and 88 Wharf are not only closer to us but also more attractive for various reasons. But things may change.

We’re happy to tell you that we just had an unquestionably excellent meal at 224. Barbara had a first-rate Caesar salad (not so easy to find as one might think) followed by crabmeat sliders, which she describes as delicious and perfectly prepared. I helped her with a few of her generous portion of French fries — crisp and thin the way they should be. But I think I had the better meal, if I do say so myself. I started with a lamb chop “appetizer,” which turned out to be an amazing trio of grilled rosemary-and-garlic-marinated baby lamb chops atop a combo of cipollini and balsamic-dressed greens. Then came the main course (fortunately a bit smaller than the appetizer): pan-roasted sea scallops with a coulis of corn, smoked applewood bacon, shallots, and basil, topped with micro arugula and plum tomato concassé. Without my specifying, the lamb chops turned out to be medium rare and the scallops slightly undercooked, just as they should be. Yum!

Gaslight

Larry Davidson — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 01:52:37 +0000

Barbara and I just got back from our first time at Gaslight Brasserie du Coin, and it won’t be our last. Mostly excellent food, excellent service, and free parking — in the South End! — what more could one ask for?

Cheaper prices, I suppose. Gaslight is definitely on the pricey side… but no more so than any other first-rate restaurant in Boston.

We arrived 35 minutes before our reservation time and were seated immediately. The restaurant has a very French ambiance. Though surprisingly large, it immediately feels welcoming. Our server, Lily, was both friendly and professional — just the right combination. It was (surprisingly) not too noisy, considering that a group of 14 arrived halfway through our dinner to sit at the next table. Many reviewers have reported that Gaslight is too loud, so maybe we were just lucky. Or maybe it was because we were there on a Tuesday.

Barbara started with a shaved beet salad, which she found a bit stronger than she likes, partly because the beets were raw and partly because the dressing contained a lot of horseradish. Not being that much of a beet fan, I can’t comment. But I started with a first-rate French onion soup, unquestionably the best I have had in years. It was rich and hearty, probably because it contained some shredded truffled short ribs.

For our entrees, Barbara ordered steak frites medium rare, and I ordered duck confit with roasted garlic potatoes and an interesting salad. The steak turned out to be rare, not medium rare; our server graciously agreed, whisked it away, and returned in a couple of minutes with the steak appropriately unrarefied. My duck was great, as were the accompaniments. We also ordered a side of haricots verts to share; they were excellent too. While portions were on the small side, we had more than enough to eat, unlike some of the Open Table reviewers.

I ordered the crème brulée for dessert. It was perfectly prepared, though the crust was cold and they were out of the promised fresh berries that were supposed to accompany it. The server compensated by providing a lovely disk of candied cherries, figs, and kumquats. My dessert was also accompanied by a well-made double espresso.

The whole thing came to $154 including wine, tax, and tip. As I say, not cheap — but not outrageous either. By the way, that free parking is in a supervised parking lot.

Baltimore

Larry Davidson — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:11:50 +0000

For April vacation we decided to visit Baltimore — partly because we wanted to see the city, partly because we knew a couple of people there, and partly because it was an excuse to ride on the high-speed Acela Express. We splurged on first class, which provided us a helpful attendant dedicated to our car, food and drink service at our seats, and (most important) wider seats with extra legroom. The food was merely adequate, and first class was occasionally bumpy (just like regular “business” class, surprise, surprise), and we didn’t really take advantage of the unlimited beverages (a glass or two of wine doesn’t compete with the four Bloody Marys consumed by each of the guys in front of us), but I suppose the more comfortable seating made it worth paying the extra fee. In any case, the Acela was mostly a very enjoyable experience — certainly much better than flying, and not just because I like trains. Avoiding all the security hassles at an airport is the #1 advantage, but there are many others; in general, going by train is just the civilized way to travel, and it’s a real pity that it’s dying out in North America. My only complaint is that the free WiFi service was pretty lame, being slow at the best of times and cutting out altogether at others.

Speaking of splurging, we decided to stay at the Hilton in the Inner Harbor neighborhood, mostly because we already have a relationship with them as we always stay at the Hilton Garden Inn when we go to Elmira. This particular Hilton provided several advantages but also many disadvantages. The biggest plus was the view from our 18^th-floor room (of course they called it the 19^th, since they skipped floor 13):

I suppose we would have appreciated this view even more if we had been sports fans. (The tourist info person at the city’s Visitor Center told us that Baltimoreans always appreciate visitors from Boston. “We like to take their money,” she explained, “since they always spend a lot when they come here to watch the Red Sox beat the Orioles.”) Anyway, the room was comfortable, the quality of the furniture matched the view, and the location couldn’t be beat.

Those are the advantages. The disadvantages all sound petty, but they added up when compared to the much less expensive Hilton Garden Inn: this regular (“full-price”) Hilton charges for WiFi, serves disappointing breakfasts, provides no fridge or microwave, has a sink that’s set back six inches and can be used easily only if you’re tall and skinny (neither of which we are), and features a shower head that’s too high for me to reach (and much too high for Barbara, who’s 4′9″). All of this for a single room that costs a lot more per night than our suite in Elmira. Now of course this is partly (largely?) because of the economic differences between Elmira and Baltimore, but it would be interesting to see what the Garden Inn costs in Baltimore (yes, there is one, in an almost-as-convenient location).

After walking around the Inner Harbor area, we stopped at the aforementioned Visitor Center, from which we took a 100-minute guided tour of the city on one of those fake trolleys. Despite the many errors made by our guide, a retired podiatrist, I’m really glad we took the tour and always recommend these things to newcomers to any city. They’re the best way to get an overview of the city and an orientation to what’s where. Then you know what to do for the rest of your visit.

I mentioned that our guide made many errors. Here are five of them:

He claimed that the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore is the oldest Unitarian church in the United States. It was established in 1817. Dorchester’s First Parish Church was established in 1630. Not much of a contest there.
Speaking of churches, he identified one as a “Lithuanian mosque”… and then compounded his mistake by observing that it’s a “Lithuanian Catholic mosque.”
Another religious one: when we passed the Holocaust memorial, the guide referred to the “one million Jews killed by Hitler.” It’s not that I want to play a numbers game here, but one million is far from six million.
On a non-religious matter, he pointed out the house of Wallis Simpson, who married “King Henry VIII.” Edward, Schmedward, let’s call him Henry.
Finally, when we passed the building where Homicide: Life on the Street was filmed (see picture below), the guide observed that this wonderful TV series was directed by John Waters. Not even close!

The guide was also rather clueless about the response of one tourist while driving through the nearby German and Polish neighborhoods. “The Polish immigrants were unwilling to live next to the Germans,” he remarked.

The woman in the back of the bus said, “Gee, I wonder why.”

“It’s because the Germans invaded Poland before World War II…” the guide started to explain.

“She was being sarcastic!” interrupted another tourist.

After the “trolley” tour, we mostly got around on foot, especially when exploring the fascinating Mt. Vernon and Fells Point neighborhoods. We had to try out the light rail at least once, and we often took advantage of the wonderful new Charm City Circulator, which provides free and frequent bus service in a loop throughout the downtown area. With two routes still to go, the first route has been open for only three months and is already a tremendous success. At one point we needed to take a regular city bus, as we were going to the Baltimore Museum of Art (see next paragraph), which is outside of the downtown area. Not being completely sure of where the nearest bus stop might be, I whipped out my iPhone and checked the Maps app, which not only located the nearest stop for the #3 bus but even told us that the next bus would be coming along in four minutes! (I know, I sound like an Apple ad, but it was incredibly convenient.)

We visited three museums during our brief visit, and can highly recommend all of them:

The Walters Art Museum has an extraordinary eclectic collection. We focused on the Egyptian artifacts, the Islamic manuscripts, and the special exhibit of Japanese cloisonné.
The B&O Railroad Museum is perhaps of more specialized interest, but it has a fine collection of vintage locomotives and railway cars that visitors can explore (many cars are restored to their original condition), as well as a couple of well-done model railroad layouts.
The 600-pound gorilla is the astonishing Baltimore Museum of Art, which has to be one of the top art museums in the country. Most fascinating was their temporary exhibit about Cezanne and his influence on American modernism, which I found both enjoyable and informative. The Antioch mosaics, the European art in general, and especially the Cone Collection all deserved more time than we had. If you’re ever in Baltimore, don’t miss this museum!

Finally, we can’t go anywhere without mentioning restaurants. All in all, we were a little bit disappointed in the food we had in Baltimore, and I’m sure we could have done better. Although we were told that it was silly for us as Bostonians to go out for seafood, it seemed sillier not to. Why go somewhere and avoid their specialty? So we mostly — but not exclusively — ate seafood. One dinner we ate at Phillips Seafood, which started with two strikes against it because of being both touristy and a chain, but it turned out to be perfectly adequate. We also ate at the famous Bertha’s Mussels, still touristy but at least local; it was good, but definitely not gourmet. On the gourmet side we did have an excellent meal at the Marie Louise Bistro, but we concluded with an overpriced and unimpressive experience at the LDS restaurant our last night. We went there because it was raining and we were exhausted from all our walking, so we found the closest restaurant to our hotel. At first we thought that the sign meant that it was a Mormon restaurant, but it turned out to stand for “Luna del Sea.” This hybrid of English and fake Italian turned out to represent the cuisine all too well, and neither the service nor the ambiance made me comfortable. Don’t bother going there the next time you’re in Baltimore.

Oh — two more things. First, it’s worth noting that there are many instances of public art in the downtown area. Here are a couple of examples:

Finally, on the right we have what purports to be the narrowest house in Baltimore: the visitors’ info claims that it’s only nine feet wide, and it certainly looks to be no more than that. If you look carefully, you’ll see from the brick that there are different row houses almost immediately to the left and right of the doorway.

I am sure that we are going to return.

Julie and Julia

Larry Davidson — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:55:30 +0000

Julie and Julia has gotten so much publicity that I’m not sure I have much to add. It was a good movie to watch on New Year’s Eve — but watch it anyway if you haven’t seen it yet, New Year’s Eve or not. In this fictionalization of a true story, Meryl Streep is surprisingly successful at portraying the great Julia Child, Amy Adams does a great job as the irritating Julie Powell, the food looks delicious, the scenes in Paris are inviting, and Queens looks like…well…Queens. Paul Child and Eric Powell are played as unendingly supportive husbands, as they apparently were in real life. (Maybe that’s why some reviewers consider this a chick flick.) There are no surprises here — just a well-made, charming, and entertaining movie. Don’t listen to those who tell you it’s too long (at 123 minutes); it isn’t.

Harp+Bard

Larry Davidson — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:31:50 +0000

Our quest for new dining experiences in Dorchester continues with Harp & Bard, a follow-up to our recent visit to Ledge. Barbara and I — this time with our friends Al and Melanie — enjoyed our meal enough to be willing to return. Like Ledge, we have a renovated bar turned into a real restaurant that appeals too much to kids while still being too much of a bar, both features resulting in too much noise. (Is this some kind of trend?) But the food was more consistent, and all four of us were pleased with our dinners. The one real exception was the French onion soup, which I had to try in order to compare it with the same item at Ledge. Unfortunately someone had goofed massively in the kitchen, as I fished out six — count them, six — bay leaves in my one cup of soup! After performing the essential laurelectomy I was able to enjoy the soup without being overwhelmed by the scent and taste of bay leaves, which shouldn’t have been left in the soup in the first place even if there had been only one of them; six was a ridiculous quantity.

Oh well, enough of that rant. My companions report excellent corn-and-bacon chowder; we also were pleased with the Caesar salad, the high-quality sliders (an entree-sized appetizer), the perfectly prepared mussels, and the excellent prime rib, which was cooked exactly as ordered (very differently for Melanie and for me, an indication of success on their part). Wine was OK but disappointing. Finally, I have to say that I’m impressed with their new logo:

So, on the whole it’s a thumbs-up for the Harp & Bard, despite a few reservations. (No, not that kind of reservations. It’s not that sort of restaurant.)

Ledge

Larry Davidson — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:23:43 +0000

Barbara and I, along with our friend Mary, were disappointed with Ledge, the newest restaurant in the up-and-coming Dorchester dining scene. It would probably be a fine place for lunch, but we were unimpressed with our dinner there. The most jarring thing was the atmosphere — oddly both too much like a bar and too full of young kids, neither being conducive to the quiet dining experience we had expected. Service was correspondingly erratic. The food — this is beginning to sound like a theme — was of inconsistent quality, featuring steak of mediocre quality, adequate onion soup, routine mac and cheese, and excellent vegetables. Probably one could put together a good meal here if one knew what to order, but there are too many other better dining options around to make it worth returning to Ledge.

dBar revisited

Larry Davidson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:24:07 +0000

I’ve written about dBar twice before: on January 17, 2006, and on February 15, 2008. It has maintained its high standards. Barbara had mussels, followed by steak tacos, and she reports that both were excellent. I started with a scrumptious duck confit with lentils — how could I resist? — followed by a perfectly prepared tuna ceviche.

As our appetizers were being served, the entire experience was enhanced by the entrance of two men, accompanied by the Wedding March: they were holding their wedding reception right there in dBar! (It’s all one big room, so there was no private space, although the bar area is marked off by a half-height wall.)

88 Wharf

Larry Davidson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:26:34 +0000

The southern half of Dorchester is becoming known for its new restaurants, especially if you extend the southern edge a bit into Milton. As you know from my brief review of Mrs. Jones, I’ve already written about one of these new restaurants. We still haven’t tried Ledge or Abby Park, but yesterday Barbara and I had a first-rate dinner at 88 Wharf, located unsurprisingly at 88 Wharf St. As you can see on the map, this restaurant is actually in Milton, but it’s only about 200 feet from the Dorchester border as the crow flies. Or, if you happen to have a car rather than a crow, you’ll have to venture a little further (about 500 feet) into Milton. But don’t worry; it’s not scary. Here’s the map:

Anyway, the atmosphere was slightly elegant but still welcoming and comfortable. Service was perfect: prompt, attentive, and appropriately chatty, but never rushed or overbearing. (Are you beginning to sense a theme here?) When we ordered a bottle of wine that they turned out to have run out of, the waiter offered us a choice of two somewhat comparable but higher-priced wines for the price of the one we had ordered. So we got a Zaca Mesa Syrah for the price of a Seghesio Zin. Both Barbara and I really liked the perfect Caesar salad, even though at first I didn’t taste the promised anchovies, which turned out to be a subtle ingredient of the dressing. Barbara then had an excellent short-ribs stroganoff, which was served over papardelle noodles, along with a side of properly cooked green beans. I had the lamb shank — why is it so hard to find lamb in restaurants these days? — which came with barley and kale. The flavors of all three merged wonderfully to produce a memorable dish.

I wasn’t intending to have dessert, but I couldn’t pass up the “traditional crème brulée,” balanced by a large cup of strong, black coffee. The crème brulée was indeed traditional; more to the point it was smooth and perfectly prepared. A fitting end to a fine meal. As General MacArthur and his wife said, “We shall return.”

Mrs. Jones

Larry Davidson — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:57:58 +0000

After several enthusiastic recommendations from friends, Barbara and I decided to try the take-out from Mrs. Jones, a small restaurant at 2255 Dorchester Avenue in Lower Mills, Dorchester. We are pleased to report an enthusiastic thumbs-up. For an exceptionally reasonable price we got two dinners of fried chicken wings with assorted sides — cole slaw, candied yams, stuffing, mac & cheese, and cornbread — which provided not only Sunday dinners for the two of us but also another meal’s worth of leftovers for two. Almost everything was delicious (other than the overcooked macaroni), so we are recommending Mrs. Jones to all our friends. Aside from a tiny counter, with maybe four seats, it’s entirely take-out. For more details, check out the reviews in Hidden Boston and Yelp.

Pasha

Larry Davidson — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:58:37 +0000

I’ve had lunch twice so far at Pasha, a new Turkish restaurant in Arlington Center. Although I don’t know anything yet about their dinners, I can highly recommend it on the basis of the two lunches. If you’ve never had Turkish cuisine, you have to try it! Unsurprisingly it resembles Greek cuisine quite a bit — it’s unsurprising since the majority of Greek foods were originally Turkish, presumably in part because of the geographical proximity of the two countries but more because of the Ottoman Empire. Anyway, the very extensive menu includes a wide variety of meat, seafood, and veggie dishes, with the expected emphasis on lamb and eggplant. At our recent lunch we shared a perfectly done babaghannouj as a cold appetizer (though oddly with an Americanized French bread instead of pita), an unusual mucver as a hot appetizer (that’s fried stuffed zucchini with garlic yogurt sauce, accompanied by a small salad), and the delicious Sultan’s Boat as an entree (described as “beef and lamb marinated with Turkish spices, roasted with mashed potatoes and mozzarella cheese, served with bulgar and house salad”). Despite the bread and the mozzarella cheese (and the presence of lasagna on the menu), Pasha seems very authentic, if I can remember correctly from my visit to Turkey all too long ago — I think it was in 1978. And they do serve wine and beer; even though Turkey is an ostensibly Muslim nation, it’s a thoroughly secularized one.

My only complaint is a linguistic one. Because they chose to use a font that doesn’t include such essential Turkish letters as the undotted i (ı) or the ş and ç with cedillas — all distinct from the dotted i, the plain s, and the plain c — many of the Turkish words were incorrect. Somehow I suspect that that won’t bother very many of the patrons, but it bothered me.

Dorchester’s best-kept secret

Larry Davidson — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:21:29 +0000

First of all, if you’re one of my students, you should not read this post, since you’re under 21 and know nothing about wine.

Yesterday afternoon we were introduced to “Dorchester’s best-kept secret,” the Boston Winery, at a fundraiser for the Dorchester Historical Society (DHS). You probably never knew that there’s a winery in Dorchester — in fact, you probably never knew that there was one anywhere in Boston. I, at any rate, never knew that. But in fact the Boston Winery has been around for a few years, and not only makes its own wines but also provides customers with the opportunity to make their own.

The fundraiser consisted of a tour of the winery and a tasting of several varietals, including Syrah, Cabernet, Zin, and Merlot. I was quite surprised at the high quality of the wines. That may be due to the fact that the grapes come from California (in contrast, say, to the undrinkable wines from upstate New York). The winery is owned by the family that owns the Venezia Restaurant next-door, and is located in a beautiful, renovated old factory. Check it out; it’s located on Ericsson Street, which you’ve probably never heard of — but that’s appropriate, since you’ve never heard of the Boston Winery either. It’s right on the waterfront, in the Port Norfolk section of Dorchester.

A Taste of Dorchester

Larry Davidson — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:17:51 +0000

This evening’s Taste of Dorchester event was a great success. When I moved to Dorchester in 1985, I never would have guessed that there would soon be a couple of dozen good restaurants in this part of Boston — and with such a wonderful diversity. Among the places providing all-you-can-eat (actually, more-than-you-can-eat) food at the IBEW Hall were Chau Chow (Chinese), Saigon Seafood (Vietnamese), Shanti (Indian/Bangladeshi), Ashmont Grill (local gourmet), Tavolo (Italian), Blarney Stone (eclectic, no longer Irish as the name suggests), Greenhills (I guess they’re still Irish), Cesaria (Cape Verdean), Irie (Jamaican), Belle Cuisine (Haitian), Big Moe’s (ribs) — I could go on, but you get the idea! Come to Dorchester and try them out. As we like to say, it’s no farther from Arlington to Dorchester than it is from Dorchester to Arlington.

Polite patrons and diversity in Dorchester

Larry Davidson — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:38:13 +0000

What do you do if you’re at a restaurant and there’s a celebrity at the next table? I’m told that Europeans ignore celebrities and let them enjoy their privacy, but Americans all too often have to say hello, get an autograph, and so forth. I’ve written several times before about the Ashmont Grill — see my posts of 12/31/06, 7/19/08, and 12/23/08, for instance — and that’s where Barbara and I saw Governor Deval Patrick and his wife sitting at the next table yesterday along with two other couples. Fortunately, the other patrons in the restaurant were all polite and paid no attention. No one came over for an autograph, no one came over to complain about taxes or the Mass Pike, and I even resisted taking advantage of this opportunity to lobby for Metco.

Incidentally, even before spotting the governor, I realized something unusual about the clientele at the Ashmont Grill these days. Although Dorchester is racially very diverse, that has not usually been the case with its restaurants. Typically customers at any given restaurant are either 95–100% white or 95–100% black. It’s not exactly segregation, but it’s painfully close to that. But the Ashmont Grill is cheerfully mixed. I didn’t do a headcount, but it was very clear that the black/white ratio was somewhere between 1:4 and 1:2, a much healthier balance than I usually see.

Speaking of which, go to A Taste of Dorchester on April 30! The mixture of restaurants at that event will certainly guarantee a diverse crowd.

Chalk up another plus or two for Dorchester.