Eastern Standard Brunchielunch

Eastern Standard is worth all of the hype it gets. I've only had consistently great meals and service there. No matter what I eat, it's satisfying and creative. Since it was a weekend between 10 and 2, I was geared up for some brunch. I define brunch as breakfast, but bigger. Eastern Standard had a part brunch, part lunch menu because it was Saturday and they only serve full brunch on Sunday. The food was awesome, but sitting outside comfortably in late October was the best part.

After pondering the menu for a while, I was set to order eggs. The past few times I dined at ES, I had a pastrami sandwich and since it was missing from the menu, I branched out. My dining partner had settled on the Croque-Madame. When the waiter told us the addition to the menu, I made a quick change and went for the homemade ricotta gnocchi with veggies and lamb sausage. I am a sucker for homemade pasta, and I figured the gnocchi would be the perfect substitute for all the bread I'd eat if I chose a breakfast option. We decided to balance the extreme carbs with a side salad.

After enjoying the fresh bread, butter and good conversation, the meals arrived. I started eating the perfectly cooked gnocchi with fresh almost crisp cauliflower, pea pods and tomatoes  The gnocchi was seared on the outside and right amount of chewiness. I could not find the lamb in my dish. Not to worry though, because the waiter could not have been nicer when adding it. They re-plated my dish with the lamb sausage, so it went from being a gnocchi primavera to a unique combination of gnocchi, lamb and veggies. I hope that in the future they make both the pasta dishes available. While the lamb sausage added a lot of flavor and smokiness to the dish, it was just as good and even a little bit lighter without it.

The side salad was tasty. It was mesclun greens with a garlicky mustard vinaigrette  Given the size of our entrees it was the perfect size to share. Sometimes at Eastern Standard, I find myself having the great salad versus french fry debate. The fries at ES are thin and perfectly crisp with some fresh herbs and the salad has those qualities with the added health benefits. At lunch we had our salad and fries too, because my dining buddy's dish came with fries.

The Croque Madam was beautiful. It was a layer of french toast topped with ham, cheese and a sunny side up egg and french fries. The dish looked to pretty to eat, and it tasted as good as it looked. The combination of sweet and savory was great. If I had to categorize it, I'd pair it with eggs Benedict because it had most of the same components. We joked about how big the dish was, yet it was devoured. I'm glad I got to try it because, had I ordered it, I probably would have been full for 24-hours and I never like skipping meals!

I appreciated that even after I had the waiter put my leftover two bites of pasta in a doggy bag that they still offered us dessert menus. The desserts sounded delicious, and I was tempted, but we opted to get the check for fear that we would be unable to stand if we ate anymore.

Eastern Standard is one of my favorite restaurants in Boston. Jeremy Sewall is an artist! Their menu has a large variety of dishes with an array of ingredients and prices. While I have yet to go for dinner, I can vouch for the outstanding breakfasts, lunches and brunchielunches. Maybe next time I go, I'll steal less fries and have room for dessert!

Michael's Deli, Delicious Sandwiches and Steve

Boston does many things well but a really thick juicy sandwich is a commodity in these parts. Whenever I'm missing a New York style sandwich I find myself wondering over to Michael's Deli in Coolidge Corner. This no frills joint is on the Trader Joe's side of Beacon Street on Harvard. The deli is delicious and often crowded and while being notorious for great food, they've also been notorious for rushed, slightly rude service. I will tell you though, that the food makes up for the fact that it's cash only and the service is inconsistent.

Sunday after a night out and discussions of favorite sandwiches the night before, we found ourselves in our favorite cash only local deli. I was debating between a sandwich with a pound of meat or nova, cream cheese and a bagel. In a game time ordering decision where I expected nova and cream cheese to be my lunch, my stomach guided my mouth towards ordering a sandwich with: turkey, pastrami, roast beef, lettuce, tomato and Russian dressing on challah. I was as surprised as my dining buddy when I was done placing my order. My dining buddy got a Jacob's Choice which was turkey, roast beef, Swiss and Russian dressing on rye. We got two sides of cole slaw and a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips.

The sandwiches were brought over by Misha, my favorite Michael's employee with tons of slaw and two full pickles! From the time that the sandwich arrived to when I had a quarter left, I don't remember what happened. I turned into a carnivorous silent animal who could only be fed with store roasted meats and really fatty pastrami. By the time I came up for air, without even tasting the other sandwich (very unlike me), I looked around and noticed that Michael was no where to be found. Usually he's at the front taking orders or running around bring up more salads or soup, but he was no where. There was this other guy there who looked like a younger Michael-- I thought for a second maybe his younger brother?

I asked this man where Michael was and he responded that Michael was off. Sunday strikes me as a big day for sandwiches so I was puzzled that the boss would be gone. Then Steve mentioned that he bought Michael's. My dining buddy and I were incredulous. The Corned Beef King left the building?! Not to worry though, Michael is working part time this summer to bring Steve up to speed with how to continue to make some of the greatest deli from here to NY.

While I am sad to see Michael phase out, I hope that he made a huge penny selling the place and is able to retire happily and have someone else make sandwiches for him while he lies back on the beach and drinks or splashes or does whatever he has missed out on from all of the summer Sunday sandwiches. Steve is really enthusiastic and seems to have given the store new energy. As we left and thanked Steve and Misha for a delicious lunch, we started fantasizing about all of the new possibilities like credit cards, more hot food items and dinner. As long as Michael's keeps the Corned Beef King's classic sandwiches, I think the possibilities are endless. Looking forward to watching an old classic take on a new life.

Henrietta's Table was Fresh and Fantastic

Henrietta's Table is one of my favorite restaurant's in the Boston area. It's simple yet the food is outstanding. Their schtick is that the food is as local as possible and as fresh as possible. Their restaurant week menu is perfect, essentially for lunch you get to pick two or three courses for $15.12 or $20.12. Dinner is set up the same way, but this restaurant week, I went to lunch with my family. The restaurant is bright and airy and for the warmer months, there is an outside patio.

We were all famished when we walked in exactly on time for our 1:30pm reservation on Friday. We had beat the indoor lunch rush, but the patio was hopping. Before we ordered, the waitress brought over the most delicious bread. It was whole wheat, cranberry nut and a take on white bread with fresh butter. The bread was made in house or at Pain D'Avignon (one of my other favorites).

My dad and I both ordered the tomato soup which was as my dad put it "the best tomato soup of his life." The soup was vegan, which meant that it was vegetable based and did not have any cream. I will admit that I detest cream based soups, they are too heavy for me, so I agree with my dad when he says the soup was fantastic. It was zestier than a tomato sauce and had celery and other vegetables. I was trying to save room for the main course so I did not finish my soup, but it did not go to waste at the table.

My sister ordered the portobello mushroom on a bed of spinach with cheese on top. She loved it. I was glad I ordered the tomato soup because it was more unique. I however appreciated that the mushroom appetizer used local cheese on top. My mom opted out of the appetizer to save room for some chocolate sorbet.

For entrees, I ordered a chopped salad. It was perfect, with lettuce, avocado, bacon, tomato and house smoked turkey. I chose to get the lemon vinaigrette on it because I am not a blue cheese dressing fan. I loved how simple yet delicious the salad was. As I have mentioned before, I think salads taste so much better when they are chopped and this was great with a little bit of everything in each bite. When I come back for lunch another time, I will get this salad.

My sister and mom ordered the scrod. It was very fresh and encrusted in ritz crackers. There were also potatoes and lemon. The dish was again simple and tasty. There is something very satisfying about a fresh piece of fish.

My dad ordered a salad. He loves anything with chicken wherever he goes and likes nothing more than a good healthy salad for lunch, especially since this justifies a decadent dessert. My dad ordered the rotisserie chicken salad. It was a simple green salad with the same lemon vinaigrette dressing I had on mine. The chicken was flavorful and the salad was light and left enough room for dessert.

In case you have not guessed from the previous blog posts, I love dessert. I wait for it, I sometimes just seek it out. If it was appropriate, I would probably just live off of chocolate, but then I would not keep my girlish figure. Henrietta's Table has fantastic homemade dessert that leaves me wishing I had more room in my stomach. My mom was geared up for her chocolate sorbet which was good. Part of the decision to have sorbet was around avoidance of dairy. It was tasty but I think she would have preferred a dairy free fruit pie because that's her favorite and Henrietta's fruit tart, which my dad, sister and I shared was delicious.

It was a  small pie with apples and cranberry and vanilla ice cream (we swapped the two ice creams after the picture). I am extremely critical of fruit pies because I have an apple crisp recipe I often whip up which is simple and perfect. Henrietta's Table's fruit pie was to die for. The crust was flaky, the inside was still a little bit crunchy and it was not too sweet. Maybe I will have to get their cook book to learn their secret. We also got a chocolate bread pudding to share with coffee ice cream instead of vanilla because we wanted to try another kind of their homemade ice cream. The bread pudding was incredible. I think it was brioche drenched in chocolate baked with perfection. It came with a banana and caramel topping. My favorite dessert combination is banana and chocolate or banana and coffee and here, we had both! My suggestion to you is if you only have enough for one course at Henrietta's table that you run as fast as you can to get their bread pudding. Just think, while you are running, you are burning some calories.

Overall, Henrietta's Table was fantastic. I can't wait to come back again. I had never been for lunch before and I like that it is the same great food at a slightly lower price point. I enjoy that they treat restaurant week as an opportunity to showcase all that they can do. Their outstanding job with restaurant week leaves me hungry with anticipation for the next meal I will have there. In the meantime, I may stop by just for the bread pudding.

Moved by Mooo....

In honor of spring feeling like it sprung and restaurant week, I surprised my beau for a lunch at Mooo.... He had raved about the delicious steak and I love going to steak houses but rarely indulge unless the price is right. A three course meal at Mooo.... was $20.12 each which felt like a steal for the amount of delicious and beautiful food we ate. It is rare (pun intended) to have a lunch date, so we decided to live on the wild side, or at least my dining partner did, and I tried everything on the table!

We were slightly early for our noon reservation and the hostess sat us right away at a very pretty table with horsehair pillows on the booth side of the table. I found the decor to be ornate. The restaurant's menu was so simple and classic, I felt like a queen on a throne with pillows.

To start off we had the most delicious rolls that were sweet and salty with simple butter (not pictured). I ordered a steakhouse salad. It was awesome with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, feta and that dressing which immediately makes you think of a steakhouse. It's oil vinegar and spices, simple yet perfect. If I was not indulging in three full courses, I would have been happy eating this salad with a piece of protein on top--it was so tasty.

My dining partner won the adventurous game. If you guessed that he ordered steak tartare, you are correct. Neither or us had ever eaten steak tartare before, but his logic was, where else would I try it? Since Mooo.... was such a good restaurant, he decided to live live on the raw side. The steak tartare was delicious, it came with flat breads and the raw meat was mixed with onions, capers and possibly tomato. The best way to describe it's consistency was a meaty fresh salsa. It was really flavorful and tossed with some oil, salt and pepper. 

We realized after the fact that we were ironic by ordering our sirloin steak medium after eating raw meat. The meat was cooked to perfection. The grill lines were perfect and the outside was caramelized while the inside was perfectly pink. The steak was thicker in the middle, so it was slightly rarer where the meat was thicker. In hindsight, I wish I had ordered the meat medium rare because the quality was so high that it would have been that much more delicious. The steak was served on top of a bed of watercress and fingerling potatoes. I am not a stinky cheese fan, so I held the blue cheese, but my dining partner had the meal as it was. The potatoes were simple with some salt and pepper on them and the watercress was simple. I'll be honest, I focused on making sure I ate my steak and potatoes, so by the time I got to the watercress, I was ready for the delicious chocolate dessert.

The dessert was outstanding! I love chocolate dessert anytime, especially after a steak. We had two of the same desserts. It was a brownie with vanilla ice cream and a homemade marshmallow on top. There was caramel sauce on the bottom and it was homemade and perfect. It tasted like toffee that had not hardened yet. The portion was the right size. I wanted more because it was so delicious but I would have had no where to put it because I was so full. The brownie was rich, like a piece of flowerless chocolate cake. It was smooth and not too sweet. The ice cream was homemade as was the marshmallow. I mentioned it before but I think a homemade marshmallow is a great alternative to whipped cream on a chocolate dessert. We both loved this dessert, it was a stack of happiness.

Overall, Mooo.... was outstanding. I walked out into the sunshine feeling satisfied and energized whatever else the day had in store for me. I hope to throw a party in their downstairs cellar room. I'm looking forward to coming back here sometime and trying their American Wagyu  Dumplings and a porterhouse (my favorite cut of steak). Until then, I will think about the perfect meal I had and how daring we were to try steak tartare.