June 9, 2017 Stephen Anthony’s
I’m always on the hunt for a new breakfast place. We recently came upon Stephen Anthony’s – in business for the last 30 years, and at its current location since 1998. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Inside, it is definitely dated. It has an old time feel to it. Breakfasts are simple and the portions are generous. Belgium waffles, French toast, omelettes, and other egg dishes fill the menu. Love pancakes? Get 3 for $7.25, or try blueberry, maybe even chocolate chip. They have banana cakes and Johnny cakes, and silver dollar pancakes by the half dozen or bakers dozen if you can handle it. Prices range from about $5 to $10, depending on how hungry you are. The place fills up like crazy on the weekends, make sure to get there early if you don’t want to wait. Maybe stop into AJ Cakes next door for a little pre-breakfast đ
The dinner menu features steak and seafood: broiled haddock, seafood medley, seafood fra diavlo, filet mignon, marinated sirloin tips and prime rib to name a few dishes.
Join them for Waffle Wednesdays where they serve full breakfast until 9pm and have waffle specials.
They have a private function hall for weddings, showers and/or business events.
There’s nothing fancy about this place, but if you’re looking for a stick to your ribs kind of breakfast, Stephen Anthony’s is your spot. Simple food, inexpensive prices. Service was good, we were helped by a young kid who was trying not to get overwhelmed by being in the weeds.
Stephen Anthony’s
999 Boston Post Road East, Marlborough, MA
https://www.stephenanthonys.com/
Tags: breakfast, casual dining, dinner, lunch, private room, restaurant
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June 8, 2017 Free Things for Kids in Metro West
As a stay at home mom, sometimes I crawl the walls and need to get out of the house. Here are some things that I’ve found in the Metro West area that will keep you sane and the kids entertained. Oh, and bonus points because they’re free!
On Sunday nights at The Villa restaurant in Wayland, magician Fran Flynn does magic tricks table side from 5pm – 8pm. Oh, and balloon animals, because who doesn’t love balloon animals! The Villa is located at 124 East Plain Street in Wayland.
Tuesday and Wednesday mornings there is a free story time at Barnes and Noble in Framingham (and other B&N locations as well – check their website for dates and times at a store near you). They read two books and have coloring afterwards. Storytime starts at 10:30am both days and they read the same story on Tuesday and Wednesday. June 13th and 14th they will read stories celebrating Father’s Day. June 20th and 21st they will read some silly animal stories. June 27th and 28th they will be reading about dinosaurs. In addition, they offer story time on Saturdays at 11am. June 10th they will be reading Oh, the Places You’ll Go. June 17th they will read When Dads Don’t Grow Up and on the 24th they will read The Rainbow Fish.
Little Flippers in Natick and Winchester offer free swim classes for infants aged 3 months – 6 months (First Flippers). The classes are 30 minutes and they sing songs and play games.
Planet Gymnastics in Natick offers free classes for kids aged 5 months to pre – walking. The 30 minute class incorporates massage, exercises, and activities that help with balance, and both fine and gross motor skills.
Jam time has two locations, one in Maynard and the other in Natick. If you are thinking about enrolling in a class you can try one for free before you commit to the entire session.
The shops at Linden Square in Wellesley offer free activities on the second Tuesday of every month (Mommy and Me/Tots at 10). Registration is required, as space is limited. Head over to California Pizza Kitchen at 10am on the 13th for a Father’s Day craft. See their website for a schedule of events.
Your library is a great resource. Check out you local branch’s website for free music classes and story time events. Worth noting, libraries also have museum passes that will get you discounted admission at some fun places!
Tags: events, family friendly, kids
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June 7, 2017 Dudley Chateau
Growing up, I was pretty proud that I had never been to the town bar, the Dudley Chateau. Since moving back to the suburbs, I can’t even tell you the amount of times I’ve been there. And I brought kids. Townie bar with children. Yup, I’ve turned into that person. The bar is located on a pond, so people have a nice view when the weather is cooperating. The inside is exactly what you would imagine and there are definitely regulars there at the bar, but I guess you could argue that I’m almost a regular.
My mom loves the burgers, they’re not bad. You can get a regular or a mini. They offer your typical bar fare, chicken tenders, wings, nachos, and chili. They have a variety of wraps, wraps and burgers. The fries are good, but the onion rings are better. The mushroom burger is tasty, more so than the steak sandwich. Most entrees hover around $10. They have a kids menu, and for around $5 you can get 2 sliders and fries, a grilled hot dog with fries, mac and cheese bites with fries, or chicken tenders with fries. They all come with a Hoodsie cup, yay!
Service is good, attentive and pleasant. Parking is in a lot out front.
Dudley Chateau
20 Crest Road, Wayland, MA
Tags: bar, burger, casual dining, dinner, restaurant
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June 6, 2017 RFK Kitchen
Apparently my mother and I had the same idea, we had both been wanting to try out RFK Kitchen in Needham. So when her birthday came around this year, obviously we decided to try it out. Make sure to make a reservation, because this place gets packed!
There’s an open dining room, and if you are lucky enough to grab a seat at the counter you can watch the cooks in the open kitchen preparing your meal. Rachel Klein opened RFK Kitchen in her home town, and brought on fellow Liquid Art House alum (and Top Chef contestant) Stacey Cogswell as Executive Chef.
They had some good menu options for the kids at the table, we went with the mac and cheese. Generous portion, we brought 1/2 home for lunch the next day!
To start, the buffalo fiddleheads – a little bit of a spicy kick to them – the cheese was a welcome addition to the plate, but my mouth still tingled!
We had a a delicious meal, everyone enjoyed what they ordered. The strip loin steak comes with spring onions, parsnips and malt vinegar aioli.
The short rib was so tender and was served with spelt and soffits.
This was no ordinary chicken dish, the rotisserie chicken, served with potatoes, onions and lemon was so flavorful. Other entree options include a golden cioppino, a roasted monkfish, the RFK burger and a garbanzo bean stew – to name a few.
The Atlantic Cod was beautifully plated with asparagus, forbidden rice and ribbons of rhubarb.
They kindly added a birthday message to my mom’s dessert.
No longer on the menu, the macaron with rhubarb curd and vanilla bean cream was tasty, albeit a little difficult to eat. I love the ribbons of rhubarb!
Service was good. Street parking at meters and in a lot close by.
RFK Kitchen
30 Dedham Ave., Needham, MA
www.rfkkitchen.com
Tags: celebrity chef, dinner, needham, restaurant
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June 5, 2017 Little Pusan
I think I may have said this before, but Maynard is like the land that Monster forgot. One night while the suburban ladies were getting together and drinking wine, I was saying that I felt like the thing I missed most since moving out to the ‘burbs was good ethnic food. My neighbor then RAVED about this little Korean place that if you give a wink to the little old lady, she’ll make it spicy as hell. Intrigued, I ordered take out one night. First, my navigation couldn’t even get me to the right address, so here I am, running around the empty streets of Maynard in the dark looking like a tourist.
The shop is small, and a little dated, but I’m hoping that means that the food is just super delicious because little grandma is more focused on cooking than decor. The man du (first photo) is a meat and vegetable dumpling that I order fried (you can get it steamed too). The filling is good, but not crave-worthy for me. The bulgogi is a traditional dish, marinated beef with vegetables. Again, just ok. It’s served with a side of rice, and when I asked if it was white rice, the woman said it was a mix of white and brown…with beans….
One of my favorite restaurants for soup is Myung Dong 1st Avenue in Allston. I was excited that Little Pusan made my favorite soup, the dok ramen, made with rice cakes, ramen noodles, vegetables and egg in a spicy soup. The soup was tasty, but again, fell a little flat for me. I wasn’t sure about the vegetables in the soup and the noodles were a bit soggy.
Verdict, OK for suburbia, but for this girl, just meh.
Little Pusan
83 Main Street, Maynard, MA
www.littlepusan.com
Tags: dinner, korean, lunch, restaurant, take out
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June 2, 2017 Saying Goodbye to Blue Ginger
As you may know, Blue Ginger is closing. The Wellesley restaurant, owned by Ming Tsai, has been know for its allergen free dining (gluten free and nut free dishes). Blue Ginger was coming to the end of their lease, and after nearly 2 decades of business, Tsai has decided to close the restaurant and prepare to launch a new restaurant, Chow Stirs, a fast casual concept restaurant. The last day of service is June 3rd, and on the 4th they will hold a yard sale in the parking lot starting at 9am. Part of the proceeds will go to Family Reach, an organization providing a financial lifeline to families fighting cancer.
Blue Ginger stopped serving lunch and only offered dinner (starting at 4pm) so the staff could focus on providing excellent dinner service. When we went, the service was spotty at best, as the restaurant was slammed with patrons wanting to get one last taste of Blue Ginger.
Jodi and Kim put the evening together, and I’m glad they did. I’m sorry to say that I had only ever been to Blue Ginger once before, and that was for take out. The food we had that night was delicious. We started with the shiitake leek spring rolls and they bigeye tuna poke. We had $41 sake miso marinated sablefish (butterfish) with wasabi oil, soy lime syrup, and vegetarian soba noodle sushi. The Korean rice cake with shiitake mushroom ragu ($26) was very interesting – quite flavorful. I loved the different textures in the dish and the richness of the mushrooms.
I never get the creme brĂ»lĂ©e but nothing else spoke to me on the dessert menu, so vanilla bean creme brĂ»lĂ©e it was. Not bad – and it came with two cookies that were tasty.
So goodbye Blue Ginger, looking forward to trying Chow Stirs in 2018!
Blue Ginger
583 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA
https://www.ming.com/blue-ginger.htm
Tags: asian, celebrity chef, closed, dinner, fine dining, restaurant, wellesley
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June 1, 2017 Monument Restaurant and Tavern
As we were driving through Charlestown to get to Monument, I was telling my friend about this great little Italian place my husband and I used to love coming to, but how it had been ages since we had been there. As we pull up, I felt like the place had a familiar feel to it.
Turns out that the old Italian place, Paolo’s has since gone out of business, and Monument took over the space (and the laundromat that used to be next to it). Apparently this place gets pretty packed – but we lucked out and were able to score a high top table in the back.
Move over honey butter, my former love, whipped ricotta and honey is my new beau. They serve it with fresh rolls, and like guacamole, I could eat just this as my dinner.
Sometimes I like to be a grown up, so I order real food. We start with the Kung Pao Brussels Sprouts ($11). I’ve recently taking a shining to Brussels Sprouts, given that you top them with bacon and throw on some delicious sauce. These come topped with szechuan peppercorns, shishito peppers, honey roasted peanuts, and sweet chili sauce. Just the right amount of heat and I was totally digging the crunch from the peanuts, it was something a little different.
Next we had the pork and spring onion dumplings, seared ($12) that also came topped with that sweet chili sauce I loved from the Brussels Sprouts dish.
Everything on the menu sounded so delicious, it was hard to choose. Sorry in advance about the lighting, the restaurant was a little dark and I was THAT person in the back trying to light my dishes quickly before the annoying glares started. So I went with the lobster gnocchi (market price), the dumplings were hand rolled and the Maine lobster was topped with Newborn sauce and pea tendrils. Very light, the pasta and the sauce, and the lobster was sweet. A+ for this entree.
How amazing does the roasted pork chop ($21) look? Brined pork with fresh thyme and butter, bacon braised kale, confit heirloom carrots and crispy snap peas, spring onion and bacon marmalade with a perfectly beautiful sunny side up heirloom egg.
Dessert was a butterscotch pudding that we dove into so quickly I didn’t remember to get a picture beforehand. It had vanilla whipped cream and some espresso brittle, YUM!!!
Service was top notch.
Monument Restaurant and Tavern
251 Main Street, Charlestown, MA
http://monumentcharlestown.com
Tags: brunch, casual dining, dinner, lunch, restaurant, saturday brunch
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May 31, 2017 VERTS
I recently had the opportunity to try out VERTS Mediterranean Grill with my girls from Go Local Boston. They have two locations in Boston, the Financial District down on Summer Street and the location we visited in the Back Bay on Boylston at Clarendon. They are also planning on opening a location at Washington and School soon.
VERTS is a fast casual concept restaurant where you can make your own meal- most of them are under 600 calories.
Did you know that if you download the VERTS app you can get a FREE entree?? In addition, you can get $10 for every $100 you spend and a $2 reward for every friend that you refer.
First, pick you base: pita, salad, baby kale blend, rice bowl or quinoa bowl. Then pick your protein: beef and lamb, chicken, falafel, turkey and mushroom meatballs or slow cooked pork.
VERTS has a large selection of toppings to choose from: things like red cabbage slaw, cucumber and tomato mix, sumac onions, spiced chickpeas, carrot slaw, picked onions, picked jalapeños, marinated green olives, feta cheese, grilled beets and more.
They have 8 sauces to choose from: herb vinaigrette, roasted red pepper, spicy green whipped feta, eggplant dip, tzatziki, hummus, spicy cilantro and hot harisa. Sides include things like delicious sweet potato fries or a pita and hummus plate. VERTS has found just the right balance between quick and friendly service. While the lunch time rush does have a line, it moves quickly. Even better, order ahead on your app and you don’t have to wait!
Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest of VERTS to sample their menu. My meal was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.
VERTS Mediterranean Grill
545 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
Tags: casual dining, mediterranean, restaurant, takeout, vegetarian
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May 30, 2017 Honeycomb Creamery
It’s ice cream season, are you ready? I recently headed over to Honeycomb Creamery to taste it for myself. I had really been dying to try the rosĂ© gummy bears, but they are seasonal, so I had lime instead.
Flavors available that day included: burnt vanilla bean, cinnamon dulce de leche, honey lavender, brown butter oatmeal cookie, cold brew coffee chip, matcha pistachio and chocolate toasted coconut. They offer vegan ice cream in the following flavors: horchata, spirumint chip and chocolate caramel swirl.
I went with a scoop of vanilla bean and a scoop of brown butter oatmeal cookie. YUM! Really nice texture and flavor.
For toppings, I chose lime gummy bears and house made peanut butter cup pieces. They probably don’t go together, but they sure were tasty.
Leah said that the waffle cone was not to be missed (add $1), and they now have matcha waffle cones too. We both want to go back for the flight of ice cream – pick 4 flavors for $8 and they serve them with waffle cone chips. They also offer hand packed pints, 1/2 pints for $6 and pints for $10. Make sure to bring your coolers and ice packs, because you are going to want to bring some home for later, trust me!
Honeycomb Creamery
1702 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA
http://www.honeycombcreamery.com
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May 29, 2017 Brooklyn Water Bagel Co.
Do you ever wonder why bagels in New York taste so much better than anywhere else? Some people think it’s the water, The Brooklyn Water Bagel Company sure thinks so. They have a proprietary water treatment system call the Brooklyn Water Works. They say it replicates the natural composition of the water that flows from the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York into the homes of Brooklyn residents.
I’m all about a great breakfast sandwich, so I switched up my morning routine to stop over at the Framingham location. For $5.49, I ordered the sausage egg and cheese. It sort of felt like I was ordering breakfast at McDonald’s. I also wished that my yellow American cheese would have been melted on the sandwich instead of just thrown on as what seemed an afterthought.
Bagels are $1.29 each, 6 for $6.49 and thirteen for $12.99. They have sandwiches, baninis (bagel paninis), and a variety of breakfast bagel sandwiches.
Service was meh. There’s plenty of seating and there were a lot of families with children here.
Brooklyn Water Bagel Company
341 Cochituate Road, Suite 5, Framingham, MA
http://www.brooklynwaterbagel.com/
Tags: bagels, breakfast, casual dining, cheap eats, restaurant, takeout
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