March 10, 2017 Monica’s Mercato
I was at the Boston Public Market a few weeks ago and parked in a nearby lot where an attendant parks your car for you. When I got back to my car, I noticed that the attendant backed my car into a pole. So I when I went back to settle up with the parking lot, I decided to make a trip into the North End. Pizza makes everything better doesn’t it? I had been hearing good things about Monica’s Mercato Pizza – so today was as good a day as any to check it out. Went there on the early side as I’m sure the lunch crowd is crazy. The space is small and there is no place to eat in. I had to wait outside with the stroller as it couldn’t make the trip down the stairs, so the photos above (bottom left and bottom right) are courtesy of Leah from Leah’s Life.
The pizza slices are huge – a quarter of a pizza, and they will run you $4.50. You can also order whole pizzas, smalls are 12″ and large pizzas are 16″. Click here for their menu. The pizzas were thin crust and were tasty. Just the right amount of cheese on them with some good flavor combinations.
While there, we went and checked out the market upstairs that carries things like beer and wine, imported meats and cheese, fresh pasta and a nice variety of prepared foods. I’ve heard that they make delicious sandwiches here – so I will have to go back again to try those. Prices for sandwiches range from $9-$10 for a small and $12 – $13 for a large. I did bring home some fresh pasta which was such a treat – I paired it with crushed tomatoes and cauliflower and topped with Parmesan cheese. Delicious!
Monica’s Mercato
130 Salem Street, Boston, MA
http://monicasboston.com/monicas-mercato-pizza/
Tags: casual dining, italian, north end, pizza, take out
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
March 9, 2017 Praliné
Leah introduced me to Praliné a while back, and I almost wished she hadn’t. The French bakery puts out some of the most amazing desserts I’ve had. It’s a good thing that it isn’t closer to me, otherwise I might be 50 pounds heavier and broke. The lemon tart is sweet and tart, a fresh clean citrus taste to it.
The chocolate caramel tart is decadent – made with sweet almond dough and chocolate custard filling.
The small bakery has pastries, cookies, macarons and delicious chocolates. If you’re not near the Belmont area you can also pick up their sweet treats at George Howell Coffee in Downtown Crossing in the Godfrey Hotel.
Where’s your favorite bakery?
Praliné
203 Belmont Street, Belmont, MA
http://www.pralineconfection.com
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
March 8, 2017 Red Heat Tavern
Don’t be fooled by the outside of Red Heat Tavern. Driving by you might think it’s just another chain restaurant, when in fact, it is anything but. They have two locations, one in Wilmington and one in Bedford, and they are almost a complete scratch kitchen.
Jumbo tater tots? Sign me up! Hand-made, jumbo tater tots stuffed w/ applewood-smoked bacon, smoked Gouda, Provolone & American Grana cheeses, served with smoked tomato ketchup and beer cheese. Just died. ($10.95)
Is your mouth watering yet? If it hasn’t, it will now: Porky Fries One pound of French Fries, house smoked pulled pork, Cheddar Jack cheese, chipotle bbq, applewood-smoked bacon, scallion and smothered with beer cheese ($13.95).
People I know RAVE about their wings. Mesquite Smoked Wings Boneless or Bone-in, mesquite-marinated chicken wings two ways: Buffalo-style w/ smoked blue cheese dressing Sweet Thai-style w/ sriracha aioli ($12.95) ($19.95 double order). Delicious. Worth the drive!
I had the Josper Steak Tips* 3/4 pound of coal-fired tips of beef cut & marinated in-house, garlic & herb Parmesan fries, house made steak sauce ($20.95) (add RHT mushrooms, onions & peppers $1.95). Cooked perfectly, with a great crust on the outside. The fries were thin and had a good crisp, with just the perfect amount of salt.
Read Heat Tavern
300 Lowell Street, Wilmington, MA
Tags: casual dining, north shore, outdoor seating, restaurant, scratch kitchen
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
March 7, 2017 Jack’s Abby
Jack’s Abby is expanding (after only a year!). We went there a while back to try out their beer hall and kitchen (before they had expanded). The craft brewery, which was founded in 2011, makes only lagers. You can get a growler to go or grab a wood fired pizza, you can even tour the new facility. The restaurant is open and has communal seating with long tables and benches. They don’t take reservations, but we didn’t need one when we ventured in for a weekday lunch.
Their thin crust pizzas are pretty delicious – here is a sample of their menu:
Potato & Bacon $14
Garlic Cream/Cheddar/Scallions
Farmer’s Market with Goat Cheese $14
Tomato/Summer Squash/Zucchini/Eggplant/Fennel/Red Peppers
Clam & Bacon* $15
Fresh Mozzarella/Pecorino/Thyme/Red Pepper Flakes
Prosciutto & Arugula $15
Fresh Mozzarella/Dates/Thyme/Grape Must
BBQ Pork $15
Pineapple/Serrano Chili/Cilantro/Red Onion/Gruyère
The four cheese macaroni and cheese ($10) was thick and creamy, stick to your ribs, comfort food. It had a crumb topping that I wish there were a little more of.
You can’t come to a beer hall and NOT get the house lager pretzel ($5) served with horseradish mustard and beer cheese.
The desserts left me wanting more, they were just eh (the main stars for me were the pizzas). The bread pudding was more bread than pudding in consistency, and a bit overdone for my liking.
I wanted the crisp to be delicious, but it was lacking in flavor – do you really want to waste your calories on something bland?
Jack’s Abby
100 Clinton Street, Framingham, MA
Tags: brewery, casual dining, restaurant
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
March 6, 2017 Nashoba Brook Bakery
I always like to try and find new and delicious places to eat. I came across Nashoba Brook Bakery one day and was completely impressed. Don’t ask me how I cam about it, because you can’t really see it from the main road, yup I drove by a few times before finding it and even then, I didn’t think that I was parking in a legal spot. The space in charming, it has a coffee shop vibe with tables and a cozy little corner in the back with couches. They offer free wi fi here so people come and camp out. I’m looking forward to returning when the weather gets a little nicer as they have outdoor picnic tables and they have a charming old wooden footbridge out back.
They’re open Monday – Saturday 7am – 8pm and Sundays 8am – 8pm. They offer delicious specialty sandwiches like the Harvest Chicken Salad w/ Dried Cranberries, Apricots & Walnuts on French (bottom left). I had the Parma Prosciutto, Fresh Mozzarella & Basil Aioli on a Plain Ficelle (top right) which was tasty as well. They offer fresh home made soups that vary daily as well as the option to build your own sandwich. They have tasty egg sandwiches available for breakfast if you can make it there before noon!
Now let’s talk sweets. They have an amazing assortment of them, each one more delicious than the last. They have breads, cakes, muffins, scones, rugelach, biscotti and brownies. Make sure to try on of the kitchen sink cookies, they’re to die for! Oh and don’t forget to pick up one of their slow rise breads in flavors varieties like: French, 7 grain, rye, raisin, sourdough, whole wheat, olive, harvest, rosemary garlic, pepper jack and more.
Nashoba Brook Bakery
152 Commonwealth Ave., West Concord, MA
Parking can be tricky, here’s what they say on their website: We are located in an old brick warehouse set back off the street at 152 Commonwealth Avenue in West Concord behind a Citgo Gas Station. There is a parking lot in front of the building. There is also parking on the street and in an additional lot off of Winthrop Street, where you can park and walk across an old wooden footbridge and enter though the back door of the bakery.
Tags: bakery, breakfast, casual dining, desserts, lunch, restaurant
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
March 5, 2017 Little Q Hot Pot
Little Q Hot Pot is one of Leah’s favorite places to go with her family, so I was excited to try it out with her and have her show me the ropes of what they like to get when they do hot pot.
Not familiar with hot pot? They have special tables where they bring out a dish of boiling broth and you cook your own add ins. There are multiple flavors of broth to choose from and add in meat, seafood, vegetables, and noodles.
So the broths, here are your choices: Mala, Mongolian Veggie, Black Bone Chicken, Summer Cooler, Herbal, Seafood, Curry Beef, or Chinese Miso. Pick from USDA Prime Rib Eye, Boneless Short Rib, High Choice Lamb, Shrimp, Flounder Filet, Chicken Breast, Egg Dumplings, Fish Cakes, Mushrooms, Bok Choy, Asparagus, and the list goes on and on. The Chinese food is authentic and delicious. I pretty much ate myself into a food coma, you just don’t want to stop it’s THAT good. Not into hot pot? No worries, they have all your regular favorites on the menu as well.
Where do you love to have hot pot?
Little Q Hot Pot
196 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA
http://www.littleqhotpotma.com
Tags: arlington, asian, casual dining, chinese food, hot pot, restaurant
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
March 4, 2017 Lady M
This summer Lady M Cake Boutique opened up on Newbury Street. This is the first Boston location for the brand, which has other outposts in New York, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The minimalist storefront has full cakes on display and you can order slices or full cakes from the window in the back. Lady M is known for their signature Mille Crêpes cakes, which feature no less than 20 paper thin handmade crepes layered with pastry cream. The Mille Crêpes cakes come in the original, green tea and chocolate flavors. See my post about my visit to Lady M (and the Mille Crêpes cake) in New York here.
Other flavors include: pumpkin nuage (fall only), flourless chocolate cake, and strawberry shortcake to name a few.
I couldn’t resist getting my favorite, the strawberry shortcake. As delicious as I remember it when I was in NY, so light and delicious. I also had a piece of the pumpkin cake which tasted like equal parts pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. Again, very light with a nice cinnamon flavor and a thin graham cracker crust.
The storefront has no seating, so it’s takeout only. Parking is on street at meters or in nearby garages.
Lady M Cake Boutique
304 Newbury Street, Boston, MA
Tags: back bay, cake, dessert, newbury street, pastry
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Products, Restaurants
March 3, 2017 Cafe de Boston
It’s been a while since I’ve written about Cafe de Boston. I wanted to revisit them since I am doing posts this week about double duty restaurants (where you can eat in or do catering). See my previous posts about Cafe de Boston here and here. I headed in for lunch with a group of fellow bloggers and we all gathered upstairs in the private meeting room to enjoy our lunch. In addition to Cafe de Boston offering catering delivered to your office, you can bring your meeting into Cafe de Boston (the room holds 14 people). They have a great room (conference call capability, wifi and multimedia hookups to a LCD tv) where they can bring up platters of food or you can have your colleagues go downstairs, pick out what they want and bring it back upstairs for your meeting.
If you plan on dining in, I love this new feature that they have – you can charge your cell phone in this cool display and you don’t have to worry about it being taken because you take the key with you!
Cafe de Boston has a great loyalty program. Sign up for the program and get 15% off and you earn one point per dollar spent. Here are some of the things you can redeem your points for:
- Free Can of Soda or Bottle of Water – Redeem 25 points
- Free Fresh Fruit – Redeem 25 points
- Free Potato Chip- Redeem 25 points
- Free Large Hot Coffee or Iced Coffee – Redeem 30 points
- Free Bottle of Soda or Bottle of Juice – Redeem 30 points
- Free Slice of Pizza – Redeem 30 points
- Free Cookie, Muffin or Croissant – Redeem 30 points
- Free Large Soup – Redeem 50 points
- Free Sweet or Savory Crepe – Redeem 75 points
- $10 off any purchase – Redeem 100 points
The macarons were delicious – you should check out their dessert case, I want one of everything! The baklava below was so delicate and just the right hint of sweetness.
So why order your office catering through Cafe de Boston? They give the person placing the order a FREE MEAL! That’s right admins, take note! And if that’s not enough, they have a catering loyalty program as well:
STEP 1. Order a minimum of $1,000 in catering each month
STEP 2. Claim your rewards* at the end of each month
- Earn 5% of your total on a Gift Card from: Amazon.com, Macys, Marshalls & T.J.Maxx Stores
- Claim 5% of your total as a Company Credit
- Donate 5% to a Charity of your choice
*Check out the Cafe de Boston website for more details.
Just a reminder, if you plan on eating in, everyday after 2:30PM, get 30% off from the self serve hot & cold buffet, soup station and pizza. So go in for breakfast or lunch and stop in for a late afternoon coffee and pick up some dinner at a discount! They literally have something for everyone – even the fussiest of eaters – so check it out and let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest of Cafe de Boston. My meal was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.
Cafe de Boston
75 Federal Street, Boston, MA
Tags: casual dining, catering, financial district, restaurant, takeout
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
March 2, 2017 Finagle Test Kitchen
At the end of last year, Finagle opened up its first ever Test Kitchen in Newton. The bakery and cafe is open 7 days a week from 6am – 6pm. I was excited to see that this location was open because the other Finagle locations are disappearing quickly! The only ones that are left are Boylston Street in Boston, Mass General Hospital and Chestnut Hill in the Kinkos building. The space is pretty open, it is a great place to bring your kids in the mornings because you can get breakfast and there is space for them to “run around”. When we went, there were 5 other families there early in the morning with the same idea! They have a great large farm table in the back and individual tables in the front area. There’s free wi-fi so you can hang out for a bit if you’re not in a rush.
So what do they offer at this new test kitchen? Well, you can pick up a dozen bagels, try one of their bakery treats or even get some of your standby favorites.
I was a big fan of the egg sandwiches, which are made to order (no eggs sitting around for hours put on these sandwiches). Mine was with swiss cheese on an asiago bagel (YUM!).
Love Finagle as much as I do? Did you know they cater? At my old office we used to do bagel Fridays (basically my reason for coming to work Monday – Thursday, right?!?). Be the office hero and get Finagle to deliver 5-25 dozen bagels with cream cheese to your office or school every Friday like clockwork for just $11.99 per dozen! They have a variety of breakfast and lunch options, check out their website for more information.
Finagle Bakery & Café + Test Kitchen
77 Rowe Street, Newton, MA
Tags: bagels, casual dining, restaurant
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
March 1, 2017 Moody’s Backroom
Let me start by saying that the photos that you are about to see don’t even do this place justice. The Backroom at Moody’s is one of the best places I’ve eaten in a while. I can’t wait to go back, but have to lose 10 pounds first. So you walk in off of Moody Street (street parking and metered lots close by) into the deli. Pick up some charcuterie or cheese or even a sandwich to go.
They expanded the deli to include a dining room out back, the backroom. It fills up quickly, so reservations are important. The bar is hopping and we grab a great table, from which we can see into the kitchen.
A little amuse bouche.
There is a huge selection of charcuterie, pick one, three or six choices:
PORK AND RABBIT PATE, FIG AND FOIE PATE, BOHEMIAN PATE, PORK AND PISTACHIO PATE, COUNTRY PATE, CHICKEN LIVER MOUSSE COPPA, BRESAOLA, LOMO, ‘NDUJA SOBRASADA PANCETTA, LARDO, COPPA DI TESTA, FINNOCHIONA, SAUCISSON SEC, WILD BOAR SALAMI, MAPLE TOGARASHI, SRIRACHA, ROSSO, LOUKANIKO,CHORIZO SECCO,MOLE,CHIPOTLE,PORCINI,HOT SOPPRESSATA, SWEET SOPPRESSATA, SUMMER SAUSAGE, SAUCISSON AU CIDRE, PARMIGIANO REGGIANO SALAMI, CACCIATORINI
cheese options include:
CHAMPLAIN TRIPLE, BEECHER’S CHEDDAR, PAVE D’AFFINOIS, GREAT HILL BLUE, MAHON, 3-YR AGED GOUDA, COMTE, CAMEMBERT, LISSOME, CAMPO
We start with the “never the same wagyu meatballs” a mixture of their best cuts of meat, fresh herbs and tons of cheese. Heavenly.
The spaetzle, which is not on their current menu.
The Brussels sprouts, which again, are not on their current menu – they were delicious. Add bacon to any vegetable and I’ll eat it!
They had a great pickle jar filled with local vegetables that we gobbled up right along with our charcuterie plate.
The pasta was so delicious, I only wish that the portion size was larger, it left me wishing/craving for more. The “bacon and eggs” is bolognese, black pepper mafaldine pasta and a poached egg.
The smoked wagyu brisket was so melt in your mouth delicious, when we all took a bite, we immediately wished that this was the only thing that we ordered.
The gnocchi was delicious – again, no longer on the menu, but other current menu items that sound delicious are: shrimp and chorizo ravioli with farmers cheese, saffron cream and calabrian chili; the wood fired littleneck clams, or the rigatoni with 7x wagyu beef shank, confit tomato, parsnip crema and fried sage.
My husband wanted to try the breakfast sandwich that was on the deli menu and they were kind enough to accommodate us.
We all wished that we wore sweatpants to this dinner because we were so stuffed. Yes, in a good way, with rich, delicious food, but we had to sit a while to digest, because we seriously couldn’t move.
I highly recommend you try out their restaurant, but if you can’t make it in, they also cater. They brought food to my old office one day and let me tell you that their sandwiches flew out of the kitchen. They aren’t your regular sandwiches, they are sandwiches kicked up to a whole new level. And to see PR girls devouring sandwiches, you know they MUST be THAT good. I can personally vouch that their charcuterie platter is both delicious and beautifully presented. Let me let you in on a little secret. Two words. TRUFFLE. CHIPS. They’re housemade and they are out of this world. In addition, they do a breakfast catering option, here are a few things to get you drooling:
BOWLS
The Cross Fit
4 EGGS, CHOICE OF BACON, HAM OR SAUSAGE, AMERICAN CHEESE (GLUTEN FREE)
Carnitas
CRISPY PORK, SCRAMBLED EGGS, JALAPEÑO, TOMATO, ONION, AVOCADO (GLUTEN FREE)
The Baja
SCRAMBLED EGG WHITE, CHARRED TOMATO, CHILIS, BERMUDA ONIONS, AVOCADO, CILANTRO, LIME (GLUTEN FREE)
SANDWICHES & WRAPS
Egg & Cheese on English Muffin
CHOICE OF SAUSAGE, HAM, BACON, OR PORK ROLL
Moody’s Pork Roll Breakfast Sandwich
EGG, CHEESE, PORK ROLL, SPICY KETCHUP
Breakfast Burrito
SPICY SAUSAGE, SOFT SCRAMBLED EGGS, GREEN ONIONS, CHEDDAR, BARREL-AGED HOT SAUCE
The Gino Wrap
HAM, SCRAMBLED EGGS, AMERICAN CHEESE, SPICY KETCHUP
Moodys
468 Moody Street, Waltham, MA
Tuesday thru Sunday
Deli: 7am to 7pm, Sunday 8am to 4pm
Backroom: 5pm to late, closed Sundays
Tags: bolognese, casual dining, dinner, restaurant, waltham
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
