November 3, 2015 The Cottage at Stowe Mountain Golf Course
The Cottage is at Stowe Mountain Lodge’s private golf club and is open to members and guests of the hotel. Make sure that you wear proper club attire, collared shirts for men are a must. That being said, you couldn’t ask for a better view of the mountain while you eat lunch. We are the only ones at the restaurant as the club is quite exclusive. They have indoor and outdoor dining, but the day is beautiful so we sit outside. The menu is limited as the season hadn’t started yet, but we still enjoyed everything we ordered. The burger was delicious, topped with bacon and cheese with a side of fries.
The service was good, seeing as we were the only people there. Although we have been before while the season was in full swing and we had good service then as well.
The turkey club was delicious, piled high with meat, this triple decker sandwich hit the spot.
The black bean wrap was light and is perfect for those looking for a lighter option.
The Cottage at Stowe Mountain Golf Course
7412 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT
Tags: burger, outdoor seating, scenic, stowe, trips, vermont
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants, Trips
November 2, 2015 Tahaza Hummus Kitchen
Located between the Cambridge Side Galleria and the Lechmere train station is Tahaza Hummus Kitchen. It’s a great healthy option when you just can’t bear to have a food court meal (and it’s just as quick!). They’re open 6 days a week (closed on Sunday), 11am – 9pm, so head in for lunch or dinner (or both!). So here is how it works: Step 1: go up to the counter, choose a hummus bowl ($9.25), a warm grain bowl ($9.25) that has a brown rice base, a salad ($9.25) or a wrap ($8.75). Step 2: add your hummus. They have 3 great flavors, an original, a roasted red pepper and a seasonal flavor. Step 3: choose your contents: all natural shredded chicken, mushrooms, baked falafel, slow cooked beef (additional $2.25) or lamb with chickpeas (additional $2.25). Step 4: add your toppings: fresh tomato and cucumber, pickled turnips, sundried tomatoes, cumin pickled carrots, olives, feta, roasted garlic, toasted quinoa, sliced almonds, pita strips, lemon wedge, parsley or paprika. Step 5: pick your side (if you chose a salad, bowl or grain bowl): a warm fluffy whole wheat pita, baked pita chips or fresh carrot sticks.
So I chose the bowl and let me tell you that there was so much food that I took half of it home and had it for lunch the next day! I had mine with 1/2 mushroom and 1/2 chicken and original hummus. The chicken was tender and the mushrooms were drool worthy! I added cucumbers, feta cheese and the pickled carrots. YUM! They also have your choice of dressings: a chili vinegar (hot), a spicy harissa (hot), a sriracha tahini (mild), a fresh mint yogurt (non-fat) and a lemon mint vinaigrette. In addition to Maine Root fountain sodas, they also have house made specialty sodas – check out mine – I had the raspberry lime.
Disclaimer: I was invited to try out Tahaza. My meal was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.
Tahaza Hummus Kitchen
1 Canal Park, Cambridge, MA
Tags: cambridge, casual dining, kid friendly, take out, vegetarian
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
November 2, 2015 Plaza Food Hall
While walking around we happened upon the Plaza Food Hall. The hall opened in 2010 with Todd English’s as the anchor. It has since added on to become 32,000 sq. ft of deliciousness. The shops are carefully curated. Some well know favorites and some new names pop up in the list. We started out our night getting Lady M cake slices to go.
The cake slices are not inexpensive at $7.75 a slice, but the mille crepes…totally worth it. The cake features no less than 20 paper thin handmade crepes layered with pastry cream and the top is caramelized until golden. The cake is so impossibly light with just a hint of sweetness. I love it!
Strawberry Shortcake ($7.75) is another favorite of mine. Lady M’s version is made with flour imported from Japan and it produces a vanilla sponge cake like no other. The filling is whipped cream with fresh strawberries throughout. The cake was light as air!
Chi Noodle Bar was our next stop. It was hard to decide what to get because everything sounded so good! They offer ramen, wontons, spring rolls and delicious dumplings.
The chicken dumplings were delicious, they were light and flavorful. They were not greasy at all, which you know some dumplings can be. Looking forward to going back and trying some of the other items on the menu.
Next stop Ora di Pasta, a cute little shop with a few tables inside to dine in at. We took ours out to the communal seating so that we could get a little something from a few different places.
The spaghetti with meatballs is so simple and so classic that it is a good test of an Italian restaurant. This did not disappoint with the noodles cooked perfectly al dente and the meatballs were tender and flavorful. We gobbled this up in an embarrassingly short amount of time!
We re-visited Luke’s Lobster, but decided to get something besides the lobster roll.
Ok, well not really because we did get the lobster roll, but not a whole one! We got the combo that is 1/2 crab roll, 1/2 shrimp roll and 1/2 lobster roll. I was diggin’ this trio and the spices on the shrimp roll!
No. 7 Sub is a small chain that started off in Brooklyn. Two college friends started the restaurant together in 2008 to critical acclaim by publications like Bon Appetit.
While they have tasty subs like ‘the frito kid’ made with cold balsamic chicken, black bean hummus, lettuce, tomato and fritos or the ‘tuna toastie’ made with tuna salad, mozzarella, tomatoes, pickled red onions, thai basil and wasabi grape nuts, our dining companion went with the less than adventurous turkey with lettuce, mayo and tomato. While boring, the sub was still tasty.
The Plaza Food Hall
1 West 59th Street, New York, NY
http://www.theplazany.com/dining/foodhall/
Tags: casual dining, desserts, food hall, new york, pasta, restaurants, seafood, trips
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants, Trips
November 1, 2015 Carnivore’s Manifesto
Last weekend I was invited to attend a farm dinner (at Appleton Farms in Ipswich) and lecture featuring Patrick Martins, author of The Carnivore’s Manifesto: Eating Well, Eating Responsibly, and Eating Meat.
I arrived a little early and was able to walk around the farm. The Trustees manage the 1,000 acre property that was a gift of Colonel Francis R. Appleton Jr and his wife Joan. The property has goats, sheep and pigs that you can visit, along with a dairy barn, where you can see the cows being milked at 3pm daily. The milk from the cows is bottled or made into cheese (on site!) and is available for sale at the dairy store.
Guests are encouraged to climb on board the antique carriage outside of the Carriage Barn.
I was lucky enough to sit next to the architect who designed the Carriage Barn and his lovely wife at dinner.
Martins is the founder of Heritage Foods USA, Slow Foods USA and Heritage Radio Network. He was an engaging speaker with a great sense of humor, adding in little personal stories here and there. Martins talked about how to make smart and informed choices about the food we eat and participated in a Q&A session afterwards.
The dinner was served buffet style and featured Appleton’s grass fed beef prepared by Bonne Bouche catering. The farm has a growing White Park herd and the public can buy meat at the farm store. Heritage breed cattle have been growing in popularity due to the local food movement and the farm has a strong commitment to sustainability and the ethical treatment of animals.
The evening started out with hot cider and a sampling of the farm’s own artisanal cheese.
Quinoa salad with kale, roasted beets, crumbled feta, red radish and tossed with a citrus balsamic vinaigrette.
Roasted Brussels sprouts tossed with bacon, grapes and shallots.
Starting at top right and moving clockwise: crispy kale with mixed bell peppers salad, topped with Parmesan; chicken with lemon, mushroom and capers; bread pudding a la mode; beef short rib pot pie with mushrooms, pearl onions, carrots and parsnips.
Can’t make it out to Ipswich to Appleton Farms? Don’t worry, head down to the Boston Public Market and check out the classes in the KITCHEN.
Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest of the Trustees to attend this event. My ticket, which included the lecture and the meal, were provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.
Appleton Farms
219 County Road, Ipswich, MA
http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/north-shore/appleton-farms.html
Tags: events, farm, the trustees
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Events
November 1, 2015 Hong Kong
It’s hard to find good Chinese on the Cape. Our neighbors at home get takeout from the Hong Kong all the time and suggested that we try it out.
Located right on the main road, this little restaurant does a huge takeout business. Be prepared to wait – even if you call in your order.
The chicken teriyaki comes in a small or large appetizer option. They are pretty basic.
The boneless spare ribs were pretty tasty, probably one of the better items that we ordered.
The lo-mein and the pork fried rice were again, ok – not great, not bad.
The dumplings were pan fried and a little on the greasy side. I was disappointed that they weren’t more flavorful.
Tell me where you go on the Cape for great Chinese food!!
Hong Kong
165 Teaticket Highway, Falmouth, MA
http://www.hongkongrestaurantfalmouth.com
Tags: cape cod, casual dining, chinese, restaurant, takeout
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
October 31, 2015 Ben and Jerry’s
Ben and Jerry’s partnered up with New Belgium Brewing to create a delicious new flavor called Salted Caramel Bown-ie Ale ice cream. It’s New Belgium Brown Ale ice cream with salted caramel and huge pieces of fudge brownie. The ale ice cream balances out the sweetness of the caramel making this an “eat the whole pint in one sitting” kind of ice cream. You can get it in scoop shops or buy pints of it – I tried this out at the Newbury Street location! It’s a limited batch flavor, so try it while you can!
Eat ice cream and do good? You bet! a portion of the proceeds for this ice cream will benefit Protect Our Winters, an organization founded by pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones. The organization bridges the gap between the winter sports community and the necessary action to address climate change.
Disclaimer: I was invited to the scoop shop to sample the new flavor. I received a complimentary sample. All opinions are my own.
Ben and Jerry’s Scoop Shop
174 Newbury Street, Boston, MA
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
October 31, 2015 Herb N Kitchen
The Hilton in Midtown is conveniently located and has a great dining space to boot.
Just outside the restaurant, there is a convenient market of sorts where you can get breakfast to go or a late night snack (they’re open until 1am).
They offer healthy options as well as things to cheat with!
The restaurant has many different options for seating, traditional tables for those who may be here with their family and a cool bar area, shown above, if perhaps you are on business and are having breakfast alone.
The restaurant offers a hot buffet from 6:30am-11am. Fruit, yogurt, pastries, eggs, bacon, cereal, you name it, they have it.
The service is attentive and your server is always near by to clear your (not so) empty plate away or get you a new fork. For a hotel buffet, it was a pretty decent option.
Herb N Kitchen
Inside the Hilton Midtown
1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY
To view their menu, click here.
Tags: breakfast, casual dining, kid friendly, new york, restaurant, take out, trips
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants, Trips
October 30, 2015 Cru Oyster Bar
I’m so backed up with blog posts it’s sad. This summer we took a day trip over to Nantucket – our first stop after getting off the ferry was Cru Oyster Bar (it’s right next to the dock).
You have a great view of all the boats coming and going – we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. The restaurant has oversized navy wingback chairs, yellow and white striped armchairs and distressed wood everywhere.
I had the special of the day, littleneck clams with bacon and corn – a really delicious dish, very summery. The toast was exceptional (the spread was delicious).
The grilled atlantic swordfish ($26) was served on a bed of bibb lettuce and topped with sweet corn and cherry tomatoes, finished off with a buttermilk dressing.
The house made mozzarella ($19) was delicious, served with farrow, summer squash, local tomatoes and pecans.
Cru Oyster Bar
1 Straight Wharf, Nantucket, MA
Tags: nantucket, outdoor seating, restaurant, seafood, trips
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants, Trips
October 29, 2015 Gotham West Market
Following up from my previous post, I had mentioned that I had seen list in Zagat for the best food halls in NY. We already went to City Kitchen, next stop was Gotham West Market. A little out of the way if you aren’t in the area (Hell’s Kitchen), but we happened to be coming home from the water taxi!
The space is industrial and plays the music just a tad too loud for conversations to be had at a normal tone. 9 vendors have space here and all of them looked delicious, it was hard to choose!
Our first stop, Genuine Roadside.
The menu offers a sampling of burgers, pork, chicken and vegetarian options.
Poke style ahi tacos ($13) were top on our must try list. They came with spicy mayo, avocado and border slaw with sesame in crispy corn shells. This puts tacos in a whole new light – it may be hard to go back to traditional tacos after this! Really delicious – salty and creamy, I love everything that was going on in this dish.
I had been dying to try out Ivan Ramen’s Slurp Shop. Ivan Orkin is a world renowned ramen expert and his shop serves classic ramen. If you can’t make it to Hell’s Kitchen, they have a location on Clinton Street.
Here’s what I love about this place, they keep the soup separate until you’re ready to eat it so the noodles stay in tact. I ordered the Shio ramen that came with sea salt, dashi, chicken broth, pork belly chashu and rye noodles.
Tokyo Shio ($12). Don’t worry if you’re not in the mood for ramen, they also have some delicious rice bowls. And, if you happen to be there in weekend mornings, they have a tasty brunch men complete with breakfast buns, rice porridge and even a breakfast ramen.
Choza Taqueria serves up a variety of tamales, burritos, tacos, torts and ceviches.
The burritos are enormous ($8.73) and come loaded with black beans, rice and pico, along with fresh cilantro in a flour tortilla.
The chicken tacos were delicious, they came 3 to an order for $8.04 – double corn tortillas served with citrus marinated chicken and queso fresco.
And how can you forget dessert? Zagat rated Ample Hills the #1 ice cream shop in New York City.
This Brooklyn based company serves up hand crafted ice cream in flavors like ooey gooey cake batter, snap mallow pop, chocolate milk and cookies and peppermint patty.
I had the orange dreamsicle, sherbet made with orange juice, pure vanilla cream and a splash of Grand Marnier. Super delicious!
Nothing starts the day or ends the evening better than a cup of coffee. Blue Bottle has locations in SF, LA, New York and Tokyo. For the serious coffee drinker, not those that are looking for milk and sugar with a touch of coffee, Blue Bottle offers a variety of coffee options. If you’re stopping in in the morning, they also have some delicious baked goods.
Gotham West Market
600 11th Ave., New York, NY
Tags: asian, casual dining, coffee, food hall, ice cream, mexican, new york, outdoor seating, ramen, restaurants, tacos, trips
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants, Trips
October 28, 2015 City Kitchen
I had seen an article in Zagat on the top food halls in New York City. So on a recent trip, we decided to try and hit up as many as we could! First stop, City Kitchen. City Kitchen is located at Row NYC, a hotel in Times Square. The space has 9 vendors and we had a good sampling – we wish we had worn sweat pants, but it was all in the name of research!!
Wooly’s makes shaved snow in two sizes, 12oz for $6 and 16oz for $8. They have 5 flavors: original leche, matcha green tea, strawberry shortcake, root beer float and a flavor of the day, which happened to be melon.
After you order the flavor you add your toppings – you can pick 3 and each additional topping is $0.50. Choose from cereal to fresh fruit to mochi. And in addition, you can get that topped with sea salt leech, chocolate drizzle, whipped cream or strawberry cream.
I was so full from my savory items I had eaten I just wanted to cleanse my palate and ordered a shaved snow plain.
Check out this cool video as I watched them make it!
It was delicious, really light, an odd mouth feel when I thought about it, but cool and refreshing!
Gabriela’s Taqueria makes delicious tacos as well as other favorites such as quesadillas, empanadas and breakfast tacos.
We had the steak taco ($6) – they make the tortillas in the press so you know they’re fresh. The steak did not disappoint, well seasoned and with little else in the taco, the meat was able to be the star of the show.
I first tried Dough at the Brooklyn Flea.
They have a massive round counter with all the doughnuts on display! I was drooling while I was waiting in line.
We picked the toasted coconut, a sweet doughnut with coconut glazed that is topped with toasted coconut. I love these because they taste so light and airy!
Lunch of champions right?!
I love this little cart from Sigmund’s! If you do too, you can rent it for your next function!
I had the truffle cheddar pretzel ($3.68) which they heated up in a little toaster, so cute! Really delicious and flavorful – I happen to love pretzels! It was like a good New York bagel, crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside.
And just when you thought that I didn’t eat actual lunch! I had a lobster roll from Luke’s Lobster. They have over a dozen locations, including one in Boston in case you don’t have the chance to get to NY (it’s on Exeter Street).
The lobster roll is affordably priced at $16. It is light on the mayo and served Maine style with chilled lobster meat on a toasted split top bun. There’s a little mayo, a little lemon butter and a pinch of spice. Really nice.
There is communal seating where the vendors are and if you walk across the hall, there are tons of tables and stadium like seating (wooden steps) as other options. Restrooms are located in the hotel.
City Kitchen
700 8th Avenue at 44th Street, New York, NY
http://citykitchen.rownyc.com/
Tags: casual dining, food hall, new york, restaurants
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants, Trips
