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A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

A lifestyle blog with a focus on my food adventures

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About a month ago, I was invited to check out Committee’s new patio. Committee is a new Mediterranean restaurant in the Seaport.

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The afternoon was a blast, check out my instagram videos here and here. The party featured tiki drinks from the patio bar, bites from Chef Geoff Lukas and live music.

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The patio has some really great lounge furniture and cool reclaimed wood cocktail tables.

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I had the sangria and the lamb.

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Let’s take a closer look at the lamb – it was so tender with a nice smoke flavor from the grill.

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Here is a closer look at the chicken.

The regular dinner menu has a great selection of both warm and cold small plates. They have flavorful options like: Carrot and Date Salad  almonds, ginger, Moroccan herbs, Grape Leaf Dolmades  rice, sumac, pine nut, Gemisti Melitzana  stuffed eggplant, spiced tomatoes, feta, fried onions and Batata Mahshi  sweet potato, cumin-scented pork, tamarind, Aleppo.

Committee

50 Northern Ave., Boston, MA

http://committeeboston.com

Committee Boston Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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We continued our evening over at Les Zygomates – for part 1 of our progressive dinner, click here. Les Zygomates is open for lunch and dinner and has $1 oysters, Mondays 4pm-9:45pm, Tuesday-Friday 4pm-7pm. On Tuesday – Saturday nights they have live jazz during the evening.

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Les Zygomates’ wine list is impressive and at any given time they have 40-50 wines available by the glass.

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For our main course of the progressive dinner we had the choice between a pistachio crusted striped bass, served with roasted potato, sautéed kale, caramelized onions in a lemon brown butter sauce or what I chose, the beef flat iron rossini. The steak was cooked a perfect medium rare and was served with pomme puree, wild mushrooms, foie gras, truffle and madeira. The wine pairing for the striped bass was a 2013 Chateau La Dame Blanche from Bordeaux and the pairing for the steak was a 2010 Chateau Trill, a Grenache/Syrah blend, from France.The steak was impressive in size, by this point in the meal I was already full and ended up taking most of it home. To me, there is nothing better than a steak and mushroom flavor combination.

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For dessert there was a choice of a vanilla creme brûlée, a chilled chocolate cake and what I chose, the poached apple Napoleon. The dessert was delicious, light as air with a taste of honey – such a perfect fall choice.

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The art in both Les Zygomates and Bel Ari is by Janice Eve Dale. The art is from Dale’s “In the Garden Series” and is in sync with the re-design of the interior.

Disclaimer: I was invited to be a guest at Bel Ari and Les Zygomates. My meal was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.

Les Zygomates

129 South Street, Boston, MA

http://winebar129.com

Les Zygomates Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Last week I attended Blog and Tweet Boston’s first progressive dinner. We started off at Bel Ari and moved over to Les Zygomates next door later in the evening. Bel Ari used to be Sorriso, but the restaurant went through a major renovation just about a year ago. The new space is amazing, with a private room in the back,. Their attention to detail with the design work is just lovely. The used the artwork of Janice Eve Dale in both the Bel Ari and Les Zygomates space, but more on that in part 2.

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Owner Mark Tosi was at the dinner, walking us through both restaurants. We started off the evening with a whipped ricotta, made with honey and pistachios which was served with a crispy sunflower and cranberry bread. The ricotta was light as air and I love the honey and pistachio flavor combination – it’s one of those things I could have eaten all night!

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Next on the menu was the Arancini Di Riso, a goat cheese stuffed risotto ball with basin and served with an onion marmalade. The onion marmalade made this dish for me. I usually don’t love goat cheese, as it can be too “goaty”, but this had a very subtle flavor that I really enjoyed.

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For the pasta course, we had our choice of penne a la vodka or shrimp and lobster gnocchi. Of course I went with the gnocchi. The dumplings were light as air and it was served in a lobster cream sauce that was comforting without being heavy. The dish paired nicely with the 2013 Terre di Tufi, Toscano Bianco.

Check back tomorrow for part 2 on the progressive dinner!

Disclaimer: I was invited to be a guest at Bel Ari and Les Zygomates. My meal was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.

Bel Ari

107 South Street, Boston, MA

http://belariboston.com

Bel Ari Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

 

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I was invited to check out Legal Crossing’s new menu that will debut today. Chef Jason Wu came out to speak with us about the new menu and what we were trying this evening. Here are just a few appetizers that we tried. Pictured above was the Portuguese style fish cakes that were made with salted cod and a smoked tomato remoulade. These were a little bit salty and a little bit fishy, they were good but just not something I would go in and order on my own.

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The Persian cucumbers were crunchy and light – it felt like summer in a bite. The cucumbers were served with a sesame chili vinaigrette.


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The salt and pepper shrimp were delicious and one of my favorite bites of the night. There was a little zip to them and they were served topped with jalapeños and sweet chili sauce. They had a lot of flavor and a nice crunch – I would definitely come back for these.

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My favorite dish of the night was the laquered pork ribs that were served with picked vegetables. The sweet pork gets you first followed by that “bite” from the picked vegetables – a perfect pairing for sweet and sour. I could have eaten a whole plate of these.

The space is pretty great inside: there is a great bar area if you want to come in and get some small plates or a drink and then there is a full dining room if you’re looking a sit down dinner. In the warmer months they have a lovely patio.

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I had to put in a photo of the restrooms, they are so cool – I love the sinks!

Legal Crossing

558 Washington Street, Boston, MA

https://www.legalseafoods.com/restaurants/boston-legal-crossing

Legal Crossing Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Good Ones 1

On Friday, Good Ones gathered at Liquid Art House‘s new private dining space for a Filmmakers: Men of Hollywood party. In attendance: Paparazzi, CEOs, Usual Suspects, Scientists (who are curing cancer), Fashion Designers, Biotech Beasts, Urban Legends, CollegeStudents, Entrepreneurs, Architects, Editors, Journalists, Ivy League Professors, TV Personalities, and Social Butterflies… flitting around. Guests showed up in their most fashionable LA attire.

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Light bites were provided by Chef Rachel Klein who will be opening her own restaurant, RFK Kitchen in Needham in the spring. My favorite beverage, Motto, a sparkling matcha tea, was a sponsor along with Justin’s, Avanti Salon and Moroccanoil.

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(L-R) Featured Guest, Gus Cooney – ​Gus is a social psychologist at Harvard University where he’s currently working on his Ph.D. He spends most of his time thinking about happiness, decision-making, and why we so often make decisions that don’t turn out as good as we thought they would. Gus is also the Director of Research at Broad Green Pictures, a feature film company based in Los Angeles, where he tries to use data to inform all stages of the production and marketing process. Dan McCarthy – wrote that infamous article about a one night stand during the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bomber, the rights of which have since been sold to an independent production studio in Hollywood.

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(L-R) Pamela Vargas – Miss. Colombia USA 2008 and active board member of My Life, My Choice, an organization in Boston that works to empower girls to find their voice and create a positive life path for themselves.​ Isabela Leo Lemos.

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Northeastern students (L-R): Victor Brailoiu – Finance, Court Chapman – Chemical Engineering, Aakash Sinha –  Entrepreneurship, Alex Moss-Bolanos – Business Administration, Erik Ryde – Mechanical Engineering.

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(L-R) Ashley Higgins – Associate Buyer at Reebok​, Yasmin Ashraf-Khan.

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(L-R) Alessandra Maahs, Northeastern student – Neuroscience and English and Court Chapman, Chemical Engineering student.

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Sofia Vargas​ (right) – Public Relations.

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​(L-R) Victoria Barnaby – Interactive Marketing Manager at ’47 Brand, Marcos Rocha​ – Marketing & Sales at GroveLabs.io​, Brian Massa – United States Air Force.

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​(L-R) Amy Qiu – Morgan Stanley, Brianne Lefebvre​ – www.onehippo.com

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The artwork displayed this evening was the work of our very own #GoodOne, Jennifer Brooke. She was commissioned by the Dexter family to do this amazing piece – this photo doesn’t do it justice, the texture of the paint was amazing!

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(L-R) ​Heloisa FitzgeraldDesigner + Entrepreneur, Iya Khalil – ​Data Scientist and Co-founder of​ GNS Healthcare & Via Science.

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(L-R) Carolyn Kim and Mark Andrus.

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(L-R) Jared Morris – Creative Director at Milkman TV, Gillian Janus – Supervising Producer at Milkman TV, Eran Lobel – CEO / Executive Producer – Milkman TV, Featured Guest – SeanBaker Carter, ​Featured Guest – Gus Cooney​.

SeanBaker Carter has been making television for nearly 15 years captivating audiences with unscripted shows like Swab Stories (VH1) and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo) — engaging viewers with fascinating infotainment like Dogs/Cats 101 (Animal Planet) and Best in the Business (Discovery). Most recently he has joined forces with Eran Lobel to found MILKMAN – taking tv into the world of digital.

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(L-R) Barrett Stowell – Designer​ of display furniture and modules for​ Sak’s Fifth Ave. and ​ Bloomingdale’s and President of Bear Bird, ​Heloisa Fitzgerald​.

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(L-R) Kayte D​arlingJay Psaros – Songwriter and Producer at Jay Psaros Music​

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(L-R) Kimberly Giardino – Ac​t​ress, Featured Guest – Kris Meyer.

In 1997, Kris Meyer began working as an assistant to the Farrelly Brothers on the comedy There’s Something About Mary (1998). In 2000 and 2001, he continued his work with the Farrelly Brothers as an associate producer on films Me, Myself & Irene and Shallow Hal. Meyer then co-produced Stuck On You (2003), Fever Pitch (2005), The Heartbreak Kid (2007) and Hall Pass (2011). Meyer has worked on many independent projects. In 2007, he worked as a producer on the independent film On Broadway. Most recently, Meyer served as the executive producer on the documentary Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself.

While filming Fever Pitch in 2004, Meyer met Luis Tiant. Tiant shared with Meyer his dream to return to Cuba, Tiant’s birth country. Tiant had been trying to return on his own. Meyer offered to help Tiant with hopes that a film crew could travel with him and film the journey. Under the guise of a goodwill baseball team, Tiant and the crew entered Cuba.[3] The documentary, The Lost Son of Havana premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2009, and was nominated by The National Academy of Arts and Television Sciences for a 2010 Sports Emmy Award.

In 2011, Meyer co-produced The Three Stooges—a Farrelly Brothers adaptation of the classic shorts—in Atlanta. Production wrapped in late July 2011.

In 2014, Meyer was an executive producer for Dumb and Dumber To. The film was a sequel to the 1994 smash hit, Dumb and Dumber. It would go on to gross around $170 million internationally.

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​(L-R) Traci Bingham – American actress, model, and television personality who is best known for playing Jordan Tate on the television series Baywatch between 1996 and 1998.​ Ruta Laukien – founder of Liquid Art House, the first gallery/restaurant hybrid to open in Boston​. ​Devin Hill – Executive Director, ​JP Morgan, ​James Rowe – Digital Media Solutions Entrepreneur​.

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(L-R) Carolyn KimBelén Cusi – Classic Pianist and Singer/songwriter, ​Meredith Farley – VP of Product at Brafton.

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(L-R) SeanBaker Carter, Sam Slater, Gus Cooney, Eran Lobel.

Featured guest Sam Slater is a principal of Tremont Asset Management LLC, which owns and manages over 3,000 Class A apartments, office properties, and agricultural properties throughout the United States and Canada. His role at the company includes oversight of all acquisitions, developments, financing, and operational activities.

Sam is also Co-President and founder of Burn Later Productions. His most recent film, “Results” premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival where it was acquired by Magnolia Pictures and will be released in May of 2015. Sam also serves as a producer on “Adult Beginners”, starring Rose Byrne, Nick Kroll, and Bobby Cannavale, which will be in theaters April 2015 through it’s distributor Radius- The Weinstein Company and Universal. His film, “Drinking Buddies”, which stars Olivia Wilde, Jake M. Johnson, and Anna Kendrick, had its world premiere at South by Southwest 2013, was acquired by Magnolia pictures and Sony Worldwide, and was theatrically released in August 2013.

Sam is a Board Member and Development Chair at The Lenny Zakim Fund and serves as Chairman of The Slater Foundation. He is also a Board Member for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston. In 2012, Sam was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to the Board of Directors of The Massachusetts Cultural Council, the state agency which funds cultural, arts, and interpretive science programs. Sam previously served on the finance committees for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.

He graduated from George Washington University with a degree in History and is earning his Master’s in Public Administration at Suffolk University.

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Featured guest David Binder is an award-winning photojournalist, documentary filmmaker and commercial photographer. His stories and pictures connect with audiences across mediums, from public health campaigns, portraiture, and photojournalism to documentary film. Binder began working at a newspaper when he was 15 and continued his photojournalism career for 25 years working at various publications, including the Boston Globe. Sensing an imminent shift in print media, Binder began his film work in 2003. He released his first documentary, “Calling My Children” to great acclaim in 2009. The film has been seen by millions on PBS and has won numerous film festival awards, as well as the prestigious CINE Golden Eagle. In addition to his film work, Binder continues to be a successful commercial photographer based in Boston. He also works as an educator in photography and visual arts, and is affiliated with Contact Press Images.

Want to attend the next Good Ones event? Check out the Good Ones website and join the waitlist.

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Last week I headed into Downtown Crossing for a very special evening. The weather was perfect so I walked around a bit and snapped a few photos before I headed in.

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The event was Malbec and Mushrooms and it was held at Sip Wine Bar and Kitchen. Sip has been open since 2012 and is part of the Legendary Restaurant Group that also owns Papagayo, Scollay Square and Burger Dive. Our host for the evening was co-owner of Legendary Restaurant Group, Chef Chris Damian.

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The wines for the evening were provided by Catena, who has the top selling Agentine Malbec, with over fifteen 90+ ratings in the past 6 vintages. On hand was winery managing director, Dr. Laura Catena. Dr. Catena is an amazing woman, not only is she a fourth generation Argentine vintner, but she is also an emergency room doctor out in San Francisco and the author of the first book about Argentine wine in English.

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The event featured dishes by three top chefs from Boston. The first dish was made by Chef Rachel Klein of Liquid Art house. Chef Klein will be opening up her own restaurant in Needham, MA in the spring – I can’t wait! Chef Klein has worked as the Executive Chef at XO in Providence, she opened OM restaurant in Harvard Square, and was the Executive Chef at the Mandarin Oriental and Asana. Her dish this evening was a wild mushroom toast with a quail egg, candied bacon, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Medjool dates. It was so delicious, I may have had two! Catena gave each chef who participated in the evening a donation for their charity of choice. Chef Klein chose ROCKs,  an initiative in partnership with Boston Children’s Hospital that brings together patients, families, and local culinary leaders.

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The second dish was made by Chef Josh Lewin of Bread and Salt Hospitality. He and his partner Katrina Jazayeri will be opening Juliet in Somerville. Check out my previous posts on Josh’s cooking here. Chef Lewin started off at Beacon Hill Bistro in 2010 and in just two years, became Executive Chef. He left in 2014 to focus on Bread and Salt and opened Bread and Salt at Wink and Nod for 7 months. Chef Lewin made a beautiful consommé with brown butter creamed mushrooms, pain perdue, mirepoix. The consommé was so flavorful and the presentation was beautiful. Chef Lewin’s charity for the evening was the Boston’s Wounded Vet Run, with proceeds going towards housing modifications to suite disabled veterans.

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And last but certainly not least, Chef Jason Bond of Bondir Concord and Bondir Cambridge, served up a delicious roasted black futsu squash with Hen of the Wood mushrooms, smoked prune and lamb jus. His charity of choice was Faith Kitchen, a soup kitchen that brings together volunteers and people in need.

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Leah and I were invited to try out Amsterdam Falafelshop last week! I had noticed it a while back when I was driving though Kenmore Square and it was on my list of places to try. (I swear the list keeps getting longer by the minute!)

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There is so much natural light flooding into the space, I love it! While it was quiet when we got there at 11:30, it was packed by noon with BU students! The first thing I noticed were the holes in the tables, what do you think they are for? You’ll have to keep reading to find out!

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So here is how it works, you can order a bowl or a sandwich. The sandwich comes in two sizes, regular (5 falafels) or small (3 falafels). They come in a locally made white or whole wheat pita and the price is fixed, so add in as many of the 22 toppings and sauces as you like from the bar.

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I ordered the falafel bowl, and these are priced by weight, so you can choose how many falafel to go with. I chose three, it sounded reasonable. I had mine with hummus, picked cauliflower, pickles and roasted eggplant.

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Let’s get a close up look of those delicious falafel balls!

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Our table looked like we were feeding an army, not two bloggers!

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And here is what the holes in the tables are for – the fries! They are double fried, salty deliciousness.

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They have a self serve sauce bar – so of course we tried a little of everything!

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I’m not sure I get the peanut sauce, but it was still good. My favorite was the curried ketchup!

Right now, Amsterdam Falafel is hosting an Instagram contest, share a photo of your customized bowl or sandwich with the hashtag #battleoftheballs and you are entered to win a Dutch style bike (valued at $400) and a year’s worth of free falafel!! My fingers are crossed that I win!!

Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest to Amsterdam Falafel. My meal was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.

Amsterdam Falafelshop

642 Beacon Street, Boston, MA

http://www.falafelshop.com

Amsterdam Falafelshop Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Del Friscos 12

Last week I was invited to check out Del Frisco’s Grille in Chestnut Hill.

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Del Frisco’s Grille is the more casual counterpart to their other properties, the Double Eagle Steakhouses. The space is modern and the large windows let in a lot of natural light. They have a great room in the back for private parties and there is a huge parking lot out back, so you have none of the hassles the city.

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Del Frisco’s Grille has introduced a new lunch menu, where you can “grab a pair” for just $12. You can have a personal size flatbread, half of a chicken avocado wrap, half of a Bahn Mi or 2 fish tacos served with your choice of a mixed greens salad, Caesar salad or cup of soup. If you can’t make it in for a sit down lunch, call in your order and you can pick it up! It’s only a few dollars more than that “other” place where you can “pick two” and the food is much better quality!

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We start our lunch off right with Del Frisco’s signature drink, the VIP. It’s Hawaiian pineapple infused clementine vodka ($10.50) and it is dangerously delicious. It is delightfully sweet and you can barely tell there is alcohol in it!

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First up, Eric, the General Manager brings us the guacamole ($10). I love tons of garlic in my guacamole, so I wished this had a little more kick to it, but it was great with the corn tortillas!

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These lollipop chicken wings ($12) were one of my favorite things on the menu. They are served buffalo style and served with an avocado ranch dressing. They make the chicken easy to pick up- you’re a long way from those dark sports bar, sauce all over your fingers and face wings you get at other places!

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The Asian street tacos ($10.50) were next – BBQ pork, picked daikon and carrot, cucumber (which was a really nice addition), cilantro and chiles. I love the flavors here, a little zippy!

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The spicy pork meatball flatbread ($13.50) was another favorite of mine. It was topped with roasted tomato sauce, banana peppers, fresh mozzarella and house made ricotta. The banana peppers really added a little extra something something to the dish and I loved the creaminess

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The chopped chicken and farm greens salad ($13) was next out of the kitchen. It came with chicken, tomato, carrot, roasted pine nuts, blue cheese and a dijon mustard vinaigrette. I usually avoid any salad with blue cheese – I feel like most of them just taste like a huge chunk of blue cheese. This salad however had a very subtle blue cheese flavor that didn’t over power the salad. That’s a compliment in my book!!

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The burrata salad ($12.50) was probably the prettiest dish of the afternoon, just look at the presentation! The burrata was delicious, perfect consistency, not too firm and not too runny! And the tomatoes were also perfectly firm, theres nothing worse than a squishy tomato.

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It’s hard to find good fish tacos in New England. That being said, these fish tacos ($13.50) were pretty darn tasty. The haddock was perfectly cooked and it was nice a light – the dish came with a side of roasted tomato salsa and topped with a corn – jicama slaw. Pictured above is the grab a pair lunch option – with a Caesar salad as the side.

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Check out a close up of those delicious tacos!

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At this point, I was so full, I was sure they were going to have to roll me out! The next dish was the chicken avocado wrap ($12.50) that came with smoked bacon, lettuce and a chipotle aioli. And let’s talk about those house made potato chips – I bet you can’t eat just one! They are light as air, crips and just the right amount of saltiness to make them dream-worthy.

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The side salad that came with the chicken avocado wrap was topped with tomatoes, carrots and bacon!!

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Now I know what you’re thinking, what, no chocolate dessert? They have one, but we went with something a little outside the box. The butterscotch caramel pudding is the perfect size for sharing, with each person getting two or three bites of this dessert! The whole thing is topped with sea salt flakes, when you get a spoonful of the sweet with the salty, it is amazing.

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And we ended our meal the way we started it, with a delicious drink. The adult milkshake ($11) is the perfect dessert, made with Nocello walnut liquor, creme de cacao, chocolate liquor and vanilla ice cream with a cherry on top!!

Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest of Del Frisco’s Grille. Lunch was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.

Del Frisco’s Grille

33 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, MA

http://delfriscosgrille.com/

Del Frisco's Grille Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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I was invited to check out Beadkreative in Somerville this week. Check out the full post on my other blog, Sass and Sarcasm.

Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest to Beadkreative. I was given a Union Twist bracelet as a gift. All opinions are my own.

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PicMonkey Collage

Ahold, Stop and Shop’s parent company, recently opened up a market, bfresh, in Allston. The space, that was formerly Staples, has been completely transformed. The smaller market is definitely city oriented – they have a lot of great take out options that frame the perimeter of the store. Tons of fresh produce greet you as you walk in the door (along with a selection of freshly made juices). The market is open 7am -9pm Sunday – Thursday and 7am -10pm Friday and Saturday. They have free parking in the back (total score!!). The prices are fair and they have these cool digital “labels” on the shelves instead of the traditional paper ones.

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We were pleasantly surprised to see our friends OMG! Bagels sold here. Check out my previous post about OMG Bagels.

bfresh

214 Harvard Ave., Allston, MA

http://bfresh.com

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