This week is all about sweets! Head over to Cutty’s in Brookline on Fridays and Saturdays (starting at 8ish) to grab some delicious treats from Breadboard Bakery.

Leah and I had been dying to try the cinnaknots which were good, they weren’t too sweet! Daisy Chow is the talent behind Breadboard Bakery, who started off at Clear Flour Bread in Brookline.

The kolcahes had delicious fruit fillings, I picked up a few of each flavor. Originally a Czech pastry, they are popular in Texas, which is where Daisy is from.

How cute is Daisy’s business card?

There’s a fair amount of seating in Cutty’s since they took over the space next door. Parking is at meters out front. Grab a breakfast sandwich while you’re there, you won’t be disappointed!

Breadboard Bakery

284 Washington Street, Brookline, MA

http://www.breadandstuff.com

https://www.facebook.com/breadboardbakerybos/

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You might miss Bottega di Capri if you didn’t know where to look. This unassuming little restaurant is one of Brookline’s best kept secrets. They have delicious Italian food and more types of pasta dishes than you’ll know what to do with. You could come here for a month straight, order something new every time, and would still have options left on the menu for you to try. This most recent time we tried the meatball sandwich. The meatballs were delicious and well seasoned, but it was the bread here that put the sandwich over the top- soft, fresh and well seasoned. There was the perfect bread to filling to sauce ratio here.

Here is a list of just some of the sauces they offer:

Bottega di Capri

41 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA

http://bottegadicapri.com

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There are a lot of new restaurants moving into Fenway. If you’re looking for some place to go before the game that might ot as crowded as those right next to the park, try the newly opened Waxy’s in Brookline, right at St. Mary’s T stop. This modern Irish bar has a great outdoor patio, perfect for when the weather heats up!

What makes this bar different than others? The food. Waxy’s tries to use local ingredients and vendors as much as they can! Their craft cocktails change with the seasons, keeping in mind what is fresh.

They have tons of inside seating, complete with semi private rooms.

While we were served charcuterie at the opening party, they have plenty of other things on the menu: from drunken mussels to scotch eggs to pulled pork to flatbreads to fish and chips.

The wings were a big hit – house specialty wings tossed with a sea salt and caramel glaze. Personally, I am looking forward to going back an trying some of the flatbreads. The “avoca” with cremini, shitake, portabello and yellow oyster mushrooms, goat cheese, kale and honey drizzle sounds amazing as well as the “emyvale” which is pulled pork, fennel seeds, braised fennel and mascarpone cheese. At $9 a flatbread, these are a great deal!

We had a chance to hang out with Bar Director James O’Brien, who talked to us about the bar and the cocktail menu.

Did you know that Waxy’s is smartphone friendly, the bar is equipped with 18 electrical outlets and USB ports!

There were 3 signature cocktails for the evening, above is the “shake, rattle and rum” wich is Three Olives Elvis vodka, Real McCoy 5 year rum, pineapple, ginger and Angostura bitters.

The “note to self” is Hennessy Black, Carpano Antica, Pussers 15, Averna, and Peychaud’s bitters.

Looking for a more fruity cocktail, try the  fruitations cranberry, made with Absolut Elyx, fruitations pure cranberry, lime and organic soda. Not a cocktail kind of person, don’t worry, theyhave 40 beers on tap that will rotate throughout the year.

Disclaimer: I was invited to the opening party of Waxy’s. My food and beverages were provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.

Waxy’s Modern Irish Bar and Kitchen

1032 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA

www.waxys.com/locations/brookline/

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While the memories were good, and at the time, the food tasted delicious, I’m pretty sure that we could have made some better, healthier choices. McDonald’s challenged Top Chef Stephanie Cmar to come up with a menu using ingredients only found in the McDonald’s kitchen. Cmar, who you may know from Stacked Doughnuts and Party of Two, rose to the challenge and put together a delicious three course dinner at Fairsted Kitchen (where she was formerly the Executive Chef).

As guests arrived they sipped on a pineapple mango mocktail inspired by McDonald’s McCafe smoothie.

What McDonald’s event would be complete without a fry bar?

The first course was chicken croquettes with cilantro lime sauce, cucumber and peanut salad and wilted Romaine puree. Cmar made these with chicken nuggets, although if she didn’t mention it, you never would have known.

She mentioned that the croquettes tasted/reminded her of corn dogs…(although I’ve never actually had one in real life).

Note that Cmar is no longer with Fairsted Kitchen, she has moved to SRV as a daytime pasta maker, can’t wait to check it out!

Second course was a French fry gnocchi with sausage and beef bolognese. Cmar put the frozen fries through a meat grinder to make the gnocchi and the meat for the bolgnese was from the hamburger and sausage patties.

No dinner with Cmar would be complete without one of her signature doughnuts!

Third course was homemade doughnuts with cranberry and salted caramel – so delicious!

Fairsted Kitchen

1704 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA

http://fairstedkitchen.com/

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Pure Cold Press is not just a restaurant, it’s a community. A major part of this is because of Haim Cohen, the owner. You may know him as the son of Rami Cohen, owner of Rami’s next door (after all, that is where he learned about the restaurant business). He has an infectious personality – it feels like he is inviting you into his home the minute you step in the door. He greets regulars and knows their orders – and first timers feel like old friends. Business is going well, but Haim has a lot of new ideas and has has been making changes since I was last there in August. For example, stop in on Sundays from 1-4pm for some live jazz.

The space is so different than anything in Brookline – there is so much natural light in here (a blogger’s dream!). It has a laid back California vibe to it – and I knew I wanted to hang out here all day when I heard Dispatch playing on the sound system. The restaurant feels like a cross between Jugos and sweetgreen – Cohen said that he took a lot of his inspiration from his travels to California. I get a quick tour of the space and the kitchen – you would never know that this space used to be a beauty supply store – they did a complete renovation and the kitchen is spotless.

I got to meet their sandwich guy (yup, for consistency, the same guy is making your sandwich all the time) and the gentleman who makes sure that everything in kosher. Pictured above is the avocado smash – avocado with lettuce and tomato on challah bread. All items are kosher and vegetarian – and Pure Cold Press is almost completely vegan as well.

Haim tells me that he has a great staff that knows their juice and he learns from his customers every day. Pure Cold Press opens at 8:30 am and offers some delicious breakfast options. For lunch you can grab a salad, a sandwich or a cup of soup. Cold pressed juices are ready made in the case but you can customize a freshly pressed juice (there are more health benefits to getting a cold pressed juice), order a smoothie or get one of their delicious acai bowls.

The bottles are one of the things that have changed since my last visit – they’re much sleeker. Stay tuned for new bottles that will be available in 4 sizes!

The day that I stop in I grab some salads to go and they are delicious. Above is the beet salad. Did you know that Pure Cold Press also offers catering?

The caprese salad was a delicious light bite.

Disclaimer: I was invited to Pure Cold Press as a guest. My meal was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.

Pure Cold Press

326 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA

http://purecoldpress.com/

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If I were young(er) and single, I would be hanging out at the Abbey every night. This restaurant, located in Brookline’s Washington Square neighborhood, was packed with tons of good looking guys drinking beer and snacking on small bites at the bar. We had to wait for a table, as the restaurant is pretty small. We hovered awkwardly over people sitting at the bar and drank some beers while we waited. We sat at the counter in front of the kitchen, bonus for us because it was warmer and we got to see all of the delicious food coming out. I started off with the BBQ chicken fried dumplings which were delicious. I mean, like gobbled these down in two minutes delicious.

If you read this blog, you know I love me some bolognese, but I usually like a very traditional one. This dish, however, is the exception. The bison bolognese is served with fresh linguini, piled high and topped with a healthy serving of grated Romano cheese. This bison isn’t gamey at all and these is a nice little kick to the sauce. I could seriously eat this for days. I took some of it home and it was even better on the second day!

Note that they don’t serve dessert here, so head next door to Emack and Bolio’s if you’re craving an after dinner sweet.

The Abbey

1657 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA

http://abbeyrestaurant.com/brookline/

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Long story short, my car got a flat tire and I had to wait 2 hours to get it fixed. Instead of sitting in the Sullivan Tire waiting area watching horrible daytime tv, I decided to take a walk down to Clear Flour Bread. Located at the edge of a residential neighborhood, this tiny shop puts out some of the best breads and pastries I’ve had. I had been waiting to try one of their pretzels and it was so worth the wait. Their soft, German style pretzels are great warm and they are available after 10:30am the day they are baked! They are soft and chewy, a little bit of a crusty outside – so good!

I dream about their clafoutis. They are just the right amount of sweetness and I love when the outsides have a little crunch to them.

The classic croissants are hand rolled every morning and are crispy outside and buttery delicious on the inside. I love the almond ones. They offer plain, chocolate and gruyere daily and pretzel, breakfast croissants, apricot or raspberry on weekends and holidays.

If you’re looking for authentic Italian and French breads, look no further. Get there early though, the lines on the weekend go around the block!

Clear Flour Bread

178 Thorndike St., Brookline, MA

http://www.clearflourbread.com

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My friend Amy introduced me to Khao Sarn, an authentic Northern Thai restaurant located on Harvard Street, conveniently located in Coolidge Corner.

Khao Sarn is a great place for lunch, it is kid friendly, strollers definitely can work here. The service is quick and efficient for those of you who have an hour for lunch and the food is delicious.

We love the shumai appetizer, the delicate dumplings are made with pork and shrimp. The satay was tasty, the beef was char grilled. The sweet beef was also another favorite at our table, Thai style soft jerky marinated with coriander seeds, soy and seasonings served with a side of sticky rice.

There is a soup for everyone’s taste, from chicken dumpling soup to the famous Tom Yum Goong – spicy with shrimp, mushrooms, lemongrass, chili paste, fresh lime juice and cilantro.

I loved the sweet and sour chicken ($13.95), but if you like the spicier things, they have some of those dishes too, like mango curry chicken, chicken gaprow and tamarind chicken.

If you like to go classic, pad thai, Khao Sarn has you covered, with the traditional, crispy chicken – the traditional pad thai with crispy chicken on top, and the mee rob pad thai with stir fried crispy egg noodles, chicken, ground peanuts, eggs, bean sprouts and chicken.

Khao Sarn

250 Harvard Street, Brookline

http://khaosarnboston.com

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I headed over to Bottega di Capri with a new friend. The small restaurant is located in Brookline Village and has a nice sampling of food: pasta dishes, sandwiches (both hot and cold), paninis and salads. Michelle and her husband go there frequently, so the people behind the counter know her when she walked in the door. We grabbed a seat at the large communal table in the middle of the restaurant – the seating in there is a little tight. I ordered the pasta with spicy sausage and mushrooms – I was surprised at how flavorful the dish was. I’m looking forward to heading back there and trying some of their sandwiches.

Bottega di Capri

41 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA

http://www.bottegadicapri.com

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I know you have seen the hype over those new meal delivery companies like Blue Apron, Purple Carrot (vegan), Plated and Hello Fresh. Well Pantry just opened in Washington Square about a month ago and like the companies I mentioned before, they offer complete meals – ingredients and step by step recipe cards, but you can walk into the store and pick them out yourself.

Here’s the kicker – they sell beer and wine pairings for all their recipes. I’ll wait while you pull your tongue off the floor!

The bi-level space is open and bright – the space is very visual – all the ingredients are laid out for you to check out and large posters showcasing the ingredients. They are offering about 8 recipes at the moment and hope to work their way up to 20 at a time. They change recipes frequently, don’t worry. You can purchase the recipes to have 2 servings or 4. They are affordably priced and work out to about $8-$10 a person.

You pick your recipe, here we chose the Moroccan Chicken, and all the ingredients are pre measured for you. All you need is a pan, a knife and some olive oil and you are ready to go. As you can see, the recipes have step by step photos so you can easily follow along!

Even the spices are measured out for you!

While our photos don’t look as pretty as the ones on the recipe card, it gives you an idea of what it looks like when you attempt it at home.

I chose this recipe because it uses ingredients that I wouldn’t normally cook with (as el hanout and currants) – this way I can try out flavors and if I like them, can go ahead and buy again in a larger quantity.

The finished product was delicious. I loved the cauliflower “cous cous” and the chicken was super tender, who knew I was capable of making such a gourmet meal!

Next we tried our hand at sweet potato flautas, again, not something I would know how to make at home so this was great! Note that I left the cilantro out of my recipe (I’m in the ‘it tastes like soap’ category).

The sweet potato mash was super simple to make – pop those potatoes in the microwave for 8-10 minutes are viola! I would eat this just as mashed sweet potatoes by the way! Again, very approachable, super simple to make, in fact, I’ve had a request to make them again!

I don’t think I had ever tasted  jicama before and I am pretty sure I’ve avoided radish all together. But I have to say that the side salad was crisp with a little bit of a bite. The vegetables take on the sweetness of the honey and the spice of the chili powder.

The final product – and let me tell you – the lime zest crema MAKES this dish! Really delicious! Looking forward to heading back and checking out some other recipes – they have me inspired to start cooking again!

Pantry

1622 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA

http://pantrystores.com

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