I’ve been dying to try out Blackbird Doughnuts’ ice cream doughnut. One of these days I’ll get one! Until then, I settled for stopping in to their second location in Fenway and picking up some tasty treats for a hostess gift. We picked up both the raised doughnuts and the old fashioned cake donuts. What’s the difference? The raised doughnuts a light an airy and are made with a brioche dough while the cake doughnuts are made in the traditional style of cake batter.

The shop is small, similar in size to the south end shop. We were in and out quickly!

We bought these ones a while back (so the flavors pictured are no longer available), but here is a list of the doughnuts they are currently offering:

Raised Doughnuts
VANILLA GLAZED
Classic fluffy and airy vanilla doughnut.

CHOCOLATE SPRINKLE
Decadent dark chocolate ganache with a hint of coffee. Topped with rainbow sprinkles.

SALTED TOFFEE
Sweet, buttery, brown sugar topped with flaked sea salt.

CRAN GRAPE JAM BISMARCK
Buttery brioche filled with homemade jam made from fresh grapes and tart cranberries.

PUMPKIN BOSTON CREAM BISMARCK
Velvety pumpkin spice custard inside buttery brioche doughnut, topped chocolate ganache. Our best seller is all dressed up for fall.

CHERRY COBBLER
Bright cherry glazed topped with brown sugar cobbler crumble and dusted with powdered sugar.

EVERYTHING BAGEL DOUGHNUT
Our brioche doughnut filled with whipped cream cheese and topped with toasted garlic, onion, sesame, and poppy seeds.

Cake Doughnuts

THE BLACKBIRD
Vanilla bean old fashioned with vanilla glaze, our SIGNATURE FLAVOR!

MOCHA CHIP
Rich chocolate cake doughnut with cold brew coffee glaze topped with mini chocolate chips.

CHOCOLATE OLD FASHIONED
Chocolate cake with black cocoa for an extra rich finish.

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE
Our most decadent doughnut. Dark chocolate cake covered with rich chocolate ganache and chocolate sprinkles

APPLE CIDER
Old fashioned cake doughnut made with fragrant spices and finished in cinnamon sugar.

CINNAMON ROLL
Vanilla bean cake doughnut frosted with velvety cream cheese buttercream and dusted with cinnamon sugar.

CINNAMON SUGAR STACK
Three mini cake doughnuts rolled in cinnamon, sugar, and a touch of salt.

POWDERED SUGAR STACK
Three mini cake doughnuts rolled in delicate powdered sugar.

Blackbird Doughnuts
20 Kilmarnock Street, Boston, MA
www.blackbirddoughnuts.com

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Blackbird Doughnuts, the popular South End spot for artisan doughnuts has come to the Fenway. We stopped there on the way out of town on Labor Day Weekend to pick up a half dozen for the ride since we were able to get an earlier jump on the road (when does that ever happen?). Anything for research right? So we picked up a variety of doughnuts, cake and raised. The flavors we picked were: chocolate old fashioned, peach jam bismarck, cookies and cream, vanilla glazed, cinnamon roll and strawberry honey (not pictured). I’m a team cake doughnut myself, so the cinnamon roll doughnut was one of my favorites. It’s a vanilla bean cake doughnut, frosted with velvety cream cheese buttercream and dusted with cinnamon sugar. That cream cheese buttercream was TO.DIE.FOR. The cookies and cream, a vanilla cake filled with crushed cookies and topped with cream glaze and chocolate cookie crumbles, was tasty too, but I wish the cookie crumbles had been a bit chunkier (sounds silly, I know. The vanilla glaze and the chocolate cake doughnuts are just classics, and my mom secretly snacked on the strawberry honey one for ‘dinner’.

Too bad that we were there first thing in the morning (and getting on the road), because they have made to order ice cream sandwiches available. Pick your doughnut from the menu and add vanilla, chocolate or swirl soft serve. AHHHH! One of these days I’ll get one! They also offer doughnut cakes – vanilla or chocolate (with 2 days notice). The chocolate cake is layers of rice chocolate cake, homemade seasonal jam in the center, frosted with velvety vanilla, cream cheese or strawberry buttercream. It says that it serves 4 people, but I’m guessing I could make it happen in one sitting. Cakes are $26.

Blackbird Doughnuts

20 Kilmarnock Street, Boston, MA

www.blackbirddoughnuts.com

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Saloniki had been on my list of places to try since it opened. The lines this summer were out the door and down the block! So I waited until recently to check it out. I’m kicking myself that I waited so long because just check out what I had been missing out on. The restaurant is owned by Jody Adams, Eric Papachristos and Jonathan Mendez. Born in Boston, Papachristos spent the first 9 years of his life in Thessaloniki, Greece, or as the locals call it, Saloniki. Mendez and Papachristos are old friends, and he would accompany Eric and his brother on their annual summer trips back to visit their family in Greece. And you know Jody from her restaurants Rialto and Trade.

So on a nice day you can grab a seat outside on the patio, otherwise there is ample seating inside. High top tables and long family style tables define the space here. Make sure to check out the amazing photos of Thessaloniki by Jody’s husband. Pictured above is the salad with pomegranate glazed eggplant ($8). Leafy lettuce is topped with red wine vinaigrette, onions, tomatoes, olives and feta cheese. You can add a pita for just a dollar more.

My favorite was “the Herc” ($9). Honey glazed pork shoulder with spicy whipped feta and “Greek fries”, which are basically like adding French fries to your sandwich! (Whhhhaaattt?!?!) While the fillings are delicious, and I could eat them for days, the pitas really make the whole experience over the top. You can watch them pump out pitas onto the flat top grill as your order your food.

And after any meal, I always need a little something sweet, so I tried the baklava crisps ($4) with pistachios, walnuts, honey and sesame. A nice lighter alternative to the traditional baklava! Did I mention that everyone behind the counter is super friendly? Couldn’t have asked for a better experience and can’t wait to go back for more!

Saloniki 

4 Kilmarnock Street, Boston, MA

http://www.salonikigreek.com

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Tiger Mama is Tiffani Faison’s newest restaurant in the Fenway/Kenmore area, just steps from her other restaurant, Sweet Cheeks. Tiger Mama pays tribute to the Southeast Asian cuisine that Faison had on her many trips to the area.

I stopped in a while back for lunch (they are only open for dinner these days) after I had my fill of City Target. Lunch service wasn’t particularly busy, which is probably why they moved to just dinner service. Better for us, we had a great table to ourselves and we were able to have a leisurely afternoon meal.

I love the decor here, oversized chandeliers, a live plant wall, neon signs, and a tin ceiling.

The best piece of all might be the disco ball elephant in the front entrance! Have you seen it for sale at Home Goods? Because you could have one of these babies at your house!! (I also saw that they have an enormous yellow rubber duck for sale for the low price of $800)

Even the non alcoholic beverages are delicious: the grapefruit palomita with grapefruit, lemon, salted agave nectar and soda and the pineapple shrub soda with pineapple, vinegar, lemon and soda.

While it’s not very adventurous, I had to try the pad thai: kway teow 1942- rice noodles, peanuts and bean sprouts. Really light, super flavorful – a great dish.

They have a daily special fried rice – this one was vegetarian to boot. YUM!

All the dishes were delicious and bold in flavor. There wasn’t a thing that we ordered that we didn’t like!

Check out a sampling from their menu:

COLD/FRESH

Nam Prik
spicy green chili garlicky dip,cucumber & pork cracklin’

Southern-Style Pork Laap
fish sauce & lime-spiked hand ground pork, thai chili, mint

Chili Spiced Short Rib Crudo
rich chili seared short rib, herb “salad”,black vinaigrette, charred leeks **

Pea Pod Stems
garlicky wok roasted greens, black vinegar

Lobster Fresh Rolls
charred lobster, bright veggies,spicy silky peanut dipping sauce

Tuna Tom Kha
silky coconut lemongrass sauce, avocado, cilantro

Papaya Salad
green papaya, tomatoes, peanuts, hot hot chilis

Grilled Spanish Octo
sour tomato salad, seed jam, mint

RICH AND EARTHY

Issan–Style Sausage
lemongrass, kaffir & garlic sausage,banana ketchup

Yu Shiang Eggplant
stolen chinese sauce, chilis, mint, chinese sausage crumbles, cilantro

Milk Jam Roasted Bone Marrow
herb & onion salad, tom ko & lime vinaigrette, sticky rice

Coconut Marinated Mini Chicken
marinated & char-grilled hen, spicy ginger-tamarind sauce

Mala Mushrooms
numbing & spicy mushrooms, smashed garlic, mustard greens

Lamb Roti
brickfields spiced & braised lamb, crispy roti, holy basil raita, mint cilantro jam

Pad Gra Pow
rich & spicy ground chicken, chilis, thai basil, purple choi, fried egg

Tiger Mama

1363 Boylston St., Boston, MA

http://www.tigermamaboston.com

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I haven’t been to Lansdowne Street since my college years. I was excited to check out Loretta’s Last Call, a country bar, for their bluegrass brunch.

Every Sunday they have a bluegrass brunch from 11-4 with live music. They do other fun events like free line dancing lessons on Sundays and Tuesdays and Bourbon tastings (the next one is coming up on the 20th).

Check out Down in The Attic, who was playing that afternoon and you can check out the video I took on my Facebook page. They were awesome!

The walls are covered with photos of country legends and the beams are draped in colored Christmas lights.

First order of business…coffee!

The chef brings over some Jalapeno poppers with blue cheese, wrapped in bacon for us to try. They are not too spicy and the blue cheese didn’t overwhelm the popper – great way to start the meal.

The house smoked turkey and sweet potato hash ($12) is one of their most popular dishes. It comes topped with 2 fried eggs and a biscuit on the side. Not only is this great for hangovers, but it is some serious comfort food. The dish was flavorful and it had a little bit of everything on the plate, a little protein, some carbohydrates and oh boy do I love a good biscuit.

We also tried the hicken and waffles ($14) served with maple bbq such and whipped butter. The chicken outshines the waffle for me, it was sweet and crunchy and tender inside. I could eat this for days!

And just to throw something sweet into the mix, we hd the peanut butter and banana stuffed French toast ($10), smothered in syrup and topped with a healthy dose of bourbon whipped cream. Certainly satisfied our sweet tooth and who can resist the peanut butter and banana flavor combination? We sure can’t.

Peanut buter pie ($7) was first on our dessert list, it wasn’t too sweet which we really liked.

We also tried the fried biscuits ($6) which we wished were just a touch sweeter.

Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest to sample the brunch at Loretta’s. My meal was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.

Loretta’s Last Call

1 Lansdowne Street, Boston, MA

http://www.lorettaslastcall.com

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Guests included Rachel from Eater Boston, Eric from Urban Daddy Boston, Erik from Thrillist and Tom, aka Boston Tweet. There were two signature drinks for the evening, a “Regal Buick” and a “Palmer Encore”. So here’s what you’re thinking: what does Buick have to do with BBQ? From time to time they do these events to get out in front of their audience. People buy cars every 8-10 years, you don’t want to wait that long to have a conversation with them. The evening was relaxed and casual – it was about the company and the food, talking about a new car was a bonus. Buying a car can be pretty stressful, trust me, I bought one a little over a year ago – from a 25 year old girl who looked like she just came from a club – it was so awkward I didn’t know where to look.

I love how creative they got with the seating. Guests were sent home with a Buick wine stopper and the opportunity to take a Buick vehicle out for a full week for a test drive. Conor, co-founder of SoonSpoon joined me for the evening and we had a blast! He’s from Texas, so this was right up his alley.

The cocktail hour featured small canapes: summer tomato with whipped pimento cheese and charred scallion; maple crisped southern “Johnny cake” with bluefush pate (above); smashed cucumber with North Carolina tahini and dill; and crispy oysters with lettuce and corn salsa.

First course was plated: pork belly and grits with smashed tomato sauce and shrimpy sauce. How can one go wrong with pork belly?

The second course was served family style: a fried chicken and shrimp boil poured out right onto the table. How amazing is this? The fried chicken was PERFECT, crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. You should have seen the size of those shrimps! Tiffani came out and chatted with us over the course of the meal – we talked Top Chef, opening your own restaurant, and where the other best places in the city are to get fried chicken. We met briefly at a Good Ones party months ago, but this was a nice chance to get to know her a little better. Let me tell you, she couldn’t be nicer or more down to earth.

Don’t for get the sides: biscuits with honey butter, mac and cheese, collard greens, fried okra and broccoli casserole. The best part about Sweet Cheeks are the biscuits – not only are they enormous but they still manage to feel light – and that honey butter? Forget about it – I dream about that stuff.

Dessert was a gigantic nutter butter with garnishes. One word: AMAZING! On the regular menu, it’s just the nutter butter, so this one was kicked into overdrive. We couldn’t finish it all! Thanks to Buick and Tiffani for a wonderful evening. Can’t wait to pick out a car and take it for a spin!

Disclaimer: Buick invited me to attend this event as their guest – all opinions are my own.

Sweet Cheeks Q

1381 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

http://www.sweetcheeksq.com/

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Like most of the bars on the street, they have high windows that open up onto the street – great people watching. I think it was confusing for Sox fans – Bar Louie looked like the perfect location to go because all the other bars on the block were packed with a line around the corner. The hostess had to continually tell people that this was their soft opening and turned people away. People were very confused. They were told that Bar Louie was opening at 8pm and they should come back. When I got to the front of the line they didn’t have my name on the list, but she said not to worry, they were having issues with their reservations. We arrived at around 6:30pm. The front area near the street was pretty sparse, most people were at the bar or in the back at high top tables. When I asked the hostess if we could sit at the table closer to the window she looked at me with a blank stare…so I explained to her that the table she originally wanted to sit me at would be fine.

They have a large bar in the middle of the room, with booths, high tops and couches around the perimeter. TV’s surround the bar, so no matter where you are sitting, you have a good view of the game.

The noise level was ok, but we weren’t at full capacity. Liked the ambiance here – a little more of an upscale bar,  and it’s nice to have other options in this area.

Our waitress was a little confused with what was on the menu and what/how we could order. We were offered one appetizer to share for the table and every could have an entree, with the stipulation that we all had to get something different. We get the bruschetta to start. It comes out in an enormous martini glass – a playful presentation. It was tasty – the bread was toasted just right and the bruschetta was flavorful. (regularly $8)

The food and non alcoholic beverages were provided for us, but we paid for alcoholic beverages. I had the strawberry margarita: Camerena Silver, O3, fresh sour, lime, and strawberry purée ($10). Really nice flavor, and loved the presentation. We waited some time between our app and our main course. It gave us time to take in the sights. It was hard to tell who was a waitress, other than the fact that they were all gathering around the host stand and chatting. They were all in black tops of some sort, but some were in booty shorts, some were in jeans. All of the servers were pretty young, the younger staff gives the place a good spirit, a really fun vibe. I think that they could have benefited from another day or two of training – but that is what soft openings are for right!

I had the mac and cheese (regularly $10). The dish was good, if not a little one dimensional. It came out a little on the luke warm side but it had a very nice presentation.

The meatball hoagie (regularly $10): premium meatballs, pepperoni, marinara, spicy giardiniera, mozzarella, parmesan, on a hoagie roll. The tots were way too salty but the sandwich was good – the meatballs had a really nice kick to them.

If you follow this blog, you know I am a sucker for anything with a fried egg on it. This burger is no exception! The Louie burger was tasty, probably the best dish out of the three. (regularly $12) Prices here are affordable, entrees running around $10-$12, beers on tap at $7 and mixed drinks hovering in the $10 range.

Overall a good experience. As I mentioned before, the servers could use a bit more training to make the process smoother – I can imagine how swamped they would get during Sox games and they need to be prepared. The bartenders were on point, cranking out drinks like pros. I look forward to coming back in a few months to see what it’s like when they are in the swing of things, this place has good potential.

Bar Louie

121 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA

http://www.barlouieamerica.com

https://www.facebook.com/BarLouieFenway

*We were offered complimentary food and non alcoholic drinks.

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Maybe it’s because the Red Sox are out of town, but the place is pretty quiet. It takes a beat for someone to help us at the hostess stand and they seem to be having a shortage on menus. We get seated near the bar/service station and out waitress seems to be a bit off – whether she’s having a bad day or what, the service was lacking. There was just this really weird vibe. Our water glasses were filled when we sat and weren’t filled again until we had paid the check and were ready to leave, and it was by another server who was awkwardly loitering around the bar.

Love the space – the decor, and the long bar. The weather is pretty iffy, and on the cool side, but there are people eating outside on the patio.

We order guacamole but it never comes. Our waitress seems to have just forgotten about it and we don’t see the sense in reminding her as out entrees come out pretty quickly. We get the shredded chicken tacos with poblano peppers. They are tasty and have a little bit of a kick to them.

We also ordered the spicy shrimp tacos with avocado and bacon, which don’t look as appealing as the chicken tacos, but they are in face good. There was a lot of spicy mayo on these, so they packed a little punch.

We also ordered the complete burrito with chicken, beef, pulled pork, chorizo, salsa, avocado, hot peppers, rice and beans. The sheer size of this thing is amazing – we ate this baby with a knife and fork it was too big to lift up and eat! Overall the food was ok, the price was right at three plates for around $36. I’m sure this place is hopping on game days, but we walked out with a weird feeling – having not been thrilled when this place was Happy’s and now not thrilled with this place being Barrio Cantina. The service in general needs to be upped, which we thought was odd, seeing as service is pretty high at Schlow’s other restaurants we have been to.

Barrio Cantina

1363 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02115
857 753 4100

http://www.barrioboston.com/

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Tasty Burger

http://www.tastyburger.com/

1301 Boylston Street Behind Fenway
Boston, MA 02215
617.425.4444
OPEN 11am – 2am

See website for other locations and menu options

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Island Creek Oysters are based out of Duxbury, Massachusetts and their new restaurant in the Hotel Commonwealth helps them spotlight (and highlight) their brand.

Island Creek Oyster Bar is located in the old space that Great Bay used to occupy. The space is pretty large and open. The front area has a bar (and lounge, ie: high top tables) that wraps around into the main dining area (see above).

The place was pretty quite on a Monday evening which was nice. I read various reviews that said that the noise level from the bar spilled over into the main dining area, making it hard to hear across the table.

We start with the no shell Snug Harbor Pei mussels with white wine, garlic, shallots and parsley ($10). I don’t know what I expected, but this wasn’t it. That’s not a bad thing. When it came out, it reminded me of bubble tea. There were little cous cous type pastas inside the broth. The mussels were tasty-instead of eating it with the toast that came with the dish, we used the fresh sour dough bread from our bread basket (which was made in house, along with the house made butter with honey and spice).

Then we split the scallops with two kinds of mushrooms ($29). The scallops were cooked to perfection-super buttery smooth inside and slightly salty.

And split the tile fish with roasted cauliflower ($26). The plating was beautiful-you almost wanted to admire it more than eat it….almost. The tile fish is a white fish, light, sort of the consistency of a bass. I love roasted cauliflower, this had an excellent flavor to it-almost nutty and salty. This dish is so simple and it allowed for the tastes of the fish and the cauliflower to really shine.

The drink menu was small, and a lot of the choices were made with spices that I dont think you would find in most drinks-allspice, fennel, and elderflower to name a few.

There is no menu online, it changes often, but to see a sample go to menupages or urbanspoon (click on the pdf). The service was good-but was that because there were almost as many servers on as there were guests? When we asked our server for suggestions, she said the scallops and the tile fish but then recited the exact wording on the menu, and adding a ‘lovely’ here and there. I want to know why you like it, for instance, I like the tilefish because it’s light and not fishy, or I love the scallops because they melt like butter. What I don’t want is, I like the scallops, they come with two types o of mushrooms. Perhaps Monday isn’t the day when they put their A-game servers on. That being said, the food was excellent, we would definitely go back.

Island Creek Oyster Bar

500 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston

617.532.5300

http://www.islandcreekoysterbar.com/

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