October means fall is here. Think sweater weather, football games and Oktoberfest. Bring on the beer and pretzels. Eastern Standard Provisions Co. makes artisanal pretzels with all natural ingredients. They come in the mail SUPER fresh – ready to eat that day (or throw in the freezer if you’re saving them for a later date). The pretzels come in a variety of shapes and sizes, pictured here is the Wheelhouse (left), Slidepiece (top right) and the Turnbuckle (bottom right). They have a larger size of the Wheelhouse, called the Topknot and a larger version of the Slidepiece, called Fourseam. I have to say that I liked the sidepiece and the turnbuckles the best.

I might be one of those weird people who actually likes pretzels plain. More times than not, I just like a hint of salt. So if you’re a purist, Eastern Standard Provisions Co. has traditional pretzel salt. Feeling a little more saucy? Try the chili lime salt or the truffle salt. Sugar your thing? Try the French Toast sugar or the raspberry lime sugar. 1oz. packages of these salts and sugars will be available on the website soon!

The pretzels are hand rolled and once you get them, you just need to brush with a little butter (or olive oil or water) and sprinkle with your topping of choice. The bigger pretzels can take up to 20 minutes to bake, and the smaller ones can take as 3 minutes to heat up.

I love a good sweet and salty combo, so I put together this fun ice cream sandwich. Cook up the pretzel according to the directions. I topped this one with the French Toast sugar (and let me tell you, we put this on anything we could get our hands on it was THAT good). Slice Slidepiece in half. To get ice cream to perfectly fit inside the bun, we sliced some vanilla ice cream with a knife and then cut the perfect circle out with a cookie cutter. Place on pretzel and roll in your favorite sprinkles. Salty and sweet perfection in…4 bites.

For more information on how to get your own delicious pretzels, visit Eastern Standard Provisions Co.’s website here.

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There are a bunch of vendors and craftspeople – just check out this reclaimed wood table! There are some really great craftspeople here.

Meet Chunk of the Brooklyn Roasting Company.

Oh and their coffee is good too, we grabbed a cold brew! Love their design for their labels!

Then we made a stop at Dough, a Brooklyn based donut company.

Their dulce de leche donut was amazing. A little sweet, super fresh, and all kinds of delicious.

We grabbed an Asia Dog as well – check out all their delicious toppings!

The all beef hotdog, the “wangding” with Chinese BBQ pork belly, cucumber and scallions. A little sweetness from the sauce sent this dog over the top for us. Amazing! All the ingredients were fresh, the quality of the food was impressive.

And just to wash everything down we tried a drink from Brooklyn Soda Works.

Their blueberry lemon flavor was really clean and refreshing.

My favorite thing from the market was this great mug. I love the face on this little guy, he just makes me smile. Check out all the critters at SKT Ceramics.

http://www.smorgasburg.com/

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Every few months we meet my cousins half way between Boston and CT for a little lunch to catch up on life. This time, we met up in Sturbridge at The Duck. For some reason, my navigation in the car sent us to the completely wrong place….so we were running a bit late. It was pretty lively when we got there, so luckily, my cousins already saved us a table.

I started off with a bowl of clam chowder, really nice flavor, especially with the smoked bacon.

And just to go with the bacon theme….I had a grilled cheese with bacon, cabot cheddar, gruyère, smoky bacon, apricot jam on brioche. ($8.95). A really nice twist on the traditional grilled cheese. Loved how all the flavors melded, and the apricot jam just brought something special to the sandwich, a little sweetness goes a long way!

For dessert we shared the white chocolate mousse ($8) Light and delicious without being too sweet. A really nice way to end the meal. The service was good, our waitress always had our water glass full and came to check on us from time to time.

And just for fun, we were driving around and I saw this market, I love the sign!

The Duck

502 Main Street, Sturbridge, MA

http://www.theducksturbridge.com/

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I love me some Roxy’s! I love them more that they hang out in one of the three spots reserved for food trucks around the corner from my office! To our surprise, they added a new sandwich, behold the Mushroom Melt! Swiss cheese, crimini and oyster mushrooms and spinach…AMAZING! Love the meatiness that the mushrooms bring, never mind the flavor, and while I avoid healthy green veggies like the plague, the spinach was a nice addition. I rolled around the office like Popeye for the rest of the day, HA! Love the new addition Roxy’s, keep them coming!

And on a cold day, who could resist the truffle fries? And there are a great deal of them, so much that I shared with the office, who didn’t want to be my friend that day? Really great fries, crispy but light, salty and delicious with that wonderful truffle flavor!

Some co-workers, however, did not get the hint that I was not sharing…

http://www.roxysgrilledcheese.com/

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What is Deep Ellum anyway? The name Deep Ellum refers to an area of Dallas known for its  music,  food and  nightlife. 

The bars are connected, but in the dark, it is hard to see the other sign. Meanwhile we sit down anyway, ready to enjoy a meal. The bar is small but jam packed with locals and hispters – we’re talking newsboy caps, skinny jeans and wallet chains. Just like the patrons, the bar is unique. There are old black and white movies playing on the TV and the bar feels a little old school (in a good way).  There are over 20 beers on tap and they have a great cocktail list.  It’s loud inside and the tables are tiny, there are three of us and they squeeze us into a 2 top. We start off with the cheese plate which is tasty but a bit bare.

I loved the menu – I wanted to get all apps, but our table was so tiny. Who wouldn’t want hot pretzels, truffle fries, or root beer braised pork belly? I had the mac and cheese with duck confit, roasted winter squash, smoked VT cheddar, arugula ($14). For some reason, I love mac and cheese even more when it comes in a cast iron pan – it just tastes better. It was creamy and delicious, a little heavy on the cheese for me. Duck confit is so rich, so I was hoping that the mac and cheese would be a little bit on the lighter side. The pasta was al dente, the confit was so tender and the flavors were just delicious.

We also had the meatloaf sandwich:  pork and beef meatloaf, aged VT cheddar, cranberry compote, chipotle aioil, and fries ($10). Let’s start out with the most important part first, the fries. Crispy and delicious. The sandwich was good, really tasty but a little messy to eat…

The service was good, considering that the place was so packed. The food was better than we had expected, and all entrees were under $20. People tended to sit at tables for a long time, so go early if you want a seat.

Deel Ellum

477 Cambridge Street, Allston, MA

617.787.BEER

http://www.deepellum-boston.com

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We start off with a waiter recommended rutabaga and parsnip soup ($4.50). It came in a small bowl screaming “this is what winter soup should be”. The soup was thick and left almost in  a course pulse from the food processor or blender. It wasn’t bland but I couldn’t even really find a good word to describe the taste, the words that come to mind are earthy and hearty. Good recommendation from the waiter, glad I branched out and tried some new root veggies.

I went with the classic ham and cheese panini, baked ham and swiss cheese on bread by Sorella’s bakehouse. ($7) The service was good, our waiter was thorough and knowledgeable, but speedy and efficient, which you have to be when there aren’t many seats in the house, but never once did we feel rushed.

We also sampled the meatloaf panino ($9.25) that came with tomato chutney and lime mayo. The meatloaf was thinly sliced, man was it delicious!

And of course you have to try the duckfat fries-hand cut Belgian frieds, fried in duckfat with your choice of dipping sauce, and we had the truffle ketchup….one word…amazing. (Large for $6.50, small for $5)

And just to round out the meal, a  blueberry buttermilk milkshake. ($5) Wasn’t really sure if I was going to like this, but it was really tasty. This is what Maine is all about

And just something amusing… Further reason why magnetic poetry and alcohol should not mix…

Stop by and see how they do things in Maine:

Duckfat

43 Middle Street, Portland, ME

207.774.8080

www.duckfat.com

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We had the mussels as well, of course it came with bits of bacon. They left a little to be desired- they were a little on the bland side and the bacon didn’t add anything special-bummer!

The flat bread pizzas are certainly tasty-a little larger than a personal sized pizza this is a great dish to share, along with a few other small plates. The pizza was light and the crust was crisp.

The ladie’s room was covered in far side cartoons, which was pretty amusing! The service was so so, there were good moments and then our waitress would get in the weeds and we wouldn’t see her for a long time. Overall, a nice place to go after work to have a few drinks and some light bar snacks-when the weather is nice, try to grab a table outside!

Salty Pig

130 Dartmouth Street, Boston, MA

www.thesaltypig.com/

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We sat at a small table close to the front of the restaurant. There aren’t many seats in here so things started to get tight when more people showed up. The restaurant is the brain child of Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette – so we knew that we were going to be in for something good. The restaurant offers tapas style plates, small offerings so that you can have a little bit of everything. Our waitress, Angelique, was excellent, attentive and she knew her food. She started us off with an amuse bouche that was a little more than one bite. These great peppers-really bright and crisp, really tasty.

We had the burrata with apples and sage ($14) which was really nice. The textures blended well with each other, although I wish there were a few more apples-the crispness of the apple went so well with the smooth, creamy cheese.

The meatballs ($8) were wood roasted and served with tomato gravy. A really nice meatball, flavorful and really moist, they melted in your mouth.

Arancini came next ($6) fried risotto balls with fontina cheese inside. These were excellent, but then again, how can you go wrong here?

The cavatelli pasta was home made and came with chicken sausage. ($14) The pasta was perfectly al dente and the chicken sausage was tasty, albeit a little on the salty side.

This dish has all of my “new things” in it. The special pizza of the night with hen of the woods mushrooms and a fried egg. Oh so delicious. The mixture of creamy and salty was really nice. We left feeling full, but in a good way, and really felt like for the amount of food we had, the price was right.

I give Coppa high marks, high quality food with excellent service. Stop in for a bite, you won’t be disappointed.

Coppa

253 Shawmut Ave

Boston MA

617.391.0902

http://www.coppaboston.com/

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The Cottage

47 Boylston Street
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Tel 617.916.5413

http://www.cottagechestnuthill.com

monday – thursday  11:30am – 10:00pm

friday & saturday  11:30am – 10:30pm

sunday  11:30am – 9:00pm

sunday brunch 9:00am – 3:00pm

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I have been to Tico a couple of times before, but this time was exceptionally delicious. Tico is a Michael Schlow restaurant….you may know his other restaurants in town…Radius, Alta Strada, and Via Matta. A great after work spot, this place offers tapas, or small plates. We were ravenous, and ordered enough food to be embarrassed about eating (afterwards). Above are the beef tacos ($11).

The mac and cheese ($9) was tasty-classic elbow noodles with serrano ham and bread crumb topping did not disappoint.

The gambas al ajillo ($14) came out sizzling…shrimp cooked in LOTS of butter and garlic.

The risotto ($12) came with chorizo and was smokey and rich in flavor.

And the corn ($9) came with bacon and chiles. A really nice light dish with lots of flavors, but sweet and smokey.

The service was ok, nothing to write home about. They cleared your plates as soon as you were finished, to make room for the next course, and your water glass was always filled. The restaurant is dim and a bit noisy with the after work crowd at the bar area, but certainly worth checking out.

Tico
222 Berkeley St.
Boston, MA 02116

http://www.ticoboston.com/

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