Quick Bites - Fish Chowder at The Daily Brew (Cataumet, MA)

Summer in New England means seafood, and one of my favorite forms of seafood is fish chowder.  Last week Greg and I made a visit to The Daily Brew in Cataumet, MA (on Cape Cod) for a bowl of their stellar fish chowder.  The chowder is made by hand and available from Friday morning until it runs out.  If you're planning a trip down the Cape, don't miss this amazing dish. 

Quick Bites - $5 pizza at Comella's

If you're like me, you love a good cheap pizza.  I used to keep a mental calendar of the day-of-the-week specials for all the pizza shops near my house, but I don't have to anymore because I recently discovered Comella's delicious large pizza available for just $5 every day of the week.

It's not super fancy, but it's way better than it needs to be for $5. 

Quick Bites: Brown Rice Sushi at Mr. Sushi

We're introducing a new feature at Gourmanding called "Quick Bites", in which we highlight one great menu item or insiders' secret to a restaurant in the Boston area.

Our first Quick Bite is brown rice sushi at Mr. Sushi. 

Like a lot of health-conscious people, we gourmands cut back on white rice several years ago in favor of brown rice, but whereas at most restaurants we can get brown rice as a side item, sushi restaurants have been slow to follow.

Mr. Sushi, in Arlington and Brookline, is an excellent exception to the rule.  For just a few dollars more, you can get your entire sushi order with brown rice instead of white. We recently dined at Mr. Sushi in Arlington and found the brown rice to be sticky enough to hold the rolls together while also adding heft to the texture and making the meal a bit more filling.  We will definitely order from Mr. Sushi again the next time we're in the mood for sushi and don't want to blow our diets.

Miel

Miel, in Boston's financial district, has been on my must-try list for years.  Luckily for me, Alicia, one of my favorite dining companions, recently invited me to come with her and share a gift card she'd received.

Miel is a lovely Provence themed restaurant in downtown Boston.  The brasserie, whose name is french for "honey", is located on the first floor of the luxurious Intercontinental Hotel with floor to ceiling windows looking out over the Boston Harbor, and an outdoor patio for when the weather is nice.

I love French Country style decor, so the look of Miel definitely did it for me.  The lux decor looked expensive and beautiful without seeming stuffy.  Unfortunately, the lobby of the Intercontinental was flooded with the post-work "blue shirt brigade" when we visited the restaurant, so the stench of cologne and noise from the bar initially made us wonder if we should come back a different time.  We asked to be seated as far from the bar as possible, and happily that did the trick.

Our meal began with bread, which pictures do not do justice.  I would've made a meal of this bread and been perfectly happy.  The warm bread was soft in the center and crusty on the top almost as if it'd been fried.  Its saltiness enhanced the flavor of the high quality olive oil served alongside. 

Next, we shared an order of tasty crab cake appetizers.  Without asking, our server went to the trouble of having the appetizer split between two plates so we could each have our own.   It was just one example of the great service we received throughout our meal.  The wait staff made us feel completely at ease and taken care of, a quality that's all too often lacking from expensive restaurants.

For her meal, Alicia ordered the Grilled Brandt Bavette Steak Frites.  She was disappointed that the steak was dry, and said she probably wouldn't order it again, but would come back to Miel for a different main course, as she had enjoyed the bread, fries, wine and dessert.

However, I was very happy with my main course, the Provencale Daube Short Rib.  The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and enhanced by the red wine and orange au jus.  I would've enjoyed a few more vegetables with it, but the ones there were were fresh and flavorful.

After all this delicious, hearty food I was too full for dessert, but for the sake of the blog Alicia bit the bullet and ordered the Honey Pear Tarte Tatin with Salted Caramel Ice Cream. It looked and smelled so wonderful I almost regretted eating all that bread at the start of the meal. 

Overall, I was impressed with Miel and would definitely go back if I wanted a fancy meal in the financial district / seaport area.  The only negative I would give the restaurant is that its location in the lobby of the Intercontinental detracts from the first impression.  By the end of our meal we were both very very happy we'd stayed.

Farm Share at Wilson Farms in Lexington

Over the last few years, Greg and I heard more and more about great farm shares in our area, but it was only this year with me working at home that we were finally able to sign up for one. We're huge fans of Wilson Farms in Lexington (one of our first dates was looking at pumpkins there many Octobers ago), so when we found out they had a CSA, we were sold.

For those unfamiliar with CSAs, the way it works is you pay a lump sum in the early spring for weekly baskets of fresh produce in the summer and fall.  Some CSAs allow you to choose what vegetables you want each week or give you store credit to use at the market, but Wilson's works on the more traditional model of giving everyone a full basket of whatever is fresh that week.  We purchased a half share, which works out to about $16 a week and provides more than an adequate amount of veggies for two people.  Each Tuesday I stop by Wilson's between 12-6 to pick up our share.

Our half share at Wilson's comes each week in a reusable plastic laundry basket (the baskets are returned each week and sanitized for use the following week). We've gotten great staples like eggs, salad greens, and herbs as well as a few selections we were trying for the first time.  One of the benefits of a farm share is that it encourages you to step outside your comfort zone.  Daikon radish, kohlrabi and beet greens were all veggies I wouldn't have tried on my own, but which turned out to be really delicious. 

Each week I look forward to finding out what treats we're getting.  It's like Christmas every Tuesday.  Some of our recent favorites have included strawberry shortcake (complete with fresh whipped cream), blueberries, and fresh corn. 

In addition to our weekly basket of fresh produce, our CSA membership gives us 10% off any additional purchases we make on Tuesdays (our pick up day).  Wilson's store is a great place to pick up meats, bakery items, prepared foods and even flowers.  

Our farm share at Wilson Farms brings us delicious local, seasonal vegetables each week, and we feel great knowing we're supporting our favorite local farm.   If you're looking for a great farm share to join in 2013, I heartily recommend Wilson Farms.

Cafe Fleuri's Famous Chocolate Bar

At long last I'm blogging about our trip to the Cafe Fleuri Chocolate Bar back in April.  This has been a hard one for me to write about because it's caused me so much soul searching.

I used to believe that an excess of delicious treats could only be a good thing, but I have to admit this dessert buffet really knocked me on my butt.  There were simply too many amazing treats on offer, which meant I had to leave (in considerable stomach distress) without trying many of the great looking chocolates.  And, even with the desserts I did try, I had to restrain myself to one or two bites to keep from filling up too soon.  The sight of all those barely touched desserts being cleared from our table haunts me to this day.

How a buffet could bring a seasoned eater like myself to her knees I'll get to in a moment, but first a little background for any readers not yet familiar with the Chocolate Bar and Cafe Fleuri.  Cafe Fleuri is the atrium-style daytime restaurant (as opposed to Bond, a hot nightlife spot) in the Langham Hotel in downtown Boston.  September through June the restaurant offers two weekend buffets; a Sunday Brunch Buffet and a Saturday Chocolate Bar.  We visited the Saturday Chocolate Bar to celebrate a friend's milestone birthday.

Neither Cafe Fleuri buffet is cheap; the Sunday Brunch Buffet costs $52 a person, and the Dessert Bar will set you back $40 each.  However, to put this in perspective, consider how little chocolate $40 would buy you at Godiva -- about four candy bars.  Now imagine an entire room filled with the highest quality chocolates incorporated into desserts with every possible mix of fruit, spice and oil.  Imagine a fondue table, cupcake buffet, crepe station, and sundae bar, with coffee, tea and hot chocolate (of course) to wash it down, and a DJ spinning upbeat music to distract you from the early signs of cardiac distress.  $40 begins to sound like a bargain.

The first question people ask when I tell them we went to an all you can eat chocolate buffet is "Was there anything besides chocolate?"  The answer is yes, the buffet featured sweets as diverse as fruit crepes and cotton candy, but there wasn't much in the way of non-sweet foods.  After several trips to the buffet, many of us resorted to potato chip & pretzel (both from the fondue table) palate cleansers.

The next question is "How was the quality?"  which is an important consideration. I think we've all been to so called "chocolate buffets" on cruise lines or college dining halls that were nothing more than five variations on the same chocolate cake cut in different shapes, which is why the quality of food at the Cafe Fleuri Dessert Bar blew me away.  Literally any of the mini desserts I tried would have been the best thing on the menu at most restaurants.  Two months later I can distinctly recall the bright mango flavor at the top of the "Mango, White Chocolate and Chili Parfait" and the surprising creaminess of the "Guanaja Cremeux with Olive Oil & Sea Salt." Clearly someone forgot to tell the Langham that a chocolate buffet is a novelty event, because they have spared no expense in creating the best quality desserts in the city.



To illustrate exactly how diverse the desserts on offer were, here are a few of the crazier desserts we saw (note - the desserts change week to week):

- Dense Chocolate Cake with Raspberries
- Black Forrest Varrine
- Mango, White Chocolate and Chili Parfait
- Guanaja Cremeux with Olive Oil & Sea Salt
- Manjari Lemon Crunch
- Creme Fraiche & Bitter Chocolate Trifle
- Banana Bacon Tart
- Manjari Chocolate and Gruyere Tart
- Spiced Chocolate Shot
- Paris Brest (Choux Pastry, Strawberries, Whipped Cream and Fudge) (my favorite)
- Mandarin Cremeax with Mousse
- Jivara Milk Chocolate Powder
- Milk Chocolate with Blackberry Cremeax
- Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart
- Blueberry Yogurt Panna Cotta
- White Chocolate Mousse with Carmelized Pineapple
- Vegan Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango

These were all in addition to more normal fare like cupcakes, crepes, fondue, ice cream, etc.

So now that I've listed all these incredible desserts and told you they were the highest possible quality, you're probably wondering why I'm not giving the buffet a full-on endorsement.  The truth is that for someone who loves dessert as much as I do to go into a room with unlimited deliciousness and a limited stomach capacity is a form of torture.  I wanted to finish every bit of every dessert I took, but I would've been full after two.  It felt positively sacrilegious taking one bite of a dozen desserts and leaving the rest of those gorgeous mini desserts on my plate.  And, as someone sensitive to caffeine, the effects of consuming so much high quality chocolate were not pretty.

So overall, I'd say that trip to Cafe Fleuri in the Langham is an absolute must for dessert lovers, but if you have limited cash or stomach capacity, you may want to skip the buffet and just go in on a weekday for one dessert.  When the quality is this good, the quantity isn't necessary.

The Perfect Lunch #3: Grilled Cheese Nation Truck

Since our trip to Santa Monica, my eyes have been opened to food trucks.  I hit up the Grilled Cheese Nation Truck on a recent lunch break.

I ordered a modified version of their Boston Common grilled cheese.  Mine was mild, aged, vermont cheddar on wheat bread along with maplewood smoked bacon and tomato.  They use Iggy's bread and local cheeses. 

This sandwich was cooked just right with a little bit of blackening, but not close to enough to make the bread stiff.  The bacon, cheese and tomatoes somehow ended up perfectly melded together.

I really liked the other stuff they had to round out a lunch, like these Food Should Taste Good chips (we love these and always get them when they go on sale) and Lemonade.  Sometimes you're forced to settle for junk chips and soda from food trucks.

I loved the whole deal.  Was this the perfect lunch?  No, but we're getting warmer.
You can follow the movements of the Grilled Cheese Nation food truck at grilledcheesenation.net