Porter Square
Masa’s in Porter Square Exchange Mall serves some really awful sushi
Being the kind-of-poor college student I am, I’m a huge fan of cheap food. Really cheap food. Under ten dollars for dinner, say.
But I am not a fan of really crappy food. Especially not bad sushi. It makes the sushi-lover inside of me cry. My only consolation was that my non-sushi-eating-friend thought it was reasonable, and was not turned off of the concept of sushi altogether. If only he knew the true joys of unagi!
The sushi in question was found at Masa’s Sushi Bar in Porter Square Exchange Mall, replacing the old Kotobukiya Sushi Bar. There used to be a Kotobukiya grocery store here as well, but they were driven out by the university demons that be to make room for a Lesley bookstore.
I think this incident points to the questionable judgments of Yelpers at times. They didn’t mention that the shrimp on my scorpion roll ($7.50) would be like a stringy strip of limp cardboard. Or that the unagi nigiri (eel), normally a no-fail mouthful of melty deliciousness, wouldn’t be heated through, flavorful, or cut from a particularly unchoice part of the fish. Well, it was only $1.50 per piece.
At least it didn’t cost me very much.
Scorpion Roll at Masa's Sushi Bar
Eel nigiri at Masa's
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Find it!
1815 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02139
The Blue October Pizza at Zing! Pizza
I love a well-made pizza pie as much as anybody else, but I often seek out pies that stretch the definition of pizza (see: my entry on Veggie Planet). If I’m going to go the traditional pizza route, I place huge stock in the crust, which should never be soggy from the sauce nor be overpowered by the cheese, and should have the right amount of crunch (especially thin crust) or a touch of buttery flakiness (Oggi’s).
I serendipitously wandered into Zing! by accident one warm spring evening. I’d decided to trek up to Porter Square, saw the sign, and ordered up a slice of their Blue October which is very similar in basic ingredients to Veggie Planet’s Brunch for Henry pizza. Since one of the pizzas was on the smaller side, the super sweet employee threw in another slice for free – so I ate essentially half a pizza for only a few bucks.
Then I doused some leftover in a shower of red chili flakes, just because I love things that bite me back.
How was it? Really, truly delicious. The butternut squash “sauce” isn’t overpowering at all, and pins down the swirling loops of caramelized onion, mozz, spinach, and bleu cheese with subtly sweet, silky undertone. The thin crust (a nice crunch, of course) nicely showcases the toppings, which have that fortunate quality of surprising you with something a little different in each bite – so good its transcendent of whatever you think of its toppings independently.
If only you were a little closer to Harvard Square.
Find it!
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Zing! Pizza
1925 Mass Ave
617 497 4300
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Joys of Japanese Food – Cream & Azuki Buns, Unagi Nigiri, Salmon Terayaki, Spicy Eel Roll
Porter Square Exchange Mall is a veritable heaven of cheap Japanese food, with everything from that strangely sweet, addictive Japanese curry, octopus dumplings (takoyaki), giant bowls of ramen, and of course, sushi. My friend David, a fan of Japanese food, had never been here, so I knew it was ripe time to introduce him to all that is delicious in Porter Square.
Spicy eel roll
Salmon teriyaki - the vegetables were pretty atrocious
He insisted on Blue Fin, the classiest establishment here. (I wrote an entry on my visit back in February.) He had salmon terayaki and unagi nigiri and I had spicy eel roll along with two of the nigiri (delicious). I had a bite of his salmon (excellent), although I found the spicy eel roll tasty but not too remarkable.
UNAAGIIII
The unagi was where it was at. As I wrote on 3 Buck Bites:
Glistening, wrapped in a belt of seaweed, lying seductively on a snowy white bed of sushi rice. Then pop one in your mouth and ahhhh, heaven! Cherubs! Harajuku girls! So reliable. Blue Fin’s unagi come generously portioned and warm, so make sure to eat them quickly for maximum pleasure. (Not like that’s a real challenge.)
Afterwards, I couldn’t resist the siren call of dessert: a cream and azuki stuffed bun.
Cream and azuki bun
action shot
David struggles with the awesome feat
Eating faces
I’ve never quite understood why people can’t take their fish with a face on it. I’ve grown up in a family where my mother talk rapturously of fish eyeball and fish cheek, and when I expressed curiousity over what fish brains would taste like, she picked up the translucent skull and cracked it opened between her teeth. So that’s when I tasted fish brains. I have to say, pretty gross… a lot like a light cod liver oil.
This particular fish is from Zoe’s Chinese restaurant in Somerville, which was a bit of a disappointment. The “Mao style pork” (actually red cooked pork, hong shao rou) was nothing to write home about, nor was the tea-smoked duck or the fried taro appetizer. The fish, however, was great. Which goes to show simple presentations with that delightful combination of ginger and scallion, that culinary hallmark of Chinese cooking, plus fresh ingredients turns out a winner each time.
Zoe’s is supposed to do good Szechuan, so I tried their ma po tofu, hoping it would be appropiately spicy and laden with bits ground meat. No such luck. The search continues.
If you know where to get really good, uber-”ma la”-spicy ma po tofu, let me know…
