Boston Restaurant and Food Blog

Food porn: Dinner at Helmand in Kendall Square, Cambridge

Lingbo Li — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:53:37 +0000

Time for tapas at Ken Oringer’s Toro in Boston

Lingbo Li — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:16:58 +0000

The streets are slush. It’s late, past 9pm, and the MBTA’s 1 bus is late, too – lumbering around the corner like the crankiest of grandfathers, bearing nothing but ill will and obligation. It wheels through Cambridge to Boston, ribbed rubber floor collecting more slush as passengers board. My dining partner boards at Commonwealth and Mass Ave, half grin, hat pulled over eyebrows. Off we go.

It’s late, but Toro is busy. It is a Tuesday night, the kitchen closes in a half-hour, and the place is still humming with all the might of a scenester beehive. We wait as diners linger. Waiters zip through the crowd, dropping off fried treats: a platter of patatas bravas, crisp and golden, in front of a lucky diner at the bar. I’m jealous.

The bartender offers us a drink menu; I peer at it, but want to hold every last inch of stomach space for the food. The hostess apologizes for the wait and brings a peace offering: two perfect bites. I miss the explanation, but pop it into my mouth. Not bad. Then our table opens up.

I like Oringer’s restaurants a lot so far. Viscerally speaking: they’re slick, they’re full of people, and they have plenty of offal on the menu. He has this way of knowing, mysteriously, precisely what I want to eat. Or maybe he teaches me. The lows are not so low, and the highs are very high – an octopus dish at Coppa, recommended by the waitress, was so well composed it sang. My favorite bartender, Asher, keeps vigil over the swank environs at KO Prime and mixes a mean martini. Tonight, it’s a chance add-on of Erizos En Suquet, a catalan stew of sea urchin, lobster and crab meat. It comes red, velvety, and proves luscious on the tongue.

Another standout is the crispy veal sweetbreads with blood orange and cinnamon, as delicious as it is beautiful. My first taste of sweetbreads, actually, and I suspect one that will ruin me. Beef hearts, mentioned by a reader, come sliced paper thin on bread, pronounced as innocuously tasty as beef brisket by my dining partner. I had been hoping for some sinuous veins. The corn, recommended by Ming Tsai, is like no other corn I’ve ever had. It’s perfectly charred, slathered in aioli and then topped with soft, aged cheese, two wedges of lime to add a bright zing to the fat-on-fat. This is a vegetable that no diet would allow.

Crispy veal sweetbreads with blood orange and cinnamon

Not just any corn

The only disappointment is the beef shortrib, which came bland and undersalted.

The pork belly, however, is at no loss for flavor. The top layer is caramelized to a deep hue and a even better crunch, reigning over a loosely plated dish of escargot strewn through a soft landscape of apple, pumpkin, and a surprising addition of smoked maple crumble; it dissolves in your mouth as readily as the pork fat.

The diner next to me strikes up a conversation when she sees my camera. It turns out we’ve communicated via Twitter – she’s a writer for the Herald. Small world.

We’re easing into home stretch. Dessert is sugar-crusted churros and chocolate sauce. I eat most of it, my stomach groaning. I look at the faces of diners as I walk out, wondering if they’re floating a little. It’s back to the streets, and this time, a cab.

Find it!

———–

Toro

1704 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02118
(617) 536-4300

Russell House Tavern to open in Harvard Square

Lingbo Li — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:02:40 +0000

Chef Michael Scelfo

Word on the Internet is that Harvard Square will soon have another restaurant to add to its roster – Russell House Tavern, headed by Chef Michael Scelfo from Temple Bar. Its opening is set for late March or early April.

Their Twitter account is currently silent, although following and being followed by well over a 1,000 tweeps. What kind of food will it serve? According to a Craiglist ad calling for service staff, the eatery will have “seasonally-changing, classic American fare with contemporary influences, carefully-designed cocktails and a resolute selection of American wines and local craft beers.” Expect a focus on local, seasonal ingredients.

Scelfo’s Twitter chronicles a bit of the excitement: “confirmed on 1st equipment delivery for this thurs -my highlights: double hearth oven, large cabinet (cold/hot) smoker, immersion circulator,” he wrote yesterday.

It looks like he’s got some good people helping out with his new baby as well: “solid 1st impression from new crew at RH, everyone on board showed up to clean & organize. 3 weeks of cleaning ahead, always rule number 1″ says a tweet from February 25th.

A recent blog post really gives away nothing about the restaurants menu, except that it won’t veer too wildly far from Temple Bar’s spirit – “I followed was to be mindful and respectful of Temple Bar’s style,” he writes, trying to balance competing interests.

Well, I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s got in store!

1am at IHOP in Harvard Square

Lingbo Li — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:00:35 +0000

As sweet as a toothache - harvest nut pancakes at IHOP with apple compote topping

The crowds at IHOP at 1am are slicked in glitter and glisten with booze. There’s an overlit garishness to the place, from the orange neon chrome of the coffeepot to the candy hues of flavored syrups. Diners congregate over sugar-sogged pancakes and chicken tenders while waiters dance anxiously around them – the picture of well-meaning inefficiency.

You order the harvest grain ‘n nut pancakes with apple compote topping. When the waiter leaves, you spot a girl. She’s crammed into an opposite booth, her arms spilling out of a denim vest and day-glo green tank top. Her calves are shoved into black wedge boots whose tops skim her knees, yearning to kiss the hem of her skirt which lies an ocean of thigh away. It’s hard to tear your eyes away. She gets up, there’s a spring in her step, her chin is lifted; she is proud. You sort of admire her.

The pancakes come. The apple compote is as sweet as a toothache, sweeter than apple pie filling, and so sugary it almost burns you. The cream on top is a relief. You search out the bits of crunch in the dough and for once, you do not reach for the syrup. You think about chain restaurant food and the lowest common denominator that it must appeal to.

There is nothing accidental or personal about this food. It has passed through thousands of other lives and Friday nights, every bit as overbearingly sweet.

Grocery shopping like it’s window shopping in Cambridge

Lingbo Li — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:53:53 +0000

I fully believe in walking into grocery stores just to lustfully pine after that cheese you can’t afford (or don’t have a place to store, in my case). The vicarious thrill of handling boxes of exotic imported snack foods is almost as fun as eating them. In some cases, it’s more fun than eating them. Especially if they’re licorice-flavored. Ew.

So my newest list for Citysearch is five places which are fun (and cheap!) to browse around. If I could extend the list, I’d also add Wine and Cheese Cask in Somerville which has a great cheese, cracker, and chocolate section along with their wines. Since I’m not a big drinker, I prefer to stare at the cheese section…

Grocery Shopping like its Window Shopping on Boston Citysearch

Buying groceries shouldn’t be drudgery – think of it as an adventure, a way to explore aisle six like the anthropologist you are. I offer you five places to stock not only your pantry but your heart as well, stores that will fill your cart and warm your stomach, tingle your olfactory glands and numb your lips. Don’t forget to pick up some frozen dumplings. >> Read the list

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are

Lingbo Li — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:37:15 +0000

It was really cold when we took this photo. They also refused to let me airbrush it.

I was on a date at a Scandinavian-themed restaurant. I pored over every inch of the menu, thrilled that reindeer was an entrée. My dining partner, on the other hand, zeroed in immediately on his dinner.

“I’ll have the sirloin,” he told the waiter.

After the waiter took the order, he explained, “I always order the equivalent of steak and potatoes.”

I winced. The contrast between our attitudes couldn’t have been greater.

Though some might chalk it up to an isolated quirk, I’ve found that our dining choices and table manners are a little too revealing.

The unconscious seems to surface at the dinner table, somewhere between the bread basket and the main course. Sharing food with people has a way of exposing our desires, our insecurities, and our aspirations.

Food, for some, expresses a need for comfort. “I had one girlfriend who only ate at chain restaurants,” a friend of mine confided. “She liked how she always knew exactly what to expect.” Yet another girlfriend of his judged restaurants solely by how clean the bathrooms were, which pretty much ruled out cheap Asian eateries.

I remember one group vacation where one guy refused to eat anywhere except McDonald’s, Wendy’s, or IHOP. Even the most inoffensive of Chinese dim sum items—donuts dusted in sugar, egg tarts—were about as appetizing as baby seal blubber. He eventually had to excuse himself to order a burger.

For others, dining is an expression of who they’d like to be, rather than an assertion of who they are.

>> Click to read the rest on TheCrimson.com

13 Idiot-Proof Honey Recipes

Lingbo Li — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:11:32 +0000

Little critters I caught on camera last year when I visited an apiary.

These micro-recipes I penned were originally published on GoodEater.org (which has since undergone a facelift).

They’re the kind of recipes that are most useful for kitchen-retarded, time-strapped people like me – minimal equipment, dining-hall-able ingredients – more conceptual starting points than formulas.

If you’re a Bostonian looking for a local variety of honey to try, I highly recommend Mike Graney’s Eat Local Honey. I went through an entire jar in a week. Once you taste this stuff, it’s like the difference between Megan Fox on a magazine page and Megan Fox across the dinner table.

On second thought, maybe keep her on the magazine page.

Sweet deal - Mike Graney's Eat Local Honey

Local honey boasts flavors unique to the region it was produced in. Complexity like this deserves the simplest of treatments. Here are a few options.

1. Stir into yogurt. Add granola. Inhale.

2. Peanut butter and banana, on toast. Drizzle with honey. Sprinkle with sea salt.

3. From the bottom up: bread, sliced apples, paper-thin sweet potato, aged cheddar, drizzle of honey, bread. Put in sandwich press. Consume.

4. Alternatively: bread, sliced pear, toasted pine nut, gorgonzola dolce, drizzle of honey, bread. Press.

5. Or: bread, cream cheese, toasted walnut, sliced apple, drizzle of honey. Press.

6. Stir a teaspoon into two tablespoons of good, softened butter. Spread on toast. Or muffin. Or pancakes.

7. Thick slice of gruyere on crusty sourdough, under the broiler until melted. Drizzle with honey. Eat with napkins

8. Straight up, with cut fruit and croutons.

9. Mix with equal parts water and a good squeeze of lemon juice, freeze into ice cubes. Suck.

10. Gratuitously on top of breakfast cereal.

11. Equal parts with dijon mustard. Serve with everything grilled. Or fried.

12. In your tea and lemonade (or margaritas).

13. Sesame honey dressing: one part cider vinegar, one part honey, sesame seeds, slowly whisk in three parts oil. Add a touch of some sesame oil. Serve with spring greens.

What do you like to do with your honey?

Free Let’s Go: Boston travel guide giveaway!

Lingbo Li — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:22:03 +0000

Once upon a time, I researched for Let’s Go: Boston, which is also repackaged into The Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard. I spent many hours of my life running from shop to salon to hardware store, checking on opening hours and other minutiae.

So now I have an enormous stack of books in my dorm room – they’re all essentially the same book with different covers. Let’s Go: Boston is repackaged as a guide to BU, guide to Lesley, etc. So if you want a free Boston guide, are a Harvard affiliate (so I can pass it off to you without dealing with the postal office), or if you live/work around Harvard Square and can pick it up, leave me a comment or drop me an email (lingboli at fas.harvard.edu).

I have a lot of books, so chances are good you’ll get one. If you’re my friend or a regular commenter, you have first preference. After that, I’ll just draw names randomly.

Eating Toro’s beef hearts; Ken Oringer

Lingbo Li — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:13:56 +0000

My snapshot of Toro's sliced beef heart

Thinly sliced beef heart at Ken Oringer’s Toro. My dining partner was a little apprehensive at first, but pronounced the finished product akin to roast beef – I’d say it’s more fine grained. I love how offal can look so innocuous but surprise you with a certain intensity of flavor or texture. Like their sweetbreads – my first, actually. I’ll post pictures of those later.

I got into an interesting debate with a Facebook commenter. See our exchange:

Lingbo Li Ran into tweep @simonepress who was sitting next to me at @tororestaurant – how cool and random! Had the corn, beef hearts, short rib – yum!
Wed at 11:18am via Unnamed App Custom: loading… · Comment · LikeUnlike · View Feedback (11)Hide Feedback (11)

Commenter
My stomach just turned upside down.
Wed at 11:36am ·

Lingbo Li
It was sliced very thin and put on a slice of bread – it tasted more like roast beef than anything else.
Wed at 11:39am ·

Commenter
Try endangered sea turtle eggs. Not bad.
Wed at 12:11pm ·

Lingbo Li
Beef hearts are not endangered… the ethics are completely different.
Wed at 12:31pm ·

Commenter
Well…..it depends the country ur at where the “When in rome” qoute applies. I still get skeeved from the idea of consuming hearts of animals…i can imagine it was once beating.
Wed at 12:33pm ·

Lingbo Li
Thinking something is “gross” is not the same as thinking it is unethical – you can think brussel sprouts are gross, but that’s a personal preference, not a ethical or necessarily cultural one. A piece of beef was once moving as well – it’s muscle, just like the heart is muscle. The ethical argument for eating hearts would be that it’s making use of something that would normally be thrown away, meaning less waste and respecting every part of the animal.
Wed at 1:08pm ·

Commenter
Lemme just think ….what would Hannibal Lector do?

So I’ve gotten comments before on the ethics of what I eat. One person criticized me for eating whale steak (it was from the mink whale, which is not endangered), while some of the stuff I eat is just kind of gross. I mean, I don’t expect everyone to spring for calves brains. I do happen to think that eating offal is one the most ethical and delicious things you can do to reduce waste, but the knee-jerk grossout reaction from some people is saddening.

And if you’re curious who this Ken Oringer is, photographer Andy Ryan took a bunch of photos of the Burger Bash and happened to capture some of me. (I’m not BFFs with Ken! I talked to him for about five minutes. And ragged on his Red Sox chefs whites.)

Photos with celebs are interesting – I always feel like they only exist to simulate a relationship that doesn’t exist, a fleeting fame-by-association.

Me with Boston restaurateur Ken Oringer, photo by Andy Ryan, courtesy of Chris Lyons

Chocolate cake at Troquet

Lingbo Li — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:47:22 +0000

My gay best friend and I rushed in 20 minutes late to a cake and wine tasting at Troquet, so I missed the cake making demonstration. But hey, I did get to do the important part: eat it all. Twice.

Troquet chocolate cake and port wine

The space is a cozy. It’s narrow, with a line of black lacquered two tops in warmly painted room, perfect date material. And the best part? Over on the counter were over a dozen small plates of chocolate cake kissed with confectioner’s sugar, a duo of raspberries nestled on the corner.

I recounted my horrifying lost iPhone story to Christine Liu, editor of Boston Citysearch, and the host of the shindig.

Me: So I get back to my room. And my roommate says, “Lingbo, your friend D is looking for you, he’s really worried.” So I head over to his room. 5 gay guys open the door saying, “You’re alive! The guy who stole your phone told D that you were at this address in Roxbury.”

Christine: Woah.

Me: So the police officers come up and said they sent squad cars out to Roxbury to look for my body. And had filed affidavits for my cell phone carrier. Then they yelled at me: “Next time you go out, you have to leave contact information!” Later, my roommate hugged me and said she was glad I wasn’t dead.

Oh, and they booty texted all my recent contacts.

True story.

I also met the great Michelle-Kim of Fun and Fearless in Beantown, along with assorted other bloggers and industry folks.

Chocolate and booze? How could it be a bad night?

Exactly.

If only no one had stolen my iPhone.