Boston Restaurant and Food Blog

Alligator, yak, and ostrich, oh my: Student Prince in Springfield, MA

Lingbo Li — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:08:15 +0000

You will never go to the Student Prince . First off, it’s a 90 minute drive away in western Massachusetts – so far off, you might as well be teetering on a fiery lip overlooking the nothingness of the end of the world.

Who knows what spiny, lantern-jawed fish are fit to survive so far from Bostonian civilization.

But I braved it anyway. I hoped to do the foodie equivalent of resume padding. It was the last night of February – and the last night that Student Prince would be serving exotic game meats. Lipoff had tipped me off on yak, bison, elk, alligator, and boar in hearty preparations.

The trip wouldn’t have been possible without Lipoff’s battered-but-spunky Peugeot, riddled with quirks. The seatbelt, for example, is backwards: you pull up from the bottom left to affix it above the right shoulder.

After a delayed start, we arrived, 90 minutes later, in Springfield, MA. Student Prince is unabashedly German, and there’s a pleasantly institutional feel to the place. (Meaning established, not infirmary-like.) You think about how many years it’s taken to accumulate the beer steins on the wall, the knick knacks and ski lodge-esque wood paneling, and the loyal clientele – primarily white and older on the night I went, a score of families bonding.

Travel is surreal: I remember the tired, cheesy desperation of the ferry that shuttled me across across the strait from Dover to Calais. This wasn’t hopping between England and France, but the past 90 miles in the Peugeot felt inadequate to match the impossibility of where I sat.

Game meatballs

Alligator tail cutlet with spicy Creole sauce

Lipoff tore through the menu and ordered a storm of exotic meats. The dishes came, uniformly all pretty good – alligator tail cutlet with spicy Creole sauce ($8.95) tasted mostly of the sauce, and had a texture somewhere between chicken and fish. It wasn’t spicy so much as a highly flavored and salty, which made me think of my mother’s cooking. The game meatballs ($5.95) – composed from a variety of exotic game meats – had been finely ground and tightly packed. Swimming in a pool of gravy and sliced mushrooms, they were comfort food. Sautéed sugar snap peas almondine ($2.95) were tender and sweet.

Sugar snap peas almondine

Yes, it came with the little illustrated sign.

But I was clearly here for the game kebob. Chunks of buffalo, venison, wild boar, yak, ostrich, and elk arrived on a bed of spaetzle (a traditional German egg noodle) and a dearth of gravy.

Bison and elk, the framing meats, were the most successful. Finer grained and less gamey than yak and ostrich, they made me reconsider steak. Venison I’ve had before; the wild boar chunk we got had some tendon running through it, and suffered from hard-to-chew tastelessness.

A cross section of the elk - delicious!

Pickled herring was pronounced excellent by Lipoff (I’m not normally the biggest fan) and he also insisted on tacking on another order of fried potato pancakes, which came with apple sauce and sour cream, latkes style. The server tipped us off on eating them smothered with sour cream and doused in white sugar.

Finally, in over the top fashion (hey, I’d come all the way from Cambridge), apple strudel arrived for dessert, crowned with a warm ball of cream and studded with raisins. Being part honorary Jew, I obviously compared the apple strudel to noodle kugel.

Not bad for the end of civilization.

Apple strudel, I love you.

A Harvard student faculty dinner

Taste of Iceland at Rustic Kitchen, Boston, March 11-17

Lingbo Li — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:06:20 +0000

Icelandic Arctic char, potato and herb puree, pineapple

As part of Boston’s Taste of Iceland event (March 11-17!), there was much insanely delicious food and drink at Rustic Kitchen for a kickoff on Tuesday. Chef Thorarinn Eggertsson of Orange served up melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness, although he left out crazier proteins Icelanders eat. Here are my belated photos from the event, which I attended courtesy of the ineffable Christine of Citysearch. It made me miss my trip to Iceland a bit as I reminisced about the whale steak and rotten shark I ate there, along with things like geothermal pools and lack of daylight. And great exchange rates.

It was lovely meeting freelance writer Cheryl Fenton, Trish, and JustinCanCook - who gave me an awesome pizza recipe that I’m hoping to try out next week.

———————

Oh hey, blog readers, I’m going to cook next week during my spring break! I’m a little concerned, however – the kitchen I’m working with has like, two pots. No baking sheet. A toaster oven. I mean, I got dishware. Sort of. And cups and glasses. I opened the fridge and was greeted with nothing more than Shaw’s brand frozen waffles and chicken fries. Seriously – chicken fries!

I don’t even want to open the Chinese takeout carton. I imagine it’s where MSG goes when it’s been very, very naughty. The dry goods cupboard isn’t much better. I’ve exhausted half a can of barbecue Pringles.

What’s an aspiring home cook to do? Domestic bliss or wrestling with the prospect of no rice cooker… potato ricer… sous vide… Maybe I should start small and boil some pasta. I think I can do that.

Seriously, if you have any recipes, please send them to me.

Their signature cocktail - something involving Reyka, cran, and cinnamon

Icelandic chef Thorarinn Eggertsson, center

Icelandic musician Mugison

Salted cod and lobster with shellfish sauce - delicious

Then, since we were still hungry, they brought a bunch of pizza. Not icelandic. Yum.

Giving Raw Food the College Try

Lingbo Li — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:43:05 +0000

I began to worry after I’d eaten my seventh banana in two days.

I had embarked on a three-day raw food veganism challenge, relying on fruit, salads, and some unroasted convenience store nuts to fill my uncooked days.

I had no blender, knives, or kitchen. I did, however, have a lot of homework, social commitments at restaurants, and HUDS produce. I already knew that gourmet raw food—which I had sampled at all-raw Grezzo in the North End—was a sensory delight. But my DIY approach smacked of banana-infested, blender-lacking monotony.

>> Read the rest on TheCrimson.com

Food porn: Dinner at Helmand in Kendall Square, Cambridge

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

Created with flickr slideshow.

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?