Viewing Category: Regional
Today we had a special meeting of our New Media Group at David Kelleher's office. He has space at TechSpace Boston, a kind of high-tech office incubator oriented toward startups and small business:
Located in the South End, this handsome brick and beam facility consists of 20,000 square feet of office space, onsite parking, café, copy center, administrative support and concierge service available to all clients.
It's pretty easy to get to from I-93...we got off at exit 20 onto Albany St, and drove along Harrison Ave through the SoWa district. The building itself is located at 580 Harrison Ave, though this is actually a vanity address (the real one is 715 Albany Street). As you're driving along Harrison, look for the sign that says "580 Harrison Street Parking" if you have an access code, or park on one of the side streets / Washington St. The closest bus is the Silver Line on Washington St. The building has a big "580" on the roof so you can't miss it. Just look up!
It's a pretty nice space, funky in that Dot-Com way but somehow still humble. DaveK's office was small but furnished with Internet and phone service. Apparently you can rent just a couple days a week to keep costs down (you basically timeshare an office) and visitors have access to free WiFi. There's a pool table too. The only bad thing is that the whole facility (like Boston) seems to shut down at 5PM. What's up with this town?
After our meeting, we ate at a place called Morse Fish Co. on Washington Street. I had some misgivings going in, but it was very good: fresh and crispy. I just had fried haddock and fries (fish and chips, basically), but you can choose from a wider variety of seafood. The fries were particularly notable: seasoned, crispy, and golden-brown. It may have been the best fish-and-chips experience I've had in this area, beating out a couple clam shacks and one fancy restaurant, but admittedly it's not usually the sort of thing I eat. Definitely good, though. And CHEAP! They serve lunch all day (basically, a smaller portion than dinner) for about 6-7 bucks.
The New Media Group meeting was good too...did some debugging of one of David Cort's projects, talked about a bunch of interesting data-vis applications using real-time capture, and touched on some 3D tools (gMax, Celestia). A couple new faces at the meeting. The non-networking network grows!
I went bowling twice this weekend, once at Lane and Games in Cambridge, and then again at Merrimack Ten Pin here in New Hampshire. And yes, it was the full-sized experience, not that candlepin or duckpin stuff. Here are my notes on the quality of the facilities.
I'd driven by Lane and Games for years, but never actually went inside until recently. It has two floors of lanes, all candlepin on the bottom, and split candlepin / tenpin on the top. It's also got a few pool tables, a bar, and a video game room. It's a little run down at the edge, but it bustles with activity...good place to spend a Friday night with a bunch of friends, which is exactly what I did. It's conveniently located right off Route 2 going into Alewife, about a 45 minute drive door-to-door from Nashua.
The equipment is on the older side, maybe mid- to late 80s, but it works fine. The video game selection is OK but not in great shape... I tried to play a bit of Street Fighter II, but the controls were completely and utterly messed up. Very irking. On the other hand, they had a good Sniper game (needed some lube on the gun mount), and of course air hockey. Tokens only.
Merrimack Ten Pin is located off D.W. Highway next to Newick's Seafood. My sister and I have been talking about going bowling for a year, and we finally decided to check out this place after hearing about it from another friend. It turned out to be a very nice modern facility with an active league schedule.
The color scheme was a bit hard on the eyes at first, but everything looked clean and well maintained. They have "glow bowl" there, so that explains the paint (it's all black-light fluorescent). There was a nice snack bar with frozen cokes (which I love) and all the usual snackage: burgers, chicken strips, nachos, etc. The snack bar lacks the seedy charm of Lane and Games, but they have beer on tap right next to the lanes! Another cool thing is you can charge all your food to the lane tab, and pay for everything at the end of the session. Lane and Game's, by comparison, is all "cash up front" for lane time and food.
The equipment at Merrimack Ten Pin is also a little more modern, with these cool molded scoring stations. You could control the TV and program the gutter bumpers on a per-bowler basis. I'd date the system around mid-1990s, judging from the quality of the text character generator and the 3D animations played between each frame. The lanes and furniture were also in great shape.
The video games: quite a few gun games, including a large-size Time Crisis III and an older House of the Dead. I tried Police Trainer, but the gun calibration was waaaay off. I got taken. They've got a couple pins--The Simpsons was one--and of course air hockey. No tokens necessary.
At long last, Jeff and I visited Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage in Harvard Square. It's right on Mass Ave, near the Hong Kong restaurant. The rumor was that this was where you could get some of the best burgers in Boston, and possibly the best onion rings. Thus began The Burgering, Part II...
On the way to the Burger Cottage, I passed these placards that extolled the virtues of vegetarianism. Their argument was somewhat undermined by the "switching to vegetarianism is easy!" placard, which showed various substitute products for beloved American meats. Which just said to me...Americans love meat...this put me in the mood to enjoy an excellent burger experience. Meat Lovers:1! Vegetarians:0!
The establishment itself was a single largish room with tables crammed together. Seating was prompt and courteous. Although it was a rather muggy day, and therefore not the best weather for enjoying fried food, I gamely ordered the Deluxe Burger Platter, which came with fries and the famous onion rings. The Deluxe Burger is just a plain hamburger that costs almost 9 bucks, but I wanted to taste the unadulterated pure burger experience. Of course, I ordered rare. And for a side, I also ordered the sweet potato fries.
The sweet potato fries arrived quickly, and I found them pretty tasty. They were fairly chunky fries: thicker than a McD's fry but not a wedge. I'd say they were maybe 2x the thickness of a McD's fry. Still, I would have to say the sweet potato fries at Ryles are better if you like a crisper texture; the Bartley's version was a little "deflated'. The regular fries were good, but nothing about them stood out in particular.
The onion rings I found disappointing. Mine were coated with a light batter that fell off the rings, and had a slight powdery taste. The batter wasn't browned, and actually smelled a bit like raw fish. Maybe it was the oil. I might have gotten a bad batch, but I wasn't that impressed. I like a slightly crisper, stickier batter and more caramelized onion flavor.
As for the burger itself: not bad. The patty was formed by hand, and had a nice char on it. It didn't taste of wood smoke or charcoal, though, but it was competently seared. The inside was rare as I asked, and overall the burger had a good texture. Sometimes the ground meat is over-mixed and becomes kind of pasty in texture...not so with this burger, which puts it ahead of the Martha's Exchange burger I had last night.
The bun had a very neutral taste. The bottom of the bun wasn't coated with butter or mayonaise, so the juices tended to soak the bun as you ate. As I had ordered the plain hamburger, there were no fixin's on it to detract from the pure taste of beef: juicy but unseasoned. The phrase that came to mind was that this was An Honest Burger, unpretentious and uncomplicated.
Overall, I found the experience to be a little lacking compared to the after-hours Brasserie Jo burger I had had a few weeks ago. That burger wins on the fragant toasted bun and tasteful seasoning of the charcoal-grilled hand-formed patty. It was a more memorable tasting experience.
I will go back to Bartley's on a less muggy day and try one of their special burgers, which might be more of a fair comparison. The Quest for Great New England burgers continues!
Tomorrow I'm going to Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage in Harvard Square to sample their famous burgers.
I had a burger at Martha's Exchange here in Nashua to serve as "the control". Unfortunately I had to get it to go, since they had stopped seating for the night. It was still nice of them to put my order in. Anyway, Martha's is known in this town for having pretty decent burgers, served rare if you ask. My "Texas Burger" was pretty good...nice and rare! Not bad at all. There is a disparity between the taste of the burger meat and the butter-toasted bun though...they just don't quite go together for me. I think the burger to really try is probably the Gorgonzola Burger, which I'll get next time I get there in time to be seated.
I imagine this week we'll be grilling too for the 4th of July weekend. My sis is coming with entourage in tow, so I'm looking forward to some good eatin'. Let there be watermelon!
I've been to Not Your Average Joe's a couple of times now for lunch, and both times I've had a delightful time. The food, the service, and the atmosphere were excellent! I like this place a lot.
The first time, I had an exquisitely-prepared mustard-crusted chicken...I was amazed that it was cooked just right, the tender breast still juicy and firm-but-not-tight. The string beans were not overcooked either, retaining enough crunch to be interesting. The second time I had the grilled black angus sirloin meatloaf, the comfort food favorite with a mix-in of smoked gouda and chipotle (a pepper I've recently been into lately). This was pretty good too, though not as amazing as I'd hoped. I'd call it "meatloaf plus"...it's still meatloaf, with just a bit of extra kick. The amazing experience of the day was undeniably was S's salad, almond crusted goat cheese "served warm over mixed baby greens with raspberries, caramelized pepper pecans and our raspberry vinagrette". The warm goat cheese was amazing; though as the cheese cooled to room temperature it lost its potency. I wonder if all goat cheeses kick such ass when warmed up.
Prices for lunch entrees range from $6 to $15. The atmosphere and service were very nice. The decor reminded me of WIRED magazine: neon colors sheathed in trendy, design-conscious form. It wouldn't be a bad place for a casual-but-fun lunch date.
Not Your Average Joes
Locations in Arlington, Beverly, Dartmouth, Hyannis, Lexington, Methuen, Needham, Newbury, Randolph, and Watertown. I've been to the Lexington and Arlington locations, both were very nice.
:http://egseah.mindsay.com
This past Saturday I went to visit [Emily] and Robert in Providence, Rhode Island. The mission: eat authentic Italian food. So we went to Federal Hill on Atwells Ave, which regarded as the area's Little Italy.
First stop was Venda Ravioli, which was a small indoor market bustling with counters piled high with fresh Italian meats, cheeses, and pasta. The building itself was pretty cool, particularly the polished tin ceiling. It was around 1230PM, so the place was a bit crowded and we couldn't sit down. Everything looked really good...if I wasn't starving, I would have liked to spent more time browsing. Em said that they liked to get some antipasto there and a tomato and basil and mozzarella salad.
We walked along Atwells Ave looking for a restaurant. We saw the sign for Camille's, which Robert said had some kind of Frank Sinatra connection. It was closed for lunch, but we peeked inside and saw the richly-appointed interior and lounge area.
On the way back we stopped by some touristy looking place that Robert said was actually well regarded by some. It was very empty looking and we liked the menu, so we went inside to the "AAA 4-diamond rated" Mediterraneo.
And here's where I realize I should have taken notes, because I didn't remember the names of anything we ordered. Emily though has filled me in from their menu:
CAPRESE
CAH-PRAY-ZEH
"Balsamic marinated grape tomatoes, homemade mozzarella and fresh basil drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar." One of my favorite combinations. The tomatoes weren't that amazing, but overall very nice.
CARPACCIO DI MANZO
CAHR-PACHOE DEE MAHN-ZOH
"Paper-thin raw beef tenderloin, arugula, extra large caper berries, topped with fresh squeezed lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese." The extra large caper berries were surprisingly tasty. The beef was kind of hard to scrape off the plate, but it was a tasty dish.
MOZZARELLA IN CARROZZA
MOTZ-ZAH-RELL-AH EEN CAH-ROTZ-AH
"Fresh homemade mozzarella stuffed with prosciutto di Parma and fresh basil then breaded and pan-fried. Served with a side of San Marzano tomato-basil sauce." Deep fried and filled with cheese! Yet surprisingly not as heavy as I thought it would be. Probably because it wasn't super salty.
PENNE ALL' ARRABBIATA
PEN-NAY AHL ARA-BEE-AH-TAH
"Pen-shaped pasta in a hot and spicy San Marzano plum tomato sauce, sautéed in olive oil, hot pepperoncini, garlic and parsley."
FUSILLI ALLA VODKA
FOO-ZEE-LEE AH-LA VAWD-CAH
"Spiral-shaped pasta in a pink sauce made from San Marzano plum tomatoes, butter, onions, pancetta (Italian bacon), vodka and cream."
TAGLIATELLE ALLA BOLOGNESE
TAHL-YAH-TAY-LEH AH-LA BOW-LOAN-YEZEH
"Fresh egg noodle pasta topped with a sauce composed of chunks of stewed veal, beef, pork, San Marzano plum tomatoes and a touch of cream." This is what I ordered. The various meats were blended together into a kind of tasty hash, and mixed in with the tomato sauce. The balance between the texture of the egg noodles and the complexity of the sauce was quite a revelation.
(Em notes: We drank whatever chianti that they gave us...we didn't ask for more details. :)
Lunch was a little pricey, but very good. The pasta was served al dente, which Robert said was pretty rare to find these days. He also said that Mediterraneo was a pretty "hip" place for things like celebrity signings and so forth, so he'd never gone. For lunch at 130PM on an overcast Saturday, we practically had the whole place to ourselves. Not bad at all.
For dessert, we went to Dolce Vita, a neat little cafe that served gelato and ice cream truffles. I got some kind of giant ice cream truffle with an espresso, and we hung out. Em says they have good sandwiches, so I think it's definitely worth a trip back.
We also stopped by a cool stationary / furniture store called Figments Design. It had all kinds of interesting cards, stationary, and personal office objects that I would have wanted to buy...I forget how cool it is to visit a real stationary store, as opposed to some soulless office warehouse place like Staples. We chatted with the owner for a good hour...really nice place. I saw an aluminum checkbook cover that I wanted for no good reason.
My sister told me about an article by one of our favorite writers, Jeffrey Steingarten, in which goes to England to hunt woodcock. He buys all the right gear, but unhappily leaves it all on the train by accident. The article, "To Kill A Woodcock", was one of three that landed Steingarten a 2005 James Beard Foundation Journalism Award Nomination. We'll find out in May whether he won or not.
Anyway, this got me thinking about Wild Turkeys, the bird that Benjamin Franklin thought to be a more fitting National Symbol than the Bald Eagle. A cunning, wily bird, the American Wild Turkey has made a comeback from extinction here in New Hampshire thanks to the efforts of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. And with that, comes Spring Turkey Hunting Season.
I've never hunted in my life, but I remember my Dad's best friend "Uncle Daniel" who used to hunt pheasant and rabbits in (of all places) Taiwan. I remember eating something at his family's house once that had pellets in it that I had to pick out. And what could be more American than hunting the Wild Turkey? Jeffrey Steingarten did it in England, so I'm sure he's be fine with hunting turkeys. This is a part of America that I have not experienced. If I eat meat, I should consider getting it myself. Who knows...the experience might turn me into a vegetarian.
I don't know if I could shoot a bunny or a deer, but a big old bird might be OK, especially if I eat it. Maybe I should start with catching fish first and see how I feel about it. And read Steingarten's article.
A pretty eventful weekend, filled with new experiences and more eating than was perhaps prudent.
On Friday, I went down to Boston with Barry to check out Scintus Images: Selections, Jeff's launch of his fine arts collective. It was at the Locco Rittoro space in the South Washington Street Art District, one of many galleries in the area. Afterwards, we crawled the studio spaces in one of the converted warehouses. Each studio was a tiny room, at most maybe a hundred square feet. As I walked the halls, they called to mind a college dorm having a floor party, except the students were older and of far-more-interesting taste in decor. Not a Lamborghini Countach poster in sight.
Afterwards, Barry and I walked back to Chinatown and stopped by the Vinh-Sun BBQ & Restaurant on Beach Street. It's one of the places that has chickens and ducks hanging from hooks in the window...awesome! It's more Street Chinese, which I tend to prefer. Hong Kong and Cantonese food. I ordered an enormous BBQ Rice Platter, which had Salted Chicken, Roast Pork, and Roast Duck with a side of some kind of crunchy green vegetable that I don't know the name for. We also ordered a side of U-choy w/ Oyster Sauce and Salty Dry-Fried Savory Pork Chop. The latter is one of my favorite dishes, and whenever I see it I get it. This was probably the best I've had in some time; crisply fried, not greasy. Drizzled with the appropriate amount of hot green peppers. And, no holding back on the "savory salt", AKA my good friend Monosodium Glutamate. Oh, stop complaining...the only reason you get a headache is because you are susceptable to urban legend. You liked it just fine before you knew what it was. Sheesh! Barry, I'm pleased to say, iis an excellent Chinese food compatriot..he'll try anything. He's probably more Asian than I am, despite his Brooklyn Jewish roots.
Then, my sister came up to visit with some of that pizza from Fellini's from Providence, RI. It was cold by the time she got here, but she likes cold pizza. It was thin crust, with a good cheese and sauce. I can only imagine what it was like hot and bubbling...amazing, I am hoping. She asked me what I thought of the crust, and I mumbled "Goodph!" as I chawed down on a lightly-charred and succulent heel of doughy goodness. She gleefully cried, "It's WHOLE WHEAT!". Fighting the urge to automatically spit it out, I realized that I wasn't getting that "I'm good for you, that's why I taste like broom dust!" vibe. So I shrugged it off and continued to enjoy my slice. I liked the Fellini's pizza box also...it features a healthy Italian gal in a modest 50s-style swimmy outfit, holding a pizza aloft like the Torch of Liberty. It's what our boys fought for in dubya-dubya-two!
For the rest of the weekend, me and Emily and her boyfriend Robert hung out. We went specifically to Starbucks to have a Chantico "chocolate drink". A big hit...it had us thinking about trying to create our own killer frankendrink from molten chocolate bars. We had Indian from Mehmann's...it was pretty good for this area. I'm told the place to go for the authentic stuff is Moody Street in Waltham, so I'll have to organize a field trip. Then we had Japanese for lunch on Sunday, at Osaka Tea Garden on D.W. Highway. I didn't really like my sushi that day...kind of mealy. I had also had my heart set on a bento box lunch at You You up on Exit 6 in Nashua, but they're closed for lunch of Sunday. I keep forgetting this.
In the evening, Robert donned his Red Sox paraphrenelia and camped out on the TV. We made cheese fondue (from a box, though) and cooked up hot dogs on the grill. Not a great game from the Boston perspective, as the Yankees gave us a good spanking. This was a good time to break out some ice cream, so the sting of defeat didn't linger long.
Part 1
One cool thing about being freelance is that you get to pick projects that you want to work on. You don't necessarily maximize your profits, but working with passionate people is far more enriching. Jeff Borkowski is one of those passionate people; helping him get the Scintus Images website off the ground was meaningful, and I gained a treasured friend in the process. While I only helped with cutting the initial Dreamweaver templates, it was quite inspiring to observe Jeff design and build the guts of his business from the ground up. An accomplished printmaker and photographer himself, Jeff's making his play to create an organization that supports the art community in a way that's good for his soul and for his fellow artists. Good for him, good for us.
The big idea: Develop a high-quality, digital reproduction process through meticulous proofing and qualifying of dozens of vendors. Find great artists who are looking to sell fine art editions to more middle markets and designers, but aren't particularly interested in handling the tedium of promition, business, and fulfillment over the Internet. In the middle, put a guy who groks both sides, someone they trust to be as conscientious about quality and presentation as they are. That's my read on it...you can get the straight dope from the website.
Part 2
The cool thing about having a blog is that you get to promote whatever the hell you want, so I'm happy to mention about Scintus' upcoming gallery event in the South End.
Scintus Images: Selections
running April 1-30
Opening Reception
April 1st, 5:30-830PM
Locco Ritoro Gallery
450 Harrison, Storefront 37
Boston, MA 02118
SoWa Art District / Gallery Row
I'm pleased and excited to see it all come together...it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. From what I gather, everyone in the world is invited, so go check out Jeff's site to learn about the artists and his mission. Then mark April 1st on your calendar (no joke!) and plan on visiting Locco Ritoro.
In which I postulate that there are several general classes of Chinese restaurants in the New England area, of varying degrees of yumminess.
In order of my personal preference:
* Street Chinese -- served with small plates and bowls, food is hot and comes out as soon as it's off the wok, presentation is more informal and a little scary to non-Asians. But the food is the way you'd expect it to be, true to itself as much as it can be on the other side of the Pacific. Not overcooked, not inadvertently stewed or steamed, each dish with its own distinctive character. Usually you can get interesting vegetable dishes too. Sichuan Gourmet in Billerica. King Fung Garden, Taiwan Cafe in Chinatown.
Upscale Chinese -- The places in Chinatown with the giant fish tanks, somewhat gaudy decorations, nicer tables with those round lazy susans on them. The kind of place you'd consider having a Chinese wedding banquet at if it's big and fancy enough. May have a stage up front for announcements and karaoke. Food comes out fast. East Ocean City in Chinatown comes to mind.
Chinese Outpost -- Far from a Chinese epicenter, small restaurants that haven't fully let their menus be dominated by local tastes, serving up a few good dishes for their friends and "advanced" patrons. May actually have Chinese vegetables. Economically tough to sustain sometimes. South Garden in Merrimack, for example, which serves Dim-Sum in Southern New Hampshire.
Old Guard Pioneering Chinese -- A cut above average, these are the places that introduced "real" Chinese food to America, away from Egg Foo Yung and Chow Mein in the 60s. Place like Joyce Chen (sadly gone) and Mary Chung's near MIT were the leaders of a new movement in authenticity, and they cared. Although we ended up with things like Egg Rolls. Possibly places like China Pearl in Woburn, but I'm not sure how long it's been around.
Upscale Chinese American -- Conscientious use of architecture and decor, sometimes abstracted from authentic Chinese art and imagery. The waitstaff have uniforms, and food is presented somewhat artistically. However, food is in larger chunks (designed to be eaten with forks), breaded, sweetened, and foo-foo'd. American vegetables like peas and brocolli make an appearance, but the food is pleasant enough if you don't mind everything tasting kind of the same. Bamboo is in this category. Chang Sho in Cambridge too, Lilac Blossom or Chen Yang Li in Nashua. Maybe even the chain P.F. Chang.
Chinese American -- the run-of-the-mill Chinese place with a few formica tables, a standardized menu with highly Americanized dishes: General Tso's Chicken, Sesame Beef, and a million variants thereof. Sometimes has a few good things, or a large buffet. Sugary, coated with flour, and deep fried. All created with variants of the standard "brown sauce flavors": plum sauce, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and chili sauce.
Polynesian Oriental -- Egg Foo Yung, Chow Mein, BBQ Pork, Sweet Sour Pork, Pu Pu Platter! With a smoky bar and possibly a lounge scene, with tiny umbrellas in your drinks.
