Archive for the ‘Restaurants’ Category

A Place to Go Back To

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

This week’s Wednesday Night Dinner definitely qualifies as a place to go back to. In the ~9 months I’ve been in the group I’ve accumulated a long list of places that I have been, but a very short list of places worth going back to. It’s not that we go to bad places, but many of them are not stand out performers. They are the kind of places were it was an interesting and worthwhile trip the first time, when it was a new experience, but without the newness it doesn’t quite make the cut.

This place, which supposedly lacks the concept of a name, but in fact is just named “No Name” is worth going back to. It is everything a little seafood place on a pier should be, loud, busy, unfinished, and packed with Japanese tourists eating lobster. It’s clearly no secret hole in the wall place, but that’s ok. They have a picture of Colonel Sanders chowing down on some fish, which is a nice ironic touch. There are also great big posters of the Boston skyline and the pier, which I enjoy. I had broiled shrimp in a butter sauce with rice; it was very good, if not quite filling enough. I would warn visitors away from the bland, uninspired Seafood Chowder, it wasn’t worth it. If you plan to come visit me be warned I’ll probably drag you to this place.

Sorento’s Italian

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

For dinner last night we went to Sorento’s Italian Gourmet near Fenway Park. I’d been wanting to go here ever since my college robotics team ended up not going to it for a team dinner when they were here. It took so long mostly because we had to wait for a week when the Red Sox were out of town, or going down that way would have been a real pain in the neck. The wait was worth it, in my opinion; I also heard good things from some of my table neighbors. I initially felt badly because of the three or four restaurants on the block Sorento’s was the least crowded, by a lot; the other places were packed, we couldn’t get in with 13 if we tried, and Sorento’s had two people in it other than us. I’ve now decided that it must just be somewhat more expensive than the other places which consisted of Mexican and Thai food because we enjoyed it.

There were 13 people at dinner, which I don’t think is Wednesday Night Dinner record, but it’s up there. I got the Shrimp Parmesan, which none of us had ever heard of before. There was a debate over exactly what the dish would entail. Lots of little shrimp mixed around and covered with cheese, or larger fried shrimp in cheese, or some kind of shrimp patty in cheese… we were pretty much only sure that there would be shrimp and cheese. It ended up being large non-fired shrimp with cheese in the sauce. There was a little too much cheese, which made it heavy, but it was good. There were also good reviews of the pizza. I don’t think anyone tried the Persian kabobs that were on the menu. In other food related events at dinner, Krishna managed to get an air bubble trapped under his the lemon in his water. My only complaint is that it took roughly 40 minutes in an otherwise mostly empty restaurant to prepare our meals. Granted 13 is a large group and they did manage to bring them out pretty much all at once, but we wanted to make a 9:10 showing of Wall-E, that we missed.

WND Classics Month

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

June was Wednesday Night Dinner Classics month, an attempt to increase the number of people coming to dinner by going back to old favorites instead of trying out newer, ever more unknown places. I’ve been remiss in my reviewing so I’m going to cover them all now in one fell swoop. The roster:

  1. Pizzeria Regina in the North End, Boston.
  2. Guanachapi’s Restaurant in Waltahm.
  3. East Coast Grill in Inman Square, Cambridge.
  4. All Star Sandwich Bar in Inman Square, Cambridge.

Pizzeria Regina in the North End, Boston

Pizzeria Regina is a Boston based chain, which means we can go there, but we make a point to goto the original one in the north end. it is the kind of place that has pictures of all the famous people that have been there on the wall. At our table was a signed picture by the cast of The Practice and Leonardo DiCaprio. I was unaware that The Practice was set in Boston until the presence of the picture implied it. I was also unable to identify the picture myself, but I was not alone, we had a group of four that night. We got two pizzas, which were good, but not enough to stratify me. I would go back, but I would order more food if I did. We did have room afterwards for some Gelato afterwards. I’m not sure, but I somewhat doubt, if I’ve ever had Gelato before. I took the initiative and ordered first selecting watermelon flavor, which was good, but I should have gone with multiple flavors as it got old after a while.

Guanachapi’s Restaurant in Waltahm

Wednesday Night Dinner rarely ventures out beyond the reaches of the T, in fact, we almost never leave Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, & Somerville. There was one place in Waltham though, that Priam insisted was part of classics month. It is a little hole in the wall, authentic Guatemalan place, complete with soccer and Spanish soap operas on the TV. The food was well prepared and tasty. I got the Pollo Asado, which came with lots of rice. It is generally very difficult to find good latin food in Boston (although not as difficult as BBQ), and this place was certainly above average. Now, I’m still not convinced that it was worth driving all the way to Waltham for, but I did enjoy it.

East Coast Grill in Inman Square, Cambridge

This was an interesting place; a restaurant specializing in BBQ and seafood. All five of us ordered from the BBQ side of the menu. I got an Eastern Carolina style pulled pork dish. It tasted very much as it should with all that vinegar. It actually is the best BBQ I’ve had in Boston if you are comparing to how it is supposed to taste, although; I do prefer the Texan style. As usual in Inman some of us, but not I, got some Christina’s ice cream afterwards, I just drove home.

All Star Sandwich Bar in Inman Square, Cambridge

We apparently really love Inman Square, despite that it is hard to get to. This time I walked, it took less time than expected, only 30 minutes; I’d estimated 45mins. I was quite early, and everyone else was late, we sat down around 8pm. I ordered the Cuban sandwich, which was a good somewhat mustardy hot sandwich with pickles. I don’t like pickles so I asked for it without. I was told that the pickles were not removable; a fact I found hard to image. This leads me to doubt the hand made-ness of the sandwich. If you hand make a sandwich how hard can it be to not put pickles on it. Once I got the sandwich they were easy enough to remove, and it was acceptable. The French fires were excellent, having obviously entered the store as potatoes! They are the best fries in Boston that i have found so far, from my perspective. Unfortunately my negative impression of the rest of the place may prevent me from going back. On my walk back home I called up my parents who told me all about their recent Mediterranean cruise.

Kingston Station

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Well, that last post is pretty lame, so I’m gonna roll this one out pronto. Tonight’s WND was at a surprisingly spacious bar/restaurant near the Financial District. I chose Kingston Station at about 10pm last night. The place was dressed up to look like subway station, with white tiles and a mosaic plaque spelling out the stations name over a doorway. The main bar was loud (as tile does little to absorb sound), but the dining area was spared all of that noise. It was, however, somewhat of an upscale place, for a bar. Just behind our table was seated a group of maybe 16 men who were quite obviously from a law firm. It was also the kind of place that serves Absinthe, apparently legal now. This extended to the value proposition of the food, which was a little less than you’d expect for your money. The dishes were mostly enjoyable despite this.

We’ve been having some difficult over the past five months getting a large group together for dinners and so we’ve decided to go on a recruiting mission. For my part, I hope Kelly and some of her intern friends will join us while they are in town. As part of the recruiting drive we’re going to make June a best of Wednesday Night Dinner month. We’ll select restaurants from the early history of the group, of which some still present members have fond memories. We’ll give them a second shot to impress us for the benefit of the new people, and people like me who weren’t around back then. Sounds like fun. If you’re some stalker in Boston reading this (and I know there are some of you) and you want to come, let me know, and prove you’re not a creep :-)

WND Cookout

Friday, May 16th, 2008

Wednesday Night Dinner this week was a cookout potluck and Aaron and Amber’s place. There was a better than usual showing owing to the draw of ribs and the coincident celebrations. The cookout coincided with Amber’s complementation of Harvard law school and with Paul’s annual departing to Tallahassee. The cookout lasted much longer than a usual dinner. I wasn’t the last one to go and I left at 11. It was a good time. I didn’t manage to get a picture of the ribs, they didn’t last that long. But I did snap some shots some of the other food:

The French fries were my contribution. They are an old standby for potlucks for me. They are good because the unique, eliminating the primary problem with potlucks being duplicated dishes. I start with potatoes and just use a large pot and cheap-o vegetable oil to fry them. They are, however, not easy to make and offer a very short shelf life. They are best eaten within an hour or two of being made, and they don’t reheat well so you have to make them immediately before leaving. They are also very difficult to cook properly. The primary cause here is the difficult of judging the temperature of the oil and wide variance in the size of fries. I would prefer to make large or normal sized fires, but make smaller Steak and Shake style fires is much more reliable. Of course like actual Steak and Shake fries their small size contributes to the short shelf life.

Also, you must be careful to not allow the oil to boil over the side of the pot as you dump in fries. If this occurs you instantly have a large oil fire on your hands. I have made French fries 4 times (including this one) and this is the first time I’ve managed to avoid an oil fire. The irremovable black charing on my stainless steel pot is an ever present reminder of my past attempts. Avoiding oil fires significantly reduces the time required for preparation, and is therefore recommended. I’m sure my former room mates can attest to other reasons to avoid such fires.

ROFLCon Friday Night

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

I eventually worked out a plan with my room mates to go out for drinks in Davis Square. Something we all rarely do. Sriram and a friend of his were on their way back from downtown on the T, and I managed to leave at the perfect time to catch the same train as them, in the same car, without waiting. I am quite impressed with that, maybe too much. But it took a lot of timing and coordination that I actually didn’t even know that I knew.

When we got to Davis they were hungry so we went to crepe place there. I am not a fan of crepes, although the place did smell good. I ran into one of my coworkers there and had to yet again explain what ROFLCon is. That is rather hard, because people don’t seem to be familiar with the term “Internet Meme” and its hard to tell what, if any memes an individual has heard of. We were soon joined by a friend of Srirams friend, who, is doing a PHD on television and video game culture, but hadn’t heard of ROFLCon in time to register. I took some time to steal some free internet from the Boston IFF that was going on in the theater next door to upload some more pictures to flickr. We also checked out a flash game called Magic Pen.

After crepes and Andreas and Claudia joining us we went to Sagra for drinks. This place was great. It was quiet and fancy. Which is may more my thing than a loud noisy bar where we’ll struggle to hear each other and have to stand all night. I was already pretty tired and as countless discussions upon which I could provide no comment went on I longed to go home.

On the way home I finally ran into Randall Munroe on the street! He lives like within a few blocks of me, but I’ve never seen him in the grocery store or walking to the T, or on his electric skateboard. But tonight, with ROFLCon in town I saw him, and a large posse, including Ryan North on my walk home. Literally crossing my street. I clearly recognized them, and asked were they were heading. To which they replied, “This way.” Which, given the obviousness of the answer, I took as “You’re a creep don’t follow us.” I wasn’t really together enough to follow them anyways having already had a 17 hour day. So I didn’t. But it was clear that he didn’t recognize me — damn it. My ROFLCon staff shirt was by now covered by a coat, so that clue wasn’t visible to tip me off as not just some sketchy dude. But it’s not like I haven’t met Randal like for or five times by now, and even shared a dinner plate. But oh well. In retrospect I felt somewhat bad about how the whole exchange went down.

That was pretty much the day day. I went to bed around 1am.

ROFLCon Friday Afternoon

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

I left work around 4pm and headed home and then to ROFLCon itself. Everything at that time was happening in Building 34. After hanging out a bit and realizing that I was going to be much help I went outside, sat down, and opened that flicker account and uploaded my first photos (mostly from Wednesday’s shwag packing event).

Unveiling the Banners 1 Making Bags of Shwag 2

Eventually we packed everything into van signaling the end of the con for the day. I joined the rest of the staff, the firefox, and the Leeroy Jenkins guy for dinner in Central Square. While we were walking to Picante, a burrito place I worked up the nerve to as the Leeroy Jenkis guy (that is not his real name I eventually learned) for what he is famous. He proceeded to give me a first hand account of the World of Warcraft video that made him famous. I think his play by play was even funnier than the video. Dinner was good, this burrito place certainly can compete with Chipotle, and is way more authentic. Also it was slightly cheaper.

Leeroy Jenkins Packing up on Friday

After dinner we walked over to the Middle East, the site of the nights festivities. I ended up not going to the show at the upstairs. It was pretty packed, and having never heard of the bands playing I figured I would let someone else, who cares more, take my spot. Having nothing better to do, however, I stood outside to direct people as to which door to use. The Middle East has a bunch of entrances for different parts, it can be confusing. I saw the G4 crew — from attack of the show I think — film some of their coverage, a staged entrance to the party. I also had a good chat with a member of Anonymous and the webmaster for Group X.

Whats a Hot Blonde Doing Here? Anonymous is Friendly?

No Beer for Chipotle

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

White sign covers the beer menu itmes.

The Davis Square Chipotle opened last fall without a liquor license. As you can see in the above, not so great picture, the beer section of the drink menu is covered up. We have been taking casual odds on when they will actually get a license. According to this article the answer is not soon, if ever.

Chain burrito restaurant Chipotle, Japanese and Korean restaurant Yoshi’s, Italian restaurant Alfresco, Tip Top Tai and Sushi bar/Chinese restaurant Taipei Tokyo are all chasing after the right to sell beer and wine. The city has only two licenses to hand out.

Licensing Commission secretary Joanne Burke said each restaurant made a good case, and they all have a chance of being awarded one of the two licenses, except chain burrito restaurant Chipotle.

The burrito joint does not fit the city’s main criteria for a beer and wine license, Burke said. “They’re a large chain; they’re not a fine dining establishment,” she said.

To be considered a fine dining establishment, Chipotle would have to conform to specific regulations. It would have to be able to seat between 28 and 60, and beer and wine could be served only in conjunction with full wait service, Burke said, “on plates, with cutlery, not on paper with plastic forks.”

I’m pretty sure Chipotle isn’t going to start having full wait service with cutlery and plates anytime soon. Of course, I couldn’t care less weather or not they ever actually sell beer. Unless, it would keep them from closing down. The other week the Davis square store had a free burrito day that the other area stores didn’t have. This, coupled with the fact that they are understaffed (from standard compliment no compared to demand) pretty much all the time, and its not nearly as hard to find a seat in the tiny place than it should be makes me think that they may be in trouble at the Davis store. Luckily there are many others (six) now open in the Boston area.

2008 Boston FIRST Robotics – Sunday

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

EC Coding as a Senior

EC stayed an extra day, taking up the spots on the couch vacated by Rob and Josh as they drove back home on Sunday. It has been a very long time since EC and I talked. She is one of my girls from the team. Pretty much anyone I directly mentored falls into that category, but the more I was able to teach them more I consider them in that group. She was the first, and I probably taught her the most. She was so easy to teach, and so eager to learn. A teacher’s (or mentor’s) dream student. Its just amazing how far she has come. For the uninitiated EC has come to be a pillar of the team. From two years as a student to two years as a mentor and now, already, one year of leading the team. She has come a long way from when I met her, and the team has come with her. This was made clear by her winning of the Woodie Flowers’ Award, which goes to in simple terms, the best mentor at the regional. It has been fun to watch, and I’m very proud of her.

On Sunday after dropping of another my girls, Katie, who had some special return trip circumstances EC and I made our way to a meeting with a CSG and team 677 alum, Mikell who was part of the team running the regional and also won an award. EC was really looking for some direction on how to take the team to the next level and win the highest awards, that have, in the past, felt out of reach. At least from my perspective. Mikell had some excellent advice that I won’t bother you with. Sitting in on the meeting made me want to get back in to volunteering with FIRST, although maybe not on a team. I think I picked up a bit of EC’s wanting-to-be-Mikell virus.

Afterwards EC and I attempted to get a beer and a burger at Harvard Square’s Bartleys’ burgers, but apparently they are closed on Sundays. What kind of hippies run that place I’m not so sure about anymore. So we stumbled upon John Harvard’s Brew House, which had beer, but no burgers. Their microbrews were interesting. Not being a beer person I didn’t like all of them, but the Pale Ale was alright. EC was fond of that and something that was essentially a hybrid between an Irish Red and a Guinness. We talked there engaged for hours, oh how I wish that was a more common occurrence.

It was so great, that I didn’t notice that my dinner group, who came up many times in conversation, was actually coincidentally sitting at the table behind me. Granted, if I had been facing them I would have seen them, but I was not. Carney came over while EC was in the restroom to say hi, I was so surprised. Apparently they had been there for quite a while. They were trying to discern my relationship with the girl across the table, was it a date, was it not, who was this girl. They arrived at the conclusion that she was most likely my sister. Score, that made my week, go WND Group! That is exactly the kind of relationship I strived for with the girls I was mentoring. Although, it did make me a little self conscious that I was talking a little too loud, as have a penchant to do.

2008 Boston FIRST Robotics – Wednesday

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

On Wednesday of last week I got a surprising IM, EC and my former FIRST Robotics team were in town. I expected them Thursday, but they decided to come a day earlier for logistical reasons, and so began a long, hectic, fun week. I left from work to Coolidge Corner (where their hotel was) directly. Coincidentally WND was also in Coolidge that day, which made for easy planning. I went and said hi to EC and Mike who were already at the nearest Radio Shack (of course), but they had eaten, so I went and had dinner with my dinner group at a run of the mill Indian restaurant called Rani. I didn’t think it was as good as India Quality from a few months back.

After dinner I went up and lent a mentoring hand to Tessa with the robot code. Tessa, on her first year programing was doing impressively well, and she had at least one well organized component design team member helping her out. The programing mentor for this year didn’t make the trip, so Tessa has some questions, which I tried to clear up. I wasn’t much help. She fixed it the next day, and it wasn’t anything I said it might be. I was also happy to see echo’s of the methods and design I tough two years ago had been passed down by the girls, and were evident in this years code. I had tired really hard to find an easy, straight froward design to weave together the code the girls were writing. This was for the very purpose that, with a good design (the hard part) laid out the girls could take more ownership of the code, and not have things bog down as they easily could with a bad design. That this is exactly what has happened makes me very happy. More to follow as I have time to write it.