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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.

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.

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.

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 :-)

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.