Hard-to-find Foods

For some reason, it has become difficult to find Walker's Shortbread. Trader Joe's in California used to carry it or something similar, and when they quit, I would get it from Cost Plus World Market. We ran out (my British husband loves shortbread!), so I wanted to get more. I checked TJ's. None. Whole Foods? No luck. Harvest Co-op? Nada. So I headed off to Cardullo's.

If you've never been there, Cardullo's is this little gourmet grocery store/deli/wine shop smack dab in the middle of Harvard Square. Although hideously overpriced, they carry a lot of food that is tough to find, including a large selection of British food that is tough to find anywhere else (since Boston doesn't have a Cost Plus World Market... yet). Also, they sell maple sugar candy. I don't think that this can possibly be as hard to find in the northeast as it is in California, but Cardullo's sells it, so I haven't bothered searching hard for it. The other bummer is that you have to pay cash if your purchase is under $10, which is possible if you are only buying one item. (Do they have anything under $6 there? It's questionable. Well, no, the small box of 4 maple syrup candies is about $3.)

Incidentally, the ONLY place I found maple sugar in California was at the Village Cheese Shop in Palo Alto, across the street from Stanford University. And even they didn't always have it. Come to think of it, Cardullo's is very similar to the Village Cheese Shop, which is also a gourmet grocery store/deli, although I think they might not have sold wine. The Village Cheese Shop ended up being a bit of an East Coast ex-patriate grocery store, since not only did they sell maple sugar candy, they also sold Anchor Bar buffalo wing sauce, and were the only place in Northern California (hell, probably all of CA) who did. They also sold Lapsang Soushong tea, which was also hard to find out there.

Anyway, back to Cardullo's. They are incredibly expensive, but way convenient and dammit if they probably don't have what you are looking for, provided what you are looking for is a British packaged food, tea or coffee, some kind of unusual jarred condiment or some kind of gourmet expensive chocolate mixed with a weird ingredient like lavender, or earl gray tea, or bacon. (seriously- Vosges now makes a chocolate bar with bacon bits mixed in. Not as good as the coconut curry chocolate bar.)

I could just make shortbread at home, but my husband's Scottish granny worked at a bakery in her youth and her advice was always "don't make shortbread, just buy it. It's just as good as what you'll make at home, and easier." Thanks for the tip, Granny!

They also sell clotted cream, but weirdly enough, this is much easier to find than Walker's shortbread. Whole Foods and Harvest Co-op both sell clotted cream too. And pastries from my beloved Danish Pastry House.

One of these days I will try a sandwich from there. I don't like sandwiches much, but their options look appealing.

Hey, Presto!

For someone who likes (okay, looooooooves) sugar so much, I am surprisingly lukewarm when it comes to other starchy carbs. I basically avoid potatoes (unless they're mashed), rice (unless it's in rice pudding), and I am not that crazy about pasta, probably due to too much pasta salad growing up and then in college. I like Asian noodles (for some reason, when you make pasta out of rice, I am okay with it), regular Italian food? Take it or leave it. Give me a good steak (minus the frites) and veggies any day.

So when we ended up trying Basta Pasta in Cambridgeport (maybe a 15 minute walk from the Central Square T stop) a few months ago, I wasn't looking forward to it. We were supposed to go to The Similans by Cambridgeside Galleria, but they're closed on Sunday. We ended up at Basta Pasta instead, at the suggestion of our chicken parm aficionado friends.

Surprise! Pasta I actually like! Apparently it is run by Albanians, and if you know anything about that part of the mediterranean, you know that when Albanians leave for a better life, they often end up in Italy (sadly, not always of their own volition; there is a serious problem with human trafficking, and the coast of Italy is only a speedboat ride away, but that's not the case with the owner of Basta Pasta), where he perfected the art of cheap, high quality Italian food. You have to go with the homemade pasta, though- usually the gemelli, and the cheese ravioli. I got the puttanesca sauce with the gemelli, and it was just okay. Let's just say I was set to scare away any vampires that wanted to come cuddle in bed with me that night. Not enough anchovies, and just overwhelming with garlic and spiciness. However, the first time we went, I got the cheese ravioli, and my husband got the bolognese sauce. both of them are great, as is the garlic bread. We haven't tried their pizza, but supposedly it is good. Also, this place is cheap for the quality. It's not exactly a unicorn, but it's not as common as Whole Foods or Dunkin Donuts, either.

You know this place is good b/c it is usually full of cops getting their eat on. If that's not a good recommendation, I don't know what is.

Take-away Curry

Apparently, Central Square in Cambridge is Indian Food Central. I have noticed a few Indian restaurants, but when you actually look them up, man, there are a lot! I walk by India Pavilion every day, and I knew about Shalimar, the Indian grocery store next to Harvest Co-op (and their take-out counter in the back), as well as the possibly-affiliated Shalimar restaurant across the street. But there are several more.

I decided to get Indian for lunch a few days ago, and I was faced with the daunting task of deciding which one to go to. Desi Dhaba? India Pavilion? The other one around the corner?

I decided to head towards the Charles River and go to the take-out counter in India Food and Spices, which is on River St, south of Central Square. I have tried the takeout counter in the back of Shalimar (not the restaurant but the grocery store across Mass Ave.), but it was kind of dirty, and the food was served cold (but microwaved if you desire it). The food was okay, but not good enough to pass up trying a new place.

In contrast, India Food and Spices is at least cleaner (I wouldn't say it's spotless, but it is okay), and the owner doesn't microwave the food for you, and makes the roti right there for you.

The food was quite good, although the portion was small. I think the value here is in the lunch specials, which I didn't get, since I wanted a lamb dish. The lunch values are only available for vegetarian and chicken dishes. Not only do you get the main dish, plus rice and chutney, which is standard with any entree, you also get roti, raita, and pickle. I ordered roti, raita, and pickle separately, but he only gave me the roti (at least I didn't pay for the raita and pickle, though). I also got a mango lassi and a cup of Reena's saffron pistachio ice cream, which is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, the Reena's both here and at Shalimar had a grainy taste to them, like the ice cream had melted and then refrozen. I've had Reena's before (a long time ago, though), and I don't remember it having that texture.

The best part about the meal was the onion chutney that came with my lamb korma. It was to die for! I went back to see if I could just buy a big container of it, but they don't sell it. I got prepackaged commercial frozen cilantro chutney instead, which is actually pretty good. It comes in small cups for convenient serving, and I confess that I ate a cup by myself with no bread or any other dipping starch.