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.

Hidden Gem

I find that Yelp is a helpful resource when it comes to finding tasty food. Thanks to Yelpers, we discovered a hidden treasure in Watertown called the Danish Pastry House. They have a bona fide cafe in Medford (that I have never visited), but the Watertown location, which is where they actually make all the pastries sold both there and at Medford and at various locations around town (like Cafe Andala in Central Square), is tucked into a warehouse in an industrial area of Watertown between Mt. Auburn and Memorial Drive, across a little alleyish street from a building supply place. The Watertown location isn't a cafe; you go in, buy your pastries, and leave.

We have been there many times now, and have tried a lot of different baked goods. We haven't been disappointed yet. My favorite treats are the Kaj frogs, which are marzipan frogs filled with buttercream icing (I like the pistachio ones best), and the cinnamon brioche. They also have great croissants, bread, and cakes. We have tried the chocolate one and the apple frangipane cake, which is more like a coffee cake than a regular cake.

With so many grocery stores bringing in rubbery baked goods that leave the gritty mouthfeel of cheap shortening in your mouth, the Danish Pastry House is a real treat and provides the European flavor that you don't get at some of the other good bakeries in town like Iggy's and Hi-Rise.

Fried everything!

Yesterday we made the hour-long trip out to Ipswich to eat at the Ipswich Clam Box, which was just featured in Gourmet Magazine as one of the best farm-to-table restaurants in the US (along with Henrietta's Table and Rendezvous, both in Cambridge). I had also read about it somewhere very recently, maybe the New York Times, as the only place in the area that changes their oil once a day (no matter how long the line is!).

It was great! The Clam Box is not for the health-conscious. Almost everything on the menu is fried, and what isn't has mayonnaise in it (lobster roll, cole slaw). They do have hamburgers and hot dogs, presumably so you can convince your seafood-hating friends to accompany you there.

It is fall, and the leaves are turning, so the drive there was beautiful and very easy. Coming from California, it seems so strange that you only have to drive for an hour to get into a rural-ish area with lots of trees, big house lots, and not that much development.

We met my seafood-hating sister-in-law and her boyfriend there. My SIL and I teamed up to order, and neither one of us were happy, we decided to order a mini-meal of clams and a mini-meal of oysters, when originally I was going to get a mini-meal of clams and she was going to get the haddock plate. While the clams were DELICIOUS, the oysters were terrible. They were bland and flavorless, while the clams had that briny bite that I so love about shellfish. Then my SIL wasn't so crazy about the clams, so she ate the fries, and I ate the clams and some of the oysters, and we probably both wished that we had gone with our original impulses. My husband got the haddock, which he pronounced "not as good as the Anstruther (the little Scottish town where his grandfather lives that has the best fish-and-chips shop in all of Scotland), but just as good as any random place in London," which is high praise, coming from my husband. It would have been perfect if the fries had been thicker wedges like you get at fish-and-chips shops, but this wasn't a fish-and-chips shop, it was the Clam Box!

So skip the oysters, get the clams or fish, and most of all, don't fear the fry!

Mediocre Japanese

We went to Porter Exchange Mall in Porter Square to eat at the Kotobukiya sushi bar before my husband went to get a haircut at a salon in the neighborhood. It was pretty mediocre sushi, but wow, was it ever cheap. We didn't have a problem getting 2 seats together. We were seduced by the prices and ordered WAY too much, but in general, it was just okay. At one point, my husband looked at me and said, "We're not in California anymore." That's okay- I will take mediocre sushi in exchange for public transportation any day.

While my husband was off to get his haircut, I got a bubble tea at the little stand in the middle of the mall. It was TERRIBLE. The powders weren't well mixed in, so it was too sweet, with a chemical almond taste, plus it was GRITTY. I threw it out after about 3 sips. I later ended up with a blueberry white iced tea with pearls from Tealuxe in Harvard Square. Much better!

East Coast Grill and Raw Bar

We had dinner at East Coast Grill and Raw Bar in Inman Square last night. We went primarily for the oysters; my husband and I have great memories of slurping down a dozen oysters artfully arranged on styrofoam plates by the oyster-mongers at the Washington DC fish market (we learned later that people had actually died of food poisoning from eating oysters there!) and barbecuing probably a hundred oysters (seriously- there were about seven of us, but still) at Tomales Bay in Northern California. My husband doesn't like seafood in general, but he loves him some oysters!

The oysters at East Coast Grill were okay. I am not sure what kind we got because the place was so loud we had a hard time hearing our server. We determined that there were 2 kinds of oysters, though, so we had half a dozen of each kind. One was "brinier" than the other, and we didn't care for that one- it had this metallic aftertaste that was not very pleasant.

Where the place really shines is the entrees. I had the bluefish and my husband had the... striped bass? Monkfish? I can't remember, but both were very good, and the sides were also very good. I got these huge fried sweet potato wedges and balsamic flavored greens that unfortunately were swimming in oil or butter, so I didn't want to eat too much of them. My husband's fish came with a really great side of heirloom tomato salad and really tasty fried artichoke hearts. The artichoke hearts appeared to come from a can because they didn't have much flavor, but the batter was really good, and they weren't greasy but tasty and crispy. I kept picking them off his plate!

We skipped dessert because if we wanted dessert, we would have just gone to Christina's, which is right next door. However, we were too full, so skipped the sweet stuff. Alas, because Christina's is really good!

Nectar of the Gods

While the actual identity of aforementioned "nectar" may vary from person to person, for me, the uber-beverage is tea. Good, strong black tea, with a spoonful of sugar, no milk. It is a rare and bad day when I do not have my morning cup of tea. My favorite type is Lapsang Soushong, which is an intense, strong, smoky tea. Not many people have heard of it, and it can be hard to find, although I have found it at my local Whole Foods (yay!!). Sometimes, when I have ordered it at the rare place that has it, the server will question me to make sure that I have had it before, just because the smokiness is so pungent and surprising. Russian Caravan is another smoky tea that is similar to Lapsang Soushong.

I have started to notice tea places stealthily creep into the domain of the coffee shops. Nestled in amongst the Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and the rare, occasional independent like 1369 Coffee Shop, you now see places like Teavana, Tealuxe, Dado Tea, and Karma Tea (and Yoga Studio).

The tea shops all have one thing in common: they take an Asian/Zen approach to tea. Many of them still offer the "right" kinds of tea for those of us who have a more British sensibility (even if I forgo the milk!). I can only conclude that this retail preference is because when you think of "tea" and "England," what comes to mind is a musty old B&B or tearoom decorated in Laura Ashley floral toile and populated by women reminiscent of Hyacinth Bucket ("boo-KAY") from Keeping Up Appearances. When you think of "tea" and "Asia," what comes to mind? Perhaps it is Buddhism, the Japanese tea ceremony, the endless pots of toasty green tea at sushi restaurants, beautiful flowers in the bottoms of glass teapots... the bottom line is that British style = old and busted (don't tell this to Topshop, though!) and Asian style = the new hotness.

I think that this is why you go in these places like Teavana, Dado, and Karma and see pale sage green or red decor, weighty metal teapots that look slightly squashed, bamboo flooring, and cups without handles. That aesthetic is very calming, and it recalls a very British attitude towards tea- that of a panacea, a calmer in times of trouble, something to relax with a friend or a book or a crossword puzzle over. Tea, whether British or Asian, is a beverage to be savored, not guzzled on the go for a quick shot of energy. When that's what I want, I'll have my tall nonfat vanilla latte, thanks!