February 22, 2010 La Brioche Bakery (Vermont)
La Brioche is the New England Culinary School’s bakery. Students come in an prepare foods to be sold here (students also work the counter). The website says that they arrive at 4am to start making pastries. We got the apple strudel, the raspberry twist and the lemon poppy scone. The restaurant also serves sandwiches at lunchtime. There were a few other people there when we arrived, it wasn’t crowded. You order at the counter where all your choices are nicely displayed behind a glass case, and you seat yourself at one of maybe 10 tables. There isn’t very much else on Main Street. It sort of had this old time feel to the area. There is a place called the Skinny Pancake next door that is a creperie if you wanted another option. There is metered parking right out front so if you’re getting take out, you can run in and run out.
The lemon poppy seed scone was dense but moist, definitely a sit in the bottom of your stomach. It has a nice lemon flavor but could perhaps stand to have some sort of topping added on it to make it moister. The raspberry twist was flakey and moist but it could have used more filling inside. Lastly, the apple strudel was good once you got through all the flakey dough on the outside. Once you got to the cinnamon apple inside it was delicious.
LA BRIOCHE
89 Main Street
Montpelier, Vermont
802.229.0443
http://www.necidining.com/la-brioche
Sunday 8:00am-2:00pm
Monday – Friday 6:30am to 6:00pm
Saturday 7:00am to 6:00pm
Tags: bakery, restaurant
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February 22, 2010 Lake Champlain Chocolates (Vermont)
We stopped off at the Lake Champlain Chocolate store as we headed into the town of Stowe. It sells hot drinks, chocolate bars and pre made boxes as well as chocolates from the case. The best part is that they sell factory seconds here. They don’t look perfect but they taste just as good.
The peanut butter cups are amazing. A layer of chocolate, a layer of PB, and another layer of chocolate. It’s the grownup version of the reeses.
The organic 38% cacao milk chocolate with sea salt and almonds: I can see the almonds, and hear them crunch when I bite into the square, but I can’t really taste them. You get a mild taste of chocolate and then BAM are hit with the sea salt. It tastes like you just gargled with salt water!
The organic milk bar with 34% cacao. Yum. Smooth and wonderful. Here’s the chocolate taste I was missing in the sea salt bar!
The 5 star hazelnut: One word. Heavenly. I’m thinking that its going to be a hard piece of chocolate and I’m going to break my teeth trying to bite into it. It’s a little bigger than a fun size candy bar, 1.8 oz of chocolately goodness. It has a lighter center the consistency of whipped chocolate (not like a 3 musketeers bar) with praline and hazelnuts. The hazelnut taste is the star and who doesn’t love a crispy crunchy texture!
The 5 star caramel: caramel and nuts, who can resist? The caramel is rich and thick-you have to work at it to take a bite. The almonds are fabulous with it!
So just behind the building is the Cabot annex. They sell all their cheeses as well as other Vermont items such as maple syrup, cheese from other parts of VT, pepperoni, aprons etc. They also have a sample table where you can try all the cheese that they sell. What gets me is that you can buy cabot cheese at the market, and the prices are about the same at the annex, yet people go bonkers at this place…
Lake Champlain Chocolates
www.lakechamplainchocolates.com
| Chocolatier and Café | |||
| Conveniently located on Route 100 between Stowe and Waterbury, you’ll find our full selection of chocolates, a hot chocolate café, Vermont souvenirs, and plenty of factory seconds. | |||
| Route 100, Cabot Annex, Waterbury, VT 05677 802-241-4150 You might also want to stop over to the factory in Burlington, it’s only about 35-40 minutes away.
|
February 21, 2010 Solstice (Vermont)
So, I wish that I had pictures to show you all of the good things that we ate here, but frankly, I would have been embarrassed. Solstice is located in the Stowe Mountain Lodge Hotel. You drive up the mountain and come up to this giant wooden ski castle. It would be hard not to be impressed. They have complimentary valet service as there is no place to park. We enter into a beautiful lobby. They have a fireplace and tons of comfortable chairs to sit in. You go up to the second level and they have a great bar area and tables where you can have a lighter dinner. The restaurant has high ceilings and modern accents, tiled columns, walls of slate, two story book cases with glassware showcased in them. There is an open kitchen and a fireplace in the corner. The restaurant has a hum to it but at the same time is cozy.
As we were looking over the menu, the couple behind us was visited by the executive chef-they greeted each other as though they were friends. At other restaurants where the chef has come out to my table I feel like it’s for show. It’s like when the manager comes over and asks if the food is ok. Here though, it’s different. Maybe there is something in the Vermont water, but people here are just so darn friendly. It’s a weird phenomenon. I feel it in places like when I go down south or walk into an LL Bean store. The chef had a conversation with the other couple and was on his way back to the kitchen. As he walked by our table, he glanced and then backtracked a few steps to have a quick chat with us. He gave us a hearty handshake and it felt like he was genuinely interested in helping us choose something off the menu. He said the pork belly was a must and the rib eye steak was great. I find that when I come to Vermont, it feels like there is a secret club business’ are a part of. People like to buy local, support local business’ etc. I like that. And everything is super fresh. The chef said that they get the beef from a farm just over the hill-when they say fresh, they aren’t messing around. So things are good so far and we haven’t even ordered yet.
Denise, our waiter, comes over and greets us. She is friendly and really helpful with the menu. She recites the specials from memory (I like her already) and is knowledgeable about everything on the menu (none of this-let me check if we can do this or let me check with the chef business). She tells us that the menu changes frequently. In fact, when we looked on the website when we were decided if we were going to go there, the menu was completely different. So we start with the cheese plate. $4 per cheese or 6 for $20. We get the 2 year old cheddar, the triple cream-like a brie, the oma (it was a soft cheese, but we didn’t care for it) and the Ascutney Mountain Cheese (Denise had said it was a MUST-it was a hard cheese with a wonderful nutty flavor to it). The plate comes with a slice each of the cheeses, some wonderful bread, home made cranberry chutney (wonderfully sweet-reminded me of Thanksgiving!!) and Vermont honey with lavender. All of the cheeses are from local farms and they are stated on the menu. I love that. Haven’t you been to a restaurant and loved something and wondered what it was and where you could get it? Denise said that all the cheese could be bought at the local organic market. Score! I know where I’m off to next.
So the bread comes, a piece each-no basket. Denise says that the butter is from Vermont Cheese and Butter, a wonderful sea salted butter. Yum. The butter comes in this cute dish with a silver dome over it. Too cute.
So I get the lobster risotto ($28) and my dining companion gets the ribeye ($31) with truffled mac sand cheese on the side. I love risotto. I don’t have the patience to make it myself at home, I like someone else to do the work. Yum. Good amount of lobster and the risotto is rich and creamy, complete perfection. It is served in a simple square bowl with some balsamic vinegar on the bottom and micro greens on top. The steak was cooked medium, came with a mountain of crispy onion strings on top, and was finished off with what was like pureed mashed potatoes and edamame. It was so juicy and moist on the inside, cooked to perfection, just the right amount of saltiness with a great grilled crust on the outside. the presentation of both dishes was wonderful. The truffled mac and cheese ($5) was also tasty. It was creamy but not soupy, cheesey but not overwhelmingly so.
Dessert. We are so full from our dinner that we can’t possibly have it. But we have to have something. As much as I would like the chocolate triple bypass (I overheard that it was some sort of cake, a layer of chocolate ganache, salty caramel, and a merengue on top) we opt for the trio of ice cream and sorbet. Tonight it is banana ice cream, pistachio crunch ice cream and strawberry mango sorbet. We opt for the vanilla instead of the banana. The vanilla is smooth and creamy with a wonderful pure vanilla taste. The pistachio was also thick and creamy, lots of salty pistachios and who knew what the crunch part was but it was great! And the strawberry mango sorbet was a great addition, light and wonderful, and it cleansed our palette.
And with our bill came these two wonderful chocolates from a local shop in town (laughing moon chocolates) which I’m sure that we will head over to at some point. By the end of dinner I was ready to go home, put my elastic waist pants on and lounge on the couch for the rest of the night, knowing that in this wonderful meal I have now consumed my entire weeks quota of calories.
Overall-one of the best places I have eaten. It was a great meal which was made even better by the excellent service.
Solstice at Stowe Mountain Lodge
7412 Mountain Road
Stowe, VT 05672
(802) 760-4735
Hours of Operation: Breakfast: Friday-Sunday: 7:00am – 10:00am
Lunch: Friday-Sunday: 11:30am – 2:30pm
Dinner: Wednesday-Sunday: 5:30pm – 10:00pm Between the dates of June 19th – September 30th our hours will change: Breakfast: Monday-Sunday: 7:00am – 10:00am
Dinner: Monday-Sunday: 5:30pm – 10:00pm
Tags: fine dining, restaurant
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February 21, 2010 Verrill Farm
In my opinion, Verrill Farm makes one of THE best apple pies I’ve ever had. I have been going to Verrill Farm for about the last 10 years. In 2008 they had a fire and I didn’t know what I was going to do for a time. They set up a temporary space where they sold their goods until their new store was ready. The new place looks great!
Verrill Farm is like an indoor farmers market. I love these kinds of places, they have fresh produce, home made baked goods and great specialty items. One of my other favorite places is Russo’s in Watertown, MA. Verrill has great produce, I love the heirloom tomatoes. Apple pies are a hot commodity. They are best when right out of the oven! During the holiday time make sure to get them early because they go fast.
So let’s get down to it. The pie has a great crust, a staple to any great pie. The apples are tart and firm (this past time it tasted like there might be some red delicious apples in there). The topping is a great crumb mixture, sweet and sugary! (and it covers the whole pie-nothing worse than when you only get clumps of topping here and there!) When I make my own pies, I must admit I don’t make the crumb topping, which was why I was surprised that I loved this pie so much. I’m a purist, I like my apple pies straight, nothing else added. On occasion when they’re out, I have been known to buy apple with blackberries, desperate times call for desperate measures people. They also have other great flavors, cherry, pecan, strawberry rhubarb, and a mixed berry. The pies are seasonal. Pies come in 2 sizes, I usually go for the 10″ larger size for $14.95. They have a 8″ pie that I believe is somewhere in the $10 neighborhood. They also have a nice selection of cookies, cakes and sweet treats in their bakery.
They have a great prepared food section and cases full of specialty food. They carry Capone pasta which I love (try the mushroom tortellini). They have a wide selection of cheeses and meats. They even carry Lake Champlain chocolate!
Besides the fact that they have great food, the thing I love the most about Verrill Farm is that they are part of the community. They offer cooking classes for kids during school vacation weeks, they have tons of festivals that families can go to (asparagus festival, strawberry festival, pancake breakfasts, tomato and corn festival etc.)
So go and check them out, support your local business, just stay away from my apple pie!
They have their own blog, check it out!
Verrill Farm
11 Wheeler Road
Concord, MA 01742
(978) 369-4494
OPEN DAILY – COME VISIT US!
9:00 AM – 7:00 PM
(5:00 PM Sundays Jan, Feb & March)
Closed on some holidays
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February 21, 2010 Simon Pearce (Vermont)
So if you can’t afford to buy a set of glasses, at $55 a glass, a nice alternative to shopping is lunch! Located at the Mill in Quechee, Simon Pearce offers picturesque views to it’s diners and shoppers. We arrive at 1:45pm and have a 30 minute wait. We look around, go downstairs to see the glass blowing demos and check out the observation deck that overlooks the falls.
We are greeted by Dawn, our waitress and we are given a nice bread plate. I’m a huge fan of good bread plates. In the down economy, bread plates were one of the things that restaurants cut back on. I love the one at Stephanie’s on Newbury. So Simon Pearce has two kinds of bread. A grainy, slightly dense brown bread and a white bread that is shaped in bite sized pieces. They also have good butter. I also love good butter, sweet and salty that you just want to put it on everything. We order the cheddar soup that we have heard so much about. ($5) It is smooth and creamy, not too heavy and is pure silky goodness. Unlike chowders with the same consistency, this cheddar soup warms you up but don’t sit in the bottom of your stomach. We then order the chicken pot pie ($14) which was a special on the menu and the special quiche of the day which was a crab, dill and caper($14). The food comes with a side salad, you can add on blue cheese crumbles or goats cheese for a small additional fee ($2). The pot pie doesn’t look thick. That’s my pet peeve. I don’t like soupy chili and I don’t like light chowder, I like the things that are supposed to be thick and creamy to be just that. I am surprised when I try it though, yes I have been proven wrong. The sauce is delicious and creamy and they don’t skimp on the chicken. The biscuit is wonderfully light and flakey. The quiche was better than expected. There was a last minute change to the menu that day. It was supposed to be applewood smoked bacon and onions. The capers took over the dish but it was light and fluffy. A lot of quiches can be dense and heavy-making you want to take a 32 hour nap afterwards. This one had a great crust-it might have even been the best part. Golden, flakey and light. The salad was greens with a vinaigrette dressing that was nothing to write home about. I got mine with goat cheese but then when I tried it, I remembered that I don’t really like goat cheese. We decided to split the dessert special, a lemon cake with home made raspberry sauce and peach sorbet ($8). Sounds like all the flavors together could have been a train wreck but they weren’t. I always like to try the specials at restaurants that I am dining for the first time at. Specials are just that, the chef found something great at the local market and decided to put it on the menu. So the cake comes out. The waitress had the kitchen split the cake so we each have our own share. The cake is a little on the dry side, but has a nice hint of lemon. It also has this great sugar crust on the outside. The raspberry sauce is the star of the dish. The flavor is intense and there is no shortage of it. The sorbet is wonderful. It cleanses the palette.
I think that a lot of restaurants that have great views or have some sort of gimmick don’t necessarily have to have good food. Restaurants with a great view don’t necessarily have to have good food because they bank on the view to keep the customers coming back. Chocolate desserts are the most popular with customers, so restaurants don’t have to try hard to make them delicious. This place, it has a great view (which might be better in the summer time when the open up the large windows), good service and the food is delicious.I highly recommend a stop in if you get the chance.
The Simon Pearce Restaurant is located at 1760 Quechee Main Street in the
Historic Mill in Quechee, Vermont.
802.295.1470
http://www.simonpearce.com/category/restaurants/quechee.do
Serving Daily
Lunch: 11:30am-2:45pm; Dinner: 6-9pm; Sunday Brunch: 11am-2:45pm
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February 20, 2010 Tashi Delek (Brookline)
If I asked any of my friends if they wanted to go out for Tibetan food, I’m pretty sure they’d look at me like I was crazy-they’d say “we’re daring…not that daring!” Me, I’ve been here twice and love it!
As I have stated before, I love Chronicle. I saw this place featured on it one day and decided to try it out. Chronicle said to try the dumplings and the stinky tofu. One out of two isn’t bad. I generally don’t like to eat foods with the word ‘stinky’ attached to them.
Wikipedia says, “Tashi means auspicious and Delek (or Deleg, Deleh) means fine or well. It is difficult and perhaps impossible to translate properly into English. Different authors render it as “Blessings and good luck” or “May all auspicious signs come to this environment”.
This time we did take out, last time I dined in. The restaurant is small but cozy. The service is excellent and the food is filling! The dumplings: You can get an appetizer of 4 ($6.50) or a meal of 8 ($15). You can get one of 4 varieties, but your best best is the sampler (2 of each kind) for $17. The dumplings have a lot of dough but the insides are deliciously flavorful. I like the sha mo mo the best, the meat filled dumplings with garlic, onions and cabbage. Think pan fried raviolis without all the heavy grease. We also got the chicken fried rice. The rice is nicely spiced with pepper to give it a little kick. The chicken was a little bit on the dry side, but it was still delicious. We also got the shey thuk ngol pa (pan fried noodles with soup and salad for $15-not pictured). Think chicken lo-mein without all the grease. It came with a good helping of salad and miso soup. I highly recommend checking this place out if you’re in the mood for something new! They have a lunch buffet that is priced right at $7.95-I’ll save that for next time.
Tashi Delek
236 Washington Street Brookline, MA
HOURS:
Mon.- Sat. 11:30am-2:30pm
Full menu available for lunch
Lunch Buffet = $7.95
Saturday Buffet = $9.95
Dinner:
Mon. – Sat. 5:00pm-10:00pm
Closed on SUNDAY
Tags: closed, restaurant, tibetan
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February 20, 2010 Nordstrom’s Cafe Bistro
This visit to the Cafe Bistro was much better than the last time. We sat in a sunny booth near the window. We arrived at about 1:15pm and it was crowded-and loud! The booth was very clean, you can bet that I was going to inspect every inch after last time.
So I ordered the shrimp and asparagus risotto. The risotto was cooked perfectly and had a wonderful parmesan flavor to it. It was so rich that a little goes a long way. The shrimp were a little too well done for my liking but had a nice lemon taste to them. The asparagus looked like it had been cooked three days ago-it was wrinkled and droopy with no bite to it.
I noticed on my way out that they sell their salad dressings there. They had the cherry vinaigrette for $4.95. I will be back to buy it by the case-load!
On a final note, just something I was thinking about: If you are going to have people who bring food to tables, and you (the patron) are supposed to leave a tip, why do you have to order yourself at the cashier? Why not just have the waiters take your order too?
Update: March 2010
I had the chef’s special, the fried oxtail ravioli ($12.95) , “crispy fried raviolis served with caramelized brussel sprouts and a parmesan-havarti custard”. So the brussel sprouts were delicious. I can’t make them at home, they just never come out right, so these were a wonderful treat, perfectly cooked. The raviolis were too much dough, not enough filling. Basically I ended up pulling the outside crusts off and eating the middles. The crust was just too dry and tasteless. The meat mixture inside would have been good if there were enough of it for me to taste it. Wasn’t wowed by this dish, so maybe I’ll just stick to the blue cheese and pear salad I love so much.
Tags: casual, restaurant
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February 17, 2010 Berryline
I love Pinkberry. I first had it in New York City a few years ago. Here’s the idea: “Why does Pinkberry taste so delicious?
Our frozen yogurt recipe is top secret, but our Swirly Goodness is made with real nonfat milk and real nonfat yogurt that has been certified by the National Yogurt Association to carry the Live & Active Cultures seal. Our hand-crafted flavors, daily cut fresh fruit toppings and carefully selected dry toppings are specifically designed to harmonize with Pinkberry frozen yogurt, offering an incomparably refreshing, light and craveable taste.” It has 100 calories per 1/2 cup. Who doesn’t love that?
So when I found Berryline in Boston, I was so excited! It is modeled after Pinkberry. Berryline has no fat and is 25 calories per ounce. (Ingredients: skim milk, yogurt, cane sugar, emulsifiers & stabilizers, flavors as needed) It was voted Best of the New by the Boston Globe Magazine in 2008 and was written up by the Harvard Crimson newspaper.
Pinkberry’s original yogurt is available all the time. Note: it is NOT vanilla. It has a tangy sweet taste to it. They also have two other rotating flavors. You can check the website to see what they are, they vary by location. Today’s Fenway flavors were tiramisu and pistachio. All the flavors have that sweet/tangy after taste like the original does, which can make the flavors not taste true to form. If you are thinking that the pistachio Berryline is going to taste like pistachio ice cream you will be disappointed. They have tons of toppings: fresh fruit (strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, blueberry, banana, blackberry and mango), nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans), and other choices (chocolate chips, graham crackers, white chocolate chips, fruity pebbles, toffee, reeses pieces, waffle cone, graham cracker and mochi).
The Harvard Square location has a few stools and tables to sit on, but most of the time, in the warm weather, people just sit on the curb outside. The Fenway location has even fewer seats, I think there are 2 tables. Make sure to get a frequent buyer card-they’re free, buy 10 yogurts and get one free. A small (5 oz.) is $2.75, a medium (8 oz.) is $3.40, a large (12 oz.) is $4.90 and a pint (16 oz.) is $5.40. One topping is $1, two toppings are $1.60, and three toppings are $2.
My personal favorite is original with strawberries and white chocolate chips. The pistachio was good but it didn’t have a strong pistachio taste (as shown above:pistachio paired with graham cracker and waffle cone). Other choices are/have been rose, taza chocolate, pumpkin, apple pie, guava, green tea, peanut butter, banana, and caramel.
Berryline
FENWAY
1377 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02215
(617) 236-0082
Sunday to Thursday: 12PM-11PM
Friday to Saturday: 12PM-12AM
PORTER SQUARE
1668 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 492-3555
Sun-Wed: Noon-11pm
Thurs-Sat: Noon-12am
HARVARD SQUARE
3 Arrow Street Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 868-3500
Sun-Wed: Noon-11pm
Thurs-Sat: Noon-12am
Tags: ice cream
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February 17, 2010 Whole Foods follow up
So I made a great recipe that I saw on Rachel Ray with the ricotta gnocchi from Whole Foods. I haven’t found many places that have ricotta gnocchi, which I usually prefer to its potato counterpart. I copied the recipe below. I changed the recipe slightly. I left out the onions and the wine, and used skim milk. It was delicious. It tasted just like spinach and artichoke dip.
Spinach and Artichoke Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- Salt
- 1 pound semolina or whole wheat penne
- 2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 cups milk
- Freshly grated nutmeg, about 1/4 teaspoon or to taste
- 1 10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and wrung dry in a kitchen towel
- 1 10-ounce box frozen chopped artichokes, defrosted and wrung dry in a kitchen towel
- Black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups shredded Italian Fontina cheese, plus additional for sprinkling on top
- 1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, plus additional for sprinkling on top
Yields: 4 servings
Preparation
Bring a large pot of water to a boil for pasta, salt water and cook pasta to al dente.
While the pasta water comes to a boil, place a medium pot over medium-low heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons, and the butter. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook the veggies until very soft, about 10 minutes. Then heat the broiler and position rack in the middle of the oven.
Turn the heat up to medium-high and sprinkle the flour into the pan. Cook for about 1 minute then whisk the wine into the pan, cooking for another minute to burn off the alcohol. Whisk the milk into the pan and bring up to a bubble. Add the nutmeg, spinach, artichokes, salt and pepper to the sauce and simmer until thickened and vegetables are warmed through, 2-3 minutes more. Add 1 cup of each of the cheeses to the sauce and stir until melted.
Toss the prepared sauce with the cooked pasta and transfer to a casserole dish. Sprinkle some more Fontina and Parmigiano over the top and bake until the cheese has melted and the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.
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February 17, 2010 Michael’s Tailor Shop
There are a few things that every girl needs to look her best. A good hairstylist, a good esthetician, a good cobbler (the shoe variety-not the fruit variety! ) and a good tailor. I’ve got three out of four so that’s not bad. Anyone who knows of a great shoe cobbler, let me know!
I’ve been going to see Michael for about 5 years now. He’s out west in the Natick/Framingham area, but he’s totally worth it. He recognizes me every time I go in and he’s always friendly and upbeat. He genuinely appreciates my business (and tells me every time).
Anyone can hem a pair of pants. I used to work in retail years ago and I marked off more pants to be hemmed than I care to remember. Michael is the real deal, a real craftsman. I was there just the other day and watched him take in a suit 6 sizes too big (the guy said it was a nice suit and a great deal-so what if it wasn’t in his size? That’s why he has Michael).
I’m on the short, 5’4″, so it’s hard to find a pair of pants that fit well. I can never just buy a pair off the rack. Michael shortens all my pants (and puts the original hem back on) and makes each pair look like they were custom made. He is the resident tailor for Jos A Bank and works with many of the stores in the Natick Collection. He has a steady stream of business but if I need something rushed, he accommodates me. I highly recommend Michael’s work.
Michael is located right on Route 9, in the same shopping plaza as Legal Seafood and Jos A Bank. Enter in the side door near the paint ball store.
Michael’s Tailor Shop
60 Worcester Road Framingham, MA 01702-5312 – (508) 650-1885
Closed on Sundays
Mon-Fri 10am-8pm; Sat 10am-5:30pm
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