May 26, 2014 Macaron Cafe
Back from a recent trip to New York, I received a box of macarons as a gift.
How cute is this flavor card? Macaron Cafe has 3 locations: MacarOn Café’s flagship store is located on 750 Third Avenue (between 46th & 47th St.), a second location at 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues, and third location at 36th Street between Broadway and 7th Avenue.
Macarons are $2.50 each, a box of 6 for $14, a box of 12 for $27 and a box of 24 for $53.
(L-R, clockwise) The white chocolate, pistachio, vanilla, peanut butter, nutella, and wedding almond. The almond tasted a little fake to me, like if you were using imitation almond extract. The nutella was very rich, the vanilla was tasty, the white chocolate seemed sinful and the pistachio lacked a flavor I had hoped for. Overall tasty macarons with some good flavors. They were very fresh and had that nice crunch in the shell when you took your first bite. I would certainly go back and try other flavors next time I’m in the city.
What is your favorite macaron flavor?
Macaron Cafe
750 Third Ave, New York, NY
May 23, 2014 Meltkraft
Located in the back of the Reading Terminal Market, is Valley Shepherd Creamery’s Meltkraft. They have a second location in Brooklyn. Valley Shepherd Creamery milks over 700 dairy animals in Long Valley, NJ. They handcraft small batches of farmstead cheese from their sheep, goat and cow milk. The cheese ages for 3-24 months and is not distributed or sold to big name stores.
All the online reviews say to try the Valley Thunder, and that’s exactly what I try ($8.75). Their own sharp cheddar cheese, brisket and mac and cheese (and they asked if I wanted to add bacon to it (which I did – how can you not?)).
Check them out making the Brielle ($7.75) brie, cranberry chutney, caramelized onions and pine nuts.
Holy hell was this sandwich a home run – everything melded together really well in this sandwich – the mac and cheese was a nice touch. Wishing (and yet, at the same time not) that there was one of these in Boston!
Where’s your favorite spot to grab a grilled cheese?
Meltkraft
Reading Terminal Market -12th and Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
http://valleyshepherd.com/meltkraft
Tags: casual eating, grilled cheese, restaurant
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May 22, 2014 Lillian’s Smokin Rack Barbecue
I had seen the BBQ truck around the Greenway and caught up with them on City Hall Plaza one afternoon.
Lilian Wang was born and raised in Texas, and came to Boston for college. Missing the food, she decided to start her own line of bbq rubs and sauces.
The cornbread side is really a cornbread muffin, and it was delicious – really moist paired well with the pork.
We grabbed a slider and a cup of chowder for $7.99. A slider by itself is $3.99 which my coworker paired with a cornbread side ($2). The pulled pork was so tender and flavorful and the slider was just the perfect size for lunch.
I wouldn’t have thought that homemade clam chowder could be this good from a BBQ truck – but boy was I wrong. I LOVE this clam chowder, lighter than the traditional chowder, with tons of clams and potatoes – and a really nice smoky flavor with pieces of bacon! Awesome food on this truck, and quick, friendly service! I placed my order and had my food in under 4 minutes! I can’t wait to go back and have more chowder!
Lillian’s Smokin Rack BBQ
Locations vary.
http://www.liliansmokinrackbbq.com/
Tags: bbq, casual dining, financial district, food truck
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- Posted under Food Trucks
May 21, 2014 Jane G’s
On our last night in Philly we were looking for some good old fashioned Chinese food. Jane G’s was right pretty close to the hotel. Jane Guo opened this restaurant in 2012, her second restaurant in Philly.
The restaurant was getting busier and busier as the night went on – there were a few large parties celebrating occasions tonight. We sat at a table close to the front door, which proved to be a bit chilly on this cool night.
Looking to warm up, we started with the wonton soup, served family style.
The pork, leek and shrimp dumplings did not disappoint ($6).
Crispy rice with chicken ($14) is sweet and sour red sauce with vegetables and exotic mushroom poured over crackling rice cakes. I really loved this dish – the rice cakes were delicious (a little chewy and a little crispy).
General Tso’s honey walnut chicken ($15) was chicken with sweet plum sauce, broccoli and candied walnuts – a nice classic dish.
The Sichuan string beans were tasty, but I think at that point, our eyes were bigger than our stomachs…we couldn’t finish all the food on the table!
Jane G’s
1930 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
http://www.janegsrestaurant.com/
Make a reservation with Open Table here.
Tags: casual dining, chinese, philadelphia, restaurant
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May 20, 2014 Oyster House
On our second night in Philly we stopped over at the Oyster House for dinner, our concierge at the hotel was able to make us a reservation.
There wasn’t really a place to wait for our table as the bar area was packed – they have nightly happy hour specials ($1 oysters in the bar area). The noise level here is pretty loud, not sure it would be a great place for older people or those who are looking to have important conversations.
The only have one non seafood item on the menu, a burger. They have a great raw bar selection if that’s what you’re into.
Feeling like a cocktail with dinner, I have the pamplemousse ($10) sparkling wine, ransom old tom gin, grapefruit vanilla cordial. Really light and delicious – not too girly.
I start with the clam chowder ($6.50) that is really quite delicious – a really nice amount of clams.
For my main meal I have the lobster roll, Connecticut style served warm with butter (we also had one with mayo – New England style). There was a ton of lobster and it was sweet and buttery.
We had a late lunch and this was an early dinner, so we also had the mache salad ($8) . An interesting salad with some nice warm spices – quite lovely actually.
A peanut butter pie with a cookie crust was just what the dr ordered for dessert.
We also had a chocolate pie with a savory crust that was tasty, but not as delicious as the peanut butter pie.
Oyster House
1516 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA
http://www.oysterhousephilly.com/
Tags: casual dining, happy hour, philadelphia, restaurant, seafood
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- Posted under Restaurants
May 19, 2014 Commonwealth
Chef Nookie Postal was at the New England Food Expo and ever since then, he has been all over my radar. Commonwealth, located in Kendall Square, is a market – restaurant hybrid. You can go in for a family style meal and pick up a gallon of milk on your way out. They sell fresh produce, jams, cheese and my favorite, ice cream. Check out his Kickstarter video here. I saw Chef Nookie post the labels of his new flavors on Instagram and I was instantly hooked (and his proper breakdown of a peep photo had me laughing!) So I run down after work to Cambridge (they have validated parking!) and picked up 4 pints. Check out the tweet:
Follow Chef Nookie on Twitter – he’s pretty amusing.
Easter Basket ice cream, chopped up peeps, mini Cadbury eggs and jelly beans.
There were all kinds of textures going on here, and I think I got all of the black and purple jelly beans in my pint, but the Cadbury eggs really made this ice cream.
I love the name.
So this one had more cake than ice cream, which I liked. The big chunks of cream cheese were a little weird for me, but that didn’t stop me and my co-workers from devouring this pint.
Of course I had to get vanilla, a classic.
And to cleanse the palate, the lemon lime sorbet was a tart and refreshing choice. Stop in to Commonwealth to try any (or all) of the rotating seasonal ice cream flavors!
Commonwealth
11 Broad Canal Way, Cambridge, MA
http://commonwealthcambridge.com/
Make a reservation with Open Table
Tags: cambridge, casual dining, ice cream, restaurant, take out
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May 16, 2014 Amada
On our first night in Philly we decided to hit up Amada, a great tapas restaurant. There is a front and back room, and they couldn’t feel more like a contrasted – the front room is warm and light and the back room is a little darker, a little more romantic.
We opted to go with a bunch of small plates to share.
We start with a lovely cheese plate ( 3 cheeses for $15) that included an aged machego with truffled lavender honey that was just delicious.
(L-R) We had the almejas con chorizo – a dish with clams and sausage ($11) that was in a nice spicy broth; the patatas bravas ($5) potatoes with a paprkia sauce; the lamb chops a la plancha (from the grill) ($18); and the gambas al ajillo ($9), shrimps in a garlic butter sauce.
We also had the chicken brochettes ($6). All the dishes were amazing, lots of bold flavors. We were full but in a good way, the food wasn’t too heavy.
The tarta de queso – a cheesecake with meyer lemon sorbet and a shortbread cookie ($9) which was my favorite dessert of the three. It was reach and creamy and the lemon sorbet was so tart and refreshing.
The pastel de chocolate, chocolate cake with sherry caramel and pistachio ice cream ($9). The cake was rich and I loved the pistachio ice cream.
The bunuelos are fresh doughnuts with date jam and date and olive ice cream ($9). Amazing! the service here was really top notch, our server was well educated on all the plates and made some good suggestions. We would certainly recommend Amada to anyone who is headed to Philly.
Amada
217 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
http://philadelphia.amadarestaurant.com/
Reserve a table with Open Table.
Tags: casual dining, philadelphia, restaurant, tapas
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May 15, 2014 Meet Your Maker: Bon Me Blue Truck
This is the second part to the “Meet Your Maker” series. See my first post about the Bon Me orange truck here.
Last Saturday, I tracked down the Bon Me truck in Harvard Square. They sit outside of the science center – you have to walk through Harvard yard to get there.
They have a great area with tables and chairs right next to where the food trucks park.
…and some more unconventional seating.
There are three picnic style tables with some cover to keep you cool on a hot day. So it was the ladies on Saturday, holding down the truck!
Meet Manager Phi Lang!
Thee fun facts about Phi:
- She hasn’t gone a day without eating Bon Me since she started almost a year ago!
- Her adopted sister Megan is also a trucker for Bon Me.
- Her current crush is Bob Belcher. Her current hero is Tina Belcher.
When I asked what she would be doing if she wasn’t working on the Bon Me truck, she said she would be back in school, but elementary school, like Billy Madison.
Phi said that her favorite part about working on the truck is getting to know the customers. Prepping the same food every day is only fun because she knows people look forward to it!
Phi’s favorite menu item is the miso pork sandwich with jalapenos…washed down with a chocolate rice pudding! Or maybe the tea egg? Or the spicy ginger lemonade?
Meet Isabella Tassinari! She has been on the truck for a little over 2 months.
Thee fun things about Isabella:
- She is graduating from BU this week! (GO TERRIERS!)
- Her shoes are a size 2 1/2
- She has a soft spot for obese cats (who doesn’t?!?)
If she wasn’t working on the Bon Me truck she would most likely be lounging in her bed, eating ice cream while trying to get a job working at a film festival.
The best parts about working on the truck are the meals and her coworkers, both of which are consistently awesome.
Her favorite meal? She love, love, loves the chocolate rice pudding and the deviled tea eggs – she could eat them all day long!
Meet Catherine Aust! She’s an environmental studies major at Northeastern.
Three fun things about Catherine:
- She was born and raised in Alabama (but doesn’t have a southern accent).
- She worked on an organic farm in Costa Rica for 6 months.
- She is planning a long backpacking trip through Southeast Asia next year and is probably most excited about the food!
Q: If I didn’t work on the Bon Me truck, I would be _______
A: Homeless (gotta pay the rent somehow!)
Catherine has been working on the truck since January and says the best part about working on the truck is the fast paced work environment! She also loves working with such fresh and delicious ingredients.
Her favorite menu item is definitely a vegetarian tofu sandwich with extra, extra spicy mayo!
After chatting with the girls, we grab a bite to eat and relax!
We get a thai basil limeade (left) and an iced green tea (with no sweeteners!) – both delish on this humid day.
Check out the pulled pork udon noodle salad with the toasted sesame dressing! I love all the crunch in this dish – the onions, the sprouts and the pickled carrots!
And as a fun surprise, the Harvard alumni jazz band played a concert while we were there!
Check out all of the Bon Me food trucks! Locations on their website. And check out their Noodle Stop, open Friday nights and all day Saturday.
Bon Me
Tags: cambridge, food truck, harvard square, meet your maker, restaurant
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May 14, 2014 4th Street Cookie Company
Famous 4th Street Cookie Company is located in the Reading Terminal Market, and is cranking out cookies to tons of tourists on a daily basis. The white chocolate macadamia nut cookie was probably my favorite.
The butter almond cookies lacked a little bit of flavor for me. I was hoping for a really nice strong almond paste flavor, and this fell a bit short.
The chocolate covered chocolate chip cookie is only available in store. While it was a little messy to eat, it was a sweet mid day snack. All the other varieties are available online and are shipped all across the country. All cookies are baked and shipped the same day for maximum freshness. Pick one of their preselected assortments or make your own custom assortment.
The Famous 4th Street Cookie Company
51 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA
Tags: cookies, dessert, philadephia
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- Posted under Stores, Trips
May 14, 2014 Philadelphia Zoo
The Philadelphia zoo is America’s first zoo, opening its gates on July 1, 1874. Back then the zoo had 813 animals, and today it is home to over 1,300 rare and endangered species.
You can visit the zoo rain or shine as there are many things to see indoors as well.
Adult tickets are $20 and children ages 2-11 are $18.
They needed to get rid of their penguin exhibit as they have a fox problem – they decided to close the exhibit for the safety of the animals.
The zoo offers pony rides and the chance to pet some familiar barnyard animals.
The zoo is currently constructing their big cat crossing, a 330ft overhead mesh passageway that will allow large cats to roam and explore. The project is expected to be completed May 10th.
Peacocks are allowed to roam freely – check out their amazing colors!
If you’re planning on doing a bunch of tourist activities, you may want to look into the City Pass, the zoo is included and you can skip the lines.
It’s not easy to grab a cab when you are leaving the zoo, but ask in the gift shop and they are happy to call you one. It is about a 10-15 minute drive from city center.
Philadelphia Zoo
3400 W Girard Ave, Philadelphia, PA
http://www.philadelphiazoo.org
Tags: philadelphia, zoo
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- Posted under Trips
