Following up on yesterday’s Toasts and Bowls post, I wanted to elaborate on our lunch at Island Creek Oyster Bar. We went to the Burlington location for lunch: equally glamorous as the city location but less crowded. Yay, one vote for suburbia!

How beautiful is this mahi-mahi mahi-mahi crudo? ($12) The dish was light, clean and super fresh, served with nuoc cham, cilantro and grapefruit, a perfect summer dish.

Not in the mood for seafood? We tried the ICOB Rigatoni ($13) served with oyster mushrooms, Pecorino and English peas. Equally delicious as their seafood.

Another non seafood item is the Colorado angus burger ($15) served with house cured maple bacon and Cabot cheddar and topped with picked onion and horseradish mayonnaise. The fries were delicious along with the pickled side salad, which was a refreshing change of pace.

Here’s one most look at that lobster toast – with a perfect fried egg on top. If you’re looking to save a few dollars, head over to ICOB for lunch instead of dinner. The prices are more reasonable and the food is just as tasty! In fact, that’s a good rule of thumb for most restaurants.

Island Creek Oyster Bar

300 District Avenue, Burlington, MA

www.islandcreekoysterbar.com

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Not currently on their menu, but they made it for us anyway – the lobster toast from Island Creek Oyster bar. They said that the price of lobster has gone up and that is why they removed the item from the menu. Bummer This was so decadent – a heaping pile of lobster served with a perfect fried egg on top. Such salty goodness, we couldn’t resist! We headed over to the Burlington location for this toast, stay tuned this week to see what else we had!

Island Creek Oyster Bar 300 District Ave., Burlington, MA and 500 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA

The Met Bar and Grill has locations in Natick and Dedham. I swear there is avocado under that pillowy cloud of shaved Parmesan cheese. The avocado is served smashed on a seeded seven grain bread, and topped with burrata and chili flakes, and then topped with Parmesan ($12). I’m thinking that the cheese cancels out the avocado in this dish, but if I’m going to have avocado toast, this is the way I want it!

The MET Bar and Grill Natick Collection 1245 Worcester Road, Natick, MA and 400 Legacy Place, Dedham, MA

Poke City, located in Cambridge, offers Hawaiian poke, a raw fish salad dish. This fast casual eatery allows you to pick your base and your toppings, Chipotle style. Stay tuned this week for an in depth post about our lunch there.

Poke City 1722 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA

Porto is Jody Adams’ newest restaurant, with co owners Eric Papachristos and Sean Griffing – the All Star team behind Trade. Porto offers Mediterranean inspired dishes with an emphasis on seafood. We headed out there for lunch one afternoon and tried the grilled avocado toast. I love the way the grilled avocado came out. They have certainly elevated the avocado toast game – it comes topped with ricotta, red pepper and these super addictive honey pistachios.

The Anson Mills farro verde grain bowl wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I ended up loving it. The eggplant was superb and it came with broccoli, pomegranate and a perfect soft egg. They also serve a campanelle bowl with braised tomato, meyer lemon and bottarga and a monkfish stew with mussels, ramp aioli and fried squid.

Porto Ring Road, Boston, MA

Not to be missed it VERTS, a fast casual Mediterranean grill restaurant that is taking the city by storm. With two locations, one in Back Bay and the other downtown on Summer Street, they already have a third location in the works.

Here at VERTS, you pick your base, add a protein and choose your toppings. See my previous post about them here.

VERTS 545 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

After having brunch at Club Passim (see previous post here) we decided try our hand at making the BKK Street Bread at home. Super simple to make: 1 stick of butter and 4 Tablespoons of sugar. It makes 8 pieces of bread. Soften butter and add sugar. Spread onto bread and grill in hot pan until browned.

Club Passim 47 Palmer Street, Cambridge, MA

What is your favorite toast or bowl around the city?

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