Stellar Stella

With a gentle breeze and low of 60F, Friday was the perfect night to dine al fresco. We took the opportunity to head to Stella in the South End for dinner. We arrived at 7pm and got a table outside promptly.

Stella's patio reminded me of NYC. I thought Stella would be more about the drinks and ambience than the food, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it's both!

We started with the arancini and the prosciutto melon salad. I also got a pear ginger martini. The arancini was delicious, nicely breaded and fried. Yum! I also liked the prosciutto melon salad which was quite unique. It had both watermelon and melon and was drizzled in a balsamic / orange juice sauce? In any case I loved it. Light and refreshing.





For mains we shared the special of the day (seafood risotto), a Quattro Funghi pizza and a rib eye steak with garlic butter. The winner was definitely the pizza. I don't know what it was but everything about it was done right and absolutely delicious. The risotto was ok, I wouldn't say it wasn't flavorful but none of the flavors really stood out? The steak was good.



For dessert we strolled to Aroa Fine Chocolates...to be continued ...

Stella
1525 Washington St
Boston, MA 02118
(617) 247-7747




Chomp Meter:

A good restaurant in my books! I want to try a pasta dish the next time we're there. Also I almost didn't want to blog about Stella because I want to be able to get a table outside as easily the next time :)

One minor nit pick, an annoying thing about the menu is that the slashes used to separate the ingredients make it difficult to read ...

An Evening at Toro

It's been a year since I've last been to Toro. You can't make reservations here so getting there early is key. We arrived at 6pm sharp and the restaurant was already busy but still had tables available.

Toro is owned by Ken Oringer who also runs Clio. The restaurant, in the South End, delivers a modern take on tapas. I always enjoy a trip here. Some of the choices like the foie gras and oysters are decadent but since the portions are small, it makes me feel a little less guilty! Here's what we got:

Atun Crudo: This was sashimi grade yellow fin tuna with citrus and soy. The flavors were really light and refreshing. Perfect for a hot summery evening.

Garlic shrimp: This was only ok for me. I guess I'm not a fan of garlic shrimp.

Foie gras: The portion is small. The foie gras is about the size of 2 quarters or less. Can't expect too much for $12? I thought the ginger gelee was a little overwhelming. Also the fg was cold.

Stew of sea urchin crab meat and lobster: The taste of the tomato was too overpowering. I wish I could taste more of the uni. But that's me. This is dish has gotten raves from friends.

Corn with aged cheese: This is the house special and delicious. Make sure you get a piece with generous topping of blue cheese haha.

Duck with rhubarb: I liked the flavor pairing on this.

Paella: It was ok. Wouldn't get it again and save room for more tapas.

Kobe burger: It was good but not really the religious experience kobe beef should be. Pass.

Fried potatos - Boring, nothing special.

Tripe with chick peas and blood sausage - I liked this! (Disclaimer, I am a tripe lover hehe) The chickpeas are stewed in tomato sauce and tripes with blood sausage. Very filling though.

Roasted eggplant - This was pretty good too!

I also spied some Jamon Iberico on the menu. I read in a WSJ article recently that restaurants in the U.S. will soon be allowed to serve Jamon Iberico de Bellota (where the pigs feed exclusively on acorns)! I wonder if Toro will import some too?

Photo courtesy of WSJ:



Toro
1704 Washington St
Boston, MA 02118
(617) 536-4300
(South End)



Chomp Meter:

A great place to go for drinks and small plates. You get creativity at lower prices. I like!

Green Street - It's on Green Street ...

We were all out of ideas for dinner on Saturday night. Hungry Mother, full, Persephone, closed, Rendezvous, full. Should have made plans earlier huh? We were in the mood for trying something new and of good quality. We finally settled on Green Street in Central Square partly because we were able to get reservations easily for 7pm.

Green Street has pretty good reviews on Yelp and is known for its modern take on comfort food. It's kind of an unexpected place because it looks more like a sketchy bar from the outside. Much nicer inside thankfully.

We started with the chicken livers and oysters. The chicken livers were pretty yummy though I don't see myself going back specially for this. We also shared some beef tongue tacos. They were ok.

Chicken livers for you offal lovers out there ...


The oysters ...


For mains we had the Clams which came with chick peas, ham and rabe. The dish was too salty and rather disappointing. I wanted to eat light and got the gazpacho as my main which was quite refreshing. I especially enjoyed the fresh mangoes which were a nice touch. Got a side of the fried green tomatoes as well but they were nothing to blog about (modern day version of "write home").

Green Street Grill
280 Green Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
(Central Square)
Phone: 617 876 1655



Chomp Meter:
I wanted to like Green Street more because of the rave reviews I've read but none of the dishes we got were particularly fantastic. Perhaps we didn't get the right dishes but I doubt I'd go back unless someone else proposes it as a place to meet.

Leave a comment and let me know what dishes you ordered if you've had a better experience!

<3 Rendezvous!

Rendezvous's been on my list of restaurants to try for a while. I keep hearing about it in the press, blogs, another blog, and from friends. To start off, here's some random Rendevous facts:

- Rendezvous is housed in the former Burger King in Central Square
- Owner Steve Johnson was former co-owner of the Blue Room
- Chef Deepak Kaul was from BU
- They have a cute blog-style website and don't we all love blogs? :)

The meal we had at Rendezvous was one of the best we'd had in a while! It was tough deciding what to get since everything sounded delicious. We eventually settled on the Kumamoto Oysters and Grilled Chicken Livers with apricot, mizuna, and pancetta vinigrette. Mizuna is a japanese mustard green often found in Mesclun salads.

The oysters were fresh and sweet albeit a little small since they were kumamotos. Very delicious and a great way to start off. I like my oysters a little spicey and the horse radish gave them a kick! Yum!



The chicken livers were creamy and went amazingly well with the fresh apricot slices and pancetta. I don't often see chicken liver on the menu and was strangely drawn to it. I think it was the apricot pairing that sealed the deal for us.



For the main course, I got the Swiss Chard Dolmas while the friends got the Grilled Tuna Nicoise, Grilled Leg of Lamb, and the Grilled Pork Tenderloins with figs. I must say that the highlight of the evening was the Grilled Pork Tenderloins. When first presented, we were surprised the the pork didn't seem completely cooked and a little rare. Isn't pork supposed to be cooked for the most part? Pushing thoughts of food poisoning aside however, we ventured to take a bite of the pork and were pleasantly surprised to find that the meat was perfectly tender, juicy and absolutely delicious!!!




The tuna nicoise was another hit. It was perfectly seared and meticulously seasoned with a salt and pepper crust. The saltiness of the crust was balanced by the milder taste of the rare tuna.



I also loved my swiss chard dolmas. Swiss Chard was substituted for grape leaves and bulger for rice. The plump raisins scattered through out the bulgar added a touch of sweetness to the dish, while the roasted pine nuts provided a variety of textures. I did not even feel like I was missing out on the meat since this was a purely vegetarian dish!



The lamb was soo good too! It was mediterranean-influenced and served with roasted eggplant. Wow looks like we hit a home run with Rendezvous that night. I really liked how assorted vegetables and grains were used to accent the main ingredient of the various dishes.



With the amazing meal we had, we had to end off with dessert. Cherry-nectarin clafoutis with lemon verbena ice cream. Clafoutis as we learned from the waiter is fruit soaked in alcohol (wine I think?) and baked.

Warm chocolate cake w/hazelnut pralines & cinnamon cream. Ahhhh the heavenly goodness of chocolate.



See Rendezvous and other foodie finds on a map on Chompster.com

Rendezvous
502 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-576-1900



Chomp Meter:
I can't wait to go back! I enjoyed every bite and felt that it was money well spent at $50 per person (including a bottle of wine). We have to try the remaining 2 desserts on the menu. Oooh and the ceviche, cucumber yogurt soup, and duck! I have to tell everyone how much I like Rendezvous! Two thumbs and one paw up!

Tasca Tapas

I've always wanted to try Tasca but our plans are always foiled by the inabililty to find parking or because of the long wait. Pacman and I finally made it there a couple weeks ago and scored a nice parking spot on Washington street off Comm ave.

Just a quick post on this one. I thought the food was only OK compared to Dali but the prices were much cheaper. Or perhaps we didn't get the right dishes? It was only the 2 of us so we weren't able to sample many plates.

We got the beef cappacio, duck with red cabbage, chorizo in a flakey pastry, egg and potato omelette, and a cod fish dish. The food was good but none of the dishes were spectacular. The duck was too dry though the taste did grow on me after several bites. I think it was the pairing with the cabbage that saved the dish.

From L to R: Duck, Chorizo, Beef Cappacio


Tasca
1612 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA 02135
617 730 8002



Chomp Meter:
Good enough but not a wow. I am unlikely to go back. Come to think of it the quality is similar to Taberna de Haro, though I like the latter better and they have outdoor seating in the summers. My personal favorite is Dali of course. :) Tasca's is a good restaurant to check out if you're in the area and looking for reasonably priced tapas. I wouldn't go out of the way otherwise.

La Casa de Pedro ... es su casa

This restaurant in Watertown serves great Spanish/Venezualan food! Even though this is the only time we've been there, I'm already really liking the place.

Not wanting to battle the crowds in Boston, we decided to head down last Friday evening. I hate circling for parking and liked that we were able to find parking quickly. The place was busy when we got there but it wasn't packed so we were able to get a seat right away. A rather prime seat on the patio if I might add.

We started off with some sangrias which were perfect. Not too alcohlic and not too sweet. For our appetizer, the waiter recommended Arepes with chicken and avocado. There was this glimmer of excitement in his eyes as he described it so of course we had to get it. They were delicious!

We saw another couple (they looked like they knew what they were doing) order the Paella as an appetizer. It was packed with seafood and looked so good that I almost wanted to ask if I could take a photo of it :)

Next came our main courses. The Pedro's Birthday Dish for Pacman. It's really steak, chorizo and blood sausage. Can I say heart attack on a plate? We devoured most of it except for the blood sausage. Perhaps I'm not used to the taste, but it wasn't flavored very well causing my imagination to run wild with thoughts of assorted animal parts! *gulp*



Here's my Kristofer's Camarones Tropical. The shrimp even came in a coconut which was cute. The sauce was delicious as well. Sweet and coconuty. Yum!


And here's a bonus photo of the patio with Pedro himself!




See La Casa de Pedro and other foodie finds on a map at Chompster.com

La Casa de Pedro
343 Arsenal St.
Watertown, MA 02472
Phone: 617.923.8025

(They are now near the Panera Bread in Watertown.)

See their menu



Chomp Meter:
I love this place! Great quality food without the hassle of going into Boston. There's also a good variety of entree's so there's bound to be something for everyone. Possibly one of my favorite Spanish places in Boston.