A few months ago, a small restaurant opened in the space shared with Aeronaut Brewing Company in Somerville. Tasting Counter is more of a dinner and a show experience than just a meal.

The diners reserve tickets online, filling out food preferences and either beer, wine, sake or non-alcoholic pairings.

When you arrive, you are seated at one of 16 spaces around an open kitchen. You are greeted by the chefs and watch them start preparing your multi-course meal.

Welcoming Bites:
Smoked paprika thyme puff
Black olive, almond, foie gras
Scallop mousse, cured roe, preserved lemon, sesame crisp

Hake
The hake is cured in avocado oil, sliced thin and served with avocado cream, grapefruit roulade, and smoked sea salt –
the salt crunches in your mouth with each bite, exploding with flavor.

Sea Bream
The fish is marinated in hazelnut oil and paired with fried artichokes, artichoke cream, burgundy truffle, and jerez vinegar – this was my favorite dish!

Tortellini
lobster, pine mushroom, beef broth and lobster foam

Ocean Trout
shallot cream, basil oil surrounding a fermented soybean paste, and orange blossom pearls

Monkfish
with a trio of creams – tomato, fennel, and garlic along with saffron cured salmon roe
the saffron really cuts the salty-fishiness from the roe – something I’ve never encountered before, it was beautiful.

Persimmon Tea
with a pine nut cookie palate cleanser. The cookie was still warm, slightly chewy and delicious.

Miso Cured Duck
with a pear, daikon and celery gelatin, soy cream and celery cream (which blew my mind)

Dry Aged Beef Sirloin Cap
burdock, cilantro, ginger, red curry – the pairing of the pungent, spicy ginger with the beef was wonderful, though this was my least favorite dish

Lime Curd
passionfruit, lime, ginger ice cream, molasses cake, meringue

Bittersweet Chocolate
guava, macadamia nut, candied kumquat, coconut cream

Parting Morsels:
Yuzu chocolate truffle
Strawberry almond cake
Plum lavender chew

Needless to say it was a wonderful night and we will definitely be back!

A few weeks ago I visited Chicago for the first time. I had many things on my list to try including a Chicago-style hot dog and deep dish pizza. But one of the things I was most excited about was going to Girl and the Goat

I tried to make reservations, but the earliest one I could get was 10:30pm on a Tuesday, so we decided to try bar seats instead. Great success!! We arrived at 5 and were promptly seated at the bar. Luckily we got there at 5 because by 5:30 all the bar seats were taken and it looked like a long wait for a table.

The menu is made for sharing and is split into Vegetables, Fish, Meat, Goat, Bread and other small items. We ended up ordering 5 dishes, which was plenty!

Our bartender was amazing! She made me an amazing mocktail and totally hooked us up all night!

We had a hard time deciding between the shishito peppers and the green beans, so our bartender suggested 1/2 portions of each. (Apparently portion sizes are waaay bigger in Chicago than in Boston because each 1/2 portion would have been a normal full size dish)

The dishes come out when they are ready, so we had a steady stream of food for about an hour!

First up, Pan Fried Shishito Peppers with parmesan,​ sesame and miso. I thought the mixture of parmesan and miso would be strange, but it was glorious – the nutty-butteriness of the cheese paired perfectly with the umami miso. And the peppers were charred nicely.

(if you haven’t had shishto peppers, be careful, 1 in 10 peppers are spicy!)

Up next were the Sautéed Green Beans with fish sauce vinaigrette and cashews – I thought these were good, but nothing super special. Kevin didn’t really like them at all. The beans were just a tad overcooked for me and the sauce overwhelmed them.

Our fish course was the Grilled Baby Octopus with guanciale, fava beans,  pea tips, pistachios in a lemon vinaigrette – definitely one of our favorite dishes. The slightly wilted radishes added a spicy note that worked beautifully with the charred octopus.

We had to get something goat, so we went with the Goat Liver Mousse served with blueberry mostarda, pickled rhubarb, bread & butter pickles and fried bread. Wow was this decadent and delicious! If you only order 1 thing here, I highly recommend this dish. It showcases everything Girl and the Goat is about – the mousse was smooth and had just enough goat-ness without too gamey. The accompaniments highlighted different aspects of the goat and the fried bread was a winner!

Our meat course was the Braised Beef Tongue with masa, beef vinaigrette and salsa verde. I was really excited about this dish, but it fell kind of flat. We had to dig for the beef, which was perfectly cooked (when you could find a piece) and it did pair nicely with the pickled onion and salsa verde, but this wasn’t a great dish.

We were all done with our wonderful meal when our bartender brings us a surprise dish – Confit Goat Belly with a vanilla-miso butter, lobster, crab and fennel. I thought we were stuffed, but apparently not because we practically licked the plate clean!

The goat melted in your mouth, and the vanilla butter was a perfect partner to the lobster and crab meat. This dish was AMAZING!

So now I thought we were officially done, but once again, our bartender brought over a small piece of the Miso-Butterscotch Budino (cake) with bacon toffee, glazed pineapple, and candied cashews – a perfect ending to a wonderful meal!

Back when it was still cold out and the streets were covered in snow, we ventured to a new-ish place in Kendall square – Study Restaurant.

I had heard great things about this place, but with only a few reviews on Yelp, I had my reservations. Why are the critics loving it, but people aren’t flocking there?

Right away, the lack of patrons confused me. The atmosphere was lovely, the menu looked great, and the service was friendly.

Study continued to pleasantly surprise me all evening.

I’m always a sucker for sherry (ever since getting hooked on it in Spain on our honeymoon). Study has an amazing sherry list and has a sherry flight – that is how our night started.

They even leave the bottles on your table, so you can review them while you taste!

 The kitchen sent out an amuse bouche of ‘lox & cream cheese on an everything bagel’ cigar – this little bite was amazing! The pearls of cheese paired with trout roe encased in a bagel chip – absolutely perfect.

 Their menu is divided into “Nosh” (small bites), “Light” (medium-sized plates), “Entrees” and “Share” (for 2 people). We ended up getting 2 Noshes, 2 Lights and 1 Entree – more than enough food for 2 people.

Nosh #1: Foie gras – perfectly seared bite of foie gras, served on a jalapeno cornbread over spicy squash puree, topped with cocoa nibs. This bite had everything you need in a bite – fatty, meaty, spicy, savory goodness.

Nosh #2: Chicken heart – wonderfully charred chicken hearts, served with a honey-mustard sauce and crispy chicken skin. The chicken hearts were perfectly cooked and the skin was nice and crunchy, but the sauce was a bit too sweet for me.

Light #1: Sunchoke – served with a yolk, meyer lemon powder, roasted onion and potato chips. A solid dish.

Light #2: Ink Gnocchi – served with grilled squid rings, abalone mushroom, and mango. Probably our least favorite dish. The consistency of the gnocchi was chewy and the squid had little taste. Also, the mango seemed out of place in such a savory dish.

Entree: Duck Breast – served with shaved duck heart, sunflower seed farro, black trumpet mushrooms and pickled enoki mushrooms. This was delicious!

The duck was perfectly cooked and sprinkled with coarse salt that would crunch with every bite, causing an explosion of flavor to rush your tongue. The woodsy black trumpet mushrooms were a lovely complement to the duck and the slightly acidic tang from the pickled enoki mushrooms supplied that missing link. A perfectly executed dish!

Dessert: Coconut ice cream – sounds unassuming, but then it arrives at your table.

It is served in a small fishbowl, with grilled cake, thinly sliced jalapeno and creme anglais in the bowl, then the bowl is topped with a ‘glass ceiling’ of sugar, on which is the coconut ice cream and black sesame seeds. When you shatter the ceiling, the toppings fall and meld with the inside, making this a delectable little dessert – a must have!

From the corner of my eye, I viewed the cheese cart. While we didn’t have a chance to sample it this time, it will definitely be sampled next time!

As if the kitchen wasn’t amazing enough, they send out a little ‘good-bye treat’ with your check – macaroons, French chocolate cookies and salted caramels – yum!

We will absolutely be back!

I am in love with this small, unassuming sushi place in Cambridge, between Harvard and Central Sq. The name is unfortunate, though perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise as it keeps people away

It’s called Cafe Sushi and it’s fantastic!

We’ve been here multiple times but only recently treated ourselves to the Omakase  – chef’s choice.

It is about 18 pieces of fish and very reasonably priced at $85-90 depending on what they have that day. They also offer a sake pairing for $50 which I highly recommend as well.

The night started with edamame and a very interesting green tea:

Genmai-Cha: green tea with roasted brown rice. I was pleasantly surprised by the subtle but prominent notes of the brown rice – a really great pairing to the fish

The chef chooses most of the Omakase fish from the ‘in season’ menu which changes frequently. We ended up trying most of the list

They also have an extensive sake menu, each course gets a glass of sake, about 7 in total (!). They were paired beautifully and thoughtfully with each dish.

Course 1:
Japanese Winter Yellow Tail with kumquat
paired with Dewaturu sake

The nice tart citrus from the kumquat was perfect with the sweetness of the yellow tail.

Course 2:
Japanese Fluke with a small piece of the rudder and scallions
Japanese Striped Jack with lemon, bonito flakes and sea salt
Served with Kanaba sake

Japanese Rudder fish with sea salt
Japanese Sea Bream with lemon and wasabi oil

Course 3:
Japanese Butterfish with finger limes
Local Red fish with miso, wasabi and cucumber (very refreshing)
Paired with Mu sake

Japanese Knife-Jaw Snapper with wasabi leaf
Japanese Barracuda with ginger and scallion

Course 4:
Nantucket Bay Scallops with seaweed and lightly pickled cucmbers
Served with Tentaka Kuni sake

This was probably my least favorite course, though I’m not a huge fan of raw scallops.

Course 4:
Japanese Horse Mackerel
Local Spanish Mackerel with pickled eggplant
– this was my favorite dish! I tend to stay away from mackerel since I usually find it too fishy, but when talking with the sushi chef, I discovered that Spanish mackerel is very different from the others and doesn’t taste fishy at all – it may become my new go-to fish!

Paired with a sake that was great, but I can’t remember for the life of me

Soy-cured Canadian Arctic Char with lime
Machias Maine Hoji-Cha Smoked Salmon with lime zest
– another delightful surprise! Again, I tend to find most smoked salmon to be very fishy (great on bagels with cream cheese, but not so much in sushi). This, however, was perfectly smoked and still had the essence of salmon sushi. 

Course 5:
Japanese Golden-Eye Snapper with wasabi leaf
Japanese Amberjack
Japanese Striped Jack with blood orange (yum!)
– this was a great comparison of different preparations of very similar tasting fish
Paired with Watari sake

Course 6:
Bafun Uni (Maine sea urchin)
– I am a HUGE fan of uni, but I  have to say that I have been underwhelmed by east coast uni, perhaps that’s why I wasn’t thrilled about this one, even though it was very good.
Paired with Ichishima junmai sake

The meal was fantastic! I will definitely be treating myself to this many times over in the very near future.

Cafe Sushi always has the freshest fish and wonderful ingredient pairings that never overpower the subtle flavors of each particular piece of fish.

It is a MUST try! (just don’t tell too many people)

We spent a lovely evening at Bergamot a few weeks back and enjoyed their AMAZING tasting menu.

It is 7 courses for $75/person with optional wine pairing $50/person, which we didn’t do since Kevin is more of a beer guy.

The food was spectacular.

Here is how the night progressed:

We started with home-baked bread and Parmesean Black Pepper Butter

Next was an amuse bouche of Pork Belly Butter with Corn Bread and Orange – YUM! The play of the fatty pork belly and the nice citric acid of the orange was perfect

The first salad was a Beet and Goat Cheese salad with Blueberry Reduction and toasted Hazelnuts

Next came a Squash, Pear and Gouda salad with Apple Butter

Our first warm course was Parsnip Gnocchi, with a Pink Peppercorn sauce, Cranberries, Butternut Squash cubes and Mushrooms.

It’s amazing how well the flavors from every element work so well together. This was a dish I thought about for days afterwards

Next, Smoked Mussels and Yam soup, with Endive Croutons, and Panchetta.

I very  much enjoyed the soup, but I felt the Endive croutons were cold and did not meld well with the warm, creamy soup

Monkfish with Roasted Onion suace and Celery Root puree

Our last entree dish was Steak served with Corona Beans, fried Chicory, Veal jus. The meat was perfectly cooked and the beans were a lovely compliment to the dish

The first dessert was Black Rice Milk and Honey Sorbet – delicious!!

The last dish was a Pineapple Upside-Down cake with Brown Butter Ice Cream, Roasted Sunchokes and Powdered Popcorn – we wanted to lick the plate!

Even if you can’t do the tasting menu, Bergamot has amazing (and affordable) food. They even have a $42 3-course tasting menu every night or you can order a la carte.

They have a small, but well-rounded beer list. Here are the beers we got to accompany our meal:

and

The wine and cocktail menus are great too.

I HIGHLY recommend Bergamot!

We visited East by Northeast 5 years ago when we first moved to Cambridge. At that time we were not super impressed. But over the past year, there has been much talk about this tiny quaint restaurant in Inman Square, so we decided to give it another shot.

The hostess was very friendly and the atmosphere is quiet and inviting. We were seated promptly near the front windows and perused the menu.

The wine and beer selection was nice, as were the interesting cocktails.

We were greeted with an amuse bouche: Cauliflower purée on a homemade cracker with honey

It was just ok. The combination of cauliflower and honey was a bit strange to me.

The menu consists of small plates made to share. They have prix-fixe options or you can order a la carte, which is what we decided to do so we can try multiple dishes. The waitress recommended 3-4 dishes/person.

We ordered a bunch and each came out as it was prepared at a perfect pace. We also ordered a side of their hot sauce – which I HIGHLY recommend as it pairs beautifully with every dish.

CRISPY PORK BELLY BUN with apple, pickled red onion, sweet bean sauce, mantou bread

This was the highlight of the meal. Soft, squishy bread, crispy, fatty pork belly and jsut the right amount of acid from the red onion. They also served it with pickled turmeric cauliflower which was delicious.

SCALLION PANCAKE, smoked pork confit, grilled scallions, plum ginger sauce

I have to say I didn’t like this dish at all. It had a strange formaldehyde smell, it was greasy, not great. It did have the pickled cauliflower and some pickled squash which was good too.

STUFFED PEPPER with curried lamb & rice filling, poblano pepper, toasted coconut sauce, and togarashi

It definitely doesn’t photograph well, but this dish was delightful. The pepper was nicely charred, the lamb was perfectly seasoned and the coconut sauce was great!

MANDARIAN PANCAKE with napa cabbage and egg stuffing with butternut squash mostarda

This was much less greasy than the scallion pancake and had better flavor. The mostarda was a bit sweet but the mustard seeds gave it a nice kick.

BAMBOO LEAF FISH: hake fillet grilled in bamboo leaf, house cured lardo, matsutake mushroom, jasmine tea salt, gremolata

The fish was nicely cooked and the jasmine tea salt was a very tasty and interesting accompaniment. It was very soft and paired well with the fish.

POTSTICKERS: pan fried pork and napa cabbage, smoked tomato jam, black vinegar

I felt the jam was too sweet, but Kevin loved it. The potstickers were fine, but I’ve had much better ones.

ROASTED MUSHROOM STIR FRY: maitake and lobster mushrooms, apple, edamame, black bean sauce, garlicky mustard greens

These were really good. What they don’t mention is the flat noodles, similar to gnocchi, that it is served with. I wish there were more mushrooms, but the apples and edamame were amazing! The crunch and tartness of the apples were a very pleasant surprise. Also, the bright freshness from the scallions lightened the dish and brought it perfect balance.

Our meal ended with complimentary Chocolate Sesame Cookies bites which were fine.

All in all, I would recommend East by Northeast but I don’t know if I would return.

One of the best places to have dinner in Vancouver is down an alley, where a small restuarant sits, unassuming, yet amazing serving cheese and charcuterie – Salt Tasting Room

We started with some drinks while we looked over their extensive cheese, meat and accoutrement selections.

They have a rotating selection of cheeses and meats, so the chalkboard says it all

We talked for a long time with our waitress (Alyssa) – who was wonderful and very knowledgeable, and finally decided on 3 cheeses, 3 meats, some accoutrements. We let her choose the sherry flights to pair with our selections.

Sherry holds a special place in my heart – we were first introduced to this lovely, complex drink while honeymooning in Spain.

She choose AMAZING sherries!

The cheeses:  Camembert (ash-aged), Beemster (aged Gouda), and Cabrales (cave aged blue).

My favorite was the Camembert – though I’m always a sucker for fatty, soft cheeses; it was paired perfectly with the cherries. The Beemster was smooth and was paired with olives, though I didn’t love the combination of flavors on this one. The Cabrales was partnered with honey – yum! salty and sweet always work lovely together!

The meats: Coppa, Argentinain salami (with fennel and spice), and Corned beef.

The favorite here was the salami (though I didn’t love the orange Mostarda jam it was paired with; I felt the fennel was overpowered by the orange). The Coppa was also fatty and delicious, paired nicely with almonds for a great texture change. And the corned beef was predictably paired with a whole-grain mustard, always a great combination.

Their dessert menu was lacking, so we decided to for-go it. But the meal as a whole was fantastic!

Can you tell how happy we are after this amazing meal???

Shiro’s Sushi

If you’ve ever seen the movie “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” and have wanted to go to Tokyo but then realized you can’t, go to Shiro’s! He knows what he is doing! He was trained in Japan and moved to Seattle.

We sat at the sushi bar and each ordered the Omakase (chef’s choice). Basically, you get fed until you say “stop”.  We were absolutely amazed at the quality of fish and the fun little twists the chef put on these bite-sized morsels.

Below is a list of what we had, and a few pictures of our favorites!

Albacore belly, Albacore back

Red snapper

Salmon trio: (1) White (albino) Salmon, (2) Salmon with lemon and sea salt, & (3) Salmon with ponzu sauce.

The salmon with lemon was my favorite; The white salmon was underwhelming – it didn’t have the full, fatty taste of regular salmon.

Tuna Quartet:  Boston Blue fin tuna – (1) Medium fatty tuna, (2) Tuna with  Japanese peppers, (3) Toro & (4) Sake marinated Tuna

Sweet Shrimp, Tempura Shrimp head.

The shrimp was alive (!) just before it was on our plate, it was moving its feelers, eyes and tail. And it was delicious! The tail came raw, and the head was sent to the kitchen to get tempura-battered and fried. YUM!

Yellow tail

Seared Scallop & Geoduck

Geoduck isn’t a duck at all! It’s a very large mollusk, like a big clam.

Uni hand roll – uni from Santa Barbara. The sushi chef called it an “Uni ice cream cone”

I was so very excited for this! (there is a  picture showing my excitement, but it’s so blurry because Kevin was super excited too!) It was great, though I’m mostly a purist when it comes to sushi, so I think straight up uni on sushi rice would have been better. I felt I lost the delicate texture of the uni in the handroll with cucumber.

Mackerel – seared, pickled and served with daikon

Seared Squid tentacles & squid body

Alaskan king crab

Sea Eel & Unagi (fresh water eel)

The difference in flavor between the 2 eels was astonishing! But I’m still a big fan of Unagi.

Dessert: Egg omelet with mountain yam

I’ve never ordered the egg at sushi bars. I always felt they were a cop-out, until I tried this egg. It was silky, strangely sweet and a perfect end to the meal! Shiro may have converted me, though now I will be comparing all other egg omelets to Shiro’s!

I really wanted to get more, but my stomach wasn’t going to let me!

The drinks:

I think any drink complements sushi (except perhaps a heavy red wine), but I always go for sake. I love the clean, crisp, mildly fruity taste that cold sakes have. We got 2 different types:

Sake: filtered and unfiltered

Unfiltered sake was my introduction into the sake world – it’s smooth, fruity and floral. Some have a perfect balance of flavors, and some taste like you’ve bitten into a flower arrangement.

The sakes offered at Shiro’s were perfect.

Definitely the best, straight-up sushi place I have ever been to!!!

We came here to celebrate a birthday and it was amazing!!

Getting a reservation was the tricky – you have to go online at 10am 10 days before the date for dinner or 14 days before for lunch and pray that no one has taken your time slot. They only have 2-3 time slots available for their 16 course lunch and 10-course dinner, with 1, 2, or 4 person reservation options.

The trickiest part is finding the place. It is a nondescript door with a little peach on it.

We got the 8:40 dinner reservation, which was perfect.

They have a strict no-food-picture policy, which was sad for me as I love taking photos of my food, but it made you focus more on each dish and enjoy your time with your dining partner.

Thus there are only a few pictures available, but I will go into GREAT detail describing most dishes. At the end of the meal they give you a menu card with the dishes on it.

The first thing I noticed was how clean and quiet the place was. It is small, about 200 square feet. The kitchen is open, and along the kitchen is a bar, set for the 12 seats they have.

We were promptly welcomed and seated. The host and hostess (Jenna) were wonderful! The pace of food was perfect, not too fast or too slow.

The amuses were: first,  sunflower seed panna cotta with freshly ground black pepper and dill flowers – it was amazing! You could taste every layer of flavor, it was the perfect start to the meal. Next, we got a lobster morsel with Thai flavors – it was good, nothing too exciting. The last amuse was a flaxseed cracker with soft tofu that was lovely and worked really well with the sake I was drinking.

Then the real meal started. Every dish was beautifully crafted. And each chef described the dished perfectly.

I didn’t love the raw scallop, though the tomato-basil liquid was amazing and I wanted to drink from the plate.

Next was my favorite dish of the evening – Slightly cured mackerel with pickled watermelon and a duo of sauces – black sesame and kimchi. Holy crap was that good! I could have had 3 more o them!! I usually hate mackerel, but this dish has totally changed my mind.

The soup dish was a cold honeydew melon soup with raw spot prawn, avocado, cucumber and macadamia nuts. The nuts really made the dish, otherwise I thought it was too sweet and lacked texture.

When the egg came out, I squealed like a little girl and yelled “YES!” I made the hostess (Jenna) laugh from my reaction. I was so excited! I had heard a ton about it and it totally lived up to expectation. It is a 60 degree egg with caviar, house-made potato chips and a vinegar drizzle that cuts through the rich-fatty goodness of the egg yolk.  They also serve it with warm bread and probably the best butter I’ve ever had. It was amazing.

The tortellini was fine, but not great. The halibut was perfectly cooked and delicious. The foie gras was just ok – the pine nut brittle and lychee were strange and the foie gras was cooked, frozen and grated on top which then melted in your mouth – a weird sensation but not totally unpleasant.

The beef was nice, but the puree was a bit tacky for me.

And finally the desserts: (1) celery sorbet (surprisingly delicious and refreshing) paired wonderfully with blueberries, sweet rice and the sake foam; (2) deconstructed carrot cake with white chocolate and slightly picked shaved carrots was a perfect end to the meal.

This place is amazing and I highly recommend it!

(the only bad thing is their wine/beer/sake list which is crazy expensive!)

One last thing – they have AMAZING books in the bathroom! I wanted to spend time in there and flip through all of them! Luckily my partner-in-crime also felt the same way and snapped some photos!