The Spotted Apron, Beacon Hill

A few weeks ago, I had a day off from work, so I wandered around Boston, exploring areas I don't usually go. I started my day at the Charles/MGH T stop to visit a new bakery, The Spotted Apron.

The bakery is nicely decorated in yellow, khaki and gray. Polka dots are everywhere (even the handpainted dishes), and there are some gorgeous food "portraits" on the walls. Two whole walls are devoted to tall windows, but I still felt comfortably removed from the bustle of the street and the hospital across the way. I could see this as a great place to hang out for hours.


This was just a snack to get my day going, so I didn't try one of their sandwiches or empanadas. I opted for a scone and some fresh mint lemonade (a special).

The lemonade was delicious, not too sweet, with just a hint of mint. The mint sprig on top made it feel extraordinary. I could have had a couple of these.


I also could have had a couple scones. I picked a lemon, cornmeal and dried cherry scone, which was a fine baked good example. It was very moist, and surprisingly not rough from the cornmeal. The cherries were very plump, and the dough had a nice buttery taste. However, it was a tiny scone - about the size of the base of my lemonade glass. I believe the scone was $2 - I would have wanted a little more for the price. What I had just kind of felt like a tease - a delicious tease, but still...

I'd be curious to try more of the menu, especially the more meal-like items. Has anyone else eaten there?

Grille Zone, Allston

Another celebratory meal - lunch with my friend Josh (what was I going to call you on here? JoshB? J.O.S.H.?) in anticipation of the end of the summer/start of school. We both begin new grad programs next week and needed to commiserate before the hectic sets in.

I've met Josh for lunch at UBurger before, since it's so close to my office (and one of my favorite spots). This time, he wanted me to try Grille Zone, located on Comm. Ave. near BU West.

Grille Zone is very similar to UBurger, foodwise. The menus are almost identical (fresh burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, fries), although Grille Zone also offers chicken wings, grilled cheese, and sweet potato fries. (Do you hear that, UBurger? SWEET POTATOES!!)


I opted for a chicken sandwich, for sake of comparison. The chicken breast was cooked perfectly, as it was still very juicy, and it was well seasoned... but the seasoning wasn't as addicting as UBurger's crack chicken. And I'm not crazy about plain yellow mustard, either... I tried to get sweet potato fries, but they ran out the person before me, so I was offered double the regular fries instead. The fries were tasty, but a tad underdone for my tastes - I like 'em crispy!


So the food didn't wow me, but I really like Grille Zone's concept. It's a green restaurant - 0% waste. Every disposable item is compostable, and the trash is collected every other day by a company that adds the waste to a giant compost. By next summer, my plate and napkins and plastic cup will be helping someone's garden flourish - pretty cool, huh? Click the picture above for more details of the project. I'm really impressed by this, and I hope the restaurant is able to thrive while doing this.

So if my office were closer, I might eat here quite often. However, it's a trek from Kenmore Square, so I doubt I'll be back much for lunch.

Publick House, Washington Square

I've been meaning to try the Publick House ever since I moved into the neighborhood. Luckily, my childhood pal, Melody, just moved back to Boston, so she stopped by to see my apartment before heading down the street for a celebratory Welcome Home dinner - and the Publick House was the first place we came to.

The restaurant has great decor - it's like the common room in a small medieval castle. Before I even ate anything, I could see why this place is so popular. It's a really relaxed and cool place to hang out, and we hung out for quite a while without being hassled (but our waitress was easy to catch when we needed something).


I've probably mentioned it before, but I'm not a beer drinker. So it's kind of odd that I ended up at a place with about a million Belgian beers. I was pleased to find that the two cider options they offer were not the regular, but were Original Sin (from Vermont) and Cidre Normandie (from, obviously, France). The menu claimed that the Cidre Normandie was the "best in the world," so it was my obvious choice. After my first sip, I believe my words were "This is the Champagne of ciders." It was pricy, though (I think it cost as much as my meal).


And my meal, wow was it good. I once again only pretended to be healthy by negating my veggie burger with an order of fries.

Now, take a good look at that picture. Click through to enlarge, if you must. What do you see? The burger is GREEN! Know why? Because there are actual VEGETABLES in this veggie burger! I know, it's a novel idea. It was flavorful, fantastic, moist, and... damn, I want another one right now.

I hate veggie burgers that pretend to taste like meat because, as a meat eater, I'd rather just have a real burger (I understand, though, that some vegetarians would want a meat-like burger now and then). This burger had visible pieces of pea and carrot, amongst other vegetables, and it actually tasted fresh.

The fries were delicious Belgian-style, a little thicker with a nice crunch on the outside. They also serve these as an appetizer or as bar food with different dipping sauces, again a traditional move.

The menu is not huge (certainly not as large as the beer menu), but there is a good amount of variety. Lots of traditional pub foods have a slight spin to them, upping their quality. I can't wait to go back and try some more!


Mel, this picture's just for you to laugh at (so comment, damn it!).

In Defense of Caesar Salads

I read this Michael Ruhlman post a few weeks ago, and I've been thinking about it a bit. I agree with much of what he says - that the ubiquitous chicken Caesar is something that is expected to be on a menu, not something that a chef would necessarily choose to serve. I mean, what does it say about the American palate (or psyche, for that matter) that people order "healthy" by ordering the least nutritious green covered in basically garlic-flavored mayo?

But I also agree with Ruhlman that restaurants should be taking the Caesar, obviously popular, and playing with the dish. My favortie Caesar in Boston is at, of all places, a small Tex-Mex chain.

The Border Cafe has branches in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware and Virginia (although for years, I thought the one in Harvard Square was one-of-a-kind). It's been one of my favorite restaurants since my brother and his now-wife took me out for my birthday during middle school. The margaritas and chips saved my sanity during stressful times in college. For years, I would only order the quesadilla or the burros, both basically melty cheese wrapped in a tortilla (which I would push aside in favor of more chips). I don't know when I finally tried the Border's Caesar, but I am now unable to order anything else when I go.

Yes, it still uses Romaine lettuce, virtually devoid of nutrients. Yes, the dressing is sometimes globbed on. And yes, you can order it plain or with grilled chicken. But the dressing has more flavor than just garlic - there's a brightness from lemon that adds a nice amount of zing to the dressing. You can also top the salad with blackened chicken, blackened salmon, or my personal favorite (and pictured above) spicy, sauteed shrimp and crawfish.

I mean, how often do you think to yourself "Today I'm going to have a salad with creole seafood on top!"?

OK, now I'm making myself drool...

I'm not sure if I love this or if it frightens me...

Yo Gabba Gabba is a show on Nickelodeon, a station I loved as a kid. Now, I feel like some of the stuff they show is a little strange...

So I'm not entirely sure what this is saying. Should you let veggies guilt-trip you into eating them? Is food really that excited to get eaten? Didn't the cheese look a little frightened right before he was gobbled down?

By the way, my niece was singing this song all weekend, and it wormed its way into my head. Thought-destroying is the only way I can describe it.

Edit: If that wasn't disturbing enough, there's always this clip from the same show, starring Elijah Wood.

Aquitaine Bis, Chestnut Hill

I haven't seen my parents much this summer, between my moving out and their spending most of the time down the Cape. When I do see them here in town, though, we've been enjoying great meals at places we've never tried before, ostensibly as fuel for this blog (which I think my mom gets a big kick out of). So the other day, they picked me up at work and we headed on our way.

"Let's just drive up Route 9 and see what looks good," my dad said. So we headed down Route 9 in Brookline as I pointed out a few restaurants I had been to recently. Not long after, though, traffic came to a halt - a big section of the street was blocked off by cop cars, and there were ambulances flying past on the wrong side of the divided street. We spent the next hour or so driving through a horrible detour, only to end up about a half a mile down Route 9.

By the time we made it past the detour, we were all starving and in bad need of a restroom. We headed into Chestnut Hill and my mom says "Oh, there's that nice place we had lunch a few weeks ago. Let's just try that." Yes, the car ride defeated us, and instead of braving the road further to see what we could find, we pulled into an unassuming strip mall.


And am I glad we did. I've never been to Aquitaine (Chestnut Hill or South End), but I have of course heard the name many times.

The restaurant was almost empty when we arrived, but it filled up quickly. There was a surprising number of solo diners - nice to see them so at home in their neighborhood restaurant. As soon as we were seated, fresh gougeres were brought out that made me instantly ravenous. Bring on the food!

For my entree, I ordered the seared scallops with sweet corn pudding, arugula and browned butter. The scallops were delicous, if a bit overcooked. The corn pudding, though, was the star - a large piece of very light pastry dough topped with plenty of corn custard. It was smooth, but with some whole kernals, for great texture. I could have used more than 4 leaves of arugula, but then, I'm an arugula hound.



Now, I rarely order dessert when I go out (Restaurant Week is an obvious exception to this). My parents (especially my mother) aren't big on ordering dessert either. So when my mom mentioned that they had had a great tarte Tatin the last time they visited and that she wanted to have it again, I was surprised. Then my dad pointed out the profiteroles (my mother's dessert weakness) on the menu, and we almost had a Sophie's Choice moment. Instead, we went for both (shocking!), and they were delicious. I preferred the tarte Tatin, with its smooth caramel sauce, over the profiteroles, with ice cream that was a little too hard.

An excellent meal, thanks to a little traffic and a good deal of impatience!

Monochromatic Pizza

So what do you do with monochromatic veggies? Make monochromatic pizza!


It was refreshing to have pizza that wasn't heavy or too salty. The vegetables were the star (although the herb dough from Trader Joe's was awesome too), and they tasted fresh and bright.

The trick is to slice all the veggies very thin. As the pizza cooked, it looked like there was too much water, but by the time it was done, the water had mostly evaporated/soaked back in, leaving juicy veggies and a crisp crust.

1 Trader Joe's herb pizza dough
1 medium (or 2 small) eggplant
1 purple pepper
1/3 red onion
2 plum tomatoes
6 Kalamata olives, chopped
olive oil
about 1 cup shredded mozzarella

Stretch dough out on a lightly greased baking sheet. Spray with olive oil. Layer eggplant, pepper, onion, tomato and olives evenly over the dough. Spray lightly with olive oil again, then top with mozzarella. Bake at 450 for 15-18 minutes.