Cheap Eats: Oggi Gourmet

Surrounded by Harvard University offices in the Holyoke Center Arcade, Oggi Gourmet offers a change of pace... and taste. Oggi serves up fresh pizzas, salads, and sandwichs in a hip and comfortable atmosphere. A variety of tables spill out into the concourse, where the wide windows let in plenty of light, and the chairs are comfortable enough for leisurely lounging over your meal.

At first look, Oggi seems like a regular pizza joint - you can watch one of the cooks in the open kitchen as he works dough into a perfect circle before topping it with sauce and cheese. The pizza is delicious and extremely fresh. A basic tomato, basil, and garlic slice ($2.50) screams of bright tomato and earthy garlic, with just a hint of spice. The unexpected sesame seeds on the crust were an added bonus, lending a nutty flavor to the sauceless, cheeseless crust.

Oggi's menu is not all pizza, though. Burgers, pressed sandwiches, and salads abound. Bostonist enjoyed the pan-seared baby brie salad ($6.75), with a large chunk of grilled brie topping a huge mound of mixed greens and cherry tomatoes. It is served with a balsamic vinaigrette and toasted bread, perfect for enjoying every last scrap of cheese.

Make sure you save room for a cookie ($1.25), though. They're huge and come in unusual flavors, like butter pecan and chocolate coffee.

Another plus about Oggi? It looks like the employees enjoy working there. They joke around with each other and with the customers, making for an even more inviting and relaxing atmosphere.

Originally posted at Bostonist.

Boston Tea Stop, Harvard Square

Let me preface this post by saying I know very little about boba tea - only what I like. I tend to favor more floral flavors, and I can't stomach an entire serving of the little black tapioca pearls. When I first tried the stuff during college, the pearls were too rubbery, and all I could taste was a fake-sweet fruitiness that turned me off.

Luckily, it didn't take me too long to find some better places for bubble tea. During college, it was Tapicha in Porter Exchange - I would walk over to Porter Square on nice days to grab a lychee tea with half pearls/half coconut jelly.

Not too long after, Boston Tea Stop opened in Harvard Square (first by where the busses sit before starting their routes, now on JFK St, across from the Staples). I was enamored by their name and their quirky version of the MBTA's train map done with tea flavors instead of stations (this used to be on their website, which no longer exists). And then, I found out they stock rose-flavoring, and I was in love.


So my standard order at Boston Tea Stop is a black tea with rose flower and half pearls/half lychee jelly. They have so many choices that it can be hard to decide, but I hate to waver from my favorite. They offer teas in black or green, with or without milk, hot or cold or frozen. In addition to the bubble teas, they also serve dumplings (which I haven't tried, but about which I've heard good things) and a wide variety of mochi ice cream (or flesh balls, as my friend April termed them).

Sadly, I'm not in Harvard Square very often, but when I am, I try to fit in a visit to Boston Tea Stop.

How do you order your bubble tea?

Better Than Most of the Food Network

Cutest. Child. Ever.

I think I learned more from this video than from some of the stuff on TV.



**Thanks to 10Thirty for pointing this out.

Fake Meat, Soy-Free

Meat, particularly lamb, plays a pretty big part of Armenian cuisine. Roast lamb, kebabs, as the topping on lehmajun, and in it's most primitive form, as kheyma.

Kheyma consists mainly of raw, ground lamb and softened bulghur wheat, with plenty of parsley and onion in there for flavoring. My brothers still talk about watching the old men at our church in the 1970's, hairy elbows-deep in the kheyma as they mixed it for a picnic or bazaar. It's a very traditional dish, but it can be hard to come by in today's world, where raw meat is not usually the first choice for dinner. Personally, it's not my first choice either.

Surprisingly, there is a meat-free alternative that tastes pretty similar to the real thing (even better, I think). It's a really simple recipe, and the hardest part is just making sure all the ingredients are chopped up fine enough. Just make sure that all of your friends or family eat it at the same time - there is a LOT of onion in there.

Mock Kheyma

• 1 cup fine bulghur wheat
  
• 3 cups Hunt's tomato sauce (my mother assures me that it MUST be Hunt's, but any sauce that's pretty much just tomato puree should do)
  
• 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
  
• 1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
  
• 1 bunch parsley, minced
  
• 1 lemon, juiced
  
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (olive oil is too strong a flavor)
  
• dash of cayenne pepper

Mix bulghur with tomato sauce and let it soak. Add chopped vegetables, lemon juice, oil, and cayenne, and mix well. Cover and refrigerate overnight for flavors to blend. Serve with crackers or parag hatz.

Half Way There!

It's been less than 3 months, and my Bruegger's mug is half way* to paying for itself. I'm actually surprise at the stats: 34 coffees, 11 teas, 6 lemonades, and only one diet Coke! I suppose, though, that I've been out (sick, on vacation, or at my internship) quite a bit, and that's all cut into my coffee consumption - plus, there's no Bruegger's near my apartment, so it's a weekday-only thing for me. And apparently I've been better at my resolve not to drink as much soda than I thought I had been!

I'm still not a fan of the physical mug, though. It's much too narrow, so you get less coffee per serving (forget about anything with ice - then it's only a few sips) and it's a bitch to clean. Does anyone have the drink card instead of the mug?

*If you include the free dozen bagels per month, I'm actually at 68%, but I didn't buy the mug for that, so I'm not including it in my totals.

Restaurant Week: Rocca

I went to my last Restaurant Week dinner on Friday night with friends at Rocca in the South End. I arrived wicked early and ended up spending plenty of time in the bar, where my roommate and I spent about an hour discussing how there were too many shades of gold going on in the decor. The drinks, however, were much better than the clashing golds - the Scandalo al Sole is like a margarita with the sharp bite of ginger beer, and the Vino Francesca is a rose wine infused with sage, lemon, and honey, which all blend together to form a very unique flavor.


What grabbed me about the Rocca RW menu online was the farinata appetizer. I love farinata (and the similar socca), crispy pancakes made with chickpea flour that are popular in southern France and all of Italy, especially in Liguria (Rocca is focused on Ligurian cuisine). This version was delicious - thicker than I expected, but crispy on both sides and slightly creamy in the middle. And while I'm not a big mushroom fan, the mushrooms incorporated into the batter were tender and flavorful. The farinata was paired with spicy arugula tossed in a bright and lemony vinaigrette for a very well-rounded taste. Yum!


For my main meal, I really wanted beef, so the options were hanger steak or short ribs. Since I had also been craving tender and slow-cooked meat, I had to go with the ribs. They were just what I wanted - rich and tender and meaty and delicious. The dish was served with polenta, brussel sprouts, and a horseradish gremolata. The polenta was perfect - creamy with butter and just a bit of cheese. The gremolata was tasty, but there wasn't much horseradish flavor there. The brussel sprouts were a big loss for the dish; they were undercooked and rather forgettable. Overall, though, the dish was very satisfying and filling (and warm, perfect for a night with 50+ mph winds).


As with the rest of the menu, dessert included some unique and fresh ingredients that sounded delicious. I opted for the pine nut custard tart with fresh figs. The tart was very good, especially the custard. It was served with whip cream that I thought must have included some egg whites; it was too stiff to have been only cream. I really enjoyed the tart, but it was very rich - I could have used a smaller slice.

As a note, I've read a lot of complaints about the temperature of food in the second floor dining room after its trip from the basement kitchen. I had no issue with this and was quite happy with the temperature of my dishes.

Overall, the food at Rocca was very good. I would gladly go again, especially to try the handmade pasta. It is, unfortunately, very out of the way for me, but the free parking at the restaurant is a big help (so at least I can go with friends with cars).

Have a Gooey Easter!

Besides the religious meaning of the holiday, Easter is known for its candy. Peeps have unfortunately made the move to become year-round treats, while many other candies only dress up in pastel colors for the holiday. But Cadbury makes a whole line of egg-shaped goodies that are only available at this time of year. My personal favorite are the mini eggs with their sugary coating and velvety chocolate interior. I've never been a big fan of the Cadbury Creme Eggs.

Until now.


I'm still not interested in the too-sweet filling inside the eggs, but I think this marketing campaign is brilliant. YouTube is filled with videos of suicidal chocolate eggs coming up with new and creative ways to off themselves. The most dramatic, though, is the mass suicide finale:



But nothing made me laugh as hard as the alternate to that scene. I think it's the music that really makes it.



All of the videos, as well as games and some hilarious pictures, are available at the Creme Eggs website.

So Happy Easter, and try not to get too sick off all that candy.