Mamma Maria - North End

I know this may be horrific, but I actually never physically went to the North End in the 5-6 years I've lived in the Greater Boston area. And frankly, I'm hating myself for it. I'd heard about many delicious places and of the heavenly cannoli at Mike's Pastries (Separate post coming!) but I have no idea why I never got off my lazy backside to visit.

Anyway, I met a few friends for dinner in the North End at their insistence and figured that this would be a great opportunity to test the waters. One of my coworkers suggested that I try out Mamma Maria so with that handy information, we strode boldly through the doors without even looking at the menu!

The restaurant itself is located right off of Hannover Street, the main thoroughfare in the North End. It's build into a multistory building where each floor has seating in a house-like decor, which was very pretty. Initially, the building feels a little cramped (there's not much in the way of waiting space) but once we got upstairs, the restaurant opened right up.

They served us some fresh bread with olives and a pesto spread, which were excellent while we waited in eager anticipation for the main course. And when it arrived, I couldn't be more surprised with how excellent the meal was. It's on the expensive side, for sure, but I guess I didn't know quite what to expect! Pictures below!

Sorry about the blurriness, it was a little dark and couldn't get great pictures :(

The restaurant itself! Early afternoon

Hand Stuffed lobster ravioli:

Sea Bass w/ veggies:

Seafood Pasta (Cod, scallops, mussels, clams, shrimp in a spicy red sauce):

Fresh Corned Beef in Brookline

Ever since I moved into the Coolidge Corner area, I kept getting recommendations to try Michael's Deli on Harvard Street. Unfortunately, they are not open for dinner hours (10 - 5:30 on weekdays : 9 - 3pm on weekends) so I never really had much of a chance to go (not to mention I keep forgetting to on weekends too). But I finally ended up there a couple weekends ago and had to try their famous Corned Beef sandwich.

Michael's is a very small place, more like a deli counter + a few tables for the occasional diner to quickly down a sandwich for lunch but not much more than that. I asked the sandwich guy what his recommendation was for a first-timer and without batting an eye he suggested the Corned Beef on toasted rye with a generous portion of mustard. About 5 minutes later there was a steaming toasted corned beef sandwich sitting before this foodaholic's very eyes. And about 5 minutes after that, I was comfortably into the lean.

I have to say, I haven't really had corned beef often enough to be able to discern between good and bad, but I thoroughly enjoyed this sandwich and well definitely be back soon.

This is the sandwich itself


Here's Michael's, right past Coolidge Corner on Harvard Street

Hei La Moon in Chinatown

I've been to Hei La Moon multiple times over the past year but had the best experience by far a couple weeks ago with my parents. Hei La Moon, like many other Chinese restaurants in the area, serves Dim Sum as well as the more traditional style lunch/dinner fixings.

The restaurant itself is not actually in Chinatown but about a block away from where the gate is located. There are two floors to the restaurant and I ended up downstairs the last few times I was there. The food, while pretty good, sometimes was a little old (sat around for a while I guess), mainly because I'd been there later in the day (noon-1pm). This past time, I was there around 9:45am and we were seated upstairs. The place was actually pretty empty and the food was super fresh! I think I actually ate more than I should have (which isn't saying much because I always pig out at Dim Sum).

Some of the pictures are posted below :)

I'll try my best to describe some of the dishes, but I mostly know only the Chinese name for them :P

Classic Shrimp Dumplings - a Dim Sum must have:

Tofu skin wrapped around chicken, roast pork, mushroom:

Pork, peanut, radish, and other veggies dumpling:

Tripe:

Pork dumplings:

Rod Dee and a little surprise :P

Been meaning to get around to posting about one of my favorite restaurants in the area and now decided I can't put it off any more. Rod Dee has two locations, one of which is very close in Coolidge Corner. It is generally a take-out/delivery place with a few tables for the occasional visitor to sit in.

That being said, I didn't actually know about this place when I moved into the area. My buddy from Thailand, Dana, raved that this was his favorite Thai restaurant in the Boston area and that had me convinced. Now, I frequent the place at least once a week, craving their Tom Yum Noodle Soup every time!

For a sub $10 meal, you really can't go wrong here...everything is fantastic and they have different specials every day. And as is with most Thai restaurants, just because it's not on the menu doesn't mean they won't make it for you!

The pictures below are of the Tom Yum Noodle Soup. It's my favorite dish there and I've never found anything like it at any other Thai restaurant. Other dishes I end up getting on a regular basis include the Indonesian Fried Rice, Boat Noodle Soup, Pad Kra Pao (Basil chicken over rice), and Kua Gai.



And one last note, I couldn't ask for better friends! They surprised me yesterday with a nice ice cream cake sporting my (according to Jason) trademark phrase! Thanks everyone!

Cafe Mami in Porter Square

One thing about going to school in the area means that one will usually get familiar with the cheap and good eats around the area. Not so in this case. It took me a full 3.5 years before I even set foot in this tiny bistro (And by bistro, I'm being generous :P).

Cafe Mami is a tiny little 15 seat restaurant in what is known as the Porter Exchange in, of course, Porter Square, Cambridge. Anyway, the Exchange houses six different Asian restaurants (mostly Japanese) along with an Asian Grocery store (Again, more catered towards Japanese cuisine), and a Bubble tea stand, among other things.

But onto the food! When I lived in the area, it was common to see me at Cafe Mami close to twice/three times a week, and that's not really stretching the truth that far. I started off craving the Tokyo Hamburger Set but as time passed, I just started ordering the Tatsuta Curry every time.

And I'd always describe the place with a hearty "Soooooooooooooo Gooooooooooooooooooood!" when trying to convince anyone, friend or foe, of the good AND cheap eats available in town.

So here's a couple pictures of the place and the food!


The yummy Tatsuta Curry! Especially good with the egg :P

Somerville Visit

I always find myself in Somerville at least once a month and when I'm there, I always try to make it to a few of my former eateries as a former Tufts grad. One of them makes some of the best pasta in Boston and it just so happens I stopped there on Saturday.



Dave's Fresh Pasta sells, as you may have guessed, fresh pasta! They have about half a dozen or so freshly made ravioli each day that you can purchase at a pretty darn reasonable price. They also stock various cheeses and pre-prepared foods ranging from lasagna to clam chowder. There are wine tasting events monthly (or more than that, I don't quite remember) and the selection is fairly large. And not only that, but they also make fresh sandwiches, rotating about 4-6 different sandwiches of the day, including one of my favorites, the Cuban. And all this is crammed into a small retail space where not an inch of room is wasted.

They're located right outside of Davis Square, along Holland ave going towards Teele Square.

I ended up ordering a sandwich I'd never seen there before, made with flank steak!



It's got flank steak, boursin cheese, caramelized onions, and the obligatory lettuce. Personally, they had me at the flank steak...or was it the onions. Anyway, wolfed that down real quick and off I went to another favorite place.

The Tea Zone is the opposite way away from Davis...going down Elm Street nearly until you hit Wilson Square (or Somerville Avenue). Really small place but has an excellent selection of tea leaves (not the prepacked stuff that you can buy in a grocery store, but the nice fresh stuff!) Ended up picking up a couple pounds of different teas for work (waking up, duh!) and for home (anti-aging :P)