Restaurant Review: The Friendly Toast

Sometimes all you want is a pancake. A delicious, deceptively light, sweet but not in a cloying way, and topped with something syrupy or creamy is what you need. In the colder months, which in Boston means anytime between October and April, a sweet pancake with a cup of hot chocolate is what I want and although there a plenty of options of a great stack of hotcakes, one of my most recent favorites is The Friendly Toast.

One of my good friends, let's call her H, was my Friendly Toast buddy at my last outing. It was a cold winter night, blustery winds, and drifts of snow, ice and rain caked the sidewalk causing the 10 minute walk from the Subway entrance at Kendall Square to be a bit of a challenge. But I knew what would await us at the end of our walk, a delicious dinner with their Pumpkin Pancake for dessert.

The restaurant itself is the very definition of kitsch. Every nook and cranny is filled with posters, toys, furniture, and other bric-a-brac from the 50's and 60's. The colors are insanely bright and the room itself is a sea of Formica. It's the type of place where those who sincerely love kitsch and those who ironically love kitsch converge. Our waiter/host for that evening was a skinny kid with long blond hair with a bandanna tied around his head like he was a very young Axel Rose. It was a slow night and we definitely appreciated his relaxed yet efficient demeanor.

As a disclaimer, I've been to the Friendly Toast 4 times, twice at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire outpost and twice at the Cambridge outpost. All four times, I've gotten their pumpkin pancake and all four times, I've gobbled it up as if I'll never live to eat another pancake again. It's a thing of beauty, full of pumpkin spices and studded with Raisinets just shy of melting, every bite is heavenly. Then, to top it all off with whipped cream, why that just makes me smile and drool just thinking about it.

Luckily, the menu is pretty vast and comprehensive and you can order everything from a Tofu Scramble (my personal fave is Kate's Tofu Scramble as it's a great combo sweet corn, salty feta, earth mushrooms, and creamy melted provolone), to decent sized salads. While all of their breakfast items I've sampled have been hits, their lunch options have been more miss. A Chorizo Burrito is way overstuffed with mashed potatoes and I noticed at another table, their burger arrived a little charred. My recommendation is to stick with the breakfast as it is their bread and butter, which is also quite good too (definitely try the anadama or the cheddar-cayenne).

The Friendly Toast is a gem of a restaurant and worth braving the weekend crowds for. Though, in my opinion, night time is my preferred time to go, after all, who doesn't like breakfast for dinner?

Memories of a Chinese New Year

Growing up as a 1st generation Chinese-American son, I constantly felt the push and pull of trying to adapt to the American culture while my parents would innocently and lovingly cling to their Asian ways, especially when it came to food. I remember going to elementary school with baloney sandwiches with lychee jelly as a snack and having all of my classmates be alternatively fascinated and repulsed by the strange milky white jiggly substance that was, in my mother's opinion, just as good as a cookie or a brownie.

Another distinct memory came when I was part of a little league soccer team. On one of our club activities, we had a big BBQ and I remember every parent was responsible for bringing a side dish to go along with the burgers and hot dogs the coach would grill at a park near our elementary school. I secretly hoped and prayed that my mom would make something normal and American, a dish that belonged to the salad family. Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, Tuna Salad, Jello Salad, I didn't care as long as it wasn't super Asian-y. But, to my horror, my mom made Spam Fried Rice and brought it to the BBQ. Even though everybody at the picnic enjoyed my mom's Fried Rice (truth be told, my mom is a master at Fried Rice), I felt as if it was one more glaring reminder that yes, I am Chinese and not American.

The one true Chinese holiday that I did enjoy was always Chinese New Year's. Basically, for my extended family and I, it was a night of firecrackers, dancing dragons, and utter gluttony. My mom would prepare a Chinese meal at home with a requisite set number of dishes, usually 5 or 8 depending on how ambitious she was, including an egg dumpling soup that to this day makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Then, we would head over to my aunt and uncle's then Chinese restaurant for yet another sumptuous banquet that included everything from giant platters of dumplings where every 10th one hid a dime in it (thus ensuring that our dentists would always remain in business), fried lobster with ginger and scallion, roast duck, whole steamed fish, and on and on. Then, after dinner, all the kids would have free reign of the restaurant where we would play epic games of hide and seek and parking lot football.

Around midnight, we would all gather in the courtyard of the restaurant and light firecrackers and ring in the new Chinese Year. The best part, we would get to skip school the next day to sleep in.

Now that I'm older, my husband convinced me to keep some sort of tradition alive so every year we hold a small Chinese New Year party. Although hide and seek with a bunch of 30-somethings, most of who have kids, is a little too much, I still try my best to cook as many dishes as I can, including dumplings, roast duck, BBQ pork, and some sort of rice/noodle dish.

I wish you all the Happiest Chinese New Year, especially to my Tiger little brother and all of my Tiger cousins!

The Musical Fruit

Every time I go to the gym, I always start with a ten minute run on the treadmill to get my heart beat up and to shake off the cold winter weather that manages to seep into my bones on the five minute walk from my office to the gym. Once I get on the treadmill, I strap on my iPod, navigate to my Work Out playlist, and start my run. Usually I have the volume turned up to the point that it drowns out the sound of my fellow treadmill runners' feet as it bounces on the vinyl belt.

My workout music is 1/3 European Dance Pop, 1/3 Pop Rock, and 1/3 R&B and Hip-Hop, basically anything that has a beat and is uptempo is what's on my playlist. The good thing about the music is it helps me zone out and instead of focusing on the time slooowly ticking away on the treadmill timer, I end up mouthing the words, bopping my head, and look like a fool.

Tonight was an exception to that rule. I picked up my iPod as usual, turned on the music, and right in the middle of Dannii Minogue's "I Begin to Wonder", I farted. I don't think it was bad enough to clear the room, but it certainly was bad enough to make the woman next to me get off her treadmill while it was still going, walk three treadmills down the row, and resume her running.

So, my only lesson for the day is if you're going to work out, don't eat broccoli with you lunchtime meal!

Restaurant Review: Henrietta's Table

As a general rule of thumb, whenever my partner and I decide to go out for dinner, we usually have a very different set of criteria on determining where to eat. Typically, it goes like this:

Me: I saw this great new gastropub that opened in Brookline, we should go!
Spouse: How about Ethiopian? I really loved that raw beef/cheese/jalepeno dish we got last time.
Me: *SIGH*

Luckily for me, because I and some good friends are all city worker bees, we usually get together every so often and that's when I can indulge in my zest of refined yet casual fare. No place epitomizes that idea better than Henrietta's Table, located in Harvard Square in the Charles Hotel.

Last week, I and two of my worker friends ate there on Thursday night and the first comment I heard from one of my friends was, "Wow, it's like we're going to eat inside a Williams Sonoma." Given the farm house inspired decor complete with modern yet rustic tables, green tablecloths, and the khaki wearing serving staff, I can see how she would say that.

As a frequent diner of Henrietta's, I can say for sure that the food isn't exciting nor incredibly innovative and modern. What they are good at is cooking classic New England food at decent prices (definitely recommend the weekday 2 course or 3 course prix fixe menu option).

During dinner, two of us opted for the 3 course meal while one of use chose the 2 course in order to share two desserts. We started off with an order of Maine Crab Cake accompanied by a chunky house made tartar sauce that could have used a little bit more salt but still tasted fresh, Smoked Pastrami Salmon served with a chive oil, crispy waffle potato chips, and a simple salad, and a Iceburg Wedge with Blue Cheese dressing, which had way more dressing than salad but still was fairly tasty despite its heaviness.

Our main courses were definitely better. I chose the Duck entree that consisted of a roasted Duck Breast with a thin layer of skin and fat still on and a Duck Confit. The meat was delicious and cooked perfectly but the cranberry sauce was too large in quantity and the tartness overwhelmed the game-like flavor of the meat. My friend's Roast Chicken was also delicious as the meat was juicy and flavorful though the skin wasn't as crispy as I would've liked.

Perhaps the best entree was the simple Yankee Pot Roast served with a classic brown gravy atop of a small mountain of mashed potatoes. To me, this dish typifies what Henrietta's is about. The beef was meltingly tender, the gravy added a nice richness and the mashed potatoes was buttery and soaked up all the delicious juices from the meat.

Dessert consisted of an Apple Turnover with Caramel Ice Cream while my friend and I split a scoop of Lemon Sorbet and Mascarpone Ice Cream. The Turnover was textbook good while the ice cream was surprisingly not overtly sweet. While my friend and I enjoyed the Mascarpone flavor, the Lemon Sorbet was way too tart to fully enjoy the sweetness of the other flavor. That was our bad though and certainly of no fault of the restaurant.

When we were eating dinner, I couldn't help but notice that the majority of table seemed to consist of families convening for a meal. Sometimes, a well cooked meal is all it takes to bring people together and Henrietta's is a great example of that.

The Thigh's the Limit!

In these trying economic times, and let's face it, even in the not so trying economic times, entertaining a large group of people with cheap cuts of meat is probably one of the most cost effective ways to save money. Of all the cheaper cuts of meat that exists out there, one of my personal favorites is the chicken thigh.

When I first started dating my partner and we would cook together, often he would bring out these rather large and intimidating packages of meat including the eight pack of bone-in, skin-on, chicken thighs and we would have to figure out what to do with them. Sadly, my first few attempts at cooking the thighs usually set off the smoke alarm in our then Cambridge condo and the end result was this overly cooked and burnt piece of chicken that was better suited as a door stopper or paperweight then actual food.

However, after much trial and error (along with many endless recipe searches online), I've come to rely on the following four recipes more and more as they seem to hit the perfect trifecta of easy, relatively foolproof, and uses ingredients that aren't esoteric or hard to come by in an average super market. I've made them many times, both for us, for company, and they all make great leftovers for lunch.

Enjoy!

Chicken Adobo (courtesy of Mark Bittman by way of Apartment Therapy)

Easy Chicken Marinade
Note: although the recipe doesn't produce a ton of marinade, don't be fooled as it's very potent with all the spices! Last I used it, I placed the chicken and marinade in a ziploc bag, turned it a few times to coat evenly, and marinated it overnight and it turned out even better than the previous times I cooked it.

Maple Mustard Chicken (by Ellie Krieger, one of my favorite food personalities)

Braised Chicken with Shallots (thank you Martha!)
Note: best served with crusty bread to sop up all the delicious sauce that this dish produces.

Restaurant Review: Mantra (Lunch Buffet)

As having been fortunate to live in Cambridge, MA, home to prestigious colleges, not so prestigious college shenanigans, hipsters, yuppies and other assorted liberals, one of the best parts was the diversity of food we were lucky to have. Just outside the door of our old condo was Portuguese, Chinese, Thai, Southern, TWO types of Brazilian, and most important of all, Indian food. In fact, there were so many Indian restaurants in Cambridge (Harvard Square has at least 3 I think) that my husband and I joked it was the unofficial cuisine of our town.

Because of the sheer amount of Indian restaurants in Cambridge, it stands to reason that I've also eaten at a sheer number if Indian lunch buffets. Too often though, buffets tend to be a dime a dozen and has food that's cooked improperly yielding dry meat, oily curries, and over/undercooked basmati rice. When my good friend suggested meeting at Mantra for lunch, all I knew of the restaurant was that it's in Downtown Crossing and known for its ice cool atmosphere, well heeled clientele,and striking modern decor. At night, it serves, according to their menu printed on shiny gold paper, what they refer to as Modern French Indian at very Modern French Indian prices.

During the daytime is a different story. The same sleek patrons are there except dressed in business casual, the lighting is brighter (though not at operating room brightness), and best of all, they have a wonderful lunch buffet that is a relative bargain at $11.95. The buffet itself hits all the major standard Indian buffet fare, such as Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala, Saag Paneer, Samosas or Pakoras for an appetizer, and some kind if Indian pudding for dessert, yet also throws in a few other unusual dishes for variety. One time it was a savory sauteed cabbage, another time was a yellow lentil curry. My last visit yielded a deliciously spicy carrot, sweet potato and pea curry dish an best of all, Beef Kofta Korma, which had mini spiced beef meatballs swimming in a creamy curry concoction.

What sets Mantra's Indian buffet apart from countless other similar restaurants is the quality of the food and how well it's prepared. For example, Chicken Tandoori at a buffet tends to be sawdust dry from sitting in the chafing dish too long, but at Mantra the meat is incredibly juicy and has just enough charred and crispy bits to make it taste af it came straight from the oven. The Saag Paneer's spinach based sauce is somehow creamy yet light tasting and chock full of the handmade cheese cubes that seem scarce in other buffet versions. Even their Pakroa, too often soggy from long periods marinating in their grease, was amazingly crispy with the chickpea taste clearly coming through.

Now that I'm a Melrose resident, I miss the days of weekend Indian buffets more than I realized. Luckily, as a downtown Boston worker bee, I know I'll be sure to hit up Mantra when I need some good and affordable Indian.

9 to 5-ing it

As my morning bus was whisking me away to the subway to begin yet another humdrum work day, I was feeling tired, grumpy, and just not in a very pleasant mood (as a disclosure, I'm decidedly not a morning person and feel that those who wake up with a bounce in their step should be punched to see if they bounce back). To make the morning worse, the morning bus was late leaving me and my fellow bus friends shivering in the chilly Winter morning and once we boarded, the heat in the bus wasn't working so the temperature inside was akin to a meat locker.

Around the halfway mark of the commute, more passengers get on board limiting the conversation between me and my bus friends, not that discussions on the poor bus condition, the weather, and home renovations was that fascinating to begin with, so at that point we all brought out our newspapers, books, and, in my case, my trusty iPod, given as a gift from my parents two Christmases ago. I put my earphones in, clicked on the "Shuffle Songs" mode, and let it play.

We rounded a corner and passed by an open field when the sun was able to shine without being blocked by the tall Oak trees that grow in my town bathing all of the passengers in a piercing pure light. At that exact moment, a kicky drum beat began followed by a dobro, fiddle, guitar and piano, bringing to mind an image of a bunch of bearded men sitting on wooden crates in an old barn getting ready for a hoe down. Then, Alison Krauss's dulcet voice begins crooning the classic lines to Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" and I think to myself, "Maybe this day won't be so bad after all."

By the time the song was fading, we arrived at the subway station to board the train that carried me the rest of the way to my windowless closet office. Thanks to the power of that song, I skipped up the steps two at a time ready to face the whatever the day had in store for me.