Boston

My friend Ania and I made a quick trip to Boston just before they got nailed with a huge snow storm. Great timing on our part!

We wanted to walk some beaches but didn't have much time so decided to visit Deer Island (which hasn't actually been an island since 1938) since it has views of both bay and ocean. It's now a pumping station (i.e.: waste water treatment plant) although its history is pretty grim (internment island, immigrant holding area, prison, etc). They've cleaned it up, repurposed it, and created a nice 2.5 mile walking path around the perimeter.

Pretty view across the bay 

Path and windmill

Beautiful sky

The station has solar panels, two big windmills, one weird windmill, and buildings that are concrete but look like brick and limestone. Nicely done for public works complex and there is no odor other than ocean smells. A very nice walk.

Eco in action

Lunch that day was at Belle Isle Seafood and it couldn't have been better. Cash only, alcohol served on premises, picnic style seating, and counter service. Excellent food. Truly. Had the crab cakes and they were stellar.

Dinner was at Atwoods Tavern. Live music, good atmosphere, yummy fish tacos, lots of craft beer, and absolutely fantastic scotch selection. Great way to spend an evening.

The next day Ania spent the morning in a business meeting and I killed some time drinking coffee, reading, and shopping for fabric (it's a tough life). Found an interesting fabric store called Sewfisticated Discount Fabrics. The online reviews were mixed but since I wasn't looking for anything specific I got to spent some enjoyable time browsing. A lot of variety here and it apparently changes inventory frequently. Lots of wool and blends, linens, home dec, and apparel fabrics (knits, silks, etc). Prices were quite low and I picked up some batik and some lycra-stretch-knit for future projects. I'd say it's worth another stop if I'm ever out that way again. Oh! And they had tanned hides and leather remnants too. Maybe for my new shoe hobby?

That afternoon we found time to run up to Nahant. Beautiful views up there but boy, they sure don't want you there unless you're a resident. Extremely little parking and limited to 30 minutes.

Gorgeous

Lunch was a very nice meal at Tides Restaurant. Lobster ravioli in lobster and shrimp Alfredo sauce. Sounds heavy doesn't it? Nope - the filling was a pillowy mixture of lobster mousse, ricotta, and dill. The sauce was surprisingly delicate; not cloying like many Alfredo sauces. Gonna have to figure out how to make this one at home.

So a very pleasant couple days and we managed to get home before the storm hit. Not too shabby.

The Local in Saratoga Springs

The Local describes itself as an Irish Pub & Tea House - fitting for an establishment in the Dublin section of Saratoga Springs (Beekman Street is part of this area).

We ate lunch there and it was fantastic. Don't know if we just got lucky since it was a Tuesday, but it wasn't crowded and we got a great seat on their very small patio. A stop at the bar to see what was on tap resulted in us sampling the Tropical Coconut Stout. I'm a huge Stout fan, but I had serious doubts that this would be any good - hence us asking for a taste first. Score! Weird, but really darn good.

So, two pints and a nice perusal of the menu. Pub fare with a twist is a good description. Bangers and Mash, Dublin Chicken, Fish & Chips, typical stuff. But! The Chicken Pesto Flatbread sandwich and a Tea Sandwich Platter caught our eye and we decided to share. Typical pricing - $10 to $13 for a large portion.

The chicken sandwich was great. I mean, it doesn't seem like it should be all that worthy of comment, but this was next level. Excellent flatbread, perfectly cooked chicken breast, garlicky pesto, and goat cheese to smooth it all out. Great fries too.

The Tea Sandwich Platter consisted of:  piles of smoked salmon, capers, red onion, roasted red peppers, spring greens with drizzled balsamic, and a container of goat cheese. Crustless wheat bread triangles were included for the sandwich portion. Basically build your own. And again, much more than the sum of it's parts. Oh - and they had chicken salad on there too. That was a bit odd but still delicious.

Overall, great service, fantastic food, and wonderfully weird beer. A winner.

Boca Bistro in Saratoga Springs

My brother and I were in Saratoga the other day and decided to go to Boca Bistro for lunch. It's a Spanish Tapas bar that I've been meaning to try.

Nice ambiance and good decorating. We were seated in the little wine cellar alcove and it was pleasant and fairly quiet despite the very large party seated in the main area. The service was quick, pleasant, and appropriately attentive.

They started us with a hospitality bowl of mixed olives (excellent) and sliced bread (a bit stale).  The menu was varied and interesting though prices seemed a bit high; more Saratoga in summer than winter rates.

They had a good wine and beer selection and the server was kind enough to bring us a sample of a local brew they had on tap. A coffee stout that I expected to love but didn't so very glad to have the opportunity to try it first.  I ended up with a Malbec that had a great description, but was a bit lacking in spicy notes (maybe it was just a bad alcohol day for me). Not bad by any means, but not what I normally expect from a Malbec. Matt had the beer (surprising both of us as he's not typically a stout drinker).

The special of the day was a filet mignon sandwich that sounded wonderful and we added calamari and sweet potato fries to round out the meal and give us enough to share. The calamari was excellent - barely coated in batter and very tender. The aioli was a bit lacking in depth, but they brought some freshly made cocktail sauce (extra spicy) when requested. The sweet potato fries were wedges not those stringy things you usually get, again perfectly cooked, and had a thyme honey sauce (honey from their own hives) that was stellar. And the sandwich - whew! Excellent. With a spicy coleslaw on the bun to add texture and crunch to the buttery soft steak.

So, I'd say a winner even with the slightly elevated cost. It ended up being about $35 each including tip and drinks. Certainly not bad, but more than I usually spend on a lunch with no leftovers.

Harvey's in Saratoga

Harvey's is an Irish pub in Saratoga. It's in a great building on Phila Street, occupies two floors, has a big (and noisy) bar area on the first floor, a pleasant (quieter, but sound does carry up from below) dining area on the second floor, and a patio that I can hardly wait to try this summer. They also have a small library with balcony for private functions.

The menu items seemed pretty typical for a pub until we started reading the descriptions. Then things got interesting! We actually ordered an entree as an appetizer just because it sounded so good - The Really Good Grilled Cheese sandwich is, indeed, really good. Cheddar cheese, bacon jam, red onion, mustard sauce on sour dough bread - it might actually be better than really good. I'll have to go back to make sure.

Fish and chips for Chris and the french fries were awesome. The batter was light and the fish was flaky - another winner. And it came with a mustard slaw that was wonderful.

I had their Mac & Cheese which has corned beef in it. It also has a very light spice that makes it sort of hot. Subtle but definitely there; we spent a good bit of time enjoyably trying to figure out what it was. Again, very good.

Our friends had the Rubin and it was huge. Also apparently it was yummy as it disappeared. It came with fries and this nifty kalamata olive salad that I wanted to steal. The goat cheese, arugula, kale, beet, and candied walnut salad also got eaten with gusto.

All in all, a very good meal. Came to about $50 per couple including drinks and tip. And we had enough mac & cheese for lunch the next day.

Indian food - Karavalli restaurant

In our continuing effort to try new-to-us restaurants, we dined at a local Indian restaurant recently, Karavalli in Saratoga Springs. It had come highly recommended by several friends but we were still a bit leery of going. Since we don't normally eat Indian food we had no idea where to start. Fortunately we grabbed three friends who were familiar with the menu and they gave us good suggestions on what to order.

Let me say - yummy! We loved everything. We shared an appetizer of mashed potato stuffed in a crepe with several sauces on the side. Excellent and more than enough for all of us to share as a starter. I ordered a chickpea salad that was bright and fresh and very nicely seasoned plus lamb kebabs. The kebabs were slightly spicy and came with grilled veggies. Chris got a spinach and chicken dish that was extremely tasty with a medium spiciness level (he will probably go hotter next time). Our friends had an assortment of dishes that I cannot for the life of me remember the names of. Drat! One was chicken with rice; another was chicken in a yellow sauce (sounds appetizing, doesn't it?); and the last was ???. I have no excuse as we weren't even drinking that night.

I do certainly remember that the food was well prepared and the service was attentive if a bit slow (it was Saturday night and the tiny restaurant was very full so we just enjoyed the company while waiting for the entrees to come out).

Dinner with tip, no drinks, came to $30 per person with significant leftovers for lunch (and dinner!) the next day.

Plum Blossom restaurant review

The Plum Blossom in Troy is an old favorite of ours. When we first moved to the area back in 1999 (so long ago!), it was recommended to us by the people from whom we were buying a house. Both the restaurant and the house turned out to be great.

Plum Blossom has been consistently wonderful for the 15 years we've eaten there. And now that we live an hour away it's a special treat to stop in and enjoy the food. When we dropped in for lunch on Sunday we found that they had updated the menu and added new noodle dishes and rice bowls.

I had the new grilled shrimp with spinach noodles and it was fantastic. In addition to shrimp and noodles there were grilled onions, green and red peppers, and some kind of lemony-mustardy-amazing sauce that I have got to figure out. Chris went for the safety dish of General Tso's Chicken which is always yummy there. Both meals came with soup and the bill came to around $20 before tip.

El Mexicano restaurant review

It's funny how you get in a restaurant rut - even if it's a tasty rut - when you live someplace long enough. Now that we've relocated, we're exploring the area all over again and finding new restaurants to try.

I've decided I'm going to start tracking and reviewing the restaurants that we try. First up is a Mexican restaurant in Saratoga.

El Mexicano on Broadway. We tried it for lunch on a snowy Friday and arrived just before noon. It was empty at first but soon started to fill up with a lunch crowd.

The tortilla chips were typical but the salsa was great. Full of flavor not just heat (although it was very hot). And the waiter brought a couple 4-inch cheese quesadillas (on the house) as an appetite teaser while we studied the menu. Nice! I had chillaquiles - fried tortilla strips covered with shredded chicken, cheese, and red sauce; baked in a small casserole so it stays hot. Wonderful! Needed some heat (nothing is spicy unless you ask) so I used some of the salsa on it. That did it. Chris had a combo plate of chicken enchilada and beef chimichanga. Again, wonderful! The chimi was small but absolutely stuffed full of tender slow-cooked beef flavored with onion, tomato and peppers. And the enchilada was great. Matter of fact, we didn't even need sour cream! The refried beans were rather generic as was the rice.

I had a margarita and it was tart and nicely mixed. Chris had coffee.

At the end of the meal the waiter dropped off dessert: a couple 4-inch tortillas stuffed with banana and deep fried, lightly covered in a cinnamon sauce and whipped cream - again on the house.

The meal came to $26 after tip and we'll definitely go back.