North End, Boston
Location
After recently returning from San Francisco, a city abundant with delicious, high end vegetarian food, we were excited to try a raw, vegan upscale restaurant in right here in Boston. Grezzo's website suggests an incredibly creative, healthy, gourmet experience complete with upscale ambiance. While this was true, the timing, price and food were not.
We wanted to start out our dining experience with a nice bottle of red wine, but after viewing the wine list and discovering that a bottle started at about $38, (the prices are not included on the website menu) we decided to have drinks instead. Our waitress suggested the Grezzo bloody mary, a "juiced garden vegetables drink with sake." It did not contain a lot of alcohol and was very watery and unsatisfying. The house special, sangria was ok but the fruit was not very fresh for a restaurant raw restaurant. After the bloody mary, David decided to order an expensive glass of organic red wine that also was not very good (at least we knew it would be alcoholic) and we shared it to save money. With drinks and wine priced from $10 to $15 and bottled beers at $8, we felt it the drinks were over priced knowing we could get the same beer elsewhere for $5.
For the meal, we ordered one 'Chef's Tasting' and additionally, one appetizer and entree. The two soups on the menu were included in the tasting. The first was a mushroom tea soup with baby portabella mushrooms, dulse (a kind of seaweed), and pineapple— it was watery, but the texture of the ingredients complemented one another-- not bad. The second soup was a curry melon soup— the touch of curry with the fruit tastes nice at first, but the flavor was too light and the soup had too much melon in the end. The soups were interesting, but we would not reorder them again.
The appetizers were the best part of the meal. One of the specials was a pepper trio stuffed with three types of "cheese." This particular dish was very good because of the unique flavor combinations and the crunchy texture balanced by the creamy "cheese". It was one of the highlights. The other two appetizers were also delicious, but mainly because they tasted like falafel. The sliders are a falafel like patty in between tomato slices and a few pickles served with 'pomme frites,' which were basically dehydrated potatoes that tasted like salty cardboard. The gnocci carbonara is described as dumplings but it is little falafel like balls with a decadent creamy parmesan like sauce with fresh peas and crispy eggplant— the sauce was so good that we pretty much licked the plate. In the end, we could have gone to Rami's in Brookline for falafel at a more reasonable price.
Next, we had the Seaweed salad, "kelp noodles, sea beans and nori with spicy Japanese horseradish vinaigrette. House pickled ginger, lotus root, and edamame. It was ok. It was good when you tasted one of the few pieces of thinly sliced raw garlic in a bite, but overall, the dish was bland and disappointing for such a flavorful description.
For entrees we tried the lobster mushroom fettuccine and the land and sea. The fettuccine was raw zucchini strips with crimini and lobster mushrooms served with a a creamy saffron flavored sauce. Overall, the dish was pretty bland and occasionally there was a bite with some stronger saffron flavor that was good. The land and Sea was three types of mushrooms, “ricotta” and more of the dulse that was in the mushroom soup and some kelp from Maine. Although this dish was more flavorful, it overpowered with mushrooms with “cheese". The olive oil combined with some pesto at the base of the plate was very delicious though and helped the give the dish more flavor.
Finally, for dessert, we decided to get something traditional— the Rich Brownie sundae-- a tiny chocolate brownie with chocolate chip gelato, chocolate truffle sauce, and brazil nut crumble. This was pretty good as It tasted similar to a chocolate macaroon with some dates ground into it. The house made gelato was simple, but it did not have a lot of flavor aside from the chocolate chips.
The service was good and attentive, but the timing of the kitchen was terrible. We had to wait thirty minutes between our appetizers and our entrees. During that wait, our waitress came over and said, "thank you for waiting, it takes a long time to cook our food." What?! Shortly after leaving we both had stomach issues and headaches.
We spent $160 before tip on the meal and were disappointed with the food for the price. Plus the chefs seem to have difficulty with flavor consistency throughout each dish. At $24 or $25 per entree, could have found a better meal elsewhere and will next time.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Druid
Inman Square, Cambridge, MA
Location
Step into this small, dark tavern and you will encounter a large lit up ghost, wait staff with Irish accents that suggests this place is authentic and a casual atmosphere where live Irish music is often playing from a booth in the corner. On first impression, you would not expect that the only vegetarian entree option on the menu is incredible and makes this place a hold the meat home run!
As mentioned in previous reviews, David and I love a good homemade veggie burger and this place absolutely serves one. The savory burger is thick and moist, placed on a hearty bun with the perfect amount of adorning lettuce, tomato, and onion. The soft texture is a combination of veggies such as squash and zucchini which give this burger a great texture, making it unusually spectacular. Similarly priced to other veggie burgers in the area, the meal is $9 and is served with french fries.
The beer list is decent with several local options on tap: Harpoon IPA, Cisco Whale's Tail Pale Ale, and Berkshire Steel Rail Pale Ale.
For those of you who eat fish, the fish and chips are evidently amazingly fresh and delicious— I also hear that the hamburgers are incredible.
As stated before, the atmosphere is relaxed and so is the service. Our waitress was terribly inattentive to us. It took a half an hour to have our order taken, she ignored us after we received our meals, and gave us the wrong check at the end... the list goes on. I know it can be tough when a place is busy, but the room is small and there were two people waiting tables. Even though this was frustrating, we are willing to put it aside because of the great food and close location. Just be forewarned that you may have to wait and it is not a place for a quick meal, unless perhaps, it is a slow night.
Location
Step into this small, dark tavern and you will encounter a large lit up ghost, wait staff with Irish accents that suggests this place is authentic and a casual atmosphere where live Irish music is often playing from a booth in the corner. On first impression, you would not expect that the only vegetarian entree option on the menu is incredible and makes this place a hold the meat home run!
As mentioned in previous reviews, David and I love a good homemade veggie burger and this place absolutely serves one. The savory burger is thick and moist, placed on a hearty bun with the perfect amount of adorning lettuce, tomato, and onion. The soft texture is a combination of veggies such as squash and zucchini which give this burger a great texture, making it unusually spectacular. Similarly priced to other veggie burgers in the area, the meal is $9 and is served with french fries.
The beer list is decent with several local options on tap: Harpoon IPA, Cisco Whale's Tail Pale Ale, and Berkshire Steel Rail Pale Ale.
For those of you who eat fish, the fish and chips are evidently amazingly fresh and delicious— I also hear that the hamburgers are incredible.
As stated before, the atmosphere is relaxed and so is the service. Our waitress was terribly inattentive to us. It took a half an hour to have our order taken, she ignored us after we received our meals, and gave us the wrong check at the end... the list goes on. I know it can be tough when a place is busy, but the room is small and there were two people waiting tables. Even though this was frustrating, we are willing to put it aside because of the great food and close location. Just be forewarned that you may have to wait and it is not a place for a quick meal, unless perhaps, it is a slow night.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Olecito
Olecito
Inman Square, Cambridge, MA
Location
Do you like having variety when you go out for a bite? Just about every cuisine is covered in Inman Sq. The newly opened Olecito provides tasty Mexican take-out! Since it’s opening, we have tried the burrito twice and are impressed. At only $5.50 a pop, you get a hearty, authentic burrito and a side of chips served with an unusual salsa (not a typical pico de gallo). The burritos come with your choice of beans, crema, jack cheese, guacamole, and veggies or meat. The combination is juicy, delicious, and unique. For our fellow vegetarians, they offer vegetarian cilantro rice and delicious grilled vegetables. The grilled carrots (included in the veggie medley) are a peculiar addition; they don't really taste great in a burrito, take too long to cook, and add a little too much crunch for our taste. That said, other places such as Anna's Taqueria cook up the carrots the same way. CAUTION: Make sure to get your hot sauce on the side! WOW. Don't get me wrong, we both enjoy hot sauce, but their hot sauce is serious— not for the faint of heart.
We will definitely visit Olecito often— we live so close by! Once we've had the chance to try some of the other dishes, such as the Torta (a Mexican-style sandwich on telera bread) or the Rajas taco (a combination of creamy Poblano peppers, black beans, jack cheese, lettuce, and guacamole served on two small corn tortillas for only $2.75), we will write an update in this review.
Side note: Ole (across the street) is a terrific restaurant with great ambiance and heftier prices, but Olecito is easy on the wallet and the palate for an anytime, quick meal.
Inman Square, Cambridge, MA
Location
Do you like having variety when you go out for a bite? Just about every cuisine is covered in Inman Sq. The newly opened Olecito provides tasty Mexican take-out! Since it’s opening, we have tried the burrito twice and are impressed. At only $5.50 a pop, you get a hearty, authentic burrito and a side of chips served with an unusual salsa (not a typical pico de gallo). The burritos come with your choice of beans, crema, jack cheese, guacamole, and veggies or meat. The combination is juicy, delicious, and unique. For our fellow vegetarians, they offer vegetarian cilantro rice and delicious grilled vegetables. The grilled carrots (included in the veggie medley) are a peculiar addition; they don't really taste great in a burrito, take too long to cook, and add a little too much crunch for our taste. That said, other places such as Anna's Taqueria cook up the carrots the same way. CAUTION: Make sure to get your hot sauce on the side! WOW. Don't get me wrong, we both enjoy hot sauce, but their hot sauce is serious— not for the faint of heart.
We will definitely visit Olecito often— we live so close by! Once we've had the chance to try some of the other dishes, such as the Torta (a Mexican-style sandwich on telera bread) or the Rajas taco (a combination of creamy Poblano peppers, black beans, jack cheese, lettuce, and guacamole served on two small corn tortillas for only $2.75), we will write an update in this review.
Side note: Ole (across the street) is a terrific restaurant with great ambiance and heftier prices, but Olecito is easy on the wallet and the palate for an anytime, quick meal.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Rivergods
Cambridge, MA
Location
If you like a delicious homemade veggie burger, you must go check out Rivergods. Just outside of Central Square on River Street, this small, charming Irish pub has an amazing, rotating thematic decor and incredible food. Surprisingly, the restaurant has a fabulous vegetarian/vegan menu. The wonderful, homemade, “baked herb crusted” veggie burger is a great value at $9 — you can order it with french fries, mashed potatoes or a mixed baby greens salad. For $1 extra, the garlic aioli is the perfect complement to the savory burger and fries. Not in the mood for a burger? The God Salad is a delicious combination of mixed greens, fresh herbs, herb tomato, grapes, wine - braised onions, julienne carrot, beetroot, avocado & egg, served with toast points and a choice of housemade dressings: herb creme fraiche, balsamic or peanut chilli dressing. We found it to be a great dinner choice! The menu also offers a kimchee sushi roll and vegetable tofu skewers which, we have been told are excellent.
If you want to share some hors d’oeuvres with a friend, try the Cheese Plate. Served with warm molten honeyed brie that melts in your mouth, smoked gouda, roasted garlic cloves, housemade spicy chipotle sauce & warm crusty bread, it’s a great choice. One other thing to note, all the vegetarian options can be made vegan by a few simple changes. Just be sure to stay away from the cheese plate though!
The downside is that being seated at a table can be challenging. I would not recommend going there with a big party. As we mentioned, it is quite small, so be prepared to have a drink beforehand and don’t be surprised if you end up with some of it on you due to people squeezing by. However, it is totally worth it because the food is fantastic!
Location
If you like a delicious homemade veggie burger, you must go check out Rivergods. Just outside of Central Square on River Street, this small, charming Irish pub has an amazing, rotating thematic decor and incredible food. Surprisingly, the restaurant has a fabulous vegetarian/vegan menu. The wonderful, homemade, “baked herb crusted” veggie burger is a great value at $9 — you can order it with french fries, mashed potatoes or a mixed baby greens salad. For $1 extra, the garlic aioli is the perfect complement to the savory burger and fries. Not in the mood for a burger? The God Salad is a delicious combination of mixed greens, fresh herbs, herb tomato, grapes, wine - braised onions, julienne carrot, beetroot, avocado & egg, served with toast points and a choice of housemade dressings: herb creme fraiche, balsamic or peanut chilli dressing. We found it to be a great dinner choice! The menu also offers a kimchee sushi roll and vegetable tofu skewers which, we have been told are excellent.
If you want to share some hors d’oeuvres with a friend, try the Cheese Plate. Served with warm molten honeyed brie that melts in your mouth, smoked gouda, roasted garlic cloves, housemade spicy chipotle sauce & warm crusty bread, it’s a great choice. One other thing to note, all the vegetarian options can be made vegan by a few simple changes. Just be sure to stay away from the cheese plate though!
The downside is that being seated at a table can be challenging. I would not recommend going there with a big party. As we mentioned, it is quite small, so be prepared to have a drink beforehand and don’t be surprised if you end up with some of it on you due to people squeezing by. However, it is totally worth it because the food is fantastic!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Wagamama
Harvard Square, Cambridge,MA
Location
David and I were excited to hear that a London based Japanese noodle house, Wagamama opened in Harvard Sq. The concept, their website states, is modeled on popular ramen shops in Japan. I have not been to Japan, so I am not sure if their food is indeed, Japanese style. However, they certainly offer a variety of dishes with several types of noodles or rice to choose from. Just remember: everything is made fresh to order, meaning things come out as they are ready— not all at once. The servers tend to reiterate this point, which I suppose helps keep the tips coming in.
We have dined at this noodle house twice. On our first visit, we tried a few different dishes. As an appetizer, we tried the steamed Edamame sprinkled with a chili garlic salt, which makes it a little savory than a typical edamame dish. We also tried the Yasai Gyoza— they tasted like how most veggie dumplings taste, but without tofu. For entrées, we started with the Yasai Itame, this dish reminded me of a Thai style soup because it is coconut based and served with lime— spicy and tasty! Next, we had the Yasai Chili Men, it is described as, "stir-fried courgettes, white and mushrooms, mangetout, green and red peppers and fried tofu in a sauce made from chillies, ginger, garlic, onion, tomatoes, lemongrass and sweet red peppers, served with whole wheat noodles." The only thing that is puzzling to me is why they do not mention that it has a char-grilled flavor, when that seemed to be the predominant flavor of the dish. The rest of the described dish had very little taste.
On our second visit, we tried the Yasai Katsu Curry and the Yasai Yaki Soba. The Yasai Katsu Curry is deep-fried eggplant and butternut squash coated with panko bread crumbs, served with white rice and curry sauce— the curry sauce was great, but we would have liked a little more of it! Overall, it was delicious! The Yasai Yaki Soba dish was tasty, but needed chili oil and spices to complete it. The dish lists butternut squash as one of the main ingredients, but sadly there were only tiny shreds of squash that were undercooked and barely noticeable— except for the undesirable texture. The egg in the dish was not hearty enough to make this a complete vegetarian meal.
For dessert, we tried the citrus lime mousse. It was pretty good, but paled in comparison to the baked stem ginger cheesecake. I have never tried ginger cheesecake before— unique and delicious. Should you want to have some drinks with your meal, I recommend the Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc, a Chilean light, crisp white wine — you can order a 6 oz pour for $6 or an 8 oz pour for $7, an unusually reasonable price for a decent glass of wine. They also serve different types and sizes of beer.
I am glad that they have dishes with whole wheat noodles but my biggest complaint— you cannot order tofu on the side or in addition to any meal! To sum up— decent Asian style food at a reasonable price, but I am not entirely sold on it. I might prefer to head over to the Porter Exchange Mall instead.
Location
David and I were excited to hear that a London based Japanese noodle house, Wagamama opened in Harvard Sq. The concept, their website states, is modeled on popular ramen shops in Japan. I have not been to Japan, so I am not sure if their food is indeed, Japanese style. However, they certainly offer a variety of dishes with several types of noodles or rice to choose from. Just remember: everything is made fresh to order, meaning things come out as they are ready— not all at once. The servers tend to reiterate this point, which I suppose helps keep the tips coming in.
We have dined at this noodle house twice. On our first visit, we tried a few different dishes. As an appetizer, we tried the steamed Edamame sprinkled with a chili garlic salt, which makes it a little savory than a typical edamame dish. We also tried the Yasai Gyoza— they tasted like how most veggie dumplings taste, but without tofu. For entrées, we started with the Yasai Itame, this dish reminded me of a Thai style soup because it is coconut based and served with lime— spicy and tasty! Next, we had the Yasai Chili Men, it is described as, "stir-fried courgettes, white and mushrooms, mangetout, green and red peppers and fried tofu in a sauce made from chillies, ginger, garlic, onion, tomatoes, lemongrass and sweet red peppers, served with whole wheat noodles." The only thing that is puzzling to me is why they do not mention that it has a char-grilled flavor, when that seemed to be the predominant flavor of the dish. The rest of the described dish had very little taste.
On our second visit, we tried the Yasai Katsu Curry and the Yasai Yaki Soba. The Yasai Katsu Curry is deep-fried eggplant and butternut squash coated with panko bread crumbs, served with white rice and curry sauce— the curry sauce was great, but we would have liked a little more of it! Overall, it was delicious! The Yasai Yaki Soba dish was tasty, but needed chili oil and spices to complete it. The dish lists butternut squash as one of the main ingredients, but sadly there were only tiny shreds of squash that were undercooked and barely noticeable— except for the undesirable texture. The egg in the dish was not hearty enough to make this a complete vegetarian meal.
For dessert, we tried the citrus lime mousse. It was pretty good, but paled in comparison to the baked stem ginger cheesecake. I have never tried ginger cheesecake before— unique and delicious. Should you want to have some drinks with your meal, I recommend the Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc, a Chilean light, crisp white wine — you can order a 6 oz pour for $6 or an 8 oz pour for $7, an unusually reasonable price for a decent glass of wine. They also serve different types and sizes of beer.
I am glad that they have dishes with whole wheat noodles but my biggest complaint— you cannot order tofu on the side or in addition to any meal! To sum up— decent Asian style food at a reasonable price, but I am not entirely sold on it. I might prefer to head over to the Porter Exchange Mall instead.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
All Star Sandwich Bar
Inman Square, Cambridge, MA
Location
How delicious does a sandwich and a beer sound? Great, right? All Star Sandwich Bar takes this simple concept, which for some reason is hard to find in Boston, and fails. The sandwiches are overpriced and they tend to be bland. The Veggie Cuban, at $7 sounds interesting with its grilled veggies and Mango Mojo Mayo dressing, but sadly lacked flavor— we needed to add salt, pepper and condiments to it. The fries are not included with your sandwich and they only offer one huge size at $3.75, which seems strange since they offer 5 different types of fries! The side of Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese is overpriced (although it looks like on their new menu they have brought the price down to $2.00), very small, and has a weird sweetness to it. To be fair, the french fries are fantastic and the Brooklyn Brewery ‘bucket ‘o’ beer’ is tasty. Also, the Deviled eggs for $ 0.99 are pretty good. But, the slogan states, “Home of the Sandwich Hall of Fame” which implies they would serve superior sandwiches —and they simply do not deliver.
We have given the restaurant several chances as it is in our neighborhood, but we have finally given up on it. Each visit has left us feeling ripped off and disappointed! That being said, the one time we enjoyed our meal is when we tried a special Buffalo Tofu sandwich which was pretty decent —why is this not a selection on their permanent menu?
This restaurant has bright and appealing decor, but frankly, it is boring, as far as vegetarian food goes. Maybe the meat sandwiches are incredible? David happened to notice that the acronym is appropriate for the restaurant experience — ASS Bar.
Location
How delicious does a sandwich and a beer sound? Great, right? All Star Sandwich Bar takes this simple concept, which for some reason is hard to find in Boston, and fails. The sandwiches are overpriced and they tend to be bland. The Veggie Cuban, at $7 sounds interesting with its grilled veggies and Mango Mojo Mayo dressing, but sadly lacked flavor— we needed to add salt, pepper and condiments to it. The fries are not included with your sandwich and they only offer one huge size at $3.75, which seems strange since they offer 5 different types of fries! The side of Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese is overpriced (although it looks like on their new menu they have brought the price down to $2.00), very small, and has a weird sweetness to it. To be fair, the french fries are fantastic and the Brooklyn Brewery ‘bucket ‘o’ beer’ is tasty. Also, the Deviled eggs for $ 0.99 are pretty good. But, the slogan states, “Home of the Sandwich Hall of Fame” which implies they would serve superior sandwiches —and they simply do not deliver.
We have given the restaurant several chances as it is in our neighborhood, but we have finally given up on it. Each visit has left us feeling ripped off and disappointed! That being said, the one time we enjoyed our meal is when we tried a special Buffalo Tofu sandwich which was pretty decent —why is this not a selection on their permanent menu?
This restaurant has bright and appealing decor, but frankly, it is boring, as far as vegetarian food goes. Maybe the meat sandwiches are incredible? David happened to notice that the acronym is appropriate for the restaurant experience — ASS Bar.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Johnny D's
Davis Square, Somerville, MA
Location
Johnny D’s offers an affordable, delicious brunch. The Garden Vegetable Scramble is scrumptious, as the eggs are consistently scrambled perfectly with a variety of veggies, including asparagus and monterey jack cheese mixed in. The meal includes homefries and oatmeal for a total of $7.95. The homefries are well seasoned and well done, some of the best I have had in Boston. I recommend substituting the oatmeal for some southern grits for an extra charge of $0.25, but ask for the butter, “on the side” - unless you like a mouthful of butter. The only part of the meal that is disappointing is the whole wheat toast, which is very basic and not well toasted. The dining experience would be more pleasurable without the live jazz music, but it is tolerable because the food makes up for it!
Not interested in a savory breakfast? The sweet breakfast items we have tried are the french toast and the pancakes, neither were exceptional, but definitely satisfying. They have many different types of mimosas and the bloody marys are quite good. Also, Johnny D’s offers several vegetarian scrambles and omelettes as well as vegan tofu scrambles.
If you are craving some brunch before heading over to the Somerville Theater for an afternoon movie — Johnny D's is the perfect spot.
Location
Johnny D’s offers an affordable, delicious brunch. The Garden Vegetable Scramble is scrumptious, as the eggs are consistently scrambled perfectly with a variety of veggies, including asparagus and monterey jack cheese mixed in. The meal includes homefries and oatmeal for a total of $7.95. The homefries are well seasoned and well done, some of the best I have had in Boston. I recommend substituting the oatmeal for some southern grits for an extra charge of $0.25, but ask for the butter, “on the side” - unless you like a mouthful of butter. The only part of the meal that is disappointing is the whole wheat toast, which is very basic and not well toasted. The dining experience would be more pleasurable without the live jazz music, but it is tolerable because the food makes up for it!
Not interested in a savory breakfast? The sweet breakfast items we have tried are the french toast and the pancakes, neither were exceptional, but definitely satisfying. They have many different types of mimosas and the bloody marys are quite good. Also, Johnny D’s offers several vegetarian scrambles and omelettes as well as vegan tofu scrambles.
If you are craving some brunch before heading over to the Somerville Theater for an afternoon movie — Johnny D's is the perfect spot.
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