My kingdom for some home cooking...

[jducoeur]

So this past week has been characterized by eating out -- in particular, eating out expensively. No single reason why; it just kind of worked out that way. Might as well make a diary entry of good meals:

Last Saturday: my birthday, so msmemory took me out to Blue Ginger, which I consider to be the best restaurant in the Boston region. We wound up going for the conventional this time (she got the Butterfish, I the Lobster, which are the specialties of the house), but it was all lovely as always. Between cocktails, apps, wine, dinner and dessert, this may well be the most expensive meal we've ever had, but it made for a fine birthday present. Blessedly, the snow held off until well after we got home -- that had been a concern, but everything ran late.

(Non-food side note: the afternoon was spent over in Bergental for their annual Novice Schola, which was a pleasant day out. I taught two classes: "So You Have This Backgammon Board..." and "So You Have This Chess Set..." -- basically, period games to play with the equipment you already have. Classes went decently well, but I need to spread the meme that game classes are *NOT* babysitting. The other highlight was sitting in on a fun roundtable on the subject of Fealty in the SCA and period -- not exactly deeply organized, but a good chance to compare notes with a variety of Peers other than the gang I usually hang out with.)

Last Sunday: Snow.

Tuesday: Valentine's Day, so I took the excuse to take msmemory out to The Blue Room. I'd been there once before for brunch with new_man and company, but this was the first time we'd gone for dinner. I still prefer Blue Ginger, but this was really quite excellent -- we'll have to add it to the special-occasion-restaurant list.

Thursday: My parents came to town, so out to eat again. This was the "cheap" meal of the set -- we went out to Legal Seafood for the first time in a long time, since Dad and Sandy get the chance to go there so rarely. I was pleased to note that the place is still quite good, probably even a bit better than it used to be. I'm still a tad jaded with their menu (which changes only very slowly, and I've had most of it many times), but it does make a good option that we haven't been paying much attention to.

Friday: Since Dad and Sandy were still here, and expressing interest in "dressy", we took the opportunity to go out to Campania. This is an obscure gem in Waltham -- probably the best restaurant that no one knows exists. It's in a fairly unprepossessing house on Main Street; walking in is almost startling, because the restaurant is (according to Dad) a very faithful reproduction of a proper high-end Tuscan restaurant. The food was spectacular as always, from the subtle truffle-infused pasta appetizer to the duck confit to the pear tartlet for dessert. Another of my four favorite restaurants, so it's a rare treat getting there the same week as Blue Ginger.

Saturday: Went out to The Chocolate Bar with a bunch of the crowd, to celebrate mermaidlady's birthday. (Which I believe was today, BTW, so here's a virtual hum of "Happy Birthday" to her!) new_man set a good example of pacing the plates slowly over the course of several hours, and I'm finally getting jaded enough with the Bar to be able to follow suit; as a result, I managed to not make myself ill this time. Still, we agreed that dinner would feature MEAT. This turned out to be Swedish Meatballs, brought home after a round of shoppertainment at IKEA with rufinia and goldsquare. (Yes, of course we bought more bookcases.)

Today: Moved a bunch of stuff from the old house and Storage Unit 1 to hfcougar's room, and then a couple of loads to Crossert. Major milestones -- we've now moved everything that we're keeping from both the house and the storage unit! Not quite the light at the end of the tunnel, but at least a faint glimmering of it. Dinner tonight was trying out the Cook's Illustrated recipe for Hot and Sour Soup (verdict: not bad, but needs some fiddling and adjusting, and I'm not sure it's worth the effort), plus chicken with snow peas and black beans. My Jewish heritage demonstrates itself once again, in that my definition of "comfort food" is consistently Chinese...

Comments

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

Interesting -- anything more to say about Campania? I'd heard it mentioned in one Waltham restaurant roundup as nice but way too expensive -- but these were (Brandeis) grad students talking, so you never quite know what that means. In that neck of the woods we're always drawn to Carambola, especially for a great lunch.

Speaking of not-cheap good meals, have you eaten at Oga's, on Rt. 9 in Natick?

[jducoeur]

Oh, Campania is fabulous, but totally not for a typical college student's budget -- I believe Dad spent about $75/person, and that was with one of the less expensive wines, and splitting appetizers and desserts.

It's high-end Italian, where that starts blurring into nouvelle. Going into a bit more detail of what we had, which I think gives some idea of the place:

For starters, we had the black truffle infused pasta. This was served in a very simple sauce (basically butter and cream, I'd guess), so that the flavor of the pasta itself could come through. The only garnish was a few slices of truffle, to goose the flavor. Subtle stuff -- when you first bite it, it seems to just be a soft pasta (sort of like chow foon noodle), but the truffle flavor blooms on the tongue as you go.

The duck confit was basically half a duck, either roasted or pan-seared (possibly both). The breast was sliced into several chunks that were perfectly tender, and served with an array of fruits to compliment it: blood orange, pomegranate seeds, and a puree of something apple-y. It also came with a deeply roasted half onion, caramelized to high sweetness, that complimented the duck perfectly. The leg was left intact for nibbling off the bone, and that's where the sear really came through, dark and flavorful.

The four of us split the two major dessert plates (each of which is made to order, so you have to order it with the meal). The pear tart was a loose puff pastry shell with whole pears in sauce baked inside; the chocolate souffle was baked up crisp on top but molten on the inside. Each was topped with a small scoop of high-quality ice cream and a nest of spun sugar.

Our only complaint was that they didn't quite take my stepmother at her word: when she says "rare", she means "rare, dammit", and her leg of veal was overdone for her taste. But they made that up remarkably efficiently -- they insisted on replacing it, and had a fresh one (properly red and chewy) in front of her in only about five minutes.

All quite sinful, and well worth the money IMO, but expensive enough to definitely be a special-occasion restaurant.

In that neck of the woods we're always drawn to Carambola, especially for a great lunch.

Oh, Carambola (now Elephant Walk) is great, but it's not really the same kind of meal. It's more what I think of as a good date restaurant, rather than a once-a-year occasion place where we linger over dinner for a couple of hours. (Although that does remind me that we don't get there nearly often enough. Don't know why -- it's just far enough from the heart of Moody St. that I usually don't think of it, I suppose.)

Speaking of not-cheap good meals, have you eaten at Oga's, on Rt. 9 in Natick?

No, I don't know it. What sort of food is it?

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Great description. There was a time (when we were childless grad students) that we actually ate at such places with some regularity -- yes, we were poor, but it was where most of our entertainment budget went. Of course, that was when we lived around the corner from Chez Panisse.

Oga's is high-end Japanese -- like, with advanced notice, they will do full kaiseki-ryori private feasts, but they do day-to-day food very well too.

[jducoeur]

Hmm -- we'll definitely have to try that; while I can't say that we're expert at Japanese food (aside from sushi), we're rather fond of it. Where on 9 is it?

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

One exit before the Natick Mall.

[jducoeur]

Okay -- not quite as convenient to us as it used to be, but worth putting on the list to wander down to one of these days. Thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

Blue Ginger - I agree its very good food. The decor and overall dining experience is fairly flawed however. How is it they can serve such wonderful food in a space that feels so unpolished?

Legal Seafood - a place we take visitors, but if you want real seafood, go to Maine, I always say.

Capital Grille - once had a bill for over $300 there for just two of us. Same for the White Barn Inn in Kennebunkport, ME - I think we spent $400 there for two of us. Amazing cuisine. And another: Cape Arundel Inn, Kennebunkport, ME. Fabulous ocean views, wonderful menu, just about perfection.

Aujourd'hui (Four Seasons downtown) - AMAZING food. Just do they valet, and enjoy. Amazing bar (stocked with everything top-shelf), and try the chef's sampler special. I think it's $100 a person, but you get a seven course sampling of his best work. Amazing. Did I say amazing? I did. From the name of the hotel you might assume it to be pretentious French cuisine - but it is anything but.

- Eric

[jducoeur]

Interesting. While I can see that the degree of polish for Blue Ginger isn't at the same level as some (far short of Campania, for instance), it's never bothered me all that much. Matter of what one notices, I suppose.

Thanks for the recommendations! Not the first time I've had some of those recommended -- in particular, Aujourd'hui is making its way up the list of places I clearly need to try one of these days. But I'll have to keep the ME recommendations in mind the next time we find ourselves up that way...