Zaftigs : chos eat boston part 5

Breakfast is a meal I frequently skip but for the convenience of time Saeyoung and I were super into breakfast/brunch meals during this trip. For my last meal in Boston we went to Zaftigs in Brookline. We've actually eaten here before, but that was for dinner. We were somewhat unimpressed by the dinner but apparently what Zaftigs is really known for is their breakfast so we gave it another chance.

And you know what? It was good, it was really good. Lots of options and we left glowing of roundness. Saeyoung ordered the banana walnut pancakes with date butter. Ohmigod, date butter. I think I will try and make date butter. I can't be that hard. I had the lox and red onion scramble with marbled rye. Nothing fancy, very satisfying. A funny thing: my dish was advertised as coming with fresh seasonal fruit, which apparently means a very sad slice of watermelon and single graying strawberry. haha. saeyoung warned me about the lack of good fruit in New England.

Zaftigs

335 Harvard st

Brookline, MA

617.975.0775

http://www.zaftigs.com/

The Hungry Mother : chos eat boston part 4

roasted chicken with grits

grilled blue fish with tomato jam

squid with hominy

fried green tomatoes with arugula, red remoulade, and bacon

ciabatta with olive tapenade and green tomato preserves

The more I recall this meal, the more fondly I'm feeling about it. My experience with southern foods is pretty limited and I suppose there something strange about having the best southern meal I've ever had in Boston.

Now that the initial laudatory comment is over with, I have to say that Saeyoung and I were basically scolded for being 20 minutes late. I promise we were there on time! Believe me, I understand the value of timeliness. We just had a hell of a time trying to find parking. Upon arrival, a very sour man told us that he was expecting us at 7 and that they had another party of two coming in at 9, "but they'd try to move a few things around." I definitely got the sense that he was trying to make us feel guilty. The whole thing left a very bad taste in my mouth. But, to be fair, The Hungry Mother was very busy, fully packed on a Tuesday night, which I suppose says a lot about the popularity of this restaurant. Later I think the same sour man felt bad and made several stops to see how our meal was going. But I'm not one to get upset about quality of service. Whatever, as long as my food is good, much is permissible. And also, our server was very nice.

We started off the meal with a starter of 3-olive tapenade and green tomato preserve on grilled ciabatta. I lurve olive tapenade. The tomato preserve was very sweet and was pretty fantastic with the saltiness of the tapenade. I have a thing for the combination of salty and sweet.

For our starters Saeyoung and I shared a grilled squid dish and fried green tomatoes. I think my favorite was the grilled squid and Saeyoung's favorite was the green tomatoes. The fried green tomatoes were alarmingly ungreasy and they smelled amazing. I was almost happy to just smell the dish.

I've never had bluefish. It was very mild and they grilled it so that it was almost blackened on one side and really melty in the center. Very delicious. Nice and clean.

Saeyoung ordered the roasted chicken, which was similarly nice and clean.

It was nice to have clean flavors since the appetizers had so much kick.

Also, pretty much everything came with bacon. Really delicious thick cut bacon. Is this typical in Southern food?

The Hungry Mother

233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave

Cambridge, MA 02141

617.499.0090

http://www.hungrymothercambridge.com/

The Friendly Toast : chos eat boston pt.1

breakfast sandwich with home fries

egg white omelette with corn salsa, lime avocado sauce, marinated red onions and yellow peppers

hansel and gretel waffle

I flew back with Saeyoung to Boston to help her move in to her first apartment. I think we knew that this wasn't going to be a leisurely trip-moving is always something of an obstacle course. But for all our hard work we agreed on eating enormously well. I mean, I think we do that anyway but we sort of made a point of it in Boston. You know how heavy full-table breakfasts are a rare treat? How usually breakfast is a cup of coffee and a piece of toast or a bowl of yogurt? No, in Boston we ate every morning like that was all we were going to eat the entire day, which obviously was not the case.

We arrived in Boston at 5 am, really haggard from not sleeping on the plane and knowing that we had a whole day of the business of moving. After checking into our hotel and putting our heads down for a miniature nap we went to the Friendly Toast, which was within walking distance from our hotel. I had found THIS article about the Friendly Toast and we especially interested in the anadama bread.

The restaurant reminded me a lot of North Park in San Diego actually. It had that feeling, kind of aware of its unpolished hipness. Apparently this ambiance is very typical of Cambridge.

Saeyoung ordered the breakfast sandwich. I ordered an egg white omelette with fillings of my choosing (lime avocado, corn, roasted yellow peppers, marinated red onions). And we also shared a hansel and gretel waffle which is a gingerbread waffle with pomegranate molasses. Saeyoung's sandwich, while good, was nothing exciting. It's a basic breakfast sandwich. My omelette was quite delicious. I was a fan of the marinated red onions. I think the best part was the waffle. Where does one even get pomegranate molasses. It wasn't as sweet as you'd expect, actually it had a very nice sour bite to it. Oh, and the anadama bread was only okay. They slathered it with too much butter and I felt like all I could taste was butter.

A very nice start to our Boston trip.

The Friendly Toast

Ste. B3101

1 Kendall Sq

Cambridge, MA 02139-1595

617.621.1200

thefriendlytoast.net