the gallows (boston)

There's a restaurant called The Gallows in the South End where Sage used to be. We stumbled in around 8:45 pm last Tuesday and waited for about 10-15 minutes at the bar for a table. The place was packed, which is great for a weeknight. It was nice to be able to look around and take in the scenery, especially since they totally redecorated the place. I really like the hanging light fixtures and the lights along the wood walls.



We enjoyed some wine while waiting to be seated. Tony had a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Lyeth winery in Sonoma. (I tell you, he's lovin' California wines - cab sauvs in particular - more and more these days.) I had a great glass of Pinot Gris from the Montinore estate winery in Oregon.

We shared the smoked fish pate appetizer which was made with smoke blue fish (I think?*), cream cheese, and green onions. It was very tasty and had a nice smoky flavor to it.

[* Quick note: I have this habit of relying on a restaurant's online menu to help me remember what it is we ordered when it comes time to blogging about a dining experience. In this case - which rarely happens actually - the restaurant doesn't have their menu posted online so I unfortunately don't have very many details to share. My apologies in advance!]

Tony had a delicious beef brisket dish for dinner which was served with some eggplant and tomatoes on the side, and a dollop of cool yogurt on top. (I apologize for the dark photo but I hate using a flash in a restaurant and the lighting was pretty dim.)

I enjoyed a steak salad cooked very medium rare on top of a bed of greens that I can't remember the name of. They were described to me as tubular and crunchy, which was quite accurate. (I wish I could remember the name of them! Our waiter described them as essentially being a type of weed ... I guess at the time it didn't seem as unappetizing as recalling the description now ... LOL) It was a nice change from ordinary, flat lettuce and the dressing was delicious.

We shared a blueberry dessert that of course, I can't remember the name of (see above comment about lack of menu for reference). I don't want to call it a cobbler but it also wasn't a tart. It was served hot in a cute little cast iron pan and served with delicious whipped cream on top.

Overall we had a fun time even though it was quite loud at some times. Our waiter, Jim, was very friendly and made conversation with us throughout the night. The atmosphere is pretty laid back and casual, but it's also a nice place for a date or small group outing.



The Gallows
1395 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02118
617.425.0200
www.thegallowsboston.com

bin 26 enoteca (boston)

For my birthday this year, Tony let me pick a restaurant for dinner. I decided to check out Bin 26 Enoteca in Beacon Hill because we have walked past it a few times and it looked like a nice little romantic restaurant. Charles Street has always had that sort of charming effect on me with it's little boutique shops, old sidewalks, and perpetually burning gas lights. Plus it's so easy to access via public transportation, so we hopped on the red line after work. We were pretty early for our 7 pm reservation, so we took a nice stroll through the Boston Common and the Public Garden. We saw the nesting swans, a wedding party all decked out in white tuxedos and hot pink gowns, and some beautiful flowers.

The hostess seated us even though we were half an hour early (the place hadn't filled up yet anyway), and even though we said we would be happy to wait at the bar. They have a huge selection of wines available by the bottle -- a large leather bookful actually -- as well as some information about different wines and the regions they come from.

The wines by the glass section was a little confusing at first because they offer most them by four different measurements. They offer them in 100 ml, 250 ml, 500 ml and 750 ml increments. Well, 750 ml was easy to perceive as a full bottle, so 500 ml seemed like it would a little bit more than half a bottle. We each got 250 ml portions which were served in glass carafes. It ended up being like having slightly less than 2 glasses which was pretty reasonable.

I had the 2008 Chenin Blanc, Cave des Vignerons de Saumur 'Les Plantagenêts', Saumur, from France and it was quite good. Not overly sweet or acidic. Tony had the 2007 Projekt B, VdP de Vaucluse, from France and also really liked his pick. I think both wines went really well with our meals.

But before I talk about the food, I have to say that they win points for decor. I love this all of wine labels that cover every single bit of surface space. Now if I can just figure out how to take off our wine bottle labels gracefully and without tearing them, I think this would be a fantastic idea for decorating our future wine cellar (this is, of course, when I win the lottery ...).

Now this is a view of the ceiling inside the women's bathroom (I heard it's the same in the men's by the way). It's (what seems like) a gazillion wine bottles hung from some sort of contraption from the ceiling. It makes for eerily dark lighting, but I think it's pretty cool.



Okay, so on to food because that's the real reason why you're reading this, right?! (j/k!) We had the bruschetta appetizer which was served with sauteed mushrooms with garlic and fontina cheese. Oh. My. Gosh. I think I could eat ten plates of this ... it was amazingly delicious! The simplicity of how the mushrooms were sauteed with just salt and pepper paired so well with the stronger fontina flavor. (I'm drooling as I'm typing this and reminiscing about how delicious they were!)

Tony enjoyed the spaghetti with scallops and shellfish in saffron tomato sauce entree (it's too bad I couldn't try any of it - it smelled so yummy). The scallops were nice and plump, and he could tell the pasta was freshly made.

I seem to be a sucker for grilled squid, and since I don't see it on the menu very often, I went ahead and ordered the appetizer dish. It's normally served with white beans on top of the arugula but I asked them to omit them due to my food allergy. I also got a side order of their garlic mashed potatoes. I was a little disappointed that the squid was served cold, but it still had a nice grilled flavor to it. The mashed potatoes were wonderfully light and not overly garlicky.

We split a lemon tart dessert and while I was in the bathroom earlier, Tony told our waitress that it was my birthday so they brought it out with a candle. It was so good! It kind of bummed me out because this in another example of how restaurants don't disclose everything on the menu when they present something with additional ingredients (a pet peeve of mine!). We just took the strawberries and blackberry off as quickly as we could and I just crossed my fingers that I wouldn't be too itchy later on.

[Of course in hindsight, it was probably the potatoes that made me the itchiest after all. Read about my nightshade woes here.]

Overall I think it was a good dining experience. I would definitely go back there some time during the week after work to hang out at the bar and eat five orders of the mushroom bruschetta (you think I'm kidding!) and enjoy some wine. It's a great place for a romantic date and a small group outing. I'm not sure I would recommend it for families unless you went during the daytime (they do offer lunch). Huge wine selection, good sized food portions, beautiful decor, and super friendly wait staff.

Bin 26 Enoteca
26 Charles Street
Beacon Hill, MA 02114
617.723.5939
http://www.bin26.com

amelia's trattoria (cambridge)

I celebrated my birthday with three friends at Amelia's Trattoria last Thursday. It was real sweet of them to let me pick a place, but that was also a difficult choice to make since there are so many places I like to eat at. I picked Amelia's because we've been there before and it's consistently good Italian food, and the restaurant is nice and cozy (not too big).

We shared this bottle of Gini chianti and it was delicious. It went perfectly well with our pasta dishes.


I ordered a Caesar salad for us to share. It's a pretty good size on its own.

Laura and I both had the ravioli special of the day: a lemon ricotta ravioli served with pancetta, mushrooms, and spinach in a white wine sauce. I asked them to omit the tomatoes though. It was divine! And embarrassingly, I cleaned the whole plate!

Jess had the braised short rib bolognese which was made with fresh Fusilli and shaved Parmesan cheese. It was large enough that she had some leftover to take home.

Karoline had the house-made spaghetti in a plum tomato ragu and served with basil and shaved Parmesan cheese. She had enough to take home, too.

We shared a tiramisu dessert and it didn't last on the plate for very long. :) Even miss Jess who insisted she was too full for a bite couldn't resist.

I had a shot of espresso with dessert. So nice and rich, it helped wash down the dessert.

A glass of limoncello. That was quite yummy too.

Again, another wonderful meal at Amelia's, and this time in very good company. :) It's a great restaurant for small groups of people and especially for a romantic date. There's a small bar, too, and locals aren't shy about dining alone there. The waiter was very charming and accommodating with my food allergy concerns. Overall, a very pleasant experience.

Amelia's Trattoria
111 Harvard Street
Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA
617.868.7600
http://www.ameliastrattoria.com

graham elliot (chicago)

My friend, Allen, is a world traveller. Or, at least to me, it seems like he has been around the globe. He is always venturing out to new destinations and takes AMAZING photos. He's also one of the most genuinely kind people I know who is generous at the same time: he gave me a free JetBlue ticket that he won, which was how our recent trip to Chicago came to fruition. (Thanks, Allen!)

In addition to our shared love for travelling and photography, I think we share a lot of the same taste in dining. So when he recommended that we try the Graham Elliot restaurant in Chicago, I looked up the address on their website and added it to my list of things to do during our trip. (You have to check out the website by the way - the intro page is pretty neat!)

After a whole day of walking around Chicago, we ended up in the River North section because I was determined to check out one of the original Paper Source store. It's a long story but basically I have a photo of myself in front of several of their stores over the past years ... would love to see them all! Luckily, the restaurant was on a street on the way back to our hotel, so we stopped in for a drink before we went on a river boat tour that evening.

We sat at the bar and Tony enjoyed a basket of popcorn that was seasoned with truffle oil and herbs. It smelled so delicious and miraculously disappeared by the time we left the restaurant. He had the Metropolitan Dynamo Copper Lager and I had a glass of the Charles Bove sparkling Chenin Blanc sparkling wine. Man, after walking what I could swear was at least ten miles that day, that glass of wine was so refreshing!


Since we had a late lunch we weren't starving so we ordered two appetizers to share. The deconstructed Caesar salad was made with romaine hearts and white anchovy. It was served with a brioche "twinkie" that was filled with parmesan fluff. Did you read that? Parmesan fluff. Ahhhhh. It was probably the best Caesar salad I've ever had. I could eat ten servings of that in one sitting, how sad is that?

We also had the carpaccio of beef which was served with arugula sprout, torpedo onion, horseradish custard and sea salt. Wow. Another excellent dish. The presentation was equally impressive.

For being not-very-hungry people, we did a good job of cleaning up both plates (and the aforementioned basket of popcorn ... ahem ...). If we lived in Chicago, I know we would be back there quite often. The restaurant had a great atmosphere but the music was pretty loud at the bar (nice speaker system set up though). There were a lot of couples there, and it looked like some business people were meeting there for drinks. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone travelling to Chicago, and can't thank Allen enough for the suggestion!


Graham Elliot
217 W. Huron Street
Chicago, IL
312.624.9975
http://www.grahamelliot.com/

bergamot (somerville)

There's a new restaurant called Bergamot in the location that Evoo used to be on Beacon Street, a short walk from our apartment in Somerville. My friend, Jess, got two free cocktail coupons after trying to go there when they first opened; the restaurant and bar were full at that time so they gave her these as an incentive to come back. She was sweet to share one with me so we met there on a Sunday evening. One thing that's great about this place is that it's equi-distant between the two of us and within a short walk.

I have to admit that I had only been to Evoo once in the 9+ years I've lived in our Somerville apartment, and we didn't even eat dinner during that one visit years ago. We just sat at the bar and had some wine while gawking at everyone's plates, and said that we needed to come back some time for dinner. Well, now that it has moved over to Kendall Square, we'll have to make a trip out there some time to see what we had missed.

Unfortunately, I had already eaten a late lunch by the time Jess and I got to the restaurant so I wasn't really hungry. We decided to sit at the bar even though there was only one occupied table in the restaurant when we arrived. It's a nice space with a semi-open kitchen. They offer a bar menu with a variety of appetizers to choose from, and they have a pretty good list of cocktails and wines by the glass.

I was in a white wine mood so I had a glass of the 2008 Beaujolais Blanc, Terre Dorees and it was very good. I've taken a liking to drinking white wines lately, and I enjoy trying varietals other than the norm. In particular, I find viogniers and chenin blancs hard to resist. This glass was right up there, and quite refreshing.

What cracked us up was how the bartender constantly tried each wine he poured that night. I don't think I've ever seen that happen before. It was interesting to watch after the first couple of times he did it, but after the seventh or eighth time, we were pretty shocked and I told him that he had a fun job.

The amuse-bouche of the night was sauteed calamari served with fresh peas (don't worry, I transferred my peas to her dish). It was quite delicious and flavorful. And just really pretty to look at presentation wise.

Jess ordered the calamari appetizer dish and I think this won on presentation too. The batter was really light and it was served with a sweet and spicy glaze. She said it was delicious (I didn't want to risk breaking out because I could see the chili flakes), and it was a fairly large portion for being just an appetizer.

Neither of us had room for dessert afterwards, but the bartender brought each of us this cute little mini crepe with a cherry on top anyway. I don't think I can eat cherries (it's red and a fruit), but I couldn't resist trying it - it was so cute and smelled so good! The texture of the crepe was perfect and the cherry was not too tart. The presentation, again, was quite pretty.

And as if that wasn't enough, the bartender gave us these little gumdrop-looking treats when we asked for the check. They were plum flavored and oh-so-good! I had a glass of the 2008 Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, Cotes du Rhone and they went together quite nicely.

Overall, it was a nice dining experience and we had fun. The restaurant filled up by the time we left, nearly three hours later. (I know! I couldn't believe we were there that long either!) It's not a very big restaurant in size but there are a lot of tables and the noise level did not get very loud. It's a great place for a date, to take your parents to, and for small groups. I can definitely see more trips there this summer, especially since it is so close to where we live.


Bergamot
118 Beacon Street
Somerville, MA 02143
617.576.7700
http://bergamotrestaurant.com/

i heart wine wednesdays

But I think you already knew that, right?

This past Wednesday my husband and I met our friend, Stephanie, and her coworker at Rialto for their weekly wine tasting. Brad let us try the Soave (La Cappuccina, Verona 2008) as the white wine, and the Valpolicella (Villa Erbice, Ca’Panvinio, Verona 2008) as the red wine. We all liked both of them a lot, but I was more in a mood for red so I had a couple of glasses of the Valpolicella with the appetizers that night. It was nice and light even though it was quite dark in color (you'd think it would be heavier) and I think it went perfectly with everything we ate.

Speaking of what we ate ... my oh my, they sure make dining at a bar deliciously fun.

Pictured above: local buratta (mozzarella) with braised tomatoes; fried olives with salami and parmesan; Pat and Barbara's perfect littlenecks served with andouille and toasted garlic bread; and Parma Prosciutto.

What a wonderful way to end a Wednesday work day. Ahhhhh. It certainly makes facing Thursday a little bit easier when your tummy is happy. :)

pizzeria posto (somerville)

There's a new pizza place in Davis Square called Pizzeria Posto. It's in a building that Tony and I think is jinxed though, because it has been so many different things in the course of the ten years we've lived in Somerville. It used to be a Boloco, and then it was something called The Green Tomato 2 before now.

We went after work on Friday, their second night in business, and managed to get the last two seats at the bar around 6 pm. They did a nice job with the space: the kitchen is completely open, there's ample bar seating, lots of tables, a private function room, and a huge brick oven.



They have a pretty extensive wine menu and offer some of them as either a glass, half carafe, or as a bottle. We were a little thrown off by how pricy some of the selections were but decided to go for a half carafe of a red wine that was priced at $12 (it's $5 a glass). [Note: I don't remember the exact name of the wine and I was hoping I could look it up on their website as I wrote this, but alas, they haven't posted that info online yet. I'll try to update with specific info once it becomes available.] It was an excellent wine despite the lower price point, so I'm glad we didn't feel pressured to order something more expensive.

There was a man going around the entire time we were there, and by the looks of it, he was either a manager or perhaps one of the owners. He helped our bartender with our wine selection and poured it into the carafe for us, and said that their mushroom pizza would pair really well with it. Since it was one of the non-tomato pizza options on the menu, we decided to try his suggestion and split the shiitake mushroom pizza ($17).

And man, it was delicious! The crust was nice and thin, and the mushrooms were thick and juicy. Tony, someone who has been known to say, "I don't really like mushrooms" thought it was amazingly good too. We both agreed that the pizza itself was a bit on the smaller size for the price point, but it was excellent pizza.

Since we were both not full yet (LOL), we both ordered a dessert (gluttons, I know, huh?! Shoot, it was Friday and it had been a long week, so ... ). Tony ordered the cannoli ($5) and I ordered the gelato affogato ($5) after we Googled it on his Blackberry. We were happily surprised when they brought two cannolis on one plate, and with how they presented the affogato by pouring the shot of espresso on top of the gelato. Wow.

We also ordered a couple of aperitifs to enjoy with our desserts. Tony had a glass of port ($5) and I decided to try a glass of sherry ($3). Both were delicious (the port was a little too strong for me) but had I known that the espresso shot in my dessert would be so plentiful, I probably wouldn't have ordered the sherry. But of course, I didn't let it go to waste (ha ha).

Overall, it was a great dining experience, even though it was only their second night in business. It was interesting to hear some of the conversations between the wait staff, bartenders, and Eric (the guy I think is one of the managers or owners) because you could tell that there are things that they still need to iron out. I had the nerve to tell Eric that I had a complaint: no hooks underneath the bar to hang purses! Hee hee ... he kind of sort of laughed and said that it was something they just didn't get to yet, but that they should be installed by the next time I visited. I think we'll definitely go back for a nice date night and for just a drink at the bar during the summertime too. It's nice because it's also family-friendly, and it was packed by 6:30 pm (there were a lot of people standing around waiting for seats). To see more pictures, click here.

Pizzeria Posto
187 Elm Street
Davis Square
Somerville, MA 02144
617.625.0600
http://www.pizzeriaposto.com/