sherman cafe in union square

I've seen the Sherman Cafe in passing a few times, so I decided that we should check it out for breakfast on Saturday morning. My brother-in-law, Joe, spent the night after he and Tony went to watch our friend, Jim's, band (Gene Dante & The Future Starlets) compete in the 2009 WBCN Rock n' Roll Rumble on Friday night. It's in Union Square in Somerville, pretty close to Bloc 11 but on Washington Street.

It's a really cute place with a nice selection of pastries, salads, and coffee drinks. We managed to get a seat by the window to enjoy some of the sunlight, but they also have a couple of large couches available. I think they offer free wi-fi too. I had a nice big latte with a salmon and cream cheese bagel. It was quite yummy! They have knitted coffee cup cozies that people can use instead of the paper kind which is a pretty neat idea.

The scones there are huge by the way! Tony had a blueberry scone and although I thought it was very good, he said it wasn't dry enough for his tastes. Joe had a chocolate chip scone and I think it was pretty tasty since there was nothing left on his plate later.

This is a good alternative for those days when we go to Bloc 11 and we can't find a seat (it's getting to that point lately!).

back-to-back bloc 11

Hmmm ... that's funny ... this is another post about Bloc 11 Cafe. Just a real quick one. Tony and I went over there for breakfast before heading over to Harvard Square for the May Fair. We both enjoyed an egg sandwich with prosciutto. Yum! With melted cheese on rosemary foccacia bread. Mmmm!

bloc 11 cafe in union square

This morning, Tony took me to this new little cafe in Union Square called Bloc 11 Cafe. Well, at least, we thought it was new but they actually have been open since October. And come to find out that it is owned by the same people that own Diesel Cafe in Davis Square.

Anyway, it is a pretty cool place. It used to be a bank (Somerville National Bank) so there are two huge vaults inside that you can actually sit in to sip your coffee. They have pastries, sandwiches, and all sorts of espresso drinks. We thought it was pretty cool how they had another separate espresso bar towards the back that was built on top of old safety deposit boxes.

And of course, I snapped a few photos. :)

Said by a picky coffee drinker: "I prefer white for breakfast, and black for dinner."





Hope nobody left anything valuable in those things ...

We were talking about how it would be nice to live in the Union Square area if/once they clean it up a bit more. They are planning on extending the green line T out to here so it'll be interesting to see a) how long that will really take, and b) the impact it will have in the neighborhood in terms of traffic and business.

In the meantime, I could see us returning to enjoy coffee on the weekends. It's across the street from Capone Foods where we picked up some gnocchi and pasta sauce. Mmmm, can't wait to try the sweet potato gnocchis!

the independent

One reason that we would find it really difficult to move away from this area ("Camberville") is the culture within each neighborhood that I don't think you'd be able to find in suburbia. For instance, Union Square. It's a short walk from where we live now and it has so much cool stuff going on. Obviously, our favorite these days is Bloc 11 Cafe, but there are also places like the Independent, Great Thai Chef restaurant (proclaimed by Tony to have the best tom yum goong soup), Grand the store, Capone Foods and so much more.

This particular post is about the Independent. They have consistently good food there and a nice, cozy atmosphere. We tried their deviled eggs appetizer and they were so tasty! I don't think I've ever seen deviled eggs on a menu before, but I have to say that if I ever own a restaurant, that's something I'd like to include on the menu. They're so simple but so yummy.

Tony had the french dip sandwich and I had the steak and gruyere cheese sandwich appetizer with a side order of french fries. The food was delicious and the portions are generous. With a beer and a glass of wine (and before the tip), our bill only came out to $40. Not bad for a Thursday night outing.

hing shing pastry

We went to China Pearl for some dim sum on Wednesday (luckily they do dim sum all day until 9 pm!). I think it had been at least one year since either of us had dim sum because I think Tony went with his coworkers from Eaton Vance before he left last December, and I can't remember ever going since then (which is kind of sad).

I guess with my food allergies I was always hesitant about going out for dim sum because I don't know what ingredients they use to make the dumplings, etc. I played it somewhat safe this time (especially after just getting over whatever it was that bothered me during the Christmas holiday) and stuck with mostly shrimp dishes like har gow, and of course, shumai. I couldn't resist eating one of the lo mai gai (lotus leaf wrapped rice and meat) bundles, especially after Tony opened one up and the fragrant smell of the leaves and sticky rice enticed me.

Two days later (and even the day after), I felt fine so I think my fears have been calmed. (Woo hoo!)

They didn't have the egg custard tarts (dan tat) that we both love, so we stopped at the Hing Shing Pastry store on our way back to the car to pick some up. We normally stop at the Eldo Cake House but we parked in the opposite direction this time and thought about trying out a new place. I'm so glad we did!

Hing Shing is small and there are no tables and chairs to sit down at to enjoy your pastry purchases, but they have a large variety of things to choose from both sweet and savory. There were a couple of people ahead of us in line so we patiently waited while the one woman working the front tended to orders and a bunch of men in the kitchen were busy baking and talking.

This rack of pastries caught my eye and come to find out, they are sponge cake. They looked like popovers to me but sure enough, they are sweet and really light and fluffy in texture.

We laughed a little bit when we saw these "big walnut cookies". They were huge! And full of whole, large walnuts.

The woman had just put out a fresh batch of the dan tat so we were pretty psyched.


So we took our pastries, headed back to Somerville and to Bloc 11 for some coffee. I'd say that the dan tat and lattes were quite a perfect combination.

The dan tat were so yummy! I love the crunchiness and flakiness of the crust, and how the egg custard is not overly sweet. I found a recipe to make them at home on Jen's blog, so I might muster up the courage to try it out some day. But making a trip out to Chinatown for some makes it all that more special in the end, and this time I promise I won't wait a whole year to go back!

met bar & grill in natick, ma

The last time I wrote about the Met Bar & Grill was back in November of last year, but we've actually been there 3 or 4 times between then and today. Renee, Tony, and I did a lot of shopping today during the Massachusetts Sales Tax Holiday Weekend which started with a little breakfast and coffee at our favorite Bloc 11 Cafe. After all the major shopping duties were done, we introduced her to the burgers at the Met.

She tried the Paris burger which consisted of a fried egg, brie, and caramelized onions. Yum!

Tony had a Met burger with Swiss cheese. We had bad luck with them forgetting to put his cheese on the last two times we've been there but thank goodness they remembered this time.

I had my usual bunless Met burger in a bowl with arugula, sauteed mushrooms, and a side of roasted garlic aioli. No kissy kissy tonight with my garlic breath!

But the thing that makes you do a Jesus-Mary-and-Joseph is the massive basket of "Sweets & Rings" that comes out and takes up half the table. LOL Okay, maybe not half but you get the idea. This thing was oozing with their yummy, string, onion rings and huge slabs of fried sweet potatoes. Diet? Wha? Nothing but goodness here. And a couple of stuffed pigs. Yikes.