the blue room (cambridge), take 2

It was a gorgeous summer night with a temperature in the mid-70's. My friends and I arrived at The Blue Room around 6:30 pm and were lucky to score a table in their outdoor patio area. With so many things to choose from, we decided to order a bunch of appetizers and share so that we could all try a variety of things. Pair this with wine and cocktails, and it's a perfect way to spend some time with good friends. Here are some of the plates that grazed our table that night:

The grilled shrimp and chorizo kabob ($6)

The wood-grilled octopus ($11) which is served with potatoes, mustard seed, and a preserved lemon vinaigrette is absolutely delicious. I even convinced my two squeamish friends to try a piece and they were surprisingly pleased by its charcoal flavor and not-so-weird texture. (Note to concerned friends: don't worry, I kicked the potatoes and celery slices aside and let my friends enjoy them while I devoured the octopus. Still suspicious about potatoes being a possible allergen.)

The wood-grilled skirt steak ($9) served with radicchio and a bernaise sauce was cooked perfectly medium rare.

The antipasto plate ($12) of roasted local vegetables was served with crispy flat bread. We opted for the plate that included artisanal cured meats. I had a hard time picking around some of the vegetables but I did enjoy some of the cured meat and it was quite tasty. This would be a great option for someone that is a vegetarian (obviously, without the cured meats - it's only $9 that way) because there was quite an assortment of vegetables.

We also had some of their rosemary and garlic marinated olives ($4) and my friends devoured a watermelon salad ($10) before I could snap a photo of the evidence. They said it was extremely delicious; the sight of feta, red onion, parsley, mint, oregano and a sherry vinaigrette had me wishing I wasn't allergic to watermelon!

I would highly recommend The Blue Room's outdoor patio if you're looking for a nice place on a summer day or night (the tables have nice large umbrellas for sunny days). Tony and I had dinner here back in September and it was just as nice inside the restaurant. Great choice for a small group of friends, a romantic night out, or a nice restaurant to take your parents to.

The Blue Room
One Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA
617.494.9034
www.theblueroom.net

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

the friendly toast (cambridge)

My friend Emily and I had lunch at the Friendly Toast in Kendall Square last week. It was my first time at the restaurant, and I was blown away by the kitschy decor inside. It has a fun, diner-esque atmosphere with an all-day breakfast menu. They also have a location up in Portsmouth, NH that is actually open 24 hours on weekends.

We both ordered tea and I love the little pots that they arrived in (I'm pretty sure I've seen these at Davis Squared, right?), not to mention the plastic mugs that they gave us. So cheeky and retro, yet so cool! I forgot what kind of tea Emily had but I had the minty green tea and it was really good.

The sugar holder on our table reminded me of the kind of stuff we'd find at our Auntie Tita's house when we were growing up near Vacaville. She had something exactly like this in her house - and it was probably an ash tray - but just as quirkily cool, know what I mean?

Emily had the Matt sandwich which was made with anadama bread ( ),cream cheese, avocado, black beans, salsa, and cheddar. It was a huge sandwich! They serve sandwiches with your choice of either pretzels, homefries, or chips. Em went the healthier route and boy, did they pile on the pretzels!

I had an egg sandwich on a grilled croissant and goat cheese. It was a little surprising when the waitress asked me how I wanted the eggs done because I'm so used to egg sandwiches being made with scrambled eggs. I went with her suggestion of sunny something (why can't I remember?! sheesh! I know it wasn't sunny side up because she said they flip it over a little bit, otherwise it would be super runny ... sunny medium? is that what that style is called??) and it was perfectly done so that the sandwich held up enough but the egg yolk was still nice and runny. I know, not everyone likes their eggs quite that raw but it's so delicious to me!

I must admit that I had heard mixed things about this location and mostly that their non-breakfast items weren't that great. I hear they do awesome pancakes and waffles, so I might be inclined to go for something like that next time. It seems like a good family place and also good for small groups of people. It's located near a lot of the bio-tech companies in the square, so it's not wonder it was pretty full at lunch time. The service was kind of slow, but then again, I think she was one of two wait staff on at the time.

I have to say, the area that we walked through (by the Cambridge Brewing Company, Flat Top Johnny's, the Blue Room, and the newest restaurant called Think Tank) was boasting with crowds of people at lunch time, and seems like such a fun area to work near. There was a lot of outdoor patio dining - I think I may have to convince my coworkers to do lunch there a couple of times this summer!


The Friendly Toast
1 Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA
617.621.1200
http://www.thefriendlytoast.net

lemon rosemary punch

My friend and I enjoyed these lovely lemon rosemary punch drinks at City Girl Cafe on Saturday afternoon. It was so refreshing on a day where it was nearly 80 degrees outside. I'm not sure of the exact recipe though ... they were made with prosecco, sweet vermouth, rosemary, lemon, and simple sugar syrup. Delicious.

stone hearth pizza

I recently became a Boston Citysearch dictator and joined the ranks of other foodies, bloggers, and contributors in the Boston metro area who also enjoy writing about dining experiences. I finally got over the anxiety of writing and posting my first list last week. I decided to write about my five favorite restaurants to get pizza made without red sauce (food allergy woe). As a result, I was able to join nine other dictators for a "pizzapalooza" at Stone Hearth Pizza in Cambridge.

I didn't really know what to expect at the event and I thought that it would be the type of thing where each person could order whatever they wanted from the menu. Instead, Michael the chef, gave us a bunch of things from their menu to sample in a family style setting. They brought out huge plates of their parmesan flatbread appetizer which were taller than our heads (and super yummy)! We also got to try their poppers which are stuffed meatballs, the marinated olives, gazpacho, whipped ricotta, a tomato and avocado soup, and pickled seasonal ramps.

They poured different beers for us to try throughout dinner too. I felt kind of bad since I'm not a beer drinker, but I did try the Original Sin Cider that they poured first because I used to love drinking cider before I realized I was allergic to apples. They poured Pretty Things Jack D'Or (interesting story behind how each label is created), Cisco's Bailey's Blonde Ale, and Allagash Curieux.

They also let us try their Caesar salad (wonderfully light dressing), arugula and Portobello salad, and a seasonal one served on top of asparagus spears and turnips.

I ended up making a special request with Michael for a non-tomato pizza and he was super gracious in accomodating my order. I got a junior size (8") pizza with fontina cheese, Yukon gold potatoes, and proscuitto. It was very good and I really liked the thin pizza crust.

It was great being able to meet so many other people who share my interest in food, and to learn about Stone Hearth's story. The restaurant supports family farming and serves the best possible organic food sourced from over 30 New England farms. It was really cute because they gave each of us a little basil plant to take home that night. I definitely want to take my husband back there some night!

Another dictator's blog post from the same night here (with even better photos of all the food and beer!).

Stone Hearth Pizza
1782 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA
617.492.1111
http://www.stonehearthpizza.com/

(they also have locations in Belmont, MA and Needham, MA)

green street grill

We recently had dinner with a couple of friends at the Green Street Grill in Cambridge. It's a great place for drinks and apps at the bar because it has a nice atmosphere and a good menu selection. During this visit we sat upstairs in the dining area.

One friend and I had the special that night: gnocchi with mushrooms ($24) (I forgot what kind she said they were). The neat thing is that they seared the gnocchi in a pan so that it was slightly crispy on the outside, which added a little bit of a crunchy texture. The mushrooms were teeny and delicious. The sauce was made with white wine, lemon, and cream and went really well with my glass of Arinto (Pires, Casa Santos Lima, Portugal, $7). I sopped up the sauce with the complimentary bread - it was that good!


My husband had the skirt steak dish ($24) which was served on top of asparagus and then topped with a bread salsa. He enjoyed it especially (I think) because they did a nice job of keeping the meat medium rare.

One of our friends had a couple of items from the starter menu as a meal. She had the asparagus salad ($8, I think) and the charcuterie of the day which was a pork pate ($5, I think).

We ended up sharing the tres leches dessert ($7) which was extremely good. I don't think I've ever had tres leches before so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but the cake was extremely moist and so nicely sweetened. And how can you go wrong with toasted coconut on anything, right?! I might have to do one of these by myself next time. :)

We don't usually make it out to the Central Square area of Cambridge that often, but it's nice to know that this is a great place to stop at if we are nearby and in search of a good food and good drinks.

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. :)

city girl cafe

There's this little place called City Girl Cafe in Inman Square that we've driven by a countless number of times in the past ten years we've lived here in Somerville, and I'm so embarrassed to say that we've never stopped to visit up until now. So finally, I got to go and check it out. And I'll admit, this was after one of my friends and coworkers came back from having lunch there and raved about their paninis.

My friend, Kathleen, and I decided to face the cold, windy, rainy weather and escape from the office for lunch on Friday. We found a parking spot right out in front of the cafe which was awesome (thank you, parking angel!). We got there around 1:15 pm and there was plenty of seating, so we sat by the window.

Kathleen ordered some of the olives appetizer for us to share, but I was bummed because we think there were cracked red pepper flakes in them. I did have one and it was quite delicious, but I was too afraid to eat anymore.

I ordered half of a PLT panini which was a pancetta, lettuce, and tomato panini with asiago cheese and a basil aioli (of course, mine didn't have the tomato) and it was served with a little bag of Cape Cod potato chips ($4.50). I also splurged and ordered a cannoli for dessert ($2) and a bottle of Pellegrino sparkling mineral water ($3). It was Friday for Pete's sake! I had a long week, so I felt I deserved a little treat. :)

I did think the sandwich was a little bit small in portion, but then again, it was just enough since I had the dessert and a full bottle of the sparkling water. It was absolutely delicious! I had it served on foccacia instead of the seven grain bread. Yummy!

Kathleen had the egg salad and asparagus sandwich with sun-dried tomato, romaine, and aioli on a baguette and she said it was delicious too.

We were both excited about sharing the cannoli that I forgot to take a photo of it before it was literally inhaled! LOL Needless to say, it was wonderfully yummy. :)

This place isn't that far from our office building, so I can definitely see it becoming a new regular stop for lunch. A couple of my friends have said that they do an excellent brunch, too.

City Girl Cafe
204 Hampshire Street
Inman Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.864.2809
http://citygirlcafe.com/index.html#

wine wednesday at rialto restaurant

One neat thing about Twitter is finding out about things going on at local restaurants such as Rialto Restaurant's Wine Wednesday event. My husband and I originally had plans to meet with a couple of friends for dinner at Cambridge 1, but since that fell through I suggested that we check out this event. And we're both so glad we went!

Wine Wednesday takes place every Wednesday from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Their wine director, Brad Nugent, hosts an informal wine tasting where he selects a white and red from Rialto's wine list to share a taste of. Last night, we tried the Riesling (Trimbach, Clos St. Hune 1997) and the Amarone della Valpolicella (Tommaso Bussola 2004). Both were excellent wines. Tony preferred the red over the white because the Riesling was quite dry and he prefers sweeter varietals. And I preferred the Riesling because it had a nice finish. In either case, we were shocked to learn (after inquiring about being able to order either by the glass on a future dining excursion) that they around roughly $150 and $175 per bottle (respectively). Yowzers! So in that sense, it was a real treat to be able to try both of them for free during the tasting!

After we finished our tastings, Tony had a glass of the Barbera and I had a glass of the Nebbiolo (Vietti, Perbacco, Langhe 2006). His was a lot more buttery than mine but both were delicious (I had never tried a Nebbiolo before), and they both went quite well with our appetizers.

Rialto has a great bar menu where one can order antipasti dishes at $4 per plate, or three plates for $10. We thoroughly enjoyed the local mozzarella which was served with yummy braised tomatoes (yes friends, don't worry, the husband ate those and kept them far away from me!); the roasted winter squash which was served with a deliciously tart pomegranate sauce; and the fried olives which were stuffed with salami and parmesan. (P.S. I think we could've eaten a hundred more of the stuffed olives! So yummy!)

I think next time I'll try the potato croquettes, the smoked salmon, and definitely the duck liver pate dishes. Mmmmm ... just thinking about all this is making me hungry!

So if you're ever in the Cambridge (Harvard Square) area on a Wednesday evening and enjoy wine, definitely check out Rialto Restaurant's Wine Wednesday and give Brad a visit! Be sure to tell them that Candice sent you. :)

the blue room in cambridge, ma

We went to see Uma Thurman's new movie, Motherhood, on Friday night at the Kendall Square Theatre. You can see the photos I managed to snap of her during the Q&A session afterwards here. After the movie, Tony and I had dinner at The Blue Room not too far from the theatre. I had read about it on Boston Chefs before but since we don't normally hang out in Kendall Square I wasn't eve sure where it was located. I really liked the outside of the building and how it is lit at night. It has a nice, warm and cozy feeling on the inside as its filled with lots of tables for two, and has a fully open view of the kitchen.

The place was packed even at 9:45 pm, which is a great sign. We managed to get a table without having reservations. They print their menu each day and at the botom was this phrase about eating raw food; it was the first thing that caught my eye and made us laugh.

The way that the menu is printed is quite clever actually. It's all on one page and it includes the wines by the glasses. They assigned a letter to each of the wines (starting at the top with the sparkling and white wines, then down to the heavier reds) and then they indicate a suggested wine pairing next to each food dish by using the coordinating letter.

We decided to try something different (in hindsight, all of these wines were pretty much new to us which was quite cool) from the wine by the glass menu and we both wanted to try one called Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese, Migliavacca, 2008 (Piedmont) ($8) but I couldn't figure out how to pronounce it and pointed to it instead. Unfortunately, it was a bit loud in the restaurant and we think that he thought I said we wanted the "Gritsch". So when our waiter came to the table with a bottle of white wine and said, "I want you to try this," I totally thought he was giving us a free sample of something. (I'm still laughing at myself for being so naive!) But then after we finished tasting it and said that we liked it, he filled our glasses and then left. We just kind of looked at each other with bewilderment and said, "What just happened here?" Alas, the wine that we ended up with -- Gruner Veltliner, Gritsch, Kalmuck, 2008 (Wachau) ($8) -- was indeed delicious so we decided we'd get red to go with our meals and not complain.

There aren't that many entree options for me on their menu except for the skirt steak dish as long as the chef would be cook with omitting the spinach risotto (yes, spinach is in question for me too). So we did something a little different than usual and ordered a couple of the appetizer plates. Tony had a bowl of their wild boar and barley vegetable soup which is made with Broken Arrow Ranch Italian style sausage, cannelini beans, butternut squash and kale ($8). He also had their pork tamales which are served with fried sweet plantains, chipotle sauce, and pinto beans ($9). (I'm sorry the photo of the soup didn't come through because it looked really nice!)

I had the grilled squid appetizer ($9) and asked the waiter to have the chef leave out the roasted red pepper puttanesca (wanted to avoid a trip the ER ya know ... lol) and that we'd get an order of the roasted fingerling potatoes from the side dish menu. I think the communication was a little mixed up because they ended up substituting the red peppers with the fingerlings instead of making them a whole separate plate. It really was fine in the end because it was extremely delicious and served with semolina fried artichokes. I couldn't get over the flavor of the squid and I think it's now one of my favorite appetizer dishes. The fingerlings went perfectly with them. Mmmmm. I'm craving them as I type this up! I seriously could eat this all day.

During dinner, we both asked for the Grignolino again and this time our waiter brought back to the [small] table four empty glasses and two bottles of red wine. The first one he poured was the Grignolino for us to try, but then he poured us a taste of the Vinhos Ribatejano, Lagoalva, "Espirito", 2005 (Ribatejano) ($7) wine from Portugal. The Grignolino was quite light red in hue and fruity in flavor. Tony stuck with that but I had a glass of the Portuguese wine because I liked how it was a little heavier and bolder.

I thought it was a nice little touch that the waiter made thinking that we might like the Portuguese wine, and if anything, we got to try a different wine even if we didn't end up ordering it. I also liked how they pour your glass of wine for you directly at the table by bringing the bottle over. I don't know why I like that so much but I felt like it was a like one step up in customer service on their part, plus we were able to sample it before he poured the full glass (which was quite generous, just as an fyi).

I definitely want to go back there sometime simply to nosh on grilled squid! I'd recommend The Blue Room to anyone looking for a nice place to take a date and it's also one of the places I'd like to take my parents to some time when they're back here in Boston. A nice dinner and date pairing for sure.

restaurant week boston: rialto

My friend Laura and I decided to try out Rialto's restaurant week menu last Friday (sorry for posting so late). Rialto is Chef Jody Adams' restaurant in the Charles Hotel in Cambridge.

Of course, because I'm posting this after Restaurant Week has ended, I don't have access to the menu to get the exact details of our dishes. I'll have to rely on our bellies to remember! Thanks to an email from Rebecca at Rialto! She emailed me the Restaurant Week menu to use as a reference. :)

We shared a bottle of the Elk Cove Vineyards Pinot Blanc white wine which was absolutely delicious and refreshing. It went really well with the salad I had, which was made with simple local lettuces, radishes, flowers, and a champagne chardonnay vinaigrette. (Note to self: if trip out to Oregon this fall actually happens, try to visit this winery.)

The dressing was really nice and light, and the flowers and radishes were very good. Laura had a dish that I want to say was a corn polenta (again, sorry I don't have the exact details to go by)had the corn risotto dish which was made with mushrooms, Parmigiano Reggiano, and chervil which she said was quite delicious.

We both had the whole roasted trout dish as an entree and both opted to have the chef remove the head and tail for us. It's funny because I have never actually ordered a whole fish at a restaurant before, so we giggled when the waitress asked us about that option. I wouldn't know how to handle those parts on a plate so I thought it would be safer to ask for someone professional do it for me.


(Sorry about the blurry photos!) The fish was served on top of a nice mix of potatoes and bacon a warm potato salad, bacon, and horseradish and was topped with a lemony creamy sauce. It was cooked absolutely perfectly: so tender and light with a great texture. It makes me wish I was brave enough to try something like this at home. But that's one of the pleasures of dining out, right? Eating things that you would probably be better off not attempting in your own kitchen.

We also both ordered the chocolate cake chocolate torta dessert, except I asked them to leave the berries off of my plate. It is served with raspberries, honey, and prosecco as photographed here. It was divine. And such a wonderful way to end such a pleasant dining experience.

I would highly recommend Rialto for anyone looking for a beautiful dinner outing with someone special. It's larger than I thought it would be and each part of the restaurant is tastefully decorated (we loved the orange chairs in our room against the darker walls). Our waitress, Nicole, was very attentive and very accomodating when it came to my allergies. I'm so glad we went there!