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)

flatbread is coming to davis square

On our way to getting coffee last Saturday morning, Tony and I drove past Sacco's Bowl Haven and noticed that The Flatbread Company had something that looked like a dome parked outside the door and that they were giving out pizza. Seriously, right? This was all B.C. (before coffee), so it could've been an illusion for sure.

Sure enough, Flatbread is coming to Somerville and they were holding an oven building party for their new location today. We were able to walk into the building to witness people working with mud and hay, and to see two of the earthen ovens being built. It was quite a sight!




On our way out, a man pulled two freshly baked pizzas out of their mobile oven and all I could hear him say was that it had mushrooms and herbs on it. I grabbed us two pieces and tried to hang onto the paper plate as the wind tried to knock it out of my hands.


We were walking back to our car and I just kept staring at the pizza and thinking how delicious it looked. Obviously the coffee hadn't really woken up my brain yet because I forgot for nearly two or three minutes that I am allergic to tomatoes! And it wasn't until Tony said, "I think there are tomatoes on this, you can't eat it" that it had sunk into my mind that duh! This was pizza! Of course it has tomatoes on it. Sigh.

I went ahead and took a small bite anyway, and we agreed: it was extremely delicious pizza. Wow, two new pizza places in Davis Square. We definitely can't wait to try out this one when they finally open up in June. Stay tuned folks.

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/

nebo in boston, ma

This post/review is long overdue! Stephanie and I went to see the Killers at the TD Banknorth Garden the Friday of Labor Day weekend (read all about it here). Since the concert wasn't going to start until 7:30 pm (which is typically still inaccurate, it tends to be 30+ minutes later than that even), we met up beforehand and had dinner at Nebo in the North End in Boston. Neither of us had been there before so it made the experience of trying some place new even more fun.

It's in a kind of weird location (N. Washington Street) because it's right on the edge or out-skirts of what most people know as the North End. What's great is that it really is only about 252 steps away from the Garden (I'm still so used to calling it the Fleet Center) as they boast on their website. If you take the green line T to get there and exit at North Station, you'll see a large painted sign on the back of the restaurant's building, so you can't miss it.

We got there a little after 5:30 pm and it was quite empty (Friday before a holiday weekend ... maybe everyone had left by then?). I wanted to take pictures of the decor and set up inside but there were so many wait staff just standing around so I felt awkward whipping out the camera. It is much larger inside than it seems from the outside as it goes far back into the building. There's a nice bar where people started to congregrate as they trickled in.

We started with their arancini appetizer ($10) which were three porcini mushroom and mozzarella stuffed rice balls. They normally drizzle the chestnut honey over top of them but we asked for it on the side instead. I liked the presentation in the white dishes, and they were delicious! It's funny because as much as Stephanie and I both love to cook, we pondered over why neither of us had ever tried frying risotto balls like this. I think it is probably a lot more difficult than we think (they come out so smooth) so I'll just leave it to the pros and look forward to enjoying them as we dine out. :)


We also shared an order of their bruschetta aglio e olio ($2) which translates to homemade grilled bread with garlic and extra virgin olive oil (evoo). It was very tasty but a tad too crunchy for my tastes. Of course, that didn't stop me from eating my share.

And then we split a pizza con patate ($16) which was made with pancetta, golden potato, gorgonzola, rosemary, evoo, and mozarella. I like how it was a thin crust pizza and how the pancetta gave it a nice salty flavor. Part of why I wanted to try that particular pizza (they have over 20 different kinds to choose from, not to mention the ability to create your own!) was to see how it compared to the potato pizza at Cambridge 1. I have to say that I still favor the one at Cambridge 1, although the pancetta and gorgonzola on this one does make it quite different. It was a good pizza but I think next time I'd like to try the scampi pizza ($17) with shrimp, garlic, parsley, evoo, pecorino romano, and mozzarella.

It's a nice alternative to fighting the tourist crowd in the North End, and especially ideal if you're going to attend a concert or game later that night. I really can't think of other nice, classy restaurants in that particular area (like on Canal Street, etc.) that aren't basically beer or sports bars. They have a great wine menu, too, and the atmosphere is quite lively. The portions were good: we barely finished the pizza after sharing the two apps and did not have room for dessert. Also a good place for a group of people. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area!

figs in charlestown, ma

A couple of my coworkers and I decided to get out of the office last Friday for lunch, so I showed them where Figs was located. It's in Charlestown which is surprisingly close to our building even though we're in Somerville, so it only took us about 4 minutes to get there.

Two of us split the Caesar salad ($6.50) which is made with a yummy eggless dressing, while the other two split an order of the Rhode Island Calamari ($9.95). They serve their calamari with hote cherry peppers and a lemony garlic aioli. The salad is nice and refreshing, and comes as a large portion which makes it great for sharing. I couldn't get over how much calamari came on the plate, too. I was so tempted to try it (it smelled and looked so good!) but I knew it had the spicy red sauce on it and we were going away for the weekend, so I didn't want to disrupt it with a trip to the ER. One of our coworkers tried a small piece of the calamari even though she said she doesn't usually like it and said that it actually tasted really good.

They give you a basket of warm, foccacia bread plus some olive oil with olives to dip it in. Very yummy!

Two of us split a fig and prosciutto pizza ($9.25) and the other two split a portobello pizza ($9.00). The prosciutto pizza was made with a crisp rosemary crust with fig and balsamic jam, prosciutto and gorgonzola cheese. It was delicious according to my two coworkers, with just enough of a touch of the gorgonzola cheese to not be overpowering.

The portobello pizza is normally made with a red sauce but I asked them to make it with just olive oil and it was superb (I actually think it would be better if it were offered as a white pizza). It was made with portobello mushrooms, a wild mushroom puree, roasted red onions, and fontina cheese. So yummy!

Altogether our tab for four people came out to $11 a person including the tip, which is really not that bad for a lunch outing. When we worked in the financial district in Boston, we knew people who would spend that much every single day by going out to buy a sandwich and a drink.

Afterwards, since none of them had really ever been to that part of Charlestown before, I took the scenic way back. We ended up driving up a hill that took us directly to the base of the Bunker Hill Monument, so I managed to take this photo real quickly.

We'll definitely do this again soon since it's so much closer to the office than one would think. Especially since the food was so good! My friend, Stephanie, says that it's very similar to Emma's near Kendall Square, so I'm looking forward to trying that place soon. :)

goat cheese + grilled chicken pizza

Sort of like pizza, but not really I guess. I found this delicious Ciabatta bread at Star Market (that I can eat - hooray!) and so I grilled some chicken, toasted the bread in the oven with a little bit of olive oil, slathered on some goat cheese, sprinkled on some fresh basil, and then zapped the whole thing under the broiler for a few minutes. Voila! A delicious pizza-like dinner. :)