A Biannual Trip to Zaftig's in Brookline

My husband and I go to Zaftig's Delicatessen in Brookline, MA twice a year. It's a biannual ritual which coincides with our dental cleaning appointments every 6 months. Our dentist happens to be just down the road in Brookline and knowing that a delicious meal at Zaftig's is on the horizon makes our dental appointments something to look forward to. Zaftig's also has a Natick, MA location. When I was planning my wedding, I made a habit of visiting that location after my bridal gown fittings at David's Bridal next door.

Zaftig's is a Jewish Delicatessen with an impressively large and varied menu. They serve breakfast all day and offer unique items including Cheese Blintzes, Challah French toast, grilled Banana Nut Bread with Date Butter, enormous Omelets, Salami or Pastrami with Scrambled Eggs, Lox and Matzo Brei. They have traditional Jewish dishes and sides including Kugel, Knished, Latkes, Gefilte Fish, Kasha Varnishka and more. Zaftig's also has specialty sandwiches (I recommend The Lupo which is brisket in between two potato pancakes!), burgers, wraps, salads, fish plates and grill & fry plates.

When I visit Zaftig's, I like to get the Create Your Own Omelet for the basic price of $7.95 plus $0.95 for each meat, vegetable or cheese filling that is added on. My perfect Omelet is Mushrooms, Tomatoes, Chives (or Green Onions) and Muenster Cheese. I ordered this and it was perfection! It came with a side of whole wheat toast, potatoes and fresh fruit. Divine!

Carlos got The Lincoln Wrap which had falafel, cucumber-yogurt sauce, radicchio, lettuce, tomatoes and red onion. He chose their homemade potato salad as his side and got some extra of their special pickles to go with it too.

Zaftig's only has a beer and wine license and Carlos really wanted a Bloody Mary to go with his meal. Luckily they had an option! They make Bloody Mary's with Saki Wine instead of Vodka. Carlos was pleasantly surprised and pleased with his drink. I got plain iced tea and the waitress was very generous with refills. We were too stuffed by our meal to contemplate dessert but we were seriously tempted by their Challah Bread Pudding. They also have New York style cheesecake, rice pudding, grape nut custard and lots more.

Zaftig's is consistently amazing and I love going there. The service is excellent, the place is always buzzing with regulars and the food never disappoints.

If you are in the area and want to work off your Zaftig's meal, make sure you walk around Coolidge Corner. You'll find the historic Art Deco Coolidge Corner Theatre, the famous Brookline Booksmith store is on the same block and just down the road you'll find the John F. Kennedy Birthplace Historic Site & Museum.

Last Meal at Beacon Grille

Beacon Grille in Woburn, MA closed at the end of June this year. I was so sad that my favorite restaurant was to be no more. It's now re-opened as a Strega's and I don't have a favorite haunt anymore. I'm mad. I really am. Anytime I find something that is truly special and that works beautifully, it always seems to be taken away from me.

Here are some photos from my last meal at Beacon Grille back in June.

Phantom Gourmet Food Festival

On Sunday, Carlos and I headed to Fenway Park in Boston for the 2013 Phantom Gourmet Food Festival. Carlos had purchased two tickets in advance and they were $30 each. The festival promised 100 different types of food samples as well as music, dancing and festivities. From their commercial on their website, I thought beer was also included but water, beer and wine cost extra (or maybe I just missed when they were passing out beer?!). Bars and restaurants along Lansdowne Street were open exclusively to Festival goers. The Festival was huge, running all down Lansdowne and onto Ipswich. There were hundreds of people there (thousands maybe?) and the festival ran from noon to 4 pm.

I had a mixed experience at this festival. I didn't want to go but Carlos really wanted to and was treating me to a ticket so that I could accompany him. Phantom Gourmet is a local TV show that reviews restaurants in Eastern Massachusetts (and sometimes in other nearby states) and also highlights locally made products. They have an enormous following and their episodes are incredibly popular. Just watching an episode will make you drool. They drive a lot of business to local restaurants so I really appreciate what they do.

The food they focus on is not really my type of food. I've been on more of a health kick recently and I like to try more ethnic and unique foods as well. Phantom Gourmet's typical cuisine is mostly high in calories, big on flavor and mouth-wateringly sinful. I used to be into that kind of food but haven't been in a long time because of my health problems and my focus on being healthy. Also, on Sunday I was two days into a nasty bout of flu so I wasn't particularly hungry or even happy to be outside. However, I tried to have fun the best I could.

There were lots of fans there at the festival and you could pick them out in the crowd because they were wearing purple, Phantom Gourmet's official color. We got there around 12:30 and the festival was already packed with people. They check your I.D. and your bag at the gate for security. Also because of alcohol consumption it's for ages 21 and over only so it was a nice kid-free event. This was a big plus for me! We didn't know how the festival worked and initially we tried to go to each individual booth from the outside. I realized later that the booths were all set up in one long line and you follow the long line and pass each stall one-by-one to get easier access. Each vendor/restaurant had one or two food samples they specialized in.

Types of food: Burgers, Hot Dogs, pickles, pulled pork sandwiches, clam chowder, grilled clams, soup,  pretzel bread, garlic knots, flatbread pizza, chips, meatloaf, meatballs, chicken pot pie, popcorn, sandwiches, etc.

Types of dessert: donuts, ice cream, cupcakes, brownies, frozen yogurt, etc.

My thoughts and tips: It was well-organized and the chaos was well contained. But festival goers were pushy, grabby and greedy. You'd get a better experience when the crowd has dissipated some.  I recommend going to the festival a good one or two hours after it starts. 

All the food I had was delicious. I came with a list of things I wanted to try but barely made a dent. You have to be open-minded and try what you can get your hands on. And be prepared to wait in a long line for what might be a very tiny sample. Lines move fairly quickly which is a bonus.

I wish the booths had better signage. These are mostly local businesses advertising their products and services and I wish I could have been able to identify better who was who. Some had great signs and gave out business cards which did help.

Overall, it was good and I'm glad I went. I think being outdoors made my flu symptoms worse but I still enjoyed it. Will I go again next year? Probably not. $30 is a lot for what ended up being not a lot of food and for being a bit overwhelming with such a big crowd. However, if you don't mind crowds, are patient and really like this type of cuisine, I encourage you to go! You will have a lot of fun and it's wonderful to be at Fenway enjoying the sunshine and eating lots of great food.

Carlos enjoying some pulled chicken on a piece of toasted bread

Gourmet Popcorn

An all-beef (no pork) meatball. This was the best meatball I've had in a very long time!

Turkey and Cheese Panini with a Brownie Shot. Mmm! I love the addition of a little dessert. Felt more like a mini meal than just a sample.

I was waiting in line for some mushroom bisque which was delicious with a bit of bread from the neighboring booth.

S'Mores Ice Cream from Daddy's Dairy. Oh my goodness this was so good I came back for seconds!

Pretzel Bun. Yowzah! This was so good I gobbled it up.

Fuddruckers Burger. Not too glamorous looking but that beef patty was divine!

Chicken Nachos

Flatbread Pizza

Sweet Potato Fries with Cinnamon and Brown Sugar 

Fried Calamari. Score!

Summer Shack's Grilled Clam with a bean and corn salad. Best thing at the festival! The line was long and I wish I could have had more than one sample. 

Not a lot of people were out in the crowd passing out samples. It was a bit crazy. One brave lady was passing out a tray of tiny cupcakes and we grabbed a couple.

Bag of Sweet Potato Chips

Utz was there handing out potato chips two bags at a time.

I ended up getting 4 of these Kind Bars to take home. The healthiest thing at the festival!

Dining in Newport, Rhode Island

On Tuesday, Carlos and I headed to Newport, Rhode Island on a day trip. We have both been to Newport before but it had been a while and we had never gone together. It was a fun trip filled with food, drives, walks, mansions and beautiful sights.

We had lunch at The Red Parrot on Thames Street. I had been to this restaurant before. It's in a great location and gets a lot of business because of it. They were packed and we got some pretty crappy service. I was incredibly hungry by the time we got there so I was very impatient. It took forever for us to get service and to get our food. It felt like we were there for 2 hours!

We ordered a half dozen local oysters as a starter.

I'm so happy Carlos has developed a taste for Oysters. He dislikes most seafood but gave raw oysters a try and discovered that he likes them. These were pretty decent.

Carlos got a Greek Salad.

I really wanted lobster so I ordered a Lobster BLT with sweet potato fries. The basil focaccia was supposed to be either toasted or grilled but was neither. It was cold and not very tasty. The insides were delicious though. There were lots of large chunks of lobster, strips of crispy bacon and slices of tomato along with field greens. On the side there was a dipping sauce for the fries and mayo for the sandwich. I skipped the mayo. I'm not a big fan of sweet potatoes but these sweet potato fries were the most delicious ones I have EVER HAD! Perfectly fried, sweet, crispy on the outside, soft in the middle and overall heavenly! If you ever go, you must have these as a side. Even Carlos, who also isn't a fan of sweet potatoes, enjoyed them.

For dessert, we split a slice of coconut cake. It came with fresh pineapple, mandarin oranges and mango puree. The cake was a bit stale and dry but overall it was tasty.

We did a lot of walking an exploring along the wharves, up and down the different streets in the touristy part of town and down some side streets.

Later on, we went down Ocean Drive to see all the glorious sights and headed to the famous Bellevue Avenue. We went to two mansions: Marble House and Breakers (above). I had only ever seen the mansions from the outside and had never been inside so this was a treat.

We went back to the wharves and had dinner at The Wharf Pub & Restaurant.

We had a long journey back home so we ordered iced tea and had plenty of refills.

For an appetizer, we got the house tater tots. This restaurant had different tater tots with all sorts of toppings and sauces. We went with the plain ones which were only $5. It came with rosemary ketchup and whole grain mustard. I can't stand rosemary so I mostly had the mustard. These tater tots were hot, crispy and mighty tasty.

Carlos ordered a Greek Style Turkey Burger. The toppings included tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, Kalamata olives, cucumbers and parsley. It came with a side of potato wedges. Carlos devoured this plate of food!

I had the Beet & Green Salad with Blackened Local Cod. The fish was an extra add on for about $5. The salad had mixed greens, local ricotta, red onion, toasted pine nuts, pickled beets and croutons. Everything was tasty but the croutons were a bit burnt and they could have been more generous with the beets. I only say this because this was advertised as a beet & green salad. 

Now let's talk about that cod. Oh my heavens. That was one of the best pieces of cod I have ever eaten. It was well-seasoned, perfectly (and I mean perfectly) cooked. The cod held together really well and it was blackened just right. I would go back just for that cod. I told the waiter how good I thought it was and I hope he passed that compliment on to the chef.

After, we got some cookies from the Cookie Jar which is right across from The Wharf Pub & Restaurant. No pictures though! For $5, we got an oatmeal raisin cookie, snicker doodle cookie and a peanut cookie. The snicker doodle cookie was the best of the three!

We had fun in Newport, RI and will definitely be going back.

What I've Been Cooking

I've been trying to learn the recipes from my dad's culture (Portuguese) and from my mom's culture (Dominican). I attempted to make my very first Folar de Chaves which is a Chorizo and Prosciutto stuffed Brioche Loaf. It's very traditional to make around Easter and I'd like to get it right by the time the next holiday rolls around. My first try was a bit of a failure. I don't think I gave the yeast enough time to do it's thing in the milk before I added all the dry ingredients. Also the dough was really sticky and I didn't use enough flour so rolling it was very difficult. The dough is stuffed with slices of chorizo and prosciutto. You can also add bacon or pancetta but I chose to omit that. I stuffed the bread with chorizo and prosciutto, I rolled it the best I could and let is rise. I waited an hour and it NEVER ROSE! Ugh. After all that work, I baked it anyway. It was very thick and not light and airy like the bread I know. We ate it anyways.

While that bread was baking in the oven, I tried another Portuguese recipe: Chocolate Mousse. The Portuguese KNOW how to make chocolate mousse. They are experts and Portuguese Chocolate Mousse is like heaven in your mouth. My try tasted good but came out pretty terrible texture-wise.

To make this chocolate mousse you need to melt dark chocolate in a water bath, mix it with a yolk and coffee or rum, separately beat 2 egg whites until peaks form and whip cream until softer peaks form and mix everything together carefully. I did all of that but had some trouble with the egg whites. I over-beat them and they didn't form into peaks so I had to start over. I added the chocolate to the egg yolk and went to incorporate the egg white and cream. I didn't have a big enough bowl to add the chocolate so I dumped it into the bowl with the cream because that bowl was bigger. BIG MISTAKE! The chocolate cooled too quickly and formed chunks of chocolate. The mousse was dry not smooth and with chewy chunks of chocolate. Also, I forgot to add liquid coffee so I tried adding some instant coffee granules at the very last minute. Too little too late. Oh well. I'll master this eventually.

Then it was on to my mother's famous Dominican pink bean recipe!

My mom taught me all the steps in making her beans and boy with there a lot of steps. I took about 2 pages worth of notes and I'm more confused than ever. It's a 3 hour process and involves several pots and a pressure cooker. My mom makes them in big batches. In this batch she used 6 pounds of beans. Yes 6! She uses a lot of chicken bouillon and I'm hoping to be able to duplicate her recipe just using table salt and some other seasoning to replace the bouillon. These beans are so tasty! The sauce is what makes it.

I was feeling very adventurous over the break and was sick of sweet brunches so I decided to make Smitten Kitchen's Potato Pancakes. Ever since I heard about them on NPR I have been dying to make them. When you don't have a shredding attachment on your food processor, these are a BITCH to make. Holy crap. I shredded two large potatoes and two small onions and it took me forever to do by hand. When I was done, the shredded potatoes started to turn red which led me to believe that I might have shredded some skin and got blood all over them. Lucky for me this was not the case.

These were tasty but only while hot. I had to bring a hot potato pancake over to Carlos in bed to lure him out of the bedroom otherwise we were going to eat these cold! I'm not sure if these are worth it unless I had an easier way to shred the potatoes and onions.

What have you been cooking?