Santarpio and Bertucci ... Taking Traditional to a New Level

Santarpio's Pizza - Peabody, MA
http://www.santarpiospizza.com/index.html

     Winner of Boston Magazine's Best of Boston 2011 Award for Best Traditional Pizza, Santarpio's was about to be put to the test. But as soon as I walked in, I knew this place was different from the rest. The name sounded fancy, but this place was not. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting a place as low key as this was. Plain ol' chairs sat at rocky tables, crooked pictures of boxers hung on the walls (the Muhammad Ali kind, not the dog kind) and you ate with silverware that had been poking and prodding at food for years upon years. Opened in 1903, Santarpio's is a neighborhood favorite. Everything about it lived up to that title... or put it in that category. Random music with no sort of general theme bounced off the wood panelled walls as the older male waiter scurried from table to table boasting a smile from ear to ear.

     We came seeking pizza, but at the last minute Margaret informed me we were also getting the lamb hunks. I was sold. There was no way I was going to be unhappy with this place.

     After browsing their half-page menu, we ordered a half cheese, half peppers and sausage pizza... with the grilled lamb skewers on the side... 2 orders. They cooked the lamb on skewers over an open grill. Hot coals sat at the bottom while the worker twisted and turned the lamb hunks roasting over the heat. Getting that perfectly grilled taste. The lamb came out first. The beautiful sizzling nuggets were oozing with juice and perfectly pink (almost red) inside. It's as if they knew exactly how I wanted it. The lamb was paired with a hunk of fresh baked Italian bread and some sweet cherry peppers that had little bit of spice.

     First bite, and I lost it. I tried to keep it to myself though. A chunk of bread, small slice of pepper, and a hunk of lamb made a tasty little sandwich. It seems as though it had been eons since I'd eaten lamb and this down-right hit the spot. Everything about it was good. Lock me in a prison cell for 40 years, never talk to me again, but give me 4 dishes of this lamb business a day and I'll be the happiest woman alive. Finally... just solid meat in my belly.  Nothing was to go to waste. Once the lamb was gone, the bread simply became a medium with which to soak up any and all of the juices left on the plate.

     Then came the pizza. It was definitely how I would describe "traditional." Not perfectly round, uneven crust and toppings (but in a good way), and cooked a little more in certain areas. I started with the sausage and pepper slice. The sausage was their own home-made recipe and it was phenomenal. Full of flavor and not the fat. What stuck out the most for me was the cheese. The cheese was warm and gooey, as it should be, but it was also a little chewy. You know what I mean? Sometimes when you eat pizza, the cheese hardens a little inside your mouth and becomes a little more chewy. To me, that's what quality cheese does when it's used on pizza. It was delicious. And the thin crust....ooooo-eeeee the crust was good. I love... yes I do love when they use cornmeal on the bottom. After not stuffing myself, yet completely satisfied, we headed out. I wanted more. Their food was delicious and this place was comforting. Very home-y. Definitely a place one would like to be considered a "local" at.

Bertucci's Brick Oven Pizzeria - Cambridge, MA
http://www.bertuccis.com/

     Ok, I realize Bertucci's is a chain, and I don't normally blog about chain restaurants, but I want to ... and I need to.... because I've been wanting to go to Bertucci's for forever. Patrick said they have amazing bread, and Mary always talks about them. So... post-Saturday Brookline practice, all my girls invite me out to go have lunch with them at Bertucci's. I'm pretty geeked... and starving. So why not? Because I'm trying to cut weight, that's why. But I couldn't not go, soooo I gave in. Plus... it'll be fun. So we all walk from Riverside up to Harvard Square and 20 of us squeeze into 4 booths within the cramped restaurant. I didn't really even bother looking at the menu too much, because I knew everything looked amazing, and I wanted it all. So I just let my table decide. First out of the oven was the bread. Yesssssss. It was so warm and dense yet fluffy. That doesn't make sense when you read it, I know... but it makes sense in my head. Maybe it's just that my second half roll wasn't baked all the way through. Either way, the rolls were perfect. Very simple, yet had a kind of whole grain-y taste, texture and color. The bread basket came with a plate with some sort of heavily garlic-ed, herb-y dipping olive oil. Smack me in the face with 20 of those rolls a day, and I'd never be unhappy.

     Next out was the mozzarella fritta. This was breaded mozzarella cheese, pan fried in olive oil and served atop plum tomato sauce with fresh basil sprinkled on top. And I thought the rolls hit the spot. The deliciously crisp outside was a simple housing for the warm gooey mozzarella cheese inside. It was perfect. It had been a while since I had cheese. Again, I could've eaten 500 of these.

     Finally came the pizza and our pasta dish. The pasta dish was simply rigatoni noodles, broccoli, and grilled chicken in a garlic cream sauce. Truthfully, not something to write home about, but the chicken was delicious. I think I'm really just in a meat phase right now.

     As for the pizza, we ordered a margarita pizza. This was interesting to me and kind of exciting because I would never order a margarita pizza if it was just myself or me and other omnivorous friends. I was interested to see how this played out. Needless to say, I was not let down. This pizza gave off "traditional" vibe, being oddly shapen and more brown in certain areas than others. Thank you brick oven. The way it was put together was interesting too. I didn't expect there to be blobs of mozzarella cheese just sitting on top. They were warm, but not brown. Not necessarily super gooey, like normal pizza cheese, but more the consistency of, say, gak. Remember gak? Nickelodeon fans? (See below). I'm guessing it didn't taste similar though. The tomato sauce on the pizza had an amazing sweetness, and the basil gave it a freshness. The pizza was not greasy in the least and left a sort of refreshing feeling on my palette. Ending with the crust was never a disappointment, because it was just as if you were eating another glorious roll.

     It was Danna's birthday, so as we were about to leave, they brought out a 5 layer chocolate cake (I had spied it on the menu an hour earlier and had been daydreaming about it since). I can't even describe this cake. It was 5 layers. With some sort of fudge layer within each layer. Dense and dark and rich. It was just ridiculous. I only had a few fork-fulls... bummer.

Regardless of Bertucci's popularity in the Northeast, I loved it.

She has Great Taste

Great Taste - Boston, MA
http://www.bostongreattastebakery.com/

Beautiful Spread

Lotus bean dumpling

Another perk about my job is that my boss is a total foodie. He enjoys trying new foods and taking his employees! No resistance from me. We all met down in China Town looking for some dim sum for brunch. Turns out, dim sum is more of a brunch food than dinner. News to me. If you recall, I've been on one other dim sum adventure a while back. Definitely a cool experience. I was pumped about this one because 11 people eating means tons of dishes to try. As soon as we sat down we had 2 full pots of
delicious hot tea. This was not a dim sum place where they come around with carts and you choose what you want. Instead they made everything fresh to order. I was ok with it. Each dish came to the table in a different type of container. Bamboo bowls, nice china, large platters, etc. Well, there's no easy way to do this. Gotta go with bullets.

Beef noodle on top, Beef stomach on right, Shrimp dumpling on the left

-Beef stomach: Very different than the last beef stomach I had (It's not every day that you can write that sentence). This stomach was a little bit more mild. Not as much a kick to the face with spice. Still chewy. Still delicious.

-Beef noodle: This was basically beef tucked inside what I think was a thin rectangular noodle. The noodle was wrapped around the beef quite a few times and probably steamed. These flattened log shaped noodles sat atop a pile of fresh steamed greens. What kind of greens? Not a clue. They were good though.

-Beef/pork/shrimp dumpling: This dish was one of the prettier dishes. It was some sort of dumpling pull of all the meats of the world. Interesting flavors as they all rolled around in your mouth. 

Shrimp roll

-Shrimp roll: Basically... a deep fried shrimp roll. Shrimp was wrapped in a thin roll and crisped up perfectly.

Fried radish

-Fried radish chunk thing: Alright, think of tofu and hashbrowns, chilis and parsnips. That's what I would guess this was like. This dish came piping hot to the table (literally burned some flesh in my mouth and left hanging skin... gross). What it actually was was shredded deep fried radish cubes. There was that little spice you normally get when you eat a raw radish, but this was hot. They came in blocks life tofu, looked like squared off tater tots, but were white and looked like shredded parsnips. On top of the stack of radish chunks were some scallions and a little fried something or other. No idea. That's all part of the experience, right?

-Beef balls: Hahah. Same as before. Looked like seagull vomit.

Beef balls on left, stick rice from lotus leaf on right

-Sticky rice in lotus leaf: These were so neat! They tucked sticky rice that was chocked full of some kind of ground beef (maybe) with little sausage slices into a lotus leaf, folded it up and steamed it. It was so good! You could taste the fattyness of it, and that's probably what made it so good.

Rice and beef congee

-Rice and beef congee: This was definitely new to me. The rice and beef congee is a thick soup. Kind of reminds me of some sort of chowder with rice. It had a certain lightness to it though that didn't make you feel like you were eating gallons of cream.

Sticky rice in lotus leaf

Lotus bean dumpling

-Lotus bean dumpling: This was similar to the lotus bean dumpling I had before except that this one had an egg yolk tucked within the sweet bean paste. Just the yolk. Definitely unexpected. I love the fluffy dumpling part of this just because it's sweet and light.

-Egg swirly waffle tasting thing: I have no idea what this was. It basically looked like cooked scrambled egg rolled up. Except... that this tasted like a waffle cone. Mmmm so sweet and good.

Tapioca egg lump in front and egg swirly things in back

-Tapioca egg lump: This takes the cake for the weirdest thing we ordered and no one knew who ordered it or what it was. To me, it basically looked like a huge frog egg. A huge, clear, lumpy ball with something in the center. The thing in the center turned out to be another egg yolk. Interesting. And the clear goo all around it tasted like tapioca to me. We all had different ideas of what it tasted like to us, so ... I suppose we'll never know.

Homemade Muesli Bar - 578 Washington St #3

3 cups Trader Joe's Blueberry Muesli
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey


1) In a small saucepan, melt peanut butter and honey. 
2) Stir liquid mixture into the muesli. You might have to use your hands to mix it all in.
3) Line a baking pan with parchment paper or greased aluminium foil and press mix into pan. Flatten with a cutting board or plate. 
4) Sprinkle chocolate chips on top
5) Bake at 375 degrees for around 30 minutes. For a crispier bar bake longer. For a chewier bar, bake less
6) Let cool completely and cut into bars. 

What comes around, goes around.

Cornmeal, Rosemary Butter Cookies - 578 Washington St #3, Brighton, MA

     Looking for a light cookie? Different than the rest? I've got to thank Ilse for these. She introduced me to the majesty of these cookies at Amanda's Cookie Swap around Christmas. Now it was my turn to share the love. The only thing I did differently than this recipe is that I didn't use sugar sprinkles and I only added pepper to a couple of them. I preferred the cookies without pepper and just a sprinkle of sugar on top of each.

2½ cups King Arthur unbleached, all-purpose flour  
1 cup fine cornmeal
½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1½ cups fresh unsalted butter, at cool room temperature (3 cubes)
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced

coarsely ground black pepper

clear sugar sprinkles 

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour add the cornmeal and salt. Whisk the mixture well to evenly distribute.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar.
3. Add the almond extract, pepper, and rosemary, and mix.
4. Add the flour mixture and mix very briefly on very slow speed, just until a dough forms.
5. Scoop balls of dough, leveling each ball with the edges of the scoop. 
6. You can arrange the dough balls closely together on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for as long as a couple of days, or proceed immediately to baking.
7. Coat a baking sheet lightly with vegetable spray. Arrange 12 cookie balls, flat sides down, 2 inches apart, on the baking sheet.
8. Gently flatten each cookie ball to a ¼-inch thickness.
9. Coarsely grind black pepper over each cookie and then sprinkle each cookie with clear sprinkles.
10. Bake each sheet of cookies at 350° for about 15 minutes, rotating the pan at the halfway point to ensure even browning.
11. Remove from the oven, loosen each cookie with a thin spatula and let cool for 3-4 minutes on the pan. Remove cookies from the cookie sheet and place on a wire rack and cool completely.
12. Store airtight, in layers separated by wax paper rounds, in a cookie tin in a cool, dry place. These cookies improve with age. They keep for 3-4 weeks. Cookies may also be frozen.

Bartley's Burgers - Cambridge, MA
www.mrbartley.com/

     I really do love exploring new restaurants, but every now and then, you just have to go back to those that capture your heart. Bartley's Burgers in Harvard Square. I went twice. Once with Patrick to just celebrate life and once with Joan, Lauren and Mary to celebrate a successful winter training season. How do I describe this? Have you ever been to Applebees? Well it's nothing like that. This place was small, packed, tables the size of a deck of cards, and more  treasures hung on the wall than you could fully observe during a meal... especially during the meal I was about to have. Guy Fieri hung next to Elvis which hung next to a Red Sox jersey. Completely random but unique. The menu lists about 25 different gourmet burgers to choose from in addition to their simpler burgers that are scribbled on a chalkboard hung near the ceiling. The names of the burgers were unique and varied from "The Sarah Palin" to "The Jeremy Linsanity."
     Trip #1. I rose to the occasion and ordered "The Viagra." A 7oz plump, juicy burger with blue cheese sauce, bacon, lettuce and tomatoes. I could go into why I think it's called the Viagra, but I'm sure you get the picture. Juicy burger. Blue cheese. Just remember the last time you bit into something like that. Could be the size. Could be the consistency and color. I'm done. I find it rare at restaurants when you ask for medium rare that they actually cook it right. It seems like no matter what you tell them, they're always going to torch it. Everyone except Bartley's. The burger came beautifully red. Practically still mooing. Finally. The beautiful burger came with fries. Perfect fries. I feel like I've described so many types of fries, and I'm running out of good fry adjectives other than "soft on the inside, crispy on the outside." But that's just how it was. "You gotta get a frappé. There's no choice." OK. Fine, Patrick. The things I'm forced to do. I went with their special called "The Elvis." Not sure why, but it had reeses cups, chocolate syrup and bananas. Mmm mmmm mmmmmmmm! It was awesome. Nice and thick but not too banana-y. Patrick got the cake batter frappé. Bet you can't guess what it tasted like. Exactly.
     Trip #2. I got the "Tim Thomas." Jack cheese burger, chilli, salsa, sour cream and onion rings. As we waited for our burgers, we discussed our favorite condiments. Topping the list were sour cream and salsa. I knew I ordered right. The onion rings came first. I have to admit, I was a little dissappointed. They looked so good. Thin onion slices with a mild coating of batter. They arrived piping hot to the table, but there really wasn't much flavor to them. It was just fried-ness. Oh well. We also got cheese fries. Fake cheese on top of their delicious fries. The fries were better without the cheese. Anyway... onto the burger. DE-licious... and I was so glad. The thing was loaded. I mean loaded with chili and salsa. Half of it fell out and half covered my face and hands. The sour cream was that key ingredient that brought it all together. I never would've ever thought to put it all together, but it was fabulous. It had a little spice, but not too much. Warm gooey cheese. Man... that cheese with the chili. Top notch.
     Overall. Winning experience. Both times. Very happy. More frappé.

Blue Shirt Cafe - Somerville, MA
http://www.blueshirtcafedavis.com/ 

     Testing week had began. We started off with our first 30 minute piece in months. I dropped 2.3 seconds off my average. I thought, it ever I've deserved the Peanut Butter Delight smoothie from Blue Shirt on a weekday, it was today. This time I went with everyone from work when they walked into Davis Sq for lunch. I ordered it anticipating it would be delicious, but I would feel like a cow after. I was wrong. I felt great because it was light and I didn't feel like I had consumed 3 days worth of calories in one drink. It had peanut butter, bananas, chocolate syrup, non-fat yogurt and low fat milk. It was smooth and light but chocolatey and peanut buttery. It wasn't too thick to drink with a straw and I was rather satisfied. Again, one of those restaurants you just have to go back to.


Clover - Cambridge, MA
http://www.cloverfoodlab.com/

     So my boss says to me, "If you're not busy tomorrow evening, I was wondering if you would like to go to a food truck class for my fiance. I'll pay you for your time there and buy your meal." Sometimes I wonder what kind of job I have. How in the world did I land this? I'm not sure, but I'm very happy about it. So after my workout, I scurry up to Inman Square to the Clover Food Lab for a class called Food Truck 102. I got a meal as soon as I got there because I was practically wasting away after running to get there on time. I got their chic pea place and a small loaf of warm fluffy flat bread. The chic pea plate had a chic pea salad, some sort of other salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, a mountain of hummus and fried falafel balls sitting atop pickled cabbage. Let me first provide you some reference. Clover is a vegetarian food business that began out of a truck. They now have 2 restaurant locations across Boston and 5 trucks out on the streets. Clover prides itself on using local, fresh, and organic ingredients when possible and a menu changes with the seasons. Very cool idea. So everything in my hummus plate was super fresh and refreshing. I truthfully have no idea where to even begin. Each part of the meal had so many flavors and textures. Sweet, sour, smooth, crunchy. I could've eaten 1000 of the falafel balls (not the night before a weigh-in though:/ ). The hummus was great. Not as good as my grandma's but definitely more fresh than you normally get in the store.
     In addition to the chic pea plate I also got a cup of their sweet onion soup. Probably the best onion soup I've ever had. It was just lightly sweet, but maintained every bit of onion flavor. It was dark too. Not sure what made it so dark. I also got the hibiscus tea. It was a maroon color, light and sweet. Again, refreshing.
I left Clover A) Educated, B) Full and C) refreshed. It was great. Not a feeling you can always say after eating out.

Martin's Coffee Shop - Brookline, MA
http://www.martinscoffeeshop.com/

     I love croissants. I love french toast. Never have I ever thought of putting the two together. Genius idea. I went into Martin's thinking, "I'm going to get something light" and was planning on sticking to it until I saw the home fries piled up on the grill.. I really don't want to talk about the reason we went to Martin's coffee shop, but Joan and I went to Martin's Coffee Shop in Brookline village to meet some people. Martin's is just a little hole in the wall cafe that's been voted Boston's best a couple years. They had just about anything you wanted on the menu, as far as standard cafe food. Some really delicious sounding sandwiches. Even thought it was 1pm, I had to get a pile of their "Home Fries." This was their standard potato dish with onions. The onions and potatoes were grilled in a way that the flavors of each infiltrated the other. These potatoes were perfectly tender and seasoned with... maybe paprika? It was red. So delicious and hearty.
     The french toast was so good. Very unique. It had the light, airy, flakiness of a croissant, but the look and taste of french toast. Lightly sweet and light in weight. If only I had real maple syrup.