I had dinner with Michelle and Camille at House of Tibet Kitchen, a small Tibetan restaurant in Somerville. I have had Tibetan food before but I found it to be rather greasy and strong-flavored. If you like Tibetan food that is fresh, light, and delicious, then those served from House of Tibet Kitchen will appeal you. Their lentil soup is phenomenal - it is simple yet palatable. For appetizers, I highly recommend Friendly Snack which consists of an assortment of all their appetizers for only $6.50. Some of their appetizers are deep-fried but they do not taste greasy. The place is small but it has a great ambience. I recommend this place to anyone.

10/8/2006 11:25:18 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Food

I mentioned the Sushi Nazi and CBGB in my previous blog postings. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to eat at the Sushi Nazi or experience the great rock buzz that is CBGB until last Saturday when I was in New York City to attend Steve's commencement from St. John's University Law School.

Even before arriving in NYC, I was been shamelessly promoting to my buddy Brian that we go to the Sushi Nazi and CBGB. Thankfully, Brian was more than willing to comply with my wishes. Unlike the last time, we arrived at the sushi place with a vacant table available. The same waitress was, once again, adamant that we wait outside and will not sit us until the table is fully clean. I feel a little bad calling this sushi place Sushi Nazi; but if the food there is of any good the name Sushi Nazi should be a compliment, much in the same lineage as the the Soup Nazi character in Seinfeld. Nonetheless, I finally learned the real name of the sushi eatery when I got the menu from the waitress. It is call Tab Tos. Once we were seated, the waitress was actually quite attentive and pleasant. Brian ordered a set meal, which consists of a big bowl (and I mean big) of salad and a sushi roll. I sampled Brian's salad, which is consisted of a generous portion of avocado slices, corn, and a rich mixture of salad greens (lettuce, arugula, etc), all mixed with a very delicious vinaigrette. The salad doesn't taste very Japanese but it definitely has a creative twist to it and it was very tasty. For me, I ordered a sushi box set, which consisted of a large bowl of miso soup, a Philadelphia roll, 2 slices of salmon sashimi, and 2 slices of eel sashimi. I really enjoyed my bowl of miso soup as I was intrigued by the taste of watercress and miso - I didn't know that watercress blends so well with miso. Their sushi may not be as spectacular as those that one gets from hyper-expensive sushi restaurant but then again freshness, a hallmark of great sushi, often comes at a premium. I like their Philadelphia roll as it has the right mixture of cream cheese, tuna, and cucumber that I found very satisfying. Best of all, both dishes cost less than $10. This hole in the wall called Tab Tos (Sushi Nazi) still a great place for inexpensive uncompromising sushi and salads.

6/6/2006 1:54:39 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Brian made an interesting observation last weekend while we were exploring the East Village for food. He said that if you stumble upon 2 restaurants, one with a Zagat rated sign and the other without, always pick the former. Make sense... But the best tip on dinning in NYC came from Brian's roommate John who recommended that Menupages is a must-have for every diner in NYC. This website not only have over 4000 restaurants rated by users but every listed restaurant has an on-screen menu available for viewing. So you can check out reviews, rating, menu offerings, and prices online. Too bad, this website only shows restaurants that are based in NYC.

1/25/2006 11:02:08 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Food

Night 2 in NYC has one theme in writing - SUSHI. The first sushi encounter was amusing and the second one was disgruntling. Here is how it started...

For dinner that night we decided to go to a hole in the wall sushi place where Brian's friend has been raving about for sometime. This sushi place, which located on 543 E. 5th St, is really tiny (20 ft by 20 ft, no kidding) and doesn't even have a name. So small is the place that Brian has to go in first to ask for a table to accommodate for an oversized party of 5. However, Brian was repeatedly berated by the proprietor with "NO! NO! You go outside!" It was actually funny to watch Brian and the proprietor through the window. As soon as Brian opens his mouth, the lady would just shout back with a "No." So it is of no surprise that this place has now earned the nickname of the "Sushi Nazi" after the fictional character, the Soup Nazi, from the sitcom Seinfeld. For some reason, this hilarious made me want to go back to the sushi place even more.

Feeling rejected, we went to Ebisu on St. Marks Place to satisfy our cravings for sushi. Although Brian has not eaten at this place, he had taken a liking to this place and wanted to try the place out because it bears the same name as one of his favorite sushi place in San Francisco. With its chic and clean decor, this place certainly looks expensive; but we were only too willing to get our lips on raw, fresh fish that are laced with soy sauce and wasabi. Unfortunately, the experience at Ebisu would leave a really sour taste in our mouth. One of my pet peeves is to wait for food when I am hungry; I get really cranky. We ordered the food at around 7:30pm but it didn't get served till 9pm. That's 1 1/2 hour of crankiness not just from me but everyone at the table - and there's no excuse for this wait. We just kept peering at the sushi bar the whole night. This place has a sitting capacity for 40 customers and seems decently well-staffed with 4 waiters/waitresses, 2 sushi chefs, and some unknown kitchen staff. I couldn't understand why it would take the sushi chef 1 1/2 hour to prepare no more than 50 pieces of sushi for our party? When the sushi did finally arrived, we were still disappointed because the portions were small. Having starved for 1 1/2 hours, we easily devoured the sushi in less than 5 minutes - so much for savoring the delicacy. To add insult to injury, this experience ended costing us big bucks!!! This place was a huge let down. The $5 lamb sharwama and falafel that we had later that night at a corner eatery were much more satisfying.

1/23/2006 8:12:34 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Lately, the trendy Boston South End has been my favorite place to hang out and dine. On Friday night, I went out for a nice dinner with Michelle at Tremont 647 in the South End. One of the highlights of going Tremont 647 is to sample their unorthodox menu items. However, I found myself craving for steak that night and ordered something ordinary: the ribeye steak done medium rare. The steak was good although not out-of-this-world as I would expect for the price I paid. Overall, the dinning experience was positive and would recommend this place. However, I wished we hadn't sat that close to the smoky kitchen as our clothes smell like grilled steak when we left the restaurant. Afterwards, we stopped by at the Garden of Eden for more wine, coffee, and pastries. I tried their homemade Mogador cake, which consists of layers of chocolate mousse and genoise, toppled with a layer of raspberry glaze. The cake was great. I am drooling for more pastries already... I will go back to this place for more sinful indulgence.

11/12/2005 11:21:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Food

I heard this on the radio earlier today: always sprinkle grated cheese before adding sauce to the pasta. This tip makes perfect sense, the warmth from both the pasta and sauce melts the grated cheese, and consequently blends it into the sauce more effectively.

11/9/2005 6:11:17 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Food

I have a lot of zen today, which I attribute to a good weekend of partying with my buddy Brian. The great thing Brian brings with him whenever he is in town is his amazing ability to gather everyone that we know together. So it is no surprise that Eimear, Blanche, Alberto, Brian, and I spent a good portion of Sunday at 647 Tremont to catch up with one another's life. It was a great time.

Speaking of 647 Tremont, I have wanted to visit the restaurant ever since I heard about its pajamas brunch where their staff and some customers are dressed in pajamas for brunch. But I was a little disappointed by the pajamas thing during my first visit to the restaurant yesterday. Now that I have seen it in person, I just don't see the novelty in seeing people wearing pajamas while eating. While the food quality is above average, there's a certain lack of freshness that makes it fall short of outstanding. I tasted my friend's Enchilada and found it to be too rich and overloaded with oregano. I had the pizza with bacon, potato, cheddar, scallion, and toppled with eggs done over easy. I have to admit the pizza is creative and quite tasty but the dough just wasn't as fresh as I had hope. It's just me, fresh, warm, and tasty dough is something that I look for in a delicious pizza.

10/17/2005 11:48:35 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Food

I have finally tasted the mythical Kobe beef last night at Grill 23. Yes, it is as good as they claim it to be, very tender and melts in your mouth. Yummy... (More later...)

9/3/2005 7:25:25 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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For dinner last night, Brian R. and I went to Sushi Express, which is known for its inexpensive sushi offerings. The sushi was so-so. It was not fresh enough to satisfy the picky taste of mine. But knowing that bad sushi is after all compelling food, the dinner was still better than the regular food that I eat. While checking Citysearch for their review on the Sushi Express, I saw that the restaurant scored a 9.0 on the review. I am curious what other factors beside taste were used to judge a restaurant in their resturant review? I just don't see Sushi Express scoring an almost perfect score on any restaurant review. Not that I have anything against Sushi Express but it is hard to believe that Sushi Express is in same league as Fugakyu and Ginza, 2 fantastic Japanese resturants in Brookline but scored only a 9.1 on Citysearch. Another problem I seem to have with the rating system with Citysearch restaurant reviews is that the scores tend to be inflated. When I rate restaurants, I do consider other factors such as atmosphere and price, but with a strong skewing towards food taste - the pertinent criterion. If I am doing the judging, Sushi Express scores a 6.0 from me. But to be fair, sushi, more than any other food, is highly dependent on the quality of its ingredients. It may be hard to serve good sushi with the kind of pricing that Sushi Express is offering. So I would still recommend that place for sushi but only if you are on a shoestring budget.

8/14/2005 12:49:25 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Food

My favorite place to go for a Sunday brunch has always been S & S Deli in Inman Square, Cambridge. But today, I found another place in South End call Metropolis Cafe that is worthy of excellent Sunday Brunch. Like the ever evolving South-End, Metropolis Cafe is hip and eclectic. The place also looks clean and well decorated. The only setback is the confined space in the restaurant, about 30 seats in a room a size of 2 ordinary living rooms (about 500 sq ft, I think). Eimear and I both tried the Monte Cristo, a meal consisted french toast, ham, pear, and cranberry chutney. It was awesome. The chutney was well prepared and go went well with the rest of the food. Overall, it wasn't too sweet as I would expect but we were disappointed that we couldn't taste the pear in the dish. Nevertheless, I am definitely coming back to this restaurant to explore its dinner menu in a not-so-distant future. For today's experience, I give this restaurant a 8.5 out of 10.

7/31/2005 9:24:02 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Food

Eating one of my favorite dish, Chinese Pork Chop, is like flipping coin; there is a 50% chance of getting gastric pain the following day. But to satisfy my craving, I had the dish for dinner last night. Unfortunately, this eventually became my downfall as I suffer from severe stomachache the whole morning and most of the afternoon today. The moral of the story is: gluttony is not worth the gastric punishment.

7/20/2005 5:09:40 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Food

I am devoted to the pursuit of the enjoyment of good food ranging from gourmet cooking of various types to simple confectionary delights. I am also downright critical when it comes to food. Yes, I have even angered people by my candid yet unflinching remarks on their culinary skills. Since I have been talking about food on my blog, I thought it would be great to actually grade the restaurants that I have eaten at. So I retroactively updated all food related blog entries with new ratings yesterday.

7/17/2005 10:42:01 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Food

Last night, my sister and I went to Sugar & Spice to celebrate Fanny's birthday. There were the usual suspects: Hanri, Denise, Milt, Bruce, and Eimear. There were also additional surprises like Bruce new love interest and Simon and his guest.

The good thing about dinning in a group setting in an Asian restaurant is that everyone gets to sample someone else's dish. While the food at Sugar & Spice is fresh, I was a little disappointed with a few dishes. Stay away from Chili Lime Salmon and Deep Fried Ice-cream. For the best Thai sweet and sour fish, try Three Flavor Fish from Thai Rice. Avocado Chicken Curry, on the other hand, is acceptably delicious. Overall, the food there was so-so but on the upside, the staff are friendly and attentive. I don't want to recommend this Thai restaurant considering that there is a much better Thai restaurant call Tamarind House, down the street from Sugar & Spice. In closing, Sugar & Spice gets a 6.5/10 from me. It is interesting that my ratings for all the restaurants mentioned are inversely proportional to those of Citysearch. Hmmm... In any case, happy birthday again, Fanny.

7/16/2005 12:36:48 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Food

While having lunch with Noah at Hi-Rise Bread Company (or Hi-Price as I like to call it) in West Cambridge on the weekend, I have discovered what is perhaps the best sandwich that I have ever eaten. It is call Fern's Problem Solver. I have never been disappointed by Bread Company albeit expensive, so this place gets a 8.5/10 rating from me.

7/12/2005 12:02:03 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Food

Today, we have students from a sister program of SDM in Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) visiting MIT today. The highlight of their visit was the clambake at Summer Shack in Boston. Being that it was my first visit to Summer Shack, I sampled the appetizers that were provided free by MIT and NPS. I thought that the appetizers weren't too bad for my taste. However, the dinner entrant was another story. Instead of Clambake (with steamed lobster) that most people had, I went with the flounder with crab and shrimp stuffing, which found it to be barely adequate. The dish wasn't fully cooked and the taste was a little insipid. For better seafood in the Greater Boston area, try Legal Seafood, Naked Fish, or East Coast Grill. Summer Shack gets a 6.5/10 rating from me.

After dinner, Dave, Ilana, Rajeev, Jake, John, and I along with some representatives from NPS went bowling at Kings, located next to Summer Shack. My first bowling game was one of the worst I have ever played. Thankfully, I made a good comeback by scoring over 100 in the second game. It was good to hang out with fellow classmates. Unfortunately, Matti and S, once again weren't allowed into the bowling alley because the place serves alcohol and both of them, being from Europe, don't have their IDs or passports with them that would allow them to pass the bouncer. I am sure he will have something harsh to say about this on his blog tomorrow.

6/28/2005 11:39:30 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Food

I couldn't help it, I caved to my craving for grilled mackerel teriyaki earlier tonight. Eimear and I went to one of the cafes in Little Tokyo inside Porter Exchange for grilled mackerel teriyaki after swimming at the Z-center. It hit the spot alright. I am still craving for the dish just by writing about it. Yummy...

4/24/2005 1:33:42 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Food

I think there is a new food to be added to my list of favorite foods. It is called Grilled Mackerel Teriyaki Rice Bowl. The strong taste of mackerel makes it a great candidate for grilling. But the best taste of the mackerel comes not from the flesh but the skin and especially the fatty layer. The slight tinge of teriyaki (the real Japanese teriyaki sauce as opposed to the American version) and the fatty layer along with the skin of a mackerel always hit the spot.

I ordered this dish while I was having dinner with Kevin, Maja, Yoav, Allison, Rachael, Chris, and Ilana at Maluken Japanese Restaurant at Fenway earlier tonight. It was good but I still think that the best mackerel teriyaki that I have so far was from one of the Japanese eateries in Porter Square Exchange. In any case, I am starting to crave for mackerel teriyaki just by writing it. I know my discerning taste won't stop till I have found the best grilled mackerel teriyaki in town. Maybe when I get the time, I should make it myself. Hey, I am a self-proclaimed good cook anyway. So let me get some sake, rice wine, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, rice, mackerel, salt, and white pepper for the recipe and make it myself. How hard can it be? Maybe my mackerel teriyaki may end up being the best in town. I think it is time to fire up the grill. Oh yes...

As far as rating for Maluken Japanese restaurant is concerned, it gets a 7/10.

4/23/2005 2:06:01 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Food

Milt and I spent the last 2 days in New York City hanging out with Siobhan and Steve. Siobhan is an MBA student at New York University and Steve is a Law student at St. Johns University, both staled to graduate in May 2006. Even though this week is officially the start of MIT spring break, I can't really afford to spend too much time away from town. There is simply too much things I need to get done this week. So I only stayed for the weekend before driving back to Boston. Both Steve and Siobhan are doing well, each thriving in their own environment. I can see that they will eventually become the power couple that I know.

On our first night in New York, we went to Rickshaw Dumpling Bar for dinner. I think Siobhan had wanted to try this place out since the founder of this company is an NYU Stern alumnus and the company won 2nd prize in a business plan competition at NYU Stern School of Business last year. Rickshaw Dumpling Bar is a trendy but fast-food style restaurant that serves Chinese dumplings. However, I have a very different opinion of the place (and both Milt and Steve agree with me). I feel that:

1. The ordering of food at this place isn't as easy as ordering a Happy Meal at McDonalds. The ordering proces is fairly complicated as you can mix and match different options to get the final order that you want. To make things worse, the menu at the counter is confusing. For instance, the menu isn’t clear about ordering the dumplings as deep fried or steamed. If it is ordered steamed, it comes with soup, while deep fried dumplings come with dipping sauce. It also doesn't tell you that noodles are $3 extra. This makes it hard for first time customers to order what they want. Moreover, the staff wasn't helpful in explaining how the ordering process works.
2. Dumplings are mediocre at best. I ordered the Peking dumplings, which I thought they tasted very bare and the texture isn't as good as I have expected what good Chinese dumplings should be.
3. Last but not least, the prices are way too expensive. A bowl of Peking duck dumplings in Shitake mushrooms soup with noodles and a side order of salad cost me $16!!! I hardly tasted the duck or the Shitake mushrooms.

I dislike restaurants that look trendy on the outside but lack the substance in providing good value and tasty food to customers. Sadly, this place seem to fit this description so it gets a thumb down from me. Oh, go to Chinatown and get the real thing for $6. As for Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, I'll give it a 3.5/10.

3/21/2005 12:03:45 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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