Bistro Les Gras, Northampton (MA)

First thoughts:

For starters we had the chevre salad and the pissaladiere, for mains we had the cheeseburger, and for dessert we had pot de creme, and cookies. The salad was unremarkable, not in a bad way, just in that it's pretty standard fare. The pissaladiere (a south coast pizza featuring onion, anchovy and olive) is a tart at Les Gras, and was delicious. You must, of course, enjoy anchovy to find this dish palatable. The cheeseburger was fantastic, easily the best in Northampton. The meat was delicate, soft, very nice texture. The toppings were well appointed, although I'd prefer if the aioli and gruyere were not on top of one another so as to taste each distinctly.

The bad: the desserts were terrible. They had run out of the ganache tort, so we tried the other two. The pot de creme tasted like yogurt and was runny. The cookies tasted like they were out of a tin - why bother?

In addition, and this is a complaint particular to the restaurant week deal, they were not doing their full menu. Instead they were offering the three course fixed price menu for the restaurant week. Of their three "principle plates" they offered lentils with vegetables (for whatever reason they are omitting the pork belly which appears on the website and their regular menu, which was rather disappointing), salad nicoise (which is on their appetizer menu typically and to me is not a main, also disappointing) and the hamburger. To my mind they went the cheap way out, which is understandable since they just opened, but for the same reason a bad idea since they just opened. They are generating first impressions.

We'll return at some point, but the missing pork belly and ganache dampened the enjoyment of the dinner. This wouldn't have been a big deal ordinarily, but the alternative options were limited by special menu.

Trattoria Toscana, Boston

If this trattoria represents the upper echelon of trattoria-style Italian joints in Boston, then Boston is a sad place for Italian food lovers. Based on several rec's found at Chowhound of this trattoria, three of us tried it out tonight. Versus what I know of Tuscan food, this trattoria was not particularly Tuscan. Secondly, I would not recommend it to Italian foodies, or those who are accustomed to and seek out actual Italian cooking.

The cheese selection on the antipasto misto was parmesan, pecorino, and gorgonzola. Not exactly exciting, and the waiter didn't know which type of pecorino they served (hello, toscano?). My partner got the rucola salad, which was the one thing that made my tongue happy, considering the difficulty of finding rucola here in Western Mass.

The primi were disappointing as hell. Audrey got penne alla carrettiera, which at Trattoria Toscana is a tomato sauce with pancetta, chili pepper, and garlic. Sound familiar? It's basically a spiced up amatriciana, which is a Lazio dish and has nothing in common with Tuscan food. I ordered the ravioli with sausage and rapini. Huge disappointment. Instead of big, plump ravioli stuffed with the sausage and rapini, I got what appeared to be your typical frozen ravioli, filled with ricotta cheese of all things, and with the sausage and rapini on top. Ricotta cheese wasn't even mentioned on the menu (if it were, I wouldn't have ordered it - ricotta is an Italian-American cop-out filling). And again, ricotta does not feature in Tuscan food. Lastly, our friend ordered the vegetable risotto, which tasted to me like nacho cheese (I kid you not). Risotto - not particularly Tuscan either.

The tiramisu was also terrible, it was clearly made in advance and frozen - it had yet to thaw completely and was icy. That's assuming they make it in house, which like the ravioli, I'm not so sure.

In sum, this "Tuscan" trattoria is not Tuscan at all, and the food was not up to par.

Packard's burger puts me down

Had a burger at Packard's on Sunday night. Spent the next two days in bed dealing with nausea and cramps. Safe to say it's the last burger I'm eating there, ever. Their burgers have gone way downhill anyway, so it's not a big loss, although I'd like the two days of my life back. Ultimately, there is no good place for a burger in Northampton. Sad state of affairs, especially for someone who comes from the land of In 'n Out and other fine burger joints.

I'm out of town until next Tuesday. Hopefully San Francisco does me good. I'm looking forward to cheap Mexican and Chinese food.

Apsara, Providence (RI)

Audrey picked out this great Southeast Asian restaurant. They seem to specialize in Cambodian and Vietnamese, but also do Thai, Lao, and Chinese food. Priced cheap, big portions, great taste.

Audrey had the nime chow (shrimp, basil, rice in cellophane wrapper; with peanut sauce) and for a main she had fried lemongrass with pork in a chili coconut sauce. Her main was spicy, rich, really good. I had natang, which basically was a Cambodian hamburger (crispy rice noodle squares with ground pork and coconut sauce as topping, to which I added Sriracha a la ketchup). Really good. I went adventure-style for my main: ground anchovy and chili coconut curry, with a side of fresh veg and rice. On the menu it describes it as a "special Cambodian dish" to which I say, special indeed. The waitress warned me when I ordered it that it would have a strong smell. She was right, it smelled of funk. Some have sent this dish back, but I ate it with a grin. The anchovy was not as briny as I expected, instead it gave the coconut curry a tangy, meaty flavor. I recommend it for those who want something new.

Major thumbs up.

Miss Florence Diner, Florence (MA)

We went up to Florence to try this place based on a recommendation given by one of Audrey's friends about Miss Flo's great reuben. Heh. Well, I'll simply say that I must have ordered off the kids menu because my reuben was sized for an 8 year-old's stomach, not my manstomach.

We did order pie, and not all was lost because they do a delicious apple pie. Really good crust, not too sweet or spiced. Also in the good category, the awesomely retro mini-jukeboxes in every booth.

Green Street Cafe, Northampton (MA)

Went last night to Green Street for the second time. Again we weren't disappointed. This time we were seated in the fireplace room, it was toasty and felt really comfortable. I really like the lack of pretension in this restaurant. No linens, chairs that show their age, an owner that mingles.

Anyway, the food. We had a few small plates: onion and bacon tart, potatoes and escargot, and goat cheese and mixed greens ravioli. Delicious comfort food all around, and a hefty dose of good ole fat. Dessert was had as well, caramel torte and a goat cheese cheesecake. The caramel was really well spiced, and the goat cheese was great - not overly sweet or rich.

My favorite restaurant in Northampton.

Sunrise Bakery, Easthampton (MA)

Hands down the best doughnut of my life is sold at Sunrise Bake Shoppe. Old fashioned glazed, al dente on the outside, soft and cakey on the inside. Perfection. They also make a mean whoopie pie and a good cheesecake. Their pies look fantastic too. Prices are good, people are regular folk which is quite refreshing compared to Northampton's kewl youth. The place reminds me of Black Sheep in Amherst, only smaller and not filled with undergrads.

Amendment: one Sunrise item I cannot recommend are their cannoli. Filling was more on the side of whipped cream than ricotta. La Fiorentina wears the cannolo crown around here.

Baku's in Amherst (MA)

Last night the lady and I tried out the Baku's, an "African" restaurant* in Amherst. The highlight was the mango ginger ale - spicy (real ginger) and delicious. The food was tasty, not amazing, but good. I liked the tomato curry sauce, it came with everything from fried plantains to black eyed peas to chicken and goat. I had the goat with curry, damn good. The plantains weren't of the sweet variety and a bit too starchy for me.

The kids working in the kitchen were great.

*Africa, just one big country!

Modern Apizza, New Haven (CT)

Another weekend, another trip to New Haven to visit Ikea. For eats, the plan was to stop at Frank Pepe's for a pizza. We arrive there at 5:30pm only to find a line down the block of people waiting to get a table. I guess Pepe's fame is no joke. Knowing that Modern makes a good pie with less wait, we headed over there. Took us roughly 20 minutes to get a table, 15 more to get a pie, which is probably half the time we woulda spent at Pepe's. Anyway, about the pizza. Here's a shot of their delicious crust...



The crust is very thin, but what sets it apart is its char. They get a really nice char around the edges on top, and on bottom the crust is littered with little bits of carbon that taste delicious. The crust at Pepe's is a bit thicker, chewier, with less char. I like both crusts, but gotta go with Modern. With that said, I like the ingredients (particularly the meats) at Pepe's more. Both are places I'll happily go to in the future, both offer superior pizzas, but I surely won't try to go to Pepe's after 5pm on a weekend night again.

El Guanaco, South Hadley (MA)

Salvadoran food. Tasty. Priced right. Good pupusas ($1.75 per). Kinda hard to find, it's tucked away on the left hand side when coming south on 116, just after 116 splits off to the right and before it goes over the bridge to Holyoke:


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Gypsy Apple Bistro, Shelburne Falls (MA)

A special night required a good dinner out, and I picked the Gypsy Apple Bistro in Shelburne Falls. 'Twas about 13 degrees outside and so going in their cozy, warm environment was a big plus. A small room, beautiful, transports you to the Continent in all the right ways.

The menu is small, changes monthly. There were hits and misses. We especially liked the mushroom ravioli in a saffron cream sauce. The sauce was also flavored with carmelized onion, and came with greens sauteed in olive oil and garlic. The earthy flavor of the mushroom combined well with the onion and garlic. The other hit was the mussels with a riesling and shallot cream sauce. This is probably the only time in my life I've ordered two cream sauces in one sitting, see my post on carbonara below - cream to me is usually a culinary cop-out, it drowns out the other flavors (or worse, is used to cover up the lack of good flavors, such as when the other ingredients aren't at their freshest). In this case, the garlicky greens gave the ravioli dish some bitterness and bite to offset and compliment the cream. I liked that. And dipping their seriously hot bread into the riesling cream sauce was pretty sinful.

Duck confit was tasty, nothing to write home about. The venison dish wasn't as good. The venison was ok, the bigger problem was its unsatisfying red wine reduction and the accompanying horseradish mashed potatoes. Neither were very good separate (if you're going to go horseradish, don't wimp out). Together they clashed and very much tasted like they didn't belong together.

Overall, a good experience. They pour a generous wine glass and have good beers on hand. The chef was friendly and gregarious. One day we'll return, hopefully to all hits.

TJ Buckley's in Brattleboro (VT)

A mixed review of TJ Buckleys. We ate there last night and were at the same time impressed but ultimately disappointed. First, it is a lovely space, very intimate and it's always a treat to see the kitchen work (everything seemed to go quite tranquilly). The hostess and the chef were nice people.

The food was hit and miss. The appetizer plate was pate with crackers, mustard, chutney. Pretty standard stuff, but tasty and enjoyable. Our mains were scallops with fried polenta, golden beets, and pork belly; and hangar steak with mashed potatoes. The scallops were great, the polenta done well, and the pork belly tasty. The steak dish was disappointing. When it hit my table the steak had cooled to room temperature, and it had done so for two reasons: 1) it was undercooked (rare when I asked for medium rare) and 2) the chef had 4 of these finishing at the same time, and they sat on the prep table for a few minutes prior to plating. In other words, by the time it got to me it had cooled down to a degree that made the steak less enjoyable than it could have been. The steak itself was ok, nothing to write home about. Lastly, we shared a chocolate cake for dessert, which was dry and really had nothing going for it.

In addition to the food disappointments, each entree was $35. Anywhere else and these are $25 meals, particularly mine, which was no frills steak and potatoes. The emotionless cake was $7. I could justify such prices if the entrees were lights-out delicious, but they weren't, and considering the simplicity of the dishes, there didn't seem to be much to justify such prices.

Frank Pepe's pizzeria, New Haven (CT)

Frank Pepe's pizzeria in New Haven is an institution, and probably the most famous pizzeria between New York and Boston. Sometimes these ancient (by American standards) pizzerie maintain their fame moreso due to their longevity and history than their actual pizza making ability. So I went into Pepe's a bit skeptical, expecting something good but probably not worth the fuss people make about it.

We went over at 4:30 in order to beat the rush and power up for an evening shopping at Ikea. We had to wait 15 minutes in their salon to get a table. Not bad. I'd skip from here directly to the pizza but for a wonderful throwback codger of a waitress that was fun in her own brusque way. She kept everyone on their toes. Anyway, the pizza. The two things I immediately noticed were the quality of the ingredients and the perfect doneness of the crust. I'd heard that Pepe's is prone to blackening your crust. Perhaps this happens, but in my case the crust came out spot on:


Slightly crispy on the outside edge, chewy everywhere else, with a slight char. Ideal. They call themselves a Napolitan pizza place, and their crust is in the Naples style. Not exactly what you'll get in Napoli, but enviably close. Back to the ingredients: it's refreshing to get a pizza where the mushrooms have flavor and the salumi aren't the overspiced pepperoni and salami that tend to dominate most pizzas in America.

In other words, Frank Pepe's is the real deal and I'll be going back for sure. Yet another reason to travel the I-91 corridor, aside from the Tim Horton's in Hartford.