Boston binge eating

A posting I had been waiting to put up until after I had gotten a good photo of Cocoa Pudding Ice Cream With Ginger Snaps. However, up it goes today!

Written 10/4/07:
I was in Boston for a couple days and it's like a nice, mini vacation. Far enough from NYC, but close enough where going home doesn't mean having to go to a horrible airport and wait 4 plus hours for who knows what.

I got off work on Sunday morning around 2 a.m. Went home to shower and pack a bit...slept a good 45 minutes and decided to just head down to the Lucky Star bus stop in Chinatown around 5:30 a.m. to catch the 7 a.m. ride to Boston. It was weird being out in my neighborhood while there was almost light coming out. Eery is the best word to describe it. Some bakeries and coffee shops are already bustling with workers but at some streets the absolute silence was deafening. I made it the stop 30 minutes ahead of departure. A real rarity for me as I have ALWAYS made a mad dash to the stop 2 minutes before departure time or 2 minutes after the scheduled time. I slept the entire bus ride through rather uncomfortably with my neck strained on both sides. Ugh. However, to my surprise, one jolt on the bus made me wake suddenly and pull out my earphones to find that we had arrived...20 minutes early. Nice! I'm no newbie to Boston as I've visited on countless occasions so I took the T to Central to meet Dan for lunch. Wow, it was early enough to get lunch. We went to Daedalus in Harvard Square and it was so-so. Nice ambiance but to my great sadness, his poached eggs in the Eggs Benedict were mostly cooked through...really the utmost worst you could do to Eggs Benedict. I got the crab sandwich which was ok, seeing as it was fried so you could barely taste much of anything. Blahblahblah. Don't want to waste space rambling even more...

We ended up at Toscanini's, the famous ice cream place in Boston, where it took us both a long while to decide what to get. The board had like 15-20 flavors that had the classics and the creative. So we asked the woman behind the counter, who ended up giving us a sample of like 6 flavors she liked most. We tried the Mint Chip, which we both muttered "toothpaste" under our breaths. Had the "hazelnut" but it just taste like sweet cream colored brown. BlahBlahBlah...other flavors. And then we hit upon Cocoa Pudding with Ginger Snap Cookies. Let me tell you it was like winning Bingo! It was fabulous! Tons of cocoa flavor as if you were running your tongue over the smooth, silkiness of real, rich chocolate pudding. The Ginger Snaps were such a pleasant surprise. Large chunks of what tasted like gingerbread soaked in a bit of chocolate paired so well with the cocoa ice cream. The next time I go I will do as I always do: order the same flavor that I know I will like. Why try the other 15 when you know which one you really like already? Many would disagree with me but sorry, this is non-negotiable. In fact, I could just inhale that flavor! Anyhow, sadly no picture as I did not have my camera with me. Perhaps my next visit I'll make another post on the ice cream with photo included. We also opted for a Cappuccino and a Vanilla Hot Chocolate. I'd say the drinks were tasty, but don't go to Toscanini's without the intent of ordering ice cream even if you think it's much too cold out...their ice cream really hits the spot when you find your true flavor. Yes, it's almost like finding the love of your life.

I can't possibly write EVERYTHING I ate in Boston. This one entry would be even more tiresome to read. However, after Toscanini's, I met Jan at her lab at the Charles MGH stop. My favorite ride is from I believe Kendall to Charles MGH where you can see the water and sailboats. We walked to North End for Mike's Pastry, a place really well-known for their cannolis. They are quite delicious as I had them I believe earlier this year, but the crowds at this place are a little intimidating. Instead of stopping here again, we went into an adorable cafe called Vittoria Cafe for coffee gelato and a sfogliatele, an Italian pastry that translates to "many leaves/layers" because well, it's made of many flaky layers that enrobed a cake-like center. The "cake" center was almost like a the soft part of a crumpet that taste like it was flavored with almond paste and hints of orange. Eh, sorry no photo but it did almost fly off the plate because of my extremely unskilled eating techniques. Gelato: Kind of tasted like brown-colored sweet cream like the hazelnut ice cream at Toscanini's. But it kind of grew on us so we continued to eat it. The sfogliatelle...it was nice. Authentic to me probably because I'd never had one in or from Italy.

Ok, blahblahblah...had dinner. Make it quick! Make it quick, you say? Ok...

For my last meal before heading back to NYC, Dan took me to a place called Miracle of Science. Ah, what a totally appropriate restaurant name for the area! The geekyness of it makes me smile! Anyhow, it wasn't that the food was amazing, but rather how simple the menu was AND it was written like a periodic table. I ordered the Cs...for Chicken Sandwich and Dan got the Ms (I think) for the Mesclun Salad (but added chicken to it as you can see above). The food was straightforward. You got what you ordered. The chicken in my sandwich was juicy, thin and tasty (at left) and it came with a spicy mango chipotle sauce that gave it a nice extra kick. The homefries were addicting and I'd go back just for those as they were perfectly cooked chunky, red-skin potatoes with just the right amount of seasoning. I'd say the word "minimalist" best describes the place. But that in no way means the decor was ugly. Everything was unpretentious...something quite lovely when many places these days go all out to impress diners with crazy things like life-size plants, giant Buddhas or indoor waterfalls.

Lesson of the day: Boston is definitely a place to be!

Grom gelato

I didn't try a new place today because it was gloomy, rainy and I had too much work to do and lots of sleep to catch up on. But on Wednesday I stopped by Grom gelato because I've been asked 4 times in the past month if I had gone yet. I was in a bit of a rush on Wednesday because I had to be somewhere by 4:30 p.m. but I decided to go because I really felt like gelato and I didn't want to be trying it later this week since the forecast predicted rain (my guess was correct because it has been rainy and rather dark). Anyhow, there hardly was a wait when I got to the shop, which was a big surprise since I saw pictures online of massive lines that reminded me of Disneyland rides. What can I say. I'm an impatient person. I can't stand waiting in lines that are so far back that you can't even see your original destination. However, the ridiculous lines may have been because Grom was offering free gelato on the day of its opening to get people hooked on their stuff. Sure, I like free food but I also like using my time wisely. I'd more likely spend a mere 5 bucks to save a 2 hour wait. Come to think of it, I don't ever recall waiting for free food when there are promotional events like free scoop day at Ben & Jerry's.

Anyhow, the place looked like a tiny scoop shop at the front, but if you walk further in, you have about a whopping 15 seats to choose from if you're lucky they aren't all full of kids and their parents (at least on a Wed. afternoon). And if you get a seat, your view is a bunch of industrial machines (probably the gelato-makers) behind a glass window. Yay. I'd say takeout is your best bet so don't count on eating very good gelato on rainy days.

I never know what flavor to get when I'm at a scoop shop so I normally get one of my two favorite flavors: coffee or mint chocolate chip. So I was torn betweening trying something different like stracciatella or a classic like coffee or chocolate. I was tempted to sample all the flavors but decided against it because that's just plain annoying so I tried Tiramisu and Dark Chocolate. I went for the chocolate because while the Tiramisu tasted good with chunks of cookie and lots of interesting textures and colors, it didn't taste quite like the Tiramisu I was looking for. Anyhow, my small cup of Dark Chocolate gelato was $5.14 including tax. Talk about ouch because a small was small, but I guess it's justified since they say they use some of the best and freshest ingredients and good chocolate, like Valrhona, means you're going to have to pay for it. I overheard a woman telling her son "They said they didn't squeeze enough limes today to make that delicious lime sorbet we had last time. Well maybe next time."

The gelato looked really unappetizing because it wasn't cold enough, the goop slid down the sides of the cup making my table a huge mess. In fact, it reminded me of doggy diarrhea (see photo). Does it not? I took a few bites and was actually conflicted. Was it really good? Or was it too intensely chocolate for me to enjoy? Or did I not like it because I was in a bit of a rush and wanted to get it over with? I concluded that it was good because I ordered chocolate gelato and got chocolate gelato. What I realized was that the amount was enough because oftentimes when things are rich and tasty, you don't need a lot to satisfy your palate. And this was rich and tasty.

The Dark Chocolate gelato had bits of dark chocolate evenly scattered about so in every bite you'll have tiny pieces that add a bit of extra texture to the airy gelato, making it that much more elegant. By airy gelato I mean that it almost felt like it was whipped, hence the somewhat gooey look. And speaking of whipped, I was asked at the counter whether I wanted a dollop of whipped cream to accompany my sweet treat. I said no because I didn't want whipped cream anymore after my Strawberry Shortcake Sadness. Going back to the chocolate... I really did like that they weren't the typical huge chunks of chocolate pieces because those always get stuck in the roof of my mouth and are tasteless anyways. I only ate about half the cup when I felt like it was a chocolate overload. I had wished I was there with someone else because then we could have shared two flavors and alternated. I was sad I didn't try a sorbet. But this experience led me to believe that with all their flavors, may it be sorbet or gelato, they will taste true to their flavor profiles. If you get raspberry sorbet, you better like raspberries because that's the flavor it's going to taste exactly like.

Lesson of the day: A little goes a long way.

Grom Gelato
2165 Broadway (between 76th and 77th Sts.)
646-290-7233