Thursday, January 15, 2009

Closing the Boston Chapter - Part 5: The Final Wish List

I've been sitting on this post for a while.

In my final months in Boston I made it to a lot of my favorite places and wish list spots.

Scups in the Harbor. This is a wish list spot that I didn't have time to visit. If I ever make it out to Logan Airport, I'm taking the airport shuttle or a cab to the harbor to make it to this too-good-to-be-true spot.

Sticky Sticky Bun from Flour. This Food Network Throw Down challenge winner is extremely rich and delicious. I really like the fact that it uses a minimum amount of cinnamon to let the brown sugar and butter flavors shine through. I will attempt to make it on my own someday...

Chacarero from Chacarero. The secret hot sauce! The bread! The steamed green beans! The mashed avocado! The salt! The pepper! The meat! Bright, clean flavors, freshness, and simplicity --- I shall miss it all.

Baked goods. Most notably I shall miss my walks down the block to Kupel's for fresh, eggy, sweet challah. I'll miss my half-priced after 5:00 loaves of bread from Sel de la Terre... the crusty french breads of Clear Flour Bakery... and lots of other carby gems.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Closing the Boston Chapter - Part 4: The H-Family Black Bottom Pie



My Boston co-worker Lisa always brought her black bottom pie at pot luck events. The pie has an Oreo crust with a gelatin whipped topping filling. I had the honor of being served my own pie during my going-away dinner with her family. My memories of eating this pie are so pleasant that I think it deserves its own blog post. The chocolate cookie wafer crust could win any chocolate snob over... and the simplicity of the whipped filling just melted with every mouthful. The recipe is a guarded treasure of her in-laws, so I'm probably going to spend a few hours of my lifetime trying to recreate it =)

Lisa and Brian also have a knack for finding tasty places to eat in E. Boston and Chelsea. Without their leads on good eats, I would never have enjoyed 303 Cafe, Angela's Cafe, Tijuana, Rino's Place, or Dough's (well, maybe Dough's). Their daughters are definitely going to have great appreciation for tasty restaurant bites.