casa b

I found myself in Union Square again this week, and I brought along my friends Jen & Rona for some tasty Latin-American tapas. Casa B is the culinary creation of architects Alberto Cabré, from Puerto Rico, and Angelina Jockovich from Colombia. Architects turned caterers turned restauranteurs...the combination somehow works. The clean but warm environment is separated with completely different feelings upstairs and down. Upstairs is white, clean, calm, quiet...downstairs has the open-kitchen, the quaint bar area, and the green wall. Yeah, you bet we went downstairs.

 

 

 

We walked down the white stairs, past the spoons, past the kitchen, and sat in front of the green wall, surrounded by wine bottles and bubble lights.
 

 

We dove right in with our mini silverware....questioning if we would actually use these (we did) while we looked over the extensive drink list, a whole packet of drinks!
 

 

Next was deciding on the long and descriptive food menu, filled with tapas, pinchos, veggie options, and specials. After agreeing on sharing handful(s) of food, we ordered & snacked on plantain chips with asparagus dip. 

 

First were the crispy avocado rolls with a prune & cilantro sauce...

Followed by my favorite dish of the night, the organic vegetarian-fed beef tenderloin with sautéed onions, crispy shallots + grandma’s ketchup. Two bites...and tastes like a whole tenderloin dinner exploded in your mouth...aaaamazing. I will go back, just for multiple orders of this dish.

 

Next we snacked on the yucca fries, Spanish paprika sauce + fresh parsley. The Spanish paprika sauce had such an intense smoky almost-spicy flavor.
 

While enjoying our fries, we couldn't help but notice the sweetheart couch-chairs...still undecided how I feel about these...
 

Our next course was the yucca stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon with a cilantro ginger dipping sauce: my second favorite...but I do love bacon.
 

The Puerto Rican pot roast, yucca gnocchi on a sage brown butter sauce was next...
 

...and then the massive special of deconstructed seafood stew with calamari, scallops, and prawns. Tasty...but quite difficult to each, especially difficult to share.
 

 

Our final course was the stuffed fried oysters with sweet plantain corn relish & a red pepper aioli sauce, served on a bed of sea salt.

 

We were too stuffed to even look at a dessert menu, so we used this super neat little gadget where we could rate our courses, calculate our own bill and how to split it, and even add the tip & swipe our own cards before signing with our fingers and being all set! 
 

If you like to share, and you like ordering a bunch of food, you will definitely be a fan. If you go, please order the beef tenderloin as you will not regret it!

 

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boston restaurants: b

The highest rated restaurant on opentable beginning with a "B" in Boston is Bergamot, in Somerville. A bit far off the beaten path, it is reachable by car. Boasting a 27/30 Zagat score, it has been on my to-go-to list for a while now. I was able to fit in a dinner here before a going away party with a friend. We headed over for an early dinner and were greeted by about 25 staff members spread throughout the restaurant with only 2 other tables seated. At first this was intimidating, but over the course of the meal, all of the tables filled up, and each staff member was bustling around being attentive, but not intrusive.

(1)

(2)

We went for the 3-course meal for a steal of a restaurant-week similar price of $39. We started with their version of Pimm's cup (one of my favorite drinks...obviously) with Pimm's, lemon, Tomr's tonic, and ginger ale. It is definitely one of my favorites I have found in the Boston area, I just wished they had incorporated fresh strawberries!

First course was the sweet corn agnolotti with shrimp, tomato, and marjoram. It was by far the highlight of the meal, I could have easily had 2 of these as my entrée. The agnolotti were little pillows of deliciousness by themselves, and when combined with the corn, shrimp, and tomato, they make a perfect combination.

Second course was the grilled arctic char with romano beans, tasso ham, roasted fingerling potatoes, and a green peppercorn beurre blanc. The course was presented cleanly and tasted as good as it looked. The highlights for me were the fingerling potatoes and the small cubes of tasso ham.

We finished with the dessert course, where I went with the "Berries and Cream" combination of raspberry sorbet with crème fraîche ice cream. It was tasty, but I wished I had gone with the chocolate sponge cake with bing cherries, chocolate peppermint ice cream, and vanilla cream after seeing my friend's delight after tasting it!

Overall, the meal was delicious and the ambiance was nice and mildly energetic. The volume was perfect, there was a quiet buzz about but we had no difficulty hearing each other (maybe due to the fact that the next youngest people in the restaurant by 8pm were 40 years old). Yes, I would go again, but the only con would be the fact that is it not easily accessible by the T.

(1)&(2) provided on Bergamot's website

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spring distractions

Recently I've been distracted by many many things:

1. My best friend's new blog following her incredible journey through the Culinary Institute of America.

2. My new nail color for spring:

3. Zumba...which is addicting and hilarious at the same time. I recommend just trying one and see if you're not hooked!

4. Online-shopping (what else is new)...especially excited for one of my recent springtime purchases: my new glass beverage jar! Super excited to whip up some sangria, infused vodka, or rose lemonade to brew overnight and be perfectly mixed for a warm spring day!

From surlatable.com

5. The biggest-deal-of-the-moment...figuring out the perfect 5-year anniversary gift for T. I know eventually I will be able to think of something, but for now it's weighing on me pretttttty hard. 

6. My mother is visiting within the next few weeks for dinner at our favorite nearby restaurant, 80 Thoreau and a tour of the Louisa May Alcott house, author of our favorite book together, Little Women.

7. And finally: yesterday was Erin's 4th birthday! She celebrated with a frozen yogurt and a mini ham and cheese puff pastry. 4 years old and already rolling in style. 

Then:

Now:

 Happy birthday+1 day you big 28-year-old!


A final reason that I am excited for spring is the fact that the antique shops will have their doors open for the warm breezes that are sure to come soon!

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restaurant week and easter

Back to the Northeast and back to eating, drinking, and decorating.  Unfortunately I was only able to take advantage of the Boston Winter Restaurant Week for one dinner. Fortunately, it was at one of my favorite places that serve the best range of cocktails that I have found in this city, Marliave.

You can find their extensive cocktail menu here.

I started with the escargot with garlic, shallots, butter, parsley, cognac, parmesan, and toasted bread served in a Staub escargot dish that was gorgeous and super functional:

This was the highlight of the meal (other than the delicious cocktails of course!) but I continued with the chicken and ended with the cheese assortment. The cheese was delicious and the perfect size for an after-meal nibble. The chicken was mediocre, but I am a very harsh chicken-judge after being raised with 1,726 different preparations of chicken for every meal of the week by my mother. Some believe ordering chicken while at a restaurant is a waste, but on the other hand, I believe in order for a chicken dish to make it on the menu at a nice restaurant, there must be a reason...somehow these chefs must have jazzed up the chicken in order for it to make one of the coveted 4-7 entree spots.

On the home-front my newest additions are my meyer lemon, key lime, and olive trees along with my white rose wreath!

 I'm in love with them and am already eye-ing the newly-listed herbs and trees in the new Agrarian section of Williams-Sonoma.

In other news, my mother has always been enthused about every holiday that ever comes around; her favorites include Halloween, Valentine's Day, and Easter. Mostly she loves any holiday that has their own soap or boxer collection.  Every year at summer camp, college, or even after school, I receive an overly-stuffed care-package chock full of goodies and embarrassingly covered in holiday stickers. Yesterday this bad-boy arrived on our porch:

I disposed of the bunny-covered box, and apologize for the poor-quality photograph I was just too excited. The big-hitters include the soap in the chicken container, bunny sour patch kids, bubble gum eggs, socks, a bunny dog-toy for Erin, a bunny cat-nip toy for Moosey, Lindt carrots, chocolate covered Jelly Bellys (which are odd and the verdict is still out on these...), and of course the rabbit stuffed-animal. Happy Easter!

Instructions here

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