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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backbar

I rarely make trips to Union Square in Somerville, as I'm not a big fan of buses and there is no nearby T, so my choices are left with walking, driving, or biking. Driving it is. I headed out to backbar before a friend's album release at the new Cafe Tango down the street. I have had backbar on my go-to list for a bit now, after it's opening in late 2011. It is the slightly-younger sister of Journeyman, a tasting-menu restaurant run by foodie-friends focusing on seasonal ingredients. backbar has recently been in the news a few times, having their bartender Sam Treadway winning Boston's best bartender award and being featured at Zagat's 30under30 event. I brought T along to this newish craft cocktail utopia with a few friends for a quick drink & snack before the evening's event.

Down the alley we went...to the nondescript orange door. We headed in down a dark hallway hoping we were heading the right way. Our spirits were raised when we found the backbar sign, opened the door, and were greeted to a quiet & calm hideaway.

 

In we went, we plopped down on one of the wall-length comfy couches and admired the graffiti wall & the hand-drawn daily menus of food & drinks. (Apologies for the dark pictures, the sexy mood-lighting got me!)
 

 

I went with the union mule with Beefeater gin, apple brandy, St-Germain, citrus, ginger, and spice with a pork belly bun as a snack...but you can find more information about their menu, location, and background here.

 

 

After a tasty strong drink & a snack, we headed out to our friend's event, where I ate my weight in delicious churros (both chocolate and dolce de leche) at the newly-opened Cafe Tango. If only Union wasn't so high-maintenance and difficult to get to...**hint hint MBTA!**

 

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flatbread company

Flatbread company opened in Massachusetts in 1998 & opened their Somerville location (featuring old-school candlepin bowling in Davis Square) in 2010. Using organic, natural, and local ingredients to make tasty flatbreads with every-changing specials, a huge list of draft beers, and bowling, this may be the perfect place to unwind. Find more about their company here & hope you are lucky enough to live near one of these tasty finds in New England (...or their one location in Hawaii). If you plan to bowl on a weekend, make sure you make a reservation far in advance, as they are quite popular. Reservations are also recommended for weeknights, but are not always crucial.

We were craving just flatbreads at the time we moseyed on in, so we skipped the bowling (this time) and headed for the bar. We decided on the carne special of oven-roasted organic potatoes, all natural bacon, local corn & organic red onions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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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