North End Eats – Ristorante Lucia

Lunch – Thursday, April 19, 2007 – I walked in and had to wait a bit to even see someone that worked there. Although, it was a slow Thursday daytime, so perhaps they just don’t really plan for lunch?  I asked about things that don’t involve flour or pasta – and he just handed me a dinner menu and said there were more things in there.  I wasn’t excited with that answer, and had to still ask more questions (apparently – baked chicken is breaded, and sautéed chicken is not). 

I ended up with the Chicken Marsala. It was OK. The chicken was dry, but the no-flour (made to order) marsala sauce and billions of mushrooms were fabulous!  It is probably usually served with pasta or something of that nature, since the order was pretty small. It would have been nice if they offered something that they could give me instead, but I also should have asked.

The place was kinda weird in that everything had a fake white marble to it. The bathrooms looked like a mountain threw up in it. It was kinda bizarre.  They take credit cards, as well as reservations on that reservation system, but overall, I just felt it was an OK.

North End Eats – Mother Anna’s

www.motherannas.com

211 Hanover – Lunch – Wednesday, April 18, 2007 –  We came into some old Italian opera music that made me dread my decision the second I walked in the door.  You walked right into a giant bar that looks like it would be fun and lively on a Friday night – and I felt a little better.   The place had a great little brick wall feel, and tons of signed Boston Bruins stuff all over some of the walls. So, once I got past the music, I was in love.

For an appetizer we started with the Peppers and cheese – which is like the regular caprese with roasted red peppers instead of the tomatoes. It was delish!  I got a pomegranate martini that was on the specials sheet, and it was AMAZING. Pomegranite vodka mixed with Citrus vodka. I have to remember that. I ordered the Pollo Venenzia – which is a Lemon Mushroom Artichoke chicken. Now, I don’t like lemon, so I’m not sure why I ordered it. Turns out, it’s in a lemon BUTTER sauce.  And by butter, I mean the plate probably had a whole stick of it.  It was amazing!  And huge.   My friend got the tortellini special – something with cheese, mushrooms, peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, stuff like that. It looked great!

 I walked down to the bathroom on the bottom floor, and they have 2 full rooms of more tables, which brick and stone walls – had a nice homey feel to it.

 Overall the place was really good. I give it almost a great!

North End Eats – Boston Beanstock Coffee Co.

http://bostonbeanstock.com/

Seriously – my new favorite coffee joint!

First of all, they have free internet. I know, because I’m typing this from there right now.  They have 1883 syrups, and if you’ve ever been with me when I find a place that has those, you KNOW how much I love them. Slight boo to the fact that they don’t have the tootsie-roll like chocolate flavor, but they have real caramel sauce, so I’ll forgive them.

I ordered a double super-dry cappuccino, which was a little wet for my taste, but had a fair amount of foam.  I asked for caramel, and they gave me some, but not enough to sweeten it for real.

On to dinner – I ordered a Porto-belly Panini (please, don’t lecture me about bread right now, I KNOW). Oh my god. It was amazing.  I did have them add some mozzarella cheese to it – and they did it well. Just enough that it made it all cheesy, but not too much that it took away from the goat cheese that was already on there.  Add that to the yummy marinated mushrooms, caramelized onion, and whatever the super sauce is on there. This thing was SPECTACULAR! Yum.

I’ll give this one a GRRRREAT!

North End Eats – Daily Catch

 www.dailycatch.com

Lunch, Tuesday, April 17, 2007 – A big green awning welcomes you to one of the smallest eateries on Hanover.  Two tables of 6, One table of 4, and two tables of barely 2, as well as a studio apartment size kitchen, fridge, and somehow, a full 3 compartment sink completely fill the room. There’s no door to a storage area, or for that matter, a restroom (they send you across the street to Caffe Vittoria if you need to use it)!  This place could only have the freshest of food, since there is NOWHERE to store it if it wasn’t brought in today!

 The menu is posted on the wall, in chalk, and outlining the different offerings – although it looks pretty basic and probably doesn’t change all that often. I was a bit taken aback by the prices for how small and hole-in-the-wall it is (about $20-$30 a meal).   I saw clams casino on the menu, and may have to come back for that.   They also have a homemade “Black Pasta” that looks interesting.

 Water was served in a plastic, small, toss-away cup, and the meal was served in the pan it was cooked in!  I ended up ordering Scallops Linguine (I know, I shouldn’t have pasta!) – and it was AMAZING.  Scallops were cooked perfectly, tossed with olive oil, lots of garlic, and the linguine. YUM!  Before the meal, the bread was your basic Italian loaf, soft on the inside and hard on the outside.

 The waitress was great – sweet, and offered ideas whenever you asked questions!

 Overall – good to great! YUM!

So It Goes…

I love that song, and now I have it in my head….

So here I am in Boston. It’s Spring Break from school, and I’m sitting in a small coffee shop (Boston Coffee Co. in the North End), and realized it’s been forever since I updated my life. Not sure who’s reading – but wow…if you don’t really know me, then this will be a 180 flip in my world you’ll hear about.

I’m in Boston, I LOVE it here. Seattle I loved the city, but not the people. Philly, I loved the people, but eh on the city.  And now, like Goldilocks, I feel like this is Just Right.

On the first of May I’m moving to the North End. While not my dream apartment (that one got stolen right out from under me), it is my dream area. And I like it.  I have a job at a local high school that is in a bunch of movies (uber cool). This year I’m teaching Honors freshman math, and regular freshman math. Next year I’ll probably be teaching Physics to stay at the same school.  I love the place.

I work weekends at a local dive diner. It’s actually a pretty famous place, and in a bunch of movies too.  In spare time, I’ve become (?) a baseball freak. I’m not a Red Sux fan, but I appreciate the love this city has for their crap team.  I found new friends, one of which I went on a Spring Training trip with this spring to FL. It was amazing!!  I’ve decided to renew my plan to hit every baseball park out there in MLB. I’ll have to list those in a bit.

I also have a goal of hitting EVERY restaurant in the North End – which may take forever, and i plan to write my little reviews here.

What else?

New Town, New Job, New Life….

Well, my random ramblings have gotten few and far between.  I guess the reason is that EVERYTHING in the world has changed. I moved.  To Boston.  I got a new job – I’m a Teacher. Everything is different in my world. It’s nuts.

Random Friday – iPod Edition

Yes, I bought an iPod finally.  His name is Ian. Or Trish. Apparently he’s a crossdresser.

1. Cordova – Indigo Girls
2.Tea for the Tillerman – Cat Stevens
3. Paint it Black – Vanessa Carlton
4. Put Your Records On – Corrinne Bailey Rae
5. Real Love – David Gray
6. 18th Avenue – Cat Stevens
7. Episode of Blonde – Elvis Costello
8. Alone, Together – The Strokes
9. Blender – Amy Ray
10. Alison – Elvis Costello

What I would have never heard without the iPod – Both Cat Stevens, Corrinne Bailey Ray, Elvis (well, the Alison song at least). These are all things that weren’t on my itunes before this.

Favorite – Right now it’s “Put your records on” – I have to dance to it!

Random Friday – Next week it’ll be an IPOD!!

Yes, I am giving in to this dang technology thing and buying an IPOD tonight. Yup. IPOD here we come. I’m actually quite excited, but trying to figure out what to put on the back (2 lines, 17 letters each) – I was thinking something simple like “Coffee Girls Rock” – or “Live with intention.” Ohh..maybe Live with Intention in italian?!?!

OK, I think my batteries are dying in my keyboard, cause this thing is doing some fREAK things!

1. Don’t Pay the Ferryman – Chris DeBurgh
2. Mexican Wrestler – Jill Sobule
3. Fall You Fool – Jeffrey Gaines
4. Think – Aretha Franklin
5. River – Amie Mann
6. Born In the USA – Bruce Springsteen
7. Child of the Road – Joshua Kadison
8. Bom Gia Passageros – O Rappa (I’m sure I spelled this wrong)
9. I’ll Just Let my Piano Play – Joshua Kadison
10. Land of Hope and Dreams – Bruce Springsteen

Favorite? For silly reasons – Don’t Pay the Ferryman. So “deep” in the 80’s – but just cheesy now! I also love….well….all good songs today actually.

Seen Live – 4/7 – not a bad ratio!

Creperie Beaumonde is the place to be….

I went there for breakfast today. We sat inside, since they opened up 10 minutes late, and by then, I was hot sitting out in the sun. I’m sure it would have been nicer in the shade, but it was sooooo cool inside. Mmmm….nice. I hung out with Soozie’s friend Jason (well, I guess he’s my friend now too) that I ran into that AM.
Anyway – Creperie Beaumonde – it was VERY good. I’m sure it would have been even better if I could….I don’t know….eat crepes? I LOVE crepes. I LOVE plain, with butter and sugar crepes. Mmmm. But I can’t have them. I did have some great special with crab meat, avacado creme, and corn salsa. I’m sure there was more too it, but it was very good. Add that with a side of bacon and maple syrup. Good stuff. That and a mimosa was the perfect start to my Sunday.

“…in the last five years…” doesn’t mean anything!

I ran across the funniest quote today while reading the Sox “TC’s Mailbag” on Boston.com.

“but the Yankees have seemed invincible before (for example, when they added A-Rod in ’04, Randy Johnson in ’05, and Johnny Damon in ’06) and have less World Series titles than the Sox in the last five years.”

Seriously? This Sox fan is high. They say “World Series titles in the last five years” as if the Sox have won 4 of 5 – or even 2! 5 years in baseball doesn’t mean much of anything!! Try the last 88 years?!? That would be Yankees 24 and Sox 1. Seriously. People are funny.

Not only that – he had to say the last 5 years cause 5 years ago – the Yanks won it THREE TIMES IN A ROW! Three. In a row. C’mon – they Yanks didn’t even win it for the whole of the 80’s and half of the 90’s – that doesn’t make them any less of a force now.

Piffle. People say funny things.