Lair of the Lost Girl

All right - I'm way the heck behind on writing these up, but the project is still ongoing, and with any luck I'll get caught up over the next few days and be able to move on to new and shiny restaurants.

So way back in October we went to Rome. And we ate in a lot of restaurants and the food in them was invariably delicious, and I had a half-hearted idea that I wanted to try to hit a Project restaurant, but I was mostly just picking and choosing whatever places looked tasty and interesting. And so by our third day I had rather resigned myself to the idea that it just wouldn't happen.

That was the day that we went wandering by the Spanish Steps and dawdled at the fountain at the bottom before deciding to look for a place to eat lunch. We wound up heading slightly off the beaten path, ducking into alleys and piazzas, until we found a little square with a handful of cafes and food shops. We picked one with a decent-looking menu, took our seats outside on the plaza, and it wasn't until I looked at the full menu our server placed in front of me that I realized that we were at the Leonardo Ristorante, making this a perfect choice for L.

We never made it inside the restaurant - this was true of most of the places we ate in Rome. The weather was gorgeous and every place had an outside terrace, so there was no reason to come in from the glorious sun and breeze. And the plaza here was quiet and shady and peaceful, and the people were polite, and it was just perfect.

We started out with an antipasto plate for the two of us to share, and, like the restaurant itself, it was perfect. There were artichokes that were rich and buttery, and olives that made me swoon, salami and prosciutto that were thinly sliced enough to be delicate but not chewy or tough, and slivers of gouda and swiss and balls of mozzarella (I think Italy in general spoiled me for mozzarella - I've never had any that good before).

umbran ordered a panino with turkey, avocado, and tomato, which was decently good. To my surprise, at least, it wasn't grilled - I'm used to panini being hot, pressed sandwiches. But all of the individual ingredients were incredibly high quality, and the flavors were well-balanced. The bread was rich and flavorful, and though there were no condiments on the sandwich, it was still tasty and refreshing.

The true winner of the meal, though, was my lunch. I ordered bruschettoni with tomatoes, mozzarella, olives, capers, and tuna. (Bruschettoni, as far as I can tell, is a single large piece of bruschetta.) This amounted to, functionally speaking, an open-faced Italian tuna melt, and it was seven kinds of heavenly. The bread itself was crisp and rich and a little sweet, brushed with just enough olive oil to balance the flavors, the tuna was high-quality, chunky, and strongly-flavored, and the olives and capers were salty and sharp and the tomatoes were fresh and the whole thing was just exactly what I needed on a sunny afternoon after walking across half of Rome.

We didn't order dessert at the restaurant, deciding instead to save ourselves for gelato later, but all in all this was one of the best food experiences we had in Italy....

Finally, another installment in the project! At this rate, it'll only take us a few more years to finish....

Having finally reached J, I knew I wanted to go to Journeyman - it was nearby, and newish, and it sounded absolutely fascinating from what everyone had told me. I'll admit that I had heard mixed reviews, but they all agreed it was very, very different from any other restaurant I've ever been to, and that was interesting enough to make me want to try it.

Getting there was, in fact, half the battle. Over the past two months we've tried to go there at least half a dozen times. Once they were closed for a week while their chefs went overseas for training, another time they were closed for a private party, other times our plans to invite other folks fell through. Finally, last weekend I just put my foot down and told umbran to find a time and make us reservations, no matter what.

Then came the challenge of actually finding the restaurant (down a tiny, poorly-labeled alley, past a mostly-unmarked door in an industrial-looking brick wall). But we eventually found the place, and were seated. The restaurant itself is tiny, with about 26 seats total, so we were seated at the "chef's table" - counter seats, that look back into the food prep area. Luckily, for me this is a selling point instead of a detriment.

The restaurant has a tasting menu, instead of a standard menu; your only choices are 5 versus 7 courses and vegetarian vs. omnivore. We opted for the 5 course meal, since one of the extra courses was foie gras, which I don't eat, and in order to get the chance to try everything, I ordered the vegetarian while umbran ordered the omnivore dinner. We didn't order the wine pairing, obviously, but umbran did order one of the house-made sodas, which was utterly fascinating - they asked him for a basic flavor profile; he chose citrus, and was given an apricot-lime-lavender soda that was one of the best things I tasted that night.

( Hidden, because this gets long..... )

And once again, I realize several weeks after the fact that I forgot to write up my latest episode of the Restaurant Project. Thank goodness I take notes - though I do need to realize that I'd probably get through this a lot faster if I remembered to write things in a more timely fashion....

After the last project, jadasc had strongly recommended Hungry Mother to me as my next restaurant - and since I both trust him and don't get enough chances to spend time with him, I promised him that the next letter would be his. As it turns out, a couple of weeks later umbran and I had the opportunity to spend an evening with him and gyzki, due to the last-minute cancellation of our semi-weekly tabletop game, and we decided to take advantage of the chance and make it a Restaurant Project night. Luckily, both friends seemed to enjoy the heck out of the chance to play along.

Hungry Mother is, in a word, awesome. It may well be my favorite of the restaurants so far - while the food may not have been better than Campagna, it is enough closer to our price range that it'll be much easier to get back there on something other than a once-a-decade basis.

The first thing I noticed when we got there was how warm it was - this was during the first cold snap of the season, and walking in was almost like being hugged - and how good it smelled. We were seated almost immediately after we arrived, too... and we promptly proceeded to order just about every dish on the menu, between the four of us. Luckily, the waiter was wonderful, prompt, courteous, and polite, asking about any food allergies before we could bring them up, answering all of our odd questions, and being extraordinarily tolerant of our eclectic behavior.

jadasc had mentioned that the boiled peanuts were a house specialty, so we started with an order of them for the table, and they were surprisingly delicious. I wasn't sure of what to expect, but what we got were a bit unusual, softer and squishier than I had expected, and very similar to edamame - just a touch saltier, and much more savory than I would have expected for peanuts. I could easily eat an entire bowl of them myself. The bread and butter they brought out to the table was merely good - cold, and nothing extraordinary - but that was the only let-down of the evening.

From there on out, we all shared our meals, more or less. For the first course umbran ordered the chicory salad, with radishes, nuts, goat cheese, and apple. It was delicious; the bitterness of the greens was cut by the sweetness of the apples and the richness of the cheese, and it wasn't too heavily dressed. jadasc ordered the curried squash soup with crab, which was sweet and a little spicy and not too salty, and managed to be a luscious blend of a lot of disparate components. I wisely decided that there would be heap plenty food about, and mooched off everyone else's plate.

The entrees were equally spectacular. I ordered the Catfish Pecan Meuniere with lemon browned butter and rice pilaf, and it was stellar. The rice was perfect, buttery and rich and well-made, and the fish was flaky and tasty and cooked just right, and surprisingly, the flavor came through in spite of all the toppings - they blended, instead of overwhelming the fish itself. umbran ordered the Barbecued Pork and Beans with mustard greens, which may have been the best dish of the night - the pork (both pork belly and pulled pork) was tangy and sweet but not cloying, and the beans were... I've heard properly cooked beans described as being creamy before, but never truly understood it until I tasted these. jadasc ordered the Steak Kentukiyaki with parsnips, and it was, unsurprisingly, good, with a sweet glaze; the meat was tender and done perfectly, and the parsnips were, in his words, acrid but good. gyzki ordered the Cast Iron Chicken, which was surprisingly excellent - it's amazing how much flavor simple chicken can have when it's properly cooked, and juicy and tender. The skin wasn't as crispy as I might have expected, but it was still delicious.

We also shared an order of grits with ham and cheddar, which I adored - I'm a fan of grits in general, in spite of being a New Englander born and bred, and these were rich and thick and the cheddar was strong and the ham was smoky and it was all so good; and cornbread with sorghum butter. I'm usually not that fond of southern-style cornbread, so this was a harder sell for me, but it was still tasty - dense, a little crusty, but not dry, and more savory than I'm used to, but the flavor was balanced by the sweetness of the butter.

And somehow, after all this, we still found room for dessert. (For research purposes, of course). My sweetie and I split the Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte, which was, as advertised, full of chocolate and peanut butter and deliciousness. The textures were great - no one layer squished out as we cut into it - and the flavors were strong, but well-balanced. jadasc ordered my other favorite, the Maple Pecan Upside Down Cake with Candied Bacon. This was the first and only time I've seen bacon work successfully in a baked dessert, mostly because it wound up acting as just little highlights of salty awesomeness in an otherwise-very-sweet dessert; this may have been the best thing I tasted all night. He also ordered the coffee with irish cream, which I didn't taste, but which he stated was "sparkly and strong." gyzki, being the bravest of us all, decided to try the pie of the day, which was some strange coffee-pear-chocolate thing. I didn't taste this either, being a fan of neither coffee nor pears, but everyone else described it as being surprisingly good.

So. Win, on every dish and every course and every metric I can think of. After a handful of ups and downs, it was very, very nice to have such a clear victory. The only problem is going to be finding a restaurant for I that can match it.

So - recommendations? Or, barring that, strangest pie you've ever eaten?

Unsurprisingly, this project is going a lot more slowly than my previous one. We had decided on Flora for our F restaurant, after several strong recommendations, but unfortunately (as before) ran into an unlikely string of poor timing problems - several times we tried to make it there, only to be stopped by work emergencies, last-minute changes of plans, or getting there to find the restaurant closed for a private function. Eventually, we decided that it just wasn't meant to be, and moved on.

Last week, though, when we headed down to Mystic, I realized that since we'd be eating in restaurants by necessity, it might be a good opportunity to find something interesting and move ahead on the project. A quick internet search turned up the Flood Tide Restaurant, which looked nice, interesting, and, while not crazy expensive, better than a lot of the other pizza shack offerings.

The location was perfect; we were able to park nearby and wander around the little local shops for a while before eating, and they were actually quite helpful and accommodating when we decided to take a little more wander-time and called to push our reservation back by half an hour. And the restaurant itself was lovely, without being too dark or too cold (common problems, in my experience, in restaurants trying to be upscale - I'm not sure why shivering is supposed to imply refinement, but it always ends up seeming that way). The only oddness I noticed was that umbran and I were the youngest people in there by at least 25 years. I'm not sure why; the food was good and the menu, while not obnoxiously trendy, was plenty interesting.

The bread they brought out was warm and rich and tasty, and we started with an appetizer of Crispy Duck Spring Rolls that were, honestly, the best thing I ate that entire weekend. Not that the rest of the food wasn't good, but these were amazing. I'm a sucker for duck in just about any form, and these were crisp and smokey with tender, flavorful meat and a sweet/sour sauce that was not too gloppy or sugary... perfection.

I ordered the Sea Scallops with Parmesan Dijon Cream and Duchess Potatoes - scallops are another favorite food - and I wasn't let down. The scallops were sweet and tender and briny and wonderful, and the sauce was light enough not to interfere with the flavor of the scallops themselves (a heavy, cheesy sauce would have been way too much). The potatoes were good enough, I guess; they weren't that memorable, but they weren't bad. And the roasted vegetables that came on the side were amazing - corn, green and yellow beans, and purple and orange cauliflower, in an herbed butter. I hate cauliflower as a rule, but the combination of color and roasting were enough to convince me to try a bite, and it was actually good - and the rest of the veggies were delicious.

umbran ordered the Rack of Lamb, with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Honestly, I liked my food better - the taste I had of his lamb was a little tough and gamey, though he said the rarer portions were better. (I am doing my best to cultivate a taste for rare meat, but ultimately not succeeding.) The gravy was excellent, though, and he said his mashed potatoes were excellent and had a good texture.

Alas, we were too full to order dessert; a failure on our parts, I know. All in all, though, while this wasn't a life-changing meal, it was definitely a mark in the 'win' column. So, thumbs up for a positive experience, and for trying a random new restaurant - that's a large part of why I started this project!

So - best vacation food experiences you've had? And recommendations for G? The only place I can think of locally is Gargoyles, and I've heard less than stellar reviews of them in general....

Okay - this is backlogged a bit; we went out to eat over a week ago, but with all of the drama and adventure of the past week or so, I haven't quite gotten around to writing about it yet.

Actually, in some part, the incipient drama and excitement was what led to our restaurant choice for this round. While we had a lot of recommendations for Dali, I've eaten there before - and while I love it, part of the point of this project is to try new places as often as possible, so I wanted to pick out someplace new. And when we wound up with a weekend evening with a little bit of time and absolutely no desire to cook, I tasked my husband with picking out a "D" restaurant and taking me there.

He decided on the Deluxe Town Diner, a place where he had eaten before and mentioned wanting to take me to in the past. I grew up in the Tri-State Area, and diners were a huge part of my adolescence and young adulthood; they're one of the few things about New Jersey that I miss. I've been eager beyond belief to find something that fills that gap here in New England, and was fairly hopeful as we headed out to dinner.

Alas, my hopes were not fulfilled. While I'm sure that the Deluxe Town Diner is, as umbran reassures me, a wonderful place to get a sandwich, it is... not the best place to go for dinner.

It's a cute little place, that is very authentically diner-ish, with its chrome and neon and booths and front counter, but it didn't live up to the promise. Also, the service was just plain lousy; we were stuffed in a corner and our spacey waitress forgot at least half of our orders. (In my opinion, part of the Authentic Diner Experience involves having a waitress who calls you Hon, has a memory like a computer, and, in a perfect world, has your table set up, your diet coke poured, and a plate of disco fries on the way by the time you wander in at 1am after your tabletop game wraps for the night.)

I wound up ordering fried chicken, which came with mashed potatoes and broccoli. The chicken itself was not too bad - the coating was crispy and the meat wasn't dry, and it wasn't greasy, so that wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, the mashed potatoes were kind of gluey and bland, yet disturbingly sweet. Not as in sweet potatoes, but as in red bliss potatoes that someone had added a bunch of sugar to. And the broccoli was treated more as a garnish than a side dish.

umbran ordered the meatloaf, with the same sides, and said it was (quoting from the little pad where I took notes during the meal) "Okay." Not condemning, but not exactly a ringing endorsement, though he did also mention that the potatoes were much better with gravy. He did, though, wind up with the best part of the meal - a raspberry lime rickey that was quite possibly the best I've ever tasted. I spent a decent part of the evening trying to steal it away from him and sneak sips. (Yes, I could have ordered my own. This was more fun.)

Dessert was a little better. I ordered a vanilla cupcake, which was surprisingly good - the cake was rich and not dry, the icing was actual buttercream, and the entire package was adorable, at least in my opinion, though I'll understand that the fuschia-and-teal color scheme might have scared off lesser mortals. My better half ordered carrot cake, which was a little dry and stringy, but the cream cheese icing went a long way towards salvaging it.

All in all, not our best experience. I'll probably be willing to give the place another try, at least for lunch, but it's not going to join our regular restaurant rotation.

Meanwhile, while I have an idea of where to go for E, I'm always open to suggestions - and my quest for a decent diner continues....

It's been a little while since the last round of Restaurant Project, both because things have been beyond busy for me and because, when I do manage to find free time, it's mostly because the weather has led to enforced sedentary-ness. But finally schedules and skies cooperated, and I managed to get out for food and fun with friends.

This morning umbran and I joined new_man, mermaidlady, and jducoeur at The Blue Room for brunch. Technically I've been to The Blue Room once before, but that was for a specific event with a pre-set menu, so I still count it as a restaurant I've never eaten at - I've never had the chance to explore their menu, at least. And, since brunch is one of my favorite things in the world, this seemed like an excellent opportunity to get to know a new venue with good friends.

I was not disappointed. The Blue Room is a place I really ought to visit more often - it's local, just a short walk from the Kendall Square T station, and while it's a little on the cozy side, it manages to avoid feeling crowded. And they're impressively set up for groups of all sizes; I loved the corner booth/table we had, in particular - no crowding, room for all the plates and teapots and mugs and what-have-you, and enough out of the way that we could chat easily.

The food was excellent. Their brunch is a buffet, and it's an interesting mix of foods, more lunch-y than breakfast-y. It's also set up in small, fresh platters from a kitchen that you can see, instead of sitting out in huge chafing dishes, so the food tends to be hotter and fresher than most brunch buffets (though it does mean that if your timing is off, you may miss some dishes). I'll admit I'm partial to breakfast foods, so I stuck mostly to the foods at that end of the spectrum, but those who tried the ribs and cabbage slaw and other things like that said they were very good.

The house-made sausage was delicious. I'm used to pre-made sausage, that, while good, tends to be a little greasy and salty; this was meaty and spicy and the texture was amazing. The polenta was good, too - a little more savory than I had anticipated (I'm used to brunch being more breakfasty and sweet), but it went well with the other dishes. My favorite things, though, were the fried plantains and the pancakes topped with bananas and brown sugar.

There was a dessert table as well as breakfast and lunch food, but by the time we got to that I was too full to do more than nibble. The rice pudding was amazing, and I wish I'd had more room for it - cream and sweet, with a topping almost like creme brulee, and umbran says the chocolate chip cookies were great. I'll just have to go back again to try everything else....

I've got an idea already for C, but I still want to hear your ideas - any thoughts on brunch, or suggestions of where to go from here?

So, having spent the past two years with a project to push me and intrigue me and keep me thinking and excited, finishing the Cookbook Project left me feeling a little bit lost and bored. So when it was finished, I spent a little time tossing around new ideas. I thought about cooking my way through a book, but that didn't seem particularly interesting, somehow - no one book is all winners, and I know I'd get frustrated and give up about 3/4 of the way through when I hit a run of similar and boring recipes. I thought about cooking a recipe from every magazine that I own, and I'm likely to tackle that at some point, but it was a little too similar to what I just finished.

And then a woman I work with mentioned a project that a friend of a family member of a friend had taken on with her social group (how's that for tangential relationships?), and it just clicked, and sounded like a heck of a lot of fun, and enough of a change of pace to keep me entertained and interested.

So I am about to take on the Alphabetical Restaurant Project.

Over the next no-idea-how-long, I am going to go to 26 different restaurants, one starting with each letter of the alphabet, in order. No chains. For the purpose of this project, at least to start, I am defining chains as restaurants with more than two branches in more than two distant cities - I may need to revise this, but at the moment that's what seems to make sense.

I'm giving myself an open-ended time period for this, because it's going to be a little more expensive and time-consuming than the last project. But umbran and I don't go out to eat too often, and at the moment I think our funds are such that we can take on a challenge like this. Plus, it'll help us expand the field of restaurants we're familiar with beyond the half-dozen that we tend to wind up at most often.

And that's where I'm going to need help, in all of this. I'm not a restaurant kind of person; I don't know a lot of what's out there, even when "out there" is within five miles of my own house. I want to learn about new places, and try new things, with this project, so I'm going to ask you guys reading this for recommendations. Even if you're not local, please feel free to chime in - I never know when I might wind up traveling and want to find someplace fun to go. Besides, half the fun of a project like this is sharing experiences, and that goes both ways.

Right now, though, what I need is ideas for restaurants that start with "A."

Any suggestions?