Cambridge: Beat Hotel

Location:

13 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA (below The Gap in Harvard Square)

It takes a certain type of restaurant to get me out on a weeknight after work in this city. The Beat Hotel is that type of restaurant. A grand opening party at a bohemian American brasserie inspired by the Beat generation of the 50s Paris, with live music and cockails named "Electric Sidecar"? Well, the food was just the icing on the cake at that point.

The restaurant features live music e'ry night with jazz, blues and world adding to the bohemian vibe. This night we were treated to Kate McGarry along with Steve Santoro and the Tim Ray trio.

Throughout the evening, our host and co-owner Bertil Jean-Chronberg suggested a variety of American artisanal wines and craft beers to complement the items on the menu. 

Serving a very eclectic menu of seasonal dishes to tempt both the carnivorous palate as well as the herbavore, our table covered the entire spectrum.

We began the evening with flavorful craft cocktails; my favorite was the American Breed, complete with Maker's Mark and St. Edler's elderflower liqueur and apple cider...it felt like the perfect drink for an Autumn evening.

We started with a slew of appetizers, spanning the entire table. A must-try dish is the Hamachi (yellowtail) Sashimi, served on avocado, sambal and black olives...literally melts in your mouth.

There was crispy calamari and tempura veggies, crispy tuna spring rolls, a bohemian platter of hummus, cheese, veggies, pickles, enough for everyone to share.

If that wasn't filling enough, we moved onto our mains, I decided on the 1/2 roasted natural chicken with frites, mustard jus and pickes, generous in portion and robust in flavor.

The Tandoori spiced halibut with lentils and cucumber raita was a tasty alternative to the chicken, and the Earth Bowls (options vary from vegan, shrimp, chicken, steak and salmon) are yet another satisfying choice.

Don't get me started on the desserts...the bread pudding is to die for.

It's the best when you can share in a food experience with food lovers, and amongst these, at my table it was great to meet Tiffany and see Elizabeth who I hung out with in Miami!

If you're looking for a lively spot to wine and dine with live music every night, be sure to check out the calendar at The Beat Hotel.

Thank you to The Beat Hotel for treating us to an incredible evening in Harvard Square.

All photographs ©Hogger & Co., processed with VSCO Film 04

Boston, Brookline: Fugakyu

Location:

1280 Beacon Street  Brookline, MA

Sounds like you're swearing at me, but it's all good. REALLY GOOOOOOD!

Totally fresh and awesome sushi right there. I'll be back. (image via Instagram)

Boston: Legal Sea Foods

Location:

26 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 

www.legalseafoods.com

Everyone said to go, so we finally went.

With our fish eating friends from New York.

They know good eats, so it was fun to try a variety from the menu:  Oysters, New England Clam Chowder, Lobster Bisque, Signature Crab Cake, Lobster Roll, Fish n' Chips and the Wood Grilled Assortment.

Although it seemed like forever for our food to arrive, reaaaaally forever, when it finally showed up, we were all really happy with each dish.  It was totally worth the wait!  I even tried a bit of the cream-based soups and marvelled at the scrumptiousness of them.  Definitely hands down the BEST sea food I've ever had!  And our friends agreed!  

With their:

"If it isn't fresh, it isn't legal"

slogan spanning more than 60 years now, Legal means business and they're open for it; I highly recommend giving it a try if you're looking to try sea food or are a sea food fanatic!

TRAVEL: Mr. B’s Bistro, N’awlins

Location:

201 Royal Street, New Orleans, LA

www.mrbsbistro.com

So, this is another one of those overdue/back-burner pieces.
Better late than never, right?

Located in the French Quarter, and coming highly recommended from many a source on the world wide web, my first impression of Mr. B's was that it seemed more suited towards a 40+ suit crowd.

Suits and in our case, bibs.

The bibs for de-shelling the shrimps in Mr. B's signiture BBQ shrimp dish!
(Gulf shrimp barbequed New Orleans style, served in the shells with a peppery butter sauce, and French bread for dipping $18.00)

EEEE!

Apart from the de-shelling, this dish was fantastic! And I love that they share the recipe online!

The other dish was less painful.  Also, a bit bland.  Catfish with beans (Pecan crusted farm raised catfish topped with Creole meuniere sauce $15.00 )



The fried oysters $6.75 were excellent.



Blueberry Cobbler $8, perfectly old fashioned.

Suits or not, bibs or not...Mr. B's Bistro is everything you imagine "N'awlins" to be.

Frugal Fare #2: Mini Bar

Location:

116 Spadina Ave., Toronto

Cost: $1-6

Mini Bar is #2 in Foodhogger's Frugal Fare in the city!



It may be mini, (literally a hole in the wall on Spadina, south of Camden on the West side) but Rachel & Susan (pictured) are doing a splendid job serving fresh sandwiches ($3), sushi ($5.75), edamame ($1.50), miso soup ($0.95), tea, coffee, juice, bagels, fruits, candy and more from the depths of this tiny shoppe.



The two ladies are wonderfully warm and friendly and speedy!

Their straight-forward menu:





 My tuna sandwich for $3.50; delicious & home-made tasting:



Mini Bar's fantastic, but don't go, 'cause it's a hidden gem in the city and we want it all to ourselves! ;)

Frugal Fare #1: CJ Lunch Box

"Frugal Fare" is going to be a new feature on Foodhogger, where we'll cover the more affordable places to dine for lunch/dinner in Toronto and still get great food & service.

CJ Lunch Box (but everyone refers to it as "Lunch Box") is one such place. 

Location:

409 Richmond St., W, Toronto (Spadina/Richmond)

Cost: under $10 (cash only)

There used to be something else in it's place, but I can't recall what it was (anyone remember?) and now it's very clear what's there. 

 

Lunch Box is a small lunch time spot serving little containers of sushi, deep fried chicken, noodles, edamame and dumplings...for as little as $3 - $5!  What a steal (and tasty too)!  These days business is booming and it's our first in Foodhogger's : Frugal Fare.

Salmon sushi with chicken combo $5.97 (with free miso soup)

Veggie Dumplings: $3 - a bit on the greasy side, but it makes a good side or snack.

Although Lunch Box has started increasing their prices (almost everything is one or two dollars more than before), the raised cost hasn't seemed to deter the crowd.  The line-ups are almost always curled around the counter in the tiny restaurant, where in cafeteria-like fashion you pick your boxes.  

Chicken? $4.

The staff are cheery and highly efficient (one at the cash register, one packing your lunch, one making the sushi, one warming the dumplings; there's at least 6-7 people behind the counter).  Not to mention that the turn-over is so high, the food's fresh.  In fact, if you don't see any more sushi of your desire, they'll roll it up for you in 2 min!  (Sushi connoisseurs  [of which, I am not one] beware: it's not gourmet sushi, but it's great for lunch)

Salmon sushi $4

There are also a handful of tables if you wish to dine there, with a newly added flat-screen TV playing concerts by different artists everyday (last time it was Celine Dion and before that Beyonce) to keep you entertained. 

Also, I hear that with every purchase you get a free miso soup but I will have to confirm this (as I found out only after my purchase, sans soup) and this should be relatively easy considering I'll most likely be back there next week!

They're open from 11am to 5pm on weekdays only - so if you wanted some chicken or noodles to take home after work, you're out of luck.  I think they would do well to stay open for dinner, but then it would have to be called CJ Lunch/Dinner Box...which doesn't have the same ring to it.