It's not every night you get to experience a traditional Nova Scotia Kitchen Party with a gourmet menu, cocktails with blue noses on them, fiddle music and square dancing under a tent on the Charles River with a sunset viewof the Boston skyline.
Rockport, MA: Roy Moore Lobster Co.
A recent trip to Rockport immediately made me crave lobster rolls, which, in the past in Boston has been good but not as exciting as I would have anticipated.
Boston: Union Oyster House
Location:
41 Union Street Boston, MA 02108
Yes, it's America's OLDEST restaurant (in terms of being open for continuous service), and was established in 1826.
1826!!
The recipes possibly date back as far as then, too. To a time when perhaps seasoning wasn't available, for the blandest of bland meals can be eaten here.
Good clam chowder, if the simple ingredients of cream, potatoes and bits of clam, could possibly be screwed up.
Potatoes tasted like dirt.
The asparagus and beans weren't cooked fully.
The biscuit barely saved my meal from being a total disaster. I even overheard someone complaining that his daughter ran out with an upset stomach from the scallops.
Shame on us for taking guests from out of town there.
Greece: Santorini, Tomatoes + Octopuses
Greece: Mykonos, Petinos
Location:
Platys Gialos Beach, 84600, PO Box 116, Mykonos, Greece
www.petinosbeach.gr/mykonos_restaurant
You have to do dinner and a dance show in Greece. We went to one in Petinos at the Blue Myth restaurant. There was singing, high-kicks, fire tricks and table lifting (with teeth!). They even pulled me onto the dance floor several times, once while I was still in my chair!
The food was good too, but it was mostly about the entertainment. Oh, and a good greek dance isn't complete without some plate breaking! OPA!
Greece: Athens, Tzitzikas kai Mermigas
Location:
Mitropoleos 12, Athens 10563, Greece
As soon as we arrived in Athens, we were starving and decided to check out the Plaka district. We asked a group of cops at the corner (we did wonder why there were cops hanging around in that area) for a recommendation of tasty and authentic fare that would be casual but not "fast food". They directed us around the corner and down a street. We were skeptical, and unsure if we'd know where it was, but then we found it easily as it was the only restaurant on a side street that had light spilling out onto the street, cheerful patrons and the delicious smell of seafood.
The BEST. I finally found the name and map to the restaurant, with a little bit of sleuthing on Google Maps! I don't know how to pronounce it, but if you're ever in the Syntagma Square area of Athens, GO THERE!
We had red wine, Mythos greek beer, a giant Greek Tzitzikas (just found out that it means salad) which is my favourite type of salad and a giant fried seafood basket.
Amazing service, and INCREDIBLE food!! Sigh..to eat those olives once again.
New York City: Sapphire
Location:
1845 Broadway, New York, NY
After taking in the last runway show at NYFW one evening, I was in the mood for Indian food. We ended up at Sapphire which is near the Lincoln Center and across from Central Park.
The piping hot peshwari naan is, hands down, the best I've ever had! Our food was served onto our plates. The salmon was marinated and flavourful. And our request for less mutter (peas) and more aloo (potatoes) in the aloo gobi mutter dish was in fact, granted and well-executed.
Everything was incredible! We literally cleaned up every dish to the last morsel.
We were so content with our meal that we went over to thank the gentleman at the front and tell him that we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. He ended up being the owner, Satish Arora, who then very graciously offered us drinks and desserts at the bar. We obliged and was amazed when we saw a bottle of Crown Royale in his name!
We had a wonderful time chatting with Satish about his life in NYC and also found some common links of his in Toronto. The decor is all authentic and brought over from India and the restaurant is very popular with celebrities as well.
Thank you for showing us a delightful time Satish, we look forward to coming back soon!
Boston: Legal Sea Foods
Location:
26 Park Plaza, Boston, MA
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!
The Wine Bar
Location:
9 Church St., Toronto
So, clearly I missed the boat on Jamie Kennedy's Wine Bar, instead this place is now known simply as The Wine Bar.
And, I know I've said it before and I should've listened to me:
If a restaurant is EMPTY, go somewhere else.
The Wine Bar was eeeempty.
The Wine Bar
Aside from the wine (good thing it's called the Wine Bar), this place is a disaster!
Oh, and I still don't get "tapas" - small portions are not for me. I love food and I love seeing LOTS of it.
First the positive:
The service.
Very attentive, polite, accommodating to dietary needs.
The negative:
We ordred the grilled flatbread (with house smoked chicken, tomato and mozzarella) and requested less mozza, to which our server suggested he could do less on one half and no mozza on the other if that was preferred. Great! Perfect.
The flatbread arrives and the chicken looks a bit pink in the low-light.
Flatbread
The taste? Awful. The chicken truly is pink, is bad cuts of meat, and doesn't taste at all fresh.
The next thing we had ordered was the artic char (smoked) - with arugula. The smoked artic char arrived looking...smoked. And fishy smelling - fresh fish should never smell fishy - and overly salted. Were we ever grateful for the salad!
Smoked Artic Char
Then there was the scallops - OMG!! Both of our upset stomachs the next day verified what we'd thought all along: neither the scallops (nor the fish or chicken, for that matter!) were fresh. One bite of it was all we needed - it tasted like the bottom of the bay, like how you'd imagine a fish tank tasting.
Scallops
And the wine? Besides the fact that we thought it was $10 for a glass (turns out it's $10 for a TASTE and $22 for a glass!) they were both very good.
Menu
Needless to say we drank every last drop of the wine, mostly to rid ourselves of the terrible food flavours. Soooo gross, you guys!! And we were so sick after!
I must admit I'm glad the portions were so small!
We ended up having to go for dinner again after that meal.
We headed over to JUMP where we KNEW we'd get incredible food, wine and service.