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Shaggy,

I usually advise visitors to stay away from the North End, but looks like you may have already gone there last night.

You've picked two of my very favourite places, The Erb and Moqueca.

Some comments with respect to dining at Erbaluce which may or may not be relevant or useful to you:

- Chef Draghi is nutso about not using animal fats as mentioned above. I kind of agree with him that excessive misuse of butter in restaurants can mask and muddy the otherwise natural flavour of foods. You'll taste sometimes bitter, floral, pungent, or other notes that you may or may not like or which may or may not be in a familiar context for you.
- The pastas are fine, quite good even, but happen to be what I order least. Many others agree that it's not worth stuffing yourself full of pasta here.
- There is a bar menu that often has several interesting dishes not available on the regular menu. I exclusively sit at the bar for this very reason - that bar menu will satisfy me alone just about everytime.
- Take advantage of the wine list, which is specactular, and Joan (FOH) along with CHef can guide you to some very interesting pairings sure to elevate the meal.
- I think he's got a stash of some mighty fine white alba truffles right now.
- I hope you enjoy your meal.

Oh, in the same vein of interesting & delicious places worth driving well out of your way for (as I would do for, say, Zaragoza), you really ought to consider a Sri Lankan restaurant (curiously) called Biryani Park in nearby Malden. This is the only Sri Lankan restaurant in the state, and I would imagine one of only maybe a dozen or so in the entire country (the most being in Tompkinsville on Staten Island).

The owner is a Tamil Sri Lankan, but has hired an incredible chef from Chennai (IIRC) who not only has a deft hand at his own South Indian classics, but has also mastered Sri Lankan cuisine from a cadre of old Sri Lankan 'aunties' around town who are family or friends with the owner.

There is just so much more to tell about Biryani Park that I think it will be the subject of another post unto itself. In the meantime, here are just a handful of visuals.

Lankan lagniappe - fish cutlet



egg hopper & coconut cream hopper



string hopper kottu w/ lamb


coconut sambol


devilled grill w/ fish


goat biryani

truly world class biryani

string hoppers with cocnut hodi


hodi


lamprais (deconstructed takeout order - order this at the restaurant and it is something to behold)


Sri Lankan dosa


SNS Market Biryani Park
105 Broadway(Rt99),
Malden, MA 02148
Tel:781-397-1307
Business Hours:
Open 7 days a week (11:30 am – 10 :00 pm)
Catering is also available
NOTE: string hoppers and lamprais require 24-hrs advance notice

HOL' UP WAIT A MINUTE!

My tires literally came to a screeching halt upon reading your post and seeing the above pictures.

The egg hopper looks downright dreamy, the goat biryani paradisaical, Sri Lankan dosa otherwordly.

I've been wanting to take a weekend trip to Bean town for a while now. When I finally go, this place is on top of my places to visit.

In the meantime, I will satisfy my craving for a cuisine I've never had by paying a visit tonight to Banana Leaf, Manhattan's newest and only Sri Lankan restaurant.

Thanks for the inspiration and wonderful post Tatter.

_________________
"By the fig, the olive..." Surat Al-Teen, Mecca 95:1"

C'mon up sometime, Habibi. First stop, Sri Lanka. A solid bowl of nalli nihari after that, inshallah. Get in touch anytime.

Some Boston notes from a couple of different visits.

On a previous visit, we went to Erba Luce. It was quite good, but I did not feel any great desire to go back. No dish stood out. Good cocktails, and interesting food, but I did not quite feel like my palate and the chefs were on the same wavelength that night. Not that dissimilar to Gypsy Boy's experience. Sorry I cannot provide more details.

Also went to Drink on that visit, and it was great - both the cocktails, the convivial, punky bartender and the snacks. Can't wait to return.

Last night we went to Harvest, and that was excellent. Big group so we started with the seafood sampler, which was nothing special - bunch of oysters, crab legs, a little ceviche, some shrimp and crab legs. It was all good, the oysters were much better than good. Next time, I would just do oysters.

Most of us had the Seared Scituate scallops on a bed of "salad" - rhubarb, celery, candied ginger, and a swoosh of pea puree. Delicious. The salad could be a bit much for some scallops, but these meaty monsters, perfectly, saltily, seared and just barely cooked inside were up to the test. The Bride had tenderloin with wood ear mushrooms, farro risotto and bone marrow bearnaise. Also delicious. Shared both types of fries (aioli and truffle oil) and grilled asparagus for the table. Finished with two desserts - a deconstructed root beer float - root beer cake, ice cream, root beer foam. Fun and tasty, though it all had a bit much of the sasparilla to it. And a strawberry mousse - more a log, rolled in peanuts.

Wine list is great - started with a white Cotes de Rhone, and then a Valpolicella Ripasso. Was looking for a lighter red which is why I was looking at the Valpolicella. Would not have gone with a Ripasso, but the sommelier said this was light enough to straddle the seafood and beef, and he was correct.

Finally made it to Kelly's Roast Beef, too. The lobster roll is gigantic - almost all lobster - expensive ($18!) and delicious. Combined with a coffee frappe and I was all Boston. The Bride went with clam chowder and a salad, and declared herself very happy.

Off to see the wrong Sox tomorrow. Not sure what the daughter has planned for today, but it should be fun.

Harvest
44 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA

_________________
d
Retired, gone fishing, and exploring my curmudgeon within

Ditto on the thanks, tatterdemalion. Looks like we need to figure out a plausible reason to return posthaste. Last had Sri Lankan in Minneapolis in a place written up somewhere else here (or maybe Chowhound, it was that long ago). Looks great!

_________________
Gypsy Boy

“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?” (Julia Child)

Taking my daughter to Northeastern orientation Monday/Tuesday, NO idea what agenda for parents will be.

If you had ONE meal to eat in Boston (prefer right in town instead of driving), what and where would you choose?

I had an excellent dinner at Craigie on Main in Cambridge last week. My friend and I split a roasted bone marrow appetizer, a trio of pates with pickles, and a half of a roasted pig head. The appetizers were excellent renditions of familiar dishes. The pig head was cut lengthwise, so we had a whole side of the head (the pig's left side, if I recall). The skin was perfectly crispy and the meat underneath of succulent and flavorful. Cocktails were unique and very good, too.

I tried to go to Neptune Oyster the next night, but they were totally full for the evening. I wasn't in the mood for a heavy Italian meal and, in any event, nearly every restaurant in the North End that seemed to have good press was booked up. So I headed back to Cambridge to East Coast Grill, a standby choice of mine. Oysters were very good, shrimp was flavorless, and the single spare rib appetizer was done well.

Was in Boston briefly last weekend and made it out to Allston for some Taiwanese food at JoJo Taipei.

The meal was spectacular across the board. We started off with the oyster pancake and scallion pancakes. The scallion pancake was light and crispy. The oyster pancake was full of juicy oysters and had a custardy texture that was pretty different than other versions I've had, but very successful.

From there we had the leek flowers with bean curd and the three cup chicken. The leek flowers were crunchy fresh and were an interesting contrast to the firm bean curd. The three cup chicken was the best rendition of that dish I've had. The chicken was moist (and boney) and the sauce was a perfect balance of soy sauce and rice wine with a pleasant basil accent.

We rounded out the meal with a stinky tofu stew and the iconic Taiwanese beef soup, niu rou mian. The waitress warned us when we ordered the stinky tofu (I think they called it smelly tofu on the menu), but we insisted. Glad we did. It was served as a hot pot with huge chunks of stinky tofu and tender braised beef offal. The stew was pretty spicy too and served with slimy, flat, translucent noodles. I was tasting the stinky tofu for the rest of the day, and it was awesome, though the warning from the waitress was well deserved, this stuff is potent. The niu rou mian was spot on as well. The broth had a well-rounded anise character and lots of thick, beefy flavor. The stew was full to the top with large, well-braised hunks of beef.

Everything about the meal has me looking forward to a return trip.

http://www.jojotaipeiboston.com/