restaurant

You are currently browsing articles tagged restaurant.

Turner Fisheries’ Newest Menu

May 14, 2012 in events, Food, wine by traveleatlove | 8 comments

Last week I had the delicious opportunity to attend a blogger dinner to taste the newest menu at Turner Fisheries. When I was invited to the event, my first thought was, new menu already? I felt like I had just attended a new menu tasting. Time definitely flies, but more importantly, Turner’s updates its menu frequently to reflect the seasons and the ingredients available.

I joined a fun group of bloggers for a glass of wine prior to dinner, and then we proceeded to our table to get started on dinner. Turner’s General Manager, Wayne Wood, dined with us, and was able to walk us through the menu using his expert knowledge of the dishes to help us all order.

First up was the Atlantic Shelf platter for the table to share.

The cold seafood platter was one of my favorite parts of the meal. I could pair the delicious Viognier we were sipping (Bridlewood), with cold seafood and spicy cocktail sauce for dinner every night. Mussels, clams,s callops, oysters, and shrimp were all super fresh and delicious with a spicy cocktail sauce. As always, I dipped my bread in the mignonette. It makes for a zingy bread topping. Sometimes we make mignonette just to top lettuce or bread. This platter reminded me of summer in New England, just perfect.

In the menu introduction, Wayne recommended the tomato bisque, even as someone generally not a fan of tomato soup. The soup, in addition to being delicious, also happens to be vegan; the pureeing of the tomatoes creates the creaminess. It was smoky, basil-y, smooth and creamy, and clearly I hated it. Winking smile

It was a dreary soup kind of day, and this hit the spot big time.

Turner’s has many tempting entrée options, and I literally went back and forth on a few until it was time to order. I just couldn’t resist the stuffed shrimp though. I love that you order them by the piece to decide how much you want to eat. I hate being super full after a meal or wasting food, so two of these large shrimp were perfect. The citrus cream underneath? To die for.

By the time dessert rolled around, I was fairly full, but I still wanted to give dessert a try. I thought an espresso and the Boston Cream Pie would pair nicely, and I was right.

The Boston Cream Pie was a delight, but it was Fiona’s dessert, the Meyer Lemon Puffs, that won me over.

I loved the fresh, lemony cream and light pastry. It was perfect for warmer weather, and I will definitely be ordering these next time.

Turner’s always does a really great job, and I was happy to be invited to try their latest menu. It’s great that they change things up seasonally; it doesn’t just guarantee the freshest ingredients, but it also keeps diners coming back to see what’s new.

*Dinner was provided by Turner’s, but as always, my opinions are my own.

Technorati Tags: blogger events, events, Food, restaurant, seafood, Turner Fisheries, wine

Tags: blogger events, events, Food, restaurant, seafood, Turner Fisheries, wine

Fox and Hound

March 30, 2012 in Food, Restaurants by traveleatlove | 11 comments

As much as I love going out in downtown Boston and Cambridge, I love discovering great places to eat outside the confines of the city. Last weekend, we were down in Quincy to get started on boat preparations for Summer 2012. First up, the hull needed to be scraped clean of barnacles. Barnacles attach themselves to the bottom of the boat, then other things like seaweed get attached, and suddenly you are burning about three times as much gas than is needed. Barnacles are bad. There’s nothing quite like laying on the cold ground scraping dead sea life off of a boat, but I know it will be worth it when we haul it back into the water. Next up is sanding the bottom paint and then repainting with a barnacle-resistant paint (which will still attract barnacles).

Fascinating.

Since I was apparently such a sport about the boat work, my husband offered to take me out to lunch. I did a quick Google search on my phone and found that Fox and Hound Wood Grille and Tavern, a place we had passed on previous trips, was right down the road.

The exterior of the Fox and Hound is super cute, all red and cream and looks like a little old house.

The inside is warm and cozy, with exposed brick and an array of brown accents. It felt comfortable, and was the perfect place for lunch.

As the marathon gets nearer, I am trying to be better about getting all of my nutrients, so, in addition to a Newcastle Brown in a frosty pint glass, I ordered this warm spinach salad. It was topped with goat cheese and a fruit and onion compote, brought together with a warm, lemony dressing. I stirred the goat cheese in so it coated the lettuce, and I dove in. Since I was chilly to begin with, this was a great option, warming me up but also offering the health benefits of a salad. I loved it.

I also had a cup of clam chowder, which was delicious. It was nice and thick with tender clams and lots of potatoes. You can’t beat a good clam chowder.

Since we had a really hard time deciding on what to order, I also had some of my husband’s fish Reuben and fries. I love Reuben sandwiches, and this one had a creative twist, combining fried fish with Russian dressing, cole slaw, and Swiss cheese. Yum.

The restaurant was pretty quiet for lunch, and our waitress was friendly and helpful. We wanted to try so many menu items that we will definitely be returning.

I am so happy it’s Friday. I have not been a happy camper this week, and all I want to do is sleep. Next weekend we will be away for Easter, and the following is marathon weekend, so this one will definitely be for rest and some time alone.

What are you up to this weekend?

Congratulations to Daisy for winning the Edible Arrangements giveaway! Please email me with the address you’d like the basket shipped to next week, along with a phone number that the delivery person can call. Thanks to everyone who entered! I have another giveaway coming up Monday so stay tuned!

Technorati Tags: chowder, Food, Quincy, restaurant, salad

Tags: chowder, Food, Quincy, restaurant, salad

Pizza Party

January 27, 2012 in Food, Restaurants by traveleatlove | 12 comments

Wednesday nights are usually the tipping point for us, where we go from a few days of eating really healthy meals to wanting to curl up with some pizza and beer. This is especially the case in the winter and even more so the day after a 15 mile marathon training run.

Luckily, this past Wednesday, I was one of the lucky Boston bloggers able to attend a dinner hosted by Stone Hearth Pizza, Clown Shoes Beer, and Pete & Gerry’s Organic Eggs.

I had only tried Stone Hearth’s pizza once before, at the Taste of Cambridge in 2010, and I was really excited to be able to sit down to try not just their pizza, but some of their fantastic appetizers and salads as well, all washed down by some beer from Clown Shoes.

Let’s start with Stone Hearth as a business. They are doing some awesome things to be SOL, sustainable, organic, and local. Not only have they built sustainable building space, but they also use organic flour, tomatoes, and growth hormone free cheese. They also source their ingredients from local partners and give back to the communities they are in through charity involvement. I love it.

The Allston restaurant is a short walk from the Harvard Square T station (It’s also on a bunch of bus routes, but I passed the bus, stuck in traffic, while walking.), and I lucked out with a warm-ish night. The walk over provided a good stretch for my achy legs and revved up my appetite! I was excited about the guest list for the event; it included some of my favorite Boston bloggers.

Our table was set up with beer glasses, plates, and Clown Shoes pint glass souvenirs.

I was greeted with a pour of Clown Shoes Clementine, a beer I have had and enjoyed before. I love the citrus notes; they make it a refreshing aperitif.

Then the food started coming. I could barely keep up with what everything was!

We had parmesan flatbread with roasted eggplant spread and some spicy meatball poppers.

And my favorite of the starters, cheddar covered olives. I thought they were fried, but the menu says baked. I like them even more now!

Fresh salads galore filled the table. Stone Hearth is a great place for people of all dietary needs as they had lots of veggie options and some cool, creative, and delicious salads. No iceberg and sad shredded carrots here!

I had a few bites of the spinach and avocado salad.

And some of this crunchy celeriac which was definitely unexpected but really good. Clearly a ton of thought has gone into this menu.

Then it was time for the main event, the pizza. I was actually ordering a pizza for my husband when these all came out, so I missed what some of them were. I just dove right in though.

I loved the bacon and blue which had a nice amount of smoky bacon and zucchini on it. I don’t think I have ever had zucchini on a pizza, but it is a good idea.

I also loved this special which featured curly kale, leeks, gouda, and sausage. Again, I haven’t had kale on a pizza before, but I will definitely have it again.

After all that food, there was also dessert, which I ended up missing. My husband and I made a deal that if he picked me up on his way home from work so I could avoid the T, I would bring him home a pizza. I ordered the buffalo chicken pizza about 20 minutes before he arrived, and it was hot and ready for me when I left.

You would think I would be too full for more, but I chowed down on two slices of this as soon as we got home. It was the best buffalo chicken pizza I have ever had.

I love the way that Stone Hearth tops their pizzas with creative ingredients, but most of all I love the thin crust. It is exactly the way pizza should be, in my opinion, with just enough crunch and dough to give you that chew, without being at all soggy or overwhelmingly doughy. We had a go-to pizza place with good crust for years but stopped eating there about a year and a half ago for ethical reasons. I miss it, but I am happy to have found pizza I actually like better from a company committed to being a good business.

We all left with a six pack of heirloom eggs from Pete & Gerry’s along with some coupons for their other eggs, including the eggs we buy, Nellie’s Cage Free.

I love eggs and have been eating them pretty much every day during my training, so I will post about them soon.

I was super impressed with Stone Hearth’s food, and the Clown Shoes beer was a great accompaniment. I think the only downside, for us, is that it is a very kid friendly restaurant. We only like kids that are our blood relatives, so other people’s screaming kids are not what we want to hear at the end of the day. Luckily, the Allston Stone Hearth location is right off the Mass Pike and therefore on my husband’s commute home.

There will be a lot more salad and pizza in my future. In the meantime, Stone Hearth, please open a South Boston or Dorchester location! Smile

I dined at the Allston Stone Hearth location, but they also have restaurants in Belmont, Needham, and Cambridge. Dinner was complimentary, but my opinions are entirely my own.