Station 1

Since our going out requires a bit more advanced planning nowadays, a second visit to the same restaurant within the space of 2 months is high praise indeed. Mihai and I returned to Station 1 for an early New Year's celebration last week, based on a delightful meal and warm service we enjoyed there in November. Station 1 is just down the street from what seems like a more well-known Woodside restaurant; having not yet been able to score a reservation to the latter (despite the aforementioned advance planning), I cannot speak to whether its fame is well-deserved. However, I cannot say enough good things about Station 1, and am actually somewhat glad it seems to hide in the shadow of its more famous neighbor, as I only have so much patience for tracking down hard-to-get reservations.

Station 1 serves a 3-course prix-fixe menu for a reasonable price. Here's a brief run-through our most recent meal (please forgive the quality of the iPhone pictures):

Drinks: Woodpecker (left), Scofflaw (right).

The Scofflaw was one of the reasons I was eager to return to Station 1 - what a delicious combination of rye, vermouth, lemon, and grenadine. And I love the oversized cube of ice that melts slowly but effectively to make the drink a bit less strong over time. Mihai got the Woodpecker, which had the grenadine in common with my drink - a magic ingredient to make all drinks better? I would highly recommend both choices, except apparently the drinks menu was due to change in the new month (though our very kind waitress confided that the bartender could probably be persuaded to make off-menu drinks in the future as well, as long as we remembered what we wanted).

Appetizers: Celery root soup with pickled apple (left), Garganelli with Manila clams (right).

The pictures don't really do these appetizers (or the main course below) justice. Both appetizers were perfect wintry dishes, without being too heavy. The celery root soup was super smooth, and the pasta was swimming in a light creamy sauce, with the tiny clams adding some interesting bites to the dish.

Main Course: Cauliflower risotto with a chard chip (left), Wagyu bavette steak with rutabaga, arugula, and oyster mushrooms (right).

After we placed our orders, the waitress asked Mihai if he was vegetarian; we had coordinated our choices without realizing that he was ordering all of the (seemingly) meatless dishes, whereas both of mine contained obvious proteins. My guess is she was asking because the risotto used a non-vegetable broth, but that's just speculation. In any case, given the location of the restaurant and the quality of the service, I have no doubt that they are happy to accommodate true vegetarians. I was glad I wasn't really one that evening, however, as that steak was amazing. Mihai's risotto was good as well, but I was really happy with my choice - I don't eat meat all that much (because many cuts/preparations disappoint me), so it's always nice to get a steak that's as good as it should be.

Extras: Sesame Parker House rolls with an amuse-bouche of marble potato and gouda blue cheese foam (left), White chocolate lemon cream with pistachio crumble (right).

We had to ask the waitress to stop bringing out the Parker House rolls after we ate the second plate of them before the appetizers even arrived, and this is only meant as a comment on the rolls' taste, not on the length of time it took for us to get the appetizers (entirely reasonable). Serving an amuse-bouche in the beginning of the meal is always such a nice touch, because who doesn't like getting something "extra" and unexpected? Of course it helps when the amuse-bouche is as tasty as this one, since it heightens the anticipation of a good meal. And I am definitely a chocolate snob and don't appreciate white chocolate normally, but the palate cleanser cream served after our main course was also very well done.

Dessert: Almond cake with pear, quince sauce, and honey ice cream (left), Chocolate mousse (right).

Mihai was rewarded for his more daring choice, because while my chocolate mousse was very, very good, I'd say his almond cake (and everything it came with) was even better. That's what I get for my mixed feelings about almond desserts (for my taste they can hit both very high highs and very low lows).

Coffee and Tea (with almond mignardises).

We went all out and got coffee (French press, not shown) and Earl Grey tea. Just like the amuse-bouche, the mignardises are a great "extra" addition to the meal because they are a surprise (even though we'd been to the restaurant before). Chances are they don't cost the restaurant much, but they do add to the special-ness factor.

All in all, a wonderful dinner with great drinks and service (and company!) at a pleasant, non-stuffy restaurant. I hope to be back soon.

Dinner at L'Ourcine

On our last night in Paris, Mihai and I had dinner at L'Ourcine. We were fortunate to discover L'Ourcine almost by accident last time we were in Paris a few years ago - we were there for only 1.5 days and didn't have dinner reservations for one of the two evenings because we were originally supposed to go to a different (much fancier) dinner. After another restaurant turned us away because they were completely booked, we were able to squeeze into L'Ourcine by showing up much earlier than most Parisian diners. That dinner turned out to be the best one of that whole trip, and so was the dinner during our repeat visit last week.

We began with pre-dinner drinks:

Mihai had a beer, and I was surprised to hear that L'Ourcine didn't serve kirs, my pre-dinner drink of choice for that week. However, the waiter said they offered something else similar that was very good, so I trusted his recommendation. I am still not sure what it was I was drinking, but it tasted like a really well-made, slightly bubbly, kir. And, of course, any place that serves something like salami as a pre-dinner snack (instead of the more usual olives) is a winner in my book.

Our amuse-bouche was a light and creamy mushroom mousse with crunchy mini-croutons:

And for appetizers, I went with a beef consommé (with radishes and foie gras morcels):

and Mihai had a special of "open ravioli" (which turned out to be basically pappardelle) with morels:

Both dishes were wonderful, though I have to say I slightly preferred Mihai's mushroomy ravioli. Almost every restaurant we had dinner at that week offered special dishes with morels (and asparagus - the French take their seasonal ingredients very seriously), but I thought this one was really the best morel dish we'd tried all week. It's possible that had my soup not had all the red pepper flakes in it, I may have preferred my dish for its singularity (and difficulty in getting something similar stateside) after all (so if you are not averse to spicy-ness the way I am, you may love it wholeheartedly).

We both had very meaty main courses (I don't think we saw a vegetarian main course on a menu all week):

Mine (in the front) was a very large beef filet from a Blonde d'Aquitaine cow, served with roasted ratte potatoes (not pictured), and Mihai had pork with the most delicious and creamy polenta I've ever tasted (just visible in the upper right of the picture). He was very nice and let me have easily a third of his polenta, since I kept raving about how amazing it was (and even went as far as to ask how they made it so good). Just like I returned from our last trip determined to recreate the life-changing granola at home, I am now determined to figure out how to make polenta taste this delicious (it's funny, I didn't even like polenta at all until a couple of years ago).

For dessert, I had the poached pear in caramel sauce:

and Mihai had a chocolate bouchon with crème anglaise:

The desserts were tasty, but I'd say the "real food" part of the meal was definitely my favorite. All in all, I cannot recommend L'Ourcine highly enough if you are looking for a blow-your-socks-off and yet casual meal in Paris. It's not a huge restaurant, the little wooden tables are tablecloth-less, and the napkins are in the style of dish towels, which means that dressing up is not required (though certainly not forbidden). It's not dirt-cheap, but for the quality of the food you are getting, it's a fantastic deal - the three-course menu (plus the extra salami snack and amuse-bouches) would have been 34 euros each if we hadn't ordered the specials (Mihai's "open ravioli" with morels and my special beef filet). Since it's not a large restaurant and, more importantly, since when you come to a French restaurant, it's as though you are coming to a person's home, I'd recommend making reservations before going (though you probably don't need to do it very far in advance for most days).

L'Ourcine
92 Rue Broca
75013 Paris, France (map)
+33 (0)1 47 07 13 65

Memorial Day Weekend in Cape Cod

This past weekend we drove out to Cape Cod for Memorial Day weekend and the wedding of one of my good friends from school. I fell in love with Cape Cod the first time I visited it many years ago, but it takes a while to get to if you live in New York - long story short, Mihai had never been at all and we'd never gone together before. Also, I had only visited in the peak of summer, which is great for swimming in the ponds, but means that I had no idea the peninsula is covered with lilac bushes, which is definitely one of my top five favorite flowers (if not the most favorite ever). The hardy beach roses were also in bloom and, just like the lilacs, deliciously fragrant.



We stayed at the wonderful Pleasant Bay Village Resort Motel, which is a motel in name and the convenience of parking your car outside your room only. I highly recommend it - the beautiful pictures on their site do not lie, there is a good chance you'll run into the gigantic and friendly Newfoundland called Bear if you go for breakfast there, and my only regret was forgetting to bring a swimsuit for their heated pool.

The wedding we attended was both a very tasteful and a very fun affair, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. If the food we had is any indication of what the restaurant can turn out on a regular basis, the Outer Bar and Grille at the Wequassett Resort is worth going to (especially given the view of Pleasant Bay from the restaurant). The other memorable meal of the weekend was at Vining's Bistro in Chatham - a hidden gem of a restaurant on the second floor of a shopping complex (the sign downstairs doesn't even have the full restaurant name, just "Bistro Restaurant"). Hopefully, the emptiness on Saturday night was due only to the rainy weather throughout the day, because the food (linguini with clams, tomatoes, lemon, and parsley, and a baked clay pot with fish, clams, scallops, and shrimp in a Thai coconut curry) was delicious, the service was warm and fast, and the prices were reasonable. Maybe they just need a bigger sign downstairs to alert everyone to their presence upstairs.

It did rain intermittently throughout the weekend (until we had to leave on Monday morning), but that didn't stop us from enjoying the beauty of Cape Cod - as usual, I cannot wait to go back.

Spring Weekend and Salad

This weekend our friends Adam and Lisa came to visit us from New York. Luckily, the weather was really cooperative on Saturday and allowed us to spend a lot of time outside. We went to Formaggio Kitchen to try out their Saturday BBQ, and then spent a fair amount of time walking around some scenic parts of Cambridge. That evening, we finally made it to the South End and had a tasty dinner at B & G Oysters. (I am a firm believer that the old rule of not eating oysters in months without "R" is no longer applicable.)

By Sunday night, we were in the mood for something light and had our current favorite stand-by salad:



Making this couldn't be easier - just chop up a few radishes, an english cucumber, an orange or yellow pepper, and then add some mâche, ricotta, fruity olive oil, and sea salt. What you get is a colorful, crunchy, and delicious salad - enough for a medium-light dinner for two people. Speaking of colorful - I cannot resist inserting another picture from this relaxing weekend:

Weekend Getaway to NYC

Thanks to Boston's Patriots' Day on Monday, MIT's student holiday on Tuesday, and the fact that I have no class on Fridays this semester, Mihai and I got away to NYC for the long weekend. Needless to say, the four days we had there were dedicated to seeing friends and going out to delicious meals.

We started off Friday night by going to Trestle on Tenth (with a few of Mihai's froworkers) and later Against The Grain (where Mihai had been to multiple times but I mysteriously never made it to). Saturday we split up for brunch: I went to Apiary with college roommates and Mihai went to Yuca with another Princeton friend. Saturday dinner was at The Harrison, where I had a cucumber-y tequila drink I actually enjoyed so much so that we had to ask the waitress for the kind of tequila they used (Sauza Silver). My olive-oil poached cod was delicious as well, as were everyone's entrees (lamb chop, pork chop, and calf's liver).

Sunday brunch was had at Clinton Street Baking Co, after a 2+ hour wait - we blamed the nice weather for having to wait the originally quoted time. And Sunday dinner featured Aquabites at Aquagrill, along with more fantastic seafood (truffle-encrusted cod, lobster/grapefruit/avocado salad, oysters). On Monday we stopped by WorkSmart Labs and were treated to lunch there as well, and visited Kefi's new and much expanded location for dinner. Finally, we treated ourselves to omakase sashimi lunch at Sushi Yasuda before catching the train to back to Boston.

All in all, a most fun weekend hanging out with many friends and eating many delicious meals, not to mention multiple sightings of cute golden retrievers, such as Creampuff here: