2010: Favorite Restaurants

What were some of my favorite restaurants of the past year?

Last week, I provided a General Summary for 2010 and now I want to touch on some more specific items, including my favorites in numerous categories. This post will concentrate on my Favorite Restaurants of the past year while future posts will discuss my other food, wine, sake, and spirit favorites.  This is certainly not a complete list but it is more a sampling of memorable matters I have experienced and posted about over the past year.  All of the items here get my strongest recommendation.

Favorite Brunch, Traditional Fare: For more traditional brunch items, albeit with a French flair, then you must make the trek to AKA Bistro in Lincoln.  Homemade croissants, hearty omelettes, quiche, Croque Monsieur sandwiches and much more. Consistent quality, excellent service, and absolutely delicious food. This has been an excellent addition to the suburbs.

Brunch, Traditional Fare-Honorable Mention: Who doesn't love chicken and waffles? Tupelo, in Inman Square, began serving brunch this year and is doing very well.  My personal favorite is their fried chicken (such a cripsy and flavorful coating with moist meat) and Belgian waffles, but I always get a side of the Fried Grits too.  In addition, Tupelo is inexpensive, making this a great casual choice. 

Favorite Brunch, Non-Traditional Fare: For the second year in a row, this category is won by Myers & Chang in the South End. Their non-traditional, Dim Sum weekend brunch consists of many creative and tasty Asian small plates, for only $3-$6 each. There is something for everyone, and you won't go away hungry or unhappy.  You can even sit at the counter and watch them cook.

Favorite Donuts: The chain donut stores just cannot compete with some of the small, independent donut shops out there.  And my big find this year was Donut City in Lynn, a new shop with a wide selection of fresh, delicious donuts and baked goods. If they were any closer to me, I would be buying their donuts every day.  This tiny spot puts to shame places like Dunkin' Donuts and Honeydew Donuts.

Favorite Japanese Restaurant: Though it is pricey, you get your money's worth at Oishii in the South End. From fresh sushi (in a wide variety of choices) to creative maki, from delicate tempura to innovative entrees, you will be very satisfied with the selections.  Their sweet potato tempura is superb, as well as the largest I have ever seen!  Plus, they have a lengthy and interesting sake menu. Go to Oishii and splurge.

Favorite Chinatown Restaurant: Xiaolongbao aka Soup dumplings. Such a simple but compelling dish, pork dumplings with a savory broth that bursts into your mouth when you bite into the dumpling. One of the best versions can be found at the Gourmet Dumpling House, and as it is often busy, the secret is out.  But you must journey there for this addictive dish.  And at only $6.50 for 8 soup dumplings, they are a great value too.

Favorite Asian Buffet: Another winner for the second year in a row, the Taipei Tokyo Cafe in Woburn offers a Japanese/Chinese lunch buffet for about $10 which cannot be beat.  You'll find everything from sushi to dumplings, fried rice to scallion pancakes. They bring out small portions of each dish, which helps ensure the food stays fresh, and they continue to restock the dishes when they empty. As it remains under the radar, it is never overly crowded like some other Asian lunch buffets.  Plus, it is BYOB and they don't charge a corkage fee.

Favorite Suburban Restaurant: For the third year in a row, Bistro 5, in Medford, is my favorite suburban place. Chef Vittorio creates intriguing cuisine, with the freshest of ingredients, and the restaurant has an intriguing wine list. I always have an excellent dinner there and it gets my highest recommendation.  You don't expect a restaurant of this quality in its location, but it is well worth the short trip.

Favorite New Suburban Restaurant: I previously mentioned that AKA Bistro has one of my favorite brunches, but the rest of their food is top notch too.  Go for lunch or dinner, and find both fine French and Sashimi dishes. You must try their homemade Miso soup, and their Mussels are exceptional.  I have yet to eat anything I disliked, and they get my highest recommendation too.

Favorite North End Restaurant, High End: If you want to celebrate, then you must make reservations at Prezza, which has some of the best Italian food in the North End.  The food is hearty, extremely tasty, and very well made. I have greatly savored all of the meals I have had their this year, and look forward to many more in the future.  They also have a lengthy and interesting wine list, heavy on the Italian wines.  Plus, though their regular menu is pricey (yet well worth it), they run numerous inexpensive specials, making it affordable for almost  anyone.  Another restaurant with my highest recommendation.  

Favorite North End Restaurant, Moderate: There are plenty of options in the North End, so where should you dine? The best choices are usually off the usual tourist paths, and one such gem is Nebo, run by two sisters.  They use the best of ingredients, and serve a delicious menu of Italian specialties, including exceptional pizza. This is a place for an intimate date, or to take the entire family for a weekend feast.  Plus, they have an extensive gluten-free menu.

Favorite North End Restaurant, Fusion:  Fusion is sometimes considered a bad word, but if done well, it can excel. Chef Jose Duarte of Taranta knows the secret, having created a superb fusion of Italian and Peruvian cuisine, not two that you would normally consider working well together. Taranta's dishes seamlessly meld these two cuisines, creating wonderfully flavorful entrees. This is a innovative restaurant not to miss.  

Favorite Italian Restaurant Outside the North End: With Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette behind it, you just knew Coppa had lots of potential.  And it livesg up to that potential, providing some incredible, and very affordable, Italian food. All of the food costs $15 or less, and the menu changes frequently, depending on what is seasonal and available. You'll find some excellent snout to tail cooking here, and other intriguing items like their blood sausage pepperoni.  It is a small, intimate spot and has enhanced the already exciting culinary scene in the South End.

Favorite Italian Restaurant, Somerville: Boston is not the only place to get excellent Italian food. Pizzeria Posto, just off Davis Square, is getting better and better all the time.  With an top notch brunch, delicious pizzas and killer pasta, there is much to enjoy. Plus, it is reasonably priced, making it an even more compelling destination.  The menu changes seasonally and I have to emphasize again the superb quality of their pasta dishes. This is a restaurant that is going places.  

Favorite Suburban Steak House: Though I need to write an updated post for it, I want to give kudos to the Beacon Grille in Woburn, a high-end steakhouse which also gives all of its profits to a charitable foundation.  Their food, both at lunch and dinner, is very good, equal to the quality found at other comparable steakhouses.  And their prices are less expensive than some of the other similar restaurants. If you are in the suburbs, you definitely should check it out.

Favorite Unique Ethnic Restaurant: Nestled in a small shopping complex in Malden, you'll find Habesha, an Ethopian restaurant.  This was my first experience with Ethiopian food, and it was intriguing and delicious. Try the Minchet Aresh, made from ground beef with garlic and a berbere sauce, berbere being a mix of powdered chile pepper and spices. You don't use utensils, rather eating with injera, a type of sourdough flatbread made out of fermented teff flour. Give Habesha a try.

Favorite Fried Seafood: The North Shore has plenty of good fried seafood places, but the Clam Box in Ipswich earns my kudos.  The plates are plentiful, and the fried seafood is light and clean, without any gritty taste. Clams, scallops, lobster, shrimp, and so much more. It is a very popular place so get there early unless you don't mind waiting.  

Favorite Underappreciated Restaurant: Some excellent restaurants just don't seem to get sufficient credit or publicity. Though their high quality might be acknowledged, the restaurant name doesn't seem to come up often enough in restaurant discussions.  One such place is T.W. Food in Cambridge, an intimate spot with superb food and an excellent wine list. I have enjoyed a few top notch dinners there this year, including a recent Jura wines dinner. Yes, it is located a bit off the beaten path but it is well worth the trek.  You won't be disappointed in the least.

Favorite Desserterie: This was once again an easy choice and for the third year in a row, the award goes to Le Patissier, located in the Troquet Restaurant in Boston. Pastry Chef Sarah Woodfine is extremelty, and her souffles especially pleased me.  Unfortunately, Sarah has left Le Patissier, moving out of state, so you can no longer find her culinary delights in Boston.  If you never had her desserts, you really missed out.

Favorite Pizza: This was a tough category as I enjoyed plenty of tasty pizzas this year, at places like Pizzeria Posto and Nebo.  But the winner was Coppa with their Blue Ribbon Pizza: mozzarella, tomato, braised oxtail, bone marrow, horseradish and the addition of blood sausage pepperoni.  A unique, savory taste, it stood out amidst plenty of other competing pizzas.

Favorite Comfort Food: Though I have not stopped by their storefront yet, I have tasted and enjoyed K.O. Catering and Pies' Aussie meat pie. The ground meat within the flaky crust is spiced well, and makes for fine comfort food. I do intend to make it to their store soon, and definitely want another meat pie, as well as to try some of their other Aussie foods. 

Favorite Chicken Dish: If you dine out, roast chicken is probably not your first choice for an entree. It just often doesn't seem special enough, and many of the roast chicken dishes you find fit that description.  But, Espalier has a Roasted Apple Street Farm Chicken dish which blew me away.  The chicken was cooked perfectly, incredibly moist with a delicious, crispy skin. It was better than almost any roast chicken dish I have had at home or elsewhere, and I would certainly order it again and again.

Favorite French Fries: Most sweet potato fries are just not appealing. They are often too limp and unsatisfying.  But, Clink, at the Liberty Hotel, has perfected their sweet potato fries, which are perfectly crisp on the outside, and fluffy and flavorful inside.  Very addictive, these should be the role model for all sweet potato fries.

Favorite Wine Dinner: This was another tough category, and in the end, I couldn't make a decision so there is a tie.  First, there was a phenomenal Sherry pairing dinner at Mooo, in their wine cellar. The food was superb, from butter poached lobster to some of the best scallops I have ever tasted.  Plus, the sherry pairings all worked very well.  The type of meal you savor in your memories for years to come. Second, there was the Vietti Wine Dinner at Prezza, with the wine maker Lucca Currado.  The food was phenomenal, such as the Rabbit Saltimboca and Goat Cheese Gnocchi.  And the Vietti wines were amazing, from the Arneis to the Barolo.  Most people are lucky if they have one such special dinner each year.  I was blessed to have two.

Favorite Non-Massachusetts Restaurants: I have taken several trips this year, both domestic and international, and one of those destinations had the hands down best food overall.  The winner is Spain!  Fresh seafood, tapas, gazpacho, angulas, and much, much more. This time, most of the food was paired with sherry, which did very well with the cuisine. If I had to recommend a single vacation destination, I would choose Spain.

What were some of your favorite restaurants this year?

Habesha Restaurant: Ethiopian Cuisine

"We're talking dream date compared to my horror. It started out fine, she's a very nice person, and we're sitting and we're talking at this Ethiopian restaurant that she wanted to go to. And I was making jokes, you know like, 'Hey I didn't know that they had food in Ethiopia? This will be a quick meal. I'll order two empty plates and we can leave.' Yeah, nothing from her not even a smile."
--Bill Crystal as Harry Burns in the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally

Prior to about a week ago, my knowledge of Ethiopian cuisine was almost limited to the above joke. So when I learned of a new Ethiopian restaurant in Malden, I knew I had to check it out to expand my culinary horizons, to experience something new.

Habesha Restaurant is located in a small strip of stores on Main Street in Malden. It is a small place but still has a long bar where you can also sit. They carry a variety of wine and beers, including Ethiopian beers and honey wine. Open for lunch and dinner, they have a regular food menu as well as a number of specials each day.

Ethiopian cuisine generally consists of spicy meat and vegetable dishes, which are served atop injera, a type of sourdough flatbread made out of fermented teff flour. Teff is a gluten free grain found only in Africa. There are also different varieties of injera in Ethiopia, including nech (white), kay (red) and tikur (black). Injera has a slight sour taste and a spongy texture. Ethiopians generally do not use utensils. Instead, you eat with your right hands, using pieces of the injera to scoop up the food.

An interesting custom is the gorsha, which is considered an act of friendship. While eating with friends, you might tear off some injera, put some food in it and then put it into a friend's mouth. This is called a gorsha, and the larger the injera you feed your friend, the stronger the friendship.

I stopped by for lunch and tried one of their specials, the Minchet Aresh ($8), which is made from ground beef with garlic and a berbere sauce, berbere being a mix of powdered chile pepper and spices. They brought me a large plate, covered with a big injera, and there was a mound of the ground beef and sauce atop the injera. I also received an extra injera in a basket.

There was no silverware, but extra napkins. That was not a problem for me and I dug right into the dish. Now, the injera was a bit strange at first, being very spongy almost rubbery to the touch. Plus, it was not warm. I used a piece to scoop up some of the meat and sauce and then popped it into my mouth. It was delicious, flavorful and only mildly spicy, and the injera was fine with the meat. There was plenty of meat in the dish and I finished all of it.

Service was very good. My first experience with Ethiopian cuisine went very well and I eagerly look forward to checking out more of the menu.

Habesha Restaurant
535 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148
Phone: (781) 399-0868