Stoneham Summer Festival

Starting today, and extending through July 21, the Stoneham Summer Festival is being held at the Redstone shopping center. Fiesta Shows is hosting this event and you can find coupons online. This carnival will have various rides and games.

I will likely stop by the carnival but not for the rides or games. I will be seeking out food, especially candied applies. All the usual carnival foods should be available, from fried dough to cotton candy, from sno-cones to corndogs. But my favorite are the red candied apples, covered with shredded coconut. I like the hard candy shell better than the soft caramel covered apples. They are a guilty pleasure that I have only rarely as they are not easy to find any longer.

So, what about you? Going to the carnival for any guilty pleasures?

The Danish Pastry House: Part 2

The Brioche Braid. Soft, flaky and buttery pastry covered with sweet cinnamon and almond slivers. $2 for this large pastry. Very delicious and even better when heated. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to visit the Danish Pastry House in Medford.

They have a cafe and bakery at their Medford location. They sell salads ($5.25-$5.50), sandwiches ($5-$6), soups ($3-$6), paninis ($6.75) and crepes ($5.50-$8.50). I find tried to get a crepe but they stated it was not the day for crepes. They must have certain staff who make the crepes and it is not every day. I settled on a Prosciutto Passion sandwich ($6) which contained prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, basil, extra virgin olive oil and oregano. It was on a fresh, soft sub roll. I thought it was a very good sandwich. I also had a ham & cheese croissant and they heated it for me, though they left it in the oven a bit too long and it was slightly burnt. It still tasted very good. My mother ordered a Glorified Grilled Cheese Panini which contained Granny Smith apples, Vermont Cheddar and Caramelized Onions. She enjoyed her sandwich very much.

There is a diversity of lunch choices and prices are reasonable. The freshness of their ingredients is quite evident.

They also have many different drinks available, including various coffees and teas. They have fresh brewed iced tea which was very good and their hot green tea was excellent as well.

Besides the lunch entrees, they have tons of baked goods and pastries, as well as ice cream. The ice cream can be topped with maybe two dozen different candies, nuts and foods. My nephew enjoyed a dish of cookie dough ice cream topped with rainbow jimmies, M&Ms and bubble gum.

The baked goods looked quite enticing. We have a couple of warm Brioche Braids while we were there and then bought some pastries to take home. It appears that they did not have all of their pastries in stock as I did not see any of the cookies I had seen at the South End Market. I also did not see some of the items listed on their menu. They do carry various breads and bagels though there were few available when I was there. Besides the individual pastries, they do have larger cakes, cheesecakes, tortes and pies. All of them are visually appealing and certainly would impress guests if you served them.

Pastry prices start at about $1.75. This seems in line with the higher end bakeries. Generally, with the large size of many of the pastries, prices are reasonable. For example, the Brioche Braid is a good buy. A couple of the pastries though seem a bit pricey. There was a peach almond cake slice that cost $3.75 which seemed high as it was not really large. Though it did look tasty.

I definitely will return here to try more of their foods and baked goods. It is a good place to grab lunch. Stop by and give it a try.

Danish Pastry House
330 Boston Ave.
Medford, MA
Phone: (781) 396-8999

Dining In a Rut

Has your dining out become a rut? Do you go to the same restaurants all of the time? Do you get the same dish everytime you go to a restaurant?

If so, break out of your rut and try something new!

Try going out to a new restaurant. Try a different dish. Do something different and take a risk. You never know what treasures you might find. You might stumble upon a new favorite restaurant or dish. You might find a new culinary pleasure. But you won't do so unless you take that risk.

Sure, you might find a dud as well. You might go to a new restaurant that you dislike, or try a new dish that is horrible. But that is part of the risk.

You can lessen that risk to some degree though. You can check reviews on new restaurants or dishes. You can speak to friends that have already eaten there. But, I think the risk is worth the potential bad meal you might get. For the immense pleasure you get when you find a culinary gem is well worth it.

I love trying new restaurants and new dishes. And the number of successes I have had far outweigh the disappointments. I have found so many new pleasures from trying different dishes. Just think past weekend, I tried a new bakery, the Danish Pastry House, and a new restaurant, Toro. And both were absolute successes.

With summer here, people travel a lot. You may end up in cities and towns where you don't know the restaurants. Or you may only know a couple. Well, take a chance. Try something new! Even if you don't go anywhere, try a new local restaurant. Break out of your rut.

L'Andana

A new Italian restaurant, L'Andana, should be opening this September in Burlington.

Famed Chef Jamie Mammano created the Commonwealth Restaurant Group which owns a number of exciting restaurants, including Mistral (French/Mediterranean bistro), Teatro (casual Italian bistro), Sorellina (regional Italian-Mediterranean cuisine), and The Federalist (fine French-American cuisine). L'Andana will be his fifth restaurant and is said to be an Italian country grill, possibly a higher end dining destination. Chef David Blessing, who has cooked at Mistral and Sorellina, will be the chef de cuisine at L'Andana.

As Chef Mammano's restaurants are both popular and well reviewed, it bodes well for L'Andana.

Customer Appreciation Day--Grapevine Travelers

Grapevine Travelers won the 2007 WBZ A-List "Best Wine Shop of Boston." As their thanks to old and new customers alike, the store is inviting everyone to their "Customer Appreciation Day" on Sunday, July 29, from 12pm-6:00pm. Everyone will receive 10% OFF their entire purchase of wine and beer, with a $20 minimum purchase. This cannot be combined with any other sale or promotion item.

This would be a good time to check out this wine store and maybe find something new. They do have an excellent selection of wines from all over the world.

Grapevine Travelers
18 High Street
Medford, MA
Phone: (781) 396-8463