The Melting Pot: Park Plaza

A new Melting Pot restaurant will open on August 14 in the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. This will be their third Massachusetts location. I am a fan of their Burlington/Bedford location so was pleased to see they were opening a Boston location.

I had a chance the other evening to see the new restaurant. The main entrance from the street leads first to the bar area. As you can see above, the bar has a very modern look and will carry a full selection of wines, beers and liquors, including many different Martinis. The bar here though is different from their other Massachusetts locations as there are actually a few grills on the bar. Thus, you can order fondue at the bar.

Starting in the bar area, and along part of the side of the restaurant, there are a number of booths with windows facing the outside. You can dine here and people watch at the same time. You also won't feel confined in these booths either. The basic booth has like a marble top with the central grill plate. There are larger tables, with two grill plates, for larger parties. All in all, the restaurant can hold about 200 people. There is also a function room which can hold about 36 guests.

Like the other locations, this one has a Lover's Lane section, secluded booths for two that provide a more intimate ambiance. These are great for dates or special occasions when you just want to feel more private. Thus this location caters to all types of diners, from large families to intimate couples. It certainly feels like a large place with plenty of booths everywhere.

The restaurant has a hipper, more urban style than the other Massachusetts locations. Though the area around the Park Plaza has plenty of restaurants, the Melting Pot offers a unique alternative to the other cuisines available.

I had the opportunity to taste some of their food as well, and all of it was delicious and high quality. They had a new cheese fondue, a Boston Lager, that had an interesting taste, but without a strong beer flavor. Even had a couple glasses of Folie A Deux Menage a Trois Rose, a delicious, dry wine with nice strawberry flavors.

You should check out this new Melting Pot, though you better make reservations as I expect it will be busy, especially as it just opens next week.

The Melting Pot

At the Boston Park Plaza Hotel

76 Arlington Street

Boston, MA

Phone: 617-357-7007

Braai: South African Restaurant

On my last trip to New York City, I visited Xai Xai, a South African wine bar. Besides wine, they serve an assortment of appetizers. They have decided though to expand their repoirtoire and have now opened Braai, a South African restaurant. It is described as a BBQ Bar and Grill.

Though the website does not yet list their menu, they will carry items such as sosaties, peri-peri, slap chips, venison steaks, ribs and more. They should have several different types of wild game meat available, such as antelope and ostrich. The restaurant is located about 250 feet up the block from Xai Xai.

The idea for this restaurant definitely intrigues me and I may make a stop there on my next trip to New York City.

Braai
329 West 51st (Hell's Kitchen)
NY, NY
Phone: 212-315-3315

Sei Bar

While driving down Broadway in Everett, I noticed a new restaurant, Sei Bar, where Antoinetta's used to be located. Sei Bar is a Sushi, Thai and Asian restaurant so I decided to stop by for dinner one evening and give it a try. I would later find out that they have a Medford location as well.

The Everett location is small and can only fit about sixteen people. It is a casual place with an Asian decor. Their menu is fairly large and includes: Japanese appetizers, Thai appetizers, soups, salads, Japanese entrees, Thai entrees, Noodles and Rice dishes, Chef's Specials, Sushi, Sashimi and Maki rolls. You will find much that is familiar as well as a few different items too. With all the choices available, you should easily be able to find something you like.

We chose to get some appetizers, sushi and a couple of entrees, to get a feel for their food. We started our meal with some miso soup, which comes with the entrees. It was lukewarm though it was otherwise good. The Gyoza (8 for $5.50) were excellent, perfectly fried and filled with lots of tasty meat and veggies. Plus, you got more Gyoza than most other places serve. The Beef Kushiyaki (small $6) were pieces of beef with teriyaki sauce, just like they had Beef Teriyaki, taken them off the skewers and cut them into pieces. The bowl contained plenty of meat, especially for a small, and they were delicious.

The Popcorn Tuna ($7) was a more unusual dish. It contained a large bowl of fried pieces of tuna. I could not believe the amount we received for the price. And they were very good, with an interesting spicy batter and tender tuna. I was disappointed with the Shrimp Tempura ($7) though. The Shrimp could have been bigger and the batter was too heavy and thick, not the way tempura should be. The veggie tempura did contain very fresh veggies but the batter was still too heavy. For sushi, I tried some Maguro (tuna-$4.80), Unagi (eel-$5.10) and Tamago (egg omelet-$3.10). The sushi was fresh enough and tasted good though a bit smaller than some other places.

For main dishes, we tried the Chicken Pad Thai ($8.20) and General Gao's Chicken ($11.20). Both dishes were good sized and very tasty. My wife very much enjoyed the Pad Thai. The General Gao's tended toward the spicy, which I enjoy, but still with some sweetness. One of the better General Gao's I have had in some time.

Service was good, though they did bring out too many dishes at once rather than spacing them out better. As this is a new restaurant though, some allowances have to be made. Overall, many of the dishes are good-sized, reasonably priced and delicious. There were a couple less than stellar items but may be they wil improve over time. I would return again to try some of their other dishes, and maybe even their lunch specials. It is worth checking out.

Sei Bar
918 Broadway
Everett, MA
Phone: 617-381-1880

182 Main St.
Medford, MA
Phone: 781-391-4363

Stoneham Sun: Charles Street Trek

My new column of "A Passionate Foodie" can be found in the August 13 issue issue of the Stoneham Sun newspaper. This is a weekly column that concentrates on reviews of local restaurants though it may also touch on a few other food and wine topics.

The new column has been published today and will soon be available online. The new column discusses a foodie trek down Charles Street in Boston. Check out restaurants, bakeries, wine stores, markets, a chocolate shop and more. It is a great way to spend a sunny day, wandering down the street, exploring all the foodie finds.

If you have any questions or comments about my column, feel free to add them here.

Dine with passion.

The Blue Room: Restaurant Week

Boston Restaurant Week has begun! You now have the opportunity to try three-course lunches ($20.08) and dinners ($33.08) at over 170 participating restaurants. I have made several reservations at local restaurants and went to my first this past Sunday evening.

I had never been to The Blue Room but it came recommended so I decided to give it a try. Plus, their dinner menu for Restaurant Week looked enticing. The restaurant is located on a lower level within a complex of other restaurants and stores. There is patio tables outside the restaurant. Inside, it is fairly large with an open kitchen at one end and a small bar at the other end. It has a causal ambiance, a fun place to drop by after work for a drink or some appetizers. By 7pm, the restaurant was quite busy and I am not sure if that was due to restaurant week or just their usual crowd.

Their wine list is intriguing with many different options, from all over the world. They generally do not carry the usual brand wines but seem to have sought different choices. I very much liked their selection and the prices seemed fairly reasonable, with many bottles under $40. The mark-up on several wines that I knew was less than twice the retail. I chose a bottle of Monte Aribaldo Dolcetto D'Alba ($37). This was a very good wine, versatile so that it pairs well with many different types of food. It had nice fruit flavors with a touch of violet and the tannins were mild.

On their Restaurant Week menu, there were three choices for each of the courses. Prior to our food arriving, we first received a basket of fresh bread with butter. Then, we received a little amuse bouche, a dish of yellow watermelon pieces with mint and feta cheese. The watermelon was juicy and the feta was very good too. A pleasant way to begin the evening.

For the first course, I chose the Equinox Farm baby greens and roasted New Zealand lamb loin with Banyuls vinaigrette. I received five pieces of lamb, more than I expected, and they were quite meaty, tender and tasty. I think though that the vinaigrette needed to be a bit stronger as it did not quite cut through the bitterness of some of the greens. My wife has the hot & sour squid with lime & chilies. She enjoyed that dish very much and the chilies were very hot!

Next up, I chose the Veal "Marsala" with criminis & creamy polenta. The veal was covered with more of a Marsala glaze than in a dish of sauce. The veal was tender and the Marsala was very flavorful, with just a touch of sweetness. The polenta was creamy and delicious, making a nice complement to the veal. I was very pleased with this dish. My wife chose the Roasted Bay End Farm eggplant, with cous cous, yogurt, and toasted chickpeas. Though she liked it, the dish did not impress her. The eggplant, couse cous and chickpeas were all dry and the yogurt was insufficient to moisten up the dish. Also, she did not feel all the different ingredients really worked well together.

For dessert, I chose the Champagne Granita with Verill Farm strawberries and tarragon. The granita was very good, as were the fresh strawberries though the tarragon seemed out of place. My wife chose the Local peach & blueberry crisp. The crisp had a ginger topping which was quite tasty and different for this type of dessert. It worked very well in this dish. The fruit was very good though I think the blueberries overpowered much of the flavor of the peaches.

I also ordered their One Perfect Cheese ($8) and the day's selection was Ader Kase, a type of blue cheese. Though it is of German origin, it is also now made in Wisconsin. The cheese came with crackers, nuts, strawberries and I think kumquats. It was an excellent cheese, much milder than the usual blue cheese. An excellent ending to our meal.

Service was very good and the servers worked well together. Overall, this was a good dining experience though a couple of the dishes couple have been a little better. I like the fact that the restaurant tries to use many local ingredients. They also have a very good wine list. I will return here to check out their usual dinner menu.

The Blue Room
One Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA
Phone: 617-494-9034