New York New York - It's always a good time for a day trip to New York

New York is a place where you can always have a good time. I went to New York last Saturday and had a blast. I caught the Go Bus in Alewife Station at 6:00am and then it make its scheduled stop in Newton to pick up more passengers.

We arrived in New York at about 10:00am, which basically was a 4 hour trip. My first stop was to Amy Ruth's where I had their famous chicken and waffles and boy o boy was it worth the trip. I had the waffles and also a side order of cheese grits..."Make  you wanna slap yo  mommma". They were finger licking good. I took the subway around town and caught glimpses of the different sites and personalities.

I took the train to 125th street famous for the Apollo Theatre and down the street to Lenox Ave another famous landmark Sylvia's Restaurant. Then I travelled to Union Sq.where they had vendor's selling their wares. 

Now mind you this is all on foot and up and down subway stairs and the occassional elevator carrying bags. I felt like I was on a chain gang.

Look you can take pictures on the train and they have no idea.

Our next spot was Time Square and you know it's always a hustle

DishCrawl Boston/NorthShore

I was invited by Dishcrawl to sample 4 restaurants and to blog my experience.  The following opinions are my own.  I give my honest opinion and will not sacrifice my integrity for a plate of food. Disclaimer: I received a free media pass to this event . 

I went on a Dishcrawl with 40 people in Andover, Massachusetts  hosted by Paige who is a Dishcrawl Ambassador.  The first restaurant that we sampled was Palmers Restaurant and Tavern owned by John who is also the Chef  and his wife Patricia Ingalls.   We sampled a seafood dish with oysters on the half shell, shrimp tempura and Palmer’s signature crab cake.  I found the atmosphere at Palmers'  to be very intimate, but yet inviting. The crab cake was very moist and creamy, the shrimp tempura had a light crust and it was lightly fried.  The oyster on the half shell had a mild essence that made the oyster quite delicious.

Chef John Palmer

The 2nd restaurant that we visited was Brasserie 28 where we sampled a springtime vegetable rosotto with fiddle heads and ramps with a hint of mint by Chef Matt and Alison Morello. The rosotto had a creamy texture and the springtime vegetables were crunchy, which was a nice contrast to the rosotto.



They have great entertainment on Tuesdays by Dan Sky who sings a medley of songs from Sinatra, Ray Charles and Michael Buble. 

Photo credit Dylans.blogspot.com

The 3rd restaurant was  Sam Petro's Dylan's Bar and Grill.  We had steak tips with a special dipping sauce, pork spring roll (with pulled pork) and sweet potato fries.  The sweet potato fries were very lite and not at all greasy, the pork spring roll was really delicious and the steak tips were tender and really tasty with the special dipping sauce.  The atmosphere at Dylan's was rustic and typical of a small town grill.

 

Wu's Pink Tree Sweets where we had a choice of their award winning chocolate chiffon cake or a cherries jubilee crepe. I opted for the crepe, because I couldn't get near the chiffon cake to take a picture of it or even get a taste. The crepe was filled with vanilla ice cream drizzled with a nice cherry sauce with whole cherries. Pink Tree Sweets is a place where you would go after having dinner at Palmer's, Brasserie 28 or Dylan's. Pink Tree Sweet's sell an assortment of desserts. They make wedding cakes, cupcakes and their award winning chocolate strawberry chiffon cake.



The DishCrawl was an overall engaging experience where you can meet people and get exclusive access to the chef's.  I really enjoyed every restaurant that I experienced and was quite impressed.  If you want an engaging experience dining with friends or family or just by yourself this would be the ultimate opporunity.   DishCrawl Boston

Restaurants:

Palmers Restaurant and Tavern

18 Elm Street
Andover, Ma 01810
(978) 470-1606

Brasserie 28

2 Elm Sq.
Andover, Ma 01810
(978) 470-2228

Dylan's Bar and Grill

18 Park St
Andover, MA 01810
(978) 470-1717

Pink Tree Sweets

89 Main St
Andover, MA 01810

(978) 475-2673





















25 quintessential things to do around Boston in 2013

25 quintessential things to do around Boston in 2013

Tasty Sandwich Shop, Meets Tasty Burger and Bartley's Burger

I was born and raised in  Cambridge and Harvard Sq is at my back door, so I am familiar with all of the eateries and nuances that take place in Harvard Sq.  I remember the first Tasty Sandwich Shop, which is now the Citizen's Bank in Harvard Sq.   Tasty's which was opened 24/7 with a few stools at the counter is where you could have small talk with the cook or the person sitting next to you.  I used to frequent Bartley's when my son was small, because he loved burgers, especially bacon cheese burgers.  Bartley's is an icon in Harvard Sq, because that's a place where all the students would congregate with friends and family, when they were in town and mostly all of the local or national politician's and celebrities  have a burger named after them, like THE MICHELLE OBAMA (she’s hot & spicy) blue cheese burger with cajun seasoning and french fries only at Bartley's where they could pull this off.

I had my first visit to Tasty Burger in Harvard Sq. on Saturday night where I tried the gorgonzola burger with half and half, which included french fries and onion rings.  The burger was very tasty and the service was very fast.  The fries were also delicious, but my only complaint was that the onion rings were to greasy.  I had to take a napkin and dab the rings, which saturated the whole napkin.  Tasty Burger has to remember that Cambridge is a very health conscious city, which was rated in Self Magazine  2012 as the healthiest city of the top 100  metro areas surveyed and we wouldn't want to lose that spot over an onion ring.

If you wanted a political burger and wanted to wait in line you could go to Bartley's Burger and have Mr. or Mrs. Bartley hand you a menu you like you were in the corridor of school waiting patiently in single file to go to your next class. You can also be guaranteed that during election year you can always tell what political party Mr. Bartley affiliates himself with, because he is very vocal and you can be sure it would reach the Cambridge Chronicle or the Boston Globe. I haven't been in Bartley's in years, but I always pass by and see the tourist or the students waiting to get in. You have to admit, Bartley's does have a delicious burger, but you can't get a burger under $10.00, but they do give you fries and a topping to go along with it. On the other hand at Tasty Burger you can get a combo meal with fries and a soda for under $10.00 and if you wanted to add it as a specialty burger, you would just have to add $.50, which is not bad.


Tasty Burger, does sell beer and is open from 11am until 4am for those that want a bite after long study hours or coming in from partying. Bartley's doesn't open on Sunday's and their hours of operation are from 11am - 9pm. Overall I can say that Harvard Sq. does have an array of burger joints, that you can choose from. Oh I just remembered Flat Patties on Brattle Street, also sells burgers, but I will give my critique on them on the flip side, so it's Tasty Burger vs Mr. Bartley's burger and I can honestly say, they are both winners!!

Bon Appetite!

Toscanini's Just Fluff

Toscanini's  is one of my very favorite ice cream haunts. I remember when they first opened on Main St in Cambridge, then they had the M.I.T. store, then a store in Harvard Sq and now they gave gone full circle and back to their roots on Main Street as the only store left.

As we all know Gus did have some tax problems and the great Toscannite's rallied around him and helped out. I don't think I have ever seem Gus with long pants on. Everytime I would go in the store I would say "Lord Jesus, please Gus put on some long pants", because ice cream and Gus' legs did not make for a new flavor of ice cream.

I was dreading the day when I would walk in the store and look up at the board and see some new flavor with Gus' name like Gus with a cherry on top, can you image ewwww, but you could always count on grapenut raisin , vanilla and dark chocolate No.3. You have to try their lastest and greatest "Just Fluff" made with marshmellow fluff hmm...can you just image the flavor and the texture ... to die for!

If you don't see it on the board ask for Adam he usually has a stash in the back...that's just between you and me.

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