Sweet Chili, Chacarero's, Starbucks Challenge

Before I totally forget about this, I'm posting some pictures of Boston from last week. I stayed with A in Arlington, and we caught up with another friend, R, over some (surprise surprise) Thai food near A's house. The restaurant is called Sweet Chili. I've been here before in college...

Unfortunately, the waiter misunderstood A's body language and served her the Pad Thai instead of the Drunken Noodle that she wanted. (A case in which, ironically, pointing at the item backfires on you.) It turned out that the Pad Thai was quite tasty, as I ended up discovering (I ordered it). I don't think A would've minded eating it, even if she had had it the last time she came here. We all ordered off the lunch special, which included an egg roll and a spicy triangle along with your main dish ($6.95).

Sweet Chili also sells udon and bibimbap, but common sense told me to steer clear of the non-Thai offerings. Simply put, you don't order Korean or Japanese food at a Thai restaurant - you get the well-known Thai items.

Beef.

R ordered a beef dish...the name I can't remember. In the name of adventure, she decided to try the Singha beer, which is locally produced. Singha beer is the oldest and most popular Thai beer in Thailand. It's a relatively smooth pale lager, though it doesn't really stand out in any way.

Singha beer.

I liked the glass it was poured in.

Testing the beer.

This is not an iPhone ad.

Drunken Noodles and Thai Iced Tea.

I had a picture of my scrumptious Pad Thai but it didn't come out right. All the ingredients were fresh and crispy, from the bean sprouts to the fat rice noodles. I ate it all!

Next morning (Sunday), M took D and I out to Chacarero's, located in Downtown Boston. We arrived early at 10:45 a.m. and found the windows dark and the doors locked. Luckily, a friendly chef opened it for business in 15 minutes.

"It's worth the wait," said M.

According to the restaurant's website, a chacerero is a traditional Chilean sandwich. M recommended the small Chicken & Beef Combo. For $7.50, you get a hefty amount of soft, grilled meat with your tomatoes, Muenster cheese, steamed green beans and avocado spread. It's all contained in homemade bread. I don't know why I didn't think of inventing this myself! The avocado really ties together the bulky sandwich and gives it a moist flavor. I only wished I'd tried the hot sauce! Sans hot sauce, it was rather plain and a tad bland. Satisfying nonetheless.

Chacarero's also offers empanadas, sweet oven fried potatoes (I heard those are divine) and a selection of omelets.

While in Boston, I took the Starbucks Challenge. Starbucks insists that, given a blind taste test, you won't be able to tell the difference between its regular brew and its new instant coffee.

Well....I squashed that pretty soon.

In fact, I didn't even need to taste the coffee. I just took a whiff of each one and determined which was which after all of two seconds.

And I was right.

Who's the biggest coffee addict??!

Go!Go!Curry takes over Japan

This Wired article isn't new, but apparently the enormous popularity of New York's Go!Go!Curry is taking over Japan as well. I'm so ready to jump planes right now. Ah, the taste of curry.

We Belong in Phuket

And now, for some shameless promotion...

So I don't usually use this space to advertise myself, but my friend Joe and I are entering the Ultimate Thailand Explorers competition and we'd love to have your support! Please check out our video below, and rate/comment on it at YouTube.



We both really want to travel to Phuket and explore all that the area has to offer, including but not limited to: snorkeling, windsurfing, Muay Thai, riding elephants, sampling the tangy-spicy joys of Thai street food and learning the local customs.

Let's make this happen!

Blue Velvet Sea

Photo montage taken October 4. Arlington Pond. Arlington, MA.

PC Cafe's Patbingsoo

Patbingsoo. I could eat this thing anytime, anywhere. And I mean that.

There are many ways to make patbingsoo, or Korean shaved ice with fruit. But I like PC Cafe's version best. I've scoured New York City for a dessert as refreshing as this...and have come back empty. So I was thrilled to go with T & T. We split a large patbingsoo (this one's ice cream wasn't in the shape of a heart, unfortunately).

The flavors rocked, as usual. We got a generous helping of tapioca pearls, strawberry, banana, peach, mango, kiwi and azuki red bean, along with the dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. The ice is always crushed properly and complements the rest of the ingredients, so it never feels like you're just crunching on a wad of flavored ice (cough. Cafe Zaiya).

Side note: The cafe's real name is Between Hours, but I've come to know this place as PC Cafe for (what else?) its gamer community and rows of PCs.

Pssst: Try the red bean patbingsoo version next time. Or how about some green tea ice cream? PC Cafe makes some mean boba, too.

Rating: 5 stars. I have no complaints, except to make the tower of patbingsoo bigger. Is that possible? So as to savor it all the better, of course...

Location:
Between Hours
154 Harvard Ave
Allston, MA 02134
617.782.1811
betweenhours.com

Roppongi Sushi: Slick Peeps

Mildly spicy honey glazed 15-set wings, with lettuce.

After filming our crazy [music?] video for Thailand, Tiff & Tiff graciously took me out to Roppongi Sushi for dinner. Roppongi, or Sushi, as it's more commonly called, is across the street from the Uno's off the Harvard Ave. B line T stop.

Now, I've never been a huge fan of chicken wings. I don't know if it's the heavily fried factor, the grease, or the thought of tearing into cooked birds with my bare fingers (yuck!). In any case, when my friends ordered a bunch of Korean mildly spicy wings, I didn't expect the hulking behemoth of a plateful that we got.

These wings looked like they'd been injected with super-steroids (I don't know if that's actually true). In any case, they were truly hefty. After digging through wing #2 with chopsticks, I promptly thought - to heck with decorum - tossed the stix and just used my hands.

While we were initially up for the 'spicy' wings, our waitress politely pointed out that they're "really spicy," so we took her word for it and ordered the mild wings. Which is not to say that we won't try the 'actually spicy' ones next time.

...And she was right. Something about red hot chili peppers worms its way to the back of your throat and stays there. Great for clearing sinuses!

The menu listed several other varieties of wing sauce concoctions, including spicy, sweet & sour, buffalo and honey glazed.

Little peepers would like your bones.

The wings came with a bucket decorated with little chicks. Inside the pail, written in black permanent marker, were the words: "Please put your bones in here." Followed by a profusion of hearts and a drawing of a huge bone that reminded me of my dog Nikki's biscuits. Hrm.

Colorful depictions.

Advertised on the wall: Sake bomb and fruit sorbet.

Eel and spicy white tuna rolls.

Our sushi was edible but clearly not Roppongi's specialty. Nothing about it really stood out to me. Way too much mayo in the white tuna (a 50/50 ratio is overdoing it). The presentation was better than the taste.

Hi, Tiff!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars. The staff seemed like they were lazying in la-la land behind their counter, talking amongst themselves in rapid Korean (nothing against Koreans, mind you). It's just that when I order, I don't expect to have to get out of my seat and walk over to the front just to flag down a waitress. However, the wings earned considerable points. I'd drag my butt out here for them again! I heard I should check out Privus for their Korean BonChon wings.

Click here and here for more fun articles on fried chicken.

Location:
Roppongi Sushi
1245 Commonwealth
Allston, MA 02134
617.787.2400

*Apologies for the fuzziness/darkness of the pics.

Sunrise and Sunset...and Some Beer

"Stolen Lame Beer Glass."

BOSTON - I'm back.

I was in town this past weekend to film a video with my friend for a travel contest. While there, I figured I'd catch up with as many people as possible. And treat myself to some good eats.

First up: Sunset Cantina. Back in college, Sunset was best known as the local go-to joint for Mexican fare and (what else?) beer. The restaurant has more than 112 beers on tap. They also make a pretty mean margarita.

For the love of beer.

My three buddies and I decided to sample the beer selection.

Guess which one is mine? (The one with my namesake.) I enjoyed the fruity Ipswich, though the beer itself wasn't as smooth or fizzy as I'd prefer. The infusion of blueberries lent a definitive taste to the beer. No doubt about it: Blueberries washed in a bath of beer.

I think I'll try the pumpkin beer next time. I've been in a fall kind of mood lately.

Above, from L-R: Ipswich Blueberry with real blueberries, Narrangansett Lager, Guinness, Hommel Ale.



Famished after filming, we all eagerly dug into our appetizer - a humongous batch of nachos drenched in cheese, chili, guacamole and salsa. Soooo good...



I had the Jerk Chicken Sandwich. The chicken was tender, though a mite overcooked. I wasn't expecting authentic Southern-style soul cooking, but the chicken could definitely have been more flavorful. Bring on the spices, please! Watermelon was kind of a random addition but refreshing nonetheless. No complaints on the hot, crunchy fries. After all those filling nachos, however, I ended up bagging half the sandwich.

Bruh love.

Some of us were knocked out by the...food. Our waitress, Bianca, drew a heart on our bill (heart, Bianca).

HEARTHEARTHEART.