Not so much...

I have found all of the world's missing scrunchies - yes, yes I have. They are all in the South End of Boston, being used by all the employees of Lan's Nails (Tremont). I haven't seen a scrunchie in, like, 5 years, let alone EIGHT scrunchies on relatively normal people.

The only person NOT wearing a scrunchie at Lan's Nails was the male cashier...did I miss something? Is it now cool to wear scrunchies? Watching the National Gymnastic trials this weekend, most of those girls wore leotard-matching scrunchies, too, and they're all under 18...shouldn't they be cooler than this?

What gives? Where do you even go GET a scrunchie? Please tell me, because they need to go the way of the Dodo.

SoWa Open Market

Was in NYC this weekend and all the sidewalk merchants and vendors made me excited for the SoWa Open Market...even though I'm not a huge buyer of homemade goods, I still like perusing and especially the fresh produce. I still have dreams about these HUGE donut size blueberries. Amazing. Anyway, details below, start saving cash:
SoWa Open Market
5/17-5/18 Opening weekend
10am-4pm, every weekend (except holidays)
540 Harrison Avenue

See you there!

B&G + me = A+ lunch

Not that you needed that weird equation, but go with it...It's Restaurant week and honestly, I've only gone out once all week...it's just been another nutty week and [insert adjective here: cold/rainy/windy/busy]. I went with a good friend/colleague to a Friday treat lunch at B&G.

The place was packed, first of all, with patrons all along the open kitchen bar seats and at every table. It was great for us, though, because we were seated right in the thick of it all, in the center of the bar. No later than 2 minutes after presenting us with menus had we decided our order. For me, the lobster bisque followed by the salmon croquettes. M had shrimp bruschetta followed by ocean perch.

The lobster bisque was super rich - cream, sherry, butter and all their friends came to play in that soup. In the center was an unnamed fried mashed potato thing...but my favorite part was the celery leaf garnish. Added such a taste of spring to this soup and cut the richness. M's bruschetta was great - it was white beans, arugula, and two huge shrimp on a crusty baguette.

For the second course, my salmon croquettes came over a pea puree (another sign of spring) and a watercress salad. I think overall the dish was nice, but would have been great with an acid or a sprinkle of salt. M had the pan seared perch over a fennel, radish, olive salad...quite delicious, too.

We both splurged on dessert with a salted caramel gelato and a tuile - luscious. I want it everyday. Overall, the experience was great, I think M ordered better though. Food for thought!

Raging Bull

Honestly, I LOVE Toro - I just do. I don't care who owns it, or how hard it is to get a table, or what order my food comes (as long as it comes), I just genuinely enjoy the place.

Recently, we went for a light dinner. We weren't starved, but wanted something good in a cozy place - it's perfect for that. The wait was about 45 minutes, so we grabbed some wine and loitered at the bar. About 20 minutes later, the host asked if we'd like to sit at the communal table. In the middle. Across from each other.

Alright, we were fine with that. Just settled up at the bar and squeezed our way in. Time passes...no server. It's busy, whatev, sip your wine. More time passes...no server. I flag the host and he is apologetic (sorta) and brings a woman over who immediately says "I'm not your server, but I can start on some tapas for you..." Fine, I tell her the order....ask for water...STILL NO SIGN OF OUR SERVER. I'm like "am I crazy for thinking she should come over here?" We start getting tapas, they lose one in the shuffle, have to flag her for more water and wine, I leave her a sh*t tip (15%).


Bottom line - will continue to go for the food. (period)

Any other experiences like that? I feel like I'm not alone...this is Toro Lovers Anonymous.

Union Reunion

It's been a while since we ended up at Union Bar and Grille on Washington Street, so we went last night for C's 28th birthday. We have always liked it there - from the beginning of our relationship (and their opening). On a side note, pretty much every single time I've been there, I've been sick...what gives?

Anyway, we sat down and nearly immediatly had their a-MA-zing cornbread. I would forgo an appetizer because of that corn bread. No, seriously...but I didn't. We decided to share the tuna tartar to start, which they nicely split for us on two petite plates. The tuna was quite different with tastes like smoked salt and a spicy lemon juice. There was minced ginger and garlic and chives, oh my. Topped with (very cute) fingerling potato chips. I honestly was not a huge fan and I absolutely love tuna tartar. Maybe it was the lemon-y ness that threw me off (who has ever heard of spicy lemon?) but it wasn't my favorite.

Our next course arrived before our silverware did (more on that to come) but they were worth the wait. We both enjoyed our entrees - I had the roast lamb and C had the smoked duck breast. There were 4 lamb ribs served with a Jerusalem artichoke and potato gratin, wilted kale, and a mission fig jus. Lovely - I found there was quite a bit extra jus for my taste, though I enjoyed it. C's meal was much different - smoky duck, topped with smoked salt, over an apple chutney and what I've dubbed "spinach and semolina not-so-gnocchi" cakes. He liked it and to me his duck looked perfectly cooked and very nicely presented. The "not-so-gnocchi" cakes were different, albeit misleading, but I'm not sure why they are the way they are...creative differences I guess!

We rounded out the evening with a warm apple crisp with fresh cream and caramel, a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on the side. Simple, sweet, good.

Our service was good, mostly. Our food runner cleared all of our app plates and silverware except my knife. Which was used. By me. She also left if in the place of my fork...another odd point. That didn't totally bother me except that she never came back with NEW forks and knives...so, she then held our food for a minute while someone else had to come and mise-en-place us. It was interesting.

Our water was always full, though no one poured our wine for us. Could be "new american" in service, but I like someone to be attentive to an empty glass.

And, an annoying part for me was there was no candle for C. I get it, he's 28, he doesn't necessitate a candle. He's not whining or stomping his feet on the floor, he orders a "big boy meal", but why did the woman offer one on the phone when I made the reservation? I mean, don't giveth if thou will taketh away! Or forget! Just one of those things that annoys me and should be such a simple, nice gesture but is so often overlooked.

I don't want this review to end on a negative note, so I will tell you that I will go back to Union. I might wait until I am not sick though...if that is even possible!