When I was in college, a friend of mine had a class in the Agriculture school called Meat Science, and his textbook was a brilliant tome called The Meat We Eat. And for some reason, I couldn’t get that four-word mantra out of my head while traipsing around Dante’s recent Ball Brawl, an al fresco meatball cook-off held on the restaurant’s patio.

Boy, was there meat.

Lots and lots of meat. (more…)

When Bob’s Southern Bistro vacated its Columbus Ave. digs in 2007, I’ll admit I mourned the loss. Sure, owner Darryl Settles went on to give us the Beehive, but, having lived around the corner from the former boite, I’d miss Bob’s casual attitude—and its fried chicken.

A year later, the spot’s been resurrected as Circle Plates and Lounge, a spot featuring “fine dining at comfort-food prices,” according to owner Malcolm Aalders. And while it lacks the come-as-you-are vibe of Bob’s, owner Aalders and GM John Williams have ushered in something else: really good food for a pretty low sum.

And with that, I’m coming around. (more…)

All right. Fine. The Sox have turned in for the season, my backyard patch of basil is dead, and the wool coats have come out of hiding. We’re deep into fall already. While some of us at Chowder are still sipping rose, I’m ready to get on with it.

And that means one thing: I’m thinking turkey. (more…)

I’ve seen it on pizza. Omelettes. Chicken milanese sandwiches. Pretty much everywhere. But strangely enough, I’d never thought to jazz up my own cooking with lemon-dressed arugula. Until now.

It went something like this: Sunday night, baked halibut with macaroni and cheese. It’s one of my favorite meals to make (I’ll share the recipe as soon as I remember to actually write it down), but somehow just seemed a little blah for a balmy summer night. So while my fish baked, I squeezed the juice of one lemon into a bowl, added a tiny pinch of salt and sugar, and whisked in extra virgin olive oil to taste. The arugula went in, and voila! Lemon-dressed greens, ripe for the crunching. (more…)

About a month ago I attended a very posh prosecco tasting at the Back Bay restaurant Azure. Included in the small, lunchtime gathering were about half a dozen local wine writers and food editors, who were greeted in the exquisitely appointed private dining room with a chilled flute of Mionetto Sergio Spumante to tide us over until the arrival of our fashionably late host: The winemaker himself, Sergio Mionetto.

A little before noon, Sergio finally breezed in, his charming wife and diligent translator (Sergio studied winemaking, not English, apparently) in tow behind him. For the next three hours, we sampled prosecco after prosecco, each paired with a plate of food from the kitchen, as Sergio (via translator) waxed poetic about his vision for each sparkling star.

Yes, food journalism can be a tedious chore. It was in the middle of the very first course that I became distracted from Sergio’s fascinating tutelage. The salad in front of me, though otherwise well-executed, was underseasoned. (more…)

It’s no secret that most food writers and editors don’t rank high on the food chain, salary-wise. Consequently, we’re masters at getting the most bang for our buck, and at sniffing out mid-priced meals that prove worthy of far more dough. So when the R-word (recession) starts rolling around, we really don’t feel as much of a blow as the average restaurant-addict. (Really, how could our wallets get any thinner?)

For many, though, an economic downturn necessitates the scaling back of one’s dining budget. Perhaps you’d get your guacamole fix at Olecito instead of Ole. Order the steak frites instead of the ribeye. Learn to make your own Schlowburger. Or grill your Fleming’s dry-aged steak yourself.

Wait, what? (more…)

We’re all aware that a recession is upon us. It’s affected the real estate we buy and (can’t) sell, the gas we pump into our cars, and alas, the already overpriced food we sling into our reusable shopping bags at Whole Foods. Somehow, that weekly ritual of discreetly tossing rotted bags of lettuce and freezer-burned chicken into the community trash receptacle on my floor seems like an even bigger waste now than when I was paying a few dollars less for groceries.

Now I’m trying (the operative word being trying) a different approach to my weekend supermarket shopping. I’ll deem it the “One Meat Per Week” theory, otherwise known as the idea that you can create multiple meals using the same package of protein all week long. (more…)

I trekked to Worcester for Easter dinner with my boyfriend’s family, and as usual, everything—from the lamb kebabs to the mashed potatoes—was well worth the binge. But this time, surprisingly, it was something as simple (and healthy!) as a tossed salad that sent my culinary antennae up.

What was the insanely bright, tangy liquid adorning my greens? It tasted like Greek dressing, only much lighter. Turns out, it was as easy as this: a whirl of white balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. (more…)

By now, you’ve probably caught on to Chowder’s undying passion for all things sweet. Chocolate shop openings, cake batter ice cream, the ultimate vegan bakery treats—if it involves anything containing even a drop of vanilla extract, a dash of cocoa powder, or a dollop of whipped cream, we’re there faster than you can say “sugar rush.” And did we mention we’re pretty good in the kitchen, too?

But there is-for me at least-one confectionery road left untraveled until very recently: gooey homemade cinnamon buns, baked on a lazy late-winter Sunday morning. (more…)

When my colleague Donna Garlough revealed that she had a direct (and, ahem, illegal) line to some prime Okinawan potatoes from Hawaii, I jumped out of my chair. These, of course, are the best sweet potatoes in the world: bright purple, sweet like candy, dry and fluffy like Yukon Golds, and impossible to find in Boston markets (or so I thought—more on that later).

(more…)