Beantown

Another great trip to Boston. I took the megabus from New York to Boston, which seems like the best deal ever, it was only $13 and only took about four hours. I'm not sure whether or not the best part of my time there was the Dead Weather concert we went to, or the pizza I ate at Figs (this was some serious pizza, possibly the best I've ever had).

Figs was opened by famed chef Todd English, after eating at this restaurant I can see why he is such a recognized chef, this guy knows his way around a pizza, that's for sure. I know I said last time I was in Boston that I wouldn't go back again without eating at The Chart House, but when I say that I couldn't go back to Boston without eating at Figs, I mean it, this pizza was ridiculously good, if there is one thing that you could eat in Boston this should be it. We ordered two pizzas, one of them we got half bianco (mozzarella, sweet onions, vine ripe tomatoes, arugula, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar; good but a little hard to eat with the arugula on top) and half crispy eggplant (tomato sauce, sliced eggplant, mozzarella, whipped ricotta and torn basil; unbelievable, a must get if your eating at Figs). The second pizza we got was half portobello (portobello mushrooms, wild mushroom puree, roasted red onions, fontina cheese and truffle oil; one of the best food items I've ever eaten, just ridiculously good) and half spicy shrimp (spicy gulf shrimp with caramelized leeks and tomato sauce; really good just not spicy, I even put some red pepper seeds on it and still didn't think there was a spiciness to it, my sister and I both thought there was almost a sweetness to it).

Other food highlights on this Boston excursion were Indian food at Punjab Palace, I'm not that familiar with Indian cuisine, but my sister's boyfriend is and this is one of his favorite Indian places to eat. I thought my meal was great, I had the lamb masala and enjoyed it thoroughly.

One of the nights we decided to stay in for dinner, my sister made portobello mushroom burgers with roasted red peppers and bread from Clear Flour Bakery, and I made some roasted vegetables (an eggplant, squash, zucchini, sweet onion and red potatoes) that we picked up at a farmers market. The meal turned out really well, my sisters sandwiches were great, and we all thought my vegetables were really good as well.

Of course we had our share of desserts as well, even with all the great bakeries and pastry shops they have in that city, my favorite dessert may just be the oreo ice cream at J.P. Licks. I don't know how they do it, but it tastes like your eating a cone full of oreos, its kind of ridiculous. It is brown in color like it would be a chocolate ice cream base, with flecks of oreo and cream throughout it, but there really isn't a chocolateness to it, it is just a pure oreo flavor. I've had my fair share of cookies and cream ice creams, and other oreo based ice creams, but this oreo ice cream from J.P Licks is so far above anything I've ever had, I love it. We also stopped at Flour Bakery, for lunch one of the days. I had a slice of Boston cream pie which was really good, apparently this bakery is know for their sticky buns, and even won a Throwdown against Bobby Flay, but I guess they sell out of them really fast, and we didn't make it in time to get to try one. Another dessert we had that was a really good concept, but not executed as well as I thought it could have been, was a cake panini we had at Finale, in Brookline. It was two pieces of cake with your choice of fillings in the middle. I had nutella, bananas and grilled pineapple. It was good but could have been a lot better, the pieces of cake we thought we grilled a little to much, so that they were kind of crunchy and not really cake like anymore. We thought the slices of cake should have been thicker and not grilled so much, so that they would have a crispiness on the outside, but still be cake like in the middle. Overall, I had five days in Boston, and ate some of the best food I've ever had, I definitely had a great time there, this time around.

As for the non-food related things I did, it was so hard, it was kind of hard to be out and walking around all day. I would take two steps and instantly be a sweaty mess (I know, I'm gross), so there wasn't much exploring, but I did have a great time hanging out with my sister's boyfriend and some of his friends, while my sister was working, and of course I had fun with my sis when she was off. The best part of this trip was definitely the Dead Weather concert we went to. They played at the House of Blues, and completely rocked. I knew Jack White was going to be awesome (which he was), but their lead singer Alison Mosshart, was what surprised me. She had such a stage presence and energy, that if you weren't in to this band you would have still enjoyed the concert, she was all over the stage, dancing and just absolutely bringing it. While I do think this is the worst of Jack White's three bands, after this concert it certainly isn't by much. I've already scene the Raconteurs, so now hopefully Jack and Meg can reunite for at least one more album, so I get the chance to see the White Stripes live (definitely the best of Jack White's bands).

Finally, Friday night we saw Inception, the new Christopher Nolan movie. I have to say it was a bit underwhelming. With all the hype it's been getting, I don't think there's been one bad review for it, I felt like it wasn't as good as I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, I did think it was good, the acting, special effects and action sequences were all superb, but just not on the same level as Memento or The Prestige. Those two movies were kind of mind-bending, "what just happened", need to watch multiple times kind of movies. Inception just didn't have nearly the depth of either of Nolan's previous movies, I would say it was just a really good summer blockbuster, nothing more nothing less.

Boston was a blast, and it's weird to think that at this time next year, my sister will be graduated and possibly not even living in Boston anymore.

Eat well, Live well