Quality Ingredients Make a Quality Lunch

Since I rarely order lunch it always seems like a big occasion when I buy it. Lately I’ve just been working non-stop and the week prior to my event I didn’t have the energy to grocery shop, pack lunch, or make anything.
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When my office moved I knew I’d miss my favorite Thai and favorite Indian restaurants but that’s about all that prior location had going for it. Now, there’s a plethora of options!As an avid watcher of Phantom Gourmet I’d seen Al’s State Street Cafe featured on there. They feature a $6.25 special for small sub, chips, and a soda.
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I got the State Street Cafe Special with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and prosciutto with balsamic vinegar on warm fresh bread.

These quality and fresh ingredients made this sandwich delectable. The bread was warm and soft. The experience is half of the fascination. They work the line and keep. it. moving.
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Stop by, but don’t linger at the menu board or it’ll be a no-sandwich-for-you situation.

I’m off to Florida for a long weekend, wedding, and hopefully some Chick-fil-A. Stay tuned!

A1 Gets an A+

A1 Diner
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Mr. J and I LOVE diners and it was always surprising to me that we hadn’t been to the famous A1 Diner in his hometown in Maine! Their website calls themselves “Maine’s Most Unique Restaurant”. I recently went to “Boston’s Friendliest Pub” so this amused me greatly.

During a quick visit a few weeks ago we stopped in right at the cusp of breakfast and lunch. We decided on breakfast and I loved every minute of it.
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I got an Orange Poppyseed Waffle. It was amazing. I never see orange and poppy seed as a combo but it was great! I liked the fluffyness of the waffle and the citrus flavor. It was a good deviation from my usual bfast choices since I tend to go savory rather than sweet.
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Mr. J got an egg, bacon, toast, combo which is his standard. Use your imagination since I deemed it not quite picture worthy, much to his dismay.

Mrs. C got an Orange Pecan or Orange Walnut waffle and real maple syrup. I forget which nut but how cool to put nuts in there?!
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They had some interesting dinner meals/specials that make me want to go back. I’m sure the grilled sandwiches and burgers are only as diners can make them.
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Their website has some recipes so maybe I’ll have to whip one of those up sometime. I’d like the Hungarian Mushroom Soup, but I don’t have tons of mushroom eaters in my life. Or crabcakes, or pistachio lime salad, or lemon sauce for dessert.

Just as The Terminator would say: I’ll be back.

My Anthem

Anthem Kitchen and BarAfter work I had plans to meet up with my friend Miss L for a drink and a bite at Anthem. I tried SO hard to get there ontime (seeing how I work practically next door). I was about 5 minutes late.
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We sat at the bar and soaked in the ambiance while sipping our beers. I loved finding and trying out this new spot.

I had my eye on a few different appetizers. I ended up settling on a flatbread with prosciutto, poached figs, tomato slices, and arugula. I loved it. The figs made it feel really special and I love arugula on pizza so I was sold. The prosciutto was dropped on after it was grilled, keeping it soft and salty!
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Miss L went with the award winning chowder. Anthem won chowderfest 2010! She also got a roasted beet salad with goat cheese.
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I was throughly impressed with the menu. “Twist on American cuisine” is something I see and hear all the time but there were fish tacos, cuban sliders, mac and cheese, and roasted chicken. It sounds eclectic but it works! Everything goes!

I think the prices were right on target. My flatbread was $13 and that seemed appropriate.

I should have peeked upstairs since we sat at the bar but I loved it and I know I’ll go back again.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable Easter! I’ll be coming up with an appetizer and reporting back!

Yak & Yeti: I probably couldn’t correctly identify either one

My favorite eaters of Indian food no longer work with me so I’m left on my own for Indian food since Mr. J doesn’t go for it. The one perk of working in Central Square Cambridge used to be all the Indian restaurants! I miss running to the buffet or smelling all their delicious dishes when somebody else got it. I’ll have to work that out…This post is super delayed so let’s start with some background, shall we? It was a FRIGID day for a work event outside. I wore the hood of my sweatshirt tied under my chin like a 3-year-old all day with lots of layers, and mittens. That’s right, from 7:30 AM until I got home around 3:30 PM I was cold. Layered and layered, but cold.

I was tired and it’s safe to say I was grumpy when I got home since I didn’t have lunch either. I tried to be a grown up and held off dinner until a early-bird special time of 5 PM instead of 3:30.

I ordered from Yak & Yeti around the corner from me and hoped for the best. With a name like that how could it not brighten my spirits?! (It sure did).
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Their menu can take a while to poke through with both Indian and Nepali sections. I got Chicken Palak for $11.95. It came with Basmati rice and chutney. I also ordered garlic naan and was SO glad I did! I had plenty for 2 meals.

The Chicken Palak is cooked in chopped spinach and curry sauce. It was so good. I liked the spice and the spinach without any flavor overpowering another. The garlic Naan was amazing. There was a ton of garlic and it was lightly cooked leaving the garlic with that zing it gets before it mellows when roasting.
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I’m not sure what the crispy and spicey one was that came with the meal. I was shocked how spicy it was…like a less eggy dosa. 5 points to anyone who can tell me what it’s called.  The chutney was ehhh. Ok, nothing remarkable. I thought there was a bit too much onion. I really love mint chutney.
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I’ll definitely go back and I’m glad to have it around the corner from home. Next time I’ll have to try Nepali cuisine. I am interested in some of the fish curries too! I read some yelp reviews about the spice level but I’m game as long as I have some naan to sink into and forget my chills of the day.

Guest Blog: Summer Winter

Since I’m in Houston this week, I’d like to introduce the first ever GUEST BLOG POST for The Three Bite Rule!Miss Liz writes:

To celebrate my friend’s brithday we decided it would be fun to go out to a new restaurant and one that was a bit fancier for the occasion. Because we are not city people, we choose Summer Winter in Burlington, MA. We liked the idea that they used local products and even had their own on site green house.  We had a full view of the green house from our table which was fun!

So how was our night? Fun, but the meal was overall rather bland.

I started with a Bibb lettuce salad with almonds and manchego cheese topped with tomato cumin vinaigrette. This was actually quite good all thanks to the vinaigrette which was the right amount of tangy and creamy.

My friend, Mrs E had the “Summer Winter Salad” with greens from the green house, local apple, Belgian endive, and cider vinaigrette, which she liked.
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Her husband, Mr. C opted for the split pea soup, but he though Mrs. E makes a better soup.
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For our main course, Mrs. E went with one of the specials. She had an Asian chicken dish which was the best dinner of the three. She got 5 pieces of fried chicken, fried rice and broccoli and a soy sauce dressing.
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Mr. C had the 16oz bone in rib eye with mash potatoes. Now, this part was fun: for each “grilled main” dish, you get to pick your our sauce! They have 6 choices, but our server recommended Mom’s sauce which is a balsamic base. Mr. C liked the meal, but didn’t think it was anything special.
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I felt the same way about my dinner. Everything was cooked ok, just nothing great. I had the roasted half chicken with lemon garlic and rosemary and for my starch I choose Mom’s corn custard.
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Well, it turns our the corn custard is really code for corn bread. This was also bland and I added some salt to give it a bit more flavor. I was actually really disappointed with the chicken. The skin was not crispy…it was basically limp and I decided to removed it.

That left me with very plan chicken, since all of the flavoring had gone with the chicken skin. So thank goodness for Mom’s sauce to rescue my bland meal.

Now, because this was a birthday dinner we all had dessert. The birthday girl opted for the chocolate caramel tart with chocolate marshmallow ice cream. She thought the tart was too rich and was only able to eat a few bites.
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I had the warm sticky toffee pudding. It was good, but not what I thought it would be. It was expecting something gooey. It was more of a toffee muffin with caramel sauce, but the best dessert of the night, so the three of us ended up splitting it since it was also better than Mr. C’s pineapple upside down cake.
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Would I go back to Summer Winter? No. But I had a great night because it was fun to celebrate a friends birthday and we all dressed up for the dinner which made it more special.Each meal with starter and dessert probably ran around $50 which was why we tried Summer Winter on a special occasion. A few other groups in the restaurant seemed to be doing the same thing.

Special thanks for the guest blog post. If YOU would like to be a guest blogger, email emily@thethreebiterule.com!