Asian Gourmet

 So: last night I had a lot of studying to do and I was exhausted, cranky and you know how you get on those long days...Anyway! Being born into an Indian household the one thing my parents would never refuse is food, so I used my Indian instincts and applied them to my hankering of Asian Cusine.    As some of us know (but all of us should) America has basically butchered the Chinese Cusine by creating artificial dishes like general jaouse chicken and fried chicken fingers. I mean, c'mon! There's already enough 'McDonalds serving chicken fingers! Now the Chinese restaurants too?!? Lol...Asian Goumet though isn't like that! It serves ACTUAL Chinese food! I mean, sure, if you're in Boston then don't go. There's a China Town just around the corner!

DISHES: So of course in a Chinese restaurant you're gonna go family style. Oh and btw.. I LOVE FISH! Fish is ten times better than steak or chicken or any red meat as well as fifty times healthier! You MUST TRY the Bubbling fish. It's similar to a Szechuan  style napa cabbage fish but lighter and spicier! If you don't like fish then you can get the Bubbling Beef, which is the same thing as bubbling fish but instead of fish, it's beef (hence the name :P), and not as tasty, because the base the meat is made in goes better with white meat, which is obviously lighter.
As we know, coming to a Chinese restaurant means that we'll be full when we leave (unless we're sick, because in that case, order egg drop soup) SOOO obviously we want to be full and feel GREAT afterwards, not binge for the heck of it. So: in order to feel great at asian gourmet you need to satisfy yourself with something not too heavy, yet not too light (I seriously hope that you know what meat I'm coming to because if you don't, that's just sad...) CHICKEN! EVERYONE loves chicken (well, except vegetarians and vegans) and who doesn't love authentic Chinese food?!? One of Asian Gourmets signature dish is the three cup chicken. With a name like that, it's gotta be good. First off, the chicken comes on the bone and is made with one cup of soy sauce, one cup of cooking sherry, one cup of chicken broth, basil and ginger. Simple ingredients to start off with but when they're combined together the dish creates a whole new culinary world for my taste buds. The chicken is always tender and tastes almost minty with the combination of basil and ginger, giving the dish another layer of flavor to top off the key ingredient that differentiates the dish from any others: soy sauce. I mean, sure, "so many different Asian restaurants use soy sauce in everything! Sushi, rice, noodles, etc..." but if you analyze the simple ingredients and compare it to other restaurants, you'll see that not a lot of them have soy sauce (mainly because a lot of them aren't Asian cuisine restaurants that use sherry) but anyone can take a bottle of cheap sherry, marinate it on a piece if chicken and call it a gourmet meal, but adding soy sauce to the combination makes it unique and taste better. Lol I can't believe I could write a whole ranting paragraph about chicken...

Alright: coming back to the fish...who doesn't love fresh seafood, especially in Boston? I mean HEELLOOOOO???!? Were on the east coast for Gods sake...Anway, most of us have had crappy stuffies which are basically mouthfulls of breadcrumbs and processed clams. No. Do not eat a stuffy and say you've eaten a clam. That's like saying "oh yeah, I love French food! I eat it's toast every morning for breakfast!"...smh....YOU HAVENT EXPERIENCED REAL SEAFOOD! Okay: so for an appetizer you're gonna want a light, not-so-heavy type of dish that brings flavor, not something bland that you eat just to impress the person you're dining with (huh. Salad much)? So at Asian gourmet. Get the clams with blackbean sauce. I mean, I don't want to sound cliche or anything like that, but if I could, I would eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. So restaurants like to make up "unique" dishes that consist of ingredients that you probably wouldn't normally combine, and half the time they end up failing. Asian Gourmet combined black beans (something that I would probably eat in the Midwest) ans clams (something that I would probably eat on the coast), which created this different, unique dish. One peeve I've always had with clams and muscles mostly was the quantity of the shells to the quantity of the actual protein, but I had no problem with this restaurant. The black bean sauce went really well with the clams which actually surprised me considering they both are in different climate zones.

So: the restaurant is actually in Concord, MA but it's worth the drive for authentic Chinese food. I highly recommend this restaurant because it's casual with really great service.

La Morra

Let's get this straight: if you're visiting Boston, you have to drive a little. It's not like New York where you can hitch a cab anywhere, and that the only good restaurants are in Manhattan or Brooklyn. In Boston, there're places like Brookline or Cambridge where Boston's hidden treasures are revealed (not for locals, of course)...but...I wouldn't drive out of my way if I was visting Boston to go to La Morra...it's not bad, but it's not the best restaurant...If you're in the Brookline area, then try it and let me know how you like it (in the comments), it's just that what I ordered wasn't the best Italian food (judging by my Italian food experience in Boston, I think that I'm just going to stick to the North End).

MAIN COURSES: I played it simple and old school at La Morra: Gnocchi. Again...it wasn't bad...but it was a little bland. The Gnocchi came with ox tail and dates. Hence the description, I thought that I would get a kick out of it! Honestly, the ox tail and dates were great!  Tender, sweet and tasted great together. The dates cut out some of the gaminess of the ox tail, but the Gnocchi was...bland. I felt like I ordered ox tail and dates with a side of Gnocchi; it was that bland...On their own, the dish would be great but together...it just didn't work...

So like I said...if you're in the area then maybe try it, but don't waste your time driving all the way to Brookline and back.

Via Matta

Here is my number one rule for Italian restaurants in Boston: If you want Italian food and you're not in the North End, then DON'T EAT ITALIAN FOOD (Well, scratch that. That's my second rule about Italian restaurants.) My first one is: DON'T GO TO VIA MATTA!
Ugh, I went there one night with my parents and brother, It was horrible! For an Italian restaurant who charges for ridiculous prices, you would at least expect good food. But no. Not for Via Matta. It's pretty depressing walking in with it's green walls and empty tables... Forget about all the good comments on websites or all the good things you hear about it: it's dreadful. They have mistakes on their wine lists and their menus, their food tasted nasty and frankly, who would want to pay an arm and a leg for disgusting Italian food?

 Ugh...I wouldn't even consider these dishes. They were so unappetizing I had to leave for the restroom just to spit out my food twice. We ordered the spicy calamari with olive oil, garlic, tomato, black olives and capers. First of all, if a restaurant is in the back bay, we should at least expect fresh seafood. Second: CAPERS?!?! Capers with calamari? I eat capers with cream cheese, smoked salmon and a bagel for breakfast!
MAIN COURSES: Don't even try...So I ordered the fettuccine with short rib ragu, sweet potato (more like sweat potato) and celery. Celery. WHO PUTS CELERY IN PASTA?!? Did I order a salad? No. Did I want a salad? No. I wanted pasta! Instead I got a disgusting jungle of vines in a bowl. And the sweet potato: it was very creamy, which took away the flavor of the short rib. I had to take out the short rib and eat it separately. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't great. It had some nice flavor, but it was dry and not tender at all. Overall I would give this dish a 3.5/10.
DESSERT: The rest of the food was terrible so I didn't even bother trying dessert.

Lets put it this way: If Via Matta was the last restaurant on earth and I was starving, I would rather eat my hands. There are so many better Italian restaurants in the Boston area, especially in the North End, like Erbaluce or Mare, but NEVER go to Via Matta.

Sonsies

Sonsies is amazing! OMG! If you are in Boston and you haven't tried Sonsies...Get. Into. The. Car. Right. Now. And. Drive. To. Newbury Street. And. Get. Into. Sonsies.

It's my favorite restaurant and for all of my previous birthdays I've went there. It's really awesome for anything and it has a FUNKY THEME! Like a funky theme...not a typical "Ooh yeah it's 'funky'" but a really cool theme (I'm not lying). They have like women holding chainsaws and hammers and all sorts of tools around you. As well as that, they have enough comfortable tables. Service is great there but reservations go like this *snap!* 

Now. I know what you're thinking: So what do I order because of this diverse menu? You're supposed to tell me this considering...this is a food blog?

Yeahhh....about that...I'm not really going to tell you what to order...because...you know...I'm not that typ...haha seriously I couldn't even finish that sentence without cracking up...

APPETIZERS: I honestly cannot go to Sonsies without eating like a hog! My favorite appetizer there is the Chipotle Chicken Pizza with Jack Cheese, Salsa and sour cream. Lol I know that it sounds...kind of unusual which should make you want to try it more...but some people don't. It's sounds really heavy but it actually isn't. It's a good appetizer for someone who knows that they'll eat more (People like me :P)Ahahaha...Whenever I come to Sonsies I'll keep ordering and ordering and ordering! Haha...But seriously try that Pizza.

MAIN COURSES: Main Courses. My favoriteee...Sonsies is the only restaurant where I am never able to finish this one main course. It's a favorite, no doubt about that, but it's so...HUGE. Think about this: If a giant married Godzilla and had a kid, The kid would consider this dish big. (Well, only if Godzilla and a Giant actually tasted good...). THE MEE KROB is my life. I get teared up thinking about it...Mhmmm...it's that good. The Mee Krob is a Thai noodle dish, literally meaning "Crispy Noodle." The crispy noodles are served with spicy stir fry, chicken, shrimp and pork. Your server will probably ask if you want it hot or not, but get it hot. The spiciness brings out the flavor of the meats and really enhances the noodles. In other words, it tastes better. 

DESSERT: You knew this was coming. The one part of a meal everyone is looking forward to, and I have just the right touch: Bread Pudding. Sonsies has a great chocolate bread pudding served with home made warm cream. It is the best dessert anyone could ask for NO JOKE. You can taste all the elements of chocolate with dark, milk everything!! Ahhh my mouth is watering while I think about it :P