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Four places over the 4th weekend
I hope you had a grand weekend! I got to try four restaurants over the long weekend.
Friday I went to the Rainforest Cafe in the Burlington Mall with my sister and my niece. They make you walk through a gift store to get to the restaurant. Designed like a dark jungle with low-hanging flora and fauna, it's wicked noisy with animal calls, a huge fountain and a thunderstorm every 10 minutes that make conversation impossible. The food is bland and expensive. I had a seafood chowder and a burger. The service is slow, sales-pitch filled, and inscrutable. AVOID!
Saturday my mom and I headed to the fabulous Greek Corner in North Cambridge for lunch, but they were closed for vacation! So we walked up the block to Qing Dao Garden, the Chinese restaurant. The service was strange (bordering on rude) and slow. The menu has lunch specials but they say "not on weekends." It also has small and large sizes of entrees, but "small for take-out only" they say. Ugh. Put that in writing on the menu, please. Everything I ordered, the waiter acted like he'd never heard of it. The food was okay. I had hot & sour soup, chicken low mein and an egg roll. The portions are large. I'd recommend either Greek Corner or Hana sushi instead, and there are lots of Chinese places with a better combination of service and food. Can not figure out why this place has four stars on Yelp. I will AVOID.
Sunday we motored to the Jamaica Plain section of Boston to The Haven, a Scottish bar, for brunch.
http://thehavenjp.com/menu/brunch/
It is easy to find - on the street just beyond Angell Memorial and there was street parking out front. It's a cheery two room place, with lots of fun photos of Scottish stars like Craig Ferguson, Sean Connery and Billy Connolly. Even the bathroom curtains are plaid! I suffered from the "saw something I wanted on their web menu they don't have when you get there" syndrome but that is sadly normal these days. It was mostly empty when we arrived at 11:30 am. I got to taste
- Scotch Porridge $7
A huge bowl of steel cut oat porridge with strawberries, blueberries and maple cream. Like oatmeal but with more texture and taste.
This was so delicious! I've never had porridge before but I will again!
- Scotch Egg $7
Crispy Sausage-wrapped hard boiled egg, mustard, arugula salad
This was also delicious! The sausage was flavorful and the light vinaigrette on the salad a lovely counterpoint.
- The Full Scotch $15
Two fried eggs, house smoked bacon, house made sausage, black pudding, baked beans, tattie (potato) scones, and grilled pineapple
This was good, but even though my mother is a McKenzie, I prefer the Irish breakfast at the Olde Magoon Saloon in Somerville or the Thirsty Scholar in Cambridge, both of which are under $10 and better.
- Toffee French Toast $13
Fornax brioche french toast with toffee sauce, blueberries, and maple whipped cream. The toffee sauce is the stuff.
- Deep fried Mars Bar with maple whipped cream $5
Heaven on a plate. Surprising light and chocolatey!
My beer drinking friends were impressed. And I saw ice cream flavors like Coconut curry and drambuie sorbet that tempted them as well.
On the down side, it's on the expensive side for brunch. They don't serve Bloody Marys or Coke products and seemed smug about it. They do have Iron Brew. And the service was a little haphazard, though pleasant. It was a fun adventure, great to try the Scottish favorites and new treats, but it seems made for evenings with special beers, kilts and European sports. So I don't think I need to go back. But you should try it.
Finally, we motored up Route 1 north to Peabody to try out the Sonic Drive-In.
http://www.sonicdrivein.com/menu/sections.do
I'd never been to one. It is an amazing slice of Americana, with the big canopy to drive into, the car-side menu and waiters on skates! They have an incredible array of burgers, chicken, dogs, sides, drinks, shakes, malts, and desserts, many of which I've never seen before or eaten in other parts of the country (like a Chicago dog) that you can't get here. You can get healthy choices like apple slices and chicken wraps. They also serve breakfast. I got to try
- Footlong Coney hot dog with chili, cheese and onions
- NY style dogs with sauerkraut, grilled onions and mustard
- Chili cheese tater tots
- Cherry lime ricky
- Sonic snickers Blast (soft vanilla ice cream with Snickers bits smooshed in)
- Bacon cheeseburger
- Onion rings
I saw the banana split, root beer float, and oreo blast.
Portions are big. For cheap. And super-tasty. The service was wonderful in a cheery, earnest way.
If you don't want to eat in your car, they have picnic tables. They are open 24 hours, but there is no drive-in service after 9 pm, just the drive-thru.
I loved this place. I will dream about certain things I ate. And go back any time the traffic isn't too fierce. It was an easy drive on a Sunday evening of a long weekend, less than 20 minutes from Somerville, which likely is not true much of the time. They're building one in Wellington Circle. Heaven help us.
Friday I went to the Rainforest Cafe in the Burlington Mall with my sister and my niece. They make you walk through a gift store to get to the restaurant. Designed like a dark jungle with low-hanging flora and fauna, it's wicked noisy with animal calls, a huge fountain and a thunderstorm every 10 minutes that make conversation impossible. The food is bland and expensive. I had a seafood chowder and a burger. The service is slow, sales-pitch filled, and inscrutable. AVOID!
Saturday my mom and I headed to the fabulous Greek Corner in North Cambridge for lunch, but they were closed for vacation! So we walked up the block to Qing Dao Garden, the Chinese restaurant. The service was strange (bordering on rude) and slow. The menu has lunch specials but they say "not on weekends." It also has small and large sizes of entrees, but "small for take-out only" they say. Ugh. Put that in writing on the menu, please. Everything I ordered, the waiter acted like he'd never heard of it. The food was okay. I had hot & sour soup, chicken low mein and an egg roll. The portions are large. I'd recommend either Greek Corner or Hana sushi instead, and there are lots of Chinese places with a better combination of service and food. Can not figure out why this place has four stars on Yelp. I will AVOID.
Sunday we motored to the Jamaica Plain section of Boston to The Haven, a Scottish bar, for brunch.
http://thehavenjp.com/menu/brunch/
It is easy to find - on the street just beyond Angell Memorial and there was street parking out front. It's a cheery two room place, with lots of fun photos of Scottish stars like Craig Ferguson, Sean Connery and Billy Connolly. Even the bathroom curtains are plaid! I suffered from the "saw something I wanted on their web menu they don't have when you get there" syndrome but that is sadly normal these days. It was mostly empty when we arrived at 11:30 am. I got to taste
- Scotch Porridge $7
A huge bowl of steel cut oat porridge with strawberries, blueberries and maple cream. Like oatmeal but with more texture and taste.
This was so delicious! I've never had porridge before but I will again!
- Scotch Egg $7
Crispy Sausage-wrapped hard boiled egg, mustard, arugula salad
This was also delicious! The sausage was flavorful and the light vinaigrette on the salad a lovely counterpoint.
- The Full Scotch $15
Two fried eggs, house smoked bacon, house made sausage, black pudding, baked beans, tattie (potato) scones, and grilled pineapple
This was good, but even though my mother is a McKenzie, I prefer the Irish breakfast at the Olde Magoon Saloon in Somerville or the Thirsty Scholar in Cambridge, both of which are under $10 and better.
- Toffee French Toast $13
Fornax brioche french toast with toffee sauce, blueberries, and maple whipped cream. The toffee sauce is the stuff.
- Deep fried Mars Bar with maple whipped cream $5
Heaven on a plate. Surprising light and chocolatey!
My beer drinking friends were impressed. And I saw ice cream flavors like Coconut curry and drambuie sorbet that tempted them as well.
On the down side, it's on the expensive side for brunch. They don't serve Bloody Marys or Coke products and seemed smug about it. They do have Iron Brew. And the service was a little haphazard, though pleasant. It was a fun adventure, great to try the Scottish favorites and new treats, but it seems made for evenings with special beers, kilts and European sports. So I don't think I need to go back. But you should try it.
Finally, we motored up Route 1 north to Peabody to try out the Sonic Drive-In.
http://www.sonicdrivein.com/menu/sections.do
I'd never been to one. It is an amazing slice of Americana, with the big canopy to drive into, the car-side menu and waiters on skates! They have an incredible array of burgers, chicken, dogs, sides, drinks, shakes, malts, and desserts, many of which I've never seen before or eaten in other parts of the country (like a Chicago dog) that you can't get here. You can get healthy choices like apple slices and chicken wraps. They also serve breakfast. I got to try
- Footlong Coney hot dog with chili, cheese and onions
- NY style dogs with sauerkraut, grilled onions and mustard
- Chili cheese tater tots
- Cherry lime ricky
- Sonic snickers Blast (soft vanilla ice cream with Snickers bits smooshed in)
- Bacon cheeseburger
- Onion rings
I saw the banana split, root beer float, and oreo blast.
Portions are big. For cheap. And super-tasty. The service was wonderful in a cheery, earnest way.
If you don't want to eat in your car, they have picnic tables. They are open 24 hours, but there is no drive-in service after 9 pm, just the drive-thru.
I loved this place. I will dream about certain things I ate. And go back any time the traffic isn't too fierce. It was an easy drive on a Sunday evening of a long weekend, less than 20 minutes from Somerville, which likely is not true much of the time. They're building one in Wellington Circle. Heaven help us.
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