American

When I was younger, I wasn’t really much of a barbecue fan.  Then I tried Bison County in Waltham, MA several years ago and I became a convert.

After a long absence, my husband and I made a return visit to Bison County this weekend with eager appetites.  The menu appeared to have changed (and prices increased) a bit since our last visit, but I was glad to see that they still provide a mini-loaf of sweet corn bread served up with a side of honey butter before the meal.  In addition, they still offer a fairly extensive list of draft beers, including several local offerings.  I ordered a Black and Blue (Guinness and Blue Moon Belgian White Ale) – it was more black than blue, but very good.

The atmosphere in Bison County is average.  The restaurant is loud at peak times and the decor is simple but comfortable.  The walls are embellished with large vintage-style tin signs except for the back area which contains an open grill.  The restaurant is about equally split between a bar area with several TVs, and a dining area.

For dinner, I ordered the gluttonous Wagon Train which includes turkey tips, bison tips, steak tips, and two sides.  I opted for sides of garlic mashed potatoes and sweet potato fries.  For someone who finds meat filling, like myself, this meal was an incredibly generous serving size – enough for two or three servings. 

The meats were inconsistently cooked.  The turkey tips were perfectly cooked and quite tender with a nice, if subtle, bbq flavor.  The bison was somewhat tender with no bbq flavor.  It was not as flavorful or as tender as on previous visits.  The steak tips were incredibly disappointing.  The inside was cooked to medium-rare as requested, but the outsides were charred and the meat was incredibly chewy.  I asked my husband to try the steak tips to compare – he likes his meat cooked medium to medium well – and he also found the meat to be dry and chewy, and, overall, disappointing.  The garlic mashed potatoes were very garlicky but had a nice consistency.  The sweet potato fries were perfect – crisp on the outside and full of soft sweet potato inside.

My husband ordered BBQ Smoked Brisket which the menu described as being lean meat, however we both found it to be very fatty, if flavorful.  My husband had sides of cucumber salad and cole slaw.  The cole slaw was very good - crunchy cabbage in creamy mayonnaise with nice seasoning.

The value of the meal was average – about $38 before tip.  All in all, Bison County offers decent bbq, but quality appears to have declined somewhat since previous visits, while the prices have increased.  I’m on the hunt for a more perfect bbq meal in Massachusetts!

Opposites often attract and work well together, as evidenced by Grafton Street, a marriage of bar food and fine dining in an upscale pub environment.  My husband and I ate there for the first time on Saturday night to celebrate some personal milestones.

Grafton Street has clearly found success in Harvard Square; we made reservations nearly a week before and time slots were already limited.  We arrived to find a bustling, trendy restaurant and bar within walking distance from the Harvard T stop (on the red line).  The crowd in Grafton Street was an eclectic mix ranging from young couples on early dates to groups of middle-aged friends catching up.  I enjoyed the atmosphere, although the proximity of the bar to the restaurant area was a little distracting, mostly because of the TVs.

Given that we were celebrating, there were no-holds barred in ordering up several courses of food, and, of course, fun cocktails to wash the food down with.  Grafton Street has a nice list of beers on draft,  a decent wine list, and several unique cocktails.  I ordered a drink that I now unfortunatly forget the name of (and cocktails aren’t listed on the website); I can say that it was a mix of sparkling wine, fresh raspberries and some other fun libations.  It was served in a small champagne flute, but other than the portion being smaller than hoped for, it was good.  It was less sweet than expected - actually pleasingly tart.  My husband ordered a sangria which had nice, complex flavors of fruit and wine.

We started our meal with Roasted Pear Salad and One Magnificent Cheese.  The Roasted Pear Salad had an excellent dressing and the pears were cooked to perfection.  The generous slice of Great Hill Blue Cheese didn’t hurt, either.  One Magnificent Cheese was as advertised – magnificent!  It was a large wedge of Lamb Chopper sheeps’ milk cheese served with honey, candied walnuts, and grilled bread.  The cheese was slightly dry to bite the way that a good parmesan is, but was much creamier in the mouth with a slightly sharp consistency that paired perfectly with the sweet honey and nuts.  (Can you tell that I love a good cheese?)  My cheese reverie was interrupted by our dinner entrees arriving earlier than anticipated, leading us to feel a bit rushed.

For the main course, I had Pan-Roasted Duck Breast which was cooked in a pomegranate reduction and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.  On the side was a sweet-potato and confit hash mixed with spinach (I had expected the spinach to be a separate side from the hash, but it worked together).   My entree included three perfectly cooked medium-rare slices of tender duck breast, and one leg (another surprise).  The duck had the perfect amount of fat to flavor it but it wasn’t overly fatty and it had a wonderful flavor.  The pomegranate seeds added a nice texture that popped in the mouth.  The sweet potato-spinach hash was alright but not evenly seasoned – some bites were very salty, and some lacked seasoning altogether.  I also split a side of mushroom risotto (it was a gluttonous meal) with my husband and it had the same inconsistent seasoning – some bites of the risotto were offensively salty and altogether it wasn’t a very good side dish.  The risotto wasn’t creamy or soft enough and it was overwhelmed by a very heavy gravy-like sauce. 

My husband was perhaps smarter than me on this evening and ordered a lighter meal of a Cuban sandwich with fries.  The fries were downright disappointing – not crisp enough on the outside, and rather mealy on the inside.  My husband liked his Cuban but found the aioli was not spread evenly leading him to feel like each segment of his sandwich was of a different variety.  The mustard-seed aioli and pickles alternatingly overwhelmed the rest of the sandwich to me, but I’m not a Cuban aficionado like my husband (who would have preferred less of the spicy aioli). 

This meal would not have been complete to me without dessert.  We split the flourless chocolate cake.  The menu stated that it was served with coffee ice cream and a coffee-white chocolate chip cookie, but our cake came – without warning – with mint chip ice cream and a cookie that was more like a shortbread sandwich with chocolate filling.  All three elements were delicious, but they did not complement one another.  The mint was too sweet to pair with the cake and the shortbread just introduced a buttery element that didn’t work.  However, the cake was wonderful, it was rich like a typical flourless chocolate cake but slightly less dense and creamier.  I really enjoyed the soft texture and dark chocolate flavor.

Service was good and our meal came to approximately $100 after tax and tip.  While Grafton Street fell short on a few items, I would definitely make a return trip to this Harvard Square establishment.  Next time, I look forward to trying the pub fare with a good draft beer.

There’s a list of chain restaurants that I avoid…I want to like them because of their convenience and affordability, but after food poisoining from one, hair in my food at another, and general disappointment at many,  I created a mental list of “chain restaurants to avoid.”  Chili’s Grill and Bar was on this list for awhile – not for any great offense, simply because I often left disappointed.  However, after receiving some gift cards for chain restaurants for the holidays, I’m back in the (chain restaurant) saddle.

One reason that I avoided Chili’s was the seemingly unavoidable noise, even on a weeknight.  My husband and I returned to Chili’s on a weeknight, and while it wasn’t quiet, I was pleased that we could hear each other easily.  The noise certainly didn’t detract from our meal.

Our waiter was warm, friendly, and attentive.   He was quick to take our drink order and to deliver them.  I ordered a Chambord 1800, a margarita on the rocks  with a kick of Chambord.  My husband ordered a Long Island Iced Tea.  Both drinks were sweet and enjoyable, if a little too full of ice.

For dinner,  I had the chicken tacos with sides of rice and black beans.  My husband had steak and portobello fajitas with rice.  My tacos were good but I found the chicken filling somewhat sparse and the cheese almost non-existent – the filling was predominantly iceberg lettuce and tomatoes.  I was surprised that I needed to eat all three tacos to feel full (I was looking forward to left-overs!).   The soft taco shell/tortilla was soft and just bready enough to be satisfying.  The rice, on the other hand, was so salty it was nearly inedible.  Interestingly, my husband had what appeared to be the same rice but we both found his appropriately seasoned and agreed that mine tasted like a salt shaker.  The black beans were cooked appropriately and were decent.  My husband also enjoyed his fajitas but the portabello mushrooms were very few and far between, and he also complained of the lack of cheese.

For dessert, we split a gargantuan order of chocolate chip cookie molten cake.  It was a warm, moist white cake full of chocolate chips and topped with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.  There were two chocolate sauces on the dessert - an enjoyable chocolate shell that ensconced the ice cream, and a soft chocolate sauce that surrounded the cake.  It was decadent.

Our bill came to just over $50 including tip, a fairly reasonable price.  I recommend Chili’s for their fun drinks and desserts, but entrees can be inconsistent.  Regardless, I think Chili’ls has redeemed itself enough to be removed from my list.

Lunch the other day found me at Not Your Average Joe’s at The Loop in Methuen, MA.  The restaurant was not as crowded as I would have anticipated at lunch time and we were seated swiftly.  I’ve eaten many times at Joe’s over the years, and have also eaten many dinners at the Acton and Newburyport locations.  I enjoy their menu, particulary the fact that it is an allergen-friendly restaurant offering many gluten-free options.  They have a varied menu that includes pizzas, salads, sandwiches, meat and seafood, and a few pasta options.  They are inconsistent in quality at times although I have found the salads to be consistently great.

Our server was quick to arrive and greet us, but clearly perturbed that we weren’t going to eat and run.  After a few hasty attempts to take our order before we’d read the menu, she abandoned us for a long while before returning (which was preferable to the table-stalking).  Luckily, she left us with Joe’s addictive focaccia bread served with a dipping sauce of olive oil, parmesan and red pepper.  I could easily have eaten just bread and oil for lunch.

My friend and I each decided on the soup and 1/2 sandwich combination offered on the lunch menu.  Oddly, the soup selections weren’t on the lunch menu (I have noted them on the dinner menu in the past).  After inquiring about the soup options, we each chose the Tuscan sandwich and I added a sweet potato soup to my order, while my friend ordered the chicken noodle.  I also ordered a hot coffee.

The Cup of Joe was not average, it was in fact quite a good cup of coffee, especially on a cold day.  My sweet potato soup was creamy, but not too rich, with a nice sweet potato flavor.  However, the finish was overpowering due to too much black pepper which quickly overwhelmed all of the other flavors in the soup.  I was also surprised to find chunks of meat in my soup, which my server had not mentioned.  I couldn’t be sure what the meat was, but my best guess was that it was ham.  It didn’t add anything to the soup, nor did the unidentifiable white chunk which may have been a flavorless piece of mozzarella.  The soup would have been wonderful had they not tampered with it so much and masked the nice sweet potato flavor in the soup.  My friend’s soup was also chock-full of black pepper, including peppered wide noodles.  My Tuscan Chicken sandwich was decent, although it could have used more pesto.  The chicken was tender and the sun-dried tomatoes added a nice flavor.  Overall, it was an average lunch that I could have gotten cheaper at a deli or coffee shop (the combination was about $9, not including my coffee).

Lunch was good, but probably not worth the nearly $30 it came to (including the tip).  I would recommend Joe’s for dinner when the prices are more justifiable, or for lunch when in the mood for a full entree (an order of Crab Cakes or Not Your Average Chicken Oscar is only a few dollars more, if even).  Joe’s also offers many specials including a fixed price couples’ menu including wine on Wednesdays (Winesdays), Happy Hour food specials, and an “insiders” e-mail listing that includes coupons on your birthday.  All in all, Joe’s may not be average, but it is a mixed bag.

At one point, I was a dedicated patron of the Westford Grille in Westford, MA.  They offered a wide variety of selections and a fun drink menu.  Then they made the fatal flaw of separating their one menu into two menus – a bar menu and a restaurant menu.  Now, when trying to decide where to eat, Westford Grille still comes up for discussion but inevitably one member of the party wants a burger or sandwich (now only available on the bar menu) while another member wants a steak or fish dish (available on the restaurant menu).  Worse, the bar is often loud and crowded, so I am left to decide if I want an expensive but quiet meal, or a loud but affordable one.  To be fair, I have requested (and received) the bar menu in the restaurant’s dining rooms – but it is always a hassle – the waiter or waitress has to check with the powers that be before procuring the extra menu.  I’m simply not always up for the hassle of requesting a secondary menu.

So when I received a coupon in the mail recently, I decided to give the Westford Grille another try.  I reasoned that the coupon would justify the pricier options in the dining room.  I arrived during the peak of the cold snap to a cold host who failed to notice me in the lobby.  I stood and paced in the doorway for at least five minutes before finally interrupting his reading to ask if the other member of my party had arrived.  She had, and had I not asked, I would no doubt have spent several more minutes in the lobby.

The dining room is simple but nice, but so nice as to warrant not serving several of their appetizers and entrees within.

The drink menu, though it changes at times, consistently offers a nice selection of martinis and mixed drinks.  My raspberry-lime rickey martini was zingy and nice, but full of ice chips upon arrival.  My friend ordered a toasted almond that was nutty and creamy. 

Our waitress was courteous and generally on top of her game, but lacking warmth – she never smiled and never greeted me when I joined my friend, leaving me feeling a bit like we were putting her out.  However, our food arrived in a timely manner and I was very pleased with my Marinated Grilled Sirloin Tips.  I have yet to figure out what the marinade consists of, but it lends the steak a really nice, subtle flavor.  They were tender and cooked to order.  My mashed potatoes were thick and tasty as well.  My friend ordered fried shrimp, which I did not taste, but they appeared nicely fried and she seemed to enjoy them. 

I have tried other entrees on previous visits and have enjoyed most of the entrees on the menu, save the dinner salads.  The dinner salads comprise of too many strong flavors that don’t complement one another.

Despite a coupon for $12.00 off of our bill, I was dismayed to see that our bill still totalled nearly $50.00 (after tip) for two entrees and two drinks – a bit steep for a weeknight meal out.  Overall, I like the Westford Grille, but I feel the dining room prices are a bit steep and the bar a bit noisy.  A reunion of the two menus would be the perfect marriage with good options for all diners.

http://www.westfordgrille.com/ordereze/default.aspx