Il Casale | Belmont Center

On Bob's birthday, Wednesday, February 27th, I was 2 days postpartum and still admitted. Baby Camden was in the NICU. I was discharged on the 28th while Camden was not quite ready. We had been visiting our sweet son at NWH and as we said our goodnights we impromptu decided to take advantage of his excellent care and head out for a birthday date night. 

Belmont Center is not too far from NWH. We arrived to Il Casale in a warm and bustling converted fire station and grabbed two seats at the bar. I eyed the martinis next to me thinking how good they looked. Suddenly my face lit up. "I can have a drink. I can actually order one of those!" It had not hit me until this glorious moment. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my 9 months of sobriety but what a moment. My first postpartum drink: the 60 day cask aged Meletti Manhattan made with overholt rye, meletti amaro + amarena cherry.  

The Buratta Salad was a wondrous portion of field greens, speck from Trentino Alto-Adige + fresh figs. All the pasta is made in house - I had a terrific Cream Mushroom Gnocchetti featuring pickled Beachwood mushrooms, charred endive, local carrots + pine nuts. It was our first time to this Il Casale location (I had been to Lexington) and it made for a lovely Friday birthday date night. 

Il Casale

50 Leonard St 

Belmont, MA 02478

Country Mile | Watertown

 

Country Mile is OUTSTANDING. It is brand new from a husband and wife (chef + front of the house) duo from Vermont. I guarantee you will see it on all the Best of Boston lists in 2019. I was not into mocktails throughout my pregnancy but the bartender here does them justice; they are exceptionally crafted and were the price of an actual soda. (Although perhaps this was a birthday deal?!) The group can vouch for the cocktails being fantastic, too. 

I have included a photo of the menu since four of us shared about half of it. You will literally want every vegetable dish in that first section. I'm still swooning + Happy 35th Birthday to me!

Curried Mussels + Japanese Eggplant

Gimlet Mocktail

Black Trumpet Mushrooms

Lomo w cave aged Gruyere

Seared U10 Scallops

Chocolate + Cheese dessert plate

Country Mile

136 Belmont St

Watertown, MA 02472

SRV | South End

I'm confident that the food and cocktails at SRV are going to blow you away. One of my favorite meals in Boston this year and an exemplary choice for a special occasion; we celebrated my Mom's 60th birthday and they made us feel special from beginning to end. SRVs radical approach to cicchette + piatti (Italian small plates) and homemade pastas is nothing short of impressive. 

SRV stands for Serene Republic of Venice and proudly distinguishes themselves as Boston's first Venetian Bacaro + Wine Bar. Our table decided to go for the Arsenale ($45pp) chefs tasting at the encouragement of our waitress. We all agreed that each and every ciccette sounded wonderful, plus it's exciting to be surprised and to let the chefs send out what they think is the best of the menu. 

But first - drinks! The wine list is exclusively Italian and the cocktails showcase a heavy Italian influence. Between five of us we had a solid apertitvi sampling, which was perfect because I would have ordered any one of them. I love spotting new-to-me ingredients and different types of vermouth, amaro, spirits etc. So from the SRV Negroni ($12) with bully boy estate gin, cocchi vermouth di torino + campari to the Innocents Abroad ($12) with fighting cock bourbon, amaro nonino, gran classico + kina l'aero, SRVs bar staff delivers. The Streaking in Italian ($9) - pueblo viejo añejo tequila, contratto aperitif, cardamaro + lemon was another solid choice. The cocktails go on to feature one with grappa and another with cachaca. I'm super impressed!

~~~ And now presenting the Arsenale ~~~

 Fresh Goat Cheese - tomato brodo, herb blossoms, cucumber. A stimulating, creamy, fruity first bite!

 Stuffed Piquillo Pepper - Asiago cheese, herbed bread crumbs. Our meal continues in impressive fashion with perhaps my favorite of SRVs chiccetti.

 Baccala Mantecato - salt cod, black bread, herbs, garlic. The black bread is squid ink, a creative vessel for a bracing bite of salt cod. 

 Mozzarella in Carrozza - preserved tomato, bonito. Those whimsical bonito flakes that move on their own and this melty mozzarella is a winning bite.

 Beef Tartare - off menu and i forget what came in this besides sunflower seeds and other nuts adding a playful texture contrast. We all loved it. 

Smoked Sea Trout - salsa bastarda, lentils, turnip brovada, lemon hollandaise. The trout was reminiscent of an arctic char or salmon and ever so slightly seared yielding a delicate piece of fish with smokey flavor.

Lamb Belly - this was everyone's first time having lamb belly, and wow is it rich and fatty. Crispy on one side, tender on the other, it was reminiscent of both bacon and pork belly, definitely with a distinct flavor. The carrot in pinzimonio, saffron yogurt and stone fruit helped cut the richness of the belly.

Strozzapreti - spicy lamb sausage, ricotta salata, kale

Creste de Gallo -  smokey tomato, pesto, pine nuts. Both handmade pastas are terrific. Works of art in fact. We take votes and the table is divided on which is the winner. No matter what, I want more pasta dishes from SRV, that's for sure.

 Biscotti Misti - venetian cookies & confections

Tiramisu - mascarpone, savoiardi, cocoa nibs / Caffé Corretto - espresso with a touch of grappa / Affogato - espresso, hazelnut gelato, gianduja

The only disappointment of the Arsenale tasting menu is the dolci as it comes with a forgettable biscotti misti. We ordered the Tiramusi and Affogato on our own and loved both. All three desserts are $8, so swap the affogatto in for the biscotti and the Arsenale is one of the best prix fix menus around.

The space is tasteful and uniquely designed - antique decanters turned light fixtures meet heavy barn doors and there's a dreamy patio out back. Also, the bathrooms!!

SRV Boston

569 Columbus Avenue

Boston, MA 02118

Matlaw's Stuffed Clams

This past weekend my sister Leah turned 30! There were lots of celebrations on Cape Cod - one of which was this late afternoon summer feast on my Mom's back deck! 

We started with classic New England style stuffed clams from Matlaw's. These stuffies from Gloucester come frozen - simply place them on the grill for 25 minutes, serve with lemon wedges, and your appetizer course is set! Succulent clams meet golden crispy breadcrumbs with chopped celery and peppers and a dusting of parsley and paprika; everyone around the table nodded in agreement - the stuffies were super fresh tasting and full of flavor. They paired perfectly alongside a hearty arugula salad featuring blueberry balsamic marinated and grilled peaches, toasted pecans and creamy goat cheese crumbles. Then, we enjoyed teriyaki marinated steak tips, corn on the cob, mushrooms and crispy potatoes - and for dessert, warm brownies and vanilla ice cream!

Special thanks to Matlaw's for providing the stuffed clams. Check out all their seafood products and where to purchase them right here.

Vancouver | British Columbia

Can I proclaim my love for Canada just one more time?! Exploring Vancouver at the end of our trip to Whistler did not go undocumented. We had 24 hours in this bustling west coast seaport city and spent our time eating incredible aburi oshi sushi and all the maki rolls at Minami to celebrate Bob's birthday, checking out the crazy all-night party scene on Granville Street, and visiting laid back local breweries the next day. We had an easy stay at the centrally located Marriot Residence Inn Downtown which was in walking distance to Minami and Granville St. The larger rooms worked out well for us, offering plenty of space to comfortably regroup and rest all our ski gear.

On the final day it was Bob, Leah and myself who decided to stay longer and catch the red eye home. We wandered the downtown harbor front in the fog and mist before discovering Steamworks Brew Pub in the hip Gastown quarter for fun beer samplers and tasty fish tacos. Our waitress there recommended checking out Brassneck so we hailed a cab over to Mt Pleasant neighborhood. We instantly loved the low key vibe in their contained concrete and funky wood beam space. They pour excellent beers with thoughtful names like the dry hopped Passive Aggressive pale ale and the Free Radical white IPA with mosaic and sorachi ace hops. We pulled up the map and chose our next stop close by - Main Street Brewing - which is actually just off Main in a super cute residential neighborhood. This place emits the same relaxed vibes except in an open Heritage Building with bulb lights strung from high ceilings and around leafy green trees. Tall red taps line gleaming subway tile walls. There's a wide selection of equally delicious beers and I am so glad we picked it on a whim! 

When we left it was POURING (the ridiculously cold and windy rain where an umbrella is useless) and they don't have Uber! It took what felt like forever to hail a cab and lucky for us it was a van who could fit all our ski gear (that was being stored back at the hotel). Good thing we gave ourselves plenty of time. 

It was really nice to wind down the ski week discovering a little of Vancouver. 

I highly recommend checking out any / all of these spots: 

Minami | Yaletown | 1118 Mainland Street

Steamworks Brew Pub | Gastown | 375 Water Street

Brassneck | Mt Pleasant | 2148 Main Street

Main Street Brewing | Mt Pleasant | 261 East 7th Avenue