1 Freelance Friday: Boston's Bacon and Beer Festival

Last Saturday was the 2010 Boston Bacon and Beer Festival. With a name like that, the event clearly sold out weeks ahead of time and when we arrived 15 minutes before starting time there was already a line. When we got to the door they handed us a spork and a plastic cup... which was all we needed for this massive exercise in gluttony.

Hundreds of people packed in to the SoWa Market's old brick power station to sample from dozens of local brewers featuring their ales and restaurants featuring their bacon-related dishes.

There were traditional options like pork belly sandwiches, surprisingly delicious concoctions like bacon cupcakes, and some shockingly intense bites like this goat-cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped fig:

It was a star-studded event. Seriously, recognize this Top Chef Season 1 contestant doling out bacon chips?

We can't wait for next year.

*Thanks to Heidi Mitchell and Evan Carlson for their photo skills (and good company!)

1 Freelance Friday: Boston's Ten Tables

We are in the midst of a family bonanza: we have seven out of town relatives visiting at various points over the course of two weeks. Last weekend it was my dad and stepmom, who love trying out new restaurants. When they suggested the highly reviewed Ten Tables we were delighted; this restaurant had been on our "to go to" list for ages.

The original Ten Tables is located in Jamaica Plain at a tiny establishment that fits--get this--ten tables. Since its acclaimed success had led to far in advance reservations being required, they opened a second location in Cambridge. From everything we'd read the quality remains the same at the new outpost, and because reservations in J.P. were once again impossible to get, we headed across the river to Harvard Square for a Sunday night dinner.

Ten Tables Cambridge has significantly more than ten tables (more like twenty) but it still has an intimate and cozy but elegant atmosphere. The only reservation we could get even at this location was for 5:00, so we were the first to arrive for their Sunday night, three-course supper, a weekly prix-fixe affair that costs $33.

But before I get to any of the food, a note about the wine. Since our wine-tasting adventures in Argentina and South Africa, we know a little bit more about wine and certainly appreciate it more, but we are way intimidated when it comes to the extensive wine list of a nice restaurant. Even more intimidated by the prospect of discussing wine with a sommelier. My dad, however, not so, and not only did he request to speak with the sommelier but then proceeded to have a ten minute discussion with him about our tastes, pairing with food, and his recommendations. The result was something delicious that went really well with our food, but as the whole transaction was so above my head I don't remember the name. But the point is their sommelier is really good (and patient).

So for our first course we were all delivered significantly portioned plates: I got the merguez with quinoa and tomatillo sauce. The sausage was spicy and delicious but what surprised me was how yummy the quinoa was! I've made quinoa before as a healthy experiment (did you know it's one of the only starches to be a complete protein on its own?) but it tasted nothing like this wonderfully light, almost popcorn-like dish before me. And Patrick's cavatelli wasn't too shabby either. The ricotta-dough pasta was paired with a light cream sauce with an essence of fresh peas. I chomped down about half his plate in addition to my own. Oops.

But I didn't even touch Patrick's main course because I was so enamored with my own. I got the mussels, which I love, but restaurants so often just throw them in with some garlic and wine and call it a day. This was incredible. I swear each mussel was hand-picked they were so huge and juicy! They were cooked up in a spicy chorizo cream sauce that I slurped down like a soup. I let Patrick have all my fries to make up for the first course. Everyone else at the table got steak, all requested at a different done-ness, and each one came out perfectly to order.

My chocolate terrine with Thai basil ice cream dessert was as interesting as it sounds. I'm a huge ice cream aficionado but had never tasted anything like this--it was kind of like a sweet, non-garlicky frozen pesto. Um, but that sounds kind of scary. Really it was way delicious. And the super rich terrine would make any chocoholic swoon. Patrick's creme caramel was OK but rather uninteresting, which made it the most disappointing part of the meal. My dad's bread pudding, however, was a great brioche concoction that was moist even without being drenched in creme anglaise and sweetened with dry fruit. Yummy, but I'd still go with the basil ice cream again.

We all left Ten Tables full-bellied and utterly impressed. It's definitely the best prix fixe menu I've had in Boston. OK, OK...Cambridge isn't actually Boston, but it is connected by the T and the original is in Jamaica Plain, which technically IS Boston, so I'm claiming this restaurant for Bean Town.

*Photo courtesy of Grub Street Boston

1 Freelance Friday: Boston's Best Cheese

I open the door and the sweetest of aromas envelops me. It's warm and cozy inside on this winter day, and there are charming artisanal products all around. Red onion jelly, pastel pink petit fours, imported Italian pastas. And taking up the entire back half of the store, the glorious display case from which the perfume emanates, where hundreds of beautiful cheeses strut their stuff for the drooling customers.

I am slightly obsessed with the South End Formaggio. Everything about it is so delicious! It's always packed with customers who are deeply interested in the product, the staff of cheese mongers can find you the perfect match for any event, taste, or whim, and their case is filled with cheese you can't find anywhere else in town.

As someone who has a serious weakness for cheese (I may hold the record for youngest person alive to test for such high cholesterol I needed to be put on a cheese-restrictive diet as a toddler) I can drop a lot of cash at South End Formaggio. My personal favorite at the moment is Stichelton, an English blue made from unpasteurized milk whose importation is a bit restricted in this country, that goes for $30/pound. This is not the type of thing you

sprinkle on a salad. I typically don't even dumb it down with a cracker, just slice off bite size pieces to melt on my tongue. I was going to take a picture of the block I'm eating right now to share with you, but oops! It's all gone.

Get to South End Formaggio by taking the Silver Line to the East Berkeley stop and walk a block down to Shawmut, and two blocks west until you see the sign or smell cheese. While you're in the neighborhood, walk a few blocks further to get to Flour Bakery for dessert. Their sour cream coffee cake merits a whole post of its own...

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