favorites : restaurants

favorite restaurant of all time
cyclops in the belltown neighborhood of seattle. $15-20. a neighborhood restaurant that changes its menu frequently, which i like to view as a desire to experiment with new kinds of food. in the summer of 2002 i had the most exquisite chocolate pot de creme: intensely chocolate, just sweet enough with no sour aftertaste, dense, flavored with grand marnier, with a curl of candied orange peel on top. oh, and did i mention that it was baked in a teacup? one small teacup - about a third of a cup in volume - was enough for two people. nothing i've had since has even compared.

favorite restaurant in boston/cambridge
pigalle. $36 (3-course prix fixe). i went there with two friends during restaurant week, and fell in love. a smallish restaurant with a great waitstaff. impeccable pacing of the meal, and the food was simple, but absolutely wonderful.

french
craigie street bistrot, harvard square area. $60 (appetizer, main course, and dessert). on the more traditional side, with very simple preparations and exquisite ingredients. the result is absolute food heaven. on the downside, it's also exquisitely expensive.
pigalle, theater district. see above. more modern than craigie street bistrot.
aquitaine, south end. $20-30 (appetizer + main course; desserts $8). more affordable, but very good. always busy, especially for sunday brunch, which is excellent.

the hamburger
joe sent me, between alewife and porter square. $6-10 (burger + drink). unfortunately more accessible by car than by anything else, but it has burgers as good as bartley's (if not better). it's also cheaper, although you may spend the saved cash on transportation. joe sent me is dominated by the bar - think massive plasma screens all over the place, showing football, basketball, baseball - and law and order. really good chicken wings. go here to escape the collegiate types.
bartley's burger cottage, harvard square. $10-14 (burger + milkshake). closer than joe sent me, with a longer menu (joe sent me has about 10 burgers). really good milkshakes.
pour house, boylston street near the pru. $5-8 (burger + milkshake, or appetizers + milkshake). go here more for the "collegiate atmosphere," milkshakes, and appetizers, not the cheap, prefab, cardboard burgers (half-price on saturdays).
aquitaine, south end. $10 (burger). sunday brunch burger is absolutely fabulous. the yuppie burger, too: on a toasted brioche bun with gruyere cheese. worth it, though.

indian
a taste of india on huntington ave near symphony hall. $20 (naan, appetizer, main dish). i think it's changed names, but it's still owned by the same people. best indian food i've had in boston, plus great decor. tiny, too, so it has a great, intimate feel (yes, i went there on a date).
bindhi bazaar, mass ave. good, serviceable indian food. some people say it's authentic, some people say it's not. at any rate, it tastes good.

fast food
wendy's, boylston street across from copley square. $3-5. i always get the same thing: a junior bacon cheeseburger, chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce, and a frosty. cheaper, better fast food can't be found anywhere else. the added plus of the boylston street location is the second floor window area, where you can watch people go by on the street.

chinese
peach farm, chinatown. $7-13. for real chinese food. really cheap if you go with lots of friends and eat family-style.
mary chung, central square. $7-16. for american chinese food. i always have the peking ravioli (fried) with its exquisite, spicy ginger soy sauce, and the suan la chow show.

best decor and lighting
lumiere, in newton. $20-30. the whole room is white - but it's an off-white, and it glows rather than dazzling and blinding you. somehow it makes you feel happier.

pizza
picco, south end. $7-10 (just pizza). fabulously chewy-but-not-too-chewy, cracklingly-crisp-just-on-the-very-bottom crust. in short, the perfect pizza crust. good toppings, with specials every night, and great decor (including an upscale diner-like bar counter).
emma's pizza, kendall square. $7-10. great pizzas, but sometimes a little too thin crust for my liking. has a traditional, floury pizza crust, rather than the picco crust, which has a closer resemblance to foccacia.

note: all prices include tax and tip.