Rafiki Bistro - update NOW CLOSED

This is the first restaurant post in the new series, Welcome to My New Hood

- UPDATE - CLOSED

How do you respond to heartbroken customers when you take over a space that had been occupied since the 1930's by the same restaurant?

Many people mourned the closing of the Forest Cafe (in all its gritty and inexpensive glory) when it finally shuttered its doors in 2009. The question remained for quite some time, "who would take over the space"?

Last year, the same folks who run Clear Conscious Cafe in Central Square (that coffee shop at the entrance of Harvest Coop), decided to open up a restaurant that focused on fresh, local ingredients with an aim to offer really good, vegetarian friendly dishes.

It's been over a year now since Rafiki Bistro first opened. The menu has changed a few times. The brunch is no longer available.  It's moved a bit more towards French bistro and a little less vegetarian-focused.

After we moved to this stretch between Harvard and Porter, we resolved to try every single restaurant "in the hood." Here are our thoughts after our first visit.

The ambiance is warm and cozy, which was perfect since we came on a cold, mid-week evening. Only a few tables were occupied. The bread came right away, accompanied by a white bean dip.
After much indecision, the waiter convinced me to get the crab and avocado crostinis, which turned out to be pretty tasty. I liked how they were served on a bed of arugula (one of my favorite salad vegetables). The arugula's pungeant, peppery flavor actually cut the richness of the avocados and crabmeat nicely.

Bryan got the duck cassoulet (a traditional French casserole made with meat and white beans), which was hearty, full of flavor, and an excellent value for the price (around $12 or so).

A black chalkboard outside the restaurant claims that their scallops are among the best in town. We do agree that the scallops are perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious, although the preparation is relatively simple and, if given similarly high quality ingredients, something one could probably execute at home. Nevertheless, we are happy to enjoy this relatively healthy and delicious meal while dining out.

I order one of the few vegetarian options on the menu, a "napolean" of fried polenta and roasted vegetables. The dish is quite enjoyable, with nicely fried polenta cakes and perfectly roasted root vegetables.

Thoughts
It's a bit sad that so few people were at Rafiki Bistro that night. I know they have offered several promotional discounts (such as through Groupon) and I wonder if they are struggling. Although most of the dishes were perfectly solid, nothing really blew us away.

I do like how several of the options seem healthier than your typical restaurant offerings. It's not a bad place to stop by if you just don't feel like cooking but want something that's pretty good at a place where there's probably no wait.

Rafiki Bistro
1682 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Welcome to My New Hood

It's been a little over half a year since we moved from our tiny urban condo to our slightly bigger medium-sized urban house in Cambridge.

I am amazed at how time has flown. It seems like just yesterday we were packing endless boxes, throwing out all sorts of junk, and dealing with the move.

Though we aren't completely settled yet, we've made significant progress. About 95% of the boxes are unpacked, 85% of necessary furniture purchased, and 0% of the home decorating has been done (OK, I guess I did hang up one print . . .)

In honor of the half-year anniversary of our new house, I've decided to dedicate this next series to highlighting some of the new restaurants we've discovered in our "hood."

We essentially ate our way up Mass Ave from Harvard to Porter, and then visited several other nearby places, all within walking distance.

Here's a sneak preview of the places we visited!

French style bistro with a nicer-than-average selection of tasty vegetarian options.
This French/Cuban restaurant has been around for decades and boasts the city's best Cubano sandwich.
The sushi and sashimi at this third outpost of a popular Brookline joint is so large that you really should order half the amount of sushi you usually get!
Solidly executed food, reasonable prices, and a nice vibe make this one of the most popular gastropubs on the stretch between Harvard Square and Porter Square.

One of my favorite bakeries, I was thrilled when it moved that much closer to me. Now it's really less than a 5-minute walk away to excellent pastries, my favorite vanilla loaf in the world, and delicious sandwiches.

Our new favorite hangout - excellent food, cozy atmosphere, a constantly changing menu, and an all-around great chef draws us back over and over again.

Baraka Cafe

I love hidden gems.

I love small, family-owned, little finds that serve fantastic, authentic food in a warm and cozy environment.

I discovered Baraka Cafe, an Algerian-Tunisian and North African restaurant, years ago when I started my current job in Central Square. Just a little off the beaten path (you have to walk down Pearl Street a bit), this family-owned restaurant churns out flavorful, unusual dishes at prices that look like they haven't changed in decades.

Chef-owners Alia Radjeb Meddeb and Krimo Dahim, who grew up in Tunisia and Algeria, run this small, cozy restaurant. The kitchen is crazy small (I'm amazed at what they can churn out there), and seating is limited.

The moment you walk in, you feel like you are visiting someone's home.
The atmosphere is very relaxed, and everything is made to order in the back. The woman in front (perhaps the owner?) is super friendly and treats you like you're family. I usually find the pace of service to be a bit - how shall I say it? - "relaxed"? Don't come here on a workday if you have a strict one hour lunch break. You just never know exactly how long the service might take. Some days it's totally fine, but other days you'd be in trouble if you had a meeting back at the office within an hour.

If you go, you must get their signature drink, the Cherbat. It's an Algerian style homemade lemonade with rose petals and North African spices.  Get a glass for $2.00, or share a carafe ($5.95) or a pitcher ($7.50) with friends. It's gorgeously refreshing in the summer, and is pretty different from most lemonade you could get elsewhere.

I absolutely love their bread, which comes loaded with really interesting spices. It's not spicy hot or even salty, just very, very flavorful. We ordered the bread with h'rissa ($3), a homemade North African spicy red pepper pesto made with parsley, olives, and garlic. It's bold, deeply flavorful, and quite addictive.

Their lunch menu has several very reasonably priced open faced sandwiches, which are served on a hand-stretched, homemade flat Berber bread with salad greens tossed in a black caraway and mustard vinaigrette. These come alongside their house-made fries and h'rissa.

Pictured above is the Homemade Grilled Merguez, a lamb & beef North African sausage seasoned with ras-el-hanout, a Moroccan blend of spices used commonly in North Africa.  I love the interesting and unusual spices in the sausage.

We also ordered Mahdjouba Djazairia, a grilled Algerian crepe stuffed with a tchektchouka (like an omelet with poached eggs) of bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and farm cheese. This comes with a mixed green salad. I opted for the vegetarian version ($7.00), although you can add grilled chicken or merguez (lamb/beef sausage shown above) for an extra $1.50. The salad was fresh, the crepe was perfectly executed, and I just absolutely loved the exotic flavors.

Though I generally love everything I've tried here, there is one thing I once tried that I absolutely hated. It's definitely due to personal preference and not a reflection on their execution of it. I ordered the Turkish coffee, which was filled with a huge amount of ground cardamon. I really, really don't like the smell of cardamon - it reminded me of gasoline. I had trouble finishing it.

So, if you're not a huge fan of cardamon either, you probably don't want to order the Turkish coffee.

Overall, however, I love coming here.  The food is fantastic, the prices are really reasonable, and the overall experience is very, very authentic. Better yet, this type of cuisine is so different from what I usually eat, it makes every dish a really fun adventure.

I don't come too often because it's hard to get out during the middle of a work day to take a 1-2 hour lunch. When I do come, however, it's always a huge treat.

Useful Tips
This restaurant is not open on Mondays, and doesn't open until 12PM for lunch (Tues-Sat only).  I learned this the hard way as I tried to come here twice (once on a Monday, once at 11:30AM), only to be sadly greeted by a closed door. It's cash only, and there's no alcohol.

I have yet to try this place for dinner, but I'm confident that the food is fantastic. The dinner menu has a much larger variety of interesting items to try. One of the most famous ones? The Classical Bastilla Torte, a crazy complicated dish that requires 36-hour advanced notice. It's a filo pastry layered with squab or chicken and a plethora of other interesting ingredients (almonds, cinnamon, saffron, parsley, figs, mint, parsley, and orange blossom infusion!!).

Don't forget to order the signature rose infused lemonade - it's so good, you may not even miss the fact that there's no alcohol.

Baraka Cafe
80 1/2 Pearl St
Cambridge, MA 02139

Moksa

Edamame potstickers

It's been hyped. And continually delayed. For months.

I walk down Mass Ave in Central Square every day on my way to work. Ever since early summer last year, I've passed by a sign in front of Moksa that says, "opening late, late, late summer."

People have wondered for awhile now what Chef Patricia's Yeo's new project would look like.  After Ginger Park (her first Boston venture) closed, she joined Om as their executive chef. Meanwhile, in the background, she's been planning an Asian fusion izakaya which features small plates inspired by street foods from China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

Edamame potstickers

In Japan, an izakaya is a drinking establishment that serves casual, small plates meant to go really well with the drinks.  Here, Chef Yeo has taken that concept and melded it with the street food idea. Moksa serves appetizer sized portions of a variety of dishes, many of which are inspired by street dishes from Asia.

It's only been a few weeks since the restaurant has opened, so I'm sure the kitchen is still trying to figure things out. Nevertheless, here's a recap of my first visit there. We got the unusual opportunity of sitting outside on their patio (in the middle of March!!) due to unseasonably warm weather.

Kimchi fried rice with a poached egg and gochujang 

Dishes here are meant to be shared, and the portion sizes are a bit smaller so that people can try more than one dish. We ordered about two dishes per person and it turned out to be just about right. Some of the dishes, such as the rice and noodle ones, are a bit larger while the items from the grill are much smaller. Order a mix of everything and you should be fine.

Chef Yeo liberally borrows ideas from all sorts of Asian cuisines. The kimchi fried rice, for example, resembles a bi bim bop because it is served with a perfectly poached egg and gochujang (Korean sweet chili sauce) on top.

I love the homemade edamame potstickers (pictured above). The skins have a nice chewy texture, and the mashed edamame filling tastes just like you expect. If you love the flavor of Japanese edamame, you'll enjoy these dumplings.

Beef tartare and oyster "roti"

The roti (commonly seen in Malaysian and Indian cuisine), is more like a small taco.  Don't expect the "roti" part of the dish to be fluffy, light, and slightly chewy like traditional roti. Instead, the texture of the roti is really more like the skin of a Mexican soft taco shell (more dense, less fat). Yeo veers quite a bit from traditional Asian fare by topping the "roti" with beef tartare and a fresh, raw oyster. This dish turns out to be one of my favorites of the evening. It's nicely seasoned, uses very fresh ingredients, and tastes delicious.

Duck bacon (I think? I can't remember) is one of the smaller "grill" items, coming on just two skewers.

Kurobota pork belly ramen with 5-minute egg 

The "kurabota [sic] ramen" (called such presumably because it uses Berkshire pork, known as kurobuta in Japanese), gets its twist from being served with a 5-minute egg and high quality pork belly. I am disappointed that the noodles resemble packaged ramen noodles (curly and quite mushy), and the broth is very, very salty. This is not the first time I've found Chef Yeo's food to be too salty, so perhaps that first time was not a fluke after all? The pork is reasonably tasty, but the overwhelming salt levels make it hard for me to enjoy the soup.

The menu offers a variety of shaobings. Unlike the traditional Chinese shaobing, which is delicate, flaky, and nicely toasted, this "shaobing" more resembled a dense English muffin. It's thick, dense, and a bit dry. Frankly, I think I would have preferred a traditional shaobing.

Shao Bing: spicy beef short ribs

The flavors of the fillings for the shaobings are decent. The saltiness of the short ribs is tempered by the thick and dense shaobing bread.

Saigon Fried Rice

I am woefully uneducated when it comes to Vietnamese food, so I have no idea how authentic this "Saigon" fried rice is. I do know that Chef Yeo traveled to Southeast Asia in 2007 to study the cuisine, and I'm sure some of these dishes were inspired by that trip. This fried rice reminds me a bit of ketchup fried rice, but a bit sweeter with the addition of the pineapples. It is OK, but not something that I love.

Chicken Pad Thai

The chicken pad thai is not bad, nicely augmented with a colorful assortment of vegetables not typically seen in pad thai. The flavor is decent, and it's one of the few dishes that isn't too spicy for our spice-fearing guests.

Twenty vegetable fried rice 

The twenty-vegetable fried rice is balanced in flavor and reasonably light. It's a nice, healthy alternative to ordering normal white rice.

Dan Dan Mien

The dan dan mien is a very polarizing dish. Although it's deeply full of flavor (strong umami generated by the pork, mushrooms, various aromatics, and chili spices), I (again) find the dish to be too salty. I yearn for a larger portion of baby bok choy to counter the saltiness in the meal. The noodles themselves are unremarkable, a bit too soft and mushy for my tastes.

First Thoughts
I have to be honest. I was disappointed after my first visit. I had been really, really excited about a cool izakaya serving high quality "street food" at reasonable prices. Although some of the dishes were quite promising,  several were oversalted and lacked the finesse in flavor I was looking for. Perhaps it's too much to ask, but I yearned for fresh, chewy handmade noodles.

Our lunch came out to be about $25 a person, not exactly cheap considering we only drank water (it was lunchtime) and we were mostly eating street food. Granted, Moksa does source high quality, often local ingredients, and the rent in the area is not cheap (plus there's that liquor license!).  It's natural that prices will be a bit higher.

I've read that Moksa has a fantastic mixologist on board, so maybe you won't notice that the small bites are a tad salty if you're enjoying them with a fantastic cocktail. After all, an izakaya's foremost purpose is to be a place to drink.

Perhaps Moksa will turn out to be that cool, trendy place in Central Square where you can get a fantastic cocktail, a tasty small plate, and enjoy a really cool vibe. The ambiance is pretty nice, with lots of bamboo, clean lines, and modern simplicity.

Moksa
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139

Sharpening Your Knives in New York

It may look like a real sword, but no, I have not taken up swordfighting.

What you're seeing is a very special tuna knife! This specialized knife is used to cut up an entire tuna fish, which can grow up to six feet long!

This past weekend I took a wonderful (but short) trip to New York City. Bryan and I enjoyed a lot of Japanese culture this time, everything from visiting a Japanese knife shop to eating our favorite sushi and trying handmade soba noodles.

One of the highlights of our trip was a special visit to the Korin Japanese Trading Company (a place that sells to the likes of Eric Ripert, Daniel Boulud, Nobuyuki "Nobu" Matsuhisa, and Masaharu Morimoto) in downtown where I got my special Japanese knives sharpened by the greatest knife sharpening master in the US.

Meet Chiharu Sugai, the master knife sharpener at Korin. Sugai is of a rare breed, one of very few people who has been trained in the art of Japanese knife sharpening. Sugai studied knife sharpening in Sakai City, the hub of samurai sword and knife making since the 1300's. Yearning to learn more, Sugai sought out the great Shouzou Mizuyama, an 84-year old knife sharpening master known as one of the top knife sharpeners in Japan.

Until Sugai, Mizuyama had never fully revealed all his hidden techniques to anyone. After some persistence (Sugai showed up at Mizuyama's workshop everyday for three years), Mizuyama agreed to take Sugai under his wing as his first ever true apprentice. Sugai is the only person ever to have been given free access to observe, study, and train under Mizuyama.

Sugai continues to travel to Japan multiple times a year, honing his skills in the art of knife sharpening under his master. He sharpens knives for some of the top Japanese chefs in New York, such as Nobu and Morimoto.

Although Sugai is already an expert at what he does (and is even training up his own apprentice here in New York), he still reverently refers to Mizuyama as a "genius" when it comes to knife sharpening.

This past weekend, I had the unique opportunity to watch Sugai in action as he sharpened my knives in New York. He let me follow him into the basement of the store - his workshop where he does his magic.

It's pretty incredible to see the number of steps that go into sharpening a knife.

My words don't do it justice. Check out this video I made instead, where you can watch him in action!


HELP JAPAN

This month is the one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan. Korin Trading Company is donating all proceeds from knife sharpening services this month to benefit Japan. If you are in New York and have some knives that need to be sharpened, definitely consider Mr. Sugai. It's hard to find someone else who has trained for so long in the art of knife sharpening to sharpen your knives!

I seriously consider it a privilege to have my knives sharpened by him!

Korin Japanese Trading Company
57 Warren Street
New York, New York
10007


Disclaimer - Korin provided the knife sharpening services to me at no charge

Max Brenner (Caesars Palace)

This is part 5 of the Winter in Vegas Series. Other posts in this series include The Wicked Spoon, Il Mulino, and Table 10.

"Chocolate by the Bald Man" is the peculiar logo for Max Brenner, an Israeli chocolate shop that has now spread to many parts of the world (including Boston just this past year!).

The focus of this chocolatier is not so much on the quality of the chocolate itself as it is on CHOCOLATE as an overall theme. The menu at the shop is filled with a dizzying array of chocolate treats - everything from breakfast (chocolate waffles and crepes) to desserts (chocolate fondue, chocolate shakes, ice cream). and even stranger concoctions (chocolate martinis or chocolate pizza anyone?).

It's a bit gimmicky, but overall fun, casual, and pretty relaxed.

One fun thing to do is to make s'mores, table side! Even though Bryan usually hates getting his hands dirty, he's willing to do it once in a blue moon for something worthy.

It's definitely something fun to do, though I couldn't tell from just eating the s'mores whether the chocolate was particularly spectacular (it didn't strike me as such, but then I'm not a huge fan of s'mores in general).

We also got their signature "hug mug" of hot chocolate, named as such because your hands have to "hug" the mug in order to pick it up. This helps to warm icy hands on a cold winter night. The hot chocolate was  fine, though a bit too sweet for me. It also wasn't nearly as chocolatey as my all-time-favorite hot chocolate in Boston. I think we drank about half of it but couldn't finish due to its sweetness.

I see this as a convenient place for friends to gather and hang out for dessert or breakfast. All of their chocolate is kosher, and there are many fun options to try. Inside is a gift shop where you can pick up all sorts of funny chocolate themed gifts (yes, those are the words "aphrodisiac" you see in the background).

Service was slow and spotty when we went. Maybe it's because we were seated "outside" on the "patio" and thus not in the direct view of the staff. [For those of you who have never been to Vegas, a lot of these casinos have HUGE shopping areas where the ceilings are painted to look like the sky, thus making you feel like you are "outside."]

Would I visit again? Maybe, but probably not. For other fun chocolate adventures on the Strip, you can always check out the place that serves the $1000 sundae, the largest chocolate fountain in the world, or grab a TKO or chocolate croissant at Thomas Keller's uber famous bakery.

In my opinion, any of those places are probably much more destination-worthy.

Max Brenner
The Forum Shops At Caesars
3500 S Las Vegas Blvd Ste L03
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Table 10 (Emeril LaGasse)

This is part 4 of the Winter in Vegas Series. Other posts in this series include The Wicked Spoon and Il Mulino.

Table 10 is named after a very significant table.

"Table 10" was the table at Emeril LaGasse's original flagship restaurant in New Orleans where staff meetings were held, menus were created, and new ideas were born.

Table 10 opened in Las Vegas in 2008 and focuses on French/Creole cooking with an emphasis on market-fresh produce.

Out of all of the famous chefs represented in Las Vegas, this was one of the last ones we had yet to try. We had already hit many of the famous "household name" TV chefs (Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, Rick Moonen) as well as other famous Michelin-award winning chefs (Thomas Keller, Joel Robuchon, Jose Andres, Charlie Palmer, and Wolfgang Puck).

We were at CES (Consumer Electronics Show). It was lunchtime. We were already viewing exhibits at the Venetian. We were hungry.

Since we'd already tried several other restaurants in the vicinity (Mario Batali's Enoteca de San Marco, Sushi Samba, and Bouchon Bistro), we decided try something new.

The space inside is really neat. There's a huge open kitchen that diners who sit at the bar can watch all night long.

The service was good. Bread came right away and our server was friendly and very enthusiastic about the food. He immediately recommended the special soup of the day, a corn and lobster bisque ($9), saying that he had tasted it earlier and thought it was insanely good.
The corn bisque was indeed sweet, flavorful, and very, very rich. The lobster was a nice addition, and overall the soup was solid, though a bit too rich for my tastes. It didn't come close to the best corn soup I've ever had from one of my favorite restaurants in Boston.
Feeling like something light, I ordered the Frisée, a frisée salad  tossed in a red wine vinaigrette with a poached Glaum Farm egg, a mini brioche, and North Country apple smoked bacon with shaved Parmesan Reggiano. This salad was only $11, a refreshingly reasonable price for the Strip. The egg was perfectly poached, and the rest of the ingredients were overall solid, though I found the red wine vinaigrette to be a bit too acidic.

I do appreciated how the menu tries to tells you the source of all the ingredients. Market fresh indeed.

Since Emeril is known for his New Orleans style southern cooking, Bryan had to order at least one signature dish. He ordered the Slow Cooked Pork Po-Boy ($15), a perfectly satisfying and tasty sandwich with slow cooked pork in a molasses barbecue sauce and cole slaw. Natural cut fries came on the side.

General Thoughts
The meal was solid, reasonably priced, and the overall experience fine. I wouldn't call it a destination-worthy restaurant, (there are so many other much more interesting similarly priced places to enjoy). However, if you're hungry and in a pinch, it's a perfectly fine place to enjoy a quick lunch.

Now, back to CES! (can you find Bryan?)


Table 10
The Palazzo
3327 Las Vegas Blvd S Ste 2900
Las Vegas, NV 89109