Hungry Mother

Why don't I go to Hungry Mother more often?

We are spontaneous diners who don't plan ahead. As many unlucky diners have learned throughout the years, not planning ahead = not dining at Hungry Mother.

I have found Hungry Mother (together with the likes of Bondir, The Helmand, and Craigie on Main), to be one of the most difficult reservations to get in Cambridge at the last minute.

It's not hard to see why. Their prices are reasonable and the food is phenomenal. It's unusual that I'll write about a restaurant three times on this blog, but I think it's warranted here. After all, the first post had no pictures (I know, crazy huh? Early days of the blog!) and the second post was just a recipe for one of their dishes. So now (finally!) for the first time, I have a proper write-up full of mouthwatering photos as well as my thoughts about the experience.

Hungry Mother is easy to miss. It's hidden in a little street corner right near One Kendall Square in Cambridge (across the street from the theater). It opened in 2008 to much anticipation and fanfare and has been very, very popular ever since. Forget trying to show up without a reservation on a weekend evening. Be prepared to wait.

The food is Southern American made using refined French techniques. The chef-owner is originally from Virginia and sprinkles various bits of his home state throughout the restaurant. For example, "Hungry Mother" is also the name of a state park in Virginia, and the state bird of Virginia is the cardinal (the logo of the restaurant).

The menu constant changes depending on what's available and what's seasonal. They try their hardest to source ingredients locally or (in the case of Southern-specific ingredients), from Virginia. For us, it had been quite a while since we had last visited, so we anxiously explored the menu and tried several dishes.

The house made Surryano Country Ham Biscuits came with a homemade red pepper jelly, smoked bluefish pate, and pickled okra. We loved the sweet + savory + spicy combo that came from the salty ham, buttery biscuits, and sweet & spicy jelly. I loved the spicy red pepper jelly so much I purchased a jar of it on my way out (yes, they sell them at the counter for $9 a jar).

One of my favorite dishes of the evening was the Crispy Smoked Pork appetizer, which came with Hakurei turnip greens and Jim Nardello peppers in a rich, savory potlikker broth.  The broth was incredible, incorporating the rich, smoky flavors from the pork. A cornbread stick served as the perfect tool by which to soak up any remaining broth.

The Chatham Bluefish came with "hm" bacon ("hm" presumably means Hungry Mother? Or maybe House-made?). It was topped with tomato jam and served over a salad of arugula and red Norland potatoes tossed in a cider vinaigrette.

This dish was solid, though I think deep down inside we both thought that the famous fried catfish was the better dish.

Bryan absolutely loved the Baked Anson Mills Grits, which were made with "hm" Tasso ham and tons of sharp, Vermont cheddar. It was wonderfully cheesy, very creamy, and all around very good.

The Sauteed Local Collard Greens, cooked with pepper vinegar, was fine, but uninspiring.

My other favorite dish - the one I could not stop eating - was the Skillet Cornbread with Sorghum Butter. Sorghum is a type of sweet molasses made from sorghum, an early grain. Sorghum butter is sweet, sort of like honey butter.

The cornbread was addictive. Buttery and moist on the inside, crunchy on the outside - it was definitely amongst the best cornbread I've ever had. Heck, I'd go back for that dish alone. We only ordered a "small" portion (half circle), but you can easily get a whole one for the table to share. I guarantee it won't stick around for long.

Bryan got the Strube Ranch Wagyu Bavette Steak, which was served with creamed native corn, blacked arrow head cabbage, and "b-1" sauce. The steak was solid, though the entire dish was not particularly special. We've had more interesting dishes in the past, and I think this time around, our main entrees were good, but didn't exactly blow us away.
Nevertheless, we're still huge fans of the restaurant. My favorites are the Crispy Smoked Pork appetizers and the Sorghum cornbread. The fried green tomatoes are excellent, and we've enjoyed the French gnocchi a lot on a past visit.

Their menu changes daily, so there's always a chance to try something new. Of course, certain classics, like the cornbread and the fried green tomatoes, probably never leave the menu.

For dessert we tried the Blueberry Stacked Cake, which was great - not too sweet, and full of luscious, in-season berries. I still miss the buttermilk pie they had the first time I came. I'm not sure if they will ever bring it back, but I hope for it every single time.

Overall, this fun little Southern place is a gem in Kendall Square. It's very evident why Hungry Mother is so popular. On top of the great food, they also serve some really interesting cocktails and have an extensive spirits list. Finally, the space is warm and cozy, reminiscent of a traditional Southern restaurant with many rooms, each one painted a different color. You almost feel like you're inside a big house.

Hungry Mother
233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave
Cambridge, MA 02141

Sylvia's Restaurant

This is the second post in the Eating the Big Apple series. Other posts include Soba Koh.

Update: Rest in Peace Sylvia Wood, the founder of this restaurant, who passed away Thursday, July 19, 2012. 

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For some reason, New Yorkers are obsessed about brunch.

Perhaps it's the opportunity to slow down from the busyness of the crazy work week; or maybe it's the availability of so many fantastic places at which to enjoy this beloved meal.

Whatever the reason, the city is abuzz with brunch seekers every Sunday morning. Try to get into some of the popular brunch spots around town, and you'll easily find yourself waiting in line, sometimes for well over an hour, for a coveted seat.

In the middle of all these different brunch options, there's a unique sub-genre that hails from another region and another time. It's the Sunday gospel brunch in New York - Harlem specifically. Chow down on delicious Southern dishes in rooms that feel like an old Southern house while listening to (and even participating in) a fun afternoon of live gospel music.

Welcome to Sylvia's in Harlem, one of the most famous gospel brunch institutions in New York. Sylvia's has been around since 1962, serving up classic hearty Southern fare such as chicken & waffles, collard greens, and fried catfish.

One wall is covered with pictures of famous people who have dined at the restaurant. Dare show up after 12pm and you're guaranteed to wait at least an hour before you'll be seated.

We show up around 11:15 AM as a party of eight and (thankfully) we are seated immediately.

We've heard incredible things about the famous cornbread at Sylvia's. One guy who we'd talked to the day before told us we absolutely had to try the cornbread. In his mind, it was the best cornbread he'd ever eaten.

Within moments, we see freshly baked biscuits appear at our table.

Where's the cornbread? Can we please have some cornbread?

"I'm really sorry, but the cornbread is not ready yet. It will be at least another hour before it is ready."

Though the biscuits are delicious, we can't help but wonder about the cornbread.

The menu is simple and reasonably priced. Most breakfast-like entrees are under $20, with just a few grilled meat dishes costing between $20 and $25. Most people opt for the $20 entree, which includes a generous piece of meat plus two sides.

Fried chicken is definitely popular. Guests enjoy both the "Southern Style Fried Chicken" and the "Smothered Chicken" (chicken "smothered" in gravy). They're both great and you can't go wrong with either.

You have your choice of two sides, and various guests order different things, such as pickled beets, candied yams, baked mac & cheese, and collard greens.
The gospel breakfast includes a drink (anything from coffee to a Bloody Mary or a mimosa!). If you want the Bloody Mary or mimosa, make sure to order that first and indicate that you want it as part of the brunch. Otherwise, if you order, say, a coffee or something right when you sit down, then you'll have to pay full price for the mimosa if you want it later. [Trust me, it makes much more sense to get the mimosa or Bloody Mary for "free" and then pay for the cheaper coffee or iced tea later].

If you're not in the mood for fried chicken, you can always get the fried catfish (like me!), which is also simple but quite tasty.

Halfway through our meal, we inquire again about the cornbread. Oddly, the projected time has moved forward, and now they are telling us that cornbread won't be ready until at least 1:30PM.

We look at our watches and realize that's still more than an hour away. Perhaps we won't be able to try the cornbread this time.

Thankfully, there are other things to distract us. After all, coming to Sylvia's isn't just about the food. In fact, the most fun and unique part of this gospel brunch is the live gospel music that they have every week. Brunch is from 11AM - 2PM while live gospel music goes on from 12:30 PM - 4 PM.

Near the end of our meal, husband-and-wife duo Ruth and Clay Simpson begin to perform. Clay plays keyboard in the back while Ruth walks around, room by room, singing and greeting all the visitors. She sings many familiar gospel tunes.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. . . "

The energy is infectious, and at times an entire side of a room starts clapping along (and even singing!) with one of her lively, gospel songs.

There are many non-local visitors in the room, and she greets them all, table by table.

"Boston is in the house! Blessed be the Lord. Let's hear it for Boston! Boston is in the house!"

"I'm gonna let it shine . . ."

"Spain is in the house! Let's hear it for my friends who flew all the way from Spain! Spain is in the HOUSE!"

And on and on. The geographical diversity of diners who come gather at this place is astounding.

And then, we inquire, one last time, about the cornbread.

The server feels sorry for us at this point. "I'll see what I can do, OK?"

Before you know it, a basket of warm, incredibly moist cornbread blocks arrives at our table.

It pays to be persistent, I guess. The cornbread turns out to be awesome. Moist, slightly sweet, and melt-in-your-mouth buttery. It was totally worth the wait. 

On our way out we gasp at the crazy crowd that has formed in the foyer. The wait is definitely over an hour by this point, and we are just relieved that we arrived just before the rush.

It was a fun morning, and the gospel songs really put me in a good mood.

Is it the best Southern food I've ever had? Tough to say - but maybe not necessarily. I will say it's one of the most authentic experiences I've had (outside of the actual South), and the whole meal is really fun. The food's still good, and overall I still highly recommend it. If nothing else, come for the spirited gospel music and the awesome cornbread.

Just make sure to come before noon if you can.

"Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine."

Sylvia's
328 Lenox Ave
 New York, NY 10027

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

Redbones

Fried Oysters (served with chipotle mayo) $6.99

Redbones has been serving up excellent Southern barbecue in Davis Square since 1987. "Pitmasters" prepare the meat at Redbones using the authentic Southern method of smoking it over an open pitfire.  The restaurant has won countless awards, most notably Best of Boston, Barbecue in 2000, 2002, and 2003. I know, it begs the question, who won all the subsequent years?

The reigning champ (up until 2009) for best barbeque was Blue Ribbon Barbecue in Arlington. But the two places really are quite different beasts and serve different purposes. Blue Ribbon is mainly a take-out place with hardly any seating. Redbones, on the other hand, has two floors of seating, 28 beers on tap, a festive ambiance, plus much more non-BBQ Southern dishes.

We decided to check out Redbones the other day to see if it was really worth the hype. Keep in mind this place often has lines out the door on weekends. Fortunately, we were able to land a table on a Saturday afternoon without any problems. Here's a peek at some of the food we enjoyed.


Sweet Tea in big jars! For some reason, I always feel that a place is much more Southern if it serves its drinks in these huge jars. Other places locally that do that include Hungry Mother and Tupelo.

Top Left: Cornbread Top Right: Fried Okra $3.99 Bottom Left: Succotash (Lima beans, corn, peppers & onions) $3.99 Bottom right: Hushpuppies (fried cornbread, flavored w/ scallions and garlic, served with vinegar sauce) $2.99
All of these were excellent! I especially enjoyed the deep fried okra and my succotash, but honestly, everything here is good!

Pulled Pork Sandwich (Solo $6.49 / Plate $8.99)
Slowly smoked pork, "pulled" & served with cole slaw, onions, pickles & sauce on a toasted roll, by itself, or with beans & potato salad

Fried Catfish Sandwich (Solo $6.49 / Plate $8.99)
Spicy fried catfish on a bun with lettuce, tomato & tartar sauce, comes by itself or with potato salad & cole slaw.

Catfish Combo $16.99 - $18.99
Catfish &amp Pulled Pork (or your choice of any other BBQ) served with Potato Salad & Cole Slaw


Final Thoughts
You can't go wrong coming here for a fun and delicious Southern meal. The BBQ is excellent, and I would highly recommend trying a pulled pork sandwich or anything with fried catfish. The fried appetizers, like the hush puppies, okra, and clams, are also fantastic. Excellent food, low prices, festive atmosphere, 28 draft beers - what's not to like?

I guess everyone has already figured that out, which would explain the endless long lines.

  

Redbones
Davis Square
55 Chester St
Somerville, MA 02144

Tupelo

Tupelo, a new New Orleans/Southern restaurant, is definitely one of the best bangs for your buck when it comes to dining in Cambridge. The ambiance is cozy and laid back, the food is pretty good, and the prices are very reasonable. Appetizers ranged between $5 and $8 and dinner entrees between $9 and $15.

Over all, the food is decent. Some dishes really stand out, and most dishes are pretty solid. Drinks are reasonably priced too, and the desserts, (especially the PIES! from Petsi Pies) are excellent.

The biggest negative might be that they don't take reservations. Since the restaurant is pretty small, you may have to wait quite a while before you can get a seat.

On Friday night, we waited about 25 minutes before getting a seat around 7:40 PM for 4 people.

Here's what we got:

Baby Spinach and apple salad with Creole vinaigrette. ($5)

This salad was fine - cheap at only $5. As Bryan said, "it's for people who want to order something healthy at a Southern restaurant." It was OK - nothing special, but nothing bad either.

Southern spiced turkey meatballs with a wedge of French bread for mopping up. ($6)
The meatballs were very flavorful, although borderline salty for my sensitive tastes (the guys thought it was perfectly fine). The meatballs are stewed in a flavorful broth, which is perfect for mopping up with the bread

Cheddar Grits. ($5)
This was my favorite part of the entire meal - deep fried grits! Fresh out of the fryer, then were soooo good! I already love corn and I love grits, so it's no big surprise that I loved this dish. Crunchy on the outside, cheesy and moist on the inside. It was sort of addictive. Definitely worth getting.

Daube of Beef: Beef braised in red wine with hominy mashed potatoes, slow cooked greens and Creole horseradish cream. ($15)

We thought this dish was quite ordinary. The beef was a bit overcooked, and thus a bit tough in texture. The flavor was OK, but nothing really stood out.

Fried Cat Fish: Crispy Cat fish with fresh green tomatoes, parsley potatoes and pickled jalapeno aioli. ($14.50)

This dish was solid, and I liked it better than the beef. The fried catfish was cooked well, and the sides were flavorful.

Desserts
The desserts come from Petsi Pies, whose owner is also a co-owner of Tupelo.

Everyone's favorite - it was unanimous. The blueberry pie rocks. Full of sweet berries, flaky crust, and not too sweet. Perfect.

The keylime pie was described as a "tart" key lime pie, and it kept up to its promise. I like tart pies, so I enjoyed this pie. Some other members of our party who didn't like sour desserts did not enjoy this one as much.

The biggest disappointment of the evening: the red velvet cake. Sadly, it was quite dry, and therefore not that fun to eat. The cream cheese frosting helped, but over all it was sub-par.

Conclusion: Tupelo has good food, great atmosphere, and is a GREAT addition to the neighborhood. Especially for the price, it's definitely worth a visit. If you go - make sure to order the cheddar grits and get a piece of blueberry pie!

Tupelo
1193 Cambridge St.,
Cambridge, MA
617-868-0004