Lucky's Lounge /355 Congress Street Boston, MA 02210/ (617) 357-5825

This one is hard.  Mainly because I like Lucky's Lounge.  It's unique.  It's anti-Boston at times and oh-so-far-too-Boston at others.  I have experienced the good clean fun of a Sunday Sinatra Night and the Frat House Nightmare of a Friday and Saturday night.  I prefer Sundays.  Most people who have been there, I would say, have a special place in their heart for Lucky's, myself included, and that is why this is so hard.

Lucky's vaunted underground-esque entrance sans sign

Let's just say that the Lucky's Sinatra Brunch is one of the more talked about in Boston.  But once again, I have no idea why I listen to anyone when it comes to good food around this city.  This place was utterly, horribly, painfully disappointing.  The old schooly atmosphere of Lucky's is what makes it worth the trip.  Don't get me wrong, the music was good.  But the food...what the hell are you people doing?!?!  No, really.  You have a reputation to uphold for your own sake.  If you care, that is. Where to start?  The menu isn't bad.  Not a huge selection, but that in itself isn't exactly detrimental for a possibly hungover-ridden Sunday brunch. I chose the Steak&Eggs, which is almost always fail-safe.  I know, I know, skirt steak is not top sirloin, nor is it a cheap new york strip, as most steak&egg breakfasts tend to offer.  But hey, most people in the year 2011 know what to do to a skirt steak in order to make it exceptionally palatable. I was excited about the fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juice and both myself and one of my fellow brunchers asked for the OJ.  I quickly changed my mind since I hadn't had fresh squeezed grapefruit juice in a number of years.  The sweet and smiley waitress/bartendress was happy to change my order for me, although she was quick to ask whether or not I would like a glass of ice with that, since the G-Juice came from a can.  Confused, I decided on coffee and water.  The aforementioned fellow bruncher stuck with his OJ, which, since we were sitting right next to the bar and could see all of the drinks being poured, mysteriously was poured into a glass from a gallon jug.  Now I like to give most people the benefit of the doubt, but is it really more efficient to pre-fresh squeeze OJ super early in the morning for an hour or two, or just wait for someone to order it to squeeze out all of that fresh goodness at that precise moment?  Something tells me that neither of those things happen at Lucky's for brunch.

Disclaimer:  The coffee at Lucky's is phenomenal.

That is what I was drinking, after all.  In the midst of noticing where the OJ came from, our breakfast was on the table.

Cold Hash Browns, Tiny Piece of Cold & Rubbery Skirt Steak, 3 Almost Warm Eggs

Most people would not complain about a lighting-fast-served breakfast.  But too fast is often too fast.  Either the staff at Lucky's is clairvoyant, or someone had ordered my breakfast 10 minutes before me and changed their mind like me with the freshly canned grapefruit juice.  Not only did this food come out too quickly but it was COLD AS SHIT, if shit were cold, that is.  And I do mean less than lukewarm.  The hash browns had good potential, if they had been warm.  Hot may have even made them impressive.  The "5 oz. Skirt Steak" was, in fact, a skirt steak.  But 3 ounces of meat would have been a vast exaggeration.  A cold, rubbery exaggeration. The eggs were actually still warmish.  I see why three eggs are offered, considering the false advertising as per the amount of steak.

 Instead of toast, I asked for a substitution of home fries.

OK, if any of you were like me when you were a kid, you were interested in cooking but had no clue what cooking was about.  Your first attempt at "home fries" may have very well been some semi-fried potatoes with a certain combination of every spice in the spice cabinet with the hope that they would be a masterpiece.  That is what these home fries tasted like.  A masterpiece for a 4 year old and a joy for the parents who gag and smile with every bite and don't bother trying to feed it to the dog under the table because they know it isn't worth the effort.

Homefries with everything including the kitchen sink and its dirty dishwater

Reportedly, the breakfasts of my constituents ranged from edible to fairly enjoyable.  Lucky dogs.  I mean, people.  I would have thought about trying some of theirs, but after the first bite of home fries, I was done eating for the morning.  Sadly enough, this $15, 2-3 oz., cold, rubbery skirt steak with 3 warmish eggs, cold hash browns, and inedible home fries, coupled with phenomenal coffee, made for a food experience that was in no way worth repeating.  Not to mention that we showed up just before the music started and the dining room wasn't yet 1/4 full.  Being too busy to make a decent meal wasn't an excuse for this epic failure.  One final note, that I wasn't able to cleverly fit it until now but wish I could have.  The drink list not only includes fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juices, but some good looking morning cocktails.  I would really be intrigued by what the Lucky's Espresso Martini tastes like. Especially considering Lucky's doesn't have espresso.  Just saying.  Please don't hate on me for hating on Lucky's Lounge.  It is somewhere that I would bring an out of town friend to for a change of Boston pace.  Just not for brunch.  Get it together guys.

North Street Grill/ 229 North St, Boston 02113/(617) 720-2010

Finding a good breakfast restaurant in Boston is actually a whole lot easier than finding a decent Italian restaurant in the North End.  What?, you say.  Yes, that's right, I contest that most of the restaurants in the North End are actually not that good and that the best Italian in Boston can be found outside of the North End.  Make it a little better than Olive Garden, put it in "Little Italy" and the Midwesterners will come in droves.  Just make sure that you charge a whole lot more than the OG so you can continue to pay the rent.

The North Street Grill is an exception to the rule in this part of town.  And for good reason.  They actually stand out by not being an Italian restaurant.  I have only been here for breakfast, and hadn't been here for years, but always tell people that this is one of my favorite breakfast places in the city.  They wait was long on a late Sunday morning, but they gave us an idea of about how long it would be and we were able to head to Caffe Dello Sport for a quick espresso and a decent walk.  It is easiest to sit at the bar, which I most certainly prefer anyway.  The morning drink menu is pretty extensive, and I got something that had a cute name, but more importantly had a lot of different flavored rums and orange juice. and lemonade.  Awesome.  Puts a Mimosa to shame.  Just look.  You'll find it, name and all.  For food I ordered the Crab Omelet with Boursin Cheese, Chives, and Avocado.

Crab, Boursin Cheese, Chive and Avocado Omelet

Holy my #!@>#! was it good.  I almost never order Omelets, but all these flavors together looked sinfully covetous.  And they were.  As close to perfection as a breakfast can be that doesn't include bacon.  And the homefries were perfectly seasoned and homefried, which was surprising because they looked burned and overly seasoned.  They could have put a few more on the plate, for sure, but I am on a roll of not complaining.  The person next to me ordered Eggs Oscar (a.k.a. Asparagus Eggs Benedict).

Eggs Oscar

I may have tried some of that and it may have been wonderful too, especially the asparagus, which was grilled perfectly.  Impressive stuff man.  Impressive stuff.  Years ago I tried the Lobster Benedict, which was freakin' beautiful.  If you are near the North End on the weekend and would like some ridiculously good breakfast, this is the place.  I may see you there.  Give a shout.

Pleasant Cafe/4515 Washington Street Roslindale, MA 02131/(617) 323-2111

I don't know why I believe people.  Especially when those people include The Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, Phantom Gourmet, or TV Diner.  Almost without fail, if these outfits tell you that a place is worth going to or has the best such and so ever, you can pretty much guarantee that there is somewhere around the corner that is a lot better and probably cheaper.  But for some reason unbeknownst to me I still find my self reading what these people say and watching the unbearable idiocy of these TV shows just to find out names of places I have never heard of before and where they may be located.

The Boston Globe not too many weeks ago had an article, or whatever you call those slideshow things where they talk about food or "goings on" or "What are this year's Red Sox weaknesses?" or "Meet the new Celtics dancers", in which they had a list of the top 10 or 20 or 30 pizza places around, which included the Pleasant Cafe in Roslindale.  Now, this is a secret that I have never revealed to anyone and don't plan on revealing now or at anytime in the future, but the truth of the matter is that I am not much of a pizza eating individual.  However, I do enjoy a good dive bar and especially one that serves good cheap food.  I have written before about my affinity for places that you either did go to or would have gone to with your grandparents if you were or are lucky enough to have living grandparents.  If they were going to get out of the house, they were going somewhere that the food was good, cheap, and plentiful.  Just looking at the outside of Pleasant Cafe makes you think you have gone back in time a bit.

Blurry Neon on a Snowy April Fool's (Eve) Day Night 

They have an unconventional website with what looks like decent, reasonably priced food, so all signs pointed toward solidity (as is a solid choice).  Now I like some suspect places.  There are places I only go to alone because no one I know would be brave enough to eat the food.  I'll tell you this, if I had not decided that this was where I was eating and my friend had not agreed and almost coaxed me into it, I would have either turned around like I mistakenly walked into the wrong place or had a drink, paid the bartender, and bid farewell forever after without a second thought.  That wasn't exactly an option, however, so we got a menu and I hoped for the best.

The Pleasant Cafe isn't scary like "oh shit I hope I don't get stabbed" scary, but more like "wow, there sure are a lot of old drunks seemingly sleeping at the bar early on a Thursday night" and "do you think they wash the dishes here?" type scary.  If you will allow me to refer back to the Grandfolks theme again for a moment, The Pleasant Cafe stirs your memories of how great it was to hang out with the Grandparents when you were young but in reality is more like when you get older and go to your now only living Grandparent left's house and it smells bad and there are pee stains on your poor Grandparent person's pants.  May God rest their soul(s).  Ooohh, yuck, I'm sorry I had to put us through that.


The bartender was nice, as was the waitress.  For some reason we had to pay them separately for separate bar and food bills, but I have seen much stranger things at stranger bars.  The menu was sort of promising, and even in Boston I have never seen simply "Tonic" listed under "Beverages", but then, I'm also younger than 75 years old (and that is the only secret I will ever tell any of you) and I probably would have seen a menu or two in my day like that if I weren't.

So anyway, I ordered the BBQ Steak Tips with Fries and Coleslaw for $11.  Good deal, I say to myself, as long as it tastes good.  Bad deal, I say to myself, once I tried it.

Tasteless BBQ Steak Tips w/ Cole Slaw&Oil Marinated Potatoes (a.k.a. French Fries)

 The tips weren't BAD per se, they just were boring and pretty tasteless.  More oily than BBQy.  Not the worst quality, but they did nothing for me because they tasted like nothing.  The fries were like the fries you would get when you went to that one kid's house for dinner when you were young and didn't yet know what good food even was, but you somehow knew that taking that big honking bag of generic frozen french fries out of the freezer and dumping them in a pan of cold oil and waiting 35 minutes for the oil to get hot enough to bubble so you could wait another 25 minutes for them to get "cooked" was not the way french fries were supposed to be made.  The fries at PC taste like that.  The coleslaw was no better than the lower end of average and was the best part of the meal.  Service at the places I go to always takes a back seat to food.  You can treat me kind of badly as long as your food is good.  So I actually sort of feel bad telling the world how crappy the food is here, because the people that work there could have treated us any nicer, but this is not a blog about restaurant service, it is about food, and the food here is bad.  Needless to say, I can't see myself heading back here for a meal.  But if I am tired and locked out of my house some night soon, I'll know where to go to get a quick nap in.

Taqueria El Charrito/128 Pearl Street/ Chelsea, MA 02150

Not that solid.  Not awful, but considering the amount of competition in the immediate surrounding area, not much worth the trip either. Now I'll be the first to admit that I tend to limit myself at most Guatelsalvadorexican restaurants to the three tacos that I got here, but that's because A: I can't try everything on the menu everywhere I go and B: I happen to like chicken, steak, and lengua tacos. Especially tongue.  I like an occasional carnitas taco thrown in too, purely for its health benefits.  I also generally have a hard time with people that label what they are about to say (especially if the say "A,B, and 3" or "1,2 and C"), but I felt that it was quite appropriate in this instance.

Not great Steak, Chicken, & Lengua Tacos

Not great tacos minus one plus hot sauce

And for those of you that think I have tiny plastic taco pieces that I artfully put together a little bit differently in one of my standard take-out size styrofoam boxes that I keep in the closet for each one of these places that I claim to have visited, you are sorely mistaken.  I realize that tacos almost always look like tacos, but if you look at all of pictures I have posted, each place has its own subtle take on what the taco should be.  Take the radishes, for example.  Not every Guatelsavadorexican restaurant gives you radishes if you don't ask.  And I didn't.  I happen to love radishes with tacos, but that alone won't make me stray from my opinion that this place really doesn't have great tacos.  All the meat was drier than it should have been, except the chicken, which is odd.  Not much flavor to speak of, but it is almost as though they know that and give you their green hot sauce to fix that problem.  See I am most often of the opinion that the majority of places, however bad, have some sort of saving grace.  If they sold this green sauce by the bottle I would buy up a bunch of it for all the Mexican food that I don't know how to make.  It's REALLY good.  But, sadly, I would bring it around with me just to put it on other places' food.  Oh well.  You can't win 'em all.

Pita Mediterranean Cuisine/473 Albany Street/Boston, MA 02118/South End

For some odd reason, every time I drive by South End Pita I seem to be on the wrong side of the median and can't turn around to try it.  I have done this for at least a year, or however long it has been that they have been open.  I decided after breakfast that I would try this place for lunch.  This is how my brain works.  Always thinking about the next meal.

Falafel, Grape Leaf, Tahina Sauce and Salad

Chicken & Lamb Kabob w/Rice & Cabbage

There isn't a whole lot going on on the blocks that surround Pita.  It is directly next to 93, across from the lovely BTD Tow Lot, on the same street as Zapatos and The Boston Flower Market and that really nice looking soccer field. I mention this because it is actually pretty easy to get a parking spot here, unlike most other parts of the South End.  And for anyone that hasn't noticed, the new $1.25 an hour parking rate has already gone into effect.  Funny how quickly things can get done in Boston when the city decides it can make some money.  Yes, yes, I LOVE it here, don't worry.  I t must be the fact that it is the coldest day since January 22, 2005 that is wearing on me.  

So on to the food.

This place is good.  I like Middle Eastern food, but I haven't had any falafel in years.  Not sure why exactly, I just forgot about it, I guess.  I'm sort of glad I waited.  This falafel was perfect, granted, this is coming from someone who hasn't had any for awhile, but it was that nice deep-green-on-the-inside-golden-crispy-brown-on-the-outside type falafel.  I know, I know, I should have broken one in half and taken a picture, but I'll go back again soon.  Great flavor, well accented by the simple, light, tahina sauce on top.

As for the grape leaf, it was fine, good even.  I have an odd relationship with grape leaves.  They seem to me to be pretty much the same everywhere and never overwhelmingly good, but for some reason, you can tell a lot about a place if the grape leaves are better than just OK.  These were not too dry, not overly spiced, not overly lemony or olive oily, good, solid grape leaves (or leaf) all-in-all.  For a meal I got a little twist on one of the daily specials: Chicken and Lamb Kabob with Cabbage and Rice.  Good choice.  It wasn't knock you out amazing, but there was nothing bad to say about it by any means. The rice was white rice with a barely discernible amount of spice and yellowness, the meat was rolled in a simple, not to spicy-hot rub that seemed to be a mix of paprika and black pepper, and grilled perfectly, and the cabbage came served in a little bit of what seemed like tomato sauce with sumac and onions.  The latter was the most interesting part of the dish ("interesting" meaning "good"), but I would like to stress most of all just how beautifully the lamb and chicken were cooked.  And it was that type of lamb that you could introduce to your friends that don't like lamb and they might just change their mind.  I want to try more stuff here.  I didn't get to try the hummus, or the Moroccan Mint Tea, which you can get hot or iced, but the next time that I am on the correct side of the median and hungry, I'll be sure to stop again.  And this time I will get a pic of the inside of the falafel.  Finally, this is a much nicer place on the inside than it looks on the outside.  There are at least 4 or 5 tables in there and it is pretty cozy, not small cozy, comfortable cozy.  

Banh Mi BA LE Vietnamese Restaurant/1052 Dorchester Ave Dorchester, MA 02125

The Four Dollar Lunch.  Not too common, but that's why I'm here, to find these things for you.  Now let me be clear: Cheap≠Good.  Take Taco Bell, for example.  Point made.  Moving on, this four dollar lunch is actually quite good.  It can be found at at Banh Mi BA LE Vietnamese Food Place.  No, that's not exactly what it's called, but it is more than just a restaurant, but also not quite a restaurant restaurant considering there is not one seat in the place.

So I suppose it is a take-out spot, but with more than one kind of self-serve beef jerky by the pound in big plastic bins, tapioca pudding with yucca and banana, coconut dessert, flan, and green dessert things with bubble tea balls in them in the fridge (oh believe me, that is only the beginning as far as sweets in the fridge goes), sticky rice with pork and things wrapped in banana leaves, Vietnamese Sandwiches, noodle dishes of varying types, hot foods that include fried chicken and ginger chicken, fish dishes, pork and beef dishes, sausages, spring rolls, bubble tea, Vietnamese coffee, I could go on and on because it certainly doesn't stop there, but it really needs to be experienced to understand.  Let's just say they have a lot of bases covered without spreading themselves too thin because, quite frankly, they have run out of room to spread themselves any thinner.  I mainly go here when I realize that it has been two or three weeks since I have eaten a fruit or a vegetable and get the rice noodles with fried tofu, broccoli, green beans, celery, and whatever else they have decided to throw in for the day.  Noodles are served with either soy sauce sauce or fish sauce sauce.  

The shrimp spring rolls are nice and healthy (they offer sausage spring rolls too) and are served with peanut sauce or fish sauce sauce.  The spring rolls are $3 or $4.  They have been in the process of raising prices lately from "how the hell do they make any money at this place" low to just ridiculously low.  I would suggest the chicken wings over the breast.  This breast was pretty greasy, the wings not so much.  The ginger chicken picture does it very little justice.  This stuff is great.  $3 for a small order (the same for an order of wings) or $5 with rice.  The sticky rice is best, but they don't make it all that often.  So that is a lot to take in, I realize, but this little Food Place is a lot to take in in person too.  The good thing about Bahn Mi BA LE is that almost everything I have tried here is good to very good.  The bad, and there is little bad to say, is that even with the huge amount of stuff they serve, they won't necessarily have today what they had yesterday if you happened to like it.  Or the next day, or the next, or the same day next week.  But the good here outweighs the bad by a lot, and chances are that whatever you end up trying will be good.  On top of that, it is quite a sensory experience. 

Oasis Brazilian Restaurant /373 Main Street/Medford, MA 02155

Rice, Farofa, Fried Mandioca

Brazuka

I love this place.  No, I mean I really love this place.  If I have people coming in from out of town (even vegetarians), I take them to Oasis.


If friends of mine want to head out for a night on the town, that night more often than not starts at Oasis.  Even the most picky and difficult diners will enjoy a meal at Oasis. Whether you like meat, salt, potatoes, rice, fish, or vegetables, you will like Oasis.  Especially if you like meat and salt.

Potato salad w/carrots, peas, apples, rasins, and other stuff

Fried Banana

Oh, and if you are torn about what to do for dinner on a Thursday and think that watching Brazilian soap operas and listening to odd renditions of Cindy Lauper songs along with The Girl From Ipanema played on acoustic guitar, you are in for a night to remember. The drinks here, alcoholic or not, are great.  Coconut, papaya, cashew, guarana, beer, wine, Caipirinhas, smoothies, all sorts of odd and different things.  The menu is pretty big, and you can order from the menu or get the buffet, but I usually go for the Brazuka which is a choice of steak, steak, sausage, chicken, pork chop, sausage, chicken, steak, in any order, served on a sword.  Yes, a sword.  This meat sword is served with a ridiculous amount rice, farofa (fried cassava flour with bacon), fries or fried yucca, black beans and salad.  95% of the time you can substitute the potato salad for regular salad, as long as the potato salad hasn't run out for the night.  3 people can share a Brazuka, often with some food to bring home, for less than $20.  That's a hard deal to beat.  The only negative thing that I can say about Oasis is that if you order the steak raw, rare, or medium-rare, you are going to get a medium-well done steak.  Very seldom will you find any pink in the steak on the meat sword unless you really stress it to the wait staff, who, by the way, are always sweet and friendly.  Other than that, you can't beat this place.  Everything is always good.