A better approach is to never not have saffron in the house…
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We did our first take out in this 2-month period last night. It was for a special occasion for our daughter and in the absence of Oleana, her go-to-for-everything (birthdays, father’s day, graduation), she chose Sarma. Their normal procedure involves ordering on the phone (it took a dozen tries at noon), but then completing a credit-card transaction in the restaurant. We explained that there are high-risk factors in our family, and they immediately bent the rules to take payment on the phone and offered drop-off by our car if we pulled up outside and called them. It went like clockwork.
The food, as in the old days, ran the gamut from very good to very great. It was all either at room temp or slightly warm when we got home. We re-heated only one thing, and in retrospect should have warmed up a couple of others as well. We had all the pide on the menu last night (crackers, various breads, haloumi sticks). The star was their cornbread: moist and rich, studded with tiny nuggets of cheese. The haloumi was very tasty, but we should have warmed it slightly to recover its creamy interior.
We also had two veg dishes (greens and brussels), both excellent, and remarkably with various crunchy toppings still crunchy; lamb meat balls (excellent, but we should have warmed them a bit); shrimp saganaki (the shrimp were very tasty, as was the sauce, but you had to hunt the shrimp among the rather high bell-pepper content); and their still-superlative fried chicken. I should have ordered two of those.
Oh, also deviled egg salad (daughter was attracted by that, thinking of Oleana’s famous deviled eggs) and tzatziki as sides, and avgolemono (with orzo), all very, very good. The soup was the one thing we reheated, and I’m glad we did.
Sarma has always been on our list of GBA blessings, and our opinion of it is now even higher.
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Our experience with picking up from Sarma has been wonderful; we’ve done it several times. We live close by so it’s really convenient and fast to get the food home. That cornbread is amazing. I spent a while trying to find a recipe to replicate. What I made was OK, but so far from Sarma’s!
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Ditto our experiences with Sarma, they have their process down for the most part. As previously pointed out, phone ordering can take some patience. Of all the restaurants we have tried during the quarantine I would say Sarma’s food translates best to being true to dining in there. They offer a good cross section of their end and the food travels very well.
The grilled eggplant skewers have been a favorite. Their fried chicken is a given. Sweet potato falafel, muhammara, beet kimchi, chocolate cookies for desert. It’s hard to find a dud on Sarma’s menu.
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Truer words were never spoken.
Also, as you point out, what they’re producing is not a Covid19-compromise limited menu, but something close to their full one. Kudos to them!
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Well, their full menu is more than twice as long, or was. But I’m very happy with what they are doing, and they are evolving, and some of the new items are great. They are wisely focusing on the dishes that can be transported easily without a great loss of flavor and texture if they require heating up. That hummus is always wonderful and the fried chicken.
Tried unsuccessfully to order from Little Big Diner in Newton Center last evening. Web site said online ordering was open, yet when you went to the web site, you got a message saying “we are not taking online orders at this time”. Weird. Even in a pandemic, Dave Punch knows how to suck $ out of my wallet, however, as he’s now doing a Dave’s Butcher Block menu of provisions. Tomorrow we’ll pick up 2 x 12 oz brined Berkshire pork chops, 1 lb of adobo marinated steak tips, 2 Paps’s linguica links, and a 1/2 pint of their insanely good spicy whipped feta spread. We’ll be having the steak tips for dinner tomorrow, and freezing the pork and linguica.
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Finally gave the Island Creek Oysters delivery option a try. FedEx tried to screw up delivery multiple times, but eventually I discovered and retrieved them from a porch across the street. Nevertheless they were in great condition, harvested and shipped on Thursday, delivered Friday afternoon, and enjoyed for lunch on Saturday. We love Island Creeks for their small size and moderate salinity. We consumed about a third raw and enjoyed the rest grilled - topped with a bit of garlic butter, chopped kale, grated Parmesan and bread crumbs, grilled for just a few minutes until the butter begins to bubble. Our next door neighbor said it best - WOW.
Works out to around 2 bucks per oyster including delivery.
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So you ended up calling in the order?
Love your style !!!
Gotta credit my 92 year old dad who learned to grill oysters during his February stays in the Florida Keys.
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Nope, they are only taking online orders. They added a statement to their website today that states if you get a notice that they are not taking online orders right now, it means they have reached capacity, and to keep trying. I’ll try again, but maybe on a less popular night than a Friday. I they are open Wed-Sat 4-8 and Sunday 12-6.
Not to get into an argument over this, but my memory of their in-house menu was that although it was longer, it was not twice as long. We last ate in the restaurant in November 2019, and I have a copy of that menu. It has 43 items listed. The takeout a few days ago had 29, which is really impressive. It’s hard to make a direct comparison of what’s still on and what’s off, but their seafood options are now significantly reduced (so the menu is less varied), and there’s an understandable inclination to make the most of limited resources – there was a distinct dilly presence in three different dishes, for example, whereas in the past one of the great strengths of both Sarma and Oleana was how distinct in taste different dishes were.
The dessert menu, always somewhat limited in the past, had seven items on the takeout menu. That’s an increase.
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No argument called for! We love their take out menu. I was also thinking of the food items they bring around on trays to offer when you are in the restaurant that are not printed on the dine in menu. However, I certainly wasn’t counting exactly and didn’t intend to suggest that I was. I consider the number and quality of take out items to be truly impressive and of high quality. So my estimation was not intended at all as a criticism. They’ve also added more items for take out than they had when they launched take out. I can see Cassie’s creativity and adaptation coming through in delightful and delicious ways.
Yes, indeed, more dessert options for take out now than for dining in , though I wasn’t thrilled with the lemon bar I got a few weeks ago…too sweet for my taste though probably not for most people. I do miss that fabulous frozen yogurt for dessert dine in. Nice and tart and I always got the least sweet topping.
I also miss the complexity and variety of the fresh herbs from dine in, while understanding procurement and keeping ingredients in stock during these times are real issues. I love dill so I’m happy with that!
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Thanks. I think we’re all in agreement here[*] that Sarma is one of the brightest stars of the GBA dining firmament. Along with Oleana, these stars would shine brightly in any firmament. There’s certainly nothing that matches the consistent quality of that kind of food in New York or Paris or Rome or Beijing or Bombay. (Have not eaten in Turkey, to my regret, and, given the way the world is going, and Turkey is going, I may never.)
[*} I’ll duel you with skewered kebabs if you disagree.
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Over the long Memorial Day weekend, we ordered dinner from Gene’s (Westford) and breakfast from a local indie coffee place that newly reopened for takeout (Java Room, Chelmsford).
We were surprised to see that both businesses had newly enabled online ordering.
Incredibly interesting to see a couple of small, mom-and-pop type businesses enable e-commerce and offer (nearly) contactless pickup.
You barely had to step inside to grab your order and go.
Awesome pivot on their parts, without the resources the big chain franchises have.
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It will be the only way for them to survive the next 12-18 months
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Agree. I’m all about the mom-and-pops. We’ll support them with our business as much as we can.
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We had delivery from Celeste recently. Everything went smoothly. Delivery was set for 5:45 and they were here at 5:43. We had the mixed ceviche with squid, fish, shrimp (very good), the lamb stew (I enjoyed it, but it had an almost guava-like whiff about it that other diners did not care for), the vegetable stew with a pan fried fish add-on (a knockout), and the causa de aguacate y tomate – two disks of mashed potato sandwiching tomato and avocado, drizzled with a creamy sauce (very tasty, but the dish had been knocked about a bit in transit, and is probably one of the few things on the menu that’s not a happy traveler.
We chose a wine from their offerings, a muscat rosé that had all the fragrance of the grape. It came nicely chilled and was very refreshing in these hot evenings we’ve had,
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We had excellent take out from Fox & Knife this week. It’s another place, where I’d say the offerings and quality are in the same league with their non pandemic menu.
They always offer bulk all day offerings via their Pox & Pasta menu, in addition to a daily (Wed-Sun) dinner menu. It can be a bit confusing finding their daily menu, and it is most often updated on their Instagram stories. The menu is usually on their website as well, but it’s not always updated. Phone in ordering was friendly and easy.
The broccoli ceasar was a nice take on the dish and enough for 2 people to share as an app or side. The salmon with braised greens traveled well and was one of the most delicious seafood dishes I’ve had in quite some time. Our pork milanese itself was excellent, but served without any accompaniments. The pasta probably travelled the worst of all the dishes, with the bolognese being a bit set up by the time we got it home. However their home made pasta is so perfect, that it was delicious anyway. I’m sure it would be easy enough to heat it up and revive the bolognese.
It was easy to pick up (parking available in front). They allow 2 people in at a time, and have a set up like Pammy’s with different stations around the restaurant. Windows and doors were wide open. I have provided my cc in advance, but did have to sign (with a freshly sanitized pen). Staff was friendly and cheerful. Some places are getting more used to this setup and I don’t feel like I’m running in to make a drug deal.
Fox & Knife goes on the list as one we’ll return to.
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