Celeste was a place on my list that I never made it to pre-pandemic. I’m trying not to have be my first experience be during this time, but it does sound tempting.
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We were in the same boat. Twice, we nearly went there but something last-minute intervened. Like you I had put off ordering from there, wanting my first experience to be in-house. But lately, I have begun to worry about places not making it through this.
(I may have told this story before, but I’d had a reservation at O Pedro, the pop-up version at Intersect by Lexus in NYC of a celebrated Mumbai restaurant in late February, that I had to cancel. There had seemed plenty of time back then to eat there in March or April…)
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Sarma has now posted online ordering (no more phone calls or bringing in your credit card) as well as a lunch window ordering walk up cash only menu.
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Oh, I’m glad to hear everything was so good. It’s high on my list as we get a little more comfortable with takeout. The option that really catches my eye is the fresh pasta by the pound and prepared sauces to cook at home.
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That “guava-like whiff” stayed with me so I looked up the recipe for seco de cordero. There’s vinegar among the ingredients, and perhaps that was what I was whiffing, but it’s still a bit of a puzzle because vinegar mellows as you cook it till you can hardly tell it’s an ingredient. The Goan dishes pork vindaloo (different from what Indian restaurants here pass off as vindaloo) and sorpotel use a lot of vinegar. As the dish begins to simmer it gives off a stingy, sharp odor, but after an hour that has settled into something more mellow.
The dish is also cooked with an entire bunch of cilantro, not as a garnish, but as an ingredient.
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Colette Bakery in Medford is starting to add to their repertoire, with lunch items being added to their standard breads and deserts. Today they had ham + cheese and tuna + egg sandwiches, flatbread pizza on ciabatta dough and a couple kinds of quiche. The s.o. went over and bought us the pieces pictured below (one is broccoli and the other is ham) for lunch, which I’m really looking forward to since I don’t think I’ve had outside food in weeks.
Really liking having this place a couple minute’s walk away!
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We ordered from Whole Heart this week; ordering through their website was simple, and we were able to both specify a time to pick up our order and to request curbside pickup. Before the coronavirus, Whole Heart was one of my regular haunts, so I was delighted to have their food again. It looks like they’re offering a different limited menu each week, so I’m sure we’ll order again when our favorite bowls are available.
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Not complaining here at all, but just wanted to say I was supposed to be in Boston early Thursday morning to spend a week in Gloucester & visiting Ipswich, Salem, maybe couple other places, with our final night in Boston.
All changed due to current, but I hope to be able to make the planned trip at some point, although the future seems to be a little uncertain right now. Was looking forward to being in your lovely, highly educated, historic and cultured part of the world for a bit, and feast on seafood - especially lobster, clams, scallops, all of it I guess.
Have been to Boston long ago, but only for 2 days. Hope you’re all well, but know your state has been hit pretty hard. Fingers crossed for another chance to visit sometime. 
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Oh, Lambchop, I do hope things improve and you are able to spend some quality time in our amazing area. This is so hard. Be well, and here’s to many festive times ahead, wherever they may be.
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Thanks for your gracious reply @bear - take care of yourself as well. We can all just hope for the best. 
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A few new pandemic takeout experiences from this weekend:
Cafe Sushi: They are currently doing takeout Wed-Sat with specific set options (nigiri/sashimi, donburi, maki, bento). Order ahead either online or via telephone (day of only currently). Pick up couldn’t be easier. At your appointed time, your order is placed outside on a rack by their old (upper entrance). Tuna, salmon and chirashi donburi had pristinely fresh fish (including belly cuts in the tuna and salmon). Cafe sushi seems to be ramping up slowly and doing things in a thoughtful way. To go sake, beer and wine is also available at what seemed to me to be less than normal dine menu prices. This will be part of the weekly rotation going forward.
Frank Pepe Pizza: Ordered online from the Chestnut Hill location for curbside pickup. I called upon arrival, popped the rear hatch and they put the pizzas right in. They nailed the order and the pizzas had a nice char (well done is an order option). The pizza reheated well when I got it home. With less traffic than normal, getting over to CH for pickup is much less daunting.
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Thanks @uni. Just to add, Cafe Sushi is also on Caviar.
Cafe Sushi is normally on Caviar, but I’m not sure that they are using Caviar during this time. At this point they are open for take out only and not delivery, however their plans are evolving weekly.
Their takeout link defaults to ToastTab. For Cafe Sushi (or any other restaurant), I’d strongly encourage everyone to use Toast when available. My understanding is that there is no mark up via Toast and all of the proceeds flow directly back to the restaurant. Hopefully a silver lining from this pandemic is that restaurants figure out ways to serve their customers while breaking free from some of the apps and delivery services that impose markups that benefit neither the restaurant or customer.
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Agree on Toast.
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We live near The Landing - L’ Approve, a whole-in-the-wall pizza place on Adams Street in Newton. Had never tried it, but after our neighbor mentioned the pizza was good we researched it on Yelp. The number and passion of the 5-star reviews had us believing we were missing the next phenomenon growing up in our neighborhood.
The reality is a bit more nuanced. Excellent crust, nice sauce/cheese ratio. However ingredients were fair to midling. The anchovies on the Napoli were not the highest quality, and the “hot sopressata” on the Devil was pleasingly picante but not diavolo. The quantity of ingredients on the Lake (mozzarella, sweet sopresata, ham, mushroom, artichoke, olive, basil) was generous. We did not try the tiramisu, which the Yelp reviewers praised, or the tempting-sounding nutella/ricotta calzone.
Good enough that we will add it to our rota as it’s walking distance, but not, despite what Yelpers would have one believe, worth a lengthy drive.
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Landing is for us the third best pizza in Boston. Excellent dough and ingredients (only the wood-fired oven is missing). If we wouldn’t live quite close we definitely think it is worth even a longer drive. I don’t think there is anything within 15 minutes drive which is even remotely on that quality level
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Thanks Honkman. What should we order next time? Need to strategize ;-). Also curious, what are your top two?
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We got a marinara with cheese (because the regular sauce doesn’t have garlic and I had a craving.) That was a few months ago, but I remember really liking the crust. The rest sort of escapes me. I’ll have to give it a try again.
And yes, honkman, I’d like to know your other two favorites for when the craving strikes. We’re just starting to do takeout again.
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OK, so the lamb dinner was even more over-the-top, and has seriously spoiled us for any other eggplant preparation.
The kit was
- roasted eggplant with a creamy feta sauce and pine nut/golden raisin vinaigrette (OMG - the sauce is so simple but absolutely amazing - simmer some heavy cream, add crumbled feta and stir until the lumps are gone, season with salt and pepper),
- mixed greens with beautiful tiny fresh herbs and a sherry/mustard/shallot vinaigrette (with just a bit of maple syrup - just adds a touch of sweetness), and
- rack of lamb with fresh mint gremolata. The lamb was something to behold, beautifully Frenched and very generous portions.
Served the eggplan as a first course. Fortunately had a bit of left-over baguette on hand to sop up the sauce. This kit took a bit over 90 minutes in all, and again it’s well worth sitting down ahead of time to sequence things as it’s essentially three separate recipes.
They just posted the next list of kits:
[https://www.stirboston.com/calendar]
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So far we had and liked - The Garden, Chicken & Peppers, The Lake, Capri and The Landing (the last two include potatoes which I really like on pizza)
And yes, the tiramisu is definitely one of the better versions we had recently.
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