Yep.We loved Tu y Yo some decades ago, when they were using the family recipes and making their own chiles chiptole adobo and their moles and protein sauces were great and the line was out the door.
We’ve been twice in the last 5 years, stupidly going for a second opportunity to get bad food and surly service and near empty dining room. Won’t happen again. The next to the last to the next to the last time, maybe 10 years ago, a server told us that they got negative feedback on the family recipes and so toned down everything. “Americans don’t like chiles” we were told.
Like many other people, I’ll say there isn’t good Mexican in Boston. Tenoch was good at the beginning in a wonderful way, but last coupe of times we tried it seemed to us they were grying to do “what Americans like.”
Not this American.
No reason to go there, in my opinion, and I’ll never go back.
If the spirit moves you and you are a fan of Michael’s Deli, please do start a thread. That’s how we find the places worth frequenting. Old-school and/or cash-only are part of an establishment’s distinctiveness, yes?
Here’s another ho who won’t bother with Tu y Yo. Bland, underseasoned food that leaves me really disappointed. As far as good Mexican goes, has anyone been to Angela’s in Eastie recently? It’s been a long time and I do need to go back, but I did enjoy my meals there a couple years back. I’ve also enjoyed the meals I’ve had at Amuleto in Waltham on a few visits.
My thoughts on Tenoch are that the sandwiches taste good, because what concoction between bread wouldn’t taste good if you grilled it with tons of oil and filled it with oozing salty cheese and meats? But, I don’t often want a 2000 calorie meal and the flavors aren’t distinctively Mexican to me.
I’ve never been to Fox and Knife - but looks like it needs to move up the list.
Also ranked as one of the 16 Best New Restaurants in the Country by Easter.com . . . .
Fox and the Knife
Boston, MA
What: A bustling enoteca in South Boston that draws inspiration from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region.
Why: Boston is awash in red sauce joints, especially in its traditionally Italian-American North End neighborhood, but regionally specific Italian restaurants are far rarer. So James Beard Award winner Karen Akunowicz cut her own path with her solo debut, a lovely ode to Emilia-Romagna.
Fox and the Knife pays special attention to Modena, where Akunowicz took a year to study pasta making, including with her must-order tigelle — distinctively patterned, disc-shaped bread that is almost like an English muffin, served warm with butter. Instead of buying an electric tigelle maker, Akunowicz makes seven at a time on a tigelle iron she brought back from Italy a decade ago. The effort is worth it: Nearly every table opts for an order. For her pasta menu, Akunowicz roams further afield, offering a beautifully light tagliatelle Bolognese and an earthy parsnip tortelli — a pasta shape common in Emilia-Romagna — with Gorgonzola cheese, which originates just northwest of the region in Milan. Loud, busy, and fun, Fox and the Knife feels like a party. Boston didn’t know it needed another Italian restaurant, but it’s so lucky it got this one.
Hit up Blackbird doughnuts, Fenway this morning. Large, pillowy sized. Got banana foster, pumpkin cheesecake, Boston cream and a cinnamon sugar stack topped with vanilla soft serve. Gotta try the doughnut ice cream sandwich another day.
This is my kinda doughnut shop. Do a few things really well. Oh and the cider one is great too…ate that walking out.
Blackbird is the one local donut specialty shop I have no hit yet. I love Kane’s and Union Square, and there are certain flavors I think one does better than the other, but overall I prefer Union Squares donut texture slightly more to Kane’s. Have you tried the others? How would you compare Blackbird to them?
personally I like Blackbird much more than Union Sq. My favorite thing about Blackbird is the level of sweetness, which is just barely sweet. Also, though I’m generally much more of a cake than yeast donut fan (and the chocolate old fashioned here is aces) I really love the Boston cream donuts here. Usually when you get these every component is too sweet for me, but at Blackbird the chocolate, the filling and the donut are all just perfectly balanced on the lower edge of sweet. They’re really good.
I always have liked Kane’s, but haven’t gone there for a long time.
For those of us not in the city - and for those of us that avoid Fenway as much as possible (one of the worst parts of downtown to try to drive in and around if you ask me - I don’t think I’ll ever get to Time Out because of that - I digress) - I guess Watertown will be getting Blackbird doughnuts via The Gallows at Arsenal Yards.
(From Eater)
The Gallows — a member of the Gallows Group, which includes Blackbird Doughnuts, Banyan Bar & Refuge, and Sally’s Sandwiches — will open at Arsenal Yards, but it will be a hybrid version, with not just the Gallows’ stacked cocktail list and over-the-top burgers and poutine but also its own stock of Blackbird’s doughnuts.
Grill 23 - I’ve nearly gotten over some horrendous wine service years ago and acknowledge they are the gold standard in Boston. But is it possible to be “correct” but graceless? Celebrated a niece’s birthday one evening this week and the steaks (dry-aged ribeye for the girls, bavette for me) were superb and superbly prepared. The frittes with my bavette were luke warm (my SO said I was being charitable - she called them cold), so I asked for them to be replaced. The replacements were hot, though not crispy, but much more enjoyable. The creamed spinach is excellent. Service was attentive at the start but we had inordinately long waits to order desert or ask for our check. And when I was charged for the replacement frittes it just amplified the feeling that the service is correct to a point, but perfunctory. Hard for me to love Grill 23, but they’ve got the meats.
Old-school and/or cash-only are part of an establishment’s distinctiveness, yes?
