I could keep going 
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Please do.
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I can second this - amazing
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tell me more about the meatball sub at leone’s. i live just up the hill.
Their Sicilian-style sheet pizza is good but the real hidden gem there is the meatball sub. You typically get two big-ass meatballs per sub and a nice, slightly acidic tomato sauce with it. It’s not thin either, but not overly chunky. They just nail it. You can add a slice of cheese or two in there and they add a sprinkle of parm on top. It’s very satisfying and I miss 'em dearly. I used to fence two doors down from there and would get them regularly from there. Leone’s as a whole is great and the owner is awesome too. Definitely try it out this fall, when the weather cools a bit. It’s like getting a nice, comforting hug from Nonna - or so I imagine. 
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thanks — i will!
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Ask and you shall receive a few more:
- The fresh tomato pie at Pepe’s in Chestnut Hill
- Fried corn fritters at 9Zaab in Cambridge
- Stewed Beef Massaman at Brown Sugar Cafe in Boston
- Galette Complète (ham+egg+cheese crepe) from MA-France in Lexington
- Biscuits at Sweet Cheeks Q in Boston
- Half Rotisserie bird w/ fries and sauce at Shy Bird in Cambridge
- Hot chocolate at L.A. Burdick’s in Cambridge
- Egg & Feta brioche sandwich at 3 Little Figs in Somerville
- Spicy soppressata + marinated artichoke stems from Salumeria Italiana in Boston
- Pad Thai from Thai Amarin in Newton
- Spicy chorizo Argentinian empanadas from Che! Empanadas in Newton
- Carrot salad and brisket from B.T.'s Smokehouse in Sturbridge
- Mac and Cheese from Armsby Abbey in Worcester
- Sauteed pea shoots from Sichuan Garden in Woburn
- Soup dumplings from Taipei Gourmet in Lexington
- Chocolate babka from Bakey in Boston
- Horiatiko Psomi (sourdough w/ sheep’s milk butter) from Bar Vlaha in Brookline
Okay now I am both super hungry and also sad because as I researched this in my head, I also quickly realized how many places we’ve lost in the past few years, with a more announced to boot like Cambridge Brewing Company. Dang 
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Well that’s just crazy. Obviously the egg and cheddar on a black pepper biscuit is the extraordinary item.
Actually, if I had to pick their lavender biscuit would be my top choice. As it stands with my current dietary needs, the gluten free blueberry muffin, which is heavy on almond flour, is quite excellent.
But we can agree on the hot chocolate at Burdicks. As long as you’re talking about the dark. And really, one only needs a demi of dark, which is a perfect little 3 oz or so of molten dark chocolate goodness.
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Love your list. We’ve tried about half of the items…gives us incentive to try the other half.
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Too stand-a-spoon-in-it perfect. We’d bring it home, chill it, and eat it as dense pudding. It was excellent pudding, mind you.
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All of their baked goods are stellar. I used to live 100 yards away from there and miss it a LOT.
Maybe stirring the pot here, but I think their raspberry babka is better. And for now, they have a limited special blueberry babka which is pretty good too.
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I think the cinnamon is the best! But I haven’t tried the blueberry -
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Will have to try more flavors, noted!
The Helmand has let me down recently to the point that I won’t initiate or suggest a trip there. Hopefully, they will pick up their game and the decline isn’t permanent. After almost 30 years of great meals, it would be sad to give up on them altogether. The menu was the same, but flavor and portions were both down. The service was competent. Prices were up (like everywhere else). Even the Kaddo was meh!
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That’s sad to hear.
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That’s a real bummer but could it just have been one bad night? I try never to judge restaurants and experiences off a sample size of one. Not defending what happened that night but curious if it was just off
Amazing ! I will definately try it .
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Two nights - still could be a blip in terms of flavor. I’m hoping I will hear good recent reports that say, “come back in, the waters fine.” There are many places that run into a rough patch for many reasons, personnel changes or illness, reversible bad decisions by ownership/management. None that I have experienced directly have been as reliable for as long as The Helmand.
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I wonder who’s running it now. (One of my favorite rabbit holes over a decade ago was reading about who was running which location - I’m sure everyone is aware of the backstory.)
