It's slowwwww in here. How about some Boston area lunch tips for me for December?

I am learning so much from this conversation, thank you all!

1 Like

Me too! We might need to have a Ho-Down noodle crawl.

4 Likes

Maybe we should spin off an “asian noodles” thread for all these too. I’m afraid I’ll loose the recommendations!

@passing_thru In addition to all the great Latin American offerings around East Somerville, we love Pikliz for their Haitian/Carribean offerings. The stewed oxtails, fried goat and black mushroom rice with some oxtail gravy is ridiculously good and portion is good for two lunches. Get some pikliz (cabbage slaw spiked with scotch bonnet pepper) too!

1 Like

I got one of these the other day (spinach) and reheated it for breakfast. Pretty good! Though I think the ones at Dom’s in Waltham are my fave empanada-from-an-Italian-joint. But Capone’s version was excellent, need to go back and get one of the meat ones.

Al Capone grew up in Argentina, moving to Boston as a teen.

ah, that’s interesting. I did not know that.

Pretty sure Dom’s has empanadas simply because much of the kitchen staff is Hispanic! :wink:

Al says that now that it is so hard to find native English speakers to work in his kitchen, the fact that Spanish is his first language has been really useful. I think being tri-lingual is a huge advantage anywhere, regardless of profession.

2 Likes

I always thought empanadas were Argentinian in origin. At least when we visited a few years ago, that was what we were told.

He calls them Argentinian empanadas, and has others… which I think are inspired by his kitchen folks. I forget. I always get the Argentinian ones.

Did he evade taxes there, too?

(Sorry, I’m weak and couldn’t resist.)

1 Like

I’m don’t eat beef very often but I love Al’s meat Argentinian empanadas. He has nutella, spinach, and Asian (pork) as well and probably some others.

On the way back from skiing at Nashoba, we happened by The Salt Box in West Concord. Really nice little cafe with some excellent sandwiches, soups, and prepared foods. The size of their kitchen (which is open to the seating) suggests they do a good amount of catering as well…

2 Likes

Should you find yourself in West Concord with a sweet tooth after your lunch, Concord Teacakes is just on the other side of the railroad tracks.

Resisting a Teacakes cupcake is futile for us. (We’re fond of taking away two to go for dessert later.)

I was dogsitting In Inman Square last week, and the s.o. and I got takeout from here one night. I like the fact that the menu is really limited (longtime H.O. members will probably have noted that I’m a fan of restaurants having a focused menu) and the few things that we tried seemed reasonably good though I think I need to go back and try some of the spicier options. (My girlfriend is not much of a fan of heat, meat or kimchi).

The chicken bulgogi was the best thing we had, really juicy and delicious. The kimbap was also excellent, made in a homey Korean style. The shrimp fried rice was only ok–the fry job for the rice was fine and the egg on top done to perfection, but there were a lot of frozen vegetables too. I’m ok with frozen peas in a dish like this, and even frozen corn in the winter but I could have lived without the mushy carrots and green beans. The kimchi fried rice is probably the way to go here.

Everything is reasonably priced and the dining room is small but comfortable and clean. Seems like it would be a good place to try the soon dobu and kimchi jigae et al.

2 Likes

If we hadn’t just had a really first-rate chocolate chip cookie and a couple of pumpkin tartlets at Salt Box, would have done just that!

1 Like