Figured I’d post a couple of pics from our Monday holiday breakfast sandwich at A4. It’s probably my favorite breakfast sandwich, although I do like Revival, and Flour’s is pretty delicious, too. It’s the usual extra cheese, caramelized onions and banana peppers. And, because that wasn’t rich enough, a strawberry cheese danish for dessert.
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I was out and about at lunchtime today and stopped into Clover DTX. Had their Roman Tomato Soup, which is garnished with small housemade potato chips and grated Pecorino. Absolutely fantastic soup!
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You’re a bad one Ms. GretchenS.
I’ve an antipathy to Clover, but so stratospheric is my regard for you that I’ve resolved to try this soup. If I stop posting after I’ve had it, the HO community will know whom to applaud.
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I don’t know fooddabbler. In your place I think I’d figure there is too much deliciousness out there to risk having my antipathy flavor the food. My feelings won’t’ be hurt. 
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Yeah, yeah, so you say – but watch over the years, if I do not try that soup, how the cordiality between us will curdle.
More food-focused – that soup seems brown for tomato. Is that the Roman bit?
And was it a Roman-tomato soup, or a Roman tomato-soup, if you get my drift?
(If only there were a poster here with tomato-tomato expertise…)
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Maybe. Who wants to know? 
Though your query makes me wonder if the soup was intended to be a Roma tomato soup, as in a soup made with Roma tomatoes.
The mind boggles.
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From the Clover website: “Martina grew up in Rome. Her family friends own a restaurant called Pecorino (look it up if you find yourself on those beautiful streets) where they make a dish called frittata di patate. Martina sent Ayr there when he took his family to Rome, and he agreed: what a cool dish. Made with canned tomatoes, mashed potatoes, lots of olive oil and garlic, the frittata di patate ends up looking kind of like a cake. Our Roman Tomato Soup is an homage to that food memory. We make it daily in small batches with the same ingredients and care: sautéing onions, adding garlic and lots of olive oil, adding the best canned tomatoes, some potatoes, local carrots, and house veg stock. Because of the olive oil and the potato, this soup is naturally creamy.” Then they top it with Pecorino and potato chips and a swirl of olive oil.
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Potato in soup… I would never have thought about doing that. I might give that a try the next time.
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That does sound very good.
Tasty Mo:Mo: isn’t a “usual” suspect for us either but we got back there this week and enjoyed chilli mo:mo: with beef, kothey with pork, and goat curry (on special). The chili sauce was great, with lots of roasted pepper flavor as well as warmth. Both fillings were nicely seasoned, as was the curry (we all like goat, bones and chewiness and all).
The staff told us they’re moving across the street next month (where Esquina’s Lanches is/was) and promise an expanded menu. I’m planning to check it out after they’re settled in to their new digs.
Got dessert from Modelo’s next door; the flan and lime cheesecake (made with Catupiry, I think) were both good. My dining companions say that the selection is even better at lunch. I’m going to have to check out their savory pastries at some point.
Tasty Mo:Mo has become a pretty regular haunt for us. I’m interested to see what their expanded menu will have (although I have to admit that, despite having visited several times, we find it difficult to move away from ordering pretty much the same thing every time).
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It had been far too long since I had been to Qingdao Garden in North Cambridge so I stopped by for a late lunch today. Ordered the pork and leek dumplings, and from the Cold Dishes section, the Szechuan spicy Chinese cabbage. The latter came out right away and my delightful waitress suggested I might like some white rice with it as the dumplings would take 15 minutes. Am I ever glad she did! The cabbage was fabulous but, even with white rice, so spicy I was sweating slightly and my nose was running. But it was sooo good, as were the dumplings. I was late enough that by the end it was me and staff meal which is always fun.
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We had lunch at Tasty Mo:Mo today and discovered that they’ve made their move. The new space is bigger with more seating (maybe 8 or 9 tables, plus a counter with a few seats). Their printed menu is the same, but it looked like they had some more options on handwritten signs (including thali, which I don’t remember seeing before).
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This is a tale of two meals on a single day. Neither place is a “usual suspect” for us, but one of them, I suspect, will become one, hence I park these comments here.
Had a late lunch with a visiting friend at Miracle of Science last week. Hadn’t been in a while and I was struck by how well executed everything was. The guacamole was beautifully balanced, the chips crisp and greaseless, and the skewer plate (one chicken, one beef) enormous for $15. The meat was charred on the outside and moist inside, there was a delicate flat bread on one side and beans and all sorts of other items on the other. We also had a simple green salad, and like the other things we ordered the execution was perfect – a nice mix of greens, with a light dressing well-balanced between acid and oil. We’ll be going back more often.
That night four of us went to Marliave, a place I’d avoided till now. We’d eaten at “old Boston” places in that general area in the past, and had not been impressed, so had skipped Marliave. But it may now be the only surviving old place, and it seemed something we should check out. It does have a certain faded charm (we sat in a booth downstairs), with a tiled floor, chipped in places, and a bathroom the size of a Manhattan studio. The food was presented with a flourish, each hot dish under a domed cover, lifted dramatically by the server, but after all that drama, boy, was it bad! My wife’s omelette looked and tasted like a sheet of rubber wrapped around mushrooms that gave every impression that they’d come from a can. My fish and chips were both greasy, the chips sprinkled overly heavily with dried rosemary. The oysters were tiny and tasteless. The only halfway decent dish was the cauliflower soup. My g&t was OK, as well, and this place might be worth a drop-in for a simple drink and perhaps some soup, just for the sepia charm.
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That is disappointing to hear. I’ve only been to Marliave once for brunch a few years ago (had just moved to town) and honestly had one of the best omelettes I’ve ever had (soft fluffy no browning). Sad to hear I either hit them on a stellar day or they’ve plummeted. 
To give our omelette its due, it had no browning but was definitely neither soft nor fluffy.
Happy to hear Miracle of Science is still chugging along. Do they still have the photo of Edwin Land on the wall?
Marliave was always an acquired taste - one that I never attained.
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Back to Qing Dao for my standard lunch of pork and leek dumplings and spicy Szechuan cabbage with rice, a meal that never fails to delight. And since I can barely eat half it feeds me at least a second time, sometimes three times.
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That looks tasty. And the suggested tip is pre tax as it should be.
