2012 James Beard Awards Picks

As everyone close to the food world already knows, yesterday the semifinalists for the 2012 James Beard Awards were announced. Here are the categories with finalists I'm familiar with and who I'm rooting for:

Outstanding Bar Program: Drink, Boston
If you know me at all, you'll know this was a no-brainer. I've loved Drink from the moment I had my first drink there during my first week in Boston. The bartenders are incredibly knowledgeable yet so unpretentious. I love that. Already dreaming about the Southside I'll order when I visit in March...

Outstanding Pastry Chef: Joanne Chang, Flour Bakery + Cafe, Boston & Maura Kilpatrick, Sofra Bakery and Cafe, Boston. 
Flour and Sofra are literally my two favorite restaurants in Boston. Joanne stole my heart with her berry bread pudding as did Maura with her Moroccan donuts and chocolate hazelnut baklava.

Outstanding Restauranteur: Roger Berkowitz, Legal Sea Foods, Boston
Legal Sea Foods is overpriced no doubt, but it was the first restaurant I ate at in Boston when my Dad and I went to visit Emerson College, so it has a special place in my heart.

Best Chef Northeast: Jamie Bissonnette, Coppa, Boston
If Flour and Sofra comprise my top 2 in Boston, Toro makes the top 3. Not sure why Jamie Bissonnette is nominated for Coppa, not Toro, but I'm as long as he's nominated, it works for me.

Best Chef Northwest: Naomi Pomeroy, Beast, Portland & Cathy Whims, Nostrana, Portland
My dinner at Beast was one of the best meals I've ever had- if not the best- and I've only done happy hour at Nostrana, but I'd be happy if Naomi or Cathy won. Slightly more for Naomi, but you know. PDX love!

Boston Bars: Katie and Doug's Epic Boston Bar Crawl

Posted by Katie

So Doug came to visit. And we had a pretty amazing weekend.

Thursday night was spent at Charlie's Beer Garden followed by dinner at Tory Row (post coming soon).

On Friday, we had dinner at The Barking Crab, drinks at my very favorite place in Boston, Drink, and more drinks served by our fav bartender, Robby, at The Regal Beagle.

On Saturday, we hit up Newbury Street and then took the commuter rail out to the New England Revolution vs the Seattle Sounders game in Foxboro.

And then came Sunday. Ah Sunday...

Somehow Sunday turned into a bar crawl of epic proportions. Here's a map of our route if you don't believe me.

I know, right?

Let's talk about it.

Our crawl started with our tour of Harpoon Brewery at 3pm, which is the last tour of the day. If you want to go on the last tour too, you should make sure you're out at Harpoon by at least noon to buy your tickets, otherwise, you might not make it in.

I could tell you all about the Harpoon tour...but that might spoil the fun if you want to go on it. All you really need to know is that the tour takes about 15 minutes and then you have 30 minutes to "sample" aka chug as much beer as you want. Fun!

Because Doug and I were a little tipsy, and because I sometimes have trouble estimating how far apart things actually are, we then decided to walk to the original Cheers across from the Public Garden. What I assumed would be a quick walk actually turned out to be a 2.3 mile trek. Oops. At least we really appreciated those beers once we finally got them...

I can't remember what Doug had but I tried the Purple Haze brewed by Abita in Louisiana. The bartender described it as a Blue Moon with a hint a raspberry. Tasty.

From there, we were off to dinner at Toro. I had so much fun when I went there with the fam, but I wanted to take Doug there too because I knew he would try some of the weirder things with me.

We started off with the more normal, ordering the ceviche and patatas bravas (fried potatoes). Then it got a little more fun. We tried the mussels with blood sausage, which were very good. And then came the crown jewel of our meal: Asado de Huesos. That's roasted bone marrow with radish citrus salad and oxtail marmalade.

The bone marrow was rich and creamy and Doug and I both loved the sweet oxtail marmalade. Having a few beers in our systems probably helped reduce the gross-out factor...but it was so good that I would order it again, even completely sober. Ha.

From there, we decided to head out to Cambridge. We stopped in at Grendel's for a round of beer and some shots. Now, shots and I are not the good friends we once were, but Doug convinced me that I needed to try his favorite shot, a Dead Nazi. Dead Nazis are made with Jager and Rumple Minze peppermint liqueur.

Sounds kinda gross, but they're actually not bad. Went down much smoother than the shots of Patron or, gag me, SoCo Lime that I've been treated to at bars before. Good choice, Doug.

From there, we hopped across the alley to Tommy Doyle's. There was a great band playing upstairs so we stayed for quite awhile.

An hour or so later, the roomie and her friend Erica were done with their movie, so we all met up at Sunset Grill & Tap in Allston. I had a one of their many pumpkin ales which I think I enjoyed? They'll rim your glass with cinnamon and sugar if you ask nicely. Fancy.

And then Doug went on a photo-taking frenzy.

The End.

Boston Restaurant: Toro

Posted by Katie 

What: Toro

Where: 1704 Washington St, South End

Honeys Heart: Ceviche!

Warning! The pictures in this post are of very low quality. They do not reflect the food, which was actually of very high quality...Damn iPhone messes up EVERYTHING

The South End is my new favorite neighborhood in Boston (sorry Brookline). Yeah, it's at least 45 minutes away from my apartment, but I love the rows and rows of red brick buildings and there are so many great (albeit expensive) restaurants.

When I was figuring out where I wanted to take my parents during their visit, the South End was first on my list because I thought my mom and sister would enjoy walking around the neighborhood as much as I do. I also wanted to take my family out for tapas to give them a taste of the food I enjoyed while in Barcelona. And so, Toro seemed the ideal spot.

Toro serves Barcelona-style tapas and was Ken Oringer's newest restaurant until Coppa opened last summer. My research suggested that there would be quite a wait when we got there, even if we did go on a weeknight, so we were happy to find that we could be seated immediately on arrival. 

Toro has a long bar as well as a communal table that runs down the center of the restaurant. Everyone's kind of crammed together, but I liked the cozy and slightly raucous atmosphere that the closeness created. We were seated in between some douchey undergrads recently back from their own European adventure ("Dude, Amsterdam was like so crazy") and a group of thirty-somethings enjoying just as many drinks as they did tapas.

My dad happily opted for a local beer but my mom, who has recently discovered sangria, was disappointed to see that her new favorite drink was not on the menu. After I explained that sangria is not really Spanish, she decided to order a more traditional wine spritzer made from wine and Sprite. To her chagrin, it tasted just as you might suspect: wine watered down with Sprite. Guessing she won't order that again...

Our server (adding to the authentic Spanish experience with her thick accent) advised us that 2 to 3 dishes per person was a good guide for ordering. That seemed like a little much for us, so we decided to start with 6 plates and order more as we went along if needed.

First out was the crusty bread topped with tomatoes and olive oil, called Pan con Tomate ($4) at Toro but known as pa amb tomaquet in Barcelona. 

I had raved about having it in Spain. Unfortunately, Toro's version was less impressive. Not particularly flavorful even though it was topped with a lot more tomatoes than then bread in Spain had been. Cross that one off the list for next time.

Next came the Patatas Bravas ($5), fried potatoes with alioli and spicy tomato sauce. Nothing fancy really, but quite tasty, especially when dipped in the sauces they came with. And a good pick to have made as Toro was quite generous with their serving and the potatoes were to make up most of my sister's meal (she doesn't do meat or fish, except for the occasional hot dog).

Up next was the Ceviche (which annoyingly, I can't find on the online menu). This was by far the favorite of the night. The ceviche was refreshing with the perfect amount of sweetness that none of us had expected. A must-order for my next visit (if they still have it).

We also had an order of the Gambas Al Ajillo ($12), griddled garlic shrimp. Sorry, super blurry photo:

My mom loves shrimp in any form, but my dad and I agreed that the shrimp was far too salty to be enjoyable. When eaten atop a piece of the crusty bread from the constantly-refilled basket on our table, they were more edible, but I would not order them again.

The Datiles con Jamon ($6), dates stuffed with blue cheese and almonds and wrapped in jamon, were a rich addition to our table. My dad and I loved the combination of the sweet dates, salty jamon, and the bite of the blue cheese. 

Our meal ended with the presentation of Toro's specialty, Maíz Asado con Alioli y Queso Cotija ($6), grilled corn with alioli, lime, espelette pepper and aged cheese. 

Our neighbors on both sides ordered the corn as well and when it arrived, we all snuck glances at each other in attempt to figure out how to go about eating it. My family dug in first, eating the corn with our hands. Some of our neighbors followed our lead while others tried to cut their corn off the cobs with their knives. That didn't really work for them. Guess the hand method was the way to go.

The corn was certainly tasty, but loaded with gobs and gobs of alioli. I think it would have been just as enjoyable if Toro has been less liberal with their spread. And while I had no qualms about getting a little messy with my family, this would not be the dish to order if you were on a first date. (Unless you're sure your dining partner would find a mayo-smeared face and teeth lodged with corn endearing...)

Overall, my family and I very much enjoyed our meal at Toro. It was fun to have so many different dishes to try and discuss, and while I was worried that our dinner would be a little pricey, our total bill turned out to be less than some of the others that we would rack up during their visit.

To make it easy, here's the order my dad and I rated our dishes at Toro, with the #1 spot being the most enjoyable. (Mom and Sis would have rated them differently, but majority rules.)

1) Ceviche

2) Stuffed Dates

3) Fried Potatoes

4) Corn 

5) Bread with Tomatoes

6) Shrimp