Boston Restaurant: Brunch at The Fireplace

What: The Fireplace
Where: 1634 Beacon Street, Washington Square, Brookline
Honeys Heart: Dinner and dessert

Another day, another brunch...

Lauren is a Groupon fanatic, so she was all over The Fireplace groupon that offered $10 for $20 worth of brunch or lunch food.

There were so many things that looked good on the menu that we had a bit of a hard time figuring out what to order. We eventually decided that we should share "New England-y" things since that's what The Fireplace is known for.

We started out with the breakfast part of our brunch, Crispy Cornmeal Waffles with fresh fruit, blueberry whipped cream & Vermont maple syrup ($12).

Our lunch portion consisted of the New England Cobb Salad ($12) with grilled chicken breast, avocado & Massachusetts blue cheese.

Both were tasty, though I did enjoy the salad more than I did the waffle. (It's hard for anything to top something made with avocado in my book.) There was just nothing outstanding about either dish.

I've had dinner and dessert at The Fireplace before and I was much more impressed with those meals. So, while I don't think I'll return for brunch, I'd definitely still reccomend this spot for a special dinner or drinks and desserts at the bar.

Boston Restaurant: Brunch at Masa

Posted by Katie

What: Masa
Where: 439 Tremont Street, South End
Honeys Heart: $7.95 2-course brunch

For some reason, UP gave us a week off in October. Over my four years in college, it became tradition for me to visit Lauren at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo during that week-long break. Unfortunately, Emerson does not follow the same schedule as UP, so last October came and went without a visit to SLO.

This year, I didn't get to go to SLO either, but Lauren's visit two weekends ago made up for it!

I'd been working on a freelance article about the best brunches in Boston, so I dragged Lauren along on my research. Luckily, I don't think she minded.

First order of business: decide where to go!

Masa had made my short list, but I was skeptical about its ability to hold its own against Boston brunch institutions like Centre Street Cafe and The Paramount. So Lauren and I decided to try it out...and I'm so glad we did.

Upon being seated, we were surprised to find that Masa offers a Fiesta Brunch special from 10am-3pm on Saturdays and 10am-11pm on Sundays. The Fiesta Brunch includes two courses and unlimited coffee and tea for only $7.95. (What it says about my research skills that I didn't know about this until the menu was placed in front of me will be addressed at a later date...)

Lauren is a bit of a coffee fiend so she was quite content with the unlimited coffee deal and I enjoyed Masa's choice of orange something tea.

For our first course, Lauren ordered the bowl of fruit while I chose the Caramelized Plantain Empanada.

We ended up sharing which was fine by me because, while the empanada was very good, it was also incredibly sweet. Not sure I could have finished the whole thing on my own. (Lo was pretty sure she could have.)

For our second course, Lauren got the Eggs Benedict.

Hollandaise sauce has always sort of grossed me out but I was happy to find that Masa's Hollandaise was very light and had a hint of lime. I also enjoyed the homefries. They were meaty on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside with the perfect amount of seasoning. Delish!

For my second course, I ordered the Huevos Rancheros.

Masa serves its Huevos Rancheros as eggs over easy on top of a thin and crunchy quesadilla surrounded by black beans. Very filling and quite enjoyable.

Along with our two courses, we were also served a basket of blue corn and yellow corn cornbread with three sauces: chipotle cranberry, apricot jalapeno and maple butter.

Pretty sure we didn't eat again until dinner, we were that full. And for only $8!

We didn't get any drinks besides our complimentary coffee and tea, but Masa offers some pretty tasty-sounding brunch cocktails like the Latin Bellini ($8.50) with champagne and guava and mango puree. If you're a fan of Bloody Marys, be forewarned that Masa uses jalepenos in their recipe so theirs are nice and spicy!

Portland Happy Hour: Paragon Restaurant

Posted by Kelly

What: Paragon Restaurant
Where: 1309 NW Hoyt at 13th
When: 4:00 - 6:00 PM, Monday - Friday
Honeys Heart: Infused vodka!

In my new position as an events manager at The Sparks Group I get the pleasure of meeting with a variety of wonderful people in the Portland event industry. Last night I enjoyed an incredibly delicious happy hour at Paragon with Hailey Bernstein of Zest, a fantastic floral and event design company.

Paragon's Portland location is in the heart of the pearl on the corner of NW 13th and Hoyt. Their happy hour menu is not extensive, but it has a handful of scrumptious items that will surely leave you satisfied. We started our evening with a couple drinks (typical). I ordered the house raspberry infused vodka drop ($6) off the happy hour menu and Hailey went for a house raspberry infused vodka and soda.

After the first raspberry drop I switched to the house infused blackberry vodka drop ($6), which was also great, while Hailey stuck with her tasty and refreshing raspberry vodka and soda.

Once we decided on a cocktail we were able to focus on food. Paragon is one of Hailey's favorites and she recommended the Mini Ahi Tuna Tacos ($12) with avacado wasabi in mini taro tacos. I am so glad we ventured off the happy hour menu because these were awesome!

Off the happy hour menu we enjoyed the Herb Risotto Fritters with smoked mozzarella and romesco sauce ($5) and the Turkey Rueben Sliders with housemade bbq chips ($5). When I return to Paragon for happy hour I would be happy to have either of these again! The fritters had a deliciously cheesy gooey center with a crispy fried outside and the rueben sliders were perfect on white bread rolls.

Overall Paragon's happy hour menu isn't extremely well priced, but $6 drops isn't bad and for good quality food, atmosphere, and company I'm willing to pay a little extra every now and then. Definitely worth a visit!

Portland Restaurant: Pok Pok

Posted by Kelly

What: Pok Pok
Where: 3226 SE Division

My family and I went to Pok Pok for my birthday dinner (in June) and it was freaking delicious. Unfortunately it took me so long to post this that I don't know the name of any dish or drink that we had. My recommendation --- ask your waiter/waitress what to order. That's basically what we did and we were pleased with all of it!

Of course we started with drinks. All three were flavorful, fresh, and unique. I haven't had a drink like them before or since. I definitely recommend branching out from beer, wine or your usual cocktail to try one of their concotions.

Now for the food. I don't know the actual name for any of these dishes, but they were basically all amazing. These were chicken wings with kind of a crunchy outside that was sweet with ginger and garlic. Mmmmmm.

Below is a curry type noodle dish and I absolutely LOVE curry. I wasn't dissappointed and would be happy to order this again!

This dish had catfish in it, and I wasn't sure that I was going to like it, but (like everything else) I did.

These prawns were good, but not the best thing we ordered and not as flavorful as I had hoped. Plus it was too much work to peal off all the shells. Or maybe I'm just lazy...

This might have been my favorite pasta/shrimp/meat item we ordered. The sauce was a little sticky, but it had such a unique flavor. I probably could have eaten the whole thing by myself!

Chicken. Tender. Sauces. Not especially interesting, but very good. 

Ribs. Good. Not my favorite item, but like I said, you really can't go wrong.

Now that I have finally posted these pictures and been reminded of the superb food at this favorite SE spot I think it might be time to return!