The Barking Crab

The Barking Crab

88 Sleeper Street

Boston, Ma

Atmosphere: Casual seafood dining in the open air, under a tent near the water. Music on the weekends

Kid Friendly: Sure but earlier in the night

Price: Reasonable for a tourist filled place by the water.

What does biking have to do with the Barking Crab? Not a lot, but I did build up an appetite.

Lou and I went on a 33 mile bike ride yesterday through Beverly, Hamilton, Wenham, Topsfield and Ipswich Ma. The first 11 miles were beautiful, and then Lou got a flat:( I admit it, we were unprepared without a spare and one cell phone. Luckily Lou had a lot of water and some snacks. Weighing our options, I took the phone and headed back to the car, and Lou waited on the side of the road until I was able to come pick him and his bike up.

In the end, I went on a 25 mile bike ride, and Lou went on an 11 mile bike ride. At least we learned our lesson and we won't head out again without a spare.

When we got home, our good friend Kat was in town for work, so we all decided to go out and eat. Kat has a recently discovered gluten intolerance so we decided to head out for seafood.

Yankee Lobster was our first choice, which I will definitely write about in the future, but it was closed this day, so we opted for the Barking Crab. Both restaurants are off of Northern Ave in the Seaport District.

If you have a lot of extroverted friends, you love eating outside by the water, and you want good food, but a casual environment, The Barking Crab is for you.

There are two parts to the restaurant, a tent dining area which is opened to the elements, and a closed dining area. Both areas are divided by the kitchen.

The trend these days for a wait in a restaurant is to give the diner an object, usually a large coaster, which buzzes when their table is ready. At the Barking Crab, they give you a lobster. It's cute and all, but a bit of a pain to lug around with you. We took our lobster and headed to the bar. One thing to note is if you put yourself on the wait in the tent at the Barking Crab, that is where you will be sat. If you want to sit inside, you need to put yourself on that wait. They treat the areas as if they are separate restaurants.

The tent area is made up of a bunch of picnic tables and no matter where you sit, unless you have a VERY large party, you will most likely be sharing your table with strangers. These are our strangers.

On the tables are plastic utensils, paper towels( these are your napkins) and large rocks to smash your lobsters, crab legs, or anything else you have to bust open to eat. In general, this is a very casual place.

This is our friend Kat waiting for her dinner.

We ended up sitting in the middle of the tent this night. We started our meal with the lobster and crab dip. It is a warm lobster, crab, and cheese dip served with tortilla chips. The portion was probably good for 5 to share, but we were starving so we devoured the whole thing. For dinner, Lou got the barking crab cake sandwich, I got the wedge salad with a side of two crab cakes, and Kat got a burger no bun (remember the gluten intolerance)

Lou liked his sandwich but I never did ask him if it was a good as the Farragut House Crab Sandwich. (See my past post on the Farragut House) My salad with the crab cakes hit the spot. The crab cakes were about a 3 inch diameter, and the salad was plentiful and fresh.

The Barking Crab is the quintessential, laid back seafood place on the water. Don't go here if you are looking for a relaxing or quiet dinner. The entire time we were eating, the guys next to us were smashing their lobster with the rocks. I guarantee any given night in the summer at least 20 to 30% of the Barking Crab guests are over served. Given their location by the water, it is surprising they haven't lost any patrons to the channel. Having a casual company outing? This is probably the place you want to be. Rowdy friends in town? The Barking Crab is for you!

It's a fun, laid back, beer swilling, decent food having kind of place.

Jano Montreal, It's all about the sauce!

Restaurant Jano Grillades

http://www.restaurantjano.com/

3883 Boulevard Saint-LaurentMontreal, QC H2W 1X9, Canada

Menu: Portuguese cooking chicken, chorizo, soups salads

Kid Friendly: Does not cater to kids, but has foods the will like, and casual atmosphere.

Atmosphere: Portuguese flavor in a simple atmosphere. Two top tables can easily be reconfigured for large groups. Relaxing environment.

Service: There was one server working the whole restaurant, he was friendly and quick.

Prices: Reasonable prices for delicious food!

Lou and I went to Montreal this weekend, and we took full advantage of checking out the local restaurants. We found Jano on our way to Schwartz's, a famous smoked meat restaurant. We were expecting a line at Schwartz, but is was unusually long, and we were hungry! Next door we saw Jano. Two people were eating in the window. The food on their plates looked amazing, there was no line, it was a no brainer. When we entered Jano, there was a sign that said to seat ourselves. It was written in French, however, so we stood waiting for a little direction. Our server directed us to sit wherever we liked, so we headed into the back. The restaurant had about 50 seats in it, several two tops by the window in front, and then a larger dining area towards the back. The sections were divided by a small sevice bar where our server worked from, behind that was the kitchen, which was in the front of the restaurant with a window to the street. After sitting down we were quickly served a large basket of bread and dish of spanish olives. I dug right in. Jano offers a full wine list, but it was lunch and we opted for water. The menu at Jano is written in Portuguese, French, and English. Since we were drawn in by the food we saw in the window, Lou and I promptly ordered what we saw. I got the 1/2 chicken breast grilled, with Portuguese potatoes. Lou got the potatoes as well with a Chorizo sandwich. I noticed as we were waiting for our food, most tables had 3 condiments on their table. A big plastic bottle of mayo, a big plastic bottle of ketchup, and a mug which I was completely confused about. My meal started off with a garden salad. The ingredients were typical, lettuce, tomatoe, a few onions, but the dressing was unique. It was a vinagrette, but had a flavor to it that was similar to sweet gherkins. Almost like a relish vinagrette. It was a good way to start the meal. When our food came, we were asked if we would like ketchup and mayo for our Portuguese potatoes, to which we replied no. The Potatoes were basically fresh potato chips. There was nothing unique about them but they were very delicious. The best part about the meal though was that mug I mentioned earlier. We too were given a mug which contained Jano's "secret" sauce. The mug was filled and contained a pastry brush to rub the sauce on whatever you desired. When I first tasted it, I thought might be too spicey, but then I couldn't get enough of it. If you look in the picture you can see there were definitely red pepper flakes in it, and the clear liquid is some kind of fat, but the other ingredients were a mystery. I asked the waiter what was in it, and he said it was an 80 year old recipe and he couldn't tell me. He also said it is what makes the food tast so good. I have to agree. My chicken was grilled perfectly, the sauce made it amazing. I found myself even putting some sauce on my potatoes! Lou loved his chorizo. We will definitely be back at Jano when we head to Montreal again.

Flour

My first post.

Flour URL: http://www.flourbakery.com/
Menu: Pastries, Sandwiches, Soups Salads
Kid Friendly: Yes High chairs and Kid's menu
Price: Average for the city and neighborhood, dinner is a bit pricey for premade items.
Atmosphere: Hip, artsy, friendly staff, trendy

This is not a new restaurant for me. I have been going there for about a year or so with Lou. My biggest regret about the restaurant is I didn't find it myself, and it is so close! I pride myself in finding good places to eat, but somehow this one slipped by. Flour has two locations one in South Boston on Farnsworth St. and one in the South End on Washington Street. It is owned by Joanne Chang who also owns Myers and Chang, another great place I will have to write about. Flour is first and foremost a bakery. From homemade oreos, to a variety of brioche, to breakfast pizza, to mini tartelettes, to the best stickie buns outside of Philly, their pastries selection is without peer, at least to my knowledge, feel free to prove me wrong. All pastries are made on premises. You can often see the bakers in the back creating new sensations. Flour also bakes their own bread for sandwiches on premise. When I think of Flour I usually think breakfast or lunch. They have a delicious breakfast sandwich which includes a fresh cooked egg, your choice of ham or bacon, greens, a roasted tomato, and some special sauce on a fresh cooked bun. They also offer a daily quiche, the breakfast pizza, which I mentioned earlier, and of course their delicious pastries! For lunch their is a large selection of sandwiches available, daily soups and salads. The Sandwiches are always on fresh baked bread, with unique ingredients like the Roasted Lamb, tomato chutney, and goat cheese, or the curried tuna with apples, golden raisins and carrots, and my husband's favorite, the smoked turkey with Vermont cheddar and cranberry chutney. Every item we've had at Flour is delicious and made with quality ingredients. Flour does offer dinner items as well. The items differ by week and are sent out via a mailing list for those interested. Lou and I have tried their dinners a few times. The food is tasty and comes in good portions, but I find their dinner items to be a bit overpriced for take out items. You can choose to have them heat dinner items up and eat on premise, but for self service, again, they are a bit overpriced. Both Flour locations are usually packed at breakfast and at lunch. The Farnsworth location is larger and has more available seating inside and out while the Washington street location is smaller. Seating is very limited. To be fair, I have only been to Washington street in the winter so do not know if they have outside seating available in the warmer months. The staff at Flour is always friendly and helpful. My impression is they are hip, creative, and concerned with the environment, Flour was just officially green certified. They also seem to be tight knit team, and updates on family and accomplishments are often posted in e-mails and on their website. Flour is definitely a trendy restaurant in many aspects, starting with the name, the creativity in the food they serve, their support of the arts, and their green rating. If Flour falls short in any place it is their operations. The line is managed unconventionally. When it is busy, it is hard to view the pastries before having to order, and they are probably doing themselves a disservice by not by not examining their order flow and making it more efficient and upsell friendly. I don't want to end my first blog entry on a negative. I chose Flour to write about first because it is a favorite of mine, it is close by, I love to bring friends their, I am never dissappointed with what I order, and the staff is really friendly. Come back often for more recommendations!