Al Fresco ULA Style

ULA Cafe

284 Armory St.

Jamaica Plain, Ma 02130

Atmosphere: Laid back, cafe and coffeehouse, indoor and outdoor seating, Dog Friendly with lots of rings to tie your dog outside and free doggie biscuits!

Food: Lite sandwiches, soups, salads, pastries and lots of varieties in hot and cold beverages.

Price: Is Right. 4 drinks, a salad, a popover and 3 cookies was all under $20

I have been in search of the perfect Al Fresco Casual Dining experience, and I think I may have found it in the ULA Cafe. Last week Lou was craving a popover but instead of driving an hour to our favorite popover place in Portsmouth NH, I googled "popover Boston" and found the ULA Cafe in JP.

Our good friend Kat was visiting from Maine and having lived in J.P. previously she knew the cafe was by the Sam Adam's brewery, and that it was fairly hip, so we headed on over.

Not only is the ULA cafe near the brewery, it is attached to the brewery. When we entered the parking lot, a nice surprise was standing there. Lou's dad! He was waiting for Lou's younger brother Harold to get out of a practice for the Nutcracker, so we asked him to join us.

We were mainly there for Lou's popover, but Kat got a curry chicken salad and mixed green salad along with a Raspberry Izze. Mac got a few cookies.I got a pot of Assam tea which is just fancy for English Breakfast. I love when a place gives you a pot. You get two cups for the price of one and can sit and enjoy a little longer.

ULA Cafe has indoor and outdoor seating, but it was the ultimate Indian summer day, so we opted for the patio. The J.P. vibe is laid back and friendly and made for a relaxing afternoon tea, and snack break.

They are so popular, the may have to change the name...

TEN TABLES

597 Centre Street JP or 5 Craigie Circle, Cambridge, Ma

617-524-8810 or 617-576-5444

Atmosphere: Intimate, quiet, casual elegance

Menu: Items change seasonally and local farms are used for ingredients, something for everyone on this menu. Fish, poultry, meat, and vegetarian options

Kid Friendly: Save this for Date Night

Dress: Somewhere between semi formal and casual, would that be your Sunday best?

In 1991 I was living in JP thinking how much potential it had as a neighborhood. The homes throughout this area of Boston were beautiful but in need of a facelift. I thought back then, if only someone would breath some new life into this place it could be amazing. If only I had the resources! 19 years later, I have been able to see my wishes for JP come to life. Today, many of the homes I used to look at have gotten their face lift, and Centre Street, the main thoroughfare in JP is bustling with new upscale restaurants.

Lou and I were able to check out one of the restaurants, Ten Tables, recently with our friends Terry and Marla. On a side note, I would be remiss, if I didn't mention what Terry and Marla do. They own a real estate firm with a creative and beneficial approach to helping buyers by charging a flat fee instead of taking the whole commission on sales. Check out their site: www.territoryre.com

Now back to our reveiw....Ten Tables won Best of Boston in 2009 and they were just recognized in the Boston Globe as one of the Best of the New restaurants to try.

If the name Ten Tables instantly makes you think small, you aren't mistaken. Originally the restaurant only had ten tables. It was much like many of the small North End restaurants you see in Boston with an open kitchen on the back wall . Recently Ten Tables expanded into the space next door. Now they probably have about 15 tables and a bar. It is a small place but small intimate, not small cramped. The exposed brick and elegant, simple decor add to the intimacy.

When we first arrived at the restaurant we were a few minutes early to meet our friends, so we sat in a few seats up front. The bartender/host greeted us instantly and offered us drinks while we waited. We didn't take him up on the offer, but it was quick insight into how great the service is in this place. We also got to glance at the drink menu which had an extensive wine list, specialty drinks and great beer choices including a favorite Chimay Blue.

Before I talk about the food it is important to know there are two special nights at Ten Tables. Tuesdays are their wine pairing night with a Prix Fixe menu at $42 a person. For this you get 3 courses and wine pairings. On Wednesdays there is also a Prix fixe menu at $33 a person without the pairings. All other nights are ala carte. Keep this in mind when making a reservation.

When we sat down, our service at the table was as good as I thought it would be based on our greeting. Our server was well versed in wine and suggested a delicious Chardonnay with buttery notes. Of course I don't remember the name, but if all servers are as good as ours was with their wine knowledge, you won't need to. Just ask them to suggest a bottle.

For dinner I got a butternut squash soup, and a fish stew with a much fancier name than fish stew. This is what happens when I don't take notes and don't write my review for a week, but I did take a picture! The stew had a cream sauce with a large piece of wolf fish, (a white fish similar to monk), little neck clams and scallops. The sauce had parsley throughout it, and although it was cream based is was light and flavorful.

Lou got the housemade Toulouse sausage with lentils for his appetizer, and a lamb pappardelle pasta. Both our meals were excellent and with a Prix Fixe menu you can always count on the portions being perfect.

For dessert Lou got the creme brulee and I got the Chocolate Terrine with Thai Basil icecream and sea salt. I was a bit disappointed in the creme brulee. Usually I find these custards very creamy, but this had more of a flan consistency. The Terrine was excellent. The combination of flavors was very interesting. They state basil on the menu, but the icecream had more of a minty flavor. Terrine refers to the type of pan the dessert was cooked in. Usually something in a terrine has a layered look. Often terrine's are made of meat, but these days they can refer to anything made in that type of pan. In our case, this was a fancy name for a chocolate brownie ala mode, but hey, it was delicious, and I fell for pretense.

Ten Tables is definitely a date or double date type of place. It is not kid friendly. There isn't a lot of room for large parties but I am guessing you could call ahead. Keep in mind, even getting 4 of us into dinner wasn't easy. It is a popular place. The dining side of the restaurant is well lit with candlelight accents. The bar is a bit darker, but has two tops for dining as well.

I would love to return to Ten Tables on a night where there isn't a prix fixe menu to try it again, but my first impression was this place was top notch. Make sure you call at least a week or two in advance for a reservation!

J.P. don't call me "House of" Seafood Cafe

JP Seafood
730 Centre Street
Jamaica Plain, Ma 02130
617-983-5177



Menu: Japanese/Korean mix of items, sushi, tempura, noodles, grill
Kid Friendly: Sure if your kids eat this stuff
Atmosphere: Laid back, fast service, clean
Prices: Very reasonable for the amount of food and quality

Lou and I hit up JP Seafood this past weekend. If you read my review on Pino's Pizza, you know Lou brought me there early on in our dating life and it was tell tale sign of how he felt for me. I guess the same can't be said for me sharing one of my favorite restaurants, JP Seafood. I made Lou try JP Seafood over the summer. We love sushi but we don't seem to get it that much. JP Seafood is, by far, my favorite sushi place. Not only is their food awesome, but the price is right too. The menus is not only sushi, but noodles, rice, tempura, and grilled items. They also have plenty of dishes for vegetarians.


This visit we opted for a variety of items on the menu. Two Maki rolls(the dragon and New England), the scallion pancakes, and vegetable tempura. Our entire meal was $35 with tip, and there was plenty to take some home.


We started with the scallion pancakes, or should I say pancake. It was basically one very large scallion pancake, about 8 inch diameter cut into smaller pieces. This was the best scallion pancake I have ever had. It was light, fluffy, and flavorful. I had to keep myself from eating too much to save room for our other items. I wish I had taken a picture.


Our second course was our Maki. The dragon roll was shrimp tempura covered with eel and avocado. It is one of my favorites. I love the eel, but I think I also like that it looks like a big caterpillar. Our other roll was the New England Maki. This was lightly battered and fried white fish. Both rolls were very good.


Our last course was the Vegetable Tempura. It was a lot and we took most of it home, but I think there are two things that make Vegetable tempura good. A light batter, and a good variety of vegetables. This dish had both. The Veggies were asparagus, broccoli, onions, sweet potatoes, and peppers.


The first thing you want to remember about JP Seafood is, don't let the awning fool you. It is big, it is blue, and it looks a little cheesy. I always thought it was just me, but a good friend of ours, Jesson, from Salmagundi (http://www.salmagundi.com/) said the same thing. He slept on JP Seafood for a long time because of that terrible awning. Once you get inside though, the service is friendly and efficient, the interior is minimilist and perfectly asian inspired, and the food is outstanding.


As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I held out for a long time on bringing Lou to this gem in J.P. I have to honestly tell you he raised his eyebrows accusingly several times throughout our first meal here. His accusing look was saying one thing, "Why would you keep this place from me???" After this trip, we decided, JP Seafood is so good, you want to keep it to yourself. You may not even want to tell your spouse! I guess with this post though, the secret is out!

A Lesson Learned

El Oriental De Cuba

http://www.elorientaldecuba.com/

416 Center Street

Jamaica Plain, Ma 02130

Menu: Authentic Cuban Cuisine

Kid Friendly: Lots of Kids with their parents, pics all over walls

Atmosphere: Lively, authentic, inviting, neighborhood friendly

Price: Dinner for 2 with an app, no beverages was about $36. They didn't charge us for one entree so it ended up being $21.

This entry is particularly hard for me to write because I had such high expectations for this restaurant, and they fell short. I think it may have been my own fault. Lou and I have been scoping out El Oriental de Cuba in J.P. for over a year now. Everytime we drive by we make a comment that we have to go. This Sunday was finally the time to do it. We stopped by the Reggie Lewis center in the morning to check out the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival. It was free and we are always trying to eat healthier so we thought we would check it out. The capacity of the hall the food fest was in, was not nearly big enough to hold the crowd. We found ourselves fighting to get anywhere close to the stands, and in the end we opted to leave and go get something to eat at a sit down restaurant. Since we were close to J.P., I thought we could finally check out El Oriental de Cuba.

Everything about the restaurant screams authentic Cuban. From the colorful exterior, to the decor, the music and even being greeted in Spanish when we walked through the door. The atmosphere is lively, and diverse. There are beautiful pictures of Cuba adorning the walls as well as many faces from the neighborhood. We were sat under a picture of the owner, Nobel Garcia, and the one and only Luis Tiant. The service was quick and very friendly. We were mainly served by a younger man, but there were two other girls working who both assisted with our table through out the meal. One of the things I mention in my other posts is that Lou and I often get sat at corner booths. Another phenomenon of our dining out adventures is, if we go to a popular place, we beat the crowd by about 5 minutes. What I mean is we step in the door, there is no one in line, we sit down, and then a crowd forms to be sat. Judging from the crowd that day, this is an extremely popular neighborhood place.

I named this blog a Lesson Learned because I REALLY wanted to love this place. Everything about it was pointing to awesomeness, but what I think we did was order incorrectly. The menu at El Oriental de Cuba is vast. They serve breakfast, sandwiches, entrees, apps., juices. I couldn't decide what I should eat. I looked around at everyone else's plates and they looked so good, but I couldn't decipher what they were eating. Some kind of pork? chicken? In the end I figured nothing could be bad so I settled on the Tilapia Filet with Garlic sauce. Lou decided on the Red Snapper with Garlic sauce, and we would share the Cuban tamales as an appetizer.

The appetizer came and it far exceeded my expectations. The tamales were served on top of the corn husk they most likely were cooked in , and they were the traditional corn dough stuffed with a small amount of pork and chiles. They were delicious. I couldn't wait for dinner.

When our dinner arrived, this is when our meal took a turn, but I really do think, we ordered the wrong thing for this particular restaurant. Lou had ordered the red snapper filet with garlic sauce, but when the meal came, the kitchen had made a mistake and cooked him the entire fish. It did not look appetizing in the least. There was so much garlic sauce poured over it, it looked like a shallow bowl of soup with a giant fish hanging out of it. The staff acknowledged, they had screwed up, and we would be charged only the filet price, but honestly we probably should have sent it back. Lou ended up eating so little of the fish, it was a huge waste. I wasn't any help. It was difficult to navigate with the plate being over powered by the soupy garlic sauce. My tilapia filet came out as ordered. It too had a lot of the garlic sauce on it, as well as a lot of onions and peppers. The fish was ok, the sauce was very salty. I could see the garlic, but the salt overwhelmed any taste of garlic. The sides which came with our meals were the best part. We had the choice of yellow of white rice. I got yellow, Lou got white. The yellow was not surprisingly more flavorful, and had beans throughout it. We also had the choice between sweet or salty fried plaintains. I got the sweet, Lou the salty. Both were very good, I preferred the salty, Lou the sweet:). There was also a small garden salad on the plate which consisted of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and raw white onions. There is oil and vinegar on every table for the salad. Lou had one more choice as a side that I did not, and that was black or red beans. We opted for the red. They reminded me of soupy baked beans, with not as much flavor.

In the end, based on this visit, I have to give El Oriental de Cuba a mixed review. The tamales and plaintains were outstanding. The fish was a disaster, the sides would have been a nice compliment to a better main dish. My Lesson Learned is next time I go to a restaurant where I am unfamiliar with the cuisine, I will ask the waiter for a recommendation. I think if we had gone with chicken or pork, our experience would have been very different. I think we will return and give it another shot. The staff was so nice, they ended up not charging us at all for the second entree, and we never asked them for any type of special treatment. If anyone reads this who has been to El Oriental de Cuba, please tell me what to order!