Best Excuse for not Posting

There are a lot of reasons I have once again neglected my blog. I got a new job at Avaya and now actually supervise people:) I was away in training for that job. I haven't eaten out that much because of the job, but my best excuse is spending time with my dad during his recent heart surgery. He will probably kill me if he sees I posted this picture, but I am so happy he is doing well. Go Dad! I love you:)

Can a Potato be Creamy? Brunch at Coppa

Coppa

253 Shawmut Ave.

Boston, Ma

http://www.coppaboston.com/

Atmosphere-Casual, Intimate, Enoteca

Food-Small Italian plates, unique wines and drinks, wood fired pizzas, pastas, exceptional ingredients

Kid friendly- We saw kids there for brunch, but there isn't exactly a kids menu. If you kids are world travelers like Brad and Angelina's bring them.

Cost- Dishes are from $5 for small plates to $16 for a pizza or entree. These are not the corner pizza shop's pizza's

Breakfast potatoes, they are so easy to get wrong. At least that is my explanation as to why most places have horrible ones. They are either over cooked and hard, or undercooked and hard. It is rare to find ones that I really like, and usually the only ones I like have been shredded into hash browns. This weekend, however, I found the perfect breakfast potatoes at Coppa!! Should I be surprised? Coppa is an intimate enoteca opened by Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonette. If you have read some of my earlier posts, you know Ken's restaurants are some of my favorite in Boston.

Enoteca is an Italian word which originally was used to describe a wine shop which catered to wine tasting and affordable bottles for its patrons. The word has grown to describe bistro style restaurants which serve wine and small Italian dishes.

Coppa pays homage to both definitions. Courtney Bisonnette the general manager at Coppa has put a drink list together which includes some of the most original bottles I have ever seen. It is no surprise she is a founding member of Ladies United for The Preservation of Endangered Cocktails. Marry her drink list with the menu of small plates at Coppa and the word enoteca is the obvious description.

Back to the potatoes though, I can't take credit for calling them creamy. I wasn't the first to taste them. My friend Stash did, and it was the first thing he said, "Wow, those are creamy".

The potatoes are pictured below in the back right with some of our other small plates. Not the best picture. They were roasted, bliss potatoes with rosemary and garlic, and yes, they tasted unbelievably, savory, light and creamy.

Also pictured below, marinated mushrooms with Eva's herbs, mixed olives with fennel, and marinated cauliflower with shallots, thyme and sea salt. Not pictured dishes we had are the warm salt cod crostini and endive salad with Parmesan anchovy dressing.

Most small plates are $5, antipasti, and brunch dishes $10 and wood fired pizza's $12 to $16
The olives were not really different than any other olives I have had, but what can you really do with whole olives? I love olives so I was happy with the variety that came to the table, Calamata, Gaeta, Sevillano, Calabrese and Manzanilla to name a few. Right now if you are thinking I have in depth olive knowledge, I don't. I have no idea what olives were in that mix sans the Calamata's, I just wanted it to sound good.

The cauliflower was also a nice variety. Nice colorful variety that is. I had no idea until I worked for Rachel Nason at D'Lish Intimate Catering that cauliflower not only came in white, there was also orange, purple, and green. The shallots and thyme gave it a nice flavor. Herbs also gave the the marinated mushrooms a little extra flavor.

The Parmesan anchovy dressing on the endive salad was heavenly.

Honestly, though, I need to go back and order more of a variety of small dishes. I don't think I did justice ordering the small plates because I was starving, and really wanted to get a full meal.

If you look at the menu on Coppa's website, you won't see the egg dishes which are available on Sunday's. I am guessing they were added later. We, Lou, Stash, and I all decided to get the poached eggs, on cheesy polenta with center cut bacon and forgive my ignorance in describing food, but that is a thin piece of toasted buttery Italian bread on the side. If it has a fancy name, I don't care, it was perfect. This dish was perfect. If you don't like thick cut bacon, then you may not think it was perfect, but this bacon is fresh and smoky. It reminded me of the bacon from Maresca's, a butcher shop in Sergeantville where I grew up. The poached eggs were fluffy and the polenta a savory cheesy blend.
If you are a the social networking type and use four square, check in to Coppa your first time there and you can get a $3 glass of Prosecco to toast your arrival.

Some things we didn't try that I need to go back for...the Man Mosa- which is a small bottle of prosecco, and a Pelegrino Aranciata accompanied by a large mug to mix them in, Salumi- cut on the coolest, sleekest, hand cranked meat slicer I have ever seen, I need to try another meal besides the brunch, and I definitely need to try one of their Dopo il Pranzo drinks. Describing a drink as sweet, medicinal and luscious certainly piques my interest.

In my book, Ken Oringer is batting 5 for 5 right now for great restaurants. I still need to try KO Prime, but it's looking very good.

Brunch with the Babas

Grieshaber, it is hard to pronounce. Very few get it right. Maybe that is why we call Jimmy and Gina the Habanero's and the Baba's. The correct way to say it is Grease and then Harbor with a Boston accent. Grease-ha-ba:)

Now you know how to greet them when you show up at their house for brunch on Sunday. I hope they read my blog so they know to expect you!

For as long as I can remember Jimmy and Gina have been making brunch Sunday mornings. My pictures don't do the feast justice. I know that on any given Sunday, I can show up and they will have more than enough to feed me and a small army.

Jimmy makes his giant egg scramble which usually consists of scrambled eggs, peppers, cheese, ham, tomatoes and anything else he feels like putting in that day.

There is also usually turkey sausage or bacon, keeping it healthy, and a huge stack of pancakes, see below. Jimmy doesn't usually look that serious when he is cooking, I don't know if he realized what I was doing.
What is really cool about this brunch is Jimmy works for Starbucks and Gina works for JP Licks so they both know coffee and tea like nobody's business and they have all the tools to make you a latte, cappuccino, or any other fancy drink you can dream up!

We brought Lou's friend Joe over one Sunday morning and 20 minutes later he was asking, " Who are these people?"

You didn't really think I was going to tell you where they live though did you?

Peterboro Diner

Peterborough Diner

10 Depot St.

Peterborough, NH

Atmosphere: Casual, friendly diner food, tight quarters, outside seating in the summer.

Kid Friendly: Sure

Food: Typical Diner food, we were there for breakfast

Cost: It was $18 with tip for breakfast for three of us, I am serious.

Our good friends Eric and Mary helped us kick off a festive holiday season this year by getting married the first weekend in December. They are both artists in every aspect of their lives. Mary is an art teacher, and Eric manages the music portion of Toadstool bookshop, but outside of that their lives are filled with artistic endeavors, and this made for a unique and amazing wedding in the town of Peterborough, NH where Eric and Mary live.

Peterborough is a quaint artistic community in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. There are great gourmet markets, and interesting antique stores, but the morning of the wedding we were early, and nothing was opened. Lou and I needed breakfast! We decided to stop in the Peterboro Diner. Peterboro on the sign, but Peterborough on the website and their mugs. Makes me think they just ran out of space on the sign?

Since Peterborough is a fairly small town, and this by all appearances seemed to be the only place open for breakfast, we made a bet that we would run into someone going to the wedding.
Once inside, Lou and I hopped up to the counter as it looked like these were the only seats left in the place and space was tight. Once we sat down, the only seat open was a stool next to Lou.

I got my regular, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and Lou got the French toast. As we saw the food for other patrons going by we got very excited. The portions looked huge and freshly made, but it started to take a little long for our food to come out.

About 15 minutes into our wait, I turned around to see a familiar face. It was the mother of the maid of honor in the wedding and she was alone. We quickly told her to join as in the open seat next to Lou and in the end, the wait for our food worked out. After she ordered, our food ended up coming out all together, and in the mean time we had some great conversation about how excited we were for the wedding that day.

For an all American, inexpensive, big portion, good tasting, basic breakfast, the Peterborough Diner fits the bill. I heard some mixed reviews about the lunch and dinner at this place, but speaking for breakfast, if you are in Peterborough, check it out.

Thoughts of Summer... Woodman's of Essex

Woodman's of Essex

121 Main Street, Route 33

Essex, Ma 01929

www.woodmans.com

Atmosphere: This is the seafood place by the sea you dream about

Kid Friendly: Absolutely, Family friendly, big party friendly

Menu: Seafood, Seafood and more Seafood

Cost: A lot of food for the price

Since Boston has turned into the Fortress of Solitude, I have been dreaming of summer, and all that comes with it. I know that Woodman's is open all year round, but fried clams and lobster at a picnic table, even if it is inside, screams of summer to me.

Woodman's is a seafood restaurant that has been serving New England for over 90 years. Their claim to fame is the invention of the fried clam, and they make them extremely tasty.

Last year at the beginning of the season Lou and I were lucky enough to get a FREE Woodman's meal. We have a LandRover and the dealership we bought it from did a road rally that ended at Woodman's with clam chowder, fried clams and lobster for all.

It was a great way to welcome in the warmer weather.

Woodman's Fried Clams

The first time I brought Lou to Woodman's, was about a year after we were married. He took one bite of a fried shrimp and gave me a look like, "Woman! You've been holding out!" Yes he does call me woman sometimes. It is usually very funny. I told him I had to make sure he was a keeper before I brought him to a favorite spot;) But seriously, I grew up in Jersey! He should have known about Woodman's!

Woodman's Clam Chowder

If you have room for it, there is an ice cream window at the back of Woodman's and if you travel in extremely large groups, there is a tent in the back for catered events. Hint: Bring some bug spray, we had an especially buggie day the day we ate in the tent, as there are marshes behind the restaurant.

You don't have to wait until summer to enjoy this place, in fact maybe a visit will bring summer just a little bit closer into view..

YAY ME!!!!

I am excited to announce that I will be a contributing food blogger to the very cool, South Boston site, Caughtinsouthie.com

This site is everything you wanted to know about Southie but didn't know who to ask. There is serious news, gossip, and some very funny articles. My favorite article right now is, "What does your spot marker say about you?" I admit it, I am a double bucket girl, which means, according to this article, I am intense or uptight. When it comes to the parking situation in Southie, I guess I am these days.

Who knew Mother Nature was going to dump the North Pole on us this year?

I am getting off topic, probably because of my excitement! I am a contributing food blogger!!!!! I think it is so cool.

Did Somebody Say, "MEAT PIE???"

KO Catering and Pies

87 A Street

South Boston, Ma

kocateringandpies.com

Atmosphere: Casual, Cozy

Food: All Aussie, all the time, meat pies, Vegemite, brekky ...

Kid Friendly: What little kid doesn't love their own little meat pie?

Prices: Great place to grab lunch or a casual take out dinner. Cheap eats

I have been meaning to stop by this place for a while, and this week I realized I have incredibly bad timing. I showed up too late on Sunday, Monday they are always closed, but Tuesday.... Tuesday I struck gold and bought every meat pie on the menu.

Let me back up. KO Catering and Pies opened a few months back in the old St. Alphonso's place on A street just off West Broadway. St. Alphonso's hadn't lasted long, and either had the place before that. I was starting to think it was one of those places that goes from owner to owner until eventually they level it and turn it into a parking lot.

I think I have changed my mind though. KO doesn't have a big sign out front. They usually have a small A frame that simply says, G'Day, it's Aussie food and it beckons passersby to "come on in!"

Really simple, so you may think, "How is this affective", but who doesn't love an Aussie accent? I planned on going into this place just to listen to whoever was behind the counter. I didn't care what they were serving, but then I saw an article in The Improper Bostonian, and a picture of the Aussie meat pies. A visit to KO was a win/win situation!

I have never had the pleasure of going to Australia, but I have a cousin who spent a semester abroad there, and she was visiting me this weekend. I couldn't help but think what better time to go and try KO out? Unfortunately, as I mentioned at the beginning of this, I have bad timing. By the time my Tuesday visit to KO came around, my cousin had gone back to Virginia, and I was left having to taunt her on facebook with my plethora of meat pies.

KO has the classic meat pie (ground beef and pie), the classic with cheese. They have an Irish stew meat pie, and a curried vegetable meat pie, and on that special day they had a steak, onion and mushroom meatpie! I ended up buying every meat pie except the classic with cheese. I also grabbed a sausage roll which my husband aptly described as, "Did you see those croissants with the sausage inside?" Yes I did.

There were plenty of other things on KO's menu that I will have to go back and try like the Chicken Schnitzel Burger or fish and chips. They even have Brekky Australian style for the early morning, Aussie eaters. My visit, however, was all about the meat pies.

I bought my meat pies early in the day and I was greeted by the owner Sam. Sam has cooked all over the world from gourmet kitchens to the galleys of yachts. These days he calls Southie his home and he realized there was an enormous opportunity to bring Aussie food to Boston. Sam won't just be sharing his Aussie creations with Southie, he has also joined in on the food truck revolution and will be going mobile. Of course I loved the accent, and not only was Sam nice, so were his customers who insisted I get the meat pie of the day.

The worst part about going to KO was I went early in the day, and these pies were for dinner! They kept nicely though and I heated them up in a 400 degree oven and they were ready in about 15 minutes.

Each pie is about 5 inch in diameter. One pie is probably good for most people, but we were doing a taste test, so we each had about two pies.. Our favorite was the Irish stew, followed by the steak, onion and mushroom special. I am not a big fan of curry, but the vegetable curry pie was pretty good, and the classic, I can see why they call it the classic. I realized after I ate it I should have read the card that Sam handed me "How to eat a meat pie" because it appears most people put ketchup on the classic, but I thought it was still very delicious on it's own. Lou also was a BIG fan of the Sausage roll.

I think I should warn Sam now. He might want to get ready for the St. Paddy's Parade. If news of that Irish Stew pie gets out, he will need to recruit some more local Aussies to "meat" the demand.