Atwood’s is Alright

Having heard high praise for Atwood’s Tavern for well over a year, I finally decided to stop in and sample the food and the beer selection. Everything about this place was great, from the hilarious and lively bartender to the very pleasing beer selection. The star of the trip was the food, which is not to be missed.

Stepping in, the bartender was super friendly and offered us menus right as we sat down. Greeted with a list of daily specials, it was quite hard to choose something off the regular menu. “Those will always be there, and do you really want macaroni and cheese on a 95 degree day?” I asked myself. “The guy next to you seems to be enjoying it well enough” was my response, but I was too late.

The catfish po’ boy was on the menu and what a sandwich it was! With a perfectly seasoned piece of catfish to the soft yet slightly crusty bread, there was a tangy sauce drizzled over the fish and it added a slight hint of spice. The sweet potato fries were good but a bit on the soggy side, however the regular fries Lizz got with her burger were absolutely mind blowing. I pretty much could have eaten an entire barrel of them.

With all the gastropubs that have been popping up all over the greater Boston area the past few years, I am glad high quality ones like Atwood’s are there for me to enjoy when I need an escape from the snooty high priced ones that seem to be the norm these days. Not only would I visit again, I kind of can’t wait to!

A Better Lobster Sandwich

Alive and Kicking Lobsters in Cambridge might not have the most diverse menu ever, considering it only consists of one item, but that one item is a doozey. Located off a residential street and set back a bit with a small parking lot in front, Alive and Kicking Lobsters main focus is providing fresh lobsters to the folks who stop in. They do however have something else to bring folks in and keep em happy, and that is the lobster sandwich, the likes of which knows no rival, for it is the ultimate lobster sandwich.

Served on buttery, toasted, sesame seed scalia bread, the sandwich might seem simple at first sight, but after your first bite you will know you have found something different. The sweet lobster meat inside the sandwich is still juicy, one of the perks of getting a sandwich from a place that stores live lobsters they catch with their own boats. Served with a side of Cape Cod chips and a soda of your choice, the sandwich isn’t the cheapest thing going, but it is worth it to sit out on the patio set in the parking lot and enjoy a sandwich.

On top of the one menu item and the fresh lobsters taking up multiple tanks, Alive and Kicking has a few freezers full of everything from chowder to shrimp and everything in between, a cooler full of beverages, and some fresh fish selections. The staff was super courteous to a bunch of late arrivals and made us feel at home, offering us tons of information. Places like this, while located in the city, really remind me of living in the north shore. A slower pace, a friendly smile, and a delicious meal all in one parking lot based seafood store. If you haven’t been, make the trip this summer and enjoy the afternoon.

Rock n’ Roll Pizza

P.A.’s Lounge is a well-established local rock club and bar with an Elks lodge charm to it. As a place that I love to go see music and grab a handful of drinks, I got even more excited to stop in this past weekend to try out the food, and was I happy that it was cheap, delicious, and a great change of pace for this neighborhood watering hole.

I chose to go with the traditional pizza, which at $8 isn’t a bad deal at all. For $11 you can get a cold P.A.’s Brew and one of these delectable pies. They are charcoal grilled, giving the thin crust a crispy exterior for the soft dough it encases. The cheese was melted to a nice crisp on the edges, while it remained gooey in the middle. The whole tomatoes really added a great flavor and an overall savory style.  The freshness was appreciated.

While offering a few other variants on the pie, one involving mushrooms and truffle oil, another with linguica and one more with chicken and hot peppers, they also have some more standard bar food. Burgers run about $6, $8 with the fries, and come served on a Portuguese roll, and the P.A.’s Dog is an all beef hot dog wrapped in bacon topped with their home made relish.

I can’t think of anything I could enjoy more than grabbing a bite, a couple of drinks, and checking out a show. I am glad P.A.’s has made that easier for all of us.

Get Local!

I don’t spend much time in places with the word Bistro in the title, and yet there I was with Lizz, seated at Rafiki Bistro on Mass Ave between Porter and Harvard, getting excited to try my meal. Rafiki took over the spot formerly occupied by the Forest Cafe, and has decided to do a French style bistro dedicated to sustainability and being ecologically friendly, with a focus on local ingredients. Since I’ve been on a huge local food kick, I had to try them out!

While the place is fancy on the inside, there is still a casual atmosphere about it. Serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night snacks, they really do have a bit of something on the menu for everyone. Seeing a locally raised grass fed beef burger on the menu, I knew I had to get it. Lizz got the Herb and Garlic Crusted free range chicken. The burger was fine. For $10, it was a decent burger. The meat was juicy, the onions and cheese were just right, but the beef patty was extremely small. It didn’t fill the bun and was a bit of a letdown. I do think it might have been a fluke though, as the table next to us got burgers as well, and theirs looked like it filled the bun very well. The sweet potato fries were seasoned well, but some were overcooked and some were undercooked.

The Herb and Garlic Crusted chicken, oh man. Moist, flavorful, I could go on and on about how much I enjoyed this. The mashed potatoes were creamy and rich, while the broccoli was absolutely fantastic. The natural gravy was such a great compliment to every item on the plate that you couldn’t help but want more.

With a selection of local beers, organic booze, and a seemingly great starting point to a menu, I hope to see the few foibles at Rafiki be fixed over the next coming months. The vegetarian fare seems exciting, with a delicious sounding lentil burger and an eggplant tower that seems interesting. I hope that I can write off these minor errors as opening jitters, and make it a semi-regular spot for burgers and beers with friends when we’re feeling a bit fancy.

Chicken Fingers……..yeah.

Finding out that there was a new chicken finger restaurant (really!?) opening up near my work had me, well I kinda didn’t care much at all really. Then to find out that it was a national chain, something that I am inherently against (unless you are Taco Bell or Popeye’s Chicken, I will love you both forever), I was just kind of disappointed. However, the Raising Cane’s now located on the BU west campus decided to hand out a coupon for a free meal the day before open so of course I am not going to pass that up, right?

Right.

Me and some pals and a complete stranger went in and were greeted by a super friendly staff who was eager to make each person’s trip enjoyable. I mean, these folks were anxious. If the sweet tea doesn’t give you diabetes, they just might! Anyway the menu basically consists of 4 combo meals. That is it. They have 3 times the beverage options, but only 4 meals to choose from. Each combo comes with side of coleslaw, some fries, texas toast, and their famous “Cane’s sauce”. The combo options are 4 chicken fingers, 3 chicken fingers, 6 chicken fingers, and a chicken finger sandwich. Notice a pattern? They don’t have anything else. But they do have fountain drinks, sweet tea, unsweetened iced tea, and “fresh squeezed” lemonade. Even though our meals were free, the meal I got would be over $10, and all of the combos were in the $7-10 range.

So the food wasn’t all that bad, or not nearly as bad as I had expected, but it really wasn’t as good as the people who were working there were building it up to be. The downside was the “Cane’s Sauce” which really didn’t add much flavor to the pretty darn juicy chicken fingers. I would have much preferred a ranch or a honey mustard (which, while they have it, someone at our table got it and an employee was so distraught about her not trying the Cane’s sauce that he went and got some so she could try it). The chicken fingers themselves, yeah they were really moist and with a really good crisp, but the flavor just wasn’t there. It needed some more seasoning in the batter. The fries were right out of your oven, McCain style, or out of your high school cafeteria. The cole slaw, well I rather liked it but you would be hard pressed to find one that I wasn’t that into. Again, it could have used a bit more seasoning but what can you do. The texas toast, though, this was the winner. I wish I had gotten 6 pieces of this rather than the 6 pieces of chicken that I did eat (yeah I got the big one).

In the end, is Raising Cane’s a viable lunch option? Sure, if you REALLY crave chicken fingers and not much else. Its hard to tear down their idea though, as they have locations that apparently have been successful all over the country. Only time will tell if the city will embrace this type of a place, but as for now I think I’ll keep my distance, knowing full well the best chicken fingers in the world are in Manchester, NH.

Raising Cane’s
945 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA