Last night was an unexpected night on the town, and since I’m a homebody most of the time, was quite the adventure! After leaving work a little early, we went hunting for goodies at the record store in Allston (we left with some Dave Brubeck), and then headed back to the Waterfront for dinner.
After taking part in the Lamb Pro-Am this summer (and winning! yep, I’m a lamb-pion), I’ve been pining to head back to the DiBiccari brothers’ Tavern Road for dinner – and finally got the chance to. The restaurant is a great addition to the Fort Point Congress street corridor of the Boston Waterfront, and it’s a shame that more people don’t know about it! The food is excellent, well priced, and there’s some forward culinary thinking going on. This time around, I had the bluefish pâté to start, which comes with these salty-crispy buttery homemade crackers that were the perfect spread vehicle. (Bluefish pâté is one of my favorite New England foods, and I try to treat myself whenever I see it on a menu. Theirs is a winner.) Devon had the duck prosciutto, which was a little small portion wise – only a few slices, but quite good. (If you get a chance, Ruhlman’s duck prosciutto is a great home curing project.) They serve these delightful warm rolls, with some unexpected whipped citrus butter, which I’d eat by itself by the spoonful. For dinner, our friend Allison got the citrus marinated smoked chicken, Devon got a bowl of meaty bolognese with perfectly tender pasta, and I went with the harissa-rubbed roasted lamb, with roasted hubbard squash, silky squash puree, and Marfax beans.
We left full and happy, and stumbled out across the street to Drink to assess our luck with the line. The wait didn’t seem too bad, and we happened to be in line in front of the Scott Caan/Ryan Gosling look-alike who works in the Waterfront, so I didn’t mind waiting for a bit. (Yes, seriously, this guy looks just enough like Ryan Gosling that I usually do a double take when I see him crossing the street.) By 9:15, I hadn’t ordered my Ramos Gin Fizz yet, and was starting to get a little bit cranky. Allison mentioned unbaked cookie dough in her freezer, and so we gave up our spot, and made a b-line to her apartment in Charlestown. The evening ended with warm cookies, Ghostbusters, and me passed out on her couch.
We got home sometime past midnight, and today ended up being quite the lazy Saturday, as I missed my alarm for the gym… Instead, we ran errands – the bank, the post office to send in Devon’s passport application, brunch, and a long nap. In the early evening, I went for a manicure at Miniluxe, had matcha at Peet’s, and headed home to cook this up for dinner:
Not your regular beef and broccoli – I’m always nostalgic for takeout style beef and broccoli, but I prefer a lighter, brighter sauce, more like what you’d find in Vietnamese cooking: meat flavored with lime, and fish sauce, rather than your average thick brown slurry. Poking around my fridge tonight, I found some beef stir-fry meat from the butcher that I needed to use, and some broccoli that was on the edge of leaving us. I steamed the broccoli for 6 minutes in the microwave, got my cast iron pan nice and hot, added a good glug of oil, tipped in my beef, and spread it about my pan so it wouldn’t be crowded and steam. I didn’t touch it for three minutes, so the bottom would get brown and crispy. While the meat cooked, I made my sauce – the juice of one lime, about a tablespoon of Red Boat Fish sauce, and a teaspoon of piloncillo (brown sugar), to round things out. I flipped the beef, cooked for another minute until it was just cooked through, added the now-steamed broccoli, poured on the sauce, and tossed. After tasting, I finished with just a sprinkle of Maldon salt, and we had a feast. The sauce was just enough for about 3/4 lb. of meat and a 12 ounces of broccoli, but I’d double it if you have any more meat and veg than that.
Tavern Road
www.tavernroad.com
343 Congress Street
Fort Point, Boston
Drink
http://drinkfortpoint.com/
348 Congress Street
Fort Point, Boston
