Don’t miss Taste of North End tonight – and a good cause

An annual delight of seafood, pasta, cheese, oysters and more from some of North End’s best restauarnts, this is easily my favorite taste of the year!

In its 18th year, Taste of North End features 25 restaurants at the DCR Steriti Rink, 561 Commercial St. from 7-11 p.m. tonight. Here’s the list of participants.

This year the event will benefit the North End Waterfront Health, continuing the tradition of the North End restaurant community supporting North End charities. Proceeds will support the variety of programs and services offered by the health center, as well as other neighborhood charities for children and elders.

Event Co-Chairs: James Luisi, CEO of North End Community Health Center and
Donato Frattaroli, founder of the Taste of the North End.

Master of Ceremonies: Billy Costa, Host of TV Diner with Billy Costa.

Click here to purchase tickets through Brown Paper Tickets. Everyone who purchases tickets is automatically entered to win additional tickets.

Get your tickets to Taste of the Nation and beat childhood hunger

Every year Taste of the Nation brings together an amazing array of chefs and mixologists with the goal of ending childhood hunger.

This year’s Boston event will be held on April 19, 2012 at the Hynes Convention Center, to raise the critical funds needed to support Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, which is dedicated to ending childhood hunger by making sure kids get the healthy food they need every day.

The event features  over 70 of Boston’s great restaurants, 30 wineries, specialty cocktails, silent auction and live entertainment. Here are the details:

WHAT: Since 1988, Taste of the Nation has raised more than $73 million for organizations in the United States, Canada and abroad, including more than $1.4 million in Boston alone. Area charities that will benefit from this year’s event include The Greater Boston Food Bank and Cooking Matters, formerly known as Operation Frontline – Massachusetts.
WHEN: Thursday April 19, 2012. 6 p.m. VIP/7 – 9:30 p.m. general admission
WHERE: Hynes Convention Center, 900 Boylston St., Boston
BUY: Purchase tickets online at www.strength.org/boston or call 1-877-26-TASTE. General Admission tickets are $95 in advance or $105 at the door. VIP tickets are $150 in advance or $165 at the door.

This year’s honorary chef chairs for the event are four familiar faces — Jody Adams of Rialto and Trade,Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery and Myers + Chang, Gordon Hamersley of Hamersley’s Bistro and Andy Husbands of  Tremont 647. 

Chefs shine with unique creations at Cooking for a Cause

The ninth annual Cooking for a Cause was bigger and better this year — securing funds for the great work the East End House in Cambridge does and providing guests an opportunity to sample treats from the best chefs and mixologists in the area.

Read my writeup online on Wicked Local Cambridge.

Unlike last year, this one had more variety in food with a leaning towards seafood and fish.

I swear I tried doing a blind taste by walking around, not trying to look at the signs or the chefs. Even then I ended up picking up some of the usual suspects… Anyway, here’s what I thought was spectacular among the smorgasbord of mouthwatering tastes that night:

• Char crudo with ginger pickled rhubarb, parsnip chips, and pea shoots – Jody Adams, Rialto: delicate and mouthwatering, with a crunch.
• Homemade beet pasta with boudin noir ragout – Tony Maws, Craigie on Main: yay, pig’s blood! Unique and tasty.
• Cuban-style pulled pork shoulder – Jason Heard, East Coast Grill: well-cooked and packed with flavor.
• Charred pork belly with chipotle and purple carrot and jicama slaw – Richard Rayment, Aura: mindblowingly yummy.
• Mexican-style seafood tortilla soup (photo below) – Eric Brennan, Post 360:  full of fresh seafood and delicious.
• Brown sugar cupcakes with butter cream frosting, caramel popcorn  (photo on top) – Chef Michael Levitov, Area Four: crunchy, not too sweet and just plain different.

A special shout out to my chef friends – Culinary Chair of the night Jason Santos of Blue Inc. with an interesting pastrami reuben fried dumpling and Paul O’Connell of Chez Henri with his family recipe for Lent, fish chowder.

Somerville seizes a sausage smackdown

What happens when you pitch two area chefs in a food fight to create the best sausage bar dish? Only good things.

This one involved Highland Kitchen‘s Rob Morotto’s slider against East Coast Grill‘s Jason Heard’s banh mi.

I had mixed feelings going in since I love both restaurants but guess who won (the headline’s a dead giveaway, I know)? Read my delicious story in the Journal to find out – and have some sausage handy. It will make you crave some:

When two chefs are asked to come up with the perfect stadium snack using sausage, it can smoke up a storm. The steamy competition pitched aioli against mustard, sausage bites against sausage patties, and onion against jicama until the smooth slider won over the delicate banh mi at the Parlor Sports Tuesday Night Fight by popular vote…

This was hosted at the newly opened Parlor Sports, a cozy sports bar by the owners of Trina’s Starlite, adjoining the larger bar/restaurant in Inman Square. It’s a great place for local sports fans to watch games on eight flat screen TV’s.

Parlor Sports
1 Beacon St.
Somerville, MA 02143
(617) 576-0231
M-F: 6 pm – 12 am
Sat-Sun: 12 pm – 12 am

A YUMmy discount card for Union Square eats

Turkey, Nepal, Tibet, Peru, Japan – you name it and Union Square in Somerville probably has an ethnic restaurant boasting the cuisine. And now there’s a way for you to try it all without burning a hole in your wallet.

“YUM: A Taste of Immigrant City” is an initiative launched in 2010 by The Welcome Project,which caters to the immigrant community in Somerville. The $10 card 2012 YUM card (you can buy it online, of course) gives buyers a chance to eat out at the immigrant-run Union Square restaurants giving you a 10 percent discount on every $25 that you spend.

How’s that for a great food deal? Check out the details in a story written for the Journal by Mekhala Roy:

Here’s some YUMmy news to whet your appetite.

There is a cheaper, and healthier, way to embark on a food-filled adventure — pleasing your palate with cuisines from around the world — without having to leave the city of Somerville.

Indulge your taste buds with the succulent kebabs from Turkey; melt-in-the-mouth momos from Nepal; hearty wat from Ethiopia and fresh pasta from Italy with the 2012 YUM restaurant card…

Lucia serves up mouthwatering polenta specials

Despite great restaurants, good cafes and delicious food, there’s one thing the North End doesn’t have and Owner Donato Frattaroli plans to bring it to Lucia Ristorate. The idea is for a group of people to sit around a communal table and enjoy a special theme dinner.

At an invitees-only party for media showcasing the idea, the good owner and Chef Pino Maffeo hosted a group of 12 at a unique two-hour long polenta party, Italian style with lots of wine, jokes and merriment.

From the traditional antipasto featuring the tenderest of prosciutto to the juiciest lamb shank over a creamy polenta, it was a unique experience diners would definitely pay for.

Our journey started with the antipasto plate featuring a smoky marinated eggplant and roasted peppers next to the traditional meat and cheese – all exceptionally fresh and tasty.

The bruschetta came next – one with a bright green broccoli rabe and another with toasted  mushrooms that I could’ve eaten a dozen of.

I had mixed feelings about an Asian-inspred shrimp dish with a tangy salty and sweet  glaze that I found  overpowering. I think a simple Italian olive oil base would have brought out the flavor of the high quality shrimp more.

A visit to the kitchen a flight below showed us the chef cooking a large pot of polenta in a surprisingly clean and spacious kitchen. The chef said they are one of few restaurants to have so much space and pointed to the two extra rooms they use for functions, aside from the main dining space.

Then came the polenta dishes and any doubts or self control vanished as we dug into a rich rabbit and truffle dish, a braised lamb shank so tender that it didn’t need a knife, lip-smacking pork riblets with a red sauce that must have simmered for days to reach that flavor and color.

Saloon takes you back to the good old days

It’s hidden so you might miss it. But when you find the light globe announcing Saloon in small red letters a couple doors down from its sister bar/restaurant Foundry on Elm, go down the flight of stairs and prepare to be amazed.

It’s a bar unlike any other in the area, spacious, stylish and boasting brown drinks and suave cocktails from bygone days. Bring an appetite and dress nice because once you’re there, you’ll wish you had.

With unique cocktails and braised pork bellies, Saloon wined and dined patrons at its official grand opening last Wednesday in Davis Square.

First timers admitted it was a little hard to find; regulars called it a hidden gem that they hope remains hidden before it becomes just another overcrowded Somerville haunt.

“I definitely like it,” said Jacqueline Houton of Cambridge. “It’s like an old man’s library—in a good way.”

Read my review in the Journal and check out my photo gallery for more.

Saloon
255 Elm St.

Somerville, MA 02144.

617-628-444

Mon-Sun: 5 p.m. – 1 a.m.