Today's Entry: Antonio's Cucina Italiana


So every four months or so I have to go to Mass General Hospital and get a CT scan of my head, neck and chest. The tests normally take bout 1 hour and 45 minutes, which isn't bad, but there are two inconveniences that come along with it.

The first is that for the two days following the tests, I am radioactive, so I can't go into airports, federal buildings, or hang out with kids under the age of 12. (There's a joke in there somewhere, but my mind keeps moving towards to-catch-a-predator)

The second is that for the preceding two hours before the test, I am not allowed to eat anything.) This is a little more troubling, as I woke up at 8:30, forgot to eat breakfast and by the time I remembered to eat, it was within the two hour window.

So I ran into MASS general, had a radioactive isotope injected into my blood stream, got pushed into a CT scanner for 45 minutes and left with out even getting a lolly pop.

As I walked out of the MGH entry way, I saw Antonio's across the street on Cambridge St. As I had previously lived on Beacon Hill, I remembered Antonio's and decided to grab a bite to eat.

At about 2:00-3:00 the place was 10% full, so I was albe to sit down right away and order.

I started with a Caesar salad.

I enjoyed Antonio's Caesar for two reasons:

1. Dressing: My favorite restaurants make the Caesar dressing in front of you in a bowl, Antonio's doesn't do that :(, but the dressing was to my liking, and had an eggy sort of color to it. I'm not a fan of the "bleached white" Caesar dressing that many places use. I like a little egg in my dressing, as it should be.
2. Croutons: Not only were they tasty, there were liberally throw in. I could get a crouton with each bite, and not have to worry about a lettuce only salad.
   

The second and main course of my meal was Veal Marsala. There were actually two pieces of veal, each was rolled with prosciutto and cheese in the middle.

The Marsala accompaniment was fine; lots of mushrooms, but the extra ham just seemed diced up and thrown in with out any cooking or thought. I don't need perfect spices on every thing, but it didn't seem like any thing at all was done to the ham.

I ended up eating one piece and taking the other piece home.

I reheated it a day later and was pleasantly surprised- Penny had a bite and didn't mind either. So bonus points for being a good leftover.




The final Grades:

Caesar 86
Veal 83

My Ratings

I think its only fair to give a breakdown of my rating scale. Every one is different when it comes to numbers, especially when it comes to grading. I grade on a scale of 61-100:

96-100: I will not eat this particular dish ANY WHERE but here.
91-95: One of the top 3 places I have ever eaten this item
86-90: Top 10%- Will recommend this dish to any one
81-85: Quality food, would give it a secondary recommendation to friends
76-80: Ate it, kept it down, would order it again
71-75: Finished it, but wouldn't order it again
66-70: Slop, I was hungover and had to put something in my stomach
61-65: Not able to eat more than 2 bites

Of course, this can chagne when I feel like it, or if I become a more descriptive writer. Until then, this is a very, very ,very, very, very good ratings scale.

Summer Shack

Place: Jasper Whites Summer Shack
Date: 1/23/2010
Meal: Bowl of New England Clam Chowder ($9.00)
Drink: Jack Daniels and Coke


Saturday night I went out with my friend Steve an his special lady friend Meaghan. They had some friends in from out of town who wanted seafood, so I suggested we head over to B&G Oysters in the South End. When we called for reservations, they only had 4:30pm and 10:30pm times available. Steve and Meaghan wanted to go for drinks later in the night, so 10:30 was out, and due to the fact that I am not a 79 year old living in Florida, we decided that 4:30 was too early and we would have to go some where else. I allowed them to make the choice and they settled on Jasper Whites Summer Shack near Massachusetts Ave.

Being from Rhode Island and living/college in Boston for the past 8 years of my life, I consider my self to be an expert on a few things:

• Sneaky ways to get free food

• Best time and place to scalp tickets to sporting events and concerts

• Mass-holes

• Sea Food; and in particular New England Clam Chowder

The first thing I noticed when I stepped into Summer Shack was the smell. And it wasn't that just off the boat, fresh fish, slightly salty smell that most quality seafood places have. It was more of a stench. I guess stench might be a little to harsh, but it was definitely a little to much for my liking.

Due to the fact that I had a fully cooked ham at home, I wasn't in the mood to have a huge meal, so I decided to go with a bowl of new England Clam Chowder. When it comes to chowder, I'm definitely a white kind of guy, tomato based chowder never really did it for me.

Every one else had their appetizers while I had some complimentary corn bread and a Jack Daniels and Coke. HGTV was in town filming a reality show about some lady who builds houses. I spent most of the night trying to get my face in some of the shots.

My chowder came out with every one else's main course.

When grading a clam chowder I consider four things:

1. Potato size/texture
2. amount and feel of clams
   
3. Broth.
4. type of crackers/croutons that accompany the soup.

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So in reverse order here's how the chowder broke down.

The crackers were large oyster crackers, but were very hard and tough to chew, and not in a good way. No extra taste to them, just dry, hard, cardboard. (Grade D+)

The broth was OK. Not very thick, but not watery like some places. It was serviceable. (Grade C+)

Clams were fine, enough of them that I could find them, but not overpowering. (Grade C)

The problem I had with the potatoes was the inconsistency. Some were hard as a rock, some were firm, and some were mushy. Some were gigantic sized, and some were quartered. (Grade C-)

The total volume of chowder was fine, they said it was a bowl, it was a bowl, no complaints about serving size from me (Grade B)

The fact that I was eating in Boston allowed the $9.00 price tag for a bowl of chowder to be reasonable. I won't take off any points. (Value Grade: Understandable)

So I ate the chowder, I kept it down, and i didn't get sick, over all i don't think I would eat this again. Grade out of a hundred for Jasper Whites Summer Shack: 72/100

The Penny Test

One thing I forgot to mention in the last post, when ever I cook something at home, or bring some food back from a restaurant, I put it to the 'Penny Test'.

I give some to my English Bulldog Money-Penny (She's a big fan of 007) and see if she will eat it. The Ham and the Potatoes passed the Penny test. Here is a quick video of her getting restless and wanting some ham.

-Henri

My first food post. It's Ham-centric

I’ve subsisted on food for the better part of my 26 years on this planet. I started with Gerber's baby food, and have since graduated to solids, which is a blessing, because if I had to eat one more can of mashed green beans, I might have gone on a nationwide killing spree.

The first meal I am going to post about is what I had for dinner tonight. Glazed HAM. That's right. Though raised Jewish, I love a good ham. How can you not? Why would God give us this amazing animal that provides so much for us, asks for nothing but slop, and not want us to butcher it, drain its blood, and consume its meat?

My all time Favorite Simpson's episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" puts it succinctly:


Homer: Wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute. Lisa honey, are you
saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about
bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad! Those all come from the same animal!
Homer: Yeah right Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.
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Thing I ate: Glazed Ham

Side item thing I ate: Mashed Sweet Potato


After getting out of Work around 4:30, I got home and through the ham in the oven (2hrs at 280*), and about one hour later I quartered the sweet potatoes and dropped them in a boiling pot of water. About 1:45 after throwing the ham into the oven I glazed it with the little pouch of glaze they give you.


Verdict:

Ham 87/100
Sweet Potatoes: 89/100

The ham was pre-sliced and came out nice, I saved the run off juices and have been eating the rest of the carcass over the week. Ham in omelets, Ham sandwiches, ham steak and eggs, so the overall grade for the ham goes up becuase of its versatility.

The Sweet potatoes were so good they got finished that night so the ham has been lonely in the fridge.

Hello inter-web!

(ummm. Is this thing on?)

Well any way, before I start and get right into food; healthy and processed, organic, non-organic, meat based, fish based, human based (mmm…..soilent green)- I think it’s only fair to give you a little back ground information, about myself, about my eating habits, and anything else I want to tell you.

First, I was born a poor black child in Mississippi, but after thinking about it, I decided that career wise, it wasn’t the smartest decision, so as of November 12th 1983, I decided that I should be a nice Jewish boy.

And so it happened.

I am now a 26 year old resident of Boston. Below is a picture of my self, along with a picture of my stomach, so you can see that I enjoy eating.










(What's that crazy hole above my belly button? That's from the 7 month period when I couldn't swallow and had to "eat" through a tube! More on that later.)