Wicked Good Sammies...

Sam LaGrassa’s

44 Province Street

Boston, MA 02108

www.samlagrassas.com/ 

My fiancé and I like to try to find Diners, Drive-ins and Dives places to visit in every city we go to. They usually are a touch cheaper than a lot of places, and the quality is usually pretty on point. One of the places we decided to try in Boston this time around was Sam Lagrassa's. It's a Boston staple. It's a deli downtown that's churning out old school classics like pastrami better than everyone else in town. 

I was on a mission to try the chipotle pastrami sandwich I had seen on the show. I'm a pastrami lover, so any twist on it gets me excited. The line was long when we got there, but these guys are world class. They moved it quick, made the sandwiches quick and provided an overall great experience here. While it was difficult to get a seat because it was so full and the place is so small, it was well worth it.

They served the sandwich on toasted bread, which in my opinion made all the difference. It gave the sandwich a crunch factor and made it hold together better than a non toasted sandwich would have. The chipotle pastrami was outstanding. It was a little sweet, a little smoky and mondo flavorful. The pastrami was absolutely perfectly juicy. It wasn’t overly fatty, and held up really well inside of the bread. It definitely lived up to the hype. The creamy and crunchy cole slaw mellowed a little bit of the spice from the pastrami as well which was great. 

My fiancé went with the pastrami and corned beef combo, but hers was served traditional deli style on untoasted bread slices. Her sandwich was good, but it definitely didn't hold together well as she was eating it. The flavor of the meats was fantastic though. That little bit of toasting on the bread would have made all the difference.
Three and a half pints for Sam Lagrassa's. I wouldn’t even hesitate to head back there, and I definitely would order the chipotle pastrami again. It's a small little place, but you can definitely get a table rather quickly, or take your sandwiches to go. Get that chipotle pastrami, it is seriously awesome. Cheers!

They Should Brew How They Bake...

Flour Bakery & Café

131 Clarendon Street

Boston, MA 02116

www.flourbakery.com/ 

When we were up at my brother's graduation in Boston, we were looking for great coffee places in Boston like we have in Philly, but we never really found them. I think Philly has just spoiled me with all of their delicious choices. Anyway, every morning we were there we tried a different coffee shop, and the morning we were leaving, we walked over to the Flour Bakery Cafe for coffee and breakfast. 

The selection of pastries they had was spectacular. It made it really difficult on us to choose, but we wound up ordering a sticky bun and a cheddar cheese scone to share in addition to two coffees. The coffee was definitely the best we found on the trip. Was it my favorite anywhere, no, definitely not. It was a very solid effort though. The items that shined for me were the pastries. We went with one savory and one sweet, as we usually do, and it was a great strategy. The cheddar cheese scone was salty and crumbly, a really great bite to contrast the super sweet sticky bun. It may have been super sweet, but it was fantastically delicious. It had a thick caramel topping and then was doused with crunch walnuts. Had it been served warm, it would have been out of this world. 

Three stars for Flour Bakery and Cafe. Two for the coffee and four for the food.  The coffee was simply meh. I've definitely had better. It wasn't real strong or flavorful, but maybe I ordered the wrong thing. Who knows. Regardless, this place is worth a visit if only for the pastries. Cheers!

North End Roller Coaster...

Bricco Ristorante

241 Hanover Street

Boston, MA 02113

www.bricco.com/ 

We went to the North End on a Sunday evening trying to try to have dinner at a long standing favorite on the north end. When we got there the line was out the door and halfway down the next block, so we walked on until we found Bricco situated a bit further down on Hanover street. We were seated immediately and we ordered a bottle of Valpolicella ripasso to share and glanced at the menu. Everything looked pretty tasty. We decided on the seared scallops, agnolotti al plin, pumpkin tortelli and the peach cheesecake.

Our service was pretty good. Our waiter was a little bit too aggressive pouring the wine, but he was attentive without being overwhelming. They brought us some bread with olive oil, roasted garlic cloves, and olives before we received the scallops. It was a nice way to begin the meal. The scallops were seared deeply, topped with a very thick piece of crispy pancetta and served over a saffron rice cake with a side of pea cream. This was definitely the best part of our meal. They were the most perfectly cooked scallops I have ever had. They had a superbly thick crust, but they were still breaming with that sweet sea flavor. The pancetta was a little hard to cut, but delightfully crisp and salty. I loved the chew and flavor of the rice cake as well. The pea cream could have been removed all together and I wouldn't have missed it. If they decided to keep it on there, it really needed more flavor. It really was pretty bland and plain, not quite showcasing the peas as much as I thought it would.

The pasta dishes were up and down. My "agnolotti" were more like ravioli. The veal and beef filling could definitely have used more seasoning. The fresh pasta was awesome though. There was great chew and flavor to it. The truffle sauce was also great. It definitely added another element of richness to the dish. My fiances pumpkin tortelli were spot on. Again the pasta was perfection and the sweet pumpkin filling was delicious. I lived the shaved ricotta salata on top too. It provided a salty contrast to the sweet filling. I love when dishes hit different elements of flavor all in one bite. It makes for a very well balanced and more interesting dish.

Our dessert really wasn't great. There were parts of it I liked, but mostly parts I didn't. The crust was nice and I loved that there was a lot of it, but the cheesecake itself and the peach sauce on top really didn't fufill our dessert desires. It wasnt quite sweet enough, and it was lacking a lot of flavor. It was definitely one of those times I wish we had decided not to order dessert.

I can confidently give Bricco two and half pints. Ups and downs with some really high and low points are what really made me make the decision. Highlights included the scallop appetizer and the pumpkin tortelli, while the agnolotti and dessert were about as forgetful as it gets. I feel like you can have a stellar meal here if you make the right choices. They have tons of great options, I am just not so sure about the execution of all of those options. Check it out and let me know how you fare! Cheers!