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Allston

JoJo Taipei – Allston

Jul 22nd, 2009
by dave.
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Jojo Taipei
Spicy Beef Soup

One of the great things about Allston/Brighton is that there are a ton of quaint little eateries, serving a huge variety of ethnic foods and reasonably priced, to boot! JoJo Taipei is one of them, a restaurant specializing in Taiwanese food, including soup dumplings and noodle soups.

I’ve been here a few times, most recently with a group of friends to try JoJo Taipei’s most famous dishes and some of the more “interesting” things you can eat. Definitely a fan of the stews and the soup, not so much of stinky tofu. Also, there are a bunch of special appetizers each day that don’t appear on the menu, the waitress just brings them out on a tray for you to choose from.

I’m having some serious writer’s block right now too, so I’ll cut the post short here. Next time, I won’t wait 3 months before writing about a dinner out :P

Jojo Taipei
Smoked Fish
Jojo Taipei
Pig Intestine w/ noodles
Jojo Taipei
Pork over rice w/ pickles
Jojo Taipei
Oyster pancake
Jojo Taipei
Stir fried pea pod stems
Jojo Taipei
3 cups chicken (I think)

Misono Wok (Super 88) – Allston

Nov 12th, 2008
by dave.
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If you went to college in the Boston area (or if you live nearby), you’ve probably heard about the Super 88 supermarket and food court. The first time I ate there was in 2002 at a Ramen stand that, unfortunately, no longer exists. Before then, I always thought ramen was something you make in 30 seconds and comes in individually sized bags. Needless to say, it was an eye-opening experience.

That Japanese ramen isn’t around anymore, but its replacement, Misono Wok, is a more than ample replacement. They serve home-style Korean food, which isn’t exactly easy to find in the city. But to be honest, until I got to Boston, I never really had a lot of Korean food, maybe because Korean food is even rarer in New Jersey!

But anyway, back to the food. When I think Korean food, the first thing that comes to mind is Korean BBQ (bulgogi, kalbi, etc), kimchi, and bibimbap. While Misono Wok does have some of these dishes available, my favorite dishes are their noodle dishes, especially the Tukboki (rice cake noodles), or Japche (glass thread noodles). I’ve also been a huge fan of the pork kimchi lately, and even tried making it myself (I’ll save that for another day).

Clear Flour Bread – Allston MA

Jul 9th, 2008
by dave.
1 comment

One thing I haven’t had much of in the past couple years was fresh bread from a local bakery. But lately, I’ve wandered to a couple different bakeries in the Allston/Brighton/Brookline area, When Pig’s Fly Bakery, and Clear Flour Bread. Both places are wonderful and bake some awesome bread but today I only have pictures from the latter…I have to admit that I ate the bread from When Pigs Fly before I remembered to take pictures.

Anyway, Clear Flour has all kinds of daily specials in addition to a large assortment of staple breads including one of my favorites, an onion foccacia! They also bake many different pastries and sometimes have creative versions of a bread that are amazing! They had a loaf of Challah bread shaped like a turtle the last time I visited and I’ve seen bread baked in the shapes of flowers as well!

Here are the pictures! See for yourself :)


Fun Foods Snackery – Allston

Jun 29th, 2008
by dave.
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During the summer back in New Jersey, the town would hold a few festivals or carnivals at the local park, pool, or sometimes right in the middle of downtown. All of the local stores would have special sales and there would be all sorts of special one-time items from some of the locals with side hobbies: painting, knitting, carpentry, etc.

And as with most festivals, there was the festival food, ranging from italian sausages, funnel cake, and fried dough, to one of my favorites during the summer, snow cones! Nothing more than crushed ice with some colored flavor to it but wow, they sure were good in the heat of the summer.

Fun Foods Snackery brings back the snow cone with a huge new twist! They’ve turned crushed ice with liquid flavoring into a fruit-filled and ice cream topped treat! Not to mention the flower cup :)

Their signature snack is the summer snow, shaved ice with chopped fruit of your choice, some flavoring and a scoop of ice cream. Now that’s a great summer snack!

Carlos Cucina Italiana – Allston

Jun 22nd, 2008
by dave.
2 comments

Fettucini alla Marysa

Usually, when I think about grabbing Italian food, the North End immediately pops into mind where restaurants are two storefronts apart and the cannoli are aplenty :P

But recently I ended up at Carlos Cucina Italiana right in the heart of Allston on Brighton Ave. I’d read a lot of reviews and news about Carlos’ but I’d never had a chance to eat there myself…the only times I seemed to end up there were on Friday or Saturday nights and the place was always jam packed (which is a good sign I suppose!). Finally, I happened by during lunch last week with the roommate and figured what the heck, it wasn’t busy so we might as well try it out.

The restaurant itself is pretty small, roughly 12 tables in total. The decor on the walls and the ceiling suit the Italian theme very well however the tables and chairs don’t match up well at all.

After looking at the lunch menu, we decided we had to eat off of the dinner menu (after all, that’s where Carlos’ specialties are!) and the waitress was kind enough to suggest a few dishes.

I had the Fettucini alla Marysa and the roommate had the Gnocchi Spezzatino (pictures below). I devoured my meal with almost unnatural haste!

Gnocchi Spezzatino

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