My Other Kitchen – Belmont, MA

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Sarah

My Other Kitchen – does not appear to have a website so the link goes to Yelp

This is the second place I drive past every day on my way to work, but it was small enough and busy enough I’ve again managed to never stop by. Come the weekend I packed Talls into the car and drove like a bat out of hell to try and get one of the few tables – which are all outdoors, by the way. The tables were already all taken because the weather was fucking gorgeous. Fall mornings in New England are the best. We went in and ordered anyway, as there is an inside bar as a last resort. Talls waited for the food while I stalked diners outside, and my creepieness paid off! We ended up with a table in the shade near an adorable English ex-pat family and fucking delicious food.

The special was caramelized pear french toast. Guess who ate this?

The coffee was delightful and unending, while the orange juice was delicious and doled out in small, expensive amounts. I’m honestly surprised this isn’t the case more often with fresh squeezed, but there you are. The french toast was just as rediculously fucking tasty as it looks in that picture.

Talls had a cast iron breakfast, complete with actual cast iron pan.

There was chorizo, scrambled eggs, hash browns, cheddar cheese, and one home made cornbread muffin in this pile of noms. I think the white stuff is yogurt, but I’m entirely sure. Regardless, all of this was consumed and I was able to steal very little for myself.

This is a tiny place that has little indoor seating, so lines happen here with ease. As long as the weather holds it’ll be a bitching place to eat, and when that falls apart it will become an amazing place to eat out from. The only thing it’s missing is an indoor dining area, but with the winters Massachusetts gets that’s a pretty big thing.

The Sweet Peach Diner – Belmont, MA

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Sarah

The Sweet Peach Diner

This is a place I drive past every single morning on my way to work, and every time I ask myself: why the fuck am I not stopping and shoveling food into my mouth instead continuing on into the office? Luckily the traffic around there in the morning is a bitch so there’s no easy way to park and lose my job to deliciousness. I finally got there recently when Talls and I wanted to go to a new brunch place but not drive too far.

This place has excellent food, and as I said up there, fuck all for parking. There’s a tiny amount on the street, and a parking lot got the local nature reserve not too far away. If you come at a classic brunch time like 10 on a Sunday, this place is packed. We did this and ended up eating at the counter because there were no tables available, and still had a great meal. Wonderful servers, a nice set up, and great food can’t be beat.

The Sweet Peach Stuffed French Toast. It is as fantastic as it looks.

Me? Eat French toast? I know, so fucking shocking. This pile of deliciousness was jam packed with peaches, fresh whipped cream, and all around tastiness. It also came with real maple syrup, because this place knows where the hell it is: New Fucking England.

There was also bacon. A lady needs protein.

The Tallsasaurus went for something hashy, as is his wont, although this time in Eggs benedict form. It was on cornbread instead of biscuits, and was fabulous. There’s also a pulled pork benedict on their menu that I will have to try sometime.

The hash benedict. Also crazy good.

Final verdict? Get your ass over to Belmont, find some way to park, and go eat at this diner whenever you can. They know what the fuck they’re doing brunchwise, and they do it well.

Birthday Brunch!

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Sarah

Talls turned older recently (if he will let me record his old man voice I will happily put it up here. It’s my favorite fucking thing sometimes.) and while initially I had wanted to throw him an ice cream birthday party as that’s the food blog he would have, we ended up doing brunch instead. Oh no. Boo hoo. It’s so shitty things worked out this way.

I made a pile of food and everyone else either brought food, maple syrup, and juice. We were buried under a metric shit-ton of maple syrup and juice for weeks afterwards. Our friends are the best!

I will post the other foods in a second, but let’s all first marvel at the piece de resistance:

It’s a fucking pancake cake bitches. A cake. Made. Out of PANCAKES.

This was Talls’ birthday cake: layers of gigantic pancakes with homemade raspberry syrup and vanilla whipped cream that had goddamn flecks of vanilla bean in it. It’s creatrix is a semi-professional baker, and she did not balk at this assignment when I asked her to make this thing. She sat down and made this glorious pile of deliciousness, and then fed it to us. It was as tall as a fucking regular layer cake you guys. It arrived in a cake carrier. I couldn’t even, and I still can’t. This woman is the fucking best and the champion of the world.

And now for the regular food:

I made quiche and remembered to get a before pic!

I made baked french toast and did not remember! Also a waffle maker was brought and I made batter so we had fresh waffles.

There were piles of cheddar cheese scrambled eggs!

And last but not least, mystery meat (alligator as it turned out) and parfait. There was also bacon and sausage, but they were gone way too fast for photos.

We spread blankets on the grass and had a picnic with lots of people in our backyard. Everyone was well fed – especially my dog who snarfed a good amount of waffle when people weren’t looking.

In conclusion, I recommend throwing a fucking awesome brunch birthday party for the brunch companion in your life, and not looking for suggestions for it on Pinterest because you’ll feel like a non-glamorous ass otherwise.

Tryst – Arlington, MA

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Sarah

Tryst

Tryst is a fancy-ass restaurant in Arlington that Talls and I had avoided partly out of concern for the price and partly because on the weekend we’re jeans and t-shirt people and this doesn’t strike me as a jeans and t-shirt place. But one weekend our friend Jenn was over, and we wanted to take her to a new brunch place but not, like, have to fucking drive or something crazy. So Tryst it was. Everyone who worked there was lovely, there were no comments on our attire, and the food was great. Also, it was Restaurant Week still (I swear it lasts for a month in the Boston area. This is not a complaint.) so it was cheaper than it would have otherwise been. Bitchin’!

Every morning should start with a fancy duck taco.

Every morning should start with a fancy-ass duck taco.

There were two courses, because fucking-a Restaurant Week menu, and I went for the starter that said “duck.” Like “maple,” “french toast,” and “bacon,” “duck” is one of my go-to menu words.

Talls was crunchy granola as he tends to be.

Jenn went for a peanuty thing.

For the main course we stuck with our buzzwords, but they were all fancy and delicious so it worked out well.

Me: french toast!

Talls: huevos rancheros!

Jenn: eggs n’ meat!

Jenn and I agreed the coffee was delish, and Talls loved the juice. The atmosphere was nice, and as we were there earlier it wasn’t packed. If you want a fancy place to eat tasty food that won’t bitch you out for sipping your coffee with a pinkie out, this is your place.

The Painted Burro – Davis Square, Somerville, MA

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Sarah

The Painted Burro

I would just like to say, for the record, that this place is fucking amazing and if you do not immediately stop whatever stupid thing you’re doing right now and get your ass into one of their seats so you can get their food in your mouth, you are a useless fool. Jesus Christ on a cheese-coated unicycle they have god damn candied bacon here people! Go eat there now and read this review later. Seriously. I’ll wait.

Let's get in the mood with some fabulous art.

Let’s get in the mood for food with some fabulous art.

It’s a nice place with a great set up, and as long as the weather is nice their gigantic wall of windows is open to street. That’s right: amazing grub AND ambiance. Seriously, why aren’t you eating here RIGHT NOW!?!?

French toast: egg-dipped brioche, caramelized plantains, mascarpone whipped, maple syrup

This pile of food was fucking delicious, and not just because I am addicted to real maple syrup and will always say yes to fried plantains. The french toast under all of that was thick, fluffy, and a little crisp on the outside. Perfection!

EL MONTANERO “SUPERBEASTO”:
2 fried eggs, chorizo con papas, pork charro beans, chicharron, fried plantain, burro rice, chipotle mayo, baja cream, crispy tortilla

Talls order this pile of deliciousness and, because he is tall and has extra stomach space in his legs like all tall people (look, it’s the only logical explanation of this), HE FINISHED THE ENTIRE THING. I manage to steal like a bite and even that was dangerous. This is a well named dish.

THICK CUT BROWN SUGAR BACON

I am totally just copying directly off the menu for the descriptions because even their capitalization is apt. Eating this was seriously like eating candied meat, and it was one of the most amazing gustatory experiences of my life. I’ve never really understood wanting to eat yourself sick on something until I tasted this. The Painter Burro saved me by not putting anymore bacon on that plate. Fuck, every bite almost killed me with happiness!

To sum up: GO EAT HERE NAO!!!

The Painted Burro is perfect and you need to go eat there, stat. Look, I left a physical comment raving about this place at the restaurant, and they fucking sent me a personalized thank you email. GO THERE BITCHES.

Trident Booksellers and Cafe – Boston, MA

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Sarah

Trident Booksellers and Cafe

I know what you’re thinking: this going to be a shitty little bookstore with a three wobbly tables and four books and it will be the worst experience of your life because no one can do books and food well and you’re going to track down my address and burn terrible cookbooks at me so I can understand you emotional fuck-uped-ness after having to read this horrific review.

BUT YOU’D BE WRONG, BITCH.

Trident is so fucking incredible it has raised both the cafe and the book selling sections of its business to an art form. They have a pretty interesting selection considering that they’re on the small side of bookstores, and I will always love them for having a copy of Voodoo Histories the one time I was in a bookstore and actually had a book I was desperately trying to track down.

But come on, this is not a book blog. This is a brunch blog. On to the brunchings!

Trident has breakfast all day, so Talls and I were technically having dinner when these photos were taken. Whatthefuckever, it was all fucking delicious. I had the Monte Cristo, which is a ham, cheese, and fruit compote sandwich on two slices of french toast instead of regular bread. In a word: mind-blowing.

And in the words of this blog: mind-fucking.

Yes, that is real maple syrup on the side for dipping. Perfection!

Talls had a special that I can’t remember the name of, but was basically a cross of their frittata and Eggs Benedict on a crepe. Even after I was stuffed with my own food my poor guy was fending off my attempts to steal all of his.

I don’t remember the name of this, but I do remember it was delicious and I wanted to steal the whole thing.

To sum up: get your ass to Trident. They are definitely busy at standard meal times, so there will be a wait that may cause you to buy books you didn’t plan on getting if you come then. If you show up at 7pm on a Wednesday like we did it will be about 3/4 full and you may even score a booth seat.

Also all their juices are fresh squeezed and amazing, so do yourself a huge fucking favor and have one of their hippy-ster juice blend things no matter how weird they sound. Their tea selection is also excellent. They’re also open 8am to midnight every day, so it is an excellent place to scratch your brunch itch even at the strangest times.

Common Ground – Allston, MA

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Sarah

Common Ground

This post was a long time in the making. Long ago, I resided within walking distance of this pub/amazing land of Sunday brunch and would go way too often to revel in the amazing french toast. This was before this blog, of course, which came about as a joke between me and Talls that occurred after I moved away. Six plus months later we FINALLY got back to my old stomping grounds (Ha! Joke!) and the french toast was just as good as I remembered.

Look at this delicious motherfucker!

Caramel banana brioche french toast. This is the best fucking pile of food ever. This was the first french toast I’d ever had that didn’t need maple syrup – the amazing stuffed french toast at Veggie Galaxy was the second.

Eggs, yogurt and granola, turkey bacon, corn beef hash, and home fries.

We only go on Sundays because Super Talls likes the brunch buffet and I have it on his authority that the Saturday buffet is subpar. He does two full plates AND takes a muffin for the road, so clearly the Sunday buffet is excellent. It has everything freshly made/cut there, and I tend to steal eggs from the boy to round out my carb fest. These are also lovely.

It was a lovely day, there was no line at 11 when they open at 10, due to it being in a college student-heavy area. They sleep in late. You can always booze up with your brunch if you want here, and the coffee and orange juice are great as well. I’ve always enjoyed the waitstaff, who are at the very least competent and very often fun to talk to.

And for you crafters out there, it’s also a wonderful to do swear-oriented projects!

This post was rather clean because the cross stitch has absorbed all my swearing.

Brunch it Yourself – Coconut French Toast

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Sarah

Most of us can make a solid basic brunch at home: fry an egg, cook some bacon, burn some toast and voila! Many have also mastered the art of pancakes without Bisquick, crepes, waffles, and french toast. Are you one of the wonderful people who bakes your own muffins, folds omelettes perfectly, or makes cinnamon buns from scratch? Brunch is a pretty accessible meal, and I am here to make it even moreso. I adore going out for a fabulous brunch so much I made a damn blog about it, but I am a baker at heart and also enjoy bringing it home.

Do you want fancy, delicious french toast in your own kitchen? Awesome! It’s totally within your grasp.

Ingredients:

bread, preferably something “plain” like white, wheat, or multigrain
eggs
milk, cream, or your dairy substitute of choice
dried coconut flakes

USE ALL THE COCONUT.

Tools:

shallow bowl
plate
whisk or fork
spatula
griddle or frying pan

I use four eggs to make six pieces of coconut french toast

Set pan or griddle on stove and turn the burner on to medium to medium low heat. If your pan/griddle is non-stick, don’t worry about greasing it. If it isn’t, wait until a little water sprinkled on it sizzles and then grease with butter or veggie oil depending on your dairy tolerance.
While your griddle/pan is heating, crack eggs into your bowl and whisk together with milk/cream/dairy substitute. Place a slice of bread in bowl for soaking.
Pour a thick layer of coconut flakes on to plate.
Flip bread and soak other side.
When bread is fully soaked with egg mixture, place it on the plate and “bread” it with coconut flakes. Do the same to the other side.
When the bread is fully coconut flaked, put it on the hot griddle/pan.
Flip bread when the egg is fully cooked and then coconut is singed. This will take longer than standard french toast. Repeat for the other side.
Repeat steps 2 through 8 for each slice. Enjoy delicious coconut french toast!
For added deliciousness, eat with pineapple. The best is fresh pineapple seared on a grill, but you can also throw fresh or canned on to your griddle/pan when you’re done with your toast for tastiness as well.

On the griddle like regular french toast, just “breaded” with coconut first.

Serve with maple syrup and enjoy!

Veggie Galaxy – Cambridge, MA

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Sarah

Veggie Galaxy

Talls and I stepped off our plane from Brazil in Boston, went straight to the Silver Line (not checking bags is the greatest of things), to the Red Line, to Central Square, to have brunch here. It was amazing and delicious and entirely worth staving off jet lagged napping for. How I have avoided posting about this place I have no fucking clue, but I shall fix this oversight posthaste.

Now, Veggie Galaxy is a vegetarian restaurant. It is also a dinner. It also serves brunch all day every day. Stop botching about their lack of meat and go stuff your face with their amazing food.

Great coffee plus amazing frappe = welcome home!

Veggie Galaxy makes frappes. Really fucking good frappes. Frappes with coconut milk. We went with one of our standbys, chocolate banana. It was appropriately delicious.

Stuffed French Toast. Go read the description on their menu. It’s an orgasm on a plate.

I had the best goddamn french toast they offer, like I am wont to. Allllll of that and they give you real maple syrup without question. This place makes me forget I like bacon with breakfast. Which is good because their fake bacon (tempeh) is not so good. The seitan chorizo is a very tasty meat substitute if you’re looking for that, though.

Talls’ Mass Ave omelete. Also stuffed with fucking deliciousness.

It was a food stuffed with food sort of morning for us. And yes, we were ravenous when we got there, but this is not the first time we’ve dined and been delighted. Get you ass to this diner!

How good is it? It’s so good I forgot to eat my syrup.

Sauipe Park – Sauipe, Brazil

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Sarah

Costa do Sauipe

Why did you have to wake up to a Madrona Tree placeholder post last week? Because I was too tired from traveling home from fucking BRAZIL to write about the tasty brunch I had there. Sorry bitches, but my life is more awesome than yours.

All the food was cafeteria buffet style, which means there was tons and when you fell in love with something you could pretty much get as much as you wanted. On the first morning there was bacon and churros, but like a fool I did not have my phone to take pictures! The bacon never appeared again. 😦 There was also never any maple syrup, as one would expect in a land far from the frozen wildernesses of Vermont and Canada, but I got through it some how.

The amazing coffee soothed my maple-less nerves.

The coffee was some of the best I’ve ever had. It was served in a huge, constantly heated carafe next to another heated carafe that was full of fucking hot milk. If I ever moved to Brazil I would die within a month of heart failure from the amount of caffeine I would consume by living off of this shit.

There was also churros, churro-ed french toast, good eggs, and a huge selection of fresh-as-fuck fruit.

The banana looking lumps to the left of the eggs are stewed plantains, which for me basically means dessert for breakfast. If you have never had cooked sweet plantains then your life is meaningless and you had better get some of those in you before you die. My personal favorite is fried.

Inexplicable buns! And so much candied fruit choices to toss in your yogurt.

Talls was always eating vaguely healthy and shit. It was fucked up. I was instead pining because the buffet section that was filled with coconut cakes (seriously, just piles of sweet coconut shavings flavored with fruit or caramelized sugar) and flan for lunch AND dinner was only a vast array of fruit juice in the morning. I’m pretty sure I could live off Brazilian coffee, coconut cake, and the occasional caipirinha at a moment’s notice.

One of my food adventures turned out to be tapioca pearls in coconut milk with optional cinnamon. I thought it was optional coco powder. This was delicious.

It was a great trip and the very poor translations on the signs made eating a little surprising at times. It generally worked out, however, and if I wasn’t feeling exploratory I could always fall back on fresh fruit and buns.

And the coffee. It was amazing enough to take two pictures on two different days.

Brunch the Fuck Up

pretentious yet edible

Tag Archives: French Toast