When Carol came to visit me in Paris, she told me about her favorite seafood place in Brookline, MA where for very little money, one can get perfectly cooked fish and shellfish. It is a casual hole in the wall and lots of fun. I knew it from my many years living in Boston before I moved abroad, and was eager to try it again. My next trip to Boston provided the perfect occasion.
We were all old friends that evening at the Daily Catch, and had to wait until a table large enough for all of us was liberated. (This is a "no reservations" restaurant.) Definitely "no frills", many of the dishes are made and served in the blackened bent frying pan in which they are cooked and this adds to the fun atmosphere of the place. Calamari is a specialty and we tried a cold squid salad to start. Ed and I ordered one of the specialties of the evening, written on the blackboard. This was braised monkfish with littlenecks, mussels and calamari in a spicy tomato Fra Diavolo sauce. It was served over black pasta. Susan and Carol both chose the sensational fluke which was sautéed with mushroom, fennel, sundried tomato picata and served over linquine. Eric ordered the signature calamari sautéed in a white wine, herb and garlic sauce and served in the fry pan. The wine was a simple white from Sicily and everything was very good.
There are three Daily Catch restaurants in Boston and this attests to the popularity and success of the place.
Oleana has been a big Cambridge fave for years. Middle Eastern food is served in mezze-sized portions and it is fun to order several so as to be able to taste many. Everything is fresh, beautifully presented and flavorful. The combinations are quite creative and interesting as well.
I also went to Oleana with my old friend, Richard, his daughter Sophie and a friend of theirs, Gemma. I was game to order many things, and as we were four, we were able to taste a variety of dishes from the menu. I satisfied my creative gastronomic yearning with round flat bread (lamejun) with pink crushed red pepper, grilled peaches, cubes of roasted Haloumi cheese and a beautiful green salad to start, followed by spinach felafel with tahini, yogurt, beets and crinkled watercress. Gemma and Sophie sprung for skewers of octopus and olive served with a smoked wheat salad and skordato (a garlic sauce). Richard had a dish of beautiful summer vegetable crudités and a warm Tuscan olive oil with green herbs and garlic. This was followed by spicy fideos (crushed toasted vermicelli) and chick peas with green chard and orange aioli. As the menu reads, it is truly inventive with a utilization of so many different ingredients that are not usually seen on Middle Eastern menus. We were seated in the atmospheric outdoor courtyard and had a thoroughly delicious and pleasant evening.
An off-shoot of Oleana is Sofra which recently opened next to Richard's wine store (Violette) in Cambridge. Sofra is a bakery, take-out, eat-in place where one can get a terrific lunch or afternoon coffee with pastries. The mezze there all follow suit from Oleana and there are a variety of daily offerings. The cakes and cookies are sinful and delicious.
The old friends I went with were two women I have known since I was a baby. That's the perfect definition of old friends. Janet ordered several plates of small things so that we (Carol, Janet and I) could all try everything. The seeded bread was wonderful. We had beet tzatziki (a mixture that is delicious and of a gorgeous purple color), pepper and spring onion salad; smoked eggplant with pine nuts; whipped feta with sweet and hot peppers and zucchini pancakes with yogurt. I had to have some espresso-hazelnut coffee cake (it was my vacation after all), and also an Earthquake: a chocolatey cookie with chocolate chips dipped in powdered sugar. The day this place opened, it took off. Despite the fact that there are very few tables and a small outdoor porch with a few seats, we had a very comfortable lunch.
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