Cheap Eats Column in the Boston Globe Food Section Every Wednesday So Popular
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Copyright © 2012 by The Boston Globe All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher. ISBN 978-0-9837815-8-5 Introduction There are nights you feel like a splurge. And there are nights you just want fast, delicious, and, most of all, cheap food. This e-book is for those nights. And that's what makes the Cheap Eats column in the Boston Globe Food section every Wednesday so popular. There are plenty of occasions to celebrate with a night on the town, but for casual dining week in and week out, with groups of friends, family, or house guests, you want a place where the mood is relaxed, the quality is high, and the bill is reasonable. Thankfully, we live in a mecca for cheap dining, partly because of the vast Greater Boston student population and partly because of our inherent frugality. So how exactly do we define Cheap Eats? Every item on the menu must be under $20, with most under $18. That should appeal to anyone out to discover new cuisines. It's reasonable to hope for a tab of less than $50 for two. These 40 spots include fine pizza (we won't let you down), Persian dishes, Dominican specialties, good sushi, an out-of-the-way Chinese take-out, aromatic Vietnamese pho, Sri Lankan food, Moroccan couscous, succulent Greek kebabs, Mexican burritos, and more. Whether you're working your way through college or sitting on top of the world, there's something in here for you. Sheryl Julian, Boston Globe Food Editor At Dosa Temple in Somerville, vegetarian Indian CUISine DOSATEMPLE 447 Somerville Ave., Union Square, Somerville, 617-764-3152. All major credit cards. Not wheelchair accessible. Hours Mon-Thu lunch 11:30 a.m-3 p.m.; dinner 5-10 p.m.; Sat-Sun 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Liquor None. Prices $2.50-$11.95. What to order Onion rava masala dosai, chilli bhajji, Szechuan noodles, sundal, malai kofta, lemon rice. By Catherine Smart, Globe Correspondent Dosa Temple is a family affair. The original location in Ashland is owned by Gokul Krishan, who found the perfect location for his Southern Indian restaurant right down the street from a Hindu temple. He decided to make the menu entirely vegetarian. Then his cousin, Gopala Krishan, opened a second spot just outside Union Square in Somerville, and brought the chef, Siva Kumar, with him. For those accustomed to Northern, and British-influenced, Indian cuisine - dishes like creamy tikka masala, butter chicken, and coconut milk curries - Southern Indian food is a new adventure. Dosa offers Northern Indian favorites as well. The extensive vegetarian or vegan menu adds another layer of interest. We start with sundal ($4.95), perfectly cooked chickpeas that have much more flavor and creamier texture than their canned counterparts. They're cooked in olive oil with grated fresh coconut, roasted red onion, black mustard seed, cumin, and crunchy toasted bits of dal (lentils). The dish is deeply flavorful and satisfying without being heavy. Chili bhajji ($4.95) is billed as fried banana peppers, but appear to be crisp jalapenos, and addictive, like poppers without the cream cheese filling. The accompanying plum sauce is a nice foil for the heat. As the name suggests, Dosa Temple offers plenty of dosa, those extremely large crepes available from street vendors in India. These are almost comically large, jutting off the plate, served with a side of delicious mulligatawny soup for dipping and slurping. The soup is made with lentils and curry leaves and thickened with chickpea flour. We try onion rava masala dosai ($10.95), whose batter is thin enough to be crisp at the edges, sturdy enough to billow in the center. The pancake is studded with bits of onion and filled with curried potatoes. It's served with a carrot and cucumber raita, the traditional yogurt mixture, and a cooling, shredded coconut sauce, flavored with cumin seed. We devour everything but the tomato chutney, which is surprisingly awful, basically ketchup with a few spices and bits of onion. Pizza uthappam ($9.95) is heavy, and bland, with too much cheese. Pav bhajji ($9.95) is much better, a savory, thick mixture of potato, peas, and onions, in garlic and ginger tomato sauce. It's served with hamburger buns, so you could make yourself a kind of vegetarian sloppy joe. We sop it up with garlic naan ($2.50), which arrives blistered (naan is available weekdays after 5 p.m., all day on weekends). Malai kofta ($11.95), despite a rather unappetizing description of "cottage cheese and vegetable balls cooked in almond sauce," is a wonderful dish - small fried "meatballs," something like richly flavored, smooth falafel in a creamy saffron-nut sauce. It's indulgent and divine over rice. Plain rice ($2.50) is very plain indeed, but there's an entire section of the menu devoted to specialty rice dishes. Lemon rice ($8.95) is sunny yellow from turmeric, with a nice lemon-rind flavor, flecked with cumin seed, black mustard seed, and more of that delectable crunchy toasted dal. Also on Dosa Temple menu is a selection of Indo-Chinese dishes, which began in Northern areas like Kathmandu, and are popular all over the country. Sichuan noodles ($10.95) are beautiful, bright red with stir-fried red onion, scallion, cabbage, sesame oil, and chilies. It's a kind of spicy lo mein. After dinner, the masala chai ($2) is a richly spiced and creamy brew that comes in a tiny metal cup. If you can figure out a way to drink it without burning yourself, it's a lovely way to end the meal. You can't get tandoori chicken or lamb curry here, but you won't want them. You can get so much more that you'll like just as well. In Allston, pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner ECCO PIZZERIA 1147 Commonwealth Ave. (outbound service road), Allston, 617-903-4324, www.eccopizzeria.com. All major cards, wheelchair accessible. Prices Pizza $11.50-$27; slices $2.75-$3.50. Salads $5-$11. Sweet pizzas $3. Ice cream $2.90-$5.50. Hours Sun-Wed 11:30 a.m.-midnight, Thu-Sat 11:30 a.m.-1 a.m. Liquor None. What to order Formaggio (four cheese), patate (grilled potatoes, fontina) uova (egg pizza), bianca (prosciutto, fontina, arugula), salsiccia (sausage, mushrooms). By Sheryl Julian, Globe Staff A table of men enjoying a few laughs suddenly becomes very quiet. Each is holding a small piece of pizza, nibbling it or just looking at it. We can't resist asking, "What are you eating?" "Pizza with cinnamon and sugar," comes the reply, then more silence. Among the many pies that Ecco Pizzeria offers, which include something for breakfast and a PB&J pizza for children, are a handful of dessert pies. Cinnamon sugar is one; chocolate-hazelnut is another (this is the sweet pie that silences our table; more on this later). Owner Stephen Silverman runs this big, clean, well-lit, friendly corner spot across from Herb Chambers BMW with delicious thin-crust pies, good salads, and lots of environmentally conscious systems in place to get to a zero-waste point. Ecco's whole-grain organic crust is Italian-style, what Silverman calls "somewhere between Rome and New York, mainly a thin crust, but not cracker thin, nice cheese blend that's not half-an-inch thick. Not the type of pizza you would do a foldover like in New York." That deliciously firm crust - pies were not as well done early on, but are now - is layered with fine ingredients. Uova, an egg pizza served at breakfast ($6), is around at dinner, too, in larger sizes ($14 and $20) and arrives with two soft-cooked sunny eggs on top, sitting amid crisp bacon. Bianca pizza ($13.50 and $18) is a sauceless feast of asiago cheese, prosciutto, and baby arugula tossed with dressing. Formaggio ($11.50 and $15.50) includes shredded and fresh mozzarella, smoked Gruyere, and Gouda with herb-flecked tomato sauce, a simple but wonderful pie. Patate ($13 and $18) has layers of grilled golden potatoes, caramelized onions, and fontina, melted to add a nice aroma to the vegetables. Salsiccia ($16 and $22) is topped with delicious chicken sausage and sauteed mushrooms. Greens in salads are especially fresh; dressings are made in house. Romaine in the Caesar ($6 and $9) is topped with shaved Parmesan. Grilled chicken ($2 and $3 extra) is removed from the fire at just the right moment, so it's nicely cooked, but the pale meat has almost no grilled flavor. A salad called pera ($7 and $10) mixes arugula, pears, gorgonzola, and a refreshing citrusy vinaigrette. For bambini who come to Ecco Pizzeria, there's a sweet little 6-inch PB&J pizza ($3), the peanut butter spread on a crisp round, decorated with circles of jelly. Silverman says kids love it. So do adults! Silverman owned Icky Sticky & Goo, bulk candy stores in shopping malls, which he sold. He and his wife, Barbara Sisson, a pediatrician, have two school-age boys. They come in and critique the pies, says their dad. "They're turning into pizza snobs. They don't want to eat day-old pizza.'' We pass up the cinnamon-sugar pizza, called cannella ($3), that knocked out the gentlemen and instead order cioccolata ($3), chocolate-hazelnut spread with dark and-white chocolate chips, which sounds irresistible, along with a scoop of double vanilla, from Boulder Ice Cream ($2.90 and $5.50).