Boston never fails to surprise me, even though I've lived here, twice, and come here at least once a month, if not more. This time, though, my friends Laura, Omar, Alina, and Cais found a great friggin place for great pasta in Cambridge for cheap. Basta Pasta was great. They have a sauteed calamari, served with something like pita bread, was surprisingly good. This might be one of 3 times I've had calamari not fried, 1 time in Philly sucked horribly and 1 I can't remember, which isn't a good thing. I got the chicken ziti with broccoli tossed in a garlic and oil. It was slightly salty, but for $12.00, it was fucking great. Everyone else's food was equally as amazing for a really great price.
The next day there was brunch. The initial idea was Cafe Luna, which got great reviews on Yelp and looked great, but it was a 1.5 hour wait, so that was a no go. We managed to find a place next to Harvard Square that was phenomenal. The Cellar, which we considered for dinner but scratched off due to price, had great home fries and chicken fried steak. Regularly, no one notices home fries unless they REALLY suck, a la Original Pancake House, but if they are good, people don't really mention them. This place, however, used yellow fingerling potatoes, were well seasoned with onions and a TON of butter. I ordered the chicken fried steak, because as anyone who reads this knows, I'm really southern inside when it comes to food. For something that was cooked well in New England, they did a good job. The only problem was, they should have used a chopped steak not a real steak, but they did a good job with sausage gravy and free range eggs are always a good decision. We also ordered some pancakes for the table, which were some of the best I've had in a long time, and some rye French toast, which was not that great. Rye bread does not make good French toast, it makes a great Reuben, that's about it.
This weekend was also filled with a lot of great capoeira. Thank you to Mestre Chuvisco and Contra-mestre Toca do Capoeira Camara Angola. They are all really good friends and always a great time. I love those guys, and if you get a chance, check them out. I'd say do both, but many people would disagree with me, so choose your flavor.
The weekend culminated with HUGE traffic on the Mass Pike, a car fire, getting stuck at Logan Airport, and paying UP THE ASS for a one-way ticket to DCA.
The next day there was brunch. The initial idea was Cafe Luna, which got great reviews on Yelp and looked great, but it was a 1.5 hour wait, so that was a no go. We managed to find a place next to Harvard Square that was phenomenal. The Cellar, which we considered for dinner but scratched off due to price, had great home fries and chicken fried steak. Regularly, no one notices home fries unless they REALLY suck, a la Original Pancake House, but if they are good, people don't really mention them. This place, however, used yellow fingerling potatoes, were well seasoned with onions and a TON of butter. I ordered the chicken fried steak, because as anyone who reads this knows, I'm really southern inside when it comes to food. For something that was cooked well in New England, they did a good job. The only problem was, they should have used a chopped steak not a real steak, but they did a good job with sausage gravy and free range eggs are always a good decision. We also ordered some pancakes for the table, which were some of the best I've had in a long time, and some rye French toast, which was not that great. Rye bread does not make good French toast, it makes a great Reuben, that's about it.
This weekend was also filled with a lot of great capoeira. Thank you to Mestre Chuvisco and Contra-mestre Toca do Capoeira Camara Angola. They are all really good friends and always a great time. I love those guys, and if you get a chance, check them out. I'd say do both, but many people would disagree with me, so choose your flavor.
The weekend culminated with HUGE traffic on the Mass Pike, a car fire, getting stuck at Logan Airport, and paying UP THE ASS for a one-way ticket to DCA.
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