True Chocolate Devotion

Ever heard of Max Brenner, aka the Bald Man? Well, don't worry if you have not, because you are about to!

Way back in '91, a young aspiring novelist by the name of Max apprenticed throughout Europe and, carried by a love and interest of all things chocolate, began to develop his very own chocolate philosophy.  In 2011, he is about to celebrate the opening of his 37th chocolate restaurant: Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man, and guess where it is going to be?

 BOSTON!

That's right, as of today, the 31st of March, 745 Boylston Street is about to become a retail space known for inducing love - or whatever other emotion we may relate to the wonderful world of chocolate!

Max is famous for his fascination with the emotional ties people all around the world create with the smell, taste and sight of chocolate.  He uses this as his basis for inspiration and what an inspiration it is!
All of his locations are characterised by large vats encircling the entire space which actually churned the chocolate you are about to enjoy.  Pralines and other chocolaty sensations make for decadent decor and the smell of chocolate is around every corner. I went in briefly the other day just to take a peak and found it nearly impossible to leave again!

So what more do we have to look forward to? First off, they offer full dinner, lunch (and brunch on weekdays) menus with specialty drinks and cocktails as well as an impressive looking brunch menu.  Their menu ranges from classic American fare to other international items. I already have my eye on their waffle fries dusted with chilli and cocoa powder as well as their beer battered onion rings with dark chocolate ranch dressing. 

But what I am most looking forward to is their dessert section.

Naturally, I had to look into it online in order to prepare myself and subsequently you for what awaits behind those close mysterious doors!

Let's take a quick peak:

Here we have their classic fondue, for two, which comes with toffee sauce, bananas, strawberries, marshmallows, chocolate chunk cookies and sponge cake for dipping into your choice of two purely melted chocolates.

They also offer a 'Fantastic Popsicle Fondue' which prompts you to dunk your ice cream popsicle into a pot of melted pure chocolate, crunchy wafer balls and candied hazelnuts. You are the master of your own dessert in this case!

In the event that you are not up for that much chocolate (in which case you probably should not be eating at this restaurant), they have other sweet endings, for instance, their Banana Split Waffles which is comes with bourbon vanilla ice cream, milk chocolate truffle (the chocolate has to be in their somewhere!) and caramelized rice krispies.

They are most famous for their Chocolate pizza, which is a tantalizing combination of Max's double chocolate melting chunks, and your choice of 'toppings': crunchy hazelnut bits, bananas, peanut butter and roasted marshmallows.

Don't worry: I will stop myself now before I get in too deep.  Suffice it to say that I have been pouring over their menu since I first laid my eyes on it and I can tell you right now that one trip just isn't going to cut it.

This place may not be the most frugal, but if the smell of the restaurant is anything to go by, I may have found my heaven!

Chocolate is, in my eyes at least, one of the elixirs of life, find out what it means to you this opening weekend!

Check it all out for yourself:

http://maxbrenner.com/home.aspx

Healthy food, fast, and surprisingly delicious!

The non-stop pace of our society is mind boggling.  Who would have thought, a mere two or three years ago that so many people would be walking around texting, tweeting and 'face-timing' without thinking twice.  A friend and fellow food blogger actually told me she is so used to her smartphone that she occasionally gets an anxiety attack when she is not fiddling with it.

It is no surprise that restaurants have had to accomodate such quick paced lifestyles. Lucky for us Bostonians (and some people in Dallas and Cleveland) we have been given the gift of UFood Grill - a Boston based, fresh take on healthy, fast food.

Places like this have been popping up all over, it's like the Pinkberry, tart fro-yo experience. I am always skeptical however, as I have been to some that come out with cardboard food.  UFood Grill was another place I was afraid of entering, words like 'Non-fat' and Gluten-Free tend to scare me off.  My perspective is quite changed however after tonight, when I was lucky enough to attend a sample event at the UFood Grill in Fenway.  I am happy to say that I advocate this restaurant for all its fastness, freshness and well...tastiness!

We had a lot to try,and I will not go through every item, the following however are pieces that I fully endorse for their delicisouness - I suppose the fact that they are more nutritious and about half as caloric than the average fast food restaurant is a huge bonus too!

We started with their Bistro Salad: a bed of organic field greens, ripe cherry tomatoes, cranberries, walnuts and feta cheese with blueberry-pomegranate dressing.  It was as good as any 'fancy' salad you would pay three times the price for at a sit-down restaurant. 

Next came their 'Unfries' which are baked, and honestly, so delicious that when someone tried to take the plate away from our table with a couple of fries left on it, I instictively grabbed it back...

Of all the sandwiches, paninis and pizzas I tried, their better bacon cheeseburger and turkey burger were my favorite.  This is surprsing, seeing as I had just been to 5 Napkin Burger and had a really amazing burger.  At UFood, they use trukey bacon, which I actually really like, they also put the right amount of cheese, pickles and tomatoes for added moisture.  The whole wheat bun was a nice match, not too big but not non-descript either. 

I absolutely loved their baked falafel wrap.  It came with a coleslaw rendition and pickled beets.  I am a huge sucker for wraps and this one is a definite go.

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For the vegetarians in the house, they do a good job with their tofu, just a simple, sweet and sour- like sauce with fresh vegetables over rice.  It is called their 'tofusion rice bowl' and even I - a non-vegetarian to the max, really enjoyed it.  Their rice leaves a little to be desired, but I am not much of a rice person.

The only thing I really didn't take to was their Chicken Tinga Bowl - chicken breast marinated with some spicy tomato salsa, over rice.  The only thing you could taste in the sauce was the spice, which overwhelmed any other tastes you might like to notice in such a dish.  The chicken did not have the best texture either.

We finished our sample sensation off with their fro-yo. UFood is a proud maker of 'smuuthies' and shakes on top of everything else they do for the nutritious fast food movement.  I loved their choco-vanilla mix and their strawbanilla smoothie. 

What I was most impressed about however, was the level of dedication the UFood team has to getting the best food out to their customers.  They really seem to understand the needs of their clientele and they work really hard to get them just right. 

UFood is more than your average fast food chain, they are intent on building a place people can depend on in a world where things are changing so quickly.  So long as UFood continues along the honest path of providing nutritious food at affordable prices, I think they will see their project fly far out of Boston.

http://www.ufoodgrill.com/index.html

Reminder!!!

Despite the frigid temperatures and apparently never-ending winter, I figured it would be appropriate to remind you all that this Monday, the 28th will be the last Monday of March.  This means two things.  First of all, it is almost April and if that doesn't warm things up then this whole Global Warming thing has gone too far. Second of all, and probably more importantly, it will be Happy Hour at Kickass Cucpcakes in Somerville:)

So let's all just take a moment, breathe in the freezing air and be thankful that admist wintery gloom and the teasing sun that makes you think you can survive outside with a light spring coat (ya right!), there are some things you can really count on.
Thank goodness Kickass Cupcakes is one such thing!
Check out this video below in case you need some inspiration to get you over to Somerville this coming Monday:

Finally! A restaurant that lives up to my expectations!

The past couple of weeks have left me in a bit of a rut as far as restaurants go.  I have been feeling plagued by bad choices where I find myself completely disappointed by the food quality/price ratio and bad service...it has been a dark couple of weeks. But behold! 5 Napkin Burger, which as you know, I have been so excited about, opened tonight and I was blown away!

My friend and I tried an array of dishes and were not disappointed in the least.  Not to mention, the service was great, apart from a few slight mix ups, but that is to be expected during a restaurant's first week!

As crazy as this may sound, we started off with two orders of sushi.  Yes, you read right, 5 Napkin Burger is more than just a burger joint, it has its own separate sushi section in the kitchen where they whip up fabulous sushi concoctions. 

We ordered their 'southwestern roll', which is the one on the bottom of the picture.  It is spicy yellowtail, cilantro, chayotte, scallion, enrobed with soy wrapper and topped with jalapeno and tobiko. Not too shabby for a 'burger restaurant'!  The roll on top is their double tuna roll which was a very fresh rendition of your typical spicy tuna roll.  The sushi was as good as any you would find at a sushi restaurant.

Moving on, we ordered two different burgers. I had to order their 'Original 5 Napkin Burger', which is a 10 oz burger topped with gruyère, caramelized onions and rosemary aioli. When it comes to burgers, I am a touch judge.  This guy, made the top three for sure. The meat was so juicy and perfectly cooked, the other condiments, apart from an obvious overload of rosemary aioli, which is easily scrapped off, melded with the entirety like a match made in heaven.  It was divine.

We also got their 'Ahi tuna burger'. I have never tried one of these before, I am always worried I get a bad one. If you find yourself in the same boat as me, you have nothing to worry about here. Their tuna was the tastiest, marinated in ginger. The spice of the ginger was complimented perfectly with scallions, soy and a gentle wasabi aioli.  Tempura fried onions topped it off by adding some crunch and the whole thing was sandwhiched between an egg roll. Need I say more?

At 5 Napkin Burger, the sides are not included with the burger. This can be seen as a good thing, as it really showcases the burger.  However, while perfect for one person, I found they were a bit pricey for the amount you got.  Regardless, the homemade pickles were the best I have tasted and the onion rings disappeared two seconds after they hit the table. I could have done with a couple more!

We could not go without something sweet...I never really can. I ordered the espresso brownie sundae.  It was a nicely sized vanilla ice cream sundae with chunks of rich espresso brownie finished with a generous amount of whipped cream, caramel sauce and roasted peanuts which I thought was a great touch.

I also caved and got their s'mores milkshake which comes with a 'brulé-ed' marshmallow on top. Now, I have quite an extensive experience with milkshakes and I can safely say that this one surpassed all the others, Coldstone included. 5 Napkin Burger somehow manages to make these light enough to drink along with your meal, but rich enough that you feel you are really getting a treat..now that is a hard line to hit!

The only thing that disappointed was the '7-layer chocolate fudge cake'.  As a general rule, I never order chocolate cakes at restaurants because it is so difficult to find one that is moist and thick enough for my liking.  My friend took the risk and unfortunately, the result was as I feared.  The sliver was far too small, but perhaps that is just as well because the cake was very dry and the frosting, which can make or break it, did not deliver.

All cakes aside, our experience at 5 Napkin Burger was such that my friend is going back tomorrow, and I am already planning my next visit...perhaps this Sunday after our first week of 'Elo Eperience'? Another fab meal at this restaurant would surely help me get through the weekend!

Check out more of their menu:

http://5napkinburger.com/locations-menus/boston-mass/