Amsterdam Falafelshop: First Impressions

About three weeks ago, I met a friend for dinner at Diva in Davis Square, and I noticed that Diva's former lounge space was under construction. Signs on the window indicated that a Washington, DC-based restaurant called Amsterdam Falafelshop would be opening soon, and a posted menu confirmed that the shop would (obviously) specialize in falafel. I had just begun contributing to Eater Boston and figured the opening would make a good first story, so I went back the next day to shoot a photo of the exterior and see if I could find anything out. Conveniently enough, the door was wide open and the friendly-looking owner was inside, perfectly willing to answer questions and allow me to shoot some photos of the near-complete construction. (Check out the photos and my initial Eater post here.)

Over the next couple weeks, I wrote updates as the opening grew closer, got delayed, and grew closer again. It wasn't until recently that I realized I even liked falafel, and even then, I wouldn't consider it a dish I'd regularly crave, yet I found myself growing increasingly excited at the prospect of devouring falafel and fries at Amsterdam Falafelshop.

Finally, according to posts on the Amsterdam Falafelshop Facebook page, they soft-opened this weekend, allowing in people who had tried the original location in DC. Today, they opened to the public, and I knew I had to go.

We got there just in time to beat the rush; as we ate, the line grew until it was more than 30 people deep and quite literally out the door. Everything is dropped in the fryer when you order it, which is great for taste but maybe not so great for moving through such a long line quickly. People ended up waiting quite awhile, but since this was the first day, I assume they'll figure out a good way to speed up the flow. In any case, it was worth the wait.

There are two choices to make when you get in line: how many falafel do you want (three or five)? And do you want your falafel in a pita (whole wheat or white) or on a salad? At this stage of the process, you can also place an order for fries (two size orders available, small or regular). Joel and I both opted for a wheat pita with three falafel balls (plenty for lunch), and we split a regular order of fries. After a few minutes, we were each handed our falafel-filled pita, and then we were free to move through the DIY toppings bar, which features more than 20 toppings, most made in-house. I opted for a yogurt sauce, tomatoes, parsley, and a few other things. At the start of this section, you can get garlic cream sauce and tahini; if you want more of these two later, they're also located beyond the line, by the fountain drinks and fry sauces.

I'll admit my falafel experience is limited since I've only just recently begun to eat it, but this was definitely the best I've had so far. While some falafel tends towards dryness, not at Amsterdam Falafelshop. No, these balls were moist and flavorful, the toppings were fresh, and the pita was soft and pillowy. Two big thumbs up.

The fries were decent on their own; they're twice-fried in the Dutch style, the owner told me when I barged onto the construction site a few weeks ago, so they're pretty crispy. It's the sauces that really elevate them to the next level, though. I was particularly fond of the peanut sauce (ever so slightly spicy) and the curried ketchup.

Overall, I was ridiculously pleased with my meal. The place is small, but it was still navigable even with the out-the-door line. There are a few tables, and the decor is quite nice (large photographs of Amsterdam scenes), but this is perfect on-the-go food if you don't want to stay. Amsterdam Falafelshop is open seven days a week, from 11am until midnight, although if they were ever to stay open even later, I have no doubt the bar crowds would be all over this on the way home. Fries and falafel are perfect late night foods.

I do hope they figure out a way to speed up service during peak times, and I'd love to see signs next to all the toppings so I know what I'm eating, but otherwise, everything was outstanding for the first day in business. I think this will become a very popular spot, and I will definitely return. Probably embarrassingly soon.

M3: First Impressions

I walked by Alfresco, a small Italian restaurant on the edge of Davis Square, many times; it was one of those places I always wanted to try, dining in candlelight at a table for two on the sidewalk. Joel rarely craves Italian food, though, so we never made it over there. (Me? I could eat pasta for every meal for the rest of my life.) It's closed now, and the founder of South Boston's Local 149 has recently opened M3 in the space. M3 is apparently Southern code for "meat 'n' three sides." I can get behind that.

I met Tasted Menu colleagues around 7 PM on Friday, unsurprisingly facing quite a wait for a table in the relatively small space. Four stools at the counter opened up quickly, though, so we settled for that instead of a table. For noise reasons, I wouldn't recommend a party larger than two or three taking a seat at the counter; I could barely hear the conversation the entire night. It was fun, though, getting a peek into the kitchen and chatting with various staff members as they passed by.

The ambiance is lively and cozy - and by that I mean loud and cramped - but in a good way. It feels a bit like the lovechild of Highland Kitchen and Trina's Starlite Lounge, two of my absolute favorites, so I feel right at home. The walls and even the tables are covered with chalkboard paint, and food and drink specials are scrawled in pastels, different sections set off by empty picture frames. Funky chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and the lighting is enhanced by a string of mason jar lamps.

Amongst the four of us, we covered a good deal of the menu, which features charcuterie, appetizers, small plates, entrees, sides, and desserts. The entrees, all in the $18 range, include three sides; sides alone are $4 each. I was particularly attached to the lime garlic chili fries, but I was pretty happy with everything overall. Since the restaurant has just barely opened, I won't review it fully until it has had a few months to settle in, but my first impression is quite positive. I will definitely be back, and I think it will do very well in the neighborhood. And now, a peek at the food:

fried cheese curd: state of Maine cheese, flash-fried, red gravy

duck drumsticks: duck legs, superberry bbq, apple jicama slaw

peaches & cream: frisee, soft goat, arugula, walnut, pistachio, blackberry vin

crab deviled eggs: farm fresh, blue crab

hot water cornbread

brussels sprouts

macaroni 'n' cheese

lime garlic chili fries

thin pan-fried catfish: fresh water, cornbread, white harissa

beer can hen: porkslap ale, garlic & herbs, honey butter

strawberry cake

strawberry cake

coconut cream cake

derby pie

The Painted Burro

This has been a great week for tacos. First, I had a very positive experience at The Taco Truck, a new taco truck (what did you expect?) in Cambridge. Then, last night, I returned to the fairly new Davis Square Mexican hotspot, The Painted Burro, and I was pleased to find that it was much improved from my visit the day after they had opened, particularly in terms of portion size, flavor, and service.

When The Painted Burro first opened, I had just returned from Austin with a newfound love for tacos and mezcal. I knew it was risky to visit in the first few days, but I just couldn't wait. I'm a huge fan of Posto, which is under the same ownership, so I had high hopes. Not surprisingly, there were still a lot of kinks to work out on that first visit. I left disappointed but resolved to return after they'd had a couple months to settle in. I'm pleased to report that nearly all of the problems have now been resolved, and I really enjoyed my meal. (On both visits, however, the bar was almost unreasonably slow, even with the restaurant about halfway full. Fortunately the cocktails were worth the wait, but I wonder how long it'd take to get a drink when the restaurant is packed. I'm referring to sitting at a table for dinner and ordering drinks; I'm not sure if the experience sitting right at the bar and ordering from the bartender is faster.)

They did a fantastic job remodeling the old Gargoyles space; it's much brighter and feels more open now. (If I remember correctly, there was a wall or at least a heavy curtain between the dining room and the bar in the Gargoyles days, but now there is not.) The chairs appear to be made of old window shutters, and the tables are also made of reclaimed wood, or at least that's how they look and feel. The ambiance seems inspired by Dia de los Muertos with a variety of festive skeleton decorations, but it doesn't go overboard. One of my dining companions commented that it looked like a place that could be in Los Angeles, a little bit funky while still classy. On a wall near the bar, there's a gorgeous and large mural of a burro (a painted burro!) and a skeleton with a mini-me skeleton on its shoulder.

As a newly enthusiastic drinker of mezcal, I appreciate the large selection, as well as the tequila and mezcal cocktails. The spicy mango margarita was the biggest hit at my table, but we were all quite happy with our drinks. Mine, El Jefe, was similar to one I've enjoyed at Trina's Starlite Lounge in the past. Xoclotl Mole bitters would probably not please everyone, but they make for a smooth and subtly chocolatey flavor.

Food highlights include the pork loin "cochinita" tacos, the kale and plantain side dish, and the helados (ice cream), particularly the chipotle chocolate and the sweet corn. (Picture creamed corn, take away the actual pieces of corn, and make it into ice cream. That's what this was. It might sound weird, but I assure you that it is actually delicious.)

For a quick and cheap taco fix, I'd head back to a place like The Taco Truck, but for a nice night out with friends, I'd definitely return to The Painted Burro. It gets quite pricey, particularly if you delve into the drink menu, so don't go over there expecting tacos for a couple bucks each. It's closer in cost and feel to a place like Olé. Be sure to try the sweet corn ice cream!

Restaurant Review: Five Horses Tavern (CBS Boston)

Davis Square is full of great restaurants and bars – and full of people. The sidewalks are often almost unbearably congested, and it’s easy to run into a long wait at every dinner spot on the square or enter a bar so packed you can barely reach the restrooms. I love Davis, but I hate crowds, so I was excited to stumble on a new place set back a little bit from the center of the action. Five Horses Tavern has taken over Sagra’s old space, and from the beer selection alone, I was a fan even before stepping inside.

Read the rest of my article over on CBS Boston.

More photos:

Austin/Boston Food Love

Last month, the Boston Food Bloggers (BFB) teamed up with our new friends in Texas, the Austin Food Blogger Alliance (AFBA), to do a holiday gift swap. I'll write more about the background (and hopefully future!) of the swap in a recap post over on BostonFoodBloggers.com, but over here, I want to recap my personal swap experience. I worked with Jodi Bart, the AFBA's Communications Chair, to organize the event, and we decided to participate as well by becoming swap partners. (Yep, the AFBA actually has a Board of Directors and everything. Pretty snazzy. Something to think about for BFB?)

Jodi (whose blog is Tasty Touring) and I were both dealing with particularly hectic lives around the swap and never got a chance to talk on the phone (I'm totally phone-awkward anyways!), but we swapped a few emails and learned a little bit about each other. Jody was born up in Ottawa and attended a French immersion kindergarten in Montreal; I'm a total francophile nerd (and minored in French), so I hope we have a chance to parler en français at some point! (Yes, I know "to parler" is redundant, but I'm making up my own Franglish rules here.) Fast-forward to college at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where Jodi studied history. Then, she moved to NYC to do PR for The New Yorker before moving to Austin in 2003.

She's been blogging since 2008 - me too! - and awesomely won a national food blogger video contest through Whole Foods last year, resulting in a fabulous free trip to Europe. Amazing.

From Boston to Austin

Picking out the local goodies to share with Jodi was pretty exciting. There are the obvious choices that came to mind right away, like Taza chocolates and local honey from Follow the Honey; the ones that I came across randomly, having never heard of them before, like Fat Toad caramel and Minnie's Mandelbrot; and everything in between.

Here's what I sent:

Wildflower Honey from Warm Colors Apiary in Deerfield (purchased at Follow the Honey in Cambridge)

Follow the Honey is a newish bee-themed store in Cambridge. I first learned about it from a friend of a friend who worked there, and I went in, tasted a ton of honey, took a ton of photos, and wrote about it for CBS Boston. I was expecting just a store full of honey, but it’s so much more than that. Product-wise, there are bee and honey-themed accessories, beauty products, and honey from all over the world. The staff is also extremely knowledgeable about bees, colony collapse disorder, etc., and many of them are artists, so the store is gorgeous.

Most of the local honeys available last time I went in would have put me too close to the budget limit for the swap, but fortunately this local wildflower honey was “on tap” at a reasonable price - they have a rotating selection on tap that you jar yourself. It's from Warm Colors Apiary. (As you'll read a bit further down, Jodi also sent me a local honey!)

I had hoped to include print-outs of recipes from the websites of several of the products I was sending and stores I was visiting, but I unfortunately ran out of time. Warm Colors has a nice collection of honey-based recipes here.

Chocolate from Taza Chocolate in Somerville (purchased at Magpie in Somerville)

Taza is headquartered in Somerville - my home! The chocolate is gritty and intense, not creamy like European-style chocolate. Pretty sure most Boston swap participants included some Taza in their package. I’ve toured the factory twice. Lots of fun! I included one of my favorite flavors, guajillo chili, and one that everyone else seems to love, salted caramel. These are sold all over the place as of the last year or so; I picked these up at a cute gift shop called Magpie in Somerville's Davis Square.

Here's Taza's recipe collection, which makes me drool. A lot.

Italian Plum and Wild Concord Grape Jam from Central Bottle in Cambridge (includes plums from Autumn Hill Farm in Groton)

I’ve never tasted this one, but I love the store, Central Bottle. It’s primarily a wine store - a great one - but they have some other goodies, including a sandwich that I occasionally power-walked 14 minutes from the office to get for lunch when I worked in Kendall Square - goat cheese, arugula, walnuts, pecorino. And amazing bread! Central Bottle jarred the jam, which includes plums from Autumn Hills Orchard in Groton. According to the ingredient list, it also includes chartreuse (which I love) and “tastiness.” Yay! I hope it tastes good!

Mexican Chocolate Cashews from Q's Nuts in Somerville (purchased at the Eat Boutique holiday market in Boston)

Q’s Nuts makes the rounds at many of the local farmer’s markets, and I stumbled upon this flavor awhile ago and loved it. This bag was bought at a local holiday market organized by Maggie of Eat Boutique, a Boston-based food blog-turned-business that creates awesome food gift boxes that you can subscribe to - or send to friends. Check out the stunning recipe collection on the Eat Boutique website.

Minnie's Mandelbrot in Boston (purchased at the Eat Boutique holiday market)

And now for something a bit more Chanukah-oriented! I found this cinnamon, raisin, and walnut mandelbrot, made by Minnie's Mandelbrot, at the Eat Boutique holiday market, tried a sample, and thought it’d make a nice addition to the box. Minnie was the baker’s great-grandmother, who brought this recipe over from Belarus more than a century ago. (Never had mandelbrot? It's pretty much a Jewish/Eastern-European version of biscotti.)

Goat's Milk Vanilla Bean Caramel from Fat Toad Farm in Brookfield, VT (purchased at the Eat Boutique holiday market)

Another random purchase from the Eat Boutique holiday market! No special significance - I just tried a sample and thought it was delicious. Fat Toad Farm is a family-run goat dairy in Vermont, which still counts as local, right? Be sure to check out their tasty-looking recipes.

Vegan Chocolate Ginger Bomb Cookies from 3 Little Figs in Somerville

3 Little Figs is my new favorite place! It’s a Greek-inspired cafe that recently opened just five minutes’ walk from my apartment. I’m in love. Everything’s delicious, especially the sandwiches. I’ve never had these cookies, but I’ve had a bunch of other spectacular baked goods from here.

Mayflower Poultry Coaster from Magpie in Somerville

I’ve never been to Mayflower Poultry in Cambridge, but it has been around since the 1930s, and its logo is very well-known around here. They even sell branded thongs on the Mayflower website. This coaster is from Magpie, the aforementioned Somerville gift shop.

2010 Holiday Cookies Issue from America's Test Kitchen in Brookline

Just a whole lot of cookie recipes from Brookline-based America’s Test Kitchen! Yum! America's Test Kitchen, of course, has a ton of recipes on their website.

To describe the items that I sent, I printed out a collection of some of my favorite photos that I've taken around Boston, and I wrote about each item on the back of a photo. I had a great time putting together this collection of goodies and supporting some of my favorite local businesses while discovering new ones.

From Austin to Boston

What's a big event like this without a little drama and mystery?

As other swap participants happily tweeted about the packages that they were receiving, I started feeling a little sad...mine hadn't arrived yet even though I thought Jodi had shipped it a couple days before I had shipped mine. Jodi got worried as well and tracked the package, delivering the devastating news that it had apparently been delivered to my porch a week before. Remembering reading an article about a spate of porch package thefts in my neighborhood that week, I actually called the Somerville police department and left a message about my missing package; one of the articles stated that the thieves had been arrested, and police were working through hundreds of packages found in the thieves' car and apartment to try to return them to the owners, so I wanted to make sure they could contact me easily if mine were to be found.

Then - and I should have done this first - I called FedEx with the tracking number Jodi had given me. When I put in the number online, I could see very limited information - it was delivered to my porch on a specific date - but it turns out FedEx had more details to provide. A very nice lady read through the information, including one very key detail. "Let's see, this says that the package was delivered to your back porch..." Back porch! I have a back porch! I live on the second floor of a triple decker; the back porch is only attached to the first floor tenants' door, so I'd never have a reason to go back there, and no one has ever delivered a package to me at that door before, so I completely forgot it existed. The FedEx lady said that the drivers had been instructed to be extra careful during the holiday season, and many were apparently delivering to side and back doors to try to avoid theft. I hurriedly ran out in the rain to find the package sitting rather forlornly, a little soggy and a week old, on the back porch. Success!

As it turns out, nothing was damaged by the rain, and a detective from the Somerville police department even returned my call. I felt bad wasting his time since it turns out I had the package all along, but he was very nice about it.

So here's what I got:

Austin Publications

I didn't know this at the time, but it turns out I'm actually going to be traveling to Austin in March for SXSW, so these publications have become very good research materials for me! Jodi sent me the December issue of The Austin Chronicle (the gift guide), a "Cooks!" edition of Edible Austin (a sister publication to Edible Boston), and the special food issue of Austin Monthly, which I devoured in order to figure out where to eat during my trip. Turns out Jodi's actually in this issue of Austin Monthly - she is one of the experts consulted to build the "best of" list. Awesome.

Barbecue Sauce from The County Line

I told Jodi that I loved barbecue, so this was a perfect choice! I haven't tried it yet, but I bet it'll be amazing. The County Line's original location apparently opened in 1975 and has since expanded. Since  1990, it has been shipping meats, sauces, and more all around the country. Good to know in case I fall in love with this sauce!

Hot Sauce

As you might already know, I really really really like spicy food, so of course I was excited to find a Texas hot sauce in the package. I can't wait to burn my tongue on this.

Cheddar Jalapeno Pretzel Chips from Fat Belly Bakery

"...for the German heritage," wrote Jodi. I haven't had a chance to try these pretzel chips from Fat Belly yet, but they're next on my list.

Pure Wildflower Honey from Goodflow Honey Co.

This honey comes from Goodflow Honey Co., a family-run Austin business that has been around since 1975.

Pumpkin Seed Cheddar Snackers from Doctor Kracker

Yeah, I pretty much devoured these within days of receiving the package. This Dallas-based company, Doctor Kracker, is carried at a variety of stores across the country...including Cambridge Naturals, which I walk by almost daily. SCORE. I will be getting more of these. Oh yes.

Bearded Brothers Mighty Maca Chocolate Energy Bar

If there's one thing I need more of, it's energy. Bearded Brothers - which, you might guess, is a duo of brothers with beards - produces a variety of energy bars. This one is chocolate. Yum.

Enchanted Rock Soap with Sweet Almond Oil and Red Clay from Austin Natural Soap

This Austin Natural Soap smells absolutely fantastic, and a portion of the proceeds benefit Texas parks and wildlife.

Just What the Dr Ordered Brownie from Lovepuppies Brownies

OMG. I might have to order more of these from Lovepuppies or stock up when I'm town. Obviously, this was the first thing I devoured. Dark chocolate (yes!), Dr Pepper (Texas' state drink and probably my favorite soda), and Texas-grown pecans. And heaven.

Thanks Jodi!

At least from my perspective, the Austin to Boston Food Swap was a huge, exciting success, and I hope we can do it again next year. (More on that in the post that I eventually write for BFB!) I'm also very excited to actually meet Jodi in person when I travel to Austin in a couple months!

Read about Jodi's thoughts on the swap on her blog.