Galleria Umberto Rosticceria - Boston Day 3

Galleria Umberto Rosticceria

(289 Hanover Street, Boston, MA 02113)

                Day three of my Boston trip and basically my last day in the area/city/state brought a great many sites to behold.  I started the day off at the Boston Aquarium, walked over to take a gander at the Museum of Science, hiked over to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital to visit a new friend, trekked to the Museum of Fine Art …oh and somewhere in there I so happened to find a fantastic local hole-in-the-wall little Italian Restaurant in Little Italy; Galleria Umberto Rosticceria.  I guess from my mastery of the Italian language, “Rosticceria” meant that it was some sort of Italian deli, “Galleria” probably meaning a display of some sort and “Umberto,” the original owner’s name.  So in my mind “Galleria Umberto Rosticceria” = Umberto’s Italian displayed Deli.  Hold your applause you don’t have to be awed by my astute understanding of Italian, it’s just what I do.         

     

                                                                                                                                                                                The first thing you notice is that there’s a line.  It’s 12:15 on a Thursday afternoon and the line is just about out the door.  Fortunately for me, I got there just before the line actually made it out the door and along the sidewalk.  Secondly, the smells… oh the aromas.  This little joint smelled like what most people (myself included) would think a mom and pop Italian place would smell like.  I didn’t know what everything was on the menu, or in the display counter, so I decided to get one of each and figure it out myself. 

      Let the festa begin…yes I spelled that corrected “feast” in Italian is apparently spelled “festa.”  The guy behind the counter, whom I could only assume was part owner kindly asked for my order and when I told him that I was from Texas and came to Umberto’s to have authentic Italian food, a smile appeared on his 50-60 year old worn face that span ear to ear.  I ordered one of everything, but sadly he had just run out of the Paninis so I had to go without.  So the list of players on my tray of goodness: a Sicilian Pizza Slice, Pizzette, Panzarotti, Arancini, and a Calzone.

The pizza slice was Sicilian Style and with just cheese as the topping.  Don't mistake this as just your plan Jane ordinary slice of pizza, this my friend, was a work of pizza art.  Though unassuming, the bread was soft, airy, had a hint of olive oil and herbs and was cooked though well enough to have a nice crispy outside layer.  The cheese was flavorful, I wouldn't have been surprised if the cheese was made from scratch in house or from a neighboring deli, but I'd like to think that they made the mozzarella in the back everyday...kinda gives it more of an rustic mom and pop feel.

     The Pizzette (picture above) was as tasty as it is hard to pronounce for an Asian ESL elementary student. This was comprised of a baked pretzel stuffed with rolled up pastrami, cured ham and what I presume as their homemade mozzarella.  It was a bit salty, but just barely.

    The Panzarotti was a lightly battered and deep fried oblong shaped amalgamation of mashed potatoes, mozzarella and rosemary.  You would think that this would be greasy and pretty hard to stomach, but the potatoes were buttery, creamy and seasoned very well with salt, pepper and rosemary.  In the middle of all of it was melted mozzarella that gave it a bit more of a tooth feel that worked quite nicely.  And the breading wasn't greasy, but crispy and crunchy at the same time.

    I had to ask another patron which dish was the Aranciini (picture to the left).  From what they told me and what I could gather from inspecting experiencing its composition, its a well seasoned deep fried rice (maybe risotto) ball stuffed with mozzarella, beautifully seasoned pulled pork, and peas.  I've never heard of such and animal before, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to have my cranial nerves VII and IX stimulated to allow me to perceive the pleasantly palatable item.

The last item on my rather large plate was the .Spinach, Cheese and Sausage Calzone.  Umberto's used the same pretzel shell as they did for the Pizzette and stuffed it with a large helping of spinach, mozzarella and Italian sausage.  Though it was good, I do believe that it could have used a bit more salt.  The only salt came in the form of the salt located on the outside of the breading.  This lead to a sort of bland tasting, albeit moist, spinach filling.  The Italian sausage was barely noticeable.  Quite frankly the calzone was a bit of a let down compared to the other four dishes that I was lucky enough to sample.  
    So upon doing a bit more research on Galleria Umberto, apparently they are only open for lunch and only until everything runs out.  So I want to thank the food gods (if there are such things) for the good fortune of me finding the place and finding it when everything wasn't already sold.  If you happen to get a chance to find yourself in "Lil Italy" in the North End of Boston and its lunch time, you should really...REALLY...consider stopping at Galleria Umberto Rosticceria for a bit of authentic Italian cuisine. 
   So until next time folks, I bid y'all happy eating.
-Henry

Legal Seafood - Boston Day 2

Legal Seafood 

(355 Main St, Cambridge, MA 02142)

       Day two of living a Bostonian life and now that I’ve gotten most of my chowder craving satiated, it was time to get taste of what fresh Atlantic seafood was all about.  After taking a tour of Harvard (Haavaad as it seemed like everyone was saying), perusing through the Museum of Natural History and Touring MIT, I was a bit famished.  During a trip of this nature, ones where I spend multiple days just site seeing, I like to have at least one “nice” meal and I felt like it was about that time to partake in my one for lunch.  Enter Legal Seafood (http://www.legalseafoods.com/restaurants/cambridge-kendall-square).  Though I generally don’t like to visit chain restaurants during my trips (except for “exotic” chains not easily accessible in Texas, i.e. White Castle in New York), I figured a local chain would still be within my parameters.  I also need to apologize in advance for the length of this blog, the contents were too rich to only do it the injustice of a short write-up.

      Upon entering this establishment, you find yourself inundated with deep, rich, perfectly stained and polished wooded décor with matching nautical themed accents.  The dining room was filled so I sat in the bar section, which was fine by me…the bar has television to watch.  As I waited for my server, I watched entrées exiting the kitchen with what I could only describe as food porn.  So as I sat on my soft cushioned bench seat I started taking a gander at the menu trying to match these dishes with their descriptions.


      Remember how I said I mostly got over my clam chowder craving, this is where I squashed it.  I had ordered my appetizer, but the server had come back and to inform me that they had just ran out, of the Fried Soft Shelled Crab: "Blue Cheese Stuffed Roma Tomato, Basil Oil, Roasted Garlic, Pea Tendrils."  Apparently the one that I witnessed leaving the kitchen just a few minutes back was the last order that they had.  I was a little disheartened, but I ended up ordering the Signature Crab Cake and a cup of their New England Clam Chowder in its stead.

                The Clam Chowder was first to be served and I have to admit it was good, without a doubt heads above the other two chowders from the previous day.

      As you can see from the picture, the chowder was incredibly thick and was able to support the weight of an entire package of oyster crackers without descending to the bottom of the cup.  The potatoes were soft yet had a nice tooth feel when I biting into them.  As for the clams themselves, there weren’t many, but the few that were present, weren’t too rubbery and had a nice saltiness to them.  The chowder was phenomenal; The claims were noticeably fresh, the vegetables I could tell were properly seasoned and well prepared prior to being finished off in the chowder. It was the best cup of Clam Chowder that I’ve ever had, bar none.

               

My appetizer came next, the Legal’s Signature Crab Cake: “jumbo lump crab, mustard sauce, seasonal salad.”  You know when you read, “Crab Cake” at almost any seafood restaurant, your mind inadvertently thinks something that has some crab, but is mostly seasoned bread crumb filler with at best a decent sauce.  I was very pleasantly surprised to receive this..................................................

This masterful prepared dish was everything that I didn’t know that I wanted in a crab cake.  The crab meat was copious in quantity and superb in quality, seasoned ever so lightly with sea salt, pepper and had buttery tones to accentuate the sweetness of the crab.  And best of all, no filler!  The mustard cut through some of the fishiness that comes with all seafood.  The salad contained arugula, baby spinach and, unexpectedly, Thai basil and was topped with steamed green peas, a thinly sliced pickled sweet radish and pan fried onion pieces. If this didn't cost $16.95, I think I would have probably ordered another.  

            So for my entree I choose the Char Grilled Rainbow Trout with grilled asparagus and crispy risotto cake as my two sides.


      I want to start with the most underwhelming item of the entire meal, the grilled asparagus.  I had assumed that since the side salad (that accompanied the crab cake) had a few added ingredients that made a somewhat boring salad palatable, that the asparagus would have had something ... anything ... to make them stand out over something that someone without a culinary degree could prepare.  I don't consider unseasoned grilled asparagus with shaved Parmesan is anything that a culinary professional at a Zagat rated restaurant should ever be content on serving.  The vegetable lacked salt AND pepper and probably needed a splash of lemon juice and maybe a brush of some bacon drippings while on the grill, but instead I was served something almost as bland as asparagus flavored water.

   Now for everything else, the Crispy Risotto Cake served with corn, cucumber, and tomato jam.  The only real criticism that I can make about this side dish was that they probably needed to take it out of the fryer about 45 seconds to a minute and a half sooner.  The outer "shell" was tougher than it needed to be.  Trust me, I've been frying foods and eating fried foods long enough to tell when somethings been frying just a bit too long.  Fortunately, the "tomato jam" (I consider it more of a tomato cream sauce due to the presence of free liquid) gave each bite the moisture that the outer crust lacked.  

The filling was moist and full of flavor. (Just as an aside, I have to say that making a crispy cake is a great way of using left over risotto from a previous service).  I could taste Parmesan cheese along with butter, garlic, salt, pepper and possibly bits of shallot in the filling.  The tomato jam, not only added moisture, it added a bit of acid to a the cake that balanced out the sweetness of the corn.  Overall this was a very balanced dish, but for my taste, I wish there would have been a spicy component, bits of jalapeno added in with the corn, or maybe some red pepper flakes added to the risotto while being prepared.  Eh, now I'm being picky. The thing was great.

   I've never had Rainbow trout, so I'm at a loss of any real base line to compare the flavor.  I know (from Wikipedia) that Rainbow trout is part of the salmon family, but since its a white fish and salmon obviously a white, comparing the two would be like apples and oranges.  The only other regular white fish that I eat is sea bass (only when I've saved up enough money...so not very often) and so again, not exactly a great comparison.
So as my anatomy professor always said..."Let's get started.  The trout was chard well and the grill marks were ...well... restaurant quality.  I didn't need to use the lemon that was provided because unlike most fish that I've had, there didn't seem to have that fishiness about it that most can't mask.  The meat was supper flaky, still moist and it slipped off the attached skin effortlessly. The meat tasted slightly sweet and only seemed like it was prepared with just salt and pepper, the later used very sparingly.  The skin, it too was crispy, well seasoned and added a bit of fat to a very lean tasting fish. 

  In a perfect world, I would have enough residual income (I have non now) that would allow me to frequent this establishment more often.  As it stands, I'm probably going to come back to Boston sometime next year (to see everything that I wasn't able this time around) and I will definitely make it a note to bask within its walls again.
   So that's it for now, my lay-over for my next flight is just about done, so until next time folks,                         I bid y'all Happy Eating.

- Henry

Battle of the Chowders !!! Vacation Edition

   So this is the first day of my 14 day vacation.  Yes, I did kinda rub that in your face a bit.  And yeah, it probably was a not-so-cool thing to do, but hey I'm sure there are going to be times where your travels will be spoken of and referred to as the stuff of legend, so give me my time. :)   I find myself in Boston, Massachusetts during my first leg of my cross country exploits.  I need to be completely honest with y'all, the main reason why I chose to visit the city of the Boston Tea Party was for the pure fact that I craved New England Clam Chowder.  There it is, I said it and I'm not ashamed (well maybe a little).  I hopped on a plane, flew from Austin to Houston, endured 3 hours sitting next to a guy who probably thought deodorant was only a suggestion in junior high during PE class and flew 1848.7 miles to the home of the Patriots, Celtics, Red Sox and Bruins just to have an authentic cup/bowl or several of my favorite type of soup, New England Style Clam Chowder.  I want to preface this by saying that I woke up at 3:30am and probably subconsciously suspended consuming anything until 6:45pm local time (5:45pm Central/Standard time in case you were wondering), just to make sure that the flavors, of which I could only assume was the epitome of deliciousness in liquid form, were met with eagerly awaiting Filiform, Fungiform, Foliate and Vallate papilla (taste buds, I really gotta stop doing that, I'm sorry).
    I asked some of the locals and ended up at Quincy Market, which is located just across Faneuil Hall.

Within this gildedly labeled market were wall to wall vendors of edibles ... the fat kid inside of me (and the not so skinny kid externally for that matter) was just elated to see the plethora of choices of hunger pain satiating items that laid before me...and the picture below was only a quarter of the options.

 This is where the battle of the Chowders begin.  The Boston and Maine Fish Company vs Boston Chowda Co. I think I've already given y'all enough nonsensical babble and I'll spare you this time around from any more.  

I sadly have to report that the first New England Clam Chowder and Cold Lobster Roll that I had the opportunity to experience was not as epic as I was anticipating, actually it was a down right let down.  Let me start by stating that I should have known something was up when the seasonal special was a "Cold lobster roll with a small chowder for only $19.63 plus tax."  I guess I was thinking, maybe seafood is cheaper here because its more readily available and more commercial in the New England area so the prices are lower.  In my mind, I was comparing it to the lower fuel prices in Texas to the rest of the country.  Texas (if there happen to be persons reading this blog and don't happen to live in the Lone Star State), because it has the refineries, oil deposits and more companies in oil that the competition ultimately drop prices at the pump more so than the other states in the union.  I. Was. Wrong.
   Let's start with the Cold Lobster Roll.  There was no description as to what it was comprised, which should have been clue number 2 that should've warned me that it wasn't so much a quality product, but anyway... As I sank my teeth into the rubbery and soggy hoggie roll topped with what tasted like a mayonnaise based potato salad (and not good potato salad) with a few "large" pieces of, unseasoned, lobster meat thrown in.  The lobster was overcooked, chewy and basically covered with an equally "impressive" mixture of what I assume was what they considered sandwich filling.  I know I've made better flavored lobster rolls, without actually ever having used lobster.  What I'm saying folks is that if you happen to be in the Boston, MA area and see a cheap, cold lobster roll being offered, just turn around and look somewhere else.
    The chowder.  Such. A. Disappointment!  Chowders are suppose to be hearty, as in not runny and with a good amount of hearty vegetables.  Suppose to be.  Well, Boston & Maine Fish Company apparently never got that memo.  The "chowder" and I used that term very loosely, was watery, lacked salt and barely had any vegetables (I think I only had the equivalent of half of a red potato in the portion that I was given).  I don't even want to describe how poorly seasoned, flavored and thin anymore.

   I guess the only real good thing about having tasted and finished such an insulting meal was to follow it up was one that exceeded expectations.  This was the place I should have had to be my first introduction to the local cuisine, Boston Chowda Co.

The lobster roll was vastly superior to its B&M counterpart.  First difference, the lobster filling wasn't served on a hoggie roll...but rather buttered Texas Toast.  Secondly the filling was seasoned well with salt, pepper, garlic, butter, and even seasoned bread crumbs.  Third difference, the abundance of lobster meat.  My roll had three whole claws of lobster meat shoved between the Texas Toast along with the rest of the filling.  I admit that the lobster was also a bit overcooked and ended up being chewy, but nonetheless, overall seasoned well and tasty.

It wasn't runny!  The chowder WASN'T effin' thin and runny! The chowder would support my empty spoon sitting atop the surface where as its cousin's version, the soup dropped straight to the bottom of the bowl.  The chowder was flavorful, had a great umami flavor along with just the right amount of salty and savory tones that just leave you with nothing to complain. It WAS that good. 

 I know I'm cutting this description short, but for good reason.  I'm tired and need to get some sleep and I still have one final item to talk about...

The lobster mac n' cheese.  Just like the roll, plenty of lobster, seasoned well and delicious.  The only critique would be that the macaroni elbows were dry and overcooked, otherwise the dish had a nice amount of cheese, lobster and of course flavor.

    Alright, that's it...I've been up for 20 hours now...time for bed, lots to do, lots to see and lots of food to try tomorrow.  So until then, I bid y'all happy eating.

-Henry