Summer Restaurant Week 2010

Where did I eat this Restaurant Week?

 

Masa, on the eastern border of the South End, serves delicious Southwest-style food with occasional New England influences. It's one of my favorite Boston restaurants. Since I hadn't been there for dinner in a while, I thought it was worth going back to try their Restaurant Week menu. With a sangria margarita in one hand and a fork in the other, I enjoyed a great meal! I had a flavorful yellow gazpacho for my appetizer, and ate a smoky, pungent, and moist achiote chicken breast with yucca fritters and corn-avocado salsa for dinner. I ordered a chocolate truffle tamale for dessert, but was presented with a molten chocolate cake (apparently the tamale did not exist?). Fortunately, Masa's MCC was unique and enjoyable. I would describe its texture as somewhere between a flourless chocolate torte and a typical MCC - in other words, it wasn't exactly molten, but was delightfully soft and gooey throughout. It had a deep, creamy chocolate flavor that made me think of chocolate mousse in cake form. The cake was complemented by a generous drizzle of sweet and tangy raspberry sauce, plus a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream that melted over the warm dessert. Clearly, I'm loving chocolate/raspberry duos this month! A thorough dusting of powdered sugar and a sprig of mint added to the presentation. I may have had a better dessert here once upon a time - a rustic apple tart, perhaps? - but I can't complain about this fresh and tasty molten chocolate cake.

Since I consider myself a Harvard Square regular, I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I had never been to Casablanca before this meal. I look forward to returning to the subterranean Mediterranean restaurant, as I enjoyed their Restaurant Week menu. My appetizer was grilled mission figs with prosciutto, Vermont blue cheese, and balsamic drizzle; I then had salmon with fresh tomato salad and yogurt tahini as my main course. Even though the waiter recommended the local-blueberry creme brulee, I could not say no to the unusual-sounding flourless chocolate-polenta cake with Chantilly cream, creme anglaise, and strawberries. The cake was rather dense and somewhat dry, but it fortunately didn't fall apart or crumble during eating. I could not taste the polenta, but it definitely gave the cake a sturdier texture than flour would have done. The flavor was that of assertive cocoa powder rather than deep chocolate, which I attribute to the relative lack of moisture. I also noticed that there wasn't much sugar in the cake, though its accompaniments made up for its lack of sweetness. The custardy, lightly-vanilla creme anglaise clung to the cake, and the airy, sugary Chantilly cream had a smooth, cool mouthfeel that lightened each bite. I'll keep my eyes open for polenta cakes going forward, as I'm curious about what varieties are out there (moister, sweeter, etc). I'm glad I expanded my dessert horizons with an unconventionally-"leavened" cake!

The Birthday Cupcake Society

To say that my birthday involved cupcakes would be an understatement.

I started the day by having brunch at Flour Bakery's Central Square outpost, which included one of their impossibly rich and chewy chocolate cupcakes with airy vanilla frosting. I'll let this picture do the talking.
I thought my daily cupcake quota - hitherto an unimagined and unnecessary metric - would have been filled after Flour's contribution, but this was not the case. Imagine my excitement when Greg presented me with a box of Sweet cupcakes later that afternoon! I have discussed Sweet here before, but the delights within that birthday box deserve honorable mention. From left to right in this picture:

• Lemon - dense, lightly-flavored lemon vanilla cake was topped with tangy lemon frosting and a lemon candy. I would rather have assertive citrus flavors in baked goods, especially in ones as substantive as Sweet's. The frosting, however, was lemony enough to compensate for the cake's blandness. I could easily eat spoonful after spoonful of lemon frosting!
• Lemon Raspberry - the same lemon vanilla cake was injected with a generous glob of raspberry jam. Their signature vanilla frosting, which may or may not have had a hint of lemon flavor, was the third contributor to a triumvirate of complementary textures (much like their Red, White, and You cupcake). The best bites included cake, frosting, and jam! A raspberry on top was a cute and tasty touch.
• Chocolate Vanilla - cheerfull yellow sprinkles coated the cupcake's first dollop of vanilla frosting, which in turn was topped by an elaborate frosting peak. This frosting was so delicious and creamy that I paid less attention to the chocolate cake beneath. The chocolate cake was as rich as the vanilla cake, though less sugary and somewhat drier.
• Chocolate Chocolate - yes, I loved this cupcake's purple sprinkles. Fortunately, the cupcake's chocolate flavors were equally pleasing. The bakery's dense, sugary frosting is especially delicious with creamy milk chocolate blended in.

So, my birthday's cupcake quota was stretched a bit. I enjoyed the Lemon Raspberry confection that evening, and consumed the others - at a rate of one per day! - later.

Then, I went to New Hampshire for a few days' fun with the family. I knew there would be a birthday dessert waiting for me. I was looking forward to my mom's beloved dark chocolate layer cake with peppermint frosting, so I had a cat's reaction of alarm plus curiosity when I saw a baker's box on our kitchen counter. So much for what I had been told! That's right, I wasn't getting my traditional cake. I was getting cupcakes - the best cupcakes I've ever had.

Windham's Shabby Chic bakery is a recent addition to the New Hampshire dessert scene. Within 6 months of opening, they won all sorts of acclaim, including a feature on New Hampshire Chronicle and a cover mention for Best Cupcakes in New Hampshire magazine's 2009 Best of NH issue. After eating a few of their delightful confections, it is easy to see - and taste! - why. I had four different cupcakes, all variations on the same basic chocolate cake with light, creamy buttercream frosting. For the record, each cupcake measures slightly less than 3 inches in diameter and slightly less than 4 inches (frosting and topper included) in height! Here are the treats in the order they were eaten:

• Chocolate Salted Caramel - this cake had extremely salty, slightly-crystallized caramel swirled within the batter. The saltiness actually shocked me at first until I embraced the union of flavors in each gooey bite - chocolate, caramel, and salt, oh my! - as well as the sweeter caramel frosting. I felt like I was eating a moist, chewy caramel brownie rather than a cake! The light frosting reminded me of dulce de leche, and was only slightly salty; you do have the option of picking flakes of fleur de sel from its exterior. Sweet caramel drizzle ran down the sides of the frosting, and a chewy dark-chocolate-covered caramel marked the top of the frosting peak.

• Chocolate Raspberry - raspberry puree was mixed throughout the chocolate cake to create the most successful dessert of this bunch! The tart, fruity puree complemented the cake's smooth chocolate sweetness, and moistened the batter so that both flavors shone. Each bite was deliciously fudgy, and there was a nugget of puree at the cupcake's center. Of course, the raspberry frosting was equally excellent! The pale pink buttercream had tiny pieces of fruit mixed in, and really tasted like a whisper of raspberries and cream. The topper was a fudgy chocolate with a sour berry coating.

• Chocolate Mint - no mint syrup saturated this base cake. Instead, small pieces of dark mint chocolate and light-green white chocolate studded the batter. The candy bits were dry and hard, so the cupcake had none of the gooey fudginess noted above. The candies' fresh mint flavor lightly permeated the batter. The pale green buttercream frosting featured a stronger, more pungent mint. I prefer sweet peppermint to fresh mint, so I was slightly disappointed in this cupcake. A chocolate-covered malted milk ball with a gorgeous robin's-egg coating topped it all off.

• Chocolate Peanut Butter - when devoid of mix-ins, Shabby Chic's standard chocolate cupcake is moderately chocolatey-sweet and somewhat dry, with a coarse crumb. This basic cupcake was paired with the most decadent of frostings. As you can see from the picture, the peanut butter frosting departed from the usual Shabby Chic buttercream by being thick - so thick that it was more like dense peanut butter ice cream than frosting! The taste echoed the texture, suggesting incredibly sweet and milky peanut butter. Clearly, a lot of actual peanut butter went into it! The frosting became somewhat crusty on the outside after spending a day in my refrigerator, but the inside remained creamy. I was blown away by the frosting's richness and how it paired so well with the chocolate cake. The cupcake was topped with a milk-chocolate-covered peanut.

What excellent cake varieties and frosting flavors! I am so glad that my family saw Shabby Chic's press, realized the cupcakery was only minutes from our home, and decided to give it a try. I look forward to returning to this adorable desserterie to try some more treats - maybe a vanilla cupcake with orange or lemon swirls?

...as if 9 cupcakes in 8 days weren't enough! Happy Birthday to me. :-)

OMG!

I went to Stonewall Kitchen's flagship store in York, Maine this past weekend, and stopped by a nearby farmers' market afterward. This market had the usual assortments of fresh veggies and baked goods, but one baked-good display caught my eye. Kate's Designer Delights was advertising a treat called the OMG. Having used that phrase to a fault, I had to investigate its dessert incarnation. OMGs are essentially 5"-diameter tarts, with a shortbread crust and the filling/drizzle of your choice - either homemade caramel with milk chocolate, or raspberry jam and white chocolate. I chose the caramel-filled OMG since Stonewall Kitchen had satisfied my jam needs just minutes before.

The dessert's name couldn't be more appropriate! The shortbread base was deliciously buttery and soft, yet still crumbly, and much thicker than the usual tart crust. A shortbread lover like myself would be overjoyed. The caramel, in a layer approximately 1/8" thick, was thick and sweet. The minimal chocolate drizzle was smooth, milky, and flavorful, so I wish there had been more chocolate. Each bite melted in my mouth, and the sweet butteriness of it all was oh so pleasing. I wish I had thought ahead to purchase another, as the caramel-shortbread combination is too delicious and too rare.

OMG, indeed!