Author Archives: kenny

Toscanini’s (Cambridge, MA)

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The last time Lauren and I visited Boston, Julie took us on a tour of Boston’s ice cream parlors. Over the span of two days, we tasted the flavors on offer at J.P. Licks, Christina’s, and Herrell’s, but we were unable to fit in a trip to Toscanini’s, Boston’s most famous ice cream shoppe.

This afternoon, Lauren, Vidya and I went on a mission to Central Square to see what all of the hype was about. It was a beautiful 75 degree day, and arrived in Central Square ready for a cool treat.

Toscanini’s ice cream factory, visible through street-side floor to ceiling windows, is adjacent to their cafe. It was fun to watch the large machinery, but we did not linger as there was an assortment of 30 flavors beckoning. The staff at Tosci’s are very friendly and are happy to let you try a number of flavors. So try we did, delighting in a variety of flavors that all shared a perfectly balanced, creamy texture.

Our plan was to get one scoop from the chocolate family, and one lighter flavor. Aztec Chocolate was a mix of chilies and dark chocolate, with a delicious start, but a surprisingly intense aftertaste that would likely have overwhelmed a companion scoop. Orange Chocolate was also yummy, but it was when we tried Black Bottom that we were sold. Black Bottom, based on a Southern pie, is a mix of dark chocolate rum ice cream and ginger snap cookies. We paired it with a scoop of B^3 (Brownie, Brown Sugar, Brown Butter). I liked B^3, but our consensus after we polished off the cup was that it would be better if they dropped the brownies and turned it into B^2 (or perhaps made the brownies less dense).

Overall, Tosci’s has their base ice cream formula down pat. It’s clear that they know their trade, and the result is the best ice cream I’ve had in the USA east of Mission-Dolores.

Creative flavors that change daily

The scoops don’t come cheap, but they are quite generous…

…and Lauren and Vid were both quite happy to help tackle the double scoop cup

Toscanini’s
899 Main Street
Central Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-491-5877

Daily: 8:00AM-11:00PM

Ess-a Bagel (New York, NY)

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When visiting New York City, we have a few regular pit-stops. One is Ess-a Bagel, a long-time haunt of my family that serves hefty, chewy, delicious bagels and sandwiches. Conveniently enough, the India Visa office is located around the corner from Ess-a Bagel’s 3rd Ave location, so it was very easy to pass the hour wait for our appointment with bagel sandwiches. We also fought jet lag with a “regular” sized black coffee that I could swim in.

Usually we get to squeeze in one visit to Ess-a Bagel, or two if we’re lucky. This time we had a week-long stay, so we had three times to make our way through the list of bagels with a variety of family members. For the record, my favorite sandwich is a whole wheat everything bagel with either egg or tuna salad depending on the time of day. Their cream cheese is also delicious, especially on a pumpernickel or sesame bagel. Yum!

Tuna salad on a whole wheat everything, washed down with lots of coffee

Everything bagel from their extensive “egg” menu – requires big bites!

Ess-a Bagel
831 3rd Avenue
New York, NY 10022
212-980-1010

Calexico Cart (New York, NY)

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This morning we took a leisurely walk from Tribeca to Cousin David’s office in SoHo. We took care of a few errands along the way, and I was already getting a little munchy, though it was barely 11AM. As luck would have it, the next block we stumbled upon a taco truck setting up for the lunch run. I’m always a sucker for mobile food preparation, and the menu looked good, so we queued up in the line that was already starting to form.

I found out later that we had stumbled upon one of the more famous street vendors in NYC. At the time though, all I knew was that Calexico Cart dispensed delicious carne asada and black bean tacos. The hearty portion of steak was well-marinated, tender and juicy. The black bean taco was also addictively flavorful, assisted by their chipotle “crack” sauce and avocado crema.

Since we were meeting Cousin David for lunch, we held back from trying the burritos, but it wasn’t easy (they looked amazing).

Hard at work in the little truck kitchen

I love taco trucks

Close-up of black bean and carne asada taco deliciousness

Calexico Cart
Mobile Location in SoHo
New York, NY
718-488-8226

Lon Hoi Thot (Mae Hong Son, Thailand)

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A few weeks ago, we discovered a delicious purveyor of Easy Thai near the Sunday Market, next to the Toyota dealership. Of the three small rarn ar harn dtarm sang located there, Lon Hoi Thot is the northernmost one (furthest from the market and directly across from the 7-11). They have an English menu available to foreigners, and of course all of the easy Thai classics are available even if they aren’t listed there. One of the family members, Koi, speaks excellent English and has provided me with a lot of pronunciation tips for ordering Thai food.

All of the food at Lon Hoi Thot is fresh and served very quickly from their two cooking stations. My favorite dish of theirs is gai kratiem prik thai (chicken with garlic and pepper). Lon Hoi Thot adds more garlic and chili to the dish than most places, which makes it the best one I’ve had in Thailand. I also really like their pad prik giang (vegetables in red curry sauce), either gai (with chicken) or jai (with tofu and extra vegetables).

When we took Lauren’s family here for lunch a few weeks ago, their comment after the meal was “is this place open for dinner? We want to come back tonight.” Unfortunately Lon Hoi Thot is only open until 4PM, but I took them on a repeat visit for lunch the next day.

The dishes at Lon Hoi Thot are priced similarly to other food stalls in town (about $1), the quality is very high, and the kratiem prik thai is completely addictive. We had some for lunch both yesterday and today, and I may have to stop by tomorrow (our final day in Mae Hong Son) for one more hit.

UPDATE (12/1/2011): I discovered on our return trip to Mae Hong Son that Lon Hoi Thot is now open for dinner! Oh, and the food remains as delicious as I remember it.

Look for the big yellow sign, your smiling hostess Koi (in the glasses), and her mom the amazing chef

Cooking up pad prik giang

Gai kratiem prik thai kai dao – it’s like crack

Pad prik geang kai dao

Pad thai sen yai jay and pad kra pao gai

Lon Hoi Thot
East side of Khunlumpraphat Road/Hwy 108
Across from the 7-11 and the Sunday Market
Mae Hong Son, Thailand
+66 (0) 5362-0690
Daily: Breakfast, Lunch (8:00AM-4:00PM)

Coffee, Tea, Etc. (Mae Hong Son, Thailand)

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When we were on our initial conference call with AJWS and the other SE Asia volunteers, one of the questions asked was, “can I get good coffee?” The response was something to the effect of “this volunteering assignment is a good opportunity to kick your coffee habit.”

While Lauren and I certainly appreciate a good cup of coffee, we also have no problem going coffee-less for months on end. Given that we aren’t in an ex-French colony, we were happy to subsist on tea for our occasional morning beverage. Then we sampled Coffee, Tea, Etc. on the main drag of Mae Hong Son, located in P Nik’s building. Who knew that you could find Seattle-quality cappuccinos in our little provincial town?

The coffee beans used at Coffee, Tea, Etc. are grown locally in Mae Hong Son. They also serve a delicious tea made from Mae Hong Son tea leaves. Gwang, the barista/owner, is a friendly young Thai man who speaks excellent English. Gwang has given us a lot of advice and information during our stay, such as where to make key copies, and the name of my favorite Thai food-to-order stall (Rarn P Dam, located across the street). It’s common for P Dam to deliver breakfast to Gwang, and for Gwang to drop off coffee drinks for P Dam and her husband.

For 30 Baht (under $1), you can enjoy a delicious cappuccino at Coffee, Tea, Etc. with friendly service and free wireless. It turns out that rather than being a place to kick your coffee habit, Mae Hong Son may be a place to develop one.

Happy way to start the day

Our very first cappucino at Coffee, Tea, Etc.

Cross-cultural breakfast: our favorite Thai food with our favorite cappuccino

Coffee, Tea, Etc.
NE Corner of Singhanart Bamrung and Phadit Joncume
Mae Hong Son, Thailand
Daily: 7:00AM-7:00PM

Rarn P Dam (Mae Hong Son, Thailand)

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Across the street from P Nik’s, and next to the CP Fresh Mart, is my favorite Thai food vendor in Mae Hong Son. The setting is basic, though on the larger end for a rarn ar harn dtarm sang, and the food is fantastic. It’s run by a friendly Thai lady, P Dam, and her family. She serves all of the Easy Thai dishes at their finest, and the lunchtime the operation is a sight to behold. Customers come up and give a verbal order, and somehow P Dam keeps all of the requests in her head, even when the queue is more than a dozen people long.

I’ve been going to Rarn P Dam for lunch almost every weekday since I discovered it, and I’m usually the only farang eating there. P Dam also knows that I like spicy food, so I can be assured of ample chilies. Unfortunately, Rarn P Dam is not open for dinner, and they are closed on Sundays, so Lauren wasn’t able to try their food for a few weeks (she lunches with her NGO during the week).

Over Songkran I was finally able to introduce Lauren to Rarn P Dam, and since then we’ve been going for Saturday lunches and the occasional weekday breakfast. All of the dishes are 25-30 Baht (less than $1), the vegetables are fresh and generously portioned, and P Dam is an ace with the wok.

Today, in preparation for this writing, I finally found out the name of my “Thai food stall across from Nik’s.” If you are in Mae Hong Son, you should definitely pencil in a lunch or two at Rarn P Dam. Lauren’s family ate here three times while they were visiting, and I’ll be stopping by for my daily fix until we leave next week. Yum!

P Dam frying up pad thai sen yai

The happy family at work on a bulk lunch order of pad kra pao moo

Fresh ingredients on display

The best pad thai (sen yai) I’ve ever had

Pad kra pao jay kai dao (spicy vegetables with chili, basil and a fried egg on top), my favorite dish at P Dam

An assortment of other dishes available for 25 Baht

Lauren enjoying her first P Dam experience

Rarn P Dam
SE Corner of Singhanart Bamrung and Phadit Joncume
Mae Hong Son, Thailand
Daily: Breakfast, Lunch (7:00AM-4:00PM)
+66 (0)84-3688533

Fern Restaurant (Mae Hong Son, Thailand)

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Fern Restaurant, on the main road of Mae Hong Son near the night market, is a funny place. The main dining area is immense, with a smaller area in the front and a large recessed section in the back that seems targeted to tour groups. However, it’s no longer high season, and we’ve had the restaurant mostly to ourselves on our visits.

The LP describes Fern Restaurant as “Mae Hong Son’s most upscale restaurant, but remember, this is Mae Hong Son.” This doesn’t quite give you the correct impression though. While the prices are higher than most in town, they still average under 150 Baht (<$5), and the setting is much more relaxed and low-key than you might expect. The staff are clearly used to foreigners, speak excellent English, and provide great table service. The tall ceilings, endless pitchers of ice water, and strategically placed fans provide welcome relief from the heat.

The food at the Fern is mixed. Our first meal was a bi-polar experience. We loved the fern salad, a house specialty mix of ferns, carrots, tofu, and peanuts with a chili-lime-coconut dressing. The dressing, reminiscent of that used in the wing bean salad at Bon Kitchen, is so addictive that we used the cabbage garnish and our leftover rice to soak up any remains. On the other extreme, the northern curry was a pungent, sour soup that we couldn’t force ourselves to finish.

Since then, we’ve always included the fern salad in our meal and it’s consistently delicious. Their green curry is also quite tasty, almost at the level of Rom Jinda’s. The red curry was decent but not as good as the green curry. Take a pass on ginger chicken with black mushrooms unless you like very bland dishes.

Overall, Fern Restaurant is worth an occasional visit if you have an extended stay in Mae Hong Son. While Rom Jinda offers a more intimate atmosphere, better food, and generally cheaper prices, the Fern can provide a nice change of scenery along with an enjoyable meal of green curry and fern salad at around 200 Baht.

Tasty fern salad

Green curry

Two dishes not to order: northern curry and ginger chicken with mushrooms

Fern Restauran
Khunlum Praphat, across from the library
Mae Hong Son, Thailand

Daily: 10:30AM-midnight (Lunch, Dinner)

Rom Jinda (Mae Hong Son, Thailand)

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When we arrived in Mae Hong Son, our guest house owner recommended a nearby restaurant called Rom Jinda. For our first dinner in Mae Hong Son we stopped by to check it out. The environment was warm and inviting, with cushioned seating available inside and an outdoor seating area with a fountain and lots of foliage.

The expansive menu includes Thai, Chinese, and pizza/pasta choices. Our first meal consisted of spicy fish with basil and chilies, and pad see iw. The fish was indeed spicy, with ample chilies and ginger, though river fish is not particularly exciting (we hadn’t yet internalized our landlocked location). The pad see iw was amazing, and was the first time I had pad see iw that rivals my hometown favorite at Jamjuree. The noodles are seeped in dark soy sauce and prepared with very fresh morning glory, carrots, cauliflower, and tofu.

We quickly became regulars at Rom Jinda, which we affectionately nicknamed “RJ” by our second week in Mae Hong Son (at which point we had probably eaten there six times). On our second visit I realized that the Thai dishes on the menu were separated into two sections. The three-page section at the front was labeled “Thai food”, and towards the back was a single page of dishes labeled “Easy Thai Food”. While the only commonality that I originally noticed among the “Easy Thai” choices (which included pad see iw) is that they were all 35 Baht, I later learned that the “Easy Thai” section covered a set of dishes on offer at most local food stalls.

While the menu listed the dishes in English, over time the wait staff educated me on the food’s Thai names and pronunciation. I think this was partially because they were really nice and partially because they got a huge kick out of correcting me when I’d err on my farang pronunciation (tonal languages are hard!). We learned a few off-menu specials such as yam rom, the house salad of greens, fried mushrooms, onions, mint, peanuts, and the traditional Thai dressing of lime and chilies.

It was also at RJ that I received my introduction to pad prik giang, a stir fry with red curry paste that is prepared slightly differently everywhere and is top-notch at RJ. Most of our meals at RJ consist of pad see ew, and either pad prik giang or giang kiew wan (green curry), or both if we bring another friend along for dinner. I’ve also enjoyed their spicy seafood salad and their pad thai.

Overall, I love Rom Jinda. It’s certainly the best atmosphere in town and, while not every dish is a standout, I dream about their green curry, pad see iw, and pad prik giang. We no longer live two blocks away from RJ, but it’s worth the uphill bike ride to get our regular curry and pad see iw fix.

Shawn loves Rom Jinda

The best pad see iw (that we’ve had) in Thailand

Awesome geang kiew wan gai (green cury with chicken)

Pad prik geang gai

Rom Jinda
Corner of Nivet Pisarn and Ratchatampituck
Mae Hong Son, Thailand

Daily: 12:00PM-3:00PM (Lunch), 5:00PM-10:00PM (Dinner)

Easy Thai

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While living in Thailand, we’ve discovered the amazing phenomenon of “Easy Thai” (the phrase came from the back page of a menu at Rom Jinda, one of the few restaurants we frequent that actually has an English menu). “Easy Thai” is a set of dishes that can be found at just about any rarn ar harn dtarm sang (“food to order” stall) in town, whether they advertise it or not. It is a subset of Thai food that consists primarily of stir-fry dishes, mostly served khao rad (over rice), including:

Pad Prik Giang	Stir-fried with red curry paste, Thai eggplant, lime leaves
Pad Kra Pao	Stir-fried with chili and basil
Pad Thai	Rice noodles fried “Thai style”
Pad See Iw	Wide rice noodles with morning glory and other vegetables
Kratiem Prik Thai	Stir-fried with garlic and pepper
Pad Mit Monmuang	Stir-fried with cashew nuts
Pad Prik	Stir-fried with fresh chilies
Pad king	Stir-fried with ginger and mushrooms
Kai jiao	Thai omelet with tomatoes and onions

You can also specify the base of your dish, otherwise you will likely wind up with pork (the usual default):

Jay	Vegetables
Moo	Pork
Gai	Chicken
Ta-hoo	Tofu

For noodle dishes, you should request the width of the noodles: sen yai (wide), sen lak (medium, fettuccini-width), or sen mee (thin, vermicelli-width). Otherwise you may get a surprise when your Pad See Iw shows up sen mee.

Finally, frequenters of Easy Thai often add other modifiers, such as kai dao (with a fried egg on top), pet prik (spicy), or sei gong (to go). It’s kind of like ordering coffee in Seattle.

Easy Thai has become a staple of my lunch-runs, as it is cheap, fast, fresh, and delicious. At a rarn ar harn dtarm sang, an easy Thai dish runs 25-35 Baht (~$0.75-$1; meat and fried eggs can add a few Baht to the cost). My current favorites are pad prik giang, pad thai sen yai, and pad kra pao. I’ve never seen pad prik giang on menus at home, but when I return to Seattle I’ll have to ask Jamjuree if they’ll make it for me!

Pad Thai sen yai – a delicious new twist on an old classic

Pad kra pao jay kai dao – spicy vegetables with basil and a fried egg

Bon Kitchen (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

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When we were last in Chiang Mai for orientation, Lauren looked at TripAdvisor’s restaurant recommendations, even though they are usually a bust for restaurants. While most of the top-rated spots sounded underwhelming to us, the number one restaurant at the time got raves for fresh, tasty, organic food. Bon, the owner, was frustrated with the difficulty in finding healthy Thai food without MSG, so she decided to open her own restaurant to fill that gap.

Enter Bon Kitchen, a small, informal restaurant with simple decor and some of the most artfully presented food in Thailand. Our first dinner there consisted of a spicy three mushroom salad and penang curry, both of which were delicious. The mushroom salad was a variation on yam talay, with mushrooms instead of seafood. We ordered our penang curry “spicy,” and Bon delivered. Her penang had a generous portion of kaffir lime leaves, a modest hand on the coconut milk, and used a homemade curry paste that is Bon’s family’s recipe.

During AJWS orientation in February, we took the other volunteers to Bon Kitchen for a huge family-style meal, where we got to sample most of the food and fruit shakes. While some people raved about the chicken teriyaki, for Lauren and I, the great new discovery was the wing bean salad. We ordered ours with tofu instead of pork, and really enjoyed the sweet and smoky dressing of tamarind, and burnt chilies. A sprinkling of peanuts on top added extra joy and crunchiness. The rest of the dishes were good, but not in the league of the spicy three mushroom salad and penang curry.

This afternoon, even though it was just the two of us, we had to order all three of our favorite dishes for a mid-day feast. They were just as delicious as we remembered, and we lingered over the meal and took advantage of Bon’s free wi-fi. Overall, we’ve enjoyed a lot of tasty, and artfully presented food, at Bon Kitchen. Definitely stop by when you’re in Chiang Mai, we always will!

Enjoying fresh fruit shakes before our meals