Legal Seafood Gift Cards

During the 2015 holiday season, Legal Seafood is once again offering a free lobster dinner with a purchase of $200 worth of gift cards.  The free meal needs to be redeemed by March 31, but that's totally do-able.

Nice deal!

But Costco offers a package of $100 worth of gift cards for a discounted price of $79.99, and that's every day.  You just have to have a Costco membership.

Food Find: Coconut Jam

At the airport on my way back from St. Maarten's, I picked up this coconut jam at the gift shop.  I imagined it would be a smooth spreading jam, instead, it was filled with actual coconut shreds.  Spread thinly on a fresh slice of warm toasted bread, it was like eating a coconut macaroon for breakfast!  Antilles Spice Clipper's coconut jam - a nice taste of the tropics in the midst of winter's chill.

Antilles Spice Clipper coconut jam

Sadly, however, a search online turned up no local sources for this tasty spread.

Food Truck 2015: Chili, Mango & Lime and The Roving Lunch Box

With the season winding down, I was a bit surprised to find another new to me food truck.  And not just one, but two!

Chili, Mango & Lime Truck

The Chili, Mango & Lime truck serves up Thai, Bangladeshi, and Halal.

Chili, Mango & Lime Truck menu

 Parked right next door, also at the City Hall Plaza that Monday, was The Roving Lunch Box.

The Roving Lunch Box

Their specialty is the hand pie, in both savory and sweet variety, which can be made into a $9 meal with the addition of a small soup or salad.

The Roving Lunch Box menu

I selected their Roasted Butternut & Browned Butter Sage savory hand pie, which was $5 for one, or $9 for two.

Roasted Butternut & Browned Butter Sage savory hand pie

It came with some pickled vegetables, and was a good size for a snack, but for a meal, you'd definitely want to supersize it one way or another.

Food Find: Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt Bars

Yasso's Peanut Butter Cup yogurt bars are SO GOOD!  But rather hard to find... 

May the odds ever be in your favor.

Food Find: Yogurt Candy

Meiji Chelsea Yogurt Scotch Candy.  Yum!

First Peek inside Boston Public Market

Boston Public Market's Grand Opening is on July 30th - that's tomorrow.

But I heard that they were having a soft opening today, so of course, I headed on over for a bit of a preview.

Boston Public Market

Boston Honey Company

Q's Nuts

Cellars at Jasper Hill

Sweet Lydia's

Union Square Donuts

Crescent Ridge Ice Cream

Mange

Red Apple Farm

Kids Area

Fun Chairs

Lilac Hedge Farm

Stillman's

Food Find: BelVita breakfast biscuits

 BelVita Bluberry Breakfast Biscuits were surprisingly tasty.

Food Truck 2015: Tastes of Anatolia

Another new truck this season is the Tastes of Anatolia, which I finally ran into along the Esplanade on the Fourth of July.

Tastes of Anatolia along the Esplanade 

Turns out Anatolia is a track of land in modern day Turkey.

Tastes of Anatolia Food menu

On this visit, we sampled their beef and cheese (mozzarella) gozleme (stuffed flatbread).  I suspect the texture would have been better if we had immediately consumed our pies, however, after a walk back to our spot along the Charles, the bread had softened in the plastic container.  The flavor, however, was still quite tasty.

Tastes of Anatolia Drinks Menu

Food Find: 180 degree bar

Crispy, Tasty, Healthy.  Yum!

180 degrees - Almond Cashew Nut & Seed Crunch Bar

Scooper Bowl 2015

Yup, looks like the Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl is fast approaching again!

When else can you say you're eating ice cream for cancer research and care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute?

This year the annual all-you-can-eat ice cream festival takes place June 2-4 out on the Government Center Plaza, and the entrance fee is $10 for adults, $5 for ages 3-9, and free for kids under 3.

Food Truck 2015: New Wheels on the Road

With but a single stomach to my name, it's going to take me a while to make my way through the new Food Trucks in our midst.  In the meantime, however, I've wandered about the city this week to take a gander at their menus...

HERITAGE TRUCK
Farm-to-truck cuisine from executive chef David Stein and the team at the commissary kitchen Stock Pot Malden. (direct quote from a May 8th Eater article)

Heritage Truck

Heritage Truck menu

NORTH EAST OF THE BORDER
Authentic Mexican food using locally sourced ingredients.

North East of the Border

North East of the Border menu

North East of the Border Specials

WALLOON'S
Hand-cut gourmet pomme frites (that's fries) and buttermilk fried chicken sandwiches.

Walloon's Food Truck

 

Walloon's Menu

MOYZILLA
Asian Street Food & Dumplings

Moyzilla Food Truck

Moyzilla Menu

LILO'S PLATES
Boston's first and only Hawaiian inspired food truck

Lilo's Plates

Lilo's Plates Menu

KIM KIM BBQ
Korean BBQ fusion (no website found)

Kim Kim BBQ

Kim Kim BBQ menu

Food Trucks 2015: Stuffed Sopapillas

Stuffed Sopapillas at SoWa on Opening Day

As the snow finally melted and flowers began poking out, the Boston Food Truck season began on April 1, 2015.  And with this new season, a number of new to me food trucks rolled out.  Stuffed Sopapillas was the first of these to catch my eye.

Stuffed Sopapillas Menu Board

One word of advice, if you are among the fortunate ones to work within lunching distance of a regular food truck location, you might want to consider skipping out on SoWa's opening week at least.  I learned this the hard way, through standing in a line for over half an hour to place my order, then waiting in a crowd for an hour more till the warm Avocado BLT with Special Sauce Sopapilla $8 was finally delivered into my eager hands.

Avocado BLT $8

Consuming the crisp bacon pocket was short work, though it didn't quite fully satiate my lunchtime appetite.

Food for Others: 2nd Annual Empty Bowls Benefit

Kind of bummed that I can't make it out to Empty Bowls: a benefit for Food For Free, hosted by Mudflat Pottery School.

It takes place tomorrow.  For $20 in advance or $25 at the door, you get to choose a handmade ceramic bowl made by Mudflat artisans, fill it with as many helpings of soup as you’d like, and take your selected bowl home to keep, all while raising funds for Food For Free!

Soup is provided by:
Craigie On Main
Cuisine en Locale
Hong Kong Restaurant
Uno Harvard Square
Highland Kitchen
Neighborhood Restaurant & Bakery
Vinny’s @ Night
Sound Bites
The Kirkland Tap & Trotter
Season to Taste Catering
Viale
Harvard University Dining Services

Etc:
Live Music
Auction
Raffle

Time & Place:
Saturday, April  18, 2015, 5-8pm
Mudflat Pottery School
81 Broadway, Somerville

Kane's Donuts in Boston

Kane's Donuts opened up shop in the Financial District today at International Place.  Their original location is out in Saugas, and I've never made my way out there, but this new spot was much more convenient.  So I headed out there shortly after 1pm... only to be greeted by the saddest sign in the world - Sorry, we sold out!

But a lady inside was busily slicing and passing out something from a cake-sized box, so my frown was turned upsidedown as I found myself being treated to a free sample of their terrific glazed coffee rolls.  Yum!

I'll just have to go back another time to try their honey lemon filled glazed donut, and perhaps their new creation - the dowich - a sandwich using Kane’s brioche-based dough as the bread, filled with one of three options: braised beef, Mediterranean chicken, and lobster salad.

The donuts at their Boston location are priced higher at $2.50-$3.50 due to the higher rent, but hey, you don't have to drive out to Saugus for them!

Food Find: Ling Ling Potstickers

Ling Ling Asian Kitchen Chicken & Vegetable Dumplings

You don't have to head to an Asian market to pick up a stash of dumplings to keep in your freezer.  Costco actually has some pretty good ones stocked in their warehouse, namely Ling Ling Asian Kitchen All Natural Potstickers.  We have their Chicken & Vegetable Dumplings in the freezer right this minute!

Lunch is ready!

Superbowl Special - Legal Sea Foods Clam Chowder

Legals had a special chowder offering in the days leading to the Super Bowl this year.

"In honor of #12 Tom Brady's 6th trip to the Super Bowl, get 5 souper bowls of clam chowder* for $12 from our takeout counters on Super Bowl weekend."

*a half gallon of clam chowder is regularly $21.95

So I picked some up to take to a Super Bowl party I was headed to.  We also ended up with three types of fried chicken (KFC, Popeye's, Bon Chon) and their respective sides, fried shrimp, Australian sausage rolls, curry vegetables, and homemade guacamole.

Plenty to eat, good company, an exciting game, and a winning team made for a super night!