Saturday, January 31, 2015

Single Origin Hot Chocolates and Desserts at LA Burdick (Cambridge, MA)

Even though I'm not sure who decides on these national food holidays, since it's National Hot Chocolate Day, I thought I'd write about Boston's most popular hot chocolate spot, LA Burdick near Harvard Square in Cambridge.

LA Burdick

Other than their house signature hot dark chocolate, I also like LA Burdick because they serve single source/ single origin hot chocolates! When I went they had two different ones from Grenada and Ecuador.
LA Burdick

I tried the Ecuador one, described to have "notes of black tea, cinnamon and earthy flavors ... robust ... with a very long finish". It was quite intense but I loved it, although I still had a hard time deciding if I liked the signature one better.

Friday, January 30, 2015

Learn Mixology Master Method, Skip Fake Bartending Courses

So, I'll admit straight off the bat, I've attended one of those bartending courses. I didn't know much back then. The course taught me dozens of old recipes that I had to memorize and how to free pour. They used colored water, though, and I never got to taste what I "made". In the end I knew all kinds of party drinks and shooter recipes, just not what they tasted like.

Two of the top bartenders in LA, Joseph Brooke and Martin Cole, set out to change all that and create a school that would teach to-be bartenders how to make real drinks and train you the basics correctly (including developing your palate), because it's harder to beat out bad habits once you've picked them up.

Mixology Master

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Florida's Eco Burger Chain BurgerFi Now Open in West Roxbury (MA)

There's been a trend for new chain restaurants to be more sustainable and eco-friendly, and BurgerFi out of Florida is one of them. To start with, all their burgers use all natural Angus beef. Not only that, they use tables made of recycled wood, and chairs made of recycled Coke bottles. Their fans supposedly use 66% less electricity than normal.

Their most popular burger is the Breakfast All Day.

BurgerFi
The patty is sandwiched between hash brown and a sunny side up egg, then topped with bacon. On the bottom there's caramelized onion.
BurgerFi
BurgerFi
Other than burgers, they're also known for serving frozen custards - concretes in particular, the frozen custard so thick it's supposed to stay in the cup if you turn it upside down, hence the name "conrete". No, I didn't try flipping it upside down ...

In the one I tried, the vanilla frozen custard is layered with red velvet cake. Other flavors include key lime pie and one with peanut butter, chocolate, and brownie all in one.

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