Tapas Tasting at Toro, a Boston Mainstay

I have long wanted to try Toro. This tapas bar from duo Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette has been around for many years (since 2005), but there's still always a long wait every night since they don't take reservations, even after they've opened other locations in New York and Bangkok. I finally went to try it when I saw a Gilt City voucher for it. The voucher for a tasting menu wasn't cheap at $100 but it was 8 courses including wine pairing, but the best part is that it allows you to make a reservation! If you've never used Gilt City, you can save $25 off your first order with my invite link.

The tapas tasting started with a Tortilla Espanola (egg, onion, potato, nettle, aioli). A nice rendition of the traditional Spanish dish. The ratio between egg and potato is just right.

Uni Bocadillo (pressed uni sandwich, miso butter, pickled mustard seeds)

This is similar to the uni sandwich at Coppa. Of course, I'm always happy to get uni on a tasting menu.

Since my friend is kosher, we got different third courses - I wanted at least one porky dish. I got the Jamon Blanco (Toast with lardo, marinated Jonah crab, black garlic, crispy shallots and avocado)

While this wasn't what I had in mind when I wanted a "pork" dish, I enjoyed the toast regardless.

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Exploring Senegalese Cuisine at Teranga (Boston, MA)

Tucked in Boston's South End is an OG Senegalese restaurant called Teranga. Teranga means hospitality in wolof, a Senegalese language. The restaurant first opened in 2009 and closed down temporarily but reopened in December. I've only had Senegalese food once before and didn't remember much, since it was a long time ago, so I welcomed the chance to give it another try at Teranga.

We started with some Fataya. These are similar to samosas, or pastels, basically a fried dough pie filled with minced meat and vegetables. The ones at Teranga are served with a sriracha aioli.

The fatayas are common street food in Senegal, and it is thanks to a big Lebanese presence and influence!

Next, we had some nems. Yes, these are Vietnamese fried spring rolls. What am I doing eating Vietnamese food in a Senegalese restaurant?

As it turns out, there's a big Vietnamese influence in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, due to all the expat laborers there! Nems (sometimes also called rouleau de printemps - literally, "spring rolls") are very common there. Who knew!

Next, we had some attieke, which is a couscous made of cassava root. This was prepared simply with onion, mint, tomato, and served with lime. Simple yet perfect!

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Diplomatico Rum Tasting and Dinner at Barcelona Wine Bar (South End, Boston, MA)

I recently had the opportunity to taste the line of Diplomatico Rums at a tasting and dinner held at Barcelona Wine Bar in Boston's South End with Diplomatico's master distiller, Maestro Gilberto Briceño.

Diplomatico was founded in 1959 and adhere to the traditional Venezuelan way of making rum. They have their own yeast strain for fermentation and use sugar cane molasses and honey from sugar cane for their rums. Diplomatico's distillation process differs from most Caribbean countries which use column distillation. Diplomatico uses column distillation for their light rum, copper pot (to get heavy alcohols), and batch kettle for medium alcohols. The copper pot tradition came about because Seagram's used to make whiskey in Venezuela.

Anyway, the rums. We tasted six different rums from Diplomatico.

Diplomatico Anejo
This is their youngest product, which is aged up to 4 years and a mix of light and heavy alcohols (which they get from the different distillation processes). The rum itself has a hint of vanilla and with light sweetness. This rum is good for cocktails and a great value at about $15 a bottle!

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The First Pig Roast at The Gallows (South End, Boston, MA)

The popular South End spot, The Gallows, recently held their first family-style Pig Roast on April 4. The event was successful so hopefully we will see more of it!
This was actually my first time at The Gallows, and I like the themed decorations like the ouija board on the wall.

The Pig Roast was $30 per person for a lot of great food, as you will see shortly!

When we got seated, we were served popcorn. First I thought it was bacon caramel popcorn, but even better - it was popcorn with cracklings! I kind of just went for the cracklings.

Everyone also gets sweet cornbread and sweet tea.

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Brunch at Myers and Chang (Boston, MA)

Myers + Chang is one of the most popular restaurants in Boston, with Joanne Chang's Asian-inspired small plates. I finally made it there for brunch with a group of friends. Since there was a vegetarian mong us, we ordered the Wok-roasted wild mushroom omelet ($7)

This was a great breakfast dish, so savory and satisfying.

We also got two different dumplings: Mama Chang's Pork and Chive ($6) and edamame wasabi ($6)

Surprisingly, I actually liked the vegetarian edamame gyozas better. The pork dumplings were good but the edamame wasabi is more special and unique. Just like the mushroom omelet earlier, I enjoyed the vegetarian dishes here quite a bit.

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Akinto Pop Up at Wink and Nod (Boston, MA)

The food program at Wink and Nod is a series of longer-term pop-ups that rotate every six months. The current pop up is Akinto by Chef Patrick Enage, offering modern South East Asian inspired cuisine to diners in Boston. I was quite excited since it offers a big diversity in the food scene in Boston, which typically doesn't have much Indonesian, Filipino, or other South East Asian food.

I finally got to go try it with Urban Foodie Finds, and we started with some Pork Hash Sisig, quail egg yolk, calamansi, soy ($6.50)

This was good but it felt a little dry, although I enjoyed the flavors. However, I really loved our next dish:
Prawns with squid ink lo mein, Khmer red curry broth, mango ($15)

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$1 Tapas Blitz at Estragon (Boston, MA)

Did I tell you how bummed I was when I found out there's no happy hour in Boston? Yeah, happy hour deals on alcohol is illegal here. Sucks! But on the other hand, some of the restaurants here have great happy hour food deals. One such place is Estragon, a Spanish restaurant in the South End. On Mondays-Thursdays from 5-7pm is Tapas Blitz, where you can get tapas starting from $1 if you sit at the bar.

Among the $1 selections, the best choice is the Solomillo de cerdo (Seared Pork Tenderloin, Caramelized Onions, Mojo Picon)

This is a really tender pork tenderloin on toast, and the mojo picon sauce is quite flavorful as well. For $1? I'll have three.

There are also selections of $3 and $5 tapas. The $3 ones include two jamon croquettes or a bowl of Fried pork belly ($3)

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B&G Oysters (Boston, MA)

There's no lack of oysters in Boston, but B and G Oysters in the South End from prolific restaurateur Barbara Lynch is one of the best places to get some.

Carrying at least a dozen different types daily from local to the other coast, paired with prosecco mignonette and a strong wine list, B&G's bar is a great place to taste through new varietals of this mollusk.

The oysters here are market price, but you can fill your stomach with the rest of their seafood-focused menu, like a tuna tartare bourride with citrus, soft yolk, chicharron crumble ($16)

But don't miss the Fried oysters with housemade tartar sauce ($15)

These are the perfect bites hiding juicy oysters inside.

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Coppa (Boston, MA)

Among the Boston restaurant that my LA friends recommended to me was Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette's Coppa. Chef Jamie Bissonnette won the James Beard award for Best Chef in the Northeast region this year. I was pretty excited to try this place and it didn't disappoint.

Coppa was smaller and more casual than I had expected; a cozy enoteca in the South End with reasonable prices.

I started with the Sea urchin panino with lonza and mustard seeds

Even though the uni flavor wasn't that strong here, I loved it nonetheless since it worked nicely with the lonza (cured pork tenderloin, also known as lomo) sandwiched between thin, crunchy bread.

This was followed up by the Beef heart pastrami crostini

It did not taste as offal-y or gamy as I had expected, but it was tender and flavorful.

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