Day 55 Dinner at Vejigantes in Boston's South End.

 Coquitni cocktail 

 traditional mojito

 Alcapurrias 

 codfish fritters

 Churrasco with chimichurri sauce and arroz con gandules

Traditional green plantains

 Mofongo Tradicional de Plattano

Arroz con gandules

 guava paste with white cheese

This was my 1st foray into authentic Puerto Rican food, and my friend Yari said this was THE place in Boston to go for authentic Puerto Rican cuisine.  Located in Boston's fabulous South End ( NOT to be confused with South Boston) this would be part of the Back Bay. A trendy neighborhood with some great restaurants and pubs.

Vejigantes is a colorful local with a friendly staff and a great menu that has the traditional names of the food but also a nice breakdown of what makes up each dish. Be prepared to want to order a lot of food, because there are some great sounding items on the menu.  I was very lucky to go with someone who knows her Puerto Rican cuisine and was able to break down how each dish is made and made some terrific recommendations. 

We started off with a couple of delicious cocktails, i had the signature cocktail Coquitni with was made with Don Q coco, coconut cream and milk, insanely good and creamy. Yari had the classic mojito and enjoyed hers very much.  They make their drinks strong but not so much you aren't able to appreciate all the ingredients in the mix.

We then had two yummy appetizers that were both fabulous and unique.  The codfish fritters, so unique in texture and taste. I expected a deep fried ball of of dough with fish inside, but the codfish is throughout the batter and you get a bit of salty flavorful fish in each glorious bite. We also had the alcapurrias( green bananas and plantains made into a masa with seasonings and filled with ground beef)  absolutely delicious. So perfectly seasoned , that each bite felt like you were tasting something new.

Yari had the churrasco with a chimichurri sauce with arroz con gandules, that she enjoyed very much. The steak was cooked perfectly and beautifully seasoned. We both got the same Arroz con Gandules, rice with pigeon peas, i am a huge fan of this rice, so flavorful & cooked perfectly.  The peas are a lovely accompaniment to the rice, they bring out the flavor so nicely in each other.

 I had a very traditional Puerto Rican dish called….Mofongo (with garlic sauce).  I am just going to  let that marinate with you for a moment…mofongo.  It was delicious !!  This is dish is mashed plantains made in a mortar and filled with pork, served with an amazing garlic sauce.  The dish is served as pictured above and then you break the mofongo dome apart and pour the garlic sauce all over. The combination is a real unexpected delight, and fun to order.

I am a big fan of the old Food Network show "The Best Thing I ever Ate" and on their fried food episode , Guy Fieri listed a Puerto Rican restaurant in Florida that specialized in Mofongo and he raved about the amazing site it was to watch the dish being made, and then about the glorious flavor after he tried it. Its worth checking out on Youtube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMTrzCEQi7M

If Mofongo wasn't enough, we needed a lil something sweet to cleanse our palate. So the guava paste with white cheese seemed light and unique. The guava pasta is amazing, we are both big fans of guava and this was very tasty. The blend of white cheese with the sweetness of the guava worked well together , but the guava paste is the star of this show.

Overall this was a wonderful dining experience and i can count Puerto Rican food as one of my new favorite cuisines. I would highly recommend taking a trip to the South End and checking out Vejigantes for dinner some time soon.

Have a great night and an even better meal.

Kevin B.

http://www.vejigantesrestaurant.com

Special Post- Foodapalooza - tribute to Boston's North End-

 

Freshly Shucked Oysters (1/2 doz.)

16.50

Large order of calamari  $19.50

MOZZARELLA CAPRESE

Imported bufalo mozzarella, backyard tomatoes & basil

14.95 

SHRIMP AL LIMONCELLO

Jumbo shrimp, garlic & oil, scented with limoncello

14.95 

Gnocchi al Forno   19

Handmade potato gnocchi baked with plum tomato sauce, parmigiano and fresh ricotta 

A selection of amazing gelatos

a cup of coconut and apricot gelato

Foodapalooza was an idea of my friend Lina, a visionaire who after reading one of my blog postings , came up with the idea of doing a food crawl (same premise as a pub crawl, 1 dish in each restaurant). But this idea wasn't just to have a food crawl anywhere, but in Boston's famous Italian neighborhood the North End.  Now to know me is know how much i LOVE Italian cuisine (well most of it anyway) so i immediately loved the idea and said "I am in and this needs to happen."

Summer time in the North End is so great, there is always a good sized crowd so everywhere is lively and it makes people watching all the more enjoyable.  

We started our day in the famous Union Oyster House having what else….freshly shucked raw oysters.

I love fried oysters and order them a lot, but don't get the chance to have raw oysters too often, so when Lina suggested we start at Union Oyster house for raw oysters, i was excited. They were delicious, and fresh. They were beautifully presented and came with lemon, tabasco sauce, cocktail sauce and black pepper. I tried each oyster a different way to real explore which combination i liked best, overall i think just a lil amount of lemon was the best. They had such a great natural flavor and the lemon juice was a subtle addition.

From there we sauntered over to the North End and waited in line for The Daily Catch. This was by far the longest wait we had all night, as the restaurant is very popular and not very big. We waited a little more than an hour and after i tasted the first bite of calamari, i would have waited even longer (it helps to have great company with you like i did). This was hands down the best thing i ate all night and is easily the best calamari i have ever tried.  Super fresh, amazing flavor,  the batter is light and not overly fried. I found myself eating more and more without even dipping it in the cocktail sauce. I recommend this to anyone. The wait staff and chef are friendly and will interact with their customers while they dine.

From here we went to Trattoria Il Panino, for their stuffed artichokes….one slight problem they took them off their menu a year ago. A small disappointment  but our team leader made a good decision and we ordered a couple of appetizers, the caprese mozzarella and the shrimp al limoncello. The shrimp was lovely and cooked perfectly , the sauce was nice and light with light limoncello flavor. But the mozzarella caprese was my favorite, presented perfectly with a mix of orange and red tomatoes , a generous portion of fresh mozzarella and the fresh basil brought it all together nicely. This is a restaurant i have dined at several time and i have to say i was never disappointed, they serve their entrees in the pan they are cooked in so everything is hot and you don't lose any of the great flavors the dishes are cooked in.

Our last entree for the night was at Cantina Italiano, the gnocchi.  Wow were these amazing, cooked perfectly, very generous portions, with the right amount of sauce and cheese. I love the taste of tomato sauce but i like it to be an accompaniment to the freshly made pasta. I want the pasta to be the star of the show, and that is exactly how they serve it at Cantina Italiana.  Each gnocchi was plump and flavorful i can't wait to go back to order these again.

Because it was a warm Summer evening and we were all feeling a little full from our amazing dishes we decided to get a nice cool gelato to polish off the evening.  I confess i don't have the name of the stand we went too, but the North End has no shortage of gelato stands.  Gelato has a nice rich creamy flavor and a similar texture to a sherbert/frozen yogurt combo. The flavors are vast and unique, i couldn't resist getting a little bit of two (coconut and apricot). I couldn't have been happier with my choices but i can't help feel i need to go back and try a couple of other just to make sure i didn't miss out  on something special ;-)

All in all , we had a wonderful time. The north end is a great place to have some amazing food, and i would recommend to anyone they do their own version of Foodapalooza and try a little bit in a few different places so you can discover some hidden treasures you may not have known about.  If you need someone to go with you, just say the word and i'll be there. 

have a great night and an even better meal.

Kevin B.

http://www.unionoysterhouse.com/pages/menus_unionbar.html

http://thedailycatch.com/menus

http://www.trattoriailpanino.com/content/menu.html

http://www.cantinaitaliana.com/dinner-menu.php