My Favorite Date Restaurants

This post was originally published February 8, 2011. I have since updated it with new insights I've gained this year, just in time for Valentine's Day!

Picking a good date restaurant can be tricky.

You want the ambiance to be pleasant, nice . . maybe even a bit fancy. Yet, the last thing you want is a pretentious, stuffy environment that makes you feel uncomfortable. You want to be able to sit back, relax, and really enjoy the evening.

Of course, it goes without saying that the food must be excellent. And, preferably the prices would be reasonably, although we may be willing to splurge on special occasions.

I've lived in Boston for 17 years and I've been with Bryan for about 15 years. Needless to say, we've been on a lot of dates in Boston, and definitely have tried a number of places in the greater Boston area.

Here are some of our favorite special occasion / date places (I've thrown in a couple from New York, California, and Las Vegas as well just for fun!).

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L.A. Burdick's

This has been a weird winter. 

After a freak snowstorm that we had in October, we hardly saw a snowflake throughout November, December, and most of January. The weather had been in hovering around the “balmy” fifties, with occasional stretches into the sixties. Bryan even commented a couple weeks ago how our beloved Charles River hadn't frozen over yet, a rare sight indeed.

Well, that changed pretty quickly. The past two weeks, we've seen frigid temperatures flirting with single digits as well as our first big snowstorm. I guess there's not doubt that winter is really here in full force. Perhaps it's time to set up the fireplace, take out the down blankets, and think warm thoughts.

Like hot chocolate.

Mmmmm ... hot chocolate!

There’s no doubt (in my mind at least) where the best hot chocolate in Boston is. Time after time, year after year, we always bring out-of-town guests to the same place. It’s this cute, quaint little chocolate shop in Harvard Square that’s famous for its chocolate penguins, chocolate mice, and hot chocolate drinks.

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Happy Chinese New Year (& Giveaway Winners!)

The Bellagio in Las Vegas

I'm just a little late, but Happy Chinese New Year!

We enter the year of the dragon this year, a year that many people think is the luckiest of all the Chinese zodiac signs.

Bryan and I just came back from Las Vegas not too long ago. The Bellagio always puts out a fantastic display every year during Chinese New Year. This year, they went all out, complete with huge dragons that blew smoke out of their noses, larger-than-life firecrackers that lit up and made cracking noises every so often, and tons of flowers. There was even a pond filled with live fish!

We celebrated this weekend by having hot pot! Apparently we weren't the only ones in the city who had the brilliant idea of having a hot pot during the new year. Several Chinese supermarkets in the city ran out of thinly sliced beef. We finally "sacrificed" a couple of our USDA prime steaks from the freezer and sliced them up for hot pot (!!).

Although it was delicious, I still think thinly sliced filet mignon (which I prepare at home) is by far the best way to enjoy beef during a not pot. The New York strips were good, but the texture of filet mignon can't be beat.

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Red Bean Soup with Rice balls (tang yuan)

When I was young, my dad loved to turn on the tape recorder and pretend to interview me. There is one particularly amusing recording that sticks with me.

     "Jennifer! Do you want to go to Taiwan?" 

     "No." 

     "Why not?" 

     "Because I want to stay in America." 

     "Why do you want to stay in America?"

     "Because in America, I can eat tang yuan."

Because in America, I can eat tang yuan. What a misinformed little kid I was. I must have had no idea that "tang yuan", or glutinous rice balls (aka mochi balls), were so much more Taiwanese than they were American.

Misinformed or not, even at such a young age, I knew that I absolutely loved eating these rice balls.

Decades later, nothing has really changed.

Well, I guess I've gotten slightly wiser. I now know that Taiwan has some amazing rice balls. I also know that you can get pretty perfect rice balls right here in the US, right in your own kitchen.

Here's the little secret. These things are ridiculously easy to make from scratch. Seriously, it takes like 5 minutes, and only two ingredients.

There's no need to ever buy those store-bought frozen ones again.

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Matcha Mochi Cake

Over the holiday break, I received the most interesting e-mail from a friend.

Dear Jen:

I have a serious proposition for you.

[Our friend] gave me a taste of your green tea mochi that you made for his birthday. It was SOOOOO good!

If you would be willing to make me a batch, I'll pay you for it.

Please consider!

What a proposition! I don't think I've ever had anyone offer to pay me for my baked goods! Usually I'm happy enough if people enjoy my cooking.

In any event, this green tea mocha is easy to make and definitely a crowd pleaser. The friend for whom I made it? He ate an entire loaf in one morning.

Yeah, it's that good.

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