Smith & Wollensky $50 Giveaway Winners

View from the top of Smith & Wollensky

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Smith & Wollensky giveaway!

The first winner is Abbe who said, "my favorite steak place in Boston might be Grill 23. I'm all about the sides!"

Second winner is Cavitybuster who said, "my favorite steak place is Wolfgangs on Lexington Ave in NYC. The porterhouse for 2 is delicious! Very similar to Peter Lugar's in Brooklyn, but this restaurant is right in anhattan and easy to get to."

Please e-mail me your address at jen[a]tinyurbankitchen[dot]com. If I don't hear from you by this Friday, I will pick a new winner.

Have fun in Boston's castle and enjoy the summer grill menu!

For anyone who's interested in the tour: just make a note of it in your reservation and they will gladly take you on the same tour that I got.

Have fun!

Crenellations at the top of Smith & Wollensky

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Tuna Tartare

One of my favorite sauces is spicy mayo. You know which sauce I'm talking about - the one they use for spicy tuna rolls or spicy salmon rolls. It has an addictive flavor of its own and works really well with all sorts of raw fish.

Granted, please don't waste the sauce on really fresh fish that can stand on its own. But for your ordinary everyday roll?  Why not?

Tartare typically costs less because it's made with inferior or uglier materials. The most beautiful pieces of fish are cut into sashimi or nigiri slices. The remaining bits, which still often have great flavor but possibly compromised texture, must be chopped up and served some other way.

The ones that don't have as good flavor can easily be enhanced with the addition of this magical spicy mayo. It's a great and simple way to dress up less expensive fish into something fancy and delicious.

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Homemade Chirashi (New Deal Fish Market)

Have you ever purchased fish and eaten it raw at home?

I tried it once - ages ago. I bought a little pack of "sushi-grade" fish from a Japanese supermarket and tried to roll my own maki and shape my own nigiri.

It was such a pain! It took forever to shape each individual nigiri, and my rolls were so ugly. I had trouble making them as tight and beautiful as professional ones. Worst yet, the final product did not taste nearly as good, still cost quite a bit, and took way too much time.

So I didn't touch raw fish at home for ages.

More recently, one of my Japanese friends told me about New Deal Fish Market. Apparently, it's the best place to get fresh seafood, and all her Japanese friends got their fish there. In fact, the fishmongers are so accustomed to the Japanese customers that they'll use the Japanese terms for the fish.  Maguro anyone? Or maybe some hamachi or toro?

So, the other day, when a friend of mine suggested the idea of chirashi (so much less work than rolling individual makis or shaping little nigiris), I was sold. I made a beeline for New Deal with visions of fresh chirashi dancing in my head.

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Smith and Wollensky + Giveaway!

It's not everyday you get to dine inside of a castle.

It's even more rare to be able to dine inside of an armory, especially when that armory still maintains and preserves much of the history of the original armory.

And how often do you get to climb to the top of the armory and look down towards Boston?

And then finish off with some fantastic dry-aged prime steaks, fresh lobster, and truffled mac & cheese?

Guess what? This has got to be one of the best kept secrets for tourists in Boston. Come to Smith & Wollensky, enjoy a fascinating tour of the armory, and then sit down to a great meal in the beautiful dining room.

Let me take you on a sneak peek of this experience!

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The Blue Room

I get bored really easily. I hate doing the same thing over and over again and I've been known to say that "change alone is good for change's sake." As a kid I loved rearranging the furniture in my room so that I could wake up to a new environment. In general, I love diversity and I'm always looking to see, taste, and experience new things.

How does this translate to food? Well, for one, I love family-style dining because it allows you to try many more dishes at one meal. In fact, I really dislike the traditional Western way of dining which typically involves 1) a big chunk of meat 2) a  side of vegetables, and 3) a side of carbs. I get so bored working my way through that hunk of meat.

This is exactly why I love the concept of buffets. At a buffet, not only can you choose from a huge variety of dishes, you also have absolute control over the portion sizes of each different dish.

Of course there are drawbacks. The food at a buffet usually cannot be nearly as refined. Furthermore, buffet food needs to taste good long after it's been cooked, since it sits under those heat lamps or warming stations for an indefinite amount of time.

In spite of all that, there are a few buffets around Boston that have nailed this challenge and are able to serve very good food in the buffet format. Join me as I take you down the fantastic Sunday Brunch buffet line at the Blue Room in One Kendall Square, Cambridge.

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