It’s not often that I eat Chinese food at home, being that I work near Chinatown and have constant access/exposure to Chinese food on a daily basis.  However, one night I went home and found this flyer for Noodle Stix on Belmont St. in Belmont.  I was intrigued as they had a whole section devoted to “fake meat”, which would suggest that unlike the restaurants in Chinatown, Noodle Stix actually makes an effort to placate vegetarians.  For that very reason, I decided to order from Noodle Stix.

One of the reasons that compelled me to order from Noodle Stix, was that they had many veggie chicken dishes.  So, I decided to order their General Gau’s veggie chicken, which was pretty much the most disgusting dish of Chinese origin that I’ve ever had.  The veggie chicken tasted like moist styrofoam, which many of you may argue is my own fault for wanting to pretend to eat chicken.  However, after eating good “textured protein” of chicken flavor, I could not stomach something so foul as what Noodle Stix offered.

Ironically, while the General Gau’s veggie chicken was horrendously disgusting, the General Tso’s tofu was really tasty (ordered by my cousin).  I don’t know if that is because General Tso is a superior tactician or better general than Gau, but certainly the tofu was far tastier than the veggie chicken.

Finally, every time I eat at Chinese restaurant, my barometer of quality is their eggplant.  While it was somewhat tender and flavorful, it was a little too seedy for my liking (i.e. there were a ton of seeds, that embittered the taste).

Overall, Noodle Stix was decent Chinese restaurant, and reasonably priced (the tofu and eggplant were $7 each), though when they arrived, they were all slightly cold.  That is not too surprising considering that they came from Belmont.  Regardless, if you’re looking for slightly above average Chinese food and you live near Belmont, you should definitely check out Noodle Stix.  Three and a half cheese sandwiches.

Noodle Stix
11 Belmont Street
Cambridge, MA 02138 
(617) 868-1800

I first heard of City Feed and Supply when recommended it by Mike (of Mike and Patty’s fame). I don’t know if he was really recommending it, but he was implying that Mike and Patty’s falls into a handful of truly great sandwich places in Boston – City Feed and Supply being another on that list. I was excited to try City Feed out, primarily because it was only my second excursion into Jamaica Plain (more like Jamaica Awesome!) since arriving in Boston. While wandering the streets of JP doe-eyed in amazement of the beauty of the area and the self-satisfying aura of its inhabitants, I was torn between trying out Purple Cactus and City Feed - both of which are on the same intersection. I flipped a coin, and decided to go to City Feed.

City Feed has an intriguing array of vegetarian sandwiches, including many vegan friendly options. Out of the 17 options for sandwiches, they have 7 options that are vegetarian, and two dedicated vegan options (the Eight Fold Path and Tofurky Deli Slices). Also, for those of you who are celiacs, you can get any sandwich on gluten-free bread! Admittedly the names of some of the sandwiches are quite banal considering that we are living in the age of the cleverly named sandwich. I was torn between the Eight Fold Path and the Farmer’s Lunch. But, since I am not a fan of Granny Smith apples, I thought it would be unfair to judge City Feed based upon a sandwich I may not like because of an unpleasant ingredient. Therefore, I ordered the Eightfold path – an intriguing concoction of “locally made firm tofu, hoisin sauce, fresh cilantro, fresh mint, match stick carrots, cucumber, crushed peanuts on an Iggy’s baguette”.

A few issues with the description of this sandwich. First, the peanuts were uncrushed. Second, there was no mint in the sandwich at all (let alone fresh mint). This is not a big deal, but I feel this should be pointed out. And last, the tofu is uncooked. Normally, I wouldn’t have gotten the sandwich if I was aware that the tofu was uncooked (as uncooked tofu tastes akin to eating rubber). However, this tofu actually was tasty, and was faintly reminiscent of eating fresh farm cheese. This, combined with the hoisin sauce (which actually just tasted like a mix of honey and soy sauce) definitely made an outstanding sandwich.  I don’t know why I’m only mentioning it now, but it is also served on outstanding Iggy’s bread.

I will give credit to City Feed for first disappointing me by having a sandwich not be as I thought it would, then actually tasting better (in a different way) than I could have ever imagined. If the other sandwiches are comparable to the Eight Fold Path, then City Feed deserves its place in the pantheon of great Boston sandwich makers. Considering the fact that City Feed doubles up as a grocery store, you can also buy all the ingredients used to make your sandwich and try to assemble it at home (which is great, as it encourages you to become a DIY sandwicheer). I will give City Feed four and a half cheese sandwiches (as I don’t think any place deserves five sandwiches unless I’ve had a few items off the menu). So check this spot later after my second or third trip to JP to see if it makes it to five cheese sandwiches (possibly after March 20, when City Feed is having a pickle tasting)!

City Feed and Supply
672 Centre Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-2507 
(617) 524-1700

My first exposure to Thai food came quite late in life, in fact it was only a few years ago. There was a Thai restaurant across the street from where I worked in graduate school called Mai Thai. I first had their Pad Thai, followed by the Pad Wun Sen, and Mussuman curry – leading me to becoming an acolyte of Thai cuisine. My almost bi-weekly excursions to Mai Thai became a high point in my graduate career, and I was excited to discover that there was a Thai restaurant near where I worked in Chinatown, called Montien. I was even more excited by the fact that Montien is the first Thai restaurant that I had been to that doesn’t have the word Thai or something referencing Thailand in its name (such restaurants include 3 Mai Thais (or My Thai), 2 Pad Thai, a Planet Thai, a Bangkok Cuisine, and a Bangkok House), showing that Montien is the first Thai restaurant to be secure enough to not insist that it is a Thai restaurant to draw business.  I am ignoring the fact that it’s officially called Montien Thai Restaurant, as the Thai Restaurant part is subtitular.

I was with Kenny and Sam one night, and we decided to get some food in Chinatown before heading out to meet Vernon to play trivia. I hadn’t been to Montien in over three months, and thought this would be a good opportunity to get some Thai food. I have frequented Montien for lunch previously, if only to satiate my enjoyment of lunchtime Thai excursions. Unfortunately, compared to the rest of Chinatown, Montien is far too expensive to frequent on a weekly (or bi-weekly) basis. You can get a 9 or 10-dollar lunch special, which is filling, but quite scandalous considering you can get equal quality meals elsewhere for 6 or 7 dollars. While Montien is slightly expensive for a lunch time meal, it is VERY expensive for dinner. The atmosphere is quite nice, so you might consider taking a date there for a pre-theatre meal (or post-theatre), but 13-15 dollars a plate is quite steep for Chinatown.

I decided to get the Mussuman curry which can come with brown rice (at extra cost over white) under the notion that I wanted to eat something healthy before downing the offal from Razzy’s during trivia (it’s not real offal, just metaphorical). The Mussuman curry is a good blend of sweet and spicy with the chilies and peanut sauce pleasantly melding together. I would say that the quality of the food at Montien offsets the expensiveness of their dishes. In fact, I would argue that Montien is probably the best Thai restaurant in Boston, and comparable to Planet Thai (the best Thai restaurant in Lexington, KY). There are a wide variety of vegetarian options as many of the sauces are interchangeable between being a meat dish or tofu. Their tofu is the fried firm type that I always rave about, and makes every meal amazing.

When discussing the price of food at Montien, one must consider that most Chinatown restaurants attempt to recreate the bleakness of a Southeast Asian road stand. However, Montien attempts to recreate the atmosphere of a five star hotel in a Green Zone. So, I would argue that the cost of the food is acceptable, and since there is a wide range of vegetarian food available at Montien, I will give it four cheese sandwiches. It would get more if it made a better attempt to delineate what is vegetarian and what is not on the menu (as many sauces have fish stock as their base, and it is unclear if Montien uses fish stock as their base or not).

Montien Thai Restaurant
63 Stuart Street
Boston, MA 02116-4723 
(617) 338-5600

“When the weather gets cold, there is nothing better than pho”, my friend Kenny always says (not as quoted, but it’s close enough).  I find this quite strange, as he may be right, but Vietnam never gets below zero.  According to a Vietnamese travel guide, Lam Dong is one of the coldest cities which has “an average annual temperature of 18^oC”.  So, I don’t know what is intrinsic about pho that makes you feel good if it’s cold.  It could just be that hot liquid bowls of food always make you feel good when it is cold.  I very rarely drink soup during the summer, despite my recent appreciation of gazpacho, so hot soup is good for cold weather.  Kenny and I decided to go to Pho Pasteur to get some pho (for him, as pho is intrinsically non-vegetarian), and some curry tofu (for me).

As soon as you sit down in Pho Pasteur, you are able to pour yourself a hot cup of tea, which was very refreshing to have after braving the sub-arctic Boston temperatures.  Since as a vegetarian, I can never really partake in pho enjoyment, I settle on living vicariously through the tea and plate of beansprouts, basil and lime (below).

Before I realized that the plate of beansprouts was supposed to go into pho, I thought that the plate of beansprouts was the Vietnamese version of chips and salsa.  I only eat a couple, as beansprouts aren’t very tasty on their own (unlike chips and salsa, in which case I only eat a couple of bowls).

I decided to get the tofu curry with rice (#92), which can be found in the “vegetarian corner” of the menu.  While I do not care for the notion that vegetarians should be put in corners (despite the fact that corners of restaurants are the best places to dine), I do appreciate that there are a number of vegetarian options to choose from.  There is a pho-style dish as well (#99), a tofu hot and sour soup, if you would like to embrace the liquid food experience.  I do like the tofu curry, as it is sufficiently spicy to make you feel warm after eating it.  Also, there is no baby corn, which is always a plus (for me at least) when ordering anything with vegetables at an Asian restaurant.  I like Pho Pasteur, but it definitely is not my favorite Vietnamese restaurant.  I give it three cheese sandwiches.

Pho Pasteur
123 Stuart Street Boston, MA 02116
(617) 742-2436