Scootin' in Boston - Route 20 and Brookline Avenue

In this episode of Scootin' in Boston, we scoot along Route 20 and then turn right onto Brookline Avenue. We go through Allston, Boston University territory, Fenway, Longwood hospital area, and end up at Route 9. The route is very simple but we pass by a lot of landmarks along the way.

See route map below

Soul Fire (Allston, MA) - Review of the Pitboss Sampler

Barbecue is one of those things that is best eaten at a restaurant or ordered take-out because it takes a long time to make it well at home. If you live in Boston, Red Bones in Somerville is probably one of the more well-known places to get tasty barbecue. However, if you live in Boston (and not in Cambridge or Somerville) and don't want to haul your butt over there, Soul Fire (in the Allston area) is a pretty good place too. I had a Living Social deal that was about to run out and finally got some take-out there. For a more thorough review of everything they serve, check out the pigtrip blog (it has pictures of most dishes).

Since I didn't know what to order, I got the Pit Boss Sampler, which includes a bit of a lot of different things for about $43 with tax. I thought it would be enough food for about 2 days. It's a lot of food and supposedly feeds only 2 or 3 people - umm, yeah, if the people are big football players! I think it feeds at least 4 or 5 people (who are not football players). There was plenty of food for at least 5 meals and I'm not a skinny person. There are 7 different meat dishes in the Pitboss Sampler: pulled pork, spare ribs, baby back ribs, brisket, a hot link (sausage on a stick), fried chicken, and spicy hot wings (with sauce on them). All of the meats were cooked very well and the brisket was especially good. That explains why the 2 guys who ordered after me both chose the brisket. There was enough seasoning to not need any sauce but dipping is part of the fun of eating barbecue, right?

7 different meat dishes in Pit boss sampler

hot link (top), pulled pork, spare ribs (left), and baby back ribs (bottom)

yummy brisket chunks (on top of a slice of bread) hiding under the rack of baby back ribs!

As if the big pile of meat were not enough, the Pitboss sampler comes with 6 different sides, cornbread, and all the sauce you need. The guy said I could "load up" on sauces but I took only a small container of each of the 3 sauces in the pumps because I expected that the meats would be well seasoned already. Ok, so the sides were: collard greens, beans, rice and beans, mac & cheese, potato & egg salad, coleslaw, and cornbread (with butter). I liked the potato & egg salad very much. The mac & cheese was good too. The collards, slaw, and beans were actually on the sweet side. However, I'm not sure if I might be a little more sensitive to sweet than other people because I've been cutting my sugar consumption. Personally, I like collards to be a little on the salty side. The cornbread was pretty good and the rice and beans were quite good with a bit of a spicy kick. All of the sides were in the 8 oz deli containers, which made me think that this would be way too much food for 2 or even 3 people (who are not football players). In rank order, I liked the mac & cheese, potato egg salad, rice & beans, and then the other 3 (because they were all just a bit too sweet for my taste).

Sides included in the Pit boss sampler (and all the sauce you need)
going clockwise: Collards (top), beans, rice & beans, corn bread, mac & cheese, potato egg salad, 3 sauces

potato egg salad

coleslaw

The Pitboss Sampler is a great thing to order if you're having a Superbowl party with a bunch of dudes who like to eat a lot. I would love to go back and order a brisket meal because that was done very well. The spare ribs were good too. For sides, I'd probably get the mac & cheese and/or the potato salad. If you have a LevelUp card (this link gets you a $5 credit, by the way), they take that too.

Asian Markets - a poor student's friend

In most large cities, there is at least one large Asian market that has a huge variety of products that you won't find at the other supermarkets, where anything that's remotely "ethnic" is premium priced. At the Asian markets, you can save a lot of money and have the opportunity to try new foods. In Boston area, there are plenty of stores with products from all over the world. There's an Indian store named "Shalimar" in Cambridge, a Korean store (forgot the name) near MIT, and Hong Kong Supermarket (formerly "Super 88") in Allston. At HK supermarket, you will find more than just Chinese products. They have Japanese curry and a small selection of Korean and other Japanese products. Their produce and meat sections are probably a lot more diverse and perhaps exotic than what you'd see in an American supermarket.

The fun part about going to HK supermarket is that they also have a food court attached to it, called "Super 88 Connection". I also noticed that they have a new Japanese restaurant there that serves rice (curry rice and "don") and ramen dishes but no sushi. The food court includes a Thai place, a Korean booth, an Indian booth, and a variety of Chinese booths. Dim sum chef has a pretty good selection of dim sum and they have pictures of the dishes on their menu, in case you don't know what they look like. They cook everything fresh, so you might have to wait about 5 to 10 minutes for your food. Fresh is good. Kantin is the place that has the roasted animals hanging in the window. Their menu is pretty long and has every Hong Kong style and Chinese-American style dish that you can imagine. That's the place I go to when I am very hungry.

Here is a selection of things I bought on a recent trip to HK supermarket:

1. Yeo's soy milk is made with Canadian soybeans. It comes in sweetened and unsweetened versions. The sweetened one can be a little too sweet so the unsweetened one can be used to make your drink less sweet by mixing it 50-50. The regular price is $1.29 for a 1 L box and goes on sale for about $1 now and then. It definitely tastes different from the stuff made by Silk or 8th Continent.

Yeo's soymilk - made with Canadian soybeans!

2. Shrimp flavored chips. These come in regular and wasabi flavors. Since they're baked, they're a little healthier than potato chips.

Wasabi flavored shrimp chips

3. Braised beef and wonton noodle soup (from Kantin, Super 88 Connection). If you get this to go, they will give you the soup part in one container and the rest of it in another container. This is so the noodles don't get too soggy and mushy by the time you get home. This is an awesome dish. Look for the booth with the roasted ducks hanging in the window. If you're coming from the supermarket, turn left after you go through the door that connects the supermarket to the food court. The booth is on the left.

Deconstructed Braised Beef and Wonton Noodle Soup

Braised Beef and Wonton Noodle Soup