Asmara - Cambridge, MA

Stop #3 on our tour of Massachusetts is Asmara, an Eritrean & Ethiopian restaurant in Cambridge.  Prior to this past Saturday, I had never tried Ethiopian but my boyfriend and his mother both like this restaurant (in fact, he had been describing menu items to me for days before.) 

On this, his mother's and my first meeting, I can't think of a better meal we could've shared.  A large round platter is delivered to the table covered with thin, moist - almost crepe-y- bread and your entrees are small mounds scattered on top.  Each person rips off bits of bread and sort of pinches pieces of meat or salad with it to eat.  A wonderful communal meal!

Our entrees were lamb in a red pepper sauce, a spicy cooked spinach dish, and the piece de resistance: kitfo - chopped tenderloin of beef (raw) with clarified butter and spices.  Now, when I was told we were going to eat RAW BEEF and furthermore, that I was going to LOVE IT, I'll admit I was skeptical.  But I was wrong to doubt because it was absolutely one of the tastiest things I have ever eaten.  In the middle of the entrees was a bit of their house salad, which is mainly tomatoes, their housemade cheese, and lettuce which served as a welcome palate cleanser when the spicy spinach got to be too much for me.

With the meal, I also had a banana juice.  Never have I seen that on a menu before.  Raw meat?  Well, I've seen steak tartare on a menu  so banana juice is still the rarer.  It was delicious & the very thoughtful waitress did warn me that it would be filling and to take it slow or I'd never be able to eat.

I'm so glad this was our Cambridge stop.  It would be so easy to end up having 351 burgers and I don't have a lot of ethnic food in my repertoire.  Thankfully I've got a guy who knows where the good food is.

Asmara 

Taking Massachusetts

Good evening, 

It has been quite a while since I have added anything to this blog, but I'm back and I have news.  After many a conversation with my boyfriend regarding restaurants in and around the state that he or I "just HAVE to try" (whether on our own culinary bucket lists or at the insistence of the other) we have come up with an ambitious edible endeavor: eat in every city and town in Massachusetts.

We each bring to the table a couple dozen gems - he has a place for dinner in Hyannis, I have a place for breakfast in Brewster, we might get Kane's Donuts in Saugus & Dairy Joy in Weston - not every stop will necessarily be a full meal and some we may just happen upon.

While we will be scrapbooking and tucking away souvenirs and photos at each place, this seemed like a worthwhile reason to return to blogging.  351 towns and cities in MA should keep us busy for a while & we've already crossed two off.

1. Greenfield (B) Our first outing was my choice and since we were having a nice, leisurely day, I opted for a scenic drive down Route 2 to The People's Pint which I have previously blogged about.
    We ordered quite a bit of food - the Special Ploughman, sausage plate, I had a pulled pork sandwich with maple butter yams (never going to skip the yams) and Taylor assembled a custom mac & cheese with mushrooms and garlic and feta.
    I made the mistake of trying a bite of his meal & consequently had a bit of food envy.  I generally order the same thing every time I go to The People's Pint but this time I left the comfort of my usual order and I won't say I regret it because the pulled pork was still moist & flavorful, but there was a quality to the barbecue sauce I didn't love.  Cloves, perhaps? 
   The People's Pint remains in the repertoire & as the weather (hopefully) improves and we find ourselves doing some exploring out West, I'm sure we'll return.

2. Amesbury  (T) This was an opportunistic stop on our way to Portsmouth, NH.  We were running ahead of schedule & thought we would stop for something light.  We were disappointed to find our original Amesbury destination had gone out of business, but the square was adorable and we quickly found Market Square Bakehouse.  
    Taylor got an espresso & a ham and cheese croissant and I had a huge cup of coffee and a little pastry that I can't name but was light and buttery and just barely sweet.  If the weather had been better, that cute little town certainly deserves a closer look.

Market Square Bakehouse