Abe & Louie’s

Last Saturday, I went to the first game of the 2010 Celtics Playoffs with my husband and brother-in-law. Prior to watching the game, we went to Boston for an early dinner. We went to a famous steakhouse called Abe & Louie’s. Abe & Louie’s is known for its steaks and prime ribs. The atmosphere of this steakhouse is rather formal. It is located on a busy street in the city, and many tables were filled by 6pm.



For appetizers, the three of us shared half a dozen oysters. The oysters are big and fresh, with a slight salty taste.



My husband and brother-in-law both ordered the bone-in ribeye steak which is cooked medium rare. The ribeye steak is extremely tender inside with a strong aroma on the outside. The grill marks are beautifully done which gives it a charcoal taste. It has a very strong meat taste because it is dry aged. Due to the high quality of the meat, it only had to be marinated with salt and pepper. The ribeye steak is extremely juicy. While they were eating the steak, the juice kept rushing out.




I ordered their famous boneless prime rib which is cooked medium rare. It is the best prime rib in Boston. It contains just the right amount of fat. Just like the ribeye steak, the prime rib is also dry aged which gives it a very strong meat taste. The prime rib is very tender and juicy. While I was eating the prime rib, the au jus kept flowing out. One slight compliant is that the prime rib is a little on the rare side. For side dish, we ordered the sweet potato with brown sugar. The sweet potato was so soft and sweet that it was the perfect side dish.




For dessert, the three of us shared a chocolate soufflé with raspberry sauce. The soufflé was soft and nicely baked.




After a very nice meal, we went to watch the first game of the Celtics Playoffs. The best part of it is that Celtics won the game.

Abe & Louie’s is one of the top steakhouses in the Boston area. However, we would prefer its sister restaurant Coach Grill in Wayland because of the location and fresh bread bowl.

HOKAT Rating:
92/100

Address:
793 Boylston Street, Boston MA 02116
(617) 536-6300
http://www.abeandlouies.com/

Yoki Japanese Restaurant

Last year we bought a $20 Groupon that is worth a $50 meal at Yoki Japanese Restaurant in Medford. After a fun day of board games at my brother-in-law’s house, we went to Yoki for some sushi. The restaurant is opened by Vietnamese owners and has a high-end Chinese décor. The prices are relatively high in this restaurant, with the most expensive maki at around $14. Some of the makis are named after Boston’s sports teams, such as the Red Sox Maki, Bruins Maki, and Celtics Maki.

We placed an order of Uni Sushi. The Uni is pretty creamy but it does not have a sweet taste like the best ones we have had.

My husband and I shared the following makis:

1) Crazy Maki: Shrimp tempura inside with salmon and avocado on top. The tempura is lightly fried and very crunchy. The fresh slices of salmon and creamy avocado matches pretty nicely with the crunchy shrimp tempura.

2) Spider Maki: Soft shelled crab tempura with tobiko, avocado, spicy mayonnaise, and sweet soy sauce. There is nothing special about this maki, it actually does not have much taste at all.



3) Red Sox Maki: Spicy tuna and avocado roll topped with fresh sliced tuna and a mixture of tempura flakes and baked chopped eel. It is finished with tobiko, scallion, glazed sweet sauce, and spicy mayo. This is one of the most expensive makis, but is well worth the price. There is a double effect of tuna in this maki, with tuna inside and outside. The avocado adds a touch of softness and creaminess. The baked chopped eel on top has a sweet taste which matches very well with the taste of spicy mayonnaise and makes it truly magical. It is then topped with tobiko which adds an extra crunchiness kick to the maki.



4) Bruins Maki: Spicy cooked salmon and cream cheese roll topped with fresh sliced salmon and a mixture of crispy tempura flakes and spicy white tuna. It is finished with tobiko, scallion, sweet sauce, and spicy mayonnaise. This is another wonderful maki. Salmon and cream cheese matches together extremely well. I could not really taste the spicy white tuna. However, I feel that the variety of citrus and black tobiko really did the trick in this maki. The citrus tobiki is slightly sour while the black tobiko is slightly salty. The tobiko is mixed with spicy mayonnaise which adds a spicy touch to the maki.

My brother-in-law ordered assorted sushi, including tuna, salmon, uni, and scallop sashimi. The fish is pretty fresh, but the portion is not generous enough.



Overall I enjoyed most of the makis. However, the prices are a little too expensive. For this price range, we would rather go to our favorite sushi restaurant in Boston, Oishii.

HOKAT Rating:
88/100

Address:
62 Station Landing, Medford MA 02155
617-381-6688
www.yokirestaurant.com

Paani Pure Indian Cuisine

There is an Indian restaurant in our neighborhood that has received pretty good online reviews. My husband and I have been together for 14 years but we have never eaten Indian food together. We have both had Indian food before, but with other people. So, we decided to give this neighborhood restaurant a try. The restaurant is very tiny, and it is painted in a bright orange color on the inside. As décor, it has a huge abstract painting on its wall and a few drop ceiling lamps.

The waitress is also the owner of the restaurant. She told us that she used to host a local TV show, while her husband is a retired scientist. She is very friendly and nice to talk to. She brought us a complimentary plate of chips and two mini samosa. It provides a nice start to the dinner. We ordered the mango lassi as our drinks. The lassi is made from liquid yogurt.



For appetizers, we ordered the vegetable samosa. Everything in the restaurant is homemade. The samosa is fried nicely and not too greasy. It is filled with potatoes, mashed peas, and ground spices. There is a bit of curry taste in this dish.



Our main dishes are the chicken tikka masala with mangos and the lamb boti kabab. The chicken tikka masala with mangos is rather sweet. Although the mangos add a nice touch to the dish, I would prefer chicken curry instead. The lamb boti kabab was definitely not worth $20. The lamb meat was quite rough and too dry. The Indian rice was also quite dry.




To go along with the main dishes, we ordered the garlic naan. The naan was fresh and baked just right. I like the aroma of garlic in the flat bread.



Overall I feel like the dinner went downhill after the appetizers. Although the owner is very nice and we like the décor, the food is not good enough for us to go back.

HOKAT Rating:
81/100

Address:
621a Boston Post Road, Sudbury MA 01776
978-443-8100

La Campania Italian Restaurant

To celebrate Easter, my husband and I went to an Italian restaurant called La Campania in Waltham. Although it is an Italian restaurant, it serves many French influenced dishes such as foie gras and rack of lamb. The ambience is quite warm and cozy. It felt like walking into someone’s home in Italy that has rustic furniture.



One of the appetizers that we ordered is the crudo of yellowfin tuna with blood orange. There is not much taste to the tuna, but luckily the blood orange adds a nice sweet touch. The second appetizer that we ordered is the pan seared foie gras with puff pastry and roasted peaches. This is the best dish of the night. The foie gras has a melt-in-your-mouth creaminess to it and was pan seared to perfection. The puff pastry was very light and crispy. The roasted peaches add a sweet taste to the dish so that it is not too heavy.



The main dish that I ordered is a Neapolitan style flat bread pizza with lobster meat. It is a very nice surprise for the night. The pizza is light and not greasy at all. The cheese is infused inside of the flat bread. The lobster meat is served with a light lobster broth on the pizza. It feels high class to have lobster as an ingredient on pizza.



The main dish that my husband ordered is the Colorado rack of lamb, cooked medium rare. The serving contains two ribs of lamb. The lamb meat is quite moist. However, for the price of almost $40, it is way too pricy. We did not like the sauce that is served with the rack of lamb at all. The sauce tasted like some kind of meat sauce, like the ones served with pasta. This dish would be much tastier if it is served with red wine sauce instead.



Our dessert had to be pre-ordered because it requires 35 minutes of cook time. We ordered the hot chocolate soufflé with vanilla bean gelato. We had high expectations for the dessert because it is baked to order. When the dessert arrived at our table, it looked really good. However, the moment that we put our forks into it, we found out that it is not a soufflé! It is actually more like a hot piece of brownie with ice-cream on top. What a disappointment. The proper method of making a soufflé is to use egg white and beat it continuously to make it soft and fluffy.



HOKAT Rating:
88/100

Address:
504 Boston Post Road, Waltham MA 02452
781-894-4280
www.lacampania.com