restaurants, and shaving soap

[studeronomy.livejournal.com]

I am new to the area, and living just north of Davis Square near Tufts. I've done a fair amount of exploring, but getting to know a new area takes a lot of time. Anyway, this question may seem broad, but I figured it was appropriate to this community: what are some of the not-to-be-missed restaurants in the immediate area? Where is the best sushi in the area (I know I know, an uber-hipster request)? I suppose I could offer some useful information regarding my taste in food, but I'm more curious about which restaurants in the area people are really passionate about, and why.

I'm sure this community gets a question like this once every week or so; if so, I apologize.

A more specific question: is there anywhere in Davis Square (or the surrounding area) I can buy quality shaving soap for shaving with a straight edge razor?

Comments

[tarkap.livejournal.com]

Hana Sushi on Mass Ave. near Davis. They deliver too, but I've never done the delivery thing with them.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

At 40, I'm way too old to be considered a hipster, but I do like sushi. For sushi, I like Yoshi's, on College Ave. just off of Powderhouse Circle. I also like Bluefin, in Porter Exchange, but that's a bit further of a shlep for you, and I like Hana Sushi which is not far from where the bike path crosses Mass. Ave. in Cambridge.

All of those are pretty middlin' places. I wouldn't know where to go for truly high-end sushi.

Yoshi's

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

I second the Yoshi's recommendation! Not too pricey and pretty good.

mmmm sushi

[-neutrino.livejournal.com]

Yes! Yoshi's is wonderful, and you can even bring your own bottles of wine or beer! Not to be missed. Also, someone must have said these by now, but: Redbones for bbq, Diesel for coffee (and hanging out if you're the cafe type), and The Burren for a neighborhood bar.

[frederic.livejournal.com]

Leavitt and Pierce in Harvard Square for shaving soap.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. They have the best classic shaving stuff I've ever seen in a brick-and-mortar.

[studeronomy.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Can't wait to check it out...

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

my favorite nearby sushi place is hana sushi, which is on mass ave towards arlington. if you want to drive about an hour, oishii sushi in sudbury is FANTASTIC. fresh and yummy.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Oishi also has their original location in Chestnut Hill. They are utterly fabulous, and have the price to match.

Fugakyu in Brookline's pretty amazing, too, if you have the money. :)

Sushi Corner in Melrose and Sushi Island in Wakefield are my other 2 standards. Honestly, I'll go to either of them over any of the places in Davis/Porter if I'm picking.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i've never been able to find the oishii in chestnut hill. and i've never even heard of sushi corner, but melrose is a lot closer than sudbury.... i'll have to try it.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Sushi Corner's a hole-in-the-wall behind a supermarket in downtown Melrose.

Oishi is half a block off of Rt. 9.
http://maps.citysearch.com/location/4798498

It's a very small building, but the intersection's a good sized one.

[overstim.livejournal.com]

Bluefin in Porter Square is my choice for sushi not only in the area but in the entire city. Its not the best ive had (Roka in Harvard Sq), but its damn close, and its not the cheapest (Shino express on newbury), but its damn close to that, too. Definitely the best value.

[laura-okay.livejournal.com]

for the shaving: I say go to Lush in Harvard Square. They are amazing and have real quality handmade/all natural products. They have a shaving line with several products that I suggest you might try. They can help you find the one that will be best for you, they are very helpful and friendly.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

Hana Sushi is very good and delivers. If you can make it to Porter Square, the Porter Exchange building has both the Kotobukiya sushi counter, and Bluefin, which is an actual restaurant. Both are terrific.

For shaving soap, try Cambridge Naturals in the Porter Square shopping center, next to Porter Square Books.

[ron_newman]

Body Shop in Harvard Square probably has the shaving soap too.

[kjc.livejournal.com]

If I'm in Porter Square, I go in to sit at Blue Fin's in the Porter Exchange. If I'm ordering delivery, I call Hana. I think Hana's a bit better than Blue Fin (who doesn't deliver), but not quite enough to walk an additional 20 minutes.

When I'm broke, I sit at the counter at Kotobukiya and order a bowl of spiced rice to start (it's just sushi rice with a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds) to half fill me up, then my favorite sushi. They're good, but not great. There is a Japanese food mart in the Porter Exchange that's also named Kotobukiya.

In fact, if you like Japanese food, explore the Porter Exchange. And don't neglect the little outpost of the Japonaise Bakery because they make some of the best baked goods I've ever had. Try the azuki bean cream bun. You will get whipped cream on your nose and powdered sugar down your shirt, but you will thank me later.

The best sushi in the area is probably in Boston, the city proper. If you pick up (or borrow) a Zagat's guide, we have (I think) three really high end sushi restaurants. But you pay through the nose up in that rarified air.

Other restaurants I'm passionate about:

The Indian Club, 1755 Mass Ave in Cambridge, MA is my absolute favorite Indian food. They're friendly, every single dish I've eaten there has been great (I've tried quite a few chicken, fish, and vegetarian dishes), and friends I've taken who've eaten Indian food (made by their Indian mothers or by Indian cooks IN India) say it's damn good.

Gargoyles in Davis Square surprised me by having a nice-sized dining room in the back. The food is high end, amazingly good, and the service is great. The dining room has a low-light, dark wood, quiet sort of feel to it... except when they have live jazz.

The Neighborhood Restaurant and Bakery in Union Square always has a line for brunch, but it's worth the wait. I've never had farina that tasted so divine. And the variety plus freshness of all their food is fantastic.

I'm a big fan of sandwiches and I love The Monkeywrench sandwich at The Diesel Cafe in Davis Square. I also love their "rusty slide" which is a chai tea and vanilla ice cream shake. Damn that's good stuff.

And on the subject of sandwiches, The Oxford Spa in Cambridge (on Oxford Street, oddly enough) makes the best sandwiches I've ever had. I'm completely addicted to The Dissertation (which is The Thesis with prosciutto - what's The Thesis? Fresh bread, fresh mozarella, fresh basil, excellent olive oil, salt, pepper, and magic) and The Pavo (which involves turkey and avocado and so much more).

I recently at at Macchu Pichu in Union Square - it's Peruvian and it was delicious. I haven't made it back mostly because I'm a lamer.

Wang's delivers Chinese food. Many of their dishes have surprised me by being two or three cuts above your average Chinese delivery. And they make these fantastic dumplings - offered in the back of the menu, you get a minimum of 12 dumplings per order - that slay me. I can make a meal out of just their spinach dumplings. Or maybe dumplings plus the pork with chestnuts (actual chestnuts, not water chestnuts).

Mary Chung's in Central Square (Cambridge) has this "soup" called Suan La Chow Show that is amazing. And hot - spicy hot - like drink tea to get the oil off your lips before they spontaneously combust spicy. And she's got the finest pork dumplings I've ever had (Wang's pork dumplings aren't as good). Seriously. I love her food.

There are a couple others, but those are all I can think of off the top of my head...

Hope that helps.

[studeronomy.livejournal.com]

Thank you (and everyone else) for the suggestions!

Steve Irwin (The Crock Guy) is DEAD!

[ticl.livejournal.com]

</a (http://encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Steve_Irwin)

Re: Steve Irwin (The Crock Guy) is DEAD!

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

What the hell did this tasteless piece of crap have to do with this community or this posting?

Re: Steve Irwin (The Crock Guy) is DEAD!

[moneypenny.livejournal.com]

Agreed. That said, the contrast between your objection and your surprisingly topical user name elicited a Reaction in me. I would be hard pressed to explain it but felt compelled to draw attention to it nonetheless.

Carry on,
Emily

Re: Steve Irwin (The Crock Guy) is DEAD!

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

game, set, and match on the ysername issue, had no thoughts about that when I responded.

[gmpe.livejournal.com]

For sushi, we go with Sei Bar in Medford. They deliver to the Tufts area, really quickly, unlike Hana which can take forever, and you get a better size portion.

[syntheticnature.livejournal.com]

You might be interested to check out the Chowhound.com Boston board (http://www.chowhound.com/boards/show/12). Davis Square comes up fairly often as a topic of conversation - if you type "davis" into the search box at the top of that page, you'll get plenty of results (not all especially recent).

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

My two faves in the area for restaurants in general are Sabur and Gargoyle's. Both are slightly pricey, but quite worth it for special occasions!

[swissarmykate.livejournal.com]

I'm a vegetarian and I love my Indian food - and the questionable service and endlessly rotating waiters at Namaskar hasn't deterred me yet. Cheap, fast, and delicious. Other places down Mass Ave near MIT are great too, like India Gate, but I'm a loyal customer and Namaskar's lunch buffet is delicious.

I love the food at the Greek Corner on Mass Ave near 16, and the service with a scowl mildly amuses me.

Also, there's a great Bengali place that way too, I forget the name but two can eat a great meal there for under $20 and around here that's unheard of.

I appreciate your quest for restaurants people are passionate about. I like to think certain restaurants are "mine" and I'd never become a regular at a restaurant I didn't really feel good about.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

I'm currently living out of state, going to school, and the places I miss most are:

Red Bones
Tu y Yo - good Mexican near Powderhouse
Diesel Cafe - for the chocolate-mint death squares (chocolate brownies with mint icing)
JP Licks - ice cream _can_ be a meal
Bhoja (sp?) Cafe - next to Martsa's on Elm; they make tasty sandwiches and have amazing chicken noodle soup (only in the cooler seasons, alas)
Blue Shirt Cafe - love their wraps, and the Peanut Butter Delight smoothie is fabulous (peanut butter, banana, and chocolate)

I recently discovered a pretty good Thai place on Mass. Ave, about one or two blocks towards Arlington from Day St., on the north side of the street. Great value, pretty tasty, and they served ice cream with the meal (we ordered the meal specials, which were better values than ordering the same dishes as entrees). It has a pretty unmemorable name (Thai Kitchen, maybe?), but it's next to a Bengali place, which I haven't tried yet.

For sushi, I tend to favor Bluefin, because I like it better than the place near Powderhouse, and those are the two closest to Davis that I know of.

[flashman78.livejournal.com]

And hey, if you're looking for the ultimate Cuban sandwich... try Dave's Fresh Pasta. (They don't make them everyday, so it's kinda hit or miss, but the Italian makes a great substitute) ... they have some nice import food too.

[denonymous.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks for the tip on the Cuban. I recently discovered them at Urban Gourmet, which wasn't bad, but I've been looking to expand.

cubanos

[davelew.livejournal.com]

It's a bit of a hike from Davis, but if you're passionate about cuban sandwiches, the cubano at Chez Henri between Porter and Harvard is a religious experience. You should be aware that they only serve it at the bar, not at the sit-down restaurant.

Re: cubanos

[denonymous.livejournal.com]

I've been to Chez Henri for the French side of things (their cassoulet is fantastic, though the garlic sausage seemed out of place for the dish), but wasn't aware they made a good Cuban. I'll have to swing by there soon. Thanks!

[atg77.livejournal.com]

Other great places:

Antonia's: mid-range Italian; right in the middle of the square next to JP Licks, but somehow almost invisible; small menu, but everything is very good, also has a small section of outdoor tables in warm weather (such a rarity in Somerville).

Head down past Porter Square to find RF O'Sullivan's (Beacon Street) for the best burger around. And across the street is the biggest gem in town in my opinion: Petsi Pies. It's impossible to walk out of that place with fewer than two pies/muffins/cookies/pastries. The key lime, cherry crumb, and triple berry pies are wonderful. It's also big with the Aussie crowd for mince meat or some other savory pies, but I'm stuck on the sweet stuff.

As far as cheap eats go, the Thai and Bengali places on Mass Ave. people mentioned are called Thai Kitchen and Bengal Cafe. I give Thai Kitchen 2 thumbs down with Golden Jade being the best delivery Thai I've had in 4 years here. Best delivery pizza for my money is Cristo's 7 Star on Elm Street. There House of Tibet Kitchen in Teele Square is also good. And let's not forget another local institution in Ana's, just about the best meal for $4 in the city.