Broadway Bites in Boston: Tea Time at the Taj

Edible gold letter branding on a chocolate-covered strawberry = Extravagant!

MATT: I recently had the pleasure of visiting Krystina Alabado and the American Idiot Tour in Boston, one of my favorite cities (Except of course when it comes to baseball: Go Yankees!).  I often talk about coffee, but the tradition of Afternoon High Tea is almost as near and dear to my heart.  I first fell in love with it while living in London and have, since returning to the US, found many places in NYC and the rest of the country that not only honor the tradition but more than do it justice.  One of those very places, and the first of our new Tea Time series, is the Taj Boston Hotel, located on the north end of the Boston Common, Boston's closest equivalent to a centralized park.  (Of course, it ain't got nuthin' on Central Park.)  

If anyone is unfamiliar with High Tea, here's what one can expect to find:

• Finger sandwiches usually including cucumber, egg salad, salmon, and a variety of meats and cheeses.
• Seasonal scones served with jams, jellies, lemon curd, and clotted cream A.K.A. Devonshire cream.  (This is what makes High Tea so special!)
• Assorted desserts such as cookies, candies, cakes, and pastries. 
• Champagne can usually be added for an extra charge.
• It's a bit of a time commitment but nothing compared to a tasting at a gourmet restaurant.
• There's usually a dress code so wear your English finest!
• And of course...a good old-fashioned pot of tea! 

The Taj, like so many other places that serve High Tea, have their own house blend which is usually black, my personal favorite because it cuts the sweetness of the scones and desserts.  The highlights here were both savory and sweet, the first being a lobster profiterole.  Imagine biting into an eclair-type puff pastry, but instead of tasting chocolate, discovering creamy New England lobster!  Another was the prosciutto & cheddar tartine topped with an olive garnish (their take on the classic ham & cheese.)  The combination of a pumpkin macaroon and a mini-tiramisu topped with a gold-covered espresso bean more than satisfied my sweet tooth as you probably remember from Coffee Talk: Porto Rico Importing Co.  The staple scone is that of currant served with clotted cream.  On occasion, live music is played, this time by a lovely violinist. 

So, if you're ever in Boston, dress up and take an afternoon to visit the Taj, maybe even before you take in a show, where you can sit back (Sit up straight!) and relax, but get ready to answer the question, "One lump or two?"

BROADWAY BITES "Miss Lily's"

Surprise!

We reached our goal, 750 followers on Twitter, thanks to all your support!  We also rank 17th out of over 600 nominees with 46 votes at The Shorty Awards.  (We even got 4 votes in the #FF category.)  Finalists will be announced shortly so cross those fingers, toes, etc. 

As a special thanks for all your hard work promoting us on Twitter, Facebook, your own blogs, word-of-mouth, and the Shorty Awards, we decided to release some food finds from our past.  Did they in some small part pave the way to Broadway Bites?  We'll let you decide....

Matt promoting Meatless Monday at a very early age.

 

Keep spreading the word about Broadway Bites because who knows what we're capable of when we reach 1000?

Meatless Monday: Pure Food and Wine

Even though all three of us are carnivores, we are also omnivores, and we are just as open and available to trying vegetarian cuisine.  We all have friends in the Broadway Community who practice vegetarian and vegan lifestyles as do some of our readers we're sure.  That's why we're joining the Meatless Monday movement by promoting cutting out meat one day a week and bringing you the best vegetarian food that NYC has to offer.  We're diving in head first with a raw-vegan 4-course gourmet meal from Pure Food and Wine in Union Square.      

FIRST COURSE

Plate of Assorted Cultured Dr. Cow Tree Nut Cheeses and Rosemary Crisps

served with wild huckleberry compote and mustard greens

MATT: The one excuse I hear most often from Vegetarians as to why they aren't Vegan is, "I can't give up cheese!  I love it too much!!"  Well, Pure has the answer to their prayers.  Cashew, macadamia, and/or brazil nuts are used for the base with flavor flourishes of himalayan pink salt, hemp seed, and algae, but the key to combining these ingredients to make cheese is acidophilus, a form of bacteria that ferments sugar into lactic acid.  The cheese paired beautifully with a bottle of pinot noir.

SECOND COURSE      

Caesar Salad
romain lettuce, nori, pumpkinseed macadamia parmesan, lemon, caesar dressing

ANDY: One of my favorite dishes at Pure Food and Wine, The Caesar Salad, isnt actually on the menu.  They serve it at the sister store around the corner, One Lucky Duck, which has its own more casual menu for eat in, or take out.  Luckily, Pure is always willing to let you order from One Lucky Duck's menu as well.  Simply put, it's just a good Caesar salad..."organic" or "raw" or whatever; it is tasty, fresh, and so fulfilling.  I like to eat raw occasionally, but I'm always concerned if I'll be left feeling full and satisfied at the end of the experience.  So, I always order the Caesar, which is bountiful and definitely a meal on its own, leaving me feeling like I ate a large substantial meal.  My favorite part: the crispy strips of nori seaweed layered on top of the salad.  Fantastic!

THIRD COURSE

Zucchini, Local Heirloom Tomato Lasagna
basil pistachio pesto, sun-dried tomato marinara, macadamia pumpkin seed ricotta

ADAM: I came into this restaurant a skeptic.  I read a book on why we shouldn't eat animals, and while I understand the argument, even sympathize with its ideals, I just couldn't fathom its practicality.   This restaurant takes impracticality a step further, coining a new phrase: 'Impractical...oh, come on...REALLY?.'  All of its dishes are raw, meaning nothing is cooked above 118 ºF.  To recap, we're not eating ANY animal products plus not heating a single ingredient.  To me, this sounds like one of those Top Chef quick fire challenges so impossible, so obviously dooming its contestants to failure that the viewer switches the channel on the principal of fairness. The lasagna caught my eye immediately. How audacious! How irreverent!! Taking such a beloved classic of Italian and, let's face it, American diet, deconstructing it, rearranging, and gleefully flashing purists the finger when it's a smash! And it was! It captures all of the quintessential flavors of a lasagna: creamy ricotta, meaty tomato, smooth olive oil, delicate noodles....  EXCEPT the cheese was made from macadamia nuts and pumpkin seeds, the pasta was thinly sliced zucchini, and the meat sauce was a sun-dried tomato marinara. It was the dish of a rebel chef, a chef who lives for a challenge, the kind of chef who reinvents a classic and leaves you wondering why no one thought of doing this before.

FOURTH COURSE

Left: Mint Sundae - chocolate, fresh mint, and mint chip ice creams mint chocolate cookies, chocolate sauce and vanilla cream
Right: Classic Sundae - vanilla and chocolate ice creams chocolate and cherry framboise sauces, sliced bananas, candied almonds, and vanilla cream

ANDY: Still not convinced? Alright then...Dessert.  I have to admit, the whole reason for getting the boys together in the first place was just an excuse to have the delicious Ice Cream Sundaes.  The best part?  It's Guilt free!!!  The ice cream is non-dairy and sweetened with Agave.  There's nothing in the world like indulging in something you love with no second thoughts!  I'd like to take this moment to say how excited I am that so many of my favorite foods now have healthy alternatives all over New York City and at the grocery store.  And that basically sums up the whole experience at Pure Food and Wine.  There is very little compromise.  You can still stuff your face with lasagna and dive into an ice cream sundae and not suffer the consequences.  Eating healthy can be delicious....  The key ingredient is creativity!

Check out Sarma's (the [mostly raw food eating] founder, ceo, and proud mother of one lucky duck) raw blog or visit One Lucky Duck's homepage.

Little Black Book: New York City's Hottest Hot Chocolate Page 2

Jacques Torres Wicked Hot Chocolate

ANDY: Infamous for being one of New York Cities Best Hot Chocolates, Jacques Torres' Wicked Hot Chocolate is definitely one of the best I've had! Here's why:

JAQUES TORRES WICKED HOT CHOCOLATE

• Delicious cloud of thick whipped cream over piping hot chocolate.
• Perfect blend of spiciness giving extra heat.
• Creamy, lightly sweet, and dense.
• You can really taste the chocolate, after all, it's Jacques Torres!
• Try the Wicked Mocha! Even Better!!
• ★★★★★

I brought along my fellow BwayBites "taste bud" Matt Shingledecker and Hot Chocolate lover, Taylor Trensch, who appropriately plays Boq in Wicked on Broadway for a special Broadway Bites episode:



In case you missed it: Little Black Book: New York City's Hottest Hot Chocolate Page 1

"Have No Fear, Food Truck's Here!" - Jamaican Dutchy, NYC

They even have a big flat-screen TV attached to make the wait go by a bit faster.

First off, we want to wish you all a super Super-Bowl Sunday!  Go Giants!!  Secondly, we have an even more super, superer if you will, story about The Jamaican Dutchy that saved the day. 

Matt: I had rehearsal yesterday for a reading I'm working on about superheroes (If I told you anything more, it would compromise my secret identity, and I'd have to kill you.), which let out about three hours earlier than expected.  I was left with nothing to do and a hunger pang to boot.  After a short walk around midtown weighing my options, I hung my head in shame and headed home to Harlem.  Almost at my doorstep, I looked up and saw my saving grace, The Jamaican Dutchy.  My prayers were answered by an animated Jamaican man holding a smoking-hot plate of chicken standing next to a palm tree ready to come to my rescue.

Trade the wine in for the Sorrel Juice.

Yesterday was National Homemade Soup Day, and because I had absolutely no desire to make anything myself, I split the difference between homemade and canned, and started with the Oxtail Stew, The Jamaican Dutchy's weekend soup special.  This was my first experience with oxtail.  It had a subtle hint of gaminess and a great meaty texture, the perfect building block for the rest of the root vegetables and Jamaican flavors.  I accidentally bit into one of the allspice berries which I'm guessing is there only to flavor everything else around it, not to actually eat, as bay leaves are used in other dishes.  The taro was the hero here, having a beautifully purple aesthetic hue.

The main meals have three sizes: Mini, Small, and Large.  I went with the Mini Jerk Chicken since I had just ordered the Oxtail Stew, and let me tell you that it is anything but Mini.  I can't even imagine how Giant the large must be!  (See what I did there?)  The chicken itself was moist, and the skin was quite spicy (Just right for me but for the feint of heart and tongue, beware!), served over a bed of steamed cabbage and "rice & peas," better known to us as "rice & beans."  The pigeon peas used are similar to kidney beans. 

I washed it all down with sorrel juice, a traditional winter drink in Jamaica especially around the holidays, which to my taste-buds had both a gingery bite and a tart blend of cranberry and pomegranate juice. 

Dear Jamaican Dutchy, thanks for flying/driving all over New York City saving the day!  For location information and more, follow them on Twitter at @JamaicanDutchy.  Till the next time we need a hero....

Just in case you missed it, check out our first video entry featuring three food trucks in Times Square. 

Need more of a Dutch fix after this Dutchy post?: Love At First Bite! Andrew Carmellini's 'The Dutch'

Announcement Time!

WE HAVE 4 EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENTS TO MAKE! 
 
First up is a challenge.  We currently have 684 followers on Twitter.  When that number reaches 750, we have a very fun surprise in store!  Here's how you can help us reach that goal:

• Tell your friends and family about BwayBites over a delicious meal or  at intermission of a Broadway Show.
• Tweet @bwaybites about the great places you've been finding in NYC or have gone to based on our recommendation.
• #FF Follow Friday us...or any day of the week!
• Add BwayBites on Facebook. 
• Nominate BwayBites for a Shorty Award.
• Whatever else you can do to spread the good word....

WE ALSO HAVE 3 NEW PAGES TO UNVEIL!

 

We've added a News Page.  Check out this article featuring BwayBites on BroadwayWorld.com.  First stop: Broadway; next stop: the world!

Read Part 2 of our interview with Broadway News.  You can follow Broadway News on Twitter @bwaynews, or visit their blog for Broadway photo coverage, news, events, giveaways, discussions, and more.

 








We have a new Recipe Page featuring our very own creative culinary creations. We'll also use this page for lots of recipes from some of your favorite Broadway stars!








BwayBites is growing so quickly and we really thank you for your support and engagement.  We really love sharing with you all the delicious food finds this amazing city has to offer.  Enjoy!