Oga's in Natick

For 1st year annniversary with my boyfriend.
-soft shell crab
-sushi and sashimi for two
-eel

Toraya

Pappa Razzi

On Dartmouth Street, right near Copley station.

Went there with a group of people on a Saturday night. Too bad that I wasn't hungry that much... I choose to eat caprese from the salad section. It had sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil. The basil had full aroma. The balsamic vinaigrette was okay. I added olive oil and salt to the dish. The bread that came was focacchia -- it wasn't the best. But the breadstick was great!

If I were hungry, I probably would have gotten the Saturday special, osso bucco. Slowly-braised veal shank simmered in a pinot noir demi-glace and served with parmigiano risotto. Sounds AMAZING.

Moqueca

In Inman Square. It's location had changed, but it wasn't too far away from its original store. The first time I went was for my half anniversary with my boyfriend.

Mango Nana - Mango, Pineapple, Banana & Orange Juice
Fried Yucca With a delicious, secret sauce created by our chef
Coconut Shrimp
Fish Moqueca
Cod Capixaba - Salted cod with hard boiled eggs, plantain & coconut milk.
Feijoada Completa - Brazilian national dish. Black beans stew with fresh & dried meat, pork, sausage & bacon. Served with collard greens, fried plantain, farofa & orange.

Their rice is delicious. I absolutely love it.
I think that they put olive oil and salt when they make it (perhaps it includes garlic, too).
It reminds me of the time I took international cooking class in high school, and a Brazilian friend steamed rice using a pot, putting olive oil and salt in it. Simple and easy.

I searched up and Moqueca is a seafood stew (though vegetarian option was available) that has fish, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, and additional ingredients. It's absolutely delicious.

Saw the same waiter again. He was friendlier last time.
Although we sat down around 115, the place started getting crowded around 2pm. The service was a bit slow today, but maybe that's because it's restaurant is now three times as big as the old one (I don't know when they moved, though).

I'm glad that their business is doing well. My boyfriend and I want to go back there again to eat Brazilian crab cake, and I really want to eat their flan, but I'm always full when I finish my meal here!

Radius

Last of Winter 2010 Boston Restaurant Week.

We had our reservation at 8:30 but arrived an hour early, but they let us sit at the bar and we had drinks and munchies (vegetable tempura, which was very good. Carrots, green string beans, zucchini (all delicious) with their original ponzu with yuzu sauce).

Excellent service, though the food was coming out really slowly. The waiters and the servers did a wonderful job keeping us company, though.

Dinner pricing is 33.10

First Course:

Cauliflower Soup
-crispy duck, brioche croutons and romanesco

I really enjoyed the soup. It was warm and the cauliflower taste was great. I don't remember much of the duck, though, but it was amazing.

Arugula and Kohlrabi Salad
-spiced cherries and roasted shallot-yuzu vinaigrette

Main Course (choice of one)

Slow Roasted Pork Loin
-molten polenta, wild mushrooms and star anise jus

Lightly Seared Salmon
-warm lentil salad, local braising greens and cumin vinaigrette

Really good salmon! The lentil was normal, but the braising greens was delicious. I probably enjoyed that green the most out of all the ingredients for this meal. Good outer layer of Salmon.

Crispy Tofu
-soba noodle and seaweed salad, pickled daikon, spicy pineapple
and shiso puree
My boyfriend and his friends had this. The soba noodle was green (I'm assuming seaweed was put into the buckwheat?). The daikon nor the spicy pineapple and shisho puree were not the emphasis of the meal, I thought.

Dessert (choice of one)

Butterscotch Panna Cotta
-strawberry mint compote

Really good. Definitely better than the carrot cake I had. It was really really good.. I didn't have the mint compote, but the panna cotta was real good.

Spiced Carrot Cake
-cream cheese frosting, mascarpone, spiced raisins
and pickled walnuts
I had this one, but it was okay. The spiced carrot puree? was sour and interesting... Mascarpone was the best part. The spiced raisins (regular raisin and golden raisin) and pickled walnuts were interesting, as well.

The menu had some additional parts to it, too. My boyfriend and his friends ordered dishes off the menu like tuna tar tar and sweetbread -- they seemed to have enjoyed it.

I'd say overall, it was a bit salty. but suited my taste.

Our waiter said that the menu changes every three months or so. The chef, Michael Schlow, is a really good friend of the Oishii chef, so he's got some Japanese influence.

I would give a high rating. Definitely worth the Restaurant Week price.

Mike's Pastry

Ricotta chocolate covered.

Just delicious. I love the ricotta cream. It's so good.. and chocolate blends together perfectly.

Giacomo's (again)

Antipasto: provolone cheese, sopressatta, bresola,roasted peppers,stuffed peppers and vinegar marinated vegetables
1/2 lobster, clam, mussel with linguine.

I had my boyfriend do all the work for getting the lobster meat off its shells.
YUMMM.