Jay On The Go

In addition to Render and Masa , we decided to go to lunch at this Indian restaurant in Boston's South End neighborhood.  On a Sunday, contrary to our expectations, it was dead.  In any case, there are several places to eat in the area, so we probably would not have liked to wait.  Thankfully, we also found street parking.  It is a small place but decorated well and I really appreciated the white napkins and nice dishes, things that are typically lacking in Indian restaurant brunches.  There were about a dozen dishes to choose from and I ate lentils, tandoor chicken, spinach paneer, stuffed dosa, and nan bread.  Overall, nothing worth talking about and the bread actually may not be as fluffy as it sometimes is.  Definitely, a pleasant experience eating there but I would not categorize it as anything special, but then lunch in Boston for about $13 is a bargain.

I was new to Boston in 2002 and when I asked my secretary Bunny to suggest a restaurant to bring my wife to for a meal, she suggested .  We had a great evening and since then we have gone several times over the years for their weekend brunches.  Living in the suburbs, weekend brunch works best for us because the traffic to Boston is light and parking is not a problem. Tonight we were looking for a place to go for dinner and did not think a minute about going to Masa.  As always the service was excellent.  My wife had spinach and artichoke enchilada (listed as an appetizer on the dinner menu but if you are light eater, it has plenty of calories for a meal).  It is made from ancho mole and oaxaca cheese.  A bit hot but hey, worth it. I ate roasted salmon with chipotle and horseradish crust that is placed on top of the fish.  The dish is topped off creme fraiche and salmon caviar.  Finally, warm cucumber and cilantro relish all around the fis...

Lorena and I are both addicted to coffee and often wonder what would it take to get European or Japanese or Argentinian style cafes in America, so when WCVB Chronicle featured Render ( 563 Columbus Avenue ), we decided to stop by when we were in the Copley Square area for a laser treatment at the Athena Salon Spa.  It is a cute little place with very attentive and courteous staff (thus, a huge departure from Starbucks where employees really don't care about you and the cafe is almost always dirty and it seems that the company strategy is to employ a business model with an emphasis on take-out rather than encourage a cafe culture).  Lorena tried a cappuccino (it had less foam than she likes) and I had a Colombian pour coffee (not dark enough and not as full bodied as I like).  Overall, a great place to go for a coffee but I need to try other coffees to make sure that I find the coffee I like.