in case you're looking for somewhere to eat.

Just got back from The Met Club where I once again had an AMAZING meal. I've seriously never had a bad experience there and will go back again and again (as long as my aunt keeps taking me...uhh I do not come close to affording dinner there). And I highly recommend it to anyone in the Boston area (it's on route 9 in Chestnut Hill). The employees are also super friendly, which could partly be because they know my aunt, she's in there so much (um, the waitress followed us out thanking us over and over for the tip). My pseudo aunt is seriously the most lovely, generous person I know. Just an example: she and her husband have 4 seats for season tickets to the Sox and get this...if she is at the game and the rest of her tickets aren't being used, she goes up to the highest, worst seats; finds people she thinks look nice (usually a parent and child); and asks them if they want to move down to her seats (which are obviously amazing). She does things like this ALL the time and is without a doubt, one of the most generous, caring, and not flashy people I know. Love her.

Anyway, I had salmon wellington for dinner, along with some really good salads (something with beets and goat cheese and something with arugla and goat cheese...um, I like goat cheese?), lots of wine (2 bottles for 3 of us = me practically falling asleep on the way home), coffee, and gingerbread souffle. Oh, and we can't forget the french fries. No matter what you get to eat a The Met, you HAVE to get the fries. I'm seriously not a big french fry person, but wow. These are basically really crispy french fries with parmesan and a white truffle parm mayo. Some people have been known to eat a whole order themselves...

Along the same lines of eating a lot of food, my friends and I decided that instead of exchanging holiday gifts this year, we would all go out for a nice dinner together. It took forever for us to decide on a restaurant, but someone brought up Masa in the South End and when we looked at a menu, we decided to go for it. So happy we did because it was amazing! Saturday evening, 10 of us (seriously a miracle that all 10 of us were able to go out to dinner on the same night) celebrated the holidays together at Masa. The Southwesternish menu was so extensive that almost all of us got something different. And I think every one of us was pleased with our choices. First of all, the appetizer Sas and I shared was to die for!! If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with anything pumpkin, so when I saw it on the menu I HAD to get it. It was Mexican cinnamon roasted pumpkin and goat cheese quesadilla and was absolutely succulent. It almost tasted like dessert and was perfect for sharing. I want to recreate this as soon as pumpkin season returns. For my meal, I had grilled pasilla rubbed mahi mahi with red chile sesame sauce, mango mint salsa, and crisp plantain polenta cake. Ummm YUM is all I can say (I think I'm really bad at describing food except in terms of yum, omg, wow, to die for, uhhhhh, etc. Need to work on that).

The only thing I didn't like about the restaurant is that it was so dark I could barely see my food, which I think was presented really nicely on the plate. Sometimes it can be sketchy eating something you can't really see, but everything about this dish was so good it didn't even matter. The flavors melded so well and I think I ate every bit of it. The prices are very reasonable too. And they have really good drinks. I stuck to the Malbec, but Sas and Chels got yummy-looking drinks (sangria margaritas?? Is that right? I remember a cinnamon stick in Sas' though I'm not sure why). The chef also brought us some complimentary stuff. Some sort of appetizer, which was delish, though I couldn't see it so I have no clue what it was. They even made Chels a special one since it had nuts on it and she's allergic (good thing she was smart enough to ask!). They also brought us complimentary coconut macroons for dessert. A sign of a good restauraunt! Also a sign of a good restaurant: when we split appetizers, they split them for us and brought us our own plates. Masa=really good restaurant.

So, yes, if you live in Boston or are visiting Boston, these two restaurants have very strong recommendations from me! I cannot wait to go back to Masa and try something else on the menu. I now need to go on a post-holiday diet as I have been eating WAY too much good food lately. I also decided I need to return to my apartment as soon as possible because my parents are way too amazing of cooks and I have spent this entire week eating. I'm now going on a diet of smoothies in my new blender and veggies sliced with my new mandoline. Yesss.