Perfect Pasta at Tre Monte Restaurant

Last night, I had a dining experience that left me pleasantly surprised.  I had the opportunity to attend a complimentary dinner (via Boston Food Bloggers) at Tre Monte Restaurant in Woburn.  While I expected that I would enjoy the meal, I had no idea that I would sample some of the best fresh pasta I've had in quite some time.  Seriously, it was that good. 

House Tagliatelle

But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let me start from the beginning.  We started the evening with some wine.  I opted for the chianti to help warm me up from the unexpectedly chilly summer evening.

Chef Anthony Contarino sent out a variety of his favorite antipasti dishes for us to share family-style.

Melanzana topped with a fresh basil pesto.

Arancini filled with comforting mushroom risotto.

My absolute favorite - grilled garlic and cheese sausage
served over spinach, cannellini beans with a hint of red pepper flakes. 

This was my least favorite dish - shrimp grand marnier.
While the shrimp was cooked perfectly, I found the sauce cloyingly sweet.

The most fabulous bolognese.  This was obviously a pasta dish
but the Chef sent it out since it is always favorite.

We got to choose our entrees and I opted for the veal parmigiana.  These veal cutlets were thinly pounded and breaded.  I only ate one cutlet and saved the other for lunch.  Almost everyone brought leftovers home because the portions were really large.  The veal parmigiana comes with a choice of pasta, and I was so happy to have chosen the fabulous tagliatelle.

After dinner, I followed Kristen's lead and ordered an espresso martini.  The aroma of the espresso was tantalizing as the cocktail was placed before me.

I sipped my espresso martini as we got a chance to chat with Chef Anthony.  He talked about the influence of his culinary training, traditional Italian grandmothers, and mentors in the kitchen.  Chef Anthony also talked about his newest venture, the Brickyard.  The Brickyard is a burger and pizza bar just around the corner, and I am definitely checking this place out soon! 

In addition to chatting with the easygoing chef, we ended our meal with dessert.  While the desserts aren't made in-house, the cannolis, tiramisu and profiteroles were all incredibly delicious.

I had a wonderful meal at Tre Monte last evening and I'm hoping to go there again with Bret.  He definitely enjoyed my leftover pasta and veal parmigiana for lunch today too! 

Thanks to Boston Food Bloggers and Chef Anthony Contarino for inviting such a lovely evening!

Tre Monte Restaurant is located at 397 Main Street, Woburn, MA.

Full disclosure: The dinner at Tre Monte was completely complimentary, but as always, my opinion is honest and completely my own. 

Boston Food Blogger's Launch Party

Yesterday, I was sadly one of the few people that still had to head into the office.  I honestly didn't mind too much since I did have a decent amount of work to do and the office was really quiet.  Luckily, I got to break up the day with a long leisurely lunch at Sel de la Terre at the Long Wharf with Alicia, Kristen and Megan.  I haven't seen the ladies since December so it was nice to catch up with them while I indulged in my favorite dish - the SDLT burger!

The SDLT burger is topped with melted Vermont cheddar, crispy applewood smoked bacon and a "spicy"aioli (while flavorful, I never find the aioli to actually be spicy).  I swapped out the frites and opted for a super tasty mixed greens topped with pumpkin, toasted pumpkin seeds and golden raisins.  Although this burger is consistently a tad too salty, I always turn to it for my burger fix!

In addition to this wonderful lunch, I got to see the ladies along with some of my other favorite local food bloggers at the Boston Food Bloggers' Launch Party at the Gallows.  There was plenty of food, drinks, and fabulous food bloggers.  Here are just a few photos from last night:

Thanks to Rachel and Christine for hosting such an awesome event.  I was lucky enough to be one of the bloggers to receive a swag bag and let me tell you that it is full of great goodies!  I'm definitely going to be putting some of these great freebies on the blog for some reader giveaways!  So stay tuned...

Boston Bloggers Who Brunch: East Coast Grill

A few months ago, I attended a lovely brunch at Lord Hobo organized by fellow food blogger Renee of Eat.Live.Blog.  Our brunch consisted of a small group of food bloggers who were there just to enjoy one of our favorite weekend meals while getting to know each other a little better.  After this first blogger brunch, Renee got an overwhelming response from other food bloggers asking to be on the list for the next blogger brunch.  With Renee's super event organization skills, the second blogger brunch took place this morning at East Coast Grill.

Because I have previously had brunch at East Coast Grill, I was really excited about this morning's brunch.  Renee put in a lot of time and effort to put together a prix fixe menu consisting of family-style appetizers and a brunch entree.  The food, per usual, was outstanding.  We had four huge family-style appetizers.

Fried Sweet Plantains with Queso Fresco and Banana-Guava Ketchup

Sweet Potato Fries with Inner Beauty Hot Sauce

Banana Rellena (Smoked Pork Stuffed Banana) with Inner Beauty Hot Sauce



Monteray Jack Grits with Molasses Glazed Grilled Banana, Pineapple,
Jalapenos, Toasted Pecans & Crispy Smoked Bacon

 Even though there was a lot of food, we never felt rushed because our server Arthur really spaced things out nicely.  We had plenty of time to chat in between appetizers.

Lara, Christine and Bret - who called himself "Mr. Fun and Fearless"

We were all excited by the time our entrees came.  Although the cornbread crusted french toast and smoked pork tostada were tempting, I went for the breakfast platter, which had a little of everything.  This huge plate was piled with cheesy scrambled eggs, black beans and rice, mango/avocado/hearts of palm salad, more sweet fried plantains, salsa roja and a grilled flour tortilla.

Breakfast Platter "In the Style of the Yucatan"

For me, the star of the plate was the delightfully refreshing salad.  I kept going back to it again and again.  I thought that the scrambled eggs could have used some heat but I easily remedied that with a few dashes of hot sauce.  I ate every last bite except for the giant tortilla, which I couldn't have finished even if I tried!

Once again, I had a lovely meal at East Coast Grill and it was definitely different from your typical brunch menu.  They also have a make-your-own Bloody Mary, which is always welcome after a late night out.  Thanks again to Renee for organizing another wonderful blogger brunch!  If you're interested in joining the next brunch, you can follow the Boston Brunchers on Twitter (@BostonBrunchers).

East Coast Grill is located at 1271 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA.

Fun and Fearless Friday Five

After battling a nasty cold all week, I am so ready for a weekend filled with sunshine!  As I go into the weekend, I wanted to share five things that I'm really excited about:

1.  Drinking for Charity: The Boston Lupus Charity Pub Crawl is happening this Saturday and I've been getting my liver ready for it all year long.  My friend Kim (one of the committee members) introduced me to this fun day-long event that combines drinking with raising awareness and funds for a great cause.  I've been participating in this pub crawl for three or four years now and I've been battling my cold all week for it!  To learn more about the pub crawl, please head to Kim's blog here.

One of MANY photos from last year's pub crawl.

2.  Vote for me!  The poll is still open for the Boston A-List's Best Local Blogger and I'm currently in fourth place.  If you've already voted, thank you so much...and if you haven't, please click here to vote for me.  Every vote counts until voting closes on December 22nd and I'd really appreciate your support!

3.  Boston Food Bloggers:  Speaking of blogging, are you a Boston-area food blogger?  My friend Rachel (creator of Fork it over, Boston!) has launched a new website - Boston Food Bloggers.  Her goal is to put together a resource for food and beverage bloggers in the area - to share ideas, contact information, and events.  It is pretty interesting and Rachel's put a lot of work into it...so if you get a chance, stop by and check it out!

4.  Dr. Oetker's Quattro Formaggi Pizza:  On Wednesday night, I came home to a shipment of sample of Dr. Oetker's Quattro Formaggi frozen pizza.  I'm not a big fan of frozen pizzas but I thought I'd give it a try.  While you can definitely tell that pizza wasn't homemade, the quality of the cheeses used in this pizza was pretty impressive. The combination of mozzarella, edam, emmental and blue cheese worked, even though I was first skeptical about the use of blue cheese when I read the box.  Dr. Oetker's frozen pizzas can currently be purchased in New England Shaws, Demoulas and Big Y store.

5.  Sunday Brunch:  In September, Renee of Eat.Live.Blog, organized a fabulous bloggers' brunch at Lord Hobo.  Thanks to Renee's organization, a group of us are heading to East Coast Grill for brunch this weekend.  Although I've previously had brunch there, I'm still really excited about this brunch because East Coast Grill puts on a FANTASTIC brunch.  Of course, I'll be re-capping it all here next week!

What's on plan for the weekend? Any good cooking/eating/drinking planned?