Ring the Bell!!!

…that’s one of those work idioms….like soup to nuts… or low hanging fruit…..or come to Jesus.  God, I love work idioms.  We use ring the bell (or should I say toot the horn …pun always intended) when we win a big project or there is a great success.  This of course reminds me of that big bell they ring at bars when the bartenders get big tips.    It’s all related, right?

Well there is certainly something to celebrate and some bells to ring, horns to toot, whatever.   Choo-Chew has received its first ride-and-dine invitation!!!  To me it’s the equivalent of framing our first dollar!  We’ve made it big!  Our lovely (and newlywed) friends Lois and Scott have graciously invited us up to Amesbury for a romp around town – Choo-Chew style.  Drinks and apps at their place first (we can’t promise that everyone headed to Amesbury will get this kind of treatment, but give L & S a call – who knows?!) followed by a local-guided culinary crawl through town.  We are super excited to check out Amesbury and to hear what Lois and Scott have to say about their local eateries as guest bloggers. Trip is planned for when the warm weather arrives (if ever) to take advantage of outdoor seating! 

…and this just in….We have another suggestion to head out to Dover, NH!  Another great New England mill town-turned hip destination - filled with many restaurants and bars.  Dover is a super fun place, especially if you like good pub food and 80’s cover bands (which we do!).  We’ll hitch it into Boston and then head outbound on the Amtrak.  So, Keith and Dinah, whether you were serious about the invite or not, you’re stuck with us.  This train is rolling out of the station.   Oh, and based on our previous experiences in Dover, we may need to spend the night at yours.

We love the suggestions, so keep ‘em coming!

- Jaime 

Hawthorne go Bragh

Andy here.  On St. Patrick’s Day, the Diners visited the Tavern at our local Hawthorne Hotel (blog) in Salem.  We don’t go big on St. Patrick’s Day anymore (who are we kidding…did we ever?) but the holiday was a good opportunity to add to the blog, enjoy a pint of Guiness, and start to wind down after a busy week.

The Hawthorne Hotel is an old standby in Salem.  It’s a popular venue for various parties and events year-round, especially weddings and receptions.  We love feeling like we’re a part of the action – whether peeping the ceremonies on the adjacent Salem Common or jumping up to catch a glimpse of the dance floor through the windows.  If we ever find a way inside, don’t miss our “wedding crashers” post!  Most years we do make it inside for the annual Halloween Costume Ball, which takes over just about every public space in the hotel.  We’ve all made it up on stage as finalists for the costume contest, and Jen and Matt were even part of the winning group last year.  As for dining, the Tavern at the Hawthorne is one of Jaime’s and my favorite locals.  It’s a great place to grab a drink or a quick lunch or dinner because it’s so close, rarely overcrowded, and has a nice, comfortable atmosphere.

We met up at dinner instead of taking the train, which made sense for this outing since the Hawthorne is a short drive or walk for all of us, and we were fitting this in after work.  For our typical outings we’ll be riding the train together, and we’ll be sure to share all of our unique experiences riding the rail.  I actually have the pleasure – and pain – of using the train to get to work every day.  Between the commuter rail, subway and a bus, I am already all too familiar with what you might experience on the MBTA.  On St. Patty’s, I had one of my more memorable train rides home.  You’ll have to wait for the spin-off blog – but if you spot a messenger bag clip stuck in a heating grate, please comment!  Everyone else made their way to the Tavern without incident.  Jennie, surprisingly caught without any green to wear, was fortunate enough to find a brand-new green cardigan waiting for her as she headed out the door – as she put it, “the UPS man delivered!” 

We love to scope out the best seats wherever we go, and inevitably we end up in the wrong spot.  The Tavern has some cozy, fireside tables and others with comfy club chairs, but of course we didn’t end up with any of these.  Jen and Matt witnessed a bit of drama between employees before being seated, so it seemed best to just stay put.  Once we were all settled in, we had a fun dinner of telling stories and people watching.  The best was the couple who literally tried out three different seats before picking the best one in the house.  Maybe we could have taken our pick after all!

The food:  The Tavern at the Hawthorne had a special St. Patty’s Day menu, and Jaime and I both had the Emerald Salad, which included smoked salmon, greens, cauliflower, dressing and toasted capers.  I was looking for something a little lighter, and this was a great choice.  The toasted capers were new to me, and were the highlight of the meal.  This was a nice changeup from my usuals at the Tavern – burgers, fish ‘n’ chips and onion soup.

Now to Jennie and Matt for some of their thoughts:

Jennie

The Tavern is a bit tired, but the perfect retreat for chilly, snowy evenings or holidays when any other place in Salem will be too crowded to attempt. This evening the crowd was a bit older (do you notice a trend) and the energy was a little low.  Surprise, surprise I had the Mesclun Green Salad which has dried cranberries, spiced pecans, bleu cheese, tomatoes, croutons and a Champagne vinaigrette. It was pretty run of the mill.  For vegetarian options, they also have a yummy Goat Cheese and Red Pepper Ravioli that I have also tried before. This week’s special is a hummus, watercress, tomatoes, feta cheese and olive tapenade wheat wrap. It appears they are always cognizant of vegetarian options, which is hard to find. We went splitsville on dessert and it was delish! We had what I would call “deconstructed cupcakes,” with do-it-yourself frosting and warm chocolate ganache, in undoubtedly the cutest cup I’ve ever seen. We also shared a warm gingerbread ice cream sandwich with mint ice cream that definitely remedied the post-salad blues.

Matt

It being St Patrick’s, I wanted to change it up a little…so I started with the Caesar salad.  It was your typical Caesar.  Next up was the roasted half chicken.  It was a pretty big portion, and was served with mashed potato and broccoli. It was all good but the chicken could have been a tad less dry. After all that and a couple Guinness I had no room for dessert, so it was just coffee for me.

All-in-all a successful Choo-Chew outing to a local favorite.  Coming up soon Jennie and Matt will share their thoughts on changes at another local favorite, and Jaime and I will tell you about packing our bags and heading in to Boston for an action-packed, full-day trip to the big city.

Over 50? Hale No!

We decided to keep it local for our first Choo-Chew endeavor. The game plan? Jaime and Andy would board the train in Salem @ 5:59PM – North bound on the Rockport line.  Jennie and I would hop on in Beverly @ 6:03 – full steam ahead towards Beverly Farms.  Our agenda tonight – dinner at Hale St. Tavern and a nightcap at Cygnet. (There is a 10:25 train back inbound that worked out perfectly!)

Hale St. is part of the Serenitee Restaurant Group that includes 15 Walnut (a fave!), Cala's, Latitude 43, Backstage Bistro and Alchemy. We have been to most of them repeatedly, so we were excited to try Hale St.


Because it was our first night out as Choo-Chew Diners, we had to start at the Beverly Depot – as this is our home field train stop. So we arrived at the Depot early enough to get a pre-train drink at the bar. 

Service at the Depot is always consistent and friendly, not to mention the complimentary cheese and crackers are the perfect compliment. "Who would wait for a train out in the cold when wine and cheese are a few steps away?" –Jennie

When we arrive in Beverly Farms, we walk to Hale Street which is about a three minute walk from the station.  It’s a very small downtown area with some nice local shops including Glee, J. McLaughlin, The Book Shop and Vidalias.  It's somewhat of a ghost town by now, but we are glad we took the train, because even though most of the shops are closed by 6pm, parking is extremely limited. The Hale St. and Cygnet goers take up most of the street parking.

We get to Hale Street and the place is packed.  The hostess informs us of a 30 to 45 minute wait. Seeing how we have about 4 hours until we need to be back on the train, this shouldn’t be a problem.  We decided to try Cygnet for a drink while we waited for our table. The dining room is very busy and the bar is packed. The layout makes it a bit difficult to just grab a drink, but we manage to nab the corner and make the most of it. We were definitely in the minority – as most of the people here are "baby boomers."  Jaime and Jennie ordered a couple martinis. Jaime thought she would settle right in with the regulars and had an "Over 50" and Jennie had a Flirtini.  I had a Harpoon IPA which is always a safe choice for me, but I wish they had a better selection of craft beers.

We leave to go back to Hale St. as it has been about a half hour and proceed to wait about another 45 minutes until our table is actually ready. The Almost Famous Soundtrack helped pass the time – songs were 2 for $1! This also helped distract us from the two little brats children that were throwing Jenga pieces at the wall for twenty minutes, while their parents acted like they didn’t know them. Flying Jenga called for more drinks. They had a pretty good beer selection.

Ok, now let’s eat.  I start with the Caesar salad, always.  If the restaurant has one on the menu I’m getting it.  They have two sizes; I get the half size, and it was a good portion for a starter.  It has lots of finely shredded cheese on top and a whole bunch of garlicky croutons.  The dressing was ok but was a bit thicker than I really like and lacked a little zip to it. 

Next course – Angus Steak Tips in a chipotle BBQ Sauce – yum.  Asked for them medium and got them medium.  There is nothing that bothers me more than getting meat not cooked the way I want.  These were cooked perfectly and were so tender; the texture was that of filet mignon so it was hard to believe they were the steak tips.  The sauce was this perfect balance of spicy heat from the chipotle and sweetness from the brown sugar, I could literally put it on everything.  The smashed potatoes were chunky and creamy at the same time and you could tell they used lots of good butter and cream to give them that kind of sweet flavor.  Even the vegetable medley of sliced carrots, zucchini and summer squash, that are usually something I could take or leave, were missing from my plate when I was done.  No dessert for me, just coffee, something you’ll see I do all the time because I stuff myself early.

All in all the food was delicious. Service was friendly and we would definitely go back.


Here's what Jaime, Jennie and Andy have to say!


Jaime –
As the seafood lover of the group I felt slightly compelled to try something off the Hale Street sushi menu.  I owed it to the group in order to round out our first Choo-Chew review.


I ordered the sushi special which was a tuna roll with avocado with the added bonus of salmon sashimi draped on top of the roll - perfect cherry on top.  The roll (8 pieces) was drizzled with a pineapple sauce which added a tangy/sweet taste to the dish.   Overall the sushi was very fresh and there was a decent selection on the menu.  Nothing too exotic, but creative combinations and tasty looking variations on all of the favorites.   Some rolls even have North Shore themed names - the Beverly Farms, the Glousta, the Hot Girl.....







While I was super excited to see the sushi and oyster bar options on this otherwise "comfort food" type menu, I have to admit, this did not make the decision-making process an easy endeavor (I have entree commitment issues).  I would have ordered and adored about 95% of the menu.  While I greatly enjoyed the maki, I'm not going to lie, I had my eye on Andy's BBQ plate across the table and gently suggested that I would be willing to try some if need be. 

The atmosphere was lively, fun, and comfortable.  There was a great big communal table in the middle of the restaurant that is a must for me next time I'm there – and I'll definitely be back – I need to work my way through that menu.

Jennie –

I had to try the Grilled Cheese Dipper – for the name alone. It was good, nothing special. It came with a small, chilled tomato soup dipper, which was a bit bland. The fries were delish however! I ordered the Strawberry Banana something-or-other special for dessert. All you have to say is bananas, and I'm getting it!

Overall, we had a great time and would definitely go back. (I actually had gone a few days before and had a great time. I ordered the Hale Street Salad - mesclun greens, avocado, candied walnuts, blue cheese, apples and cider vinegar - which was delish!)

Andy –

I have a hard time passing up southern bbq food, especially ribs and corn bread.  So on this night, my only choice was between the Pulled Pork Dinner and the Hale St. BBQ Plate.  And really, why would I get just pulled pork if I could supplement it with chicken and steak?  The plate also included jalapeño corn bread, baked beans and braised collard greens.  The pulled pork and chicken were excellent and cooked perfectly; the steak was good although undercooked (medium-rare instead of medium-well); Jaime, Matt and I all agreed how good the barbecue sauce was; I really enjoyed the collard greens, which I don’t think I’d had before; and the hefty, moist piece of jalapeño corn bread was delicious.  As I write this I’m finishing off the corner of it that I brought home.

Based on food alone, I would definitely go back to Hale St. Tavern; there was a lot on the menu I'd still love to try, especially the sushi.  With the size of my plate, I didn't have a chance to try any of Jaime's!

4 Distinct Diners

So our group does have some issues that appear to make us not the ideal reviewers.


I’m your traditionalist. By that I mean boring. Meat and potatoes – that’s pretty much all I’ll eat.


Jennie is a vegetarian, no meat or seafood. She is also allergic to wine, but that doesn’t stop her!


Besides having a food allergy, Jaime has a broad palette. This does, however, often lead to indecisiveness and she inevitably ends up with either Entrée Envy or Orderer’s Remorse.


And Andy, well I think Andy eats everything – including a strong fondness towards duck.


To sum it up – some of our tastes are limiting, but we all have something in common – we love to go out to eat.  So you will find that collectively we can paste together a great review!


Stay tuned for our first review when we travel to Beverly Farms!


Cheers!
Matt

All aboard!

I’m truly surprised we didn’t think of this sooner.


We were out one night enjoying dinner at The Buttery in the South End. We were stalling by ordering one more round of drinks…then coffee…and then of course dessert – just dreading having to drive back home to the North Shore.

We should have taken the train – and why not – the four of us live within walking distance to two MBTA Commuter Rail stops. We have often taken the train into Boston to avoid dealing with both non-existent parking and pulling the short straw for driving duty. There is just something novel about formulating an evening based around accessibility and train times. And at 30 years old, I don’t know why I still think it is ingenious to meet up with friends on the train.


Well that’s when “Choo-Chew” was born - a blog about reviewing restaurants accessible by train! (This did lead to many train/restaurant puns, which were much funnier at the time.)


We are looking forward to broadening our scope and exploring new restaurants (and old faves) in and around the North Shore, South Shore *wince* & Boston.


Spring has sprung (almost!) and we can’t wait to put away our parkas and stretch our legs! The summer will lend itself not only to restaurants a bit further beyond train stops, as walking is much more enjoyable in 75 degree weather, but we can’t wait to add “The Ferry” to our public transportation line-up. We are hoping in the fall to take the train up to Portland for leaf peeping and all food “pumpkin.” And not to wish the year away, but we can’t wait to give “Snow-Train” a try on the first blizzardy evening. Mark your calendar – this is one multiple-stop night you won’t want to miss!


For those of you living in Boston, we hope our reviews will get you to not only try new places next door, but allow you to explore beyond the city limits – even without a car. For our friends and family on the North Shore – going beyond the North Shore Mall shouldn’t be scary! Gone are the days of packing up the wagon and “heading into town.” A short trip on the train brings endless possibilities to the familiar weekend topic of “what should we do tonight?”


Guest diners are a must – for new angles and refreshed conversations – so let us know if you want to hop on.


Cheers & hope you enjoy the ride!
The Choo-Chew Diners