World Cup and Burritos

 I'm not a sports person and that's the truth. Only when Bangladesh  In my 4 years of Boston, it was only in my 3rd year I really knew what the superbowl was only because I was in transit and it was showing Red Hot Chilli Peppers' Superbowl performance and it drew my attention.

However- I am Bangali and that means I am inherently bound to be super excited when the Football World Cup comes around every 4 years. I watch much of the games ( a little screen open during work) and suddenly google the hell out of the players and join in on the online banter.

This is the first time I'm in the US during the cup and so I thought it befitting to watch the game at a proper sports bar.

Phoenix Landing in Central Square Cambridge was known to be one of the top spots. I was greeted by a long queue and a flautist playing various patriotic songs for the US at the door.

And What a beginning to a game, USA scored a goal in the first minute. however the dark pub with its overcrowded audience was too loud for my sensitive ears to handle- plus I was hungry and didnt want to wait forever for a table. So me and my football enthusiast (Bangali of course) friend Shumi went hunting for a better place to watch in peace. We stopped by the Middle East for a few minutes before coming to the conclusion the dingy layout and slow service was annoying us. Thanks to yelp, (yes yes yes, still using yelp) we read the a small Mexican place was also showing the games down the street. AND FINALLY we found bliss.

This little Mexican place had two small screens, a few tables and plenty of space to breath.

Beantown Taqueria - Mexican Soul Food www.beantowntaqueria.com/

So we sat with our orders to have a grand time. 

Shumi ordered a fish sandwhich and I ordered a burrito bowl (bhaat for the Bangal) and it was delicious.

The end of the match was so incredible, Ghana scoring and USA retaliating in a split second. But the funnest part was watching the game in Spanish! The commentators' regular tone of voice is as excited as a regular one's super excitement at a goal or something. AND when there's a goal, forget about it- the sheer intonations and movement of the voices were to be admired. I have actually started watching all the games in Spanish for this reason. Brilliant voice work!! 

I thought it was very sweet when the immigrant staff like myself watched the game in hope, waiting for US to score- and his joy when his newfound home country won was priceless. You have to hand it to America , even the Bangali in me feels like this place is my home. 

Okay homies, one more thing, my campaign to raise money for my first ever English album is one, so PLEASE check it out/share/contribute/send me feedback. Anything is appreciated!!

Trattoria il Panino - North end'a best

The North End. One of my favourite areas in Boston, you instantly feel like you're in Italy with the narrow lanes and Roman Catholic Churches and architecture. generations of Italians have lived and worked here.

The restaurants in this area are a mix of mom and pop dark dining to fancy Italian places. I haven't explored a lot, but since Zj is visiting and she had a craving for ravioli so it only seemed right to bring her here (plus we had the harbour to visit.)

After walking around The area we went searching for the right restaurant: needed to find something under $20 but good and had ravioli on the menu. And after some search we found it. I rarely go into restaurants without doing a ton of research, but ever since ness pulled out (yes I'm still upset about it) haven't had a lot of choice.

And boy was this the right choice. We ordered lobster ravioli in creamy sauce and ricotta ravioli in tomato sauce.

Those of you who know my taste buds, I'm not huge on tomato sauces, they usually taste generic and bland. Ummm, this was the opposite, SO AMAZING. 

The ricotta was fresh, BUT THE SAUCE. oh gosh I want to go back!

The lobster ravioli was super as well, creamy and rich ! 

The portions were huge! I loved the presentation- I love eating out of pans!

Me and Zj devoured as much as we could and had some ravioli left over 

This has been one of my favourite meals ever! Must try for anyone in Boston! (Except my friend Nusha who lives in Italy and refuses to eat Italian food anymore )

Haru Boston

end Zj is in town!! While hubby is work shopping at Harvard, we went around giggling around the city. Lunch was at Haru, I wanted to show her American sushi!

Here are some shots of my two rolls. The rolls were pretty good, price was average, however my main put off was the spicy mayo- it was tomato ketchup mayoish - no spice.

They did give us the sauces for free and our service was good (a teensy slowish) and warm.

We had the spicy tuna covered in salmon and jalapeño (good)and another full fried roll (so so)

Overall I guve it 3.5/5 for service and location and freshness of fish.

Xinh Xinh cafe

So this place gets the highest rating on yelp for Pho (yes ever since Ness got shut down after OpenTable bought it out, I've had to resort to yelp) so I thought id try it out.

So my new roommate and I grabbed a bite and it was pretty good.

The rolls were fresh and the broth was good.

Overall if you're in Chinatown and want Pho you can hop in. However it's not as good as Le's in Alston. I give it a 3.5/5