Modern Pastry...Yum!!!!!

After an average lunch in the North End of Boston, we stood in line to get into Modern Pastry. This is a Boston institution that's been around for over 70 years. I've been wanting to see what all the buzz was about and this was my chance. I'd heard about their sfagliatelle and their torrone from a few places. Well, my husband and I, after standing in line for about 20 minutes, walked out of there with one torrone, one sfagliatelle, one piece of carrot cake, one piece of tiramisu, one red velvet cupcake, one whoopie pie, one black and white cookie (moon pie) and one gigantic peanut butter cup.

So far, the sfagliatelle, the torrone, the red velvet cupcake and the whoopie pie are all DELICIOUS! Sfagliatelle is this yummy lemon custard surrounded by an amazing concoction of endless layers of paper thin dough...almost like filo. So unusual and delicious.

The first thing I noticed is that their red velvet cupcake is very big. The cream cheese frosting is spot on and the cake is light and moist and everything you want in a cupcake.

The torrone was a surprise to me. Honestly, I didn't think I would like it. I thought it would be hard and gummy, but it's soft and chewy like nougat. It's loaded with almonds and surrounded by chocolate. They come in many flavors, but I got a simple vanilla one with almonds and chocolate. I'll get that again; so sweet and so fabulous!

And I have to admit, they did the whoopie pie proud. The filling is spot on for a perfect whoopie pie....not whipped cream, but the thick, sweet frosting made from shortening that I love. The cake was a little dry, though.

I have more to taste tomorrow so stay tuned!

http://www.modernpastry.com/

Piccola Venezia Boston...just so so....

My husband and I ventured in to Boston's North End this afternoon for a lunch date. We wandered down Hanover Street until we found a place that wasn't expensive, but looked decent. This was Piccola Venezia. The prices were unbeatable with entrees running about $9.00. We started with arancini which were advertised as rice balls with meat and fontina cheese. They were okay. The portions were generous, but they were kind of bland. The crispy coating was too hard for my liking although my husband liked it. The fontina was good, but the meat tasted like nothing really.

My husband had a cappuccino that he really liked. The steamed milk was billowing over the top of the cup like a marshmallow and it had sugar and cocoa sprinkled on top.

For lunch I ordered the gnocchi with meat sauce while my husband had chicken marsala. The portions were huge, but the food was, well, average. The chicken was a little overcooked and the whole plate of marsala with spaghetti was pretty gray. My gnocchi was about as good as you can get from the frozen food department at the grocery store and the sauce was pretty basic. Maybe just a little step about Ragu.

Despite all that, we were very happy. Our location was perfect for people watching because they put us right in the window seat. The day was beautiful and we were happy to be out and about in Boston.

Do I recommend this restaurant for a great meal; absolutely not. Do I recommend this restaurant for anything at all; probably not. But we were looking for a reasonably priced lunch in the North End and we got it.

Visit them at:  http://www.piccolaveneziaboston.com/