Tag Archives: Cambridge eats

Brunch: Craigie on Main

Do you remember many moons ago, I mentioned my Dukedom at Craigie on Main? Well, since then I’ve felt it my personal goal to hang onto my title. Woe is me, I have such a hard life spending quality time eating the most delicious food.

Well you’ll also remember a few moons after those many moons, I mentioned my love for brunch. As it turns out, Craigie has a pretty sweet brunch situation on its hands and as many Sundays as we can, Mr. E and I drive down to Cambridge to grab either the corner table in the dining room or the furthest seats at the bar just for that brunch.

I don’t think I can say enough nice things about Tony Maws and the entire Craigie family, so from this point on, I will let the photos do the talking.

Sitting barside

Ted making the most refreshing OJ

Slicing some fresh oranges to make dehydrated port soaked orange slices as a drink garnish (thanks for education Ted and Zach!)

Grilled Pineapple with a hint of curry undertones

Country Style Organic Whole Wheat Pancakes with warm port-soaked compote and maple syrup

Grass-Fed & House-Brined Corned Beef Cheek & Smoked Beef Tongue Hash topped with a slow-poached farm-fresh egg and crispy onion rings

House-made Doughnut with Confiture du Lait

Poached Pear, Organic Yogurt, and Pomegranate Seeds

Mesclun Salad topped with a slow-poached farm-fresh egg and crispy onion rings

House-Smoked Scottish Salmon & Mackerel Rillettes served with a bagel and traditional accompaniments (these fish change from week to week)

I’d tell you all to go, just make sure you steer clear of those barseats if you see me coming!

Craigie on Main
853 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 497-5511

Veggie Galaxy

If you don’t understand brunch, then I don’t understand you. Brunch is my favorite. First of all, the word ‘brunch’ is a portmanteau (an amalgamation of two words). I’m no linguist, but I tend to make my own portmanteaus when I get excited, so I’m mad someone clever came up with this before I could be born and beat him to the punch. And second, it gives you a chance to eat breakfast at 2 in the afternoon. Hallelujah!

Earlier today, I was driving around Central Square when Veggie Galaxy piqued Mr. E’s interest. We’ve passed by this place many times before and today was the day we stopped to check it out.

The outside, which looks similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disney, is deceptively small. Once you walk through its doors, Veggie Galaxy surprises you with a very open diner. To your immediate right, there is the bakery, where you can order a wide variety of vegan treats and be on your way. The kitchen, which is open spans most of the right wall. The sounds of flat tops sizzling and the comforting, familiar smells of sweet and savory breakfast items fill the air. There is a counter to watch the action, high diner booths, low diner booths, and smaller two person tables in the back.

Mr. E and I nestled into a two person table and were greeted by our waitress Jess, who helped open Veggie Galaxy back in September. After admitting it was our first time there, she let us know we were in for a treat. Jess, from the west coast and spoiled by the vegan/vegetarian focused eateries out in Seattle, was a huge proponent for better vegan/vegetarian eating in Boston. Though not a vegan or vegetarian myself, I have to admit the choices are pretty slim if you’re looking for a lot of variety. She said she was very happy with her work and I truly believe happier people working give you, the diner a much more pleasant dining experience.

After placing our order, there must have been some mix up in the kitchen. We’d been waiting for a while and before I knew it Jess was back at our table profusely apologizing and offering free vegan treats from the bakery.

Banana Nut Muffin and Taza Chocolate Chip Cookie

Enter the banana nut muffin and the chocolate chip cookie. The bakery proudly boasts all vegan baked items. I love butter, milk, and eggs. Absence of the trinity of baking makes me pretty darn skeptical. The muffin had a very nice texture and was topped with crunchy banana chips and lots of sugar. The top was great, but the taste of the muffin left something to be desired. The cookie could have fooled me. It was crispy, the way I love my chocolate chip cookies, and the chocolate itself could have passed for the real thing.

Poached egg plate and pancakes with banana butter

Two eggs over easy, hash browns, and marble rye toast

Moments later our meals emerged victorious from the kitchen — hot plates of eggs, toast, and hash browns and a side of the pancakes. I love eggs. I could never be a vegan because of this. I use eggs to dredge, bake, eat in every form at breakfast… and the list goes on and on. My favorite way to eat eggs is over easy with lightly buttered rye toast to dip in the runny yolk. Then, whatever yolk remains on the plate, I wish wash my hash browns through to add some additional moisture and richness to the crispy potatoes. A pleasant addition was VG’s housemade hot sauce, which packed nice acrid heat to cut through some of the heaviness of the yolk.

I had a bite of Mr. E’s pancakes, which were a touch soft for my liking. I like chewing things. I don’t need to show off how I can masticate like a cow, but I need some more texture. The flavor was nice, but the best part of the pancakes was the banana butter. Oh sweet lord, was that delicious.

If you’re in the area and don’t feel like spending a lot of dough, give this place a try. Maybe you’ll even see me, since I know I’ll be back.

Veggie Galaxy
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 497-1513

Dukedom – Craigie on Main

I’m exposing myself in public. No, not in the creepy way that some crazies do on the T.

I cited my slight obsessive behavior in my previous post. Well, you can put a strike through the word slight.

I am writing about Craigie on Main. Again.

It’s not really my fault. Mr. E came home from Los Angeles on Friday and he requested to go to Craigie to qualify our luck for a pair of bar seats. I checked in on Yelp as soon as I ordered my Pretty Things Baby Tree and was surprised with this beaut.

Obsessed. Tony Maws, I promise I’m not stalking your life.

This Yelp reward was the first of many positives for me that night. The second was the delightfully short wait to grab two seats at the end of the bar. I was told it was going to be a long one, which is exactly what I expected with no reservation on a Friday at 6:45. However, after only 20 or so minutes, I was ushered to two seats at the end of the bar. It was as if the heavens opened up and the warm, glittering beams shone down on those two seats.

I introduced myself to my bartender, Jared, and motioned a hello to Ted, who I believe is also the Bar Manager. Ted is the dapper gentlemen with the sweetest ‘stache. Most ladies may disagree with me, but you don’t turn down a drink from a man with a good and proper mustache.

The next words out of Jared’s mouth set my heart ablaze — “we have a few burgers left tonight.” It’s estimated that Chef Maws turns out only 20 burgers a night due to his meat supplier’s quantity restrictions. It’s an off the menu dish that is word of mouth at the bar only. If there’s one thing I took away from business school, it’s a good understanding of supply and demand. If this meat supplier from Hardwick is going to limit the supply on grass-fed beef, then eff yeah, there is going to be sky high demand for a celebrated chef’s 6 month concocted burger that’s spearheading a secret society.

So the next question is obviously did I get the burger? And my answer – do birds fly?

Amuse Bouche – Crispy Fried Pig Ear & Local Beets dressed in a Miso Mustard Vinaigrette || Burger Accoutrements – House Made Ketchup, Red Wine Pickles, and Slaw

This burger is beefy. Ingredient list includes the likes of brisket, flap steak, short rib, suet and marrow. Then it’s hit with some dry miso to give it that extra punch. If that wasn’t enough, Maws cooks this bad boy with a C-vap (controlled vapor) oven. This cooking method literally surrounds food with the moisture in the form of vapor, which aids in stabilizing the amount of moisture in the food — or in laymen’s terms, if the goal is to keep the burger juicy, then mission accomplished. It’s given a quick char and served, in my case, under a stack of bacon.

The meal could not have been more perfect to bask in my Yelp Royalness. But I was wrong! Jared whipped together the neatest mocktail. It was very heavy on the citrus, which I really love. Refreshing drinks are best. Then, it had a tickle of heat from this Thai chili syrup. The heat was so slight, that you kept sipping trying to figure out what it was. Before Mr. E and I made our exit, we requested the recipe for this drink so we could have it again.

If you’re thinking that’s not being dedicated, then I’ll fill you in on a little secret. I came back here with Mr. E Sunday morning for brunch. Come at me, bro.

As it turns midnight now, I’ll have to save that post for another day.

Signing off –
Duchess of COM

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