quinoa

BY CHLOE: Vegan to the Extreme

Published on April 10, 2017April 10, 2017 by The Crimson CraveLeave a comment

By Joseph Winters ’20

March 8^th was a sunny day in the Cambridge area. Winds had diminished to just a billowing, and it had warmed up significantly since the frigid weekend. The day before, I had taken not one, not two, but three midterms, back-to-back-to-back.

I felt like vegging out, in the best way possible: with actual veggies.

Luckily for me, a fast-casual New York chain of vegan restaurants called By CHLOE. had just opened on February 23 in the Boston Seaport. A quick Maps search revealed it was a little over four miles away by foot: the perfect distance for a morning jog. I checked out what all the hype was about during lunch that day.

In the diverse world of vegan cuisine, there seem to be two prominent ideologies: one that categorically rejects faux meats and dairy-free “cheeze” products, and one that wholeheartedly adopts them. By CHLOE. is definitely the former, I discovered after examining their extensive menu, boasting lots of “traditional” fast food favorites done without any animal products. They have Mac N’ Cheese, for example, a Classic Burger, or Kale Caesar Salad. The mac n’ cheese has a sweet potato cashew sauce and shiitake bacon, the caesar salad is flavored with almond parmesan, and the burger features a tempeh-lentil-chia-walnut patty. In the to-go display case, they have things like vegan Southwestern Quinoa, Raw Vanilla Bean Chia Pudding, and Matcha Kelp Noodles with cashew cream sauce.

The restaurant’s atmosphere is about as hip as its menu. When I walked in, two friends were lounging around on wiry hanging chairs, and other people dug into salads while sitting around a communal-style table in the middle of the dining area. And since it was lunchtime when I arrived, there was already a substantial line forming behind the pick-up counter. Thankfully, this gave me some time to deliberate over the menu.

Based on an enthusiastic recommendation from the cashier, I ordered the Quinoa Taco bowl (“It’s life-changing,” she had insisted) with a side of Mac N’ Cheese. My food was ready within a few minutes, and I loaded up a couple of dip containers with Beetroot Ketchup and aioli.

“Life-changing” may be an overstatement, but the bowl really was delicious. It was basically a bunch of lettuce with a heaping ball of limey quinoa on top of it, surrounded by little mounds of avocado, tortilla strips, tomatoes, and “chorizo” made from a wheat-based meat alternative called seitan, and then slathered with a mysterious “crèma”. At $12, it was a little pricey, but the serving size was really generous. I left full and very happy. The Mac N’ Cheese was also delicious, although I’ll admit not quite like the real thing. It lacked something—creaminess, maybe?

By CHLOE. is opening a Fenway location sometime soon, and I predict I’ll be a frequent visitor. The cashier who served me told me, talking about the Quinoa Taco Salad, “It’s like, how can this be vegan?!” I think that’s a good way to describe by CHLOE.: it tries to recreate the fast-food experience in a healthier way. With places like b.Good and Clover gaining popularity in recent years, this seems to be a popular trend. It’s about balancing convenience with health. And I am a big fan of the way by CHLOE. tries to accomplish this.

Juliet: A New Love Story

Published on November 15, 2016November 15, 2016 by The Crimson CraveLeave a comment

By Joseph Winters ’20

“One thing is guaranteed: this will be energetic, personal cooking that’s truly one of a kind,” wrote Bon Appétit this year in the magazine’s roundup of the fifty best new restaurants in the United States. Also featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, Travel + Leisure, and Food and Wine Magazine, Juliet, the eight-month-old Somerville restaurant, has made quite a loud entry into the Boston area food scene. Juliet won the Improper Bostonian’s Best Breakfast award earlier this year, and the restaurant is currently one of five nominees for Eater’s Best Restaurant 2016 award. I got to stop by for breakfast this week and see it for myself.

Juliet is right in the heart of Union Square in Somerville, in what seems like a foodie hotspot. Nearby is the famous Union Square Donuts, which sells its donuts every Tuesday at the Harvard Science Center Plaza Farmers Market; Bronwyn, a specialty beer garden; the upscale Bergamot; and others.

Juliet’s interior is minimalist, with some modern decor and a very airy feel—you can watch the cooks preparing your food from either the main seating tables or the bar. Standing behind a glass case where there were a few pastries was the hostess, Joanna. She welcomed me to Juliet and suggested a few breakfast options. I scanned the a la carte menu that was printed and posted to the wall: toasts with different toppings, egg sandwiches, yogurt bowls. Not a huge selection, but varied. I chose a quinoa bowl and toast with cured salmon, tamarind, and yogurt, paying at the counter with a Square transaction—sort of unexpected in such an up-and-coming restaurant. The price, however, was not unexpected: $16 for a relatively small portion of quinoa and a piece of toast (it did have cured salmon on it, though).

As I learned later, though, there was much more to this pricing model than was immediately apparent. Although I didn’t get to speak with co-owner Katrina Jazayeri, her vision for Juliet includes not only great food but great social justice. In fact, she studied health care inequalities and got a degree in social justice from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2011. Her background has made her look beyond food at some of the overlooked parts of the restaurant industry. The reason my transaction was a little more expensive than usual, and the reason I did it at the front counter through Square, was that tipping isn’t allowed at Juliet. Gratuity is automatically included in all the set prices, and a calculated amount of “tips” is distributed equally amongst both the hosts and the kitchen staff. This, to me, was an innovative business model, and it probably played a large part in Jazayeri winning the 2016 Eater Young Guns—a national award “recognizing individuals setting themselves apart early in their careers.”

I sat with my bowl of breakfast quinoa at a counter facing the street. The quinoa, dotted with chunks of squash and carrot, was perfectly moist. Some crisped rice-like addition gave it texture, and a soft-boiled egg oozed into the grains. The toast was delicious, as well—homemade bread sliced thick and slathered with yogurt, then heaped generously with cured salmon and a schmear of tamarind paste and what looked like a sprinkling of dill. I savored every bite. Not at all a traditional breakfast, but that wasn’t was I was looking for. I wanted something interesting and unconventional, something I would never think to make at home, and that’s exactly what I got.

I just had breakfast, but Juliet serves lunch and dinner, as well as a special weekend brunch. The lunch options are mostly sandwiches and soups, but dinner gets very interesting. They have an a la carte menu for a more walk-in style dinner, or they have their prix fixe dinner available in four different seating, either with three courses ($60) or five courses ($83). Menu items featured on the prix fixe menu include things like endive salad with treviso condiment, roast freedom ranger chicks with fennel and chili jus, and tarte tartin.

The variability of Juliet was really interesting to me. As Joanna put it, this is a part of their role in the community: by offering a variety of price points, they are able to be an accessible option for more people. In practice, I don’t know how much this has yielded the desired result, but it’s certainly a great idea.

I left Juliet very happy to have enjoyed an amazing breakfast, and excited to be back for an a la carte lunch or dinner—I’m not sure about the prix fixe dinner (it’s certainly outside of my price range!), but maybe when my parents visit…

B.good returns to Harvard Square

Published on October 17, 2016October 24, 2016 by The Crimson CraveLeave a comment

By Joseph Winters ‘20

On March 29, 2016, Harvard Square suffered a great loss. Students, faculty, and all manner of health-minded individuals mourned the closing of one of the most convenient farm-to-table fast food places around. Not that there were many to begin with… Either way, B.good’s closing was a blow to the food scene of Harvard Square. This Friday, however, B.good reopened with a bang on Eliot Street, in what eaters are describing as a much-needed addition to Harvard’s healthy food scene. “There just wasn’t hardly any place healthy to eat in the Square!” lamented one B.good customer as she devoured a scoop of lime-soaked quinoa.

Monika Bach Schroeder, Marketing Manager for Harvard Square B.good

The Crimson Crave visited B.good on its opening day, Friday, to survey the situation. We were greeted by Monika Bach Schroeder, Marketing Manager for the Harvard Square location. Schroeder was supervising a Wheel-of-Fortune style promotion—spin the wheel and walk away with some B.good sunglasses, a high-five, or, with some luck, a free burger. We were lucky enough to get the burger.

“We make real food,” the B.good website advertises boldly on its home page. A simple slogan, but it speaks volumes when seen in conjunction with the tangible measures B.good has taken to produce high quality fast food options. Customers can order classic items like burgers or sandwiches, but B.good also offers kale and grain bowls, seasonal salads, creative sides, and smoothies.

New additions to the B.good menu are “Plates”: Chipotle Avocado, Mediterranean Mezze, and Asian Bento. “We’re really proud of our new plates,” says Schroeder. “They speak a lot to our mission of staying innovative and fresh; we use seasonal ingredients to offer healthy food options.”

Apart from good food, Schroeder adds that the B.good team is “really excited about this community.” Harvard, she says, is a very engaged community, one into which B.good tries to integrate itself. On the day preceding the former B.good’s closing, they held a “pay what you can” day. All the day’s profits were donated to Y2Y, a homeless youth shelter in Cambridge. Upon their reopening, they held a similar project, raising $1700 for Y2Y, enough to provide over a full month of programming to the homeless shelter.

Local farmers are also beneficiaries. B.good sources many of its ingredients from farms in the Northeast. When we visited, a colorful map showed apples, cauliflower, squash, fresh mint, pumpkin, tomatoes, and yogurt all coming from Massachusetts, and many other ingredients like beef, bread, eggs, and bacon being sourced from the other northeastern states.

At the door this Friday, customers were greeted by Casey Ballin from Hannah Farm, a one acre plot of land on an island in Boston Harbor. Now managed by B.good, the farm benefits the local community, producing food for Camp Harbor View summer camp for at-risk youth. At the camp, teens learn to prepare healthy meals from local ingredients. Up to 20,000 pounds of produce are expected to be produced by Hannah Farm, with a majority being donated to the summer camp, and much being featured in B.good restaurants. “We did a feature a couple weeks ago, where we sold kale smoothies made with our own kale,” Ballin explained as he handed out samples of carrots and grape tomatoes from Hannah Farm.

This Friday was the first of many meals I’m sure I’ll be having at B.good. The chain brings its fresh dishes to the Square along with a fresh ideology, one that incorporates sustainability, local commerce, and—of course—delicious food. On the short walk to my seat, I ogled picnic pear and brie salads, Thai almond bowls, sweet potato fries, and even pumpkin milkshakes. I tried the Spicy Lime Avocado Bowl with their seasonal side: local cauliflower coated in cheddar and breadcrumbs. I might have over-ordered, but it was oh, so good. Plus, the side was free; first-time users of the B.good app will automatically get a side on the house! I would easily recommend B.good to anyone looking for a tasty, healthy morsel without the wait at a sit-down restaurant.

Plating Food in Annenberg

Published on November 3, 2015 by The Crimson CraveLeave a comment

by Emily Brother ’19

Inspired by the instagram chef, Jacques La Merde, who mimicked the plating techniques of haute cuisine using junk food, I attempted to create my own gourmet-looking dishes using the food from Annenberg. Here are a few of the plates that I made:

Vegetarian Frittata Garnished with Carrots, Greens, and Tabasco Sauce

2. Sausage Links with Quinoa Raising & Black Bean Salad and Barbeque Sauce

3. Vegetarian Chili with Lettuce, Green Pepper Sauce, and Dijon Mustard

4. Pound Cake with Yogurt and Red Wine Vinaigrette

5. Chicken Bake with Lima Beans and Ketchup

6. Carrots, Cucumber, and Corn with Balsamic Vinegar

Granola and Yogurt with Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly

8. Herb Roasted Chicken with Penne Pasta and Puttanesca Sauce

Life Alive: Organic, Friendly, and Fresh

Published on October 19, 2014 by The Crimson CraveLeave a comment

By Katja Lierhaus ’16

It’s 7:30pm on a Thursday,and there is already a line out the door. Located on a street corner in Central Square, Life Alive might not seem like it would be a popular offering, since it serves what some people consider “hippie food,” but meat-lovers and vegetarians alike flock to feast at this laid-back and humble food joint.

The moment you enter the comfortable yet quirky space, you can’t help but feel relaxed. As their menu reads, you truly cross into a “world of delicious, organic, and therapeutic food, created with love to feed your vitality.”The food here is meant to heal, nurture, and strengthen the body. Everything is fresh and wholesome, but also incredibly delicious. With options for omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, raw, gluten-free and other diets, fantastic taste is never compromised.

Life Alive offer a wide assortment of teas, fresh pressed juices, smoothies (made coconut ice cream instead of milk), salads, wraps, udon noodle bowls, and side snacks.

However, their main dishes and most popular items are the rice/quinoa bowls with steamed veggies, topped with a certain je-ne-se-quoi, kick-ass, unbelievable, out of this world, #yourtastebudswillthankyou sauce. Trust me, I’ve tried to create their bowls at home: I can’t come close to the awesome goodness they somehow incorporate in their sauce.

You won’t find any meat options here, but I am certain anyone can find a dish they are crazy about. I brought my big, Rugby-playing, protein-loving friend here before, and he loved the “Hot and Healthy Bachelor,” which consists of melted cheddar, hardboiled egg, broccoli flowers, dark greens, Braggs and nutritional yeast, all nestled in a soft whole-wheat tortilla. He also downed the “Elvis Alive” smoothie: peanut butter, cocoa, banana, coconut ice cream, and rice milk. I swear, anyone will love this place.

I have tried almost every main dish at this point and I have never been disappointed. All of the veggie bowls offer something different. This time I chose to sit in the basement where they have live music is played every Thursday night. Here people are chatting about the week on couches topped with pillows, against a backdrop of empowering aphorisms and colorful, geometric art.

My thoughts about midterms and p-sets melt away. A waitress brings my “Carrot Cake Alive” smoothie and “Rebel Bowl” and I am in a total bliss. The Rebel Bowl is both juicy and crunchy, oozing with sesame ginger nama sauce with flax oil, enlivening carrots, beets, broccoli, dark greens, legumes and hijiki, which is all over quinoa and short grain brown rice. I slowly devour this beautiful display of food as I sip the not-too-sweet smoothie.

I could eat there every day, which is why I am often thankful it is located in Central Square. (It is about a fifteen-minute walk from the yard going east on Mass Ave past Berry Line, and Crate and Barrel.) Any closer, and I would seriously eat there every meal, which would mean I would be broke in no time.

Life Alive. Go, and you’ll never look back.