I liked the shortened version of the roundup I did for January, so that’s sticking around for the foreseeable future. This month includes a trip to Arizona which promises to be filled with food and gin. So scroll down to the back half of the month for that fun. I also promise at least one more chowder and one more North Shore roast beef.
February 4
My wife asked if we could go to The Bancroft for dinner tonight and how do I say no to that. We tried to stay light so we shared a filet with our son, three people, one 12 oz steak. We also got fries and asparagus and a new shrimp appetizer that was very good. Maybe best of all I got to try the Ethereal Batch 16 for the first time.
February 5
I went to Riverside Pizza today. I’m trying to try more things there. Today I got the steak and cheese with peppers, onions, and extra cheese. I liked the veggies but the cheese was just on the bottom, not mixed with the steak like I prefer. Still the best thing there is the chicken parm.
February 6
Snow day today so I made bean stew. I used pork spare ribs, carrot, onion, celery, shallot, garlic, and apple. I’ll be eating this for a while. That roll is a frozen one thats about a year old but turned out great.
February 7
Tonight I went to Karma right after work. We got the crispy calamari which has become my new favorite appetizer. We also got snow mountain and yellowtail-scallion maki. Later that night I went to Row 34 with a couple of friends. I had brussels sprouts, fries, and a couple shrimp. I also tried a new gin, Still GIN, which is made by Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre.
February 12
I ate too much over the weekend with a birthday party and the Super Bowl and have been trying to cut down a bit this week, but I took a step backwards today and got buffalo fingers and fries from Ken’s. They were good but not on the diet.
February 13
When we ate at Rose’s Luxury, they gave us ingredients and instructions to make cacio e pepe, which I’ve actually never made before. Tonight, I gave it a try and it turned out pretty good.
February 14
Happy Valentines Day. I stopped at The Concord Cheese Shop and put together a cheese plate. With the new ownership, they have some new items including a duck rillettes. Now it’s $35 so that’s a little crazy, but it is worth every penny. I also got three cheeses, Brie Dongé, Laura Gouda, and Beaufort d’Ete. My favorite of the three was Laura. We enjoyed it with a bottle of Duckhorn, 2019 Duck Blind.
February 15
We are leaving tomorrow for Arizona and I wanted to make sure I got a North Shore Roast Beef in during the month. So for dinner we tried Nick’s Place in Burlington. It was much better than the one I got last month, but the beef was sliced too thin.
February 16
We are on way to Arizona! A snowy delay had us stuck at Logan long enough to stop at Davio’s for some dinner. I tried the chowder which you can of course read all about. We also got some meatballs which were ok at best. I think it’s time to give up on Davio’s at least at the airport.
February 17
Our first meal in Arizona was spectacular. Well actually our first meal was at McDonalds but since it was just a few fries and a couple of nuggets, I’m not counting that. But if you are ever in Tucson, go to Ruiz Hot Dogs. I might even go again before I leave. For dinner, we went to Pinnacle Peak, an Old West steakhouse where they cut your tie off if you wear one. It was a gimmick but it was a lot of fun. The steak was decent for the price and the beans were very good.
February 18
We started the morning with donuts at K Donut Wheel in Tucson. They were so good. We had an apple fritter and lemon donut. In the afternoon we drove down to Tombstone. We saw the shootout at the OK Corral and then went over to Big Nose Kate’s for dinner, where the waitresses dress like they are working in an old west brothel. I had a burger with onion, green chili, and pepper jack cheese. Not bad, but now I’m done with old west restaurants for a while.
February 19
We liked the the hot dog at Ruiz so much I wanted to try another Sonoran dog. This time we tried El Guero Canelo. It was good but not as good as Ruiz. Better than the dog was the Asada Taco Lorenza. After that, we visited Whiskey del Bac for a tasting and got a bottle of Dorado, their mesquite whiskey.
For dinner we had planned to go to Las 15 Salsas but couldn’t get there in time so we went to Los Taco Chefs. It was fantastic. The people were great and the food was delicious. Kelly and I shared tacos and a tostada and I got a carne asada burrito, enchilada style with red and green sauce. For a night cap, we went to Arizona Distilling Co. where I picked up a bottle of Commerce Gin.
February 20
We started the day at Taliesen West and then visited OHSO Distillery. I tried two new gins there. We had wings and split a peanut butter and jelly burger which was strange but better than expected.
For dinner we went to FnB which won a James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest in 2019. We started with brussels sprouts and then carrots. Our main course was an excellent orange braised beef and our dessert was chocolate cake. I also tried some Arizona wine and Future Gin.
February 21
Today we went to Salt River Fields to see spring training baseball. There I had another Sonoran dog as well as a couple of tasty empanadas. After that we tried the James Beard Award winning Fry Bread House where we got a combo taco with red chili beef and a bean tostada. That was our last meal, but not our last stop. I grabbed one more taste of local gin at the airport before we flew back to Boston.
February 24
Cooking this week to eat lighter. Tonight was cod loin, spinach and rice.
February 25
I got a bottle of seasoning mix from the Omni in Scottsdale. I used it to flavor some green beans. With those I made pulled chicken and dressed it with dayum good pork sauce from Corkscrew BBQ. And finally, I added a slice of Wilson Farms cornbread.
February 26
Last night I made a meat sauce with ground beef, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, red pepper, red wine, chicken broth, milk, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Today I just boiled some pasta and made a quick sald to go with the sauce.
Best of the month
3. Donuts at K Donut Wheel
2. Braised Beef at FnB
1. Sonoran Dog at Ruiz
hungrytommy links:
The Bancroft – quick bite
Karma – quick bite
Row 34 – quick bite
Ken’s NY Deli – quick bite
Rose’s Luxury – Michelin
Brie Dongé – cheese (new)
Laura Gouda – cheese (new)
Beaufort d’Ete – cheese (new)
Nick’s Place – roast beef (new)
Davio’s – chowder quest (new)
Ruiz Hot Dogs – travel bite (new)
Pinnacle Peak – travel bite (new)
K Donut Wheel – travel bite (new)
Big Nose Kate’s – travel bite (new)
El Guero Canelo – travel bite (new)
Dorado – rest of the bar (new)
OHSO Brewery – travel bite (new)
Los Taco Chefs – travel bite (new)
no. 106 Commerce Gin – the collection (new)
FnB – travel bite (new)
Salt River Fields – travel bite (new)
Fry Bread House – travel bite (new)
Corkscrew BBQ – Michelin
2025 Gin
Return to the Roundups
Concord Culinary Lyceum 
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