What I ate last week: January 23, 2026

I hate when places use the same chicken fingers you get in a school cafeteria. The sauce was good, but these buffalo fingers from Mad Matt’s in Woburn should be avoided.

Another picture from Mad Matt’s. This is the Super Beef Three Way. I don’t like the new trend of drenching roast beef in bbq sauce, but even ignoring that, the beef was under seasoned. I won’t be returning to Mad Matt’s.

On Saturday I made bolognese with beef and pork. For Sunday supper, I made ricotta gnocchi which I topped it with the sauce. I also made a side salad. Sorry the picture is misfocused.

Cheeseburger club, onion rings, and buffalo fingers from Ken’s. Burger was great. Onion rings not as much.

Clam Chowder at Legal Sea Foods in terminal B of Logan Airport. It was even better than normal with great big pieces of clams.

I arrived in St. Louis and as usual my first meal was at Imo’s. We got two, Canadian Bacon above and Sausage and Pepperoni below. It was so, so good.

Sausage and Pepperoni pizza at Imo’s in Kirkwood, MO.

I was trying not to eat too much while I was in St. Louis, so I only got a small piece of gooey butter cake. I tried one from Schnuck’s that was banana flavored. I had never had it before and while it isn’t as good as my mom’s, I’d get it again.

Where can you get a lunch for $5? Mercy Hospital in Creve Coeur, MO. Three bucks for a bratwurst and two more for amazing onion rings. The bun wasn’t great and I wish I could have got better mustard, but for five dollars, you can’t do much better.

My nephew suggested Chuck’s Hot Chicken to me. It’s a local chain in St. Louis. The sandwich has four basic levels of heat and then two more super hot levels. I went with level four which was very hot and I like hot. I could handle it but my eyes were watering and it gave me the hiccups. It came with a honey mustard bbq sauce that was good. But the real star of the show was the green beans. They were loaded with bacon and onions, almost as good as mine.

I used to go to this little stand for soft serve as a kid called Jeremiah’s. Today it’s a new place called Clementine’s where I got a little gooey butter ice cream. It was extremely creamy with one really big piece of cake in it.

I cannot go to St. Louis without a stop at Bello’s. This trip I got an apple-caramel roll, two lemon danishes, and something with cinnamon and nuts that I don’t know what it is called. Bello’s flies under the radar, but it is so good.

First new gin of 2026 – North Shore Gin no. 11.

I made dinner for my family while I was in St. Louis. I braised some pork butt and cooked green beans with bacon and onions. I also made ricotta gnocchi for my mom with a sage-squash sauce. I’m proud of all of this.

My brother took me to a sandwich shop he used to go to all the time called Vivola in Maryland Heights. The line was really long and for a good reason. This sandwich was out of this world. I got the Spicy Meatball Pep: Homemade meatball, pepper jack cheese, pepperoni, spicy dynamite sauce, spicy cream cheese with oregano and pecorino Romano finish. I was stuffed when I was done, but I already want another one.