This Is Framingham

On Wednesday, April 6th, the FHC fundraiser Marathon Pasta Party will be hosted by two of the nicest guys in town - Charlie Sisitsky and Mike Grilli.   Dinner will be served from 5:30-7:30pm at Historic Village Hall (2 Oak Street).
The cost is $26.20 (for the 26.2 miles I’ll be running).

All proceeds to benefit the Framingham History Center.
There will be a variety of pastas, sauces, salad and desserts and it’s sure to be a fun time

Space is limited and we’d like to make sure we have enough food so if anyone would like to come you can make your reservation by emailing me at michelle@framinghamhistory.org

Or click below to buy tickets now:

Or…Checks can be made out to FHC and mailed to:
Framingham History Center
P.O. Box 2032
Framingham, MA  01703  

I feel like I never get to Target that often but last week I happened to visit which happened to be the week they unveiled their new grocery section.

They have everything from produce to frozen food to meats and dairy.  It’s a well-rounded grocery department with average prices.  I don’t know how often I’ll use it but I’m sure it will come in handy.
I also noticed they added a Starbucks

I used to think Starbucks was dumb and annoying, but now I don’t care, so good for them.  It looks nice and I’m sure it’ll get a lot of business.
The layout of the store is pretty much the same but a map at the front of the store helps find the items in the few departments that got relocated.  I don’t know of any Targets that have closed but it’s  nice to see them making an investment in the Framingham Store.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t normally go for Indian food but someone wrote to me and asked me to check out Green Chili in Pinefield Plaza (1 Nicholas Rd.) and said it’s really great food. I figured it was worth trying so my friend Lisa and I went there for lunch today.

The first thing Lisa pointed out was how clean it was inside and it really was.   The walls are decorated with photos of India and facts about Indian history and culture:

The owner, Tony, was very friendly and made suggestions based on what we were looking for.  I’m not into very spicy food but I know Indian food isn’t all super spicy but needed some guidance.  Lisa and I both thought the Chicken Tikka sounded good.  She got the pizza version and I got the crepe version:
Pizza:

Crepe:

I was a little overwhelmed when I first saw it but the dough is so light and crispy and serves as a nice “vehicle” for the filling.  Tony said traditionally you eat it with your hands so I tore off pieces of the dough and scooped up the chicken inside.
The crepe came with a type of vegetable soup and coconut sauce.  I also got some almond milk that Tony makes to order and it’s so amazingly good.  While you wait he blends, the almonds and water, strains it adds a little bit of almond essence and extract and  a sprinkle of sugar, but he can leave out the sugar if you want.
The chicken was in a sauce of blended spices and paprika and I thought it was great.  It was just spicy enough to have great flavor but not to make my eyes water or anything.  The almond milk was a perfect compliment to it too.

We talked with Tony for a little bit about his background. He’s been cooking since he was a teenager and specializes in South Indian cuisine.  We also talked about Framingham and how it’s tough for a lot of restaurants but he’s particularly dreading the return of Water St. construction and was telling us about other construction projects that are pretty much quarantining the plaza.  I feel for the guy.  He’s super nice and the food was really good, and I don’t even usually like Indian food.

So I’d like to thank the reader who convinced me to check it out.  If you like Indian food (or even if you don’t) and are looking for somewhere new to try, check it out.  They also have a website where you can see the whole menu: http://www.greenchiliframingham.com/

Tonight I went to the Sheraton Tara (even though I know it’s not called the Tara anymore) for the Taste of Metrowest event. I was there for work, manning the History Center’s informational table.  Of course one of the benefits of that was being able to walk around and sample all that the event had to offer and it was delicious.
I’ll give a quick pictorial run down because there was so much it was a little overwhelming and this isn’t even half of what was there:
Ice cream:

Noodles:


Tuna tartare with seaweed salad:

Burritos:

Desserts:

Walking candy table lady:

Crepes:

Dips:

Mini crab cakes:

There was just so much more but it was tough taking pictures in there. It was really packed with people and a little tough to navigate in there even though it wa sin the spacious “Grand Ballroom”.  I wanted to say hands-down the best thing I had tonight was from Tomasso.  Creamy polenta with braised shortrib and Parmesan cheese.  It doesn’t look like much but it was amazing!

I’ve never been to Tomasso because it’s pretty expensive, but I might just save up or request it for a birthday dinner or something because if the rest of their menu is this good, it would be worth checking out!

So congrats to the Metrowest Chamber of Commerce for having such a successful event and for having it in Framingham so I could blog about it. And thanks for my work for having me work some delicious over-time

A few days ago I was going by the old Lloyd’s diner that had been taken over and oddly named “Tropical Cafe”.  I saw that it has been in fact changed back to -and what I feel like it should be - a diner!  I’m sure a lot of people will be happy to see that it’s even under old management too.  I always felt like the whole Tropical Cafe theme just didn’t fit the diner well.

Yesterday we had to drive down Rt 9, which I always can’t stand but that’s where DCU is and we were being productive getting errands done.  Anyway, as we drove by the former site of Brozetti’s I noticed there was a new sign up:


Something called Top Shelf that will be moving in.  They have the beginnings of a website with some information here: http://www.topshelfdining.com/

Then we passed the old Pacific Buffet:

and saw this:

Far East Buffet, not much to say about that, I think we can all envision what this will be like but I’ll still probably check it out to see if there are any pleasant surprises.  I’m glad to see at least something is opening up in this location since it’s been vacant for so long.  It’s always interesting when something goes out of business and something similar moves in.  Like how Sewfisticated Fabrics moved into the old Fabric Place, Zaftig’s replaced Joan and Ed’s and Summit Ski Snowboard moved into the old Ski Market space but I guess some places are meant to serve a certain purpose.  It’s also nice to see business investing in a Framingham location so I wish everyone luck!

I’ve been to the local Papa-Razzi (155 Worcester Rd.) a few times but never for pizza, so tonight a couple of friends and I went to check out the pizza pie situation.
We decided to get three, the Margherita (crushed tomatoes, mozzarella, oregano and fresh basil),

Quattro Formaggi (oak-fired white pizza with mozzarella, mascarpone, romano and goat cheese)

and Puttanesca (olives, capers, marinated tomatoes, artichoke hearts and mozzarella)

We also got some sangria that I forgot to take a picture of but it was good, although a little strong (making this a short post because now I’m tired and have to go to bed.
I’ll say the pizza is a pleasant, thin crust style with plenty of cheese, maybe not enough sauce on the one with red sauce but good.  There is a lightness to them where you don’t feel like you have really ate a whole pizza - there were three of us and we finished all three pizzas.  I was a little disappointed with the Puttanesca.  I had a more “romantic” vision of it was going to look like, more specifically, evenly distributed toppings.  the capers and olives were mostly on one half. Same with the herb on the 4 cheese, but they were still pretty decent.
The we decided that the while wasn’t bad, we probably wouldn’t go back there either.  I will say that their pasta is much more impressive (my favorite is the Porcini Tortelloni- so good!)
You can check out the rest of their menu by clicking here.