This Is Framingham

We made it over to the newly opened, Old Station Steak House, which is, as I mentioned before, a Brazilian buffet, not a steak house really but we’ve been waiting to be able to go in this H.H. Richardson designed building which is on the National Register of Historic Places and Ethan has never been inside.  I haven’t been in here since it was Ebenezer’s.  When we first entered, the stairs leading up to what used to be the bar (where I celebrated my 21st birthday) are now blocked off and that area must be used as an office or storage.  It’s a shame because that was a fun bar.   I have to say though, they did a great job with the bar area downstairs and it looks really nice.

The dining room is spacious with it’s tall ceilings and roomy seating plan and unlike when I was 21, I can appreciate the history of the building through it’s architecture and features like the fireplace and window styles.

I took a bunch of pictures of the food on the buffet but lost them somehow, so I’ll just show you our plates with what we got:
My plate: Cauliflower, broccoli, beets, fried boneless chicken, fried banana, polenta, steak fries, collard greens, and one of 4 meats brought to the table, a chicken sausage.

Ethan’s plate: Fries, chicken, salad, rice and he got some meats that came to the table too.

 Here’s the chicken sausage as it was brought over:

This was the same way the brisket and short beef ribs were brought over too.

The staff was very nice and would come over asking us if we needed anything and the meal is a good deal price-wise too because it’s all you can eat and includes the meat carver coming to your table, all for $9.99 rather than how some buffets charge by the pound.

Although I do still wish this was more of an Ebenizer’s type place, I think this would still be a great place to meet someone after getting off the train for a drink in the bar.  The food was pretty good too, even Ethan who has a little higher standard for buffets than I do, thought it was good.  AND, it’s looks nice inside, they’ve done a good job keeping the character of the building, maybe because it’s on the National Register of Historic Places, but still, it’s one of Framingham’s more interesting buildings and a good place to dine at and take in some history.

Tonight we went to check out the now open British Beer Company.  We went around 4:45pm and there was going to be about a 15 minute wait unless we sat in the bar area, which was fine, so we sat there.
It is pretty much what I expeted it to look like in there, kind of like the old Desmond O’Malley’s, with a lot of dark wood and dimly lit atmosphere.

The beer menu is extensive with a wide variety of British and non-British beers in bottles and on tap.  I asked the server about two particular beers and she said I could taste for myself and brought over two samples of the beer I was asking about.   That was great because one was much better than the other so I ordered a pint of the Hobgoblin Ale (in a Blackthorn glass), which I highly reccomend. 

Ethan just got a gin and tonic (not worth photographing) and we both got fish and chips so I just took a picture of mine:

The fish and chips comes with fries, 3 giant onion rings, coleslaw and a gravy boat full of tartar sauce.
Everything was really good although the fries tasted like common fries that are used in a few different restaurants but the onion rings seemed to be home made.  The coleslaw was a bit mayo-heavy but good and the fish was great.  It seemed to be fresh fish and was perfectly moist and flakey inside it’s crunchy beer-batter case.  This grainy photo doesn’t do it justice but it was very good.

I probably won’t go back for a little bit just to let the crowds die down, the lobby was full of waiting people when we left around 6pm and as someone already said, ther bar was packed on a weeknight.  I hope it has at least one slow night that would be good to go enjoy a few beers with friends with out as much noise, but I may just be gun shy of crowded bars from my past life as a cocktail waitress.
I think the BBC is a great addition to Route 9 and I’m looking forward to going back and trying the Chicken and Leek Pie.

Riding my bike by the (now open) Old Station Steak House, I decided to stop in and asked to look at a menu to see what it was like.
The girl at the host stand said they just have a buffet, no menu, so I asked if I could look and although I’m not an expert in the cuisine, it seemed to be similar to Brazilian buffet items I have seen in the past.
Nothing against Brazilian food, and the girl at the host stand was very nice but I was looking forward to something we don’t already have several of downtown already. I will eventually come here to review but just thought people may want to know before they go down thinking they can order a steak.

Last night my cousin Amy and I went to check out Papa Razzi on route 9 which has replaced Bennigan’s. Right away you can see they’ve done extensive renovation and now have an open kitchen.

As with any new restaurant, they were out to make a good impression. There was a team of greeters. One that opened the front door, one that opened the inside front door, the person who asked us how many and the person who sat us. All said welcome to Papa Razzi and asked how we were. It was funny to be asked that 4 times before we even sat down. Definitely a cheery group though. We were sat within hearing distance of the host desk and one of the hostesses sounded really excited when people walked in and would say “Hi! How ARE you?” and say things like “You’re getting an AWESOME table, you’ll LOVE it!” We joked that she must be exhausted at the end of the night.

Our server was nice, forgot a few things but as Amy and I have both worked in restaurants since we were in highschool, we know how mistakes can happen. Amy can be a little less forgiving, although she’s done some hard time in the business, from casual to fine dining to catering and has some amazing stories she could probably write a book about.
Before our server came over, one of the managers came over and asked how we were and said our server will be over shortly, which she was. We both ordered a wine flight. I got red and Amy got white. I felt that there might be problem with the order since our server didn’t really seem to know what a flight was. She might have been so overloaded with information from training that she got confused, but we had to explain and point out on the wine menu what we wanted since she didn’t recognize what we ordered by the name of the flight, which is fine but then she asked which wine on that flight we wanted, and that we get to pick one. We nicely explained again that it’s three wines and then she got it, but showed up to the table with two flights of white wine. I felt a little bad that one of the managers was at our table when I said I got one of the red flights, I didn’t want her to look bad in front of the manager but it was easily solved. I got the “Elegant and Fruity” flight which was really good:

The meal started off with bread sticks that our server said are handmade right in the restaurant.

I’m not one for hard, dry breadsticks but I understand that is the style these are supposed to be.
We really liked the focaccia bread though.

We decided to split a salad, they were nice enough to divide the salad into separate bowls and half was a perfect size for both us.
My half-salad:

The runner who brought the salads didn’t bring any dressing (we asked for different dressings on the side) Amy raised her hand for one of the managers who was scanning the dining room and he came right over and had someone bring over dressing.

For dinner, Amy got spinach and ricotta filled ravioli. It comes with a red sauce but she asked if she could just get olive oil and garlic on it instead, to which our server said “absolutely” and it came out just like Amy had asked.

I got the gnocchi. I always feel like it’s a gamble with gnocchi because if it’s too dense it’s like eating playdough but these were perfect. They were light and soft and the creamy-tomato sauce was very good as well:

We were too stuffed for dessert but I would definitely come back because I’d like to try their pizza. I didn’t see any pizza out in the dining room, but I’m curious to see what it’s like.
The pizza oven:

I think aside from a few little bumps like I mentioned (and Amy found cork and foil in one of her wines) I think it’s a pretty good place. The one thing I think they could work on is getting the staff to ask if you’re done with something before they take it away. A few times during the meal, different staff members would come over and quickly take something off the table without asking, like the breadsticks, the salad dressing that we were using to dip the bread in, something else-now I forget what, but things like that.
I know it’s another chain restaurant, I’d love to see a local business owner open up on a place on the strip but I think the reality is that this part of route 9 won’t financially accommodate a lot of small businesses.  So for what it is, I think Papa Razzi is leaps and bounds above Bennigan’s and I’m happy with this replacement.
Here’s their website for more information: http://www.paparazzitrattoria.com

Tonight we went to check out Terra Brasilis on Waverly St.  This used to be D’angelos and before that it was originally a restaurant called “Howdy’s”.  We used to go to Howdy’s all the time with my grandmother in the late 70’s/early 80’s and that’s what I think of when I go by this building.  I’m sure if my grandmother were alive today she probably wouldn’t even remember Howdy’s or care that it was in this building but that’s my little memory of this spot.
Anyway, tonight was about the here and now and now it’s Terra Brasilis, which is Brazilian cuisine (in case you couldn’t tell from the name).   The set up is nice and open with the buffet at the back of the restaurant.

Half of the buffet has cold items like salad and melon and the other half is hot dishes. 

Next to the buffet is a meat carving station where they offer beef, chicken, and lamb off the rotisserie.

I got a little sampling of fried pollock, collard greens, beets, broccoli, chicken and vegetable saute, a type of shepard’s pie (ground meat and mashed potatoes), some kind of fried chicken dumpling, fried banana and of course, french fries.

 I think my favorite was the fried pollock, it was lightly breaded and very moist and flakey inside, really good.  I also really liked the collard greens.  Normally I don’t eat collard greens because I usually see them stewed or over-cooked to death, but these were just cooked enough so that they maintained their lively green color.  I like to cook kale the same way so I really like that.  The shepard’s pie was also good.  Maybe the chicken and vegetable saute was a little mushy due to conditions that occur to less popular heated buffet items but I know that happens sometimes. Fried banana was okay.
We got someBrazilian soda to go with our meal:

These are the same flavor but different brands. I really liked this because it was sweet but light, almost like carbonated fruit juice and I felt it went well with the meal.

As you may have noticed from the blog, I don’t eat a lot of Brazilian food but I do like trying different things and I’m glad we came here.
Here’s their website to see their other locations and their daily buffet items: http://www.terrabrasilisrestaurant.com

Bertucci’s on route 9 has recently been renovated, we decided to use our gift card and check out the changes inside.
Walking in, the first thing I noticed was the bar area, as with the rest of the restaurant,  it has new colors on the walls and new light fixtures. I liked the earthtone colors they used.

The rest of the dining room seems a little more metropolitan/sophisticated than before, there are no items like baskets, old photos or bottles olive oil  on the wall anymore.  Instead there are more earthy colors and an accent wall in the back that has the same pattern as the awnings out front.

It is a bit darker in there than before but it’s not bad, it’s nice and the only drawback was that the pcitures cameout a little dark (I didnt want to use the flash) Here a comparison by the open kitchen
Before:

After:

I got something called Chicken Anna Maria, which was really good and I ended up taking half of it home )which was great the next day too): Chicken, mushrooms, and tomatoes with a light cream sauce:

Ethan got grilled Salmon with broccoli and mashed potatoes which he said was simple but also good.

For drinks I got a glass of Sangria which was perfect to have on a hot summer night.  Ethan got a Limoncello martini, which was a little too strong/tart for me but Ethan enjoyed it.

Our server was very pleasant and timely, which is always nice.   My sister goes to Bertucci’s all the time and alway ssays how great the servers are so they must do something right in their training.

Panache Coffee recently opened at 680 Worcester Rd. (Ski Market Plaza).   My mom was over and it was so nice out, we decided to walk down to check it out.
Inside has been renovated nicely with lots of neutral colors, big windows and a little nook with a fireplace.
 

The guy at the counter was very patient with my mom who likes to ask lots of questions.  She asked about all the different “fancy” drinks, what kind of syrups they use and what “WiFi” is.

She ended up getting and iced coffee (w/ cream, pictured on the right) and I got an Iced Americano with a shot of chocolate.

My mom, who is very particular about her coffee, said her iced coffee was “really good”.  I was very happy with my Iced Americano as well.  I don’t know where they get their beans from but it tastes like they chose a good quality supplier.  There is also a case with a typical pastry assortment if people want a little something to go with their coffee.

I’m really glad Panche opened here.  It’s so nice to have a small coffee house that has great coffee, looks good inside and is close by.  I’m looking forward to supporting this local business.