This Is Framingham

 
I know, pizza twice in one week but, this afternoon Ethan and I were on our way home and felt like getting pizza.  I forget which pizza place I wanted to try next but I knew Famous Pizza was on the list and I like their sign so we decided to Pinefield Plaza in Saxonville and try it out. ??? ?? ?????   I didn’t know what to expect since I’ve never really heard anyone talk about this place that should be “famous”.

We got a half-plain, half-eggplant, I guess this is what you’d call “Greek Style” because it was greasy, I’m not sure if that is the definition though.  I’m sure there is someone out there who can define it better than I did, so if you know the difference, feel free to comment.

We really liked it.  I even ate the crust, which I don’t usually do, because it was nice and crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  The sauce was good, a little sweeter than I’m used to but combined with the cheese, eggplant and dough it was really good.

Also, when we were picking out drinks at the fridge I saw this Godiva “Dark Chocolate Mocha” thing and being a dark chocolate fan, felt compelled to try it.   It was goo-ood! I know Famous pizza doesn’t make these but they are the only place that I’ve seen these so whoever decides on what drinks they’ll sell made a good decision.

Like the guy on the sign says, “M-M-M-M It’s delicious!”

Tonight my uncle and I went to La Cantina because he said they have good pizza.  I’ve always got a pasta dishes or chicken marsala there before but never pizza so I thought I’d add this to the quest.
We got a meatball and onion:

I really liked this pizza because of the crust, it was soft on the inside but crispy on the outside (I love the crispy!).
I tried to take a close up of the crust but the flash was a little too much, maybe you can still see what I mean from the photo.

My uncle said you can ask for them to make a thin crust pizza which is even crispier so I will definitely try that next time.
We also got salad, which I forgot to take a picture of, but you really have to taste the dressing to appreciate it anyway.  Although they sell it in bottles, I always think it tatses better there in the restaurant for some reason.

I have nothing else to say except that I’m stuffed right now.  That’s a good pizza pie!

There’s a new Chinese restaurant on route 9 called Ginseng and so far I had heard good things about from people on framcom so we checked it out.

It’s where the old Pacific Buffet used to be.  Personally, I didn’t really like Pacific Buffet. I was only there once but it was just ok and the whole buffet area was circus-like and chaotic when I went.  Ginseng did a great job remodeling, it has a much more calm and soothing feel inside. 

We just wanted to get take out so we looked through the menu and picked out chicken with vegetables, Kung Pao chicken and brown fried rice (kudos for them having brown fried rice).  We ordered something called fried shrimp balls but they were out of them.  We were disappointed but that won’t stop us from going back and trying again since the food was good.  Sorry this picture doesn’t do the food justice, the chicken was actually not glowing (as it looks below) and the fried rice and Kung Pao chicken looked a lot better than what you see. (I’m saving for a decent camera!)
You can taste the quality of the ingredients and the skill of the cooking in their food, it’s not the usual greasy dishes (although sometimes I’m in the mood for that) you get at most Chinese places.
The rice was moist and not over seasoned with soy sauce and the chicken with vegetables (comes with soft noodles) had a ginger-soy sauce on the side went well with it.  I’m not much for spicy but Ethan said the Kung Pao was really good too.

The people at the host/takeout desk were really nice (and well dressed) too.  Next time, I want to sit down and eat there to get the full experince and try those fried shrimp balls. It’s nice to have some quality food in the sea of mediocre chain restaurants on route 9.

 
Bakeries that make bagels around in Framingham are kind of limited so it’s really between Breugger’s or Cafe Fresh Bagel. I used to think it was called “Cafe Bagel” but I guess it’s “Cafe Fresh Bagel”.
Since I like to support small business I go to Cafe Fresh Bagel.  It’s no H&H but they but they make a good bagel and have a good assortment of cream cheeses.

I usually get an egg bagel with lox spread and Ethan gets an everything bagel with plain cream cheese, which is step up for him.  He used to get a plain bagel with plain cream cheese and my family thought that was weird (no lox? no onion? just plain?), so this is progress : )  My little sister in NH really likes these bagels and asks me to bring some up when I visit her.

Of course I can’t go in here without missing Herbie’s Ice cream (that used to occupy the space with penguins painted all over the walls) and it’s too bad they went out of business but we can always use a bagel place around here so it’s alright.  I hope Herbie and the penguins are doing well somehwhere 🙂

The Aztec is easy to miss on 135 because it’s set back a little bit (my friend that I was meeting there went by it twice).
Our waitress, who was very nice, came over when we sat down with chips and salsa. I love guacamole so I ordered a side if that.  It was a little too creamy for me just because I couldn’t taste the avocado as strong as some others I’ve had and made.

I got a beef burrito that was really good, my friend got a pork burrito and said hers was really good too which was nice because for me, Mexican food has been a hit or miss so I was happy this was a hit.  Even the rice was perfectly cooked and seasoned.


The only thing is that it’s not traditionally as cheap as simple mexican dishes go.  I think our burritos were a little over $8 each and since they were good it was worth it but we did notice that other great places like Taqueria Mexico in Waltham are.
I’d definitely go back to the Aztec though.

Yesterday we finally got up in time, thought of it and were around to go to Llyoyd’s Diner (on Fountain St.).  I haven’t been to Lloyds in almost 10 years but it was exactly the way I remembered it.
I forgot how tiny the booths are and how tight the space in the front is but in there are tables in back too if you like a little more space.  I always like sitting at the booths though and we were lucky there was one of the 4 booths were available so we took it.

A girl I used to wait tables with was working there, she wasn’t our waitress but came over to say hi and I asked her when she started working here and she said “oh about 16 years ago, my parents own this place” but before I could ask her anymore questions she had to go and then I didn’t get to talk to her again before we left.  Personally, it was interesting to see her working there because I’m used to being with her while serving cocktails at night so it was different to see her in the morning around breakfast food.

The menu is the usual breakfast diner fare.  Ethan got pancakes and sausage and I got eggbeaters with toast and home fries. beinoutq I’ve never ordered eggbeaters before, I’m not sure what made me order them but I like the texture of them. casino kuwait   (I forgot to take a picture until afte we started eating). ???? ????? ??? ????????

It’s great to have a little mom and pop place to go to (and it’s closeby!).  Like I said before, I just wish this place was open more hours but it’s a great place to go for breakfast.

As I mentioned before, Mom+weekend=Chinese food.  I recently heard that Oriental Pearl in Saxonville has a good buffet so we went there to check it out.  We found out when we got there that the buffet is Dim Sum on the weekends but still have “regular” Chinese food for lunch specials which my mom got but Ethan and I were feeling adventurous and got the buffet. 
There were some dishes on there that were not traditional Dim Sum like General Gau’s chicken and some vegetable and dishes but most of it was new to me.
I didn’t get to the soup that people seemed to know what to do with, adding items that were in containers next to the choice of three types of soup.
Soup additions:

There were lots of dumpling type things, some tofu dishes, potato things and stuff I didn’t even know what it was.  Even though I didn’t know what to expect, everything I tried was surprisingly good.
Included with the buffet was a selection from a cart that was rolled from table to table. I got some shumai, honestly because it was the only thing I recognized, but the guy pushing the cart was happy to explain what each item was.
Cart:

Shumai and leaf-wrapped rice thing:

My mother actually raved about her luncheon dish, (moo goo gai pan) she can be a picky eater but she was really impressed with the freshness and flavor of the food.
I’m really glad we went, it was something different and a good experience.

Sorry for the poor quality of pictures, I’ve been using the cameraphone for convenience.