Oceanaire

It's the end of an era... okay well if an "era" was 2 years than that would be accurate. I officially moved out of my Boston apartment on Saturday. I'm sad to leave it, there were so many memories made in that apartment, but I'm excited to start the next chapter of my life in a new city - with new restaurants! Although Boston will always remain near and dear to my heart, it's definitely time for a change - and to conclude my wonderful time in the city we went to a restaurant where it all began... Oceanaire. This is one of the first Boston restaurants I went to when we were moving my sister into her Boston dorm room for the first time. If you're looking for seafood and elegance this would be my recommendation. The executive chef does a great job of taking local ingredients and elevating them to the next level with flavor and presentation. It's really refreshing to see an entire menu dedicated to amazingly fresh seafood.

I love this photo. It captures the essence of the wine
along with Kayla chowing down. 

I enjoyed Oceanaire then and I thoroughly enjoyed it this time as well. After cleaning and packing for the entire day my sister and I were pretty excited for a good meal and some wine. What we weren't as excited about was sharing my apartment with the rest of the family.... five Rutherfords in a tiny apartment is not conducive to sleeping.... or sanity. My parents and Jordan arrived in Boston around 8, and by 8:40 we were seated at Oceanaire in a cozy table in the back. In true Rutherford family fashion, as soon as my sister excused herself to the bathroom my mom took her seat, my dad took my mom's, and Jordan and I were asked to switch - pretty standard. After the seating debacle the waitress came over and asked if we wanted anything to drink, I promptly took her up on her offer, and then began to relax.

I ordered pinot noir, and the waitress asked if I had a preference or if I would like her to pick one for me. I said i trusted her judgement, and she quickly returned with my wine. As she was pouring the wine into my glass (from a one-glass wine decanter) she explained that it was "one of her personal favorites", and it had lovely "vanilla notes" in it. I really enjoyed both her explanation, reassurance, and overall pleasant attitude... I couldn't wait to try the wine.

Our waitress was also really great because she dealt with our family insanity. By this I just mean that we were all so tired that sometimes we didn't really answer her questions, and we were super indecisive, etc. She sensed our overall lethargic attitude and suggested we put in an order for some appetizers first. My dad and brother ordered the clams casino (my brother is a miniature version of my dad.... well not physically miniature because he's almost 6 ft himself), my mom ordered the iceberg lettuce wedge salad, and Kayla ordered the BLT salad. I passed on an appetizer... a lot of the time I do... I also typically skip out on dessert... I'm an entree kind of girl... plain and simple.

Clams Casino

The classic clams casino was tasty, and had a generous amount of both bacon and clam in each shell (maybe even too much bacon, if there is such a thing?). It's almost not fair to judge any other clams casino because my mom makes an amazing one and I am incredible bias. I prefer my clams casino to have more breading, and have everything chopped up together - but that's strictly personal preference. The presentation of this dish was very beautiful though, and it was a great appetizer size.

Iceberg Lettuce Wedge Salad

Here's my mom's salad. As you can see, these are hearty salads, and could easily act as a meal if you hadn't been packing for days on end and were starving. The lettuce was super fresh and crunchy, the tomatoes were fresh, the bacon was nice and crispy, and the blue cheese was super creamy and delicious... there was a lot of dressing on the salad, but my mom absolutely loved it.

BLT Salad

My sister ordered the BLT salad, and it was exactly like the sandwich, minus the bread of course. The lettuce was super crisp, as was the bacon, and it was topped with a creamy buttermilk bacon dressing. Kayla loved the salad, but she was pretty pissed off about the huge slices of tomatoes... Kayla hates tomatoes, yet ordered a BLT salad.... perhaps she though the "T" stood for "thanks, no tomatoes for me"? -  I'm just not sure. But other than the huge tomatoes she ate the whole thing... sorry Kayla, the readers deserved the truth.

Finally it was entree time, and if you're my dad, second martini time. For dinner we had a little difficulty ordering, as usual. It all started because Joan wanted lobster. That was actually a fairly easy decision. Where it got tricky was when the waitress asked if she wanted it cracked for her, or left whole. She chose whole.... and we chose to get covered in lobster juices... seems fair.

Cute presentation... although when I was "younger" I would make the waiter or waitress take it back if it had the eyes still in. It freaked me out.

My mom really loved it, and the meat was super tender and delicious. I also loved how my parent's meals were served with little stands of melted butter, that had flames underneath keeping the butter hot. It's the little touches that make a restaurant slightly superior.

King Crab legs - sans the physical legs

Again, meat was really tender, and my dad thoroughly enjoyed the food. I was only able to sneak a little bite because everyone wanted all of their food.

Creamed Corn

 Above you will find Kayla's dinner of creamed corn. It was really good, but I would recommend that it be ordered as a side dish, not an entree. It was really yummy though, and not too over-the-top creamy.

Shrimp Scampi

Jordan ordered the shrimp scampi, which was served with tomatoes, and linguine,  in a garlic and olive oil broth. The pasta was cooked to a perfect al dente, and the broth was really delicious and had great garlic flavor. My only criticism was that the shrimp was tough, and slightly overcooked. The dish would have been perfect minus the shrimp... so they should have just named it scampi.

Seared Georges Bank Sea Scallops

Last but not least, my entree, the scallops. The scallops were from Georges Bank, and wow this is one of my new favorite dishes. The scallops were perfectly cooked, and were cooked with local corn, chanterelle mushrooms, chorizo, roasted poblano peppers, all bathing in a sweet corn sauce. The balance of the spiciness from the peppers and chorizo mixed with the sweetness from the corn made for a wonderful and enjoyable dish. I really loved everything about this dish - it was the perfect portion for an entree, the corn was cooked really well, and there was a perfect level of spiciness that made the dish very delicious. I wanted to try this dish because it reminded me of what Kayla ordered at Aperitivo (with the corn and bacon hash), and I have to say that this hash was amazing. I would absolutely recommend this meal to anyone! 

Also, the professionalism of the wait staff was really great. Our waitress was friendly and informative, and when my parent's embarrassed me by announcing to her that I was a "professional food blogger," (got to love their confidence in me) she immediately brought over the menu for me to photograph, and also circled the wine I had. 

Top half of the menu

My entree

Bottom half of the menu

In case anyone is really into wine, I would definitely recommend this pinot noir, it was really delicious and went great with my dinner.
For additional wine recommendations please feel free to check out Cara's blog as well (she usually reviews really affordable wines and gives great
explanations on their flavor notes).

 After an amazing dinner we headed back to my apartment to "finish packing." As soon as we went back to the apartment however, we all were way too tired to work. Oh, how were the sleeping arrangements in your little apartment? Thank you for asking. My parents took my bed - it's only fair, they gave birth to me and raised me, therefore they get my bed. My brother (diva cough cough) slept on the day bed in my room, and Kayla and I took the couches. I gave Kayla the full-sized couch because she gave up her weekend to help me move, which left me with the love seat. Needless to say, none of us really slept because we were either uncomfortable, or guilty because we were comfortable, therefore everyone was super cheerful on Saturday for the move (especially when my father woke us up at 6:30 am). All and all though it was a great dinner, and while I'm sad to say goodbye to my apartment in Boston, I'm excited for my next move! (Stay tuned!)

The Mohawk Club

As I mentioned in my previous post, my last day of work was on Friday. It was bittersweet leaving because I will truly miss everyone I worked with - but I'm very excited to start my career in marketing (provided I can find a job). The cake you see below came from Eldo Cake House located in Chinatown, at 36 Harrison Ave.

The cake is a sponge cake, filled with fresh peaches, and covered with strawberries, melon, peaches, and kiwi. The cakes are super light and delicious, but the location is difficult because there's very little parking, and the staff doesn't speak English well so it can be challenging to communicate exactly what you're looking for. Regardless, we order these cakes for every work function because they are truly tasty.

As I was mentioning, I just finished work, and although I was supposed to go to NYC this weekend, Irene had different plans, and I only made it home to upstate NY. My sister's boyfriend, who lives in Manhattan, also decided to seek refuge at my parent's house in upstate, so on Saturday night we decided to go out to dinner. 



My parents have been members of the Mohawk Golf Club for close to thirty years, so that place was like a second home to me when I was younger. I can remember eating grilled cheese sandwiches with ham, by the pool, sipping on a lemonade and soaking up the sun. Although I now prefer a little vodka in my lemonade, I still always enjoy going to the Mohawk Club. The "club" as we call it, has gone through many different chefs, and the quality of food has changed a lot over time, but I must say that in the past several years it has been the best it's ever been. Because of this, we look forward to going to the club whenever we are home for a weekend.

My mother made reservations for us, and at 7pm we headed off to another lovely dinner there. One of the main reasons I enjoy going there for dinner is because you never know who you're going to see, or what type of experience you're going to have. I am usually fighting off belly laughs left and right because of how much fun we are having. Saturday night was a little quieter, most of the usual Saturday night dinner crowd stayed in and out of the storm, but we still had a lovely time. My dad brought his own wine, so my sister and I enjoyed a nice Pinot Noir, while my father and mother enjoyed a Beringer Cabernet.  I was really excited to go to the club because they just got a brand new menu and my parents had nothing but great things to say about it.

Appetizers

Entrees

For appetizers, my mom ordered the chopped salad, Jordan got the shrimp cocktail, and my sister ordered the asparagus frites with cajun aioli.

Chopped Salad

Shrimp Cocktail

Asparagus frites 

Although both the chopped salad and shrimp cocktail were good, the real star of the appetizer round was the asparagus frites. The asparagus was cooker perfectly, had a great coating and crunch, and the aioli was simply divine. The greens under the asparagus also added a nice element of acidity. Overall it was a great dish, and a good appetizer size.

Kay and I having some fun with the corks!

For dinner, three of us, myself included, ordered the cavatelli with lobster,  my mom and brother got the pan roasted halibut, and Kay's boyfriend Chris ordered the beef filet.

Halibut dish 

As you can see, the halibut was served with a leek and tomato compote, a mushroom vinaigrette, mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli rabes, and carrots. The plate presentation was beautiful, and my mom and brother both really enjoyed it.


Chris's beef disappeared before all of our eyes, so I think it's safe to say he enjoyed it. 

Chris's beef was au poivre, which means that it was cooked with black peppercorns, and served in a sauce of reduced cognac, heavy cream, pan drippings, and sometimes butter, shallots, and dijon mustard. The steak was served with a side of french fries and mixed vegetables.

For the third, and unarguably the best entree, somehow three of us ordered it and yet I didn't manage to take a picture. I am literally beating myself up for not doing it, but it was so creamy and delicious I can't imagine after tasting this dish that I would order anything else. Below I have included a small picture of my sister's leftovers so you can get an idea of the ingredients, but please do not judge this dish by the photo - it was so good!



  

Cheers to a great night!



All and all dinner was very enjoyable, and was a great pre-Irene feast.