Text 11713, 63 rader
Skriven 2011-06-03 06:47:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: botr 430
================
I met Nicholas and Beth at Otto's (more formally known
as Royal East, which some of you may remember from
Clam Crawl banquets in years past) for a latish dinner,
my last in Boston for a while. I hadn't seen either of
them in many moons, Beth not since her ex-husband died, I
think last summer. Beth, under some stress, has pneumonia,
and this was her first outing since contracting it; I felt
suitably honored but at the same time concerned for her
well-being.

I ordered the cheapest wine on the menu, a Falanghina
called Aia dei Colombe, a pleasantly minerally white
with grapefruit and almond notes, though its finish I
found a little cloyingly candylike (not sweet though).

Nicholas recommended deep-fried wontons, a bit of a
departure from normal; these are apparently made at Su
Chang (Otto's other restaurant, which some may remember
from a recent echo picnic) by the manager's mother, so
are better than normal deep-fried wontons. They are
full of pork filling (unlike most restaurant wontons,
which skimp) and are very pretty, but I like mine better
(crispier). Also steamed ravioli, the usual. Of course,
this made almost a full meal, but there was more to come.

Our main dishes were from the specials board, an almost
guaranteed way to spend twice as much as one should.

Salt-pepper soft-shelled crabs, which we've had here a
few times, were a pair of mediums only, quartered and
fried in a cornstarch batter, then tossed with ginger,
garlic, and hot peppers. Very nice but a bit pricy for
what you get.

Another featured dish: garlic frog hot pot for $18, but there
was only one frog left, and a serving is normally two. We got
a break on the price (but $9 for a smallish frog is still 
expensive) and a lot of extra cloves of garlic, of which
there were at least 20, of which I ate at least 18. My
flatulence for the next day smelled like the Carnegie Deli.

For vegetable, we got pork with garlic chives: appropriate
to a place of this level, these were the barely yellow
kind, made the same way as white asparagus - the shoots
banked with earth and essentially grown underground, the
chlorophyll not allowed to develop. These are served in
the same way as moo shi, folded into pancakes smeared
with hoisin: I think this is a mistake and dishonors the
delicacy of the chives.

The bill was agreeable for two reasons: the break on the
frog and the fact that Nicholas paid it, saying that I
could buy at Toscanini's.

So I invited them to Toscanini's for dessert; Beth, feeling
a tad peaked, begged off. I had my usual coconut sorbet,
which was far too normal for my taste (in the past it has
been extraordinarily rich, with blobs of coconut butter
mixed in with the sorbet); I don't know what Nicholas had.

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Since 1991 And Were Still Here! DOCSPLACE.TZO.COM (1:123/140)