Blogworthy!

We weren’t 2 at the bar but 4 at a table at another blogworthy restaurant.  L’Andana in Burlington.  It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and although we shouldn’t have been able to eat another bite, we had to wine and dine my 92 year old mother and her friend who come to Boston every year for Thanksgiving.  We went to L’Andana because we didn’t want to deal with the hassle of parking in the North End and we wanted a nice Italian dining experience.  The owner/chef of L’Andana also owns Mistral, Moo, Sorrellina and Teatro in Boston.

L’Andana delivered on all fronts.  Free valet parking to start.  Can’t beat that.  The restaurant is well designed, spacious with high soaring ceilings and it is quiet – something hard to find in restaurants these days.  The tables were spaced remarkably far apart and you can’t hear the conversation of the table next to you.  I love that!

Oh, and the food – outstanding.  We started with a half order of rigatoni with bolognese and risotto with wild mushrooms for the table.  Both perfectly prepared.  For entrees Roy and I shared a veal chop with a madeira reduction and polenta with parmesan.  To die for!!  My mom and her friend shared pan roasted scallops which they raved about.  For wine, we had a bottle Chateauneuf-du-Pape and a half bottle of Domaine de Vieux Lazaret – a lot of wine for us but we handled it!   Dessert – a white chocolate and cranberry budino.

Two thumbs up!!

Last weekend we saw The Descendants and afterwards Roy was craving a bowl of pho  so we set our GPS for Fields Corner in Dorchester – home of Pho So 1.  Even though I complained about driving to Dorchester it turned out that indeed it was blogworthy pho and worth the drive.

I love that we can have a $200 dinner one week and a $20 dinner the next and both are outstanding in their own ways.

Oh and by the way, go see The Descendants.  Sad and funny with great performances by George Clooney and the entire cast.  Once again, two thumbs up!