I had lunch in the South End at Flour Bakery yesterday. I’ve heard a lot of hype and this was my first visit, so my expectations were high. The menu includes the expected cafe items: various kinds of pastries, presumably good coffee (didn’t try it), and heartier items, like sandwiches, for good measure. A few complaints upfront:

• There are babies and kids, approximately one per five adults. I can’t hang out in places with a ratio like that.
• The cashier forgot to ring up our soup. Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but when I asked about it while picking up my order, I was told to return to the register to re-order. There wasn’t a line, but I think the appropriate response would’ve been to just give me a free cup of soup, not to inconvenience the customer because someone made a mistake. (And I didn’t end up getting the soup anyway.)
• There were scientology pamphlets (disguised with anti-drug slogans) which makes me question the type of people who patronize the establishment.

Food-wise, I was satisfied but not particularly impressed. I ordered a half-sandwich and a quiche, which made more than sufficient a meal. The roasted chicken and avocado sandwich came with jicama, a crisp vegetable with the texture of a potato and the taste of a spicy apple. It was interesting at best, but not bad. The quiche was much better. Patrick took a granola bar to go (good texture but too sweet) and I grabbed a chocolate mint oreo (completely unmemorable). The most interesting items on display were the homemade pop-tarts, which contain fruit filling between puff pastry — way more sophisticated than the breakfast variety for kids!

Overall, Flour isn’t a place I’m itching to go back to, if only because I can’t deal with the patrons (more the kids than the potential scientologists). But to be fair, I’d probably change my mind if I lived in the South End. Pop-tarts aside, the breakfast selection looks great, and I’m sure the soup I never got would’ve been tasty, judging from Yelp reviews. Then again, the Yelp reviews endorse jicama. So maybe not.

Flour Bakery
595 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02118
(617) 267-4300

Image by Lee Cullivan and used under a Creative Commons license.

My favorite restaurant of the moment is Match. I’ve been there four times in the past six months, and I basically never repeat restaurants, so you know this is good. This restaurant lounge’s schtick is “burgers and martinis” and while I can’t vouch for the booze ($12), Match serves incredible sliders which come in seven varieties like spicy lamb, lobster, and tuna steak ($5-8). I’d describe the menu as American comfort/finger foods, complemented by standbys like onion rings ($3.50) and fries ($2.50). You’re not going to find anything incredibly innovative here, but everything is reliably tasty and despite the burger gimmick, there’s something for everyone, Orthodox Jews and vegetarians alike. For dessert, the pan-seared chocolate chip cookie dough is not to be missed (I’ve manage to replicate it at home , but it’s still my favorite dessert of any Boston restaurant).

The best part about Match is that it’s extremely affordable, and it’s recent promotion, a “stimulus package”, makes it the most inexpensive night out ever (especially if you’re a lightweight drinker like me). Every Tuesday, Match slashes the price of its mini beef burger from $5 to $1; every Thursday, ladies only pay $5 for entrees, which includes choices like blackened salmon and filet mignon. These specials run from 5-10pm. I suggest a cheap and late dinner followed by plenty of full-price booze. The scene is cool, the people are hot, and it’ll still be way under your typical weekend tab.

Match waitresses are extremely attractive but slightly incompetent, which would piss me off more if I didn’t dine there with men who appreciate competence. Besides their clearly unmeritocratic hiring practices, Match is as cool as a gimmicky Boston lounge gets. That sounds like I’m not saying much, but it is seriously so hard to find a place like this in Boston.

A note for the underage: Match cards on weekends and on late nights, but not always at dinner hour. Ask ahead, since the separation between dining room and bar is basically nonexistent.

Match
94 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA 02228
(617) 247-9922

Persephone, which is the restaurant portion of The Achilles Project, shares a loft with a retail store and the lounge that splits them. Contemporary art (or paint splatters, depending on how you look at it) is prominently mounted on the brick surfaces and a DJ plays acceptable music throughout dinner. I’d tell you what the ambience was like but we were 1/3rd of the patrons there, so I’ll withhold judgment.

Dishes come in small, medium, large, and extra large, which is really all kind of relative. The first category includes bite-sized items like oysters or crab cake. The last features full dinners for two and options like lamb legs. We started off with a platter of oysters (tried each of the four kinds they offered) and an order of scallops from the medium category. The former was fresh and not at all briny as I feared. The scallops (all two of them — how’s that for “medium”?) were accompanied with totally delectable mushrooms. The steak we each ordered for our main came perfectly cooked a medium rare (which is a request I’ve often found ignored by chefs who think they know better than I) No complaints there, besides the slightly overseasoned fries. All other dishes aside, I’d go back for dessert alone. Of the chocolate cake and baklava we ordered, the second was definitely more impressive and memorable.

I ignore wine and cocktail lists because I can’t drink without getting constipated. (Too much info? Yeah, I know.) However, I can imagine the lounge filled with hip young things in better economic times. There’s a bar right by the DJ, improvisational dance space, and plush seats for public procreation, if that’s your thing. I imagine that if some puritanical Bostonian is feeling really frisky, they can even indulge in late night retail therapy. The store’s open until 9pm, no doubt in hopes that someone will be properly smashed by then and ready to hand over the plastic for local, house, and high-end labels which exemplify clean, contemporary styles and the New England aesthetic.

The Achilles Project is located across the bridge from South Station, too far from city center to stumble into on a bar crawl (which may explain why it was so empty on a Thursday). But it’s worth the trip to the Waterfront, if only because it’s the closest thing Boston has to “edgy”.

The Achilles Project
283 Summer Street
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 695-2257

My obsession with Sweet Cupcakes is over. Maybe it’s because I’ve recently rediscovered baking (and everything’s better homemade) or maybe the novelty’s faded, but for whatever reason, the charm of Sweet is gone. Despite weekly visits all fall, I haven’t managed to visit since before the holidays. Last week, I went to Sweet with Christine and tried the Mango cupcake, a seasonal offering. I wasn’t impressed.

Though I’m sure the Red Velvet, Christine’s selection, is still as delicious as ever (who can screw up a classic like that?), many of their limited edition flavors — which rotate every month or so — tend to disappoint. I know I felt that way about some of the autumn flavors. Plus, their cake isn’t as moist as I remember and the frosting is sugar overkill unless you’re the type who snorts pixie sticks like coke. All in all, Sweet is a little too sweet for my taste — but keep in mind that this comes from someone who keeps the fridge stocked with cucpake ingredients at all times. (Plus, I still think Sweet is the best Boston-area option if you’re looking for cupcakes that are both yummy and aesthetic. In my opinion, they’re better than Kickass Cupcakes in Davis.)

Sweet Cupcakes
49 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 247-CAKE

Stopped by Pure Line this morning for a very, very overdue eyebrow waxing (seriously my first since the spring — yikes!). It’s my favorite place in Harvard Square, and I’ve had my hair ripped off my face by a lot of people. Natasha, the esthetician, takes her time waxing, plucking, and trimming your brows to perfection. It won’t feel like a rush job. Plus, at $18, it’s one of the most affordable places in the Square.

Pure Line
56 JFK St (2nd Floor)
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 868-7873