Fire and Ice

Fire & Ice
205 Berkeley St.
Boston, MA 02116
(Try this or other locations!)

This stylish chain spot may seem like an exclusive club for teens and people below thirty-five but it really is a fine establishment where patrons of any age and come and enjoy. To be honest, it is almost overrun with college students and some very young professionals but you get the occasional family in there as well. The restaurant boasts a bar on the ground floor and a Mongolian style restaurant on floor two. I can't say much about the bar as I've only had one drink there. My Boston-dining companion, however, seems to enjoy it despite once being in the line of fire for an exploding mixer. The strawberry daiquiri that I had didn't seem all that refreshing. It was a bit too pulpy and the alcoholic aftertaste ruined the taste of the berries.

The food, on the other hand, is just great. Here's the set up. You get up to a bar with a bowl and you start scooping raw materials into it. Their seafood selections include big scallops, shrimp, mussels, squid, and fish. (Too bad that their salmon was frozen.) For meats, you get a few varieties of sausage, marinated chicken, different cuts of beef, and full-sized beef patties for burgers. The salad is a bit small with only a few choices for the vegetable lover. The dressings are good though as are the vegetables that one can place in one's bowl to have cooked. There are peppers, mushrooms, peas, etc. Nothing special in the vegetable realm, I'm afraid but they do have a heavenly bowl of chopping garlic from which you can take as much as you can. Noodles are also available for those who are interested though you should note that they bring out a whole bowl of rice for you at the table.

Diners then get to choose from a variety of tasty sauces. The teriyaki sauce is particularly good though I am tempted to try the various chili sauces as well. The problem is always that I am afraid I might not like a new sauce in place of the tried and true teriyaki. You will understand why the selection of the sauce is so important in the next paragraph. I should note that more conservative diners will have their choice of the regular barbecue sauces as well.

So, you have your raw food and your sauce. Now what? You then take all this up to the central cooking area, which is basically a gigantic cooking circle. Here, three cooks greet you, take your raw ingredients, dump them onto the cooker and, when it's time, dump your sauce on top of that. They add buns and cheese for burgers and also provide some interesting dialogue as you wait for your food to cook. Now, this part can take a while because it is basically a bottleneck in the dining process. The lines are sometimes long (unless you get in at the right time) and you end up just standing there, waiting for the cooks to get to you or to come back to grab your sauces. Though watching the pretty food is entertaining, one becomes rather bored with the process after a while.

Two elements prevent you from eating more than two or three dishes at this buffet. First is the line at the cooking area. You're a bit full. Do you really have the energy or the need to go stand up there and wait in line for another fifteen minutes? Second, the portions are pretty bit and, combined with the rice they leave at your table (and the guilt you feel for not eating it), you're not really in the mood to gorge yourself some more. Now, this can actually be a positive as I have left Fire & Ice feeling absolutely stuffed every time though I've always wanted to have more. It's all in the garlic . . .

But why do they leave you the rice at the table? That's really unnecessary and I can't imagine that people consume a whole lot of it. Sorry, but that seems like a waste. The noise level can get out of hand and the cooks sometime force you into song. That's not always what I'm in the mood for while I'm dining out. All in the all though, this is a fine dining establishment that's almost always a treat.

(Image by AG)

Athenian II

Athenian II
846 Washington Street
Middletown CT
(Try this or other locations!)

This chain of diners has kept Connecticut residents happy and full for years. Open 24 hours a day, the Athenian diners are great places to go for a late night breakfast. I’ve only been to the diner in Middletown so I will limit my review to that particular institution. Many Wesleyan students and graduates who have found themselves sitting in the 60s style booths may agree or disagree with my assessment.

Now, let’s be honest. There’s nothing particularly special about the place. The eggs are eggs and the bacon could be crispier. The prices are also a bit high but my some time traveling companion says that any eggs are overpriced. Still, the coffee is free flowing and you get the partially unhealthy breakfast that you expect and order. They know how to do eggs and their fried potatoes are pretty tasty, especially the ones that have been slightly burnt.

As you can tell by the picture, the cantaloupe is also a fine dish to order.

Like most diners they have lunch and dinner specials all day. These can be pricey and range from lamb to stuffed grape leaves. Again, like most diners, their vegetable choices could sure use some improvement. The lettuce looks like it’s pretty drained of any nutrients and the broiled broccoli looks like it might benefit more from the vitamins inside me. The cream of broccoli, on the other hand, is pretty good as is their cream of chicken.

Whatever the criticisms, the food is tasty and you have a good time there. The wait staff is friendly and many of them wander the aisles armed with hot coffee. The management might consider increasing the size of the water glasses though. The shot glass style probably saves on water but it just doesn’t quench the thirst.

If you’re in Middletown and you’re just not in the mood for anything special but want to have an enjoyable time, try the Athenian diner.

(Images by AG)

Introduction

This is a blog about food by people who like food. There may or may not be anything special about the places we go to dine but we’ll write about them anyway. We enjoy tasting new dishes and having seconds of our long time favorites. Over the course of our dining experiences, we will post about some of the dishes we had (or recipes we tried), add a few pictures, and perhaps offer some recommendations for the avid reader and diner.