Dim Sum Roundup! Eastie's Other Pizza Sensation & a Lovely Meal I Never Would Have Thought to Make

So before I start rambling about a bunch of stuff I have shoved in my mouth lately, let me first begin by saying how much I enjoy shredding. Not in the cool "I love shredding gnar" kind of way, although I like that too, but in the actual act of putting little pieces of paper through a shredder. Nothing gives me more pleasure. Okay, that might be a slight overstatement. I don't know what it is but there's something very cathartic about taking bills, and other potential targets for identity thieves and methodically feeding them through the groaning teeth of the shredder.

We used to have a lame-o shredder that you could only put one piece of paper through at a time, although I think Dana went a bit overboard shoving fully stuffed envelopes in there which caused it to malfunction until it finally died with a sad little wheeze. When it was time to invest in a new one, I went no holds bared (what does that even mean???) and bought a semi-industrial strength variety that kicks ass and can shred several pieces of paper at once. It claims it will shred a credit card but I don't want a repeat performance of the last Titanic so I haven't tried that. I can handle cutting them up into tiny pieces with scissors. I sort of enjoy that too.

Anyway... I save up a bunch of "to be shredded" items which doesn't take very long considering I have all our mail, plus Gram's (I handle the finances of my elderly grandmother and get all her mail) and once a week or so, I sit down to get my shred on. I systematically feed all the credit card offers, paid bills and old bank statements into the shredder with unfiltered abandon. After a few pieces, I find myself turning into a drooling zombie. It's very strange. The thing puts me into a total trance and when I realize I'm finished, I go through a mini-withdrawal. Thank goodness there will be more shreddin to be done next week!

Marge Looks Smug. She Didn't Get Any Pizza.

So now that that's outta the way, I will explain the concept for the Dim Sum Roundup. I'm not sure I'm sold on the title yet. I need something catchy. I had thought about a rotating theme like mixed nuts, trail mix, party mix, etc. but Dana said it should be the same every time so people know what to expect. Yes, all my legions of fans will be so confused when I change up the title of my mixed bag post each week! But that's the idea. I go so many places and eat so many things I can't possibly keep up with it and as you may have noticed, I can be a bit loquacious so in an effort to shorten some of them up, I will mash a few into one and brand it something brilliant. Mashed thoughts? So much for making this a short one. Oondah thinks I need to work on my "readability"... I think he needs to work on his ability to read.


On with the show. Let's see. Everything is a retrospective these days. I'm going back two weeks to that sad night the Lakers beat the Celtics (again) by one point. Ugh. Stupid Kobe. That would have been Thursday, February 5th. I'm cooking a lot these days which means we don't order out much. I have been experimenting with the slow cooker because I have the luxury of throwing something in at noon and being home when it's finished. Anyway, with all this culinary genius going on, we miss some of our favorite local take out options. When I tell people I live in East Boston, even if they have lived in the greater Boston area their entire lives, they often have no idea where (exactly) my neighborhood is. However, with a little prodding they typically come up with that one constant, recognizable Eastie landmark. Santarpio's.

Sometimes There's DOUGH!

Sure, Santarpio's is great. I'm a huge fan. I find myself standing in their kitchen to pick up a pie inside a plain paper bag on many an evening. I love the semi-spicy sauce and the cornmeal crunch of the crust, but most people don't realize that this long beloved tradition isn't the only game in town. Enter Dough. Man do I love this place. It's right around the corner from our house but we typically have it delivered. They do thin crust pies and make all their dough from scratch. Ironically, if you call too late, they are sometimes out of dough which prompted our friend Beth to suggest they change their name. Maybe, Not so Much Dough... or Outta Dough. I thought a good one would be Yes! We Have No Dough. Anyway, they do pretty creative stuff with a pizza and here are our favorites in no particular order:

The Hawaiian - a white pizza topped with prosciutto, pineapple and dried coconut.

The Backyard BBQ - a light layer of BBQ sauce topped with grilled chicken & yellow corn; finished with cheese & fresh red onion.

The Z-berg -A red based pizza with prosciutto & caramelized onion.

On this particular night we had the Z-berg, the Hawaiian and the Hi I'm Lyla which I really liked and everyone else tolerated. It's a white pizza with pesto, artichoke hearts, goat cheese, roasted red peppers and Kalamata olives. We had our good friends and neighbors A+B over for the game that night and I think I was the only one eating the Lyla.

A few notes on these tasty creations. The Hawaiian is something special. Notice that it doesn't have any sauce??? Crazy, I know. It's totally amazing though. A thing of beauty. Very light and sweet and tasty. The BBQ is a bit tangy but Dana loves it. The first time we got it I was turned off by the corn. That's something the British do... put wacky things on pizza that don't belong there. When I used to go over to the U.K. for my old job, I wanted to ask them "why do you feel the need to muck up a perfectly good pizza with corn and chickpeas and spinach?" but then I remembered where I was and that ruining perfectly good food was something of an art form. The Z-berg is addictive. It's got that blend of sweet and savory that will make you eat well beyond your capacity.

Beyond the Za

Anyway, Dough is pretty awesome even if they do run out of dough sometimes. When that happens, I'm perfectly happy to order one of their bomb sandwiches which are also made with meticulous attention to detail and lots of fresh, creative ingredients. You can't go wrong with the Vermonter (maple turkey, smoked Gouda, bacon, sliced green apple and red onion w/ sun dried tomato mayo served on thick multi grain and baked), or the Turkey Gobbler (you can figure it out). Dana loves the Border Street Special (chicken cutlet topped with thinly sliced prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, roma tomato and fresh basil, drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette and served on a braided roll) and as I sit here, I'm dying to try Randy's Roast Beef (tender roast beef, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, topped with cheddar and a creamy horseradish sauce, served on a braided roll).

I can usually get away with eating half a sandwich and saving the other half for lunch the next day. Dana houses the whole thing. They also make an awesome Cuban and have some really great boneless wings. I can't say enough great things about this place. It's run by two very nice young men (I sound like my grandma) and they really do put a lot of care into the food they make. Wow... I'm hungry now.

Meat!

It's funny how you can live so close to people and talk to them so frequently but then go long stretches of time without seeing them. We try to schedule outings with friends and family members so it's not months in between visits (Oondah and Kenji are the only people we see nowadays with excruciating regularity) and lately these seem to center around our favorite TV programming. What have we become? It had been a while since we had seen my brother-in-law Erik and his girlfriend Alyssa so they had us over for dinner and Lost last week.

Anyway, they made an awesome meal that consisted of deliciously marinated steak tips that were broiled in the oven and a fairly decadent butternut squash risotto. It was a great concoction. I love me some meaty mcmeat. They had marinated the steak tips overnight so they were particularly tender and Erik manned the oven like a... well, like a man. The meat was cooked perfectly. It tasted like the tips we sometimes get from Butcher Boy in North Andover which marinate in a little packet for an eternity.

What's funny is that this is the kind of meal I would never think to make. For some reason when we are having dinner guests, I think Greek feast or Indian buffet. It's like I need to experiment with other people's digestive systems whenever given the opportunity. I'm not sure why that is. I guess I see dinner guests like blank canvases. Dana is too easy. He'll eat anything and he likes everything. With guests, perhaps I hope I will pick up on their distaste for a dish by the look on their face or maybe I want unsolicited praise from someone other than the person I cook for everyday.

What struck me however, was how easy the meal seemed to come together and how untaxed the two were while we stood around the kitchen, having a drink before dinner. Had that been one of my meals, I would be tearing around the place, straining homemade cheese and toasting coconut for fresh naan. For what? So I can sit down to a meal and be a hot, sweaty mess who isn't even interested in eating what I just made?

Good looking out guys... from now on, I'm making pork chops when you come for dinner!