Monthly Archives: February 2011

O’Neil’s Chocolates

February 13, 2011 | by Ben 0

O’Neil’s chocolates (OneilsChocolates@gmail.com) are sold at North Union market (and maybe other places). Never one to pass up a fresh truffle, I thought I’d give them a try. Below are reviews from a selection of six, starting at the upper left of the photo and going clockwise:

Sakame Brittle: This was very good and unique, milk chocolate ganache infused with sake and topped with sesame brittle. Definitely repeatable.

Irish Coffee: One of my favorites, this chocolate had an espresso and Jameson whisky infused dark chocolate ganache with layers of both milk and white chocolate and crunchy cocoa nibs. Complex and full-flavored.

Stowaway: This was the cutest chocolate in appearance, a little mouse with a dark chocolate nose, but my least favorite in taste. It’s described as “carmelized almond gianduja” (which sounded good) but it tasted mostly like marzipan to me. I dislike marzipan, but fans of it would enjoy this.

Hot Hunny (not shown as I ate it before Sarah took … continue reading

Fracas

February 11, 2011 | by Ben 3

Fracas gatropub opened a couple months ago in the old Centrum theater building in Coventry on Euclid Heights Blvd. The menu and space both looked interesting, so we thought we’d give it a try.

We arrived at a little after six on a dark, snowy Saturday, and the large space was relatively empty. The ceilings were many stories high, and the movie theater screen was still there, albeit closed off by a curtain.

Their beer list is good but not as extensive as Winking Lizard’s down the street. I started with a Brew Kettle Old 21 Imperial IPA on draft, which was a good floral mix of strong hops and a hint of sweet malt. The waiter insisted that Dogfish’s 60 minute IPA was better, but I said that I wanted a beer I hadn’t tried before.

Fracas has a large list of tempting appetizers. We were waffling between pretzels w/ smoked cheddar fondue and chips w/dip, and we chose the latter. These were the best chip / dip combination in … continue reading

BLT and 2C

February 3, 2011 | by Ben 0

We haven’t been eating out much lately, but I made a pretty decent dinner from stuff around the house tonight:

Leftover chicken from Mark Bittman’s Chicken under a brick (Bell & Evan’s), Bittman’s bran and oat sandwich bread (made w/bread machine), baby greens mix, Benton’s bacon (thick and smoky) from a recent trip to Zingerman’s, chopped up grape tomatoes and Swiss cheese (melted under a broiler on one slice of bread).

Jack, Muenster or Mozzarella would have worked better with the other flavors, but Swiss was all we had on hand.… continue reading