Thank’s everyone who supported the three restaurants we highlighted last month by ordering from them. The owners were thrilled, as several people mentioned us when ordering. The winners of the random drawing have been notified and received their $50 gift cards yesterday. This was so rewarding we are going to do it again this month for two other restaurants I regularly eat at. We will randomly choose two winners at the close of business on 12/24 so that you can get your gift card in time to have a fabulous New Year’s meal (in your home, most likely). We throw all of our order slips into a basket, so if you come to the window be sure to ask to be entered into the random drawing.
Helmand’s Restaurant, down on First Street in Cambridge, has been my birthday go-to restaurant for 10 years! I take out of town visitors there, as well as my Foodie friends, and everyone loves it. I am GF, DF, Soy-free Pescatarian, with a few other food sensitivities thrown in, and I never have a problem ordering an absolutely delicious meal there, with several choices! And even though Afghanistan is a landlocked country, their fish is excellent! And they also have lots of meat choices too! The staff are the friendliest i’ve ever encountered. They now have outdoor and indoor seating as well as pick up and delivery. Truly a treat!
Muqueca Restaurant This is a Brazilian restaurant on Cambridge St in East Cambridge. Brazilian food is typically meat-centric, but this delightful restaurant also has a heavy focus on fish stews. And you can get vegetarian selections as well. Someone in the owner’s family has celiac, so they are uber careful. The portions are large! At least when you eat in. When I have gone to eat in (not since Pandemic!) we generally get a few things to share. Everything i’ve eaten there is delicious. I don’t think they have outdoor seating, but they do have take out and delivery. But please remember, companies like DOORDASH etc charge restaurants exorbitant fees, typically far more than the margin of profit that most restaurants earn. So if you can, don’t use these platforms for delivery! Unless it is part of a larger ordering platform like Square or Toast Tab, which has the market power to negotiate fair rates.
Re Hanukkah: Back by popular request, is the “Jewish Apple Cake” we had for Rosh Hashanah. It is a bundt style cake, with chunks of apples. It is available only Dec 9-18th (Hanukkah). Then, Apple-wise, for Christmas and New Year’s we will have our French Apple cake and the Cinnamon Apple Buckle (breakfast cake.) So its an apple month I guess!
