Not Your Average Joe's

El Vaquero

➤ 478 High St, Medford, MA 02155, USA, United States

Menu • Fish • Lunch • Cheese • Mexican

---

"Good birria tacos but even better carne asada fries! The birria tacos we definitely tasty but I feel like they could use a little more meat. The carne asada fries were definitely the star of the show. First, I love that they were made with thicker fires and not wimpy shoestring ones. The fries were absolutely loaded with carne asada, cheese, pico guac, and sour cream (the sour cream was a little heavy for my liking). There was also some other creamy orange sauce they put on them that was very flavorful and totally added more flavor to the fries. Also ordered a carne asada taco and a steak adobada taco. They tasted pretty similar, both loaded with pico, lettuce, and cheese. I would say that the adobada steak had a little more spice than the carne asada. Overall I enjoyed my meal here, and would say it is a lot better than most other taco places I have tried in the area."

Lizard Lounge

➤ 1667 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138, 02140, United States

Menu • Food • Lounge • Drinks

---

"Lizard Lounge is definitely my top choice for a venue in Cambridge; it truly feels like our musical home and offers one of the best environments for creativity. The staff is fantastic, and the food is incredible! 10/10 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5"

Talulla

➤ 377 Walden Street, Cambridge, United States

Menu • Steak • American • North American • Delivery Services

---

"I had been looking forward to dining at Tallula for awhile. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the hype and at the end, was priced like a Michelin starred experience without the menu or experience of one. Food: I came with a friend and we both got the tasting menu with the bread basket to start. The bread and butter was actually excellent and the best part of the meal. The opening appetizer was raw scallops, and that was actually quite nice, as it had a floral and peppery taste to it. The 2nd course was fois gras with (more) bread. Perhaps this is where I wish we didn?t start with the bread basket, as the bread with the foie gras seemed like cheap white toast in comparison. The foie gras itself, I felt was ruined. Perhaps I am a purist, but whatever gelatin and berry mix they made with the foie gras taste overly acidic and fruity and took away from the rich, earthy, buttery ness that one would expect. Next up was the pasta I had squid ink cavatelli and my friend had the lobster pasta. Both portions were laughably small and the lobster dish was bland; overall nothing special and we both felt we would get a much better dish at any other restaurant. The protein was a short rib, which was too salty, and again, felt like it lacked novelty. Finally was desert, which again was very bread forward with 2 dense brownies for each serving again, nothing novel, and we could barely swallow it after what felt like such a bready meal as is. Service was okay, I believe our server could tell that we didn?t like the food (we didn?t finish most dishes) and ended up avoiding us in favor of other tables, and it was quite clear we weren?t getting serviced as kindly as other patrons. It also didn?t help they put us at a table right by the door that was constantly open/closing on a 20 degree evening. After a 4 course tasting menu, 1 drink, tax/tip, the meal ended up being $132 just for myself. It was a bit upsetting because I have had truly exquisite Michelin experiences at that price point. Overall, glad I experienced it, but likely will not be returning or recommending."

Eastern Lamejun Bakers

➤ 145 Belmont Street, Belmont, 20478, United States Of America

Menu • Greek • Vegan • Breakfast • Vegetarian Friendly

---

"If you 're near Belmont, I recommend swinging by this little Armenian market to check out the treasures inside. I was looking up parking for Praline just a few streets down and saw ELB on the map and was immediately intrigued, having never heard of a lamejun before. I wish I had some more time to peruse the aisles but we walked away with some goodies: a bag of dried green lentils, some grape leaves, a meat lamejun, and two boxes of baklava. The baklava were a hit at the party we brought them to, though, of the two kinds we purchased, I preferred the smaller, rolled up, bite sized version (I looked it up the finger baklava. Very apt! . The second were these massive squares, sliced diagonally in half maybe the ozel kara baklava? They had a generous spread of crushed pistachios, my favorite nut; my only complaint was they were a tad hard to eat and divide into smaller portions. Now that I think about it some more, the better way to eat these would be to pop them in the oven so the honey melts just a little.I thought the grape leaves were all right, maybe too much on the sour and garlicky side for me. My husband loved them. Lamejun looks like a cross between a pizza and a savory pancake, topped with a layer of ground meat, tomatoes, herbs. They have three kinds here the traditional meat, a chicken (lower in sodium and cholesterol, as promised on the box , and a vegetarian. We went with the meat. I brought it to a party as the perfect snack. All you need is a few minutes in the broiler or the oven so the edges get perfectly golden brown crispy. For a dozen of these babies, it was about $25. I should 've asked the nice lady at the cashier if these are freezable. On my list for next time: the eggplant dip and beet salad, as well as the other kinds of baklava and turnovers. Near the cashier is also quite the selection of feta. (I don 't understand another review calling the arrangement of the items like a garage sale. Everything was pretty neatly organized and resembled any other small specialty market. Parking: lots of street options in front of the store."

La Saison Bakery

➤ 407 Concord Ave, Cambridge I-02138-1215, United States

Menu • French • Bakery • Persian • Bakeries

---

"I purposely went on a Sunday for the Brioche Frite because they are only available on Sundays, but I'm kicking myself because I got so distracted by the options that I forgot about my mission once I was there. However, I don't see it in my pictures, so it might not have been out yet since the croissants weren't going to be out for another hour either when I was there (so there is a downside to going at opening).There is a small parking lot and some tables outside, one of which is in an igloo. No tables inside. French Deux (Vanilla Lavender) Latte: This was possibly one of the best lattes I've ever had. Both flavors shone in the drink, which was also milky and smooth. It is quite expensive at $6.40, but it was good enough to make me want to try their other lattes. Pumpkin Cheesecake Slice: Sooo thick but so delicious. Definitely something that you'll either want to couple with milk or the like, share, or not eat in one sitting. Kouign Amann: This seems like one of their most popular pastries, but I didn't like it to be honest. It tasted like a denser croissant, a bit dry and not as flaky or buttery. I didn't taste the vanilla sugar. Scones: All of the scones had a good consistency and were flavorful. I liked the Pesto Gruyère and Feta Za'tar scones; wasn't a fan of the Marzipan Orange scone. Matcha Ricotta Pound Cake: The flavor of this was very good, but the pound cake was dry. Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie: Solid cookie. Delicious flavor and crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside.I'd rate everything that I ordered a 4/5 overall because there were some misses and they are on the more expensive side, but I'm bumping to a 5/5 because the service was stellar. The person who took my order was so sweet and patient."