Anna's

Anna's fucking carnitas fucking burrito.  Goddamn we're talking DOS MANOS with this one Motherfucker. Basically the size of my forearm, this burrito was one of the best things I've ever ingested.  Somtimes I'm all about quantity over quality depending on how hungry I am but this one delivers on both ends of the spectrum.  Again from the Coolidge Corner area, this place is a great walk in mexican joint.  I took this one to go but would have no problem sitting there.  If you're a fan of mexican food then you simply have to visit Anna's (Pronounced "Ah, nahs") in one of their few taqueria locations around the city.  I had the luxury of going with a sixteen year veteran who grew up with Anna's and gave me the go to dish, the monstrous carnitas.

How exactly am I supposed to eat this thing?  It is bigger than a small child and looks like i'd need at least two stomaches to eat.  Fortunately for me I eat like a barbarian and was able to takle it, but in many cases this thing is two meals worth for some people.  The carnitas inside was the best pork I've had yet, I couldn't resist getting all the addons of stuff I can't pronounce.  After having this you'll never settle for some cheap mexican food again, this family owned joint cares about their stuff and you'll know if you pay them a visit.

Dok Bua

Goddamn I love Thai food.  Ever since I first went to Khao Sarn I've been willing to try anything, but I'll be toning it down with some variety soon in the blog posts, you'll see.  Anyways, Dok Bua, this place is great.  Weird ass plates with some sort of lazy susan thing going on, with all of your food arranged in a circle with soup in the middle.  The price you really can't beat here.  Its cheap, under $10 and no matter what you get its going to be good from what i've heard.  Dok Bua is located on Harvard Street about a five minute walk from Coolidge Corner, look for the green awning.  Walking in this place is a legit Thai kitchen, everybody is on the move cooking and moving around, the smells are fucking fantastic.  From the menu I went with the chili chicken, combining two of my favorite things.  I had no idea how exactly they would combine the two things but I gave it a shot.  It also came with two sides that I had to pick from so I went with the trusty tom yum soup and a couple of roll-like things, I forget their exact name though.

Really nice stuff here.  Sweet and spicy dipping sauce on the side, some eggroll like things up top, my old friend the monolithic rice baseball makes another appearance.  A big bowl of tom yum soup in the middle, some cucumbers hanging out dangerously on the side, and then there's the chili chicken piled on at the bottom.  First off, I'm able to go ahead and compare the tom yum soup with that from Khao Sarn, and its pretty good, I'd say its a bit spicier but im not a big fan of the mushrooms and this one was way more mushroomy even though it was a bigger bowl of soup.  If you dig mushrooms then you'll be right at home here.  Moving on, those eggroll things were crunchy and that dipping sause was a great compliment.  The same can be said for the chili chicken.  I never imagined putting this in a blog so I kind of messed the shot up but the chicken was really tender and had a think chili encrusted outside.  Dip that in the sweet sauce on the side and that was crunchy and smooth.  Every time I've been here this is what i've ordered because its just that good.  So yea, Dok Bua, Thai Food, its been real.

Haru

Haru is right under the Prudential Center along Huntington between the Cheesecake Factory and the Stop and Shop, and its a pretty amazing place I must say.  The atmosphere was great, I remember it seeming pretty fancy when I walked in, there was a fountain, little lighting and this laid back blue theme going on.  It was hard to describe but it was nice.  Off the menu I went for my goto meal, you know, the spiciest thing on the menu.  This meant some chicken and asian salsa, whatever that was. ..

The plate comes out and DAMN thats a lot of chicken.  And we've got some garnish over there, woa don't I feel special now.  Theres this isosceles puddle of god knows what, and it has waves in it.  I remember wondering how they made that pattern for the longest time and then then I just gave up.  The chicken was great, a real filling meal right there.  After the first piece I went ahead and tried dipping the second into the puddle of mystery and I totally regretted it.  Whatever it was, it was by far the spiciest and hottest thing I have ever had the pleasure to destroy my mouth with.  I'm pretty sure it was created in a lab somewhere, where its constantly being made more potent each day.  Something so awesome could've only come from rigorous science.  Anyways, In the end this place was pretty good, just if you're looking to try something new, beware of the mystery goo!

Yasu

Have you ever eaten at some place where you're just thinking, what the fuck is this thing on my plate?  Well, welcome to Yasu!  Walking into this place I thought I was in some kind of Indiana Jones meets the Rainforest Cafe set, it was freaky.  On top of that they had some Itunes soundtrack looping of covered James Bond themes, so it was a strange atmosphere but in the end a pretty good time.  Right up the Beacon Street past Coolidge Corner you'll find this place, the low lighting makes this Japanese Korean "BBQ" seem pretty scary but its cool once you step in.  I remember ordering the chef's lunch box, thinking I was going to get some Jackie Chan inspired tin box with a Pokemon thermos, instead I got this:

I guess lunchbox just means they divide the foods up for you. And the chef's lunchbox means its basically whatever the fuck he wants to make is what you're gonna eat.  So here I am, knowing some strange korean chef made some random stuff and threw it in a box for me to eat. What is this??? I've got some salad, some Cali rolls up there in the corner to complement the monolithic rice baseball, some bloody potato shish kabob in the lower left some strange meat thing in the middle and bbq chicken on the right. And to top it all off, CHOPSTICKS.  Great! I've never eaten with chopsticks before, How am I supposed to eat this strange shit without a fork? I thought this was America! Anyways, I found out that when you're really hungry and you've got no fork in sight you learn to use chopsticks real fucking fast. Frankly, I don't remember all of these different foods in much detail besides for they were damn tasty.  Everything tasted incredible and new in some way.  Before this they even had small Korean style appetizers that included eight small dished of kim chi, seaweed and a bunch of other things.  All in all if you're up for some crazy new and intimidating food, you'll have about twelve different things to choose from if you grab a lunchbox from Yasu.

Khao Sarn

I had no idea that a random picture I took in March 2011 would eventually lead to an entire food blog so I might as well start from the start and go ahead and review Khao Sarn in Coolidge Corner.  This place is solid when it comes to Thai food.  Before eating at Khao Sarn I can't say I cared much for food from around the world because I could always grill some burgers, or find some shitty pizza joint to scoff some slices.  So if you're looking for something new, something SPICY and cheap then this is it.

That right up there is the chicken basil dish and damn was that shit colorful!  I order this and i'm expecting some kind of big spicy piece of chicken and instead it looks like I ordered some freak of salad dish.  And why is does my rice look like baseball? What is that lemon doing there?  Anyways, so I start chowing down leaving my rice to stand there monolithically when I realize that THIS SHIT IS FUCKING SPICY. Yea, I guess those red chilis next to each item on the menu, mean to show how hot it was. So now i'm sweating while eating all the peppers, mushrooms, basil, chicken and rice, everything tasted great so no regrets.  Unlimited refills on drinks is your best friend even it if is just water.  All in all this thing was a downright flavor-gasm and a solid choice for anyone willing to try out Thai food for the first time.

And did I mention it came with soup?! Tom yum soup is typical soup that is served before most meals in Thai cuisine so I thought i'd test it out. I was given the option of either tom yum or tom ka gai soup.  One was hot and spicy and the other was coconut soup so why the fuck would I get coconut soup? I manned up and went with this tiny bowl of tom yum spicy deliciousness.

When you factor in that all of this ran me less than $10 will free refills on water, free soup AND a pretty high quality thai dish I can't help but give this place high praise.  The waiters/waitresses don't speak much english so they just give you that I-don't-know-what-you're-saying-i'm-just-going-to-smile look, which is totally cool with me.  Give this place a shot, Khao Sarn, at the corner of Harvard st. and Longwood Avenue.

COMING SOON!