Sofra Bakery & Cafe in Watertown

Dish Mom came into the city one day to meet me for lunch. I had been dying to try Middle Eastern-cafe Sofra in Watertown, but knew I needed a car to get there, so I figured this was the perfect time.

Sofra has one of those menus where I wanted to try EVERYTHING. In fact, the party I'm planning for tonight, filled with different Greek-style "meze," was inspired by my trip to Sofra by their meze sampler, where you can buy a few different appetizers like beet tzatziki or Moroccan carrot salad. They all looked amazing. 

Dish Mom and I were swayed by their selection of stuffed flatbreads, though, folded and cooked on a saj, a griddle commonly used in Lebanese cooking. I went with the lamb shawarma with pickled cabbage, tahini, and yogurt (pictured left) while Dish Mom tried the creamy eggplant, goat cheese, and leeks. We shared both.

While on the smaller side (these are not Hot Tomatoes/Au Bon Pain style massive sandwiches-- thank God), these were PACKED with flavor.  The lamb was maybe the best sandwich ever (I know, I've been saying that a lot. But let me clarify: Mike & Patty's serves the best "standard" sandwiches, while Sofra let's say has the best "different" sandwiches). The braised lamb literally melted in your mouth, and the pickled cabbage added a sassy tartness that I loved. 

We couldn't leave without trying one of the decadent-looking pastries. And then when we were ordering, we decided we couldn't leave without TWO of the decadent-looking pastries. 

We tried the chocolate hazelnut baklava with cocoa honey and the "bee-sting", a flaky pastry with honey and nuts. Both were out of this world good. 

Looking at the menu again right now, I'm actually getting anxious that I need to get back and try some of their other options. That's how good it was. 

Walk. Drive. Run. Segway. Do whatever it takes. But definitely go visit Sofra ASAP for a unique twist on the classic pastry-and-sandwich cafe. 

Project Muffin 2009

A few weekends ago, I embarked upon what I called "Project Muffin:" I spent one Sunday making muffins with my new muffin pan. The impetus? To make enough muffins that would be a healthy grab-and-go option for breakfast (and keep me from ordering those 500 calorie monstrosities at Dunkin).

As you may have realized from reading this blog, I'm not a huge baker, so this was a very different undertaking for me. All the measuring, the baking soda, the flours-- oy vey! Not to mention the fact that I realized halfway through I didn't even own regular sugar! But I managed to sub in brown sugar quite nicely.

My first muffin I attempted was the espresso banana walnut muffin recipe from Heidi Swanson's book, Super Natural Cooking:

My sister in law gave me this cookbook for my birthday, and I had been dying to try out a recipe from it. The photos are beautiful, and her emphasis on whole, natural ingredients is very thorough and informative.

Here's a link to the recipe. It was straightforward and easy to follow, but boy did I make a mess of my tiny kitchen! I guess baking involves a lot more counter space (that I don't have) than cooking:

Yikes! =)

Here are the muffins before going into the oven:


And the muffins after!

YUM! The walnuts definitely were the best part of these, plus I loved the earthiness from the coffee flavor. One morning I warmed it up and served it with a spoonful of peanut butter, which sounds weird but was awesome.

Next, I cleaned up my area and started on the next muffin recipe: Blueberry banana muffins, a recipe I found from Self magazine. So my first muffin was healthy in a Whole Foods, organic way, and the second one was healthy in more of a low-fat, low-calorie way.

I must've been running out of steam from all the baking, because I have fewer pictures of the process of making this second muffin, but here's the final product:

These were good warm, but didn't hold my attention over the course of the next week like the espresso ones did. Plus, they didn't hold up well, either. In fact, I left my apartment for the next weekend and came back expecting a stale and hardened muffin, only to find one that was completely MUSH. EW.

In conclusion, at first after the long afternoon of schlepping home pounds of flour from Whole Foods (I can't wait for the days when I grocery shop with a car, sigh...), and then making a mess of my apartment and cleaning it all up (twice), and sitting in a hot apartment, I swore to myself that this was not worth it. However, now that I've run out of the muffins, I'm starting to think about resurrecting this project this weekend...

I mean, I already have most of the ingredients! Might as well, right!? ;)

The Battle of the Cupcakes (part I)

While I was in New York visiting my brother, he took me to a bakery which he claimed had the best cupcakes in the city. No, it was not Magnolia's, which he thinks is wildly overrated (can't comment on that myself, as I've never tried one). It was Billy's Bakery in Chelsea, and he was right; they were to die for.

Perhaps it was this amazing experience that got cupcakes onto my radar, because ever since then I can't stop thinking about them... And since being back I've tried two of the "top" cupcake contenders in Boston: Lulu's Bake Shoppe on Hanover Street in the North End, and Rosie's Bakery (multiple locations, but I stopped at the one in Chestnut Hill).

You may be skeptical, or even morally opposed, to a bakery on Hanover that isn't Italian, and isn't Mike's Pastry. However, Lulu's is a delightful little 50s inspired shop and is exactly what you would hope for in a bakery-- bright, cheerful, and filled with whimsical treats as far as the eye can see. We got just a simple vanilla w/ vanilla frosting cupcake, but it was far from ordinary. The cake part was moist and fluffy, and the frosting was buttery and creamy without being overly sugary. It had a lot to live up to from Billy's, but it not only held its own, it gave them a run for their money.

A few weeks later, I treated myself to a cupcake at Rosie's Bakery. I was craving that buttery frosting and that soft cushiony cake that I had enjoyed at Lulu's and Billy's. However, I was not as happy with this one. This time I opted for the yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but it was too rich for my taste. The chocolate was overwhelming and was a dark chocolate as opposed to milk chocolate which I had been expecting. The cake was soft but not nearly as fluffy as Lulu's. And while atmosphere should not be a part of my decision for cupcakes, Lulu's adorable interior I think actually did add to the enjoyment of a nostalgic treat like a cupcake.

The winner of this battle? Lulu's Bake Shoppe.

PS Part II of the Battle of the Cupcakes will be Party Favors vs. Kick-ass Cupcakes. . . stay tuned.