Three Gorges

Well, we're still working our way through the restaurants close to the Arlington reservoir. This week we opted for Chinese food at Three Gorges (not to be confused with Three Gorges part 2 by the DQ in Natick). We knew this restaurant had to be good after one step inside - they had so many plaques and awards proudly displayed on the walls. Even "Voted Number One" printed on the menu! Number One what was a bit ambiguous.

They had some sort of lunch deal - your choice of soup, a spring roll or crab rangoon, and a main dish for about $7. I ordered hot & sour soup, crab rangoon and sweet and sour chicken. Ray got the same soup, two spring rolls and Kung Pao Beef.

Our food was ready amazingly fast (~3 minutes). Then we headed out to our classic lunch bench on the reservoir. I didn't think the soup was that great, Ray finished his, but said it was very different than hot & sour soups that he's tried elsewhere. I enjoyed my crab rangoon, it had a very crispy shell with a pleasantly creamy filling. I enjoyed the flavors of my entree, though the chicken was definitely covered in way too much sauce. The to-go containers fortunately separate the rice from the main course, so if you aren't as stupid as I am, the sauce wouldn't be overwhelming. Yup, I stupidly dumped my rice in with everything else and stirred.... Ray seemed like he enjoyed his meal a fair amount, but I can't remember what it was so I can't comment much on that.

I would definitely vote for them to win the Honrable Mention for best Chinese food in Lexington again....

We don't have to come back here, but we wouldn't mind.

Mandy

Carey's Catch

This place is a small little fish market right on the edge of Lexington and Arlington. It was a little hard to find but was SO worth it. Definitely one of my favorite meals so far -- maybe even my favorite. Walking in, you'll notice fish fillets from a bunch of different fish laid out in a refrigerated case, plus a big tank full of lobsters. And as Mandy said, "This place smells legit." I had a very good feeling about the place.

We both got the lunch special, which included a fried fish sandwich, french fries, cole slaw and tartar sauce. It took a little while to get the food (about 15 minutes maybe), but that was because it was all prepared fresh right in front of us. Looking around at all the things on the menu and in the case already got me wishing I could come back, and then the smell of our lunches being cooked just added to that. It was hard to wait, but we took the food to-go to the Arlington reservoir for a little picnic. When we opened our boxes, we were both surprised by how much fish there was. Looked like there was actually too much to fit in the sandwich, but after sufficient squishing and squeezing I was able to get all the fish between the two perfectly-toasted buns. I added some tartar sauce and was prepared to dive in. My first bite told me that we need to go back there -- and soon! It was delicious, so delicious. I was in heaven for about 15 minutes. The batter on the fish was unlike any I'd had before. Usually you'll get a heavy, greasy fried batter that'll get you feeling full and sick halfway through your plate of full-bellied clams from Woodman's clam shack. But this fried fish was perfect -- I wanted two or three sandwiches by the time I finished mine. Fries and cole slaw were good; it's hard to mess those up. The tartar sauce really added to sandwich, too. It had a little garlicky kick to it. I think it was the final touch that made the fish sandwich so fantastic. Great work, Carey, if that's your real name. You've got yourself two new loyal customers. I know I'll be back soon.

We definitely have to come back here. Definitely.

- Ray

Ixtapa

The plan today was to go to Nick's Place, a deli, and then picnic by the Arlington reservoir. When I got there Mandy said she wasn't in the mood for sandwiches, though. Fortunately there were like 5 restaurants in the plaza, and I was feeling Mexican food, so we decided on Ixtapa. One of the first things we noticed was the plaque on the wall, declaring Ixtapa Lexington's best Mexican restaurant. Possibly their ONLY Mexican restaurant too ;).

They had a bunch of specials there, but one caught our eye. Being the little piggies we are, it was the "Choose Tres" special, which allowed you to choose three items (burrito, taco, enchilada, chimichanga, tamale, or chile relleno) and also included rice and beans. Mandy went with a burrito, taco, and enchilada, while I went with a chimichanga, tamale and chile relleno. We knew were getting a lot of food when we saw the size of the take-out trays they brought us. In addition to our meals, they gave us a brown bag full of tortilla chips and little containers of salsa (both seemed homemade). It was definitely a great little feast we had put together for ourselves. Mexican is Mandy's favorite "genre" of food, and one of my favorites too, so we were pretty excited. We were let down a little.

The food wasn't bad, but you could tell it had been sitting for some time and was reheated for us. I still enjoyed it -- it was tasty, though the quality declined as the food cooled off. We think the reason we enjoyed it probably had more to do with the type of food than the actual quality of the food. I don't want to put Ixtapa down too much, because it really wasn't that bad. I think the meal just didn't meet our high hopes. The tortilla chips were good, and the salsa was too -- though it was a little more watery than we would've liked. Overall, I'd give em a B.

We don't have to come back here... unless we're craving Mexican and then it's our only option.

- Ray

Via Lago

Mandy - Steak Tacos

Ray - Lunch Special

More to come

Marios Italian

Ray - Chicken Parm

Mandy - Spagetti - missed the lunch special

More to come

McDonalds

This McDonalds is at a rest stop... thus it has no dollar menu. Huge strike against it in my book. It's also very difficult to get to from the I-95S, you have to turn around and go N. But, we had to eat here since technically it's in Lex.

I got a double cheeseburger that was pretty standard, but more expensive than usual.
Normally, I only get Oreo McFlurries, but I had to make this trip out to the highway worth it, so I went adventurous and ordered a snack sized Reeses McFlurry. It was fine, the candy chunks were surprisingly large. I think I'll stick with Oreo from now on though.

Says Ray: I don't remember what I got but I'm pretty sure I felt sick afterwards.

Nourish

Ray - Smoked Chicken

Mandy - Cheeseburger

More to come

La Riviera Gormet

Ray - Lunch Special - stirfry

Mandy - Egg sandwich and baguette

More to come

Dunkin Donuts

Mandy - Snack Wrap

Ray - Flatbread sandwhich

More to come

Neillios Gormet Kitchen

Mandy - Chicken Parm panini

Ray - Thanksgiving Sandwich

Thomas - ?

Wagon Wheel Nursery and Farm Stand

Mandy - Tuscan w/ pastrami

Ray - Tuscan missing basil

More to come

Rancantore's Ice Cream

After the great pizza from Upper Crust, we decided to go for ice cream. It was such a beautifully perfect, sunny day that we would've been crazy not to. I got butter pecan, one of my all-time favs, and Mandy went classic with cookies-and-cream. It was a little expensive, but it was good stuff. It was nice and creamy with plenty of pecans. I was very happy. Mandy enjoyed hers too. It wasn't knockout ice cream, but it was definitely quality. All in all, it wrapped a fine day of eating in Lexington.

We have to come back here (mainly because we both love ice cream so much).

- Ray

Upper Crust

I've eaten my fair share of pizza, and I have to say that this was some of the best I've had. I got to Upper Crust a little before Mandy, so I ordered us a half-Hawaiian, half-mushroom pizza. Mandy loves Hawaiian -- I love mushroom... and Hawaiian, so win-win for me :). I didn't realize til later how large their larges actually are (18"!), so we ended up having a good amount of leftovers. The only strike against Upper Crust was that we stood around for about 20 minutes waiting for our pizza... only to realize that it had been sitting there for the past 10 minutes. Maybe they called our order and we didn't hear, I dunno. I guess we should have just asked after 10 minutes... it worked out, though, since the pizza was not blazingly hot anymore. It was just the right temperature.

So I know you're dying to know about the pizza. Well, the best part, as it always is with great pizza, was the crust. Perfectly crispy on the outside -- super soft on the inside. Great flavor, hint of burning. Then the sauce. Spectacular. Tasted like it was made right then and there. That was one of the great things about the pizza; everything seemed so fresh. Right amount of cheese and plenty of toppings just added to the goodness. If you can't tell, I really liked their pizza.

Mandy gets this at work every week, so it may not be that special for her. But I've got to say -- we definitely have to come back here.

- Ray

Lemon Grass Thai

Ray - peas, golden bags, curry

Mandy - chicken satay, coconut shrip, pineapple mango fried rice

more to come

Bertuccis

Caprisee salad

Mandy - Spagetti with meatballs?

Ray - lasangina

Avenue Deli

Mandy - mile high pastrami?

Ray - italian one with lots of meat and a nice red sauce

more to come

Dabin

Mandy - korean bbq

Ray - bibimbam

warm towels

more to come

Great Harvest

Grreeeaaat Harvest. Mandy had come to this place years and years ago when her family came to Lexington to watch a re-enactment of the "shot heard 'round the world" (i.e. the battle of Lexington). She talked about how amazing the bread was and all the baked goods. I was really excited. And they didn't let us down.

I got one of my favorite sandwiches -- the Thanksgiving sandwich (roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc). It's hard to go wrong with that. Mandy got a turkey sandwich with cheddar and a heap of veggies. Sandwiches were excellent, bread fresh, all in all a very good experience. To finish things off we got a giant cinnamon-swirl bread:

"The bites that were good were really good." -Mandy

Unfortunately, some bites were kinda dry, too. While not a complete knockout, it was still pretty good overall.

We could definitely come back here -- but we don't have to.

Ray

Marrett Square Deli

This deli is fine, the sandwiches had a lot of meat, the pickles were tasty, the bread wasn't anything special. It definitely feels like a family run sort of place - cash only, etc. There is one bench in the store and several high tables. Nowhere to really sit and eat though.

We don't have to come back here.

(Apparently this place is closed now though, so we don't even get the chance.)

Bruegger's Bagels

This kicks off the start of our great adventure -- to eat everything that Lexington has to offer us. Although, technically at this point we didn't know what we were starting, this was the beginning, the spark of it all.

It's hard to go wrong with a bagel sandwich, and we liked Bruegger's a lot the first time we went (especially the cinnamon sugar bagels), so we decided to go back. The first time we both got hot panini's and cinnamon sugar bagel, and we were both really looking forward to cinnamon sugar bagels again. But to our dismay, there was only one left when we got there. Being the gentleman that I am, I let Mandy have it. We both ordered Bruegger's special Maple & Sausage breakfast sandwiches -- mine on a french toast bagel and Mandy's on the cinnamon sugar bagel. They both were good, but Mandy's was better (she was good enough to share a bite of her's with me). The cinnamon sugar bagels are so soft and chewy and perfect; it went perfect with the Vermont Maple cream cheese in the breakfast sandwich. A+, Bruegger's. Nice work.

We definitely have to come back here (for the cinnamon sugar bagels).

- Ray