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Aarushi

@foodbasedmemories

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Eating my way through the cities I visit.

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Almost the grand finale on birthday dinners was a pleasant surprise - I actually enjoyed @seasoncambridge. I was prepared to not like it and write it off like most of the famous concepts in the city (hi Urban Hearth, Guilia, Fallow Kin). But this was good! Every dish is packed with unexpected flavors that catches you with a smile on your face. My only feedback would be to temperature check the dishes before they leave the pass - the lamb was barely warm when we got it - and allow the creativity that underscored the savory menu to spill onto the dessert side which was uninspired. by @foodbasedmemories

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4 months ago

I had an inkling my flight was going to be delayed out of DC. So, I had to find a restaurant that would allow me to enjoy a meal without rush, indulge me in conversation, and not be too crazy. @thedabneydc was exactly that. I sat right when they opened and had the most wonderful three hours at their bar, becoming friends with the bartender and the wonderful couple to my left who had dined here over twenty times. The Dabney is not trying to discover a new wheel. It knows what works. And it knows that people value a good meal over theatrics and new flavors that treat customers as test hamsters. No new flavors, but everything was cooked beautifully and I had no complaints. They even made me enjoy peanut butter (I do not like peanut butter). by @foodbasedmemories

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4 months ago

Birthday dinner at @albiwashdc was so good, I’m not even mad about having to spend it in DC on a work trip. The food is incredible. I am in love with their lamb preparations which start out so strong with the sfeeha and get even better with the kebab and kefta on a cinnamon stick. This was my first time trying a tartare that wasn’t Western and I have been missing out. The tuna and pea kibbeh naya was the perfect summer hand roll bite. The oyster and fish fell flat for me, they felt like kind of muted background actors suddenly thrust into a lead role, but couldn’t compare to the others in the line up. The desserts were light, earthy, and the perfect way to end the meal. Huge shoutout to their FOH team for the kindest birthday card!! by @foodbasedmemories

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4 months ago

When All Well opened, I had a very strong feeling I was going to love it. And I did. This is the best meal of the first half of 2026. It marked the start of my birthday celebrations in the city I consider home (on this side of the world). It is fine dining in a non-fine dining atmosphere, with a very lively (and sometimes loud) bar area that makes for great eavesdropping (I listened in on a bachelor trip to Japan being planned!) Service is incredibly warm, and had a very solid storytelling flair. In hindsight, I have incredibly solid favourites that would make for the perfect five course (as they envisioned it), but the elongated menu was such a treat. My chief complaint with Oriole is the lack of an innovative pastry/dessert program and it follows through here too. But the highs of this meal are so incredible I could almost dismiss that the great dessert wasn’t innovative. Some standouts were the sunchoke beignet + foie waffle, scallop, pasta with toast, and sablefish. by @foodbasedmemories

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4 months ago

dinner at @mezcaleriaalma is the closest I’ll get to enjoying a house party, and that’s okay because the chef’s counter was a hoot and a half. the signature tuna tostada is incredible with that hidden chilli oil/crisp. the aquachile was really deep and flavorful with the uni! the marlin was fried goodness, with that lovely hot sauce. BUT the star of the show was the koji mushroom rice with Mexican yogurt and duck egg. yes, add this to my death row dish shortlist! tres leches was good, no surprise. go back, ask for Owen, chef takes great care of you! by @foodbasedmemories

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7 months ago

Everyone! Go! To! @stowawaydnvr. Everyone wants to get their Colorful Colorado, which is good, but hear me out. The Asa Gohan and Yuzu Waffle were the stars for us. We wiped all three plates clean. by @foodbasedmemories

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7 months ago

Went to @nightshadenoodlebar a few weeks ago, and it was good (pleasantly). I am very glad I tried this out, it makes me hopeful for what Boston could offer. meal had high highs and lows. standouts were the uni crème brûlée (incredible) and foie gras rice cake with cherry (melts). everything else generally errs on being good but probably won’t remember it after a few months.

But I’m very surprised at the lack of a take home copy of the menu with the dishes we were served (or just any menu to commemorate the meal), the over reliance on rice cakes which got boring after a dish, no clear transition course from apps to mains, and not very clear explanations around how to best enjoy a dish. by @foodbasedmemories

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7 months ago

Denver food happy hour crawl! Went to A5 for their HH only burger and regular menu tartare. Both good, nothing spectacular. But @xiquitarestaurante was incredible. Their in-house masa program is so good. They welcome you with warm tortillas and butter (I want this to be more ubiquitous). The tostada was refreshing, but the meat in the tacos was sublime. Only thing I would change is add some liquid-ish contrast to the tacos. by @foodbasedmemories

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7 months ago

Denver, you were delicious! Went to @sapsuarestaurant and had a great meal. We started with the hamachi collar, followed by the DREAMY eggs, then the shrimp cakes, grilled cabbage, and rounded it all out with the banana pudding. I can fully understand why this restaurant is packed on a Wednesday night despite being nowhere close to office crowds. Our bartender had just started, so service was a bit patchy. by @foodbasedmemories

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7 months ago

first date night of the year was a very interesting experience. i had heard a lot about urban hearth and how their intentional sourcing leads to some of the most incredible dishes. however, our experience was far from that. the service is patchy. our plates weren’t cleared even though there were so plenty of residue from prior dishes, which literally resulted in us having to eat off the plate we were served on. we were seated by the window which seemed to have a large draft, and the space heater didn’t help much (albeit thoughtful).

the food…was a rollercoaster. we started off on a decent footing with the biscuit, which while dense, was accompanied by a very good miso butter. the second was the scallop crudo which while good lacked acidity and saltiness.

the third was the duck rillette which was objectively a terrible dish. the sourdough was drowning in butter and lost all character of its own. the duck rillette tasted…like cheap canned meat. it tasted like nothing, and had no body. the blueberry, mustard, and tomatoes were great but could only save the dish so much.

however, the fourth and fifth dishes were great. the kimchi pancake with shaved brussels sprouts was a stunning and complex dish. it had the most interesting dollops of sauce and crunch from pepita. every bite felt like a new dish, in a positive way. the fifth dish was the juniper rubber swordfish which was perfectly cooked. the accompaniments were solid, but didn’t work well with the fish. but the perfect cook on the fish easily forgives and blurs away everything else going on with the grapes and parsnip.

all rising tides fall… and the fall of the dinner came with the dessert. it was a kabocha squash and buckwheat icecream tart, and while it was a good tart you couldn’t really discern the squash or buckwheat. we spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to press the spoon through the tart give how frozen it was. and at $12, it was half a tart which was barely two bites a person (and we took small bites).

overall, it felt like almost every other Boston restaurant. some standouts that carry the restaurant, or maybe its the strength of hope in locally sourced ingredients [continued] by @foodbasedmemories

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9 months ago

some bites stay with you. best bites of 2025. incredible year of eating. by @foodbasedmemories

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10 months ago

lovely lovely food and vibes. LOVED the desserts, tartare (the most unique spice kick bc of the herbs and nuoc cham), pork steak (this dish was actually a love letter to turnips and wow blew me away), and swordfish (cooked perfectly, simple flavors, well executed).

I will say some of the dishes didn’t wow me, but were still good. For instance, I was very excited about the sambar curry with the squash but the spices felt diluted, even though the squash was great with the tamarind leaf and pepitas. Or the clams dish where the coconut broth wasn’t too flavorful but clams and bread were fantastic (I slurp most broth but this wasn’t it). The cornbread was a tad bit overhyped - it was good but nothing out of the ordinary. by @foodbasedmemories

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10 months ago