MJ Ready, Machu Picchu and more

[Joanie]

Tried MJ Ready, the Thai place in the Coolidge Corner arcade, a couple weeks ago and it was fine. I can't remember what I ordered, did it in advance of an appt. knowing that cooking takes longer there. It was a good amount of food for a small order of whatever i got, about $6.75 I think. And the ingredients seemed fresh, but obviously not the most memorable Thai I've ever eaten.

A friend and I tried the "nicer" Machu Picchu last week, mostly because she only eats fish and the chicken oriented one really doesn't have fish on the menu. I was kind of bummed to not finally get some of that famous chicken but the larger MP has quite an expansive menu. The atmosphere tho was pretty dreary, just empty feeling with unset tables and too much space. A large party left right after we got there and another one came at the same time, so there were some people but DC thought it looked kind of like PA's where we were going, and that's not a compliment. Plus it was freezing in there. If they hadn't put down the water and the little plate of corn kernels and sauce, I would have had her meet me at Sally O'Briens. I think she had better luck with her fish dish in a tomato-y sauce with potato and not sure what else. I got some beef dish with rice & beans. Meat was a little tough, fairly tasty, a good amount of food for $10.95. DC had a fancy coconut flavored drink for about $7 and I got an okay flan for $3.95. Service was nice but I'm definitely going to the chicken MP on the corner next time.

Took my nephew and niece to a movie at Fresh Pond and figured I'd finally try the Alewife Summer Shack after all these years. Pretty dead on a Sun. around noon. They gave us a booth that could fit 10 people so the kids liked that. The children's menu is the same as the adult which is kind of weird, corn dogs and fries were $6 on either one so not sure why they bother making a separate menu. I got some special oyster app that was supposedly 4 very large fried oysters served in shells with a certain kind of aioli and a corn puree of some sort, $9. It seemed pointless serving the oysters in these giant shells, maybe to give the look of more food. And I only got 3. They were pretty good, nice cornmeal crust, decent sized but not ridiculously or grossly huge. I definitely could have had 4. When the waitress walked away I said "She lied, I was supposed to get 4" and when she came back to ask how everything was, my niece goes "You lied". Embarrassing. Kids liked their corn dogs and pickles, tons of okay fries served with them and I had a good amount of those. They serve a lot of corn bread with good butter in advance. So not a completely successful lunch but i guess I'm glad I finally got there.

Made the annual trip to Cafe Polonia on Mon., only one other party was there that nite. We split the gypsy pancake and a pork dish. DC really wanted to get a blood sausage app but I just didn't want that as a main part of the meal (as opposed to a side for Irish breakfast or something). I was hoping for the Polish plate or stuffed cabbage but we got a pork loin stuffed with ham/cheese/bacon dish. I don't think the menu said it was going to be fried. And certainly didn't say it was gonna be over cooked. Man, that was one tough piece of meat. It came with either steamed veg or cold salads, we got beet and cabbage salads. And a little bit of both of the mashed and "cottage fries", she made them sound like they were something special but they were just normal fries. The pancake dish was great tho, good goulash in between the two crispy cakes (both mains were $16). One of these days I'll have one dish and a dessert, I was busting at the seams full after half the pancake dish and a quarter of the pork (and a little bread with that lard spread). It was enough to walk to work and skip the muffin for breakfast. Another day of healthy eating will finally negate the guilt of that meal.

[jajjguy]

Wow, that's quite a string of bummers. Better throw a sure thing winner in there for morale.

[digga]

We recently went to Alewife Summer Shack for a Sat lunch after checking out Mohr and McPherson. We live close by but for some reason, we never stop in. It was quiet at 3pm and we easily got two seats at the bar with college hoops on the TV, so we were immediately happy. My fish tacos were pretty good...I don't remember a whole lot honestly but they were fine. Especially with a couple of glasses of steely cold white wine. B liked his cobb salad that had a ton of crab meat. It looked really appealing, too, with very colorful peas, corn, etc. He ate it all up. Guess if we're doing stuff in the area and it's in between normal lunch and dinner hours, we will stop in again.

Too bad about Machu Picchu - we've never been, but B has gotten the whole chicken from next door and he can make a meal out of it for a week (the fries and salad are wholly forgettable). He's filled a tortilla with the shredded meat, eaten it over rice, in soup, etc.