What Boston Restaurant Items Do You Keep in Stock?

[opinionatedchef]

Do you have favorite Boston area restaurant items- entrees,sauces, snacks, desserts, that you keep on hand,often or almost always, in your freezer? RESTAURANT items, not market or grocery items! Here are ours:

Beef Empanadas- Tango in Arlington Center
Chicken Tikka Masala Sauce and Tomato Coconut Soup - Tanjore, Harvard Sq.
Pupusas Revuelta , Carne Asada, and Frijoles liquido- Montecristo Restaurant, East Somerville
Tortillas- La Verdad, Kenmore Sq.
Pork and Shrimp Dumplings, Wang's in Somerville
Crab Rangoon- Shanghai Garden, Arlington Center
Tamales- Machu Picchu Chicken and Grill, Union Square, Somerville
Beef Moussaka- Esperia Grill, Brighton
Chili- Deluxe Town Diner,Watertown, or All Star Sandwich Bar- Inman Sq.
Cornbread with Cumin Honey Butter- East Coast Grill
Roast Pork,Yellow Rice w/ Pigeon Peas, Okra, Eggplant - La Fe, Lynn
Truffle Vinaigrette- Aquitaine, So.End

-----
All Star Sandwich Bar
1245 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139

Wang's Fast Food
509 Broadway, Somerville, MA 02145

East Coast Grill and Raw Bar
1271 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139

Aquitaine
569 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02118

La Verdad
1 Lansdowne St, Boston, MA 02215

Tango Restaurant
464 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA 02474

Esperia Grill
344 Washington Street, Boston, MA

La Fe Restaurant
189 Union St, Lynn, MA 01901

Deluxe Town Diner
627 Mount Auburn St, Watertown, MA 02472

Montecristo Restaurant
146 Broadway, Somerville, MA 02145

Tanjore
18 Eliot St, Cambridge, MA 02138

Esperia Grill
344 Washington St, Brighton, MA 02135

Machu Picchu Charcoal Chicken & Grill
25 N Union St, Somerville, MA 02145

[Gabatta]

None

[kimfair1]

I always have some Pain de Mie from Clear Flour in my freezer. I currently have some H&H Bagels (from Bagels by Us in Arlington) in there, as well as one lonely package of excellent chorizo we bought at the end of the season last year at the Belmont farmers market.

[opinionatedchef]

are bagels from bagels by us- better than others you like? i've not had them.

[kimfair1]

Bagels by Us use H&H bagels from NYC, shipped frozen, baked in house in Arlington. I like them, though there are many ex-New Yorkers who don't. I've yet to try Rosenfeld's in Newton. My favorite bagel anywhere is at St Viateur bakery in Montreal.

[Science Chick]

Interesting thread.....but nope, none. Home time is cooking time!! :)

[MC Slim JB]

None. My freezer mostly contains staples like my own soup, chili, pesto and the like. Sometimes a bag of commercial XLB. Parmesan rinds. Ginger.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[LStaff]

I always keep a supply of fortune cookies, soy sauce, and duck sauce from Hon Dynasty in the back of my junk drawer. And I think I may have a two year bottle of vinegar sauce from Blue Ribbon tucked away in the side of my fridge somewhere.

-----
Blue Ribbon BBQ
910 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476

Hon Dynasty
922 Main St, Waltham, MA 02451

[Fly]

James River BBQ Sauce.

[LeoLioness]

I usually pick up a bag of frozen dumplings when I get takeout from Wang's in Somerville. That's about it.

[almansa]

Do you ask these restaurants for all of this to go?

[Jenny Ondioline]

It wouldn't even occur to me to bring home items from a restaurant to store at home.

[Nab]

This practice does strike me as a little odd too, though I guess I do always ask for an extra order of balachang at Yoma to sprinkle on everything and anything edible at home.

[FoodDabbler]

I do bring home leftovers all the time, since I often order more than I can eat. But I don't freeze the food. I carefully store it in the fridge for a few days, then I throw it away.

[Jenny Ondioline]

Well, yeah, leftovers. (Although I'm just as likely to accidentally leave them on the bus -- or even worse, at the table! -- as I am to actually get home with them.) I was just puzzled at the idea of buying something at a restaurant specifically to take home and freeze or otherwise store. I've genuinely never heard of that, and can't think of anything I would do that with.

[nsenada]

I try to reverse engineer some items for fun, I think early on I bought some inner beauty for that purpose. If Karo's sold their dressing in bulk, I would buy it.

[hargau]

I dont keep anything.. Freezer is for icecream, meats, ice, stuff for cooking and im not even a chef...

[MC Slim JB]

How much does Aquitaine sell its truffle vinaigrette for?

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[eatanddestroy]

The chicken patties from Le Foyer (Haitian Bakery).

[yumyum]

Hmmmm... very little online about this place. Do tell!

[eatanddestroy]

Here's a write-up I did years ago:

http://www.eatanddestroy.com/?p=29

It's shredded moist chicken in a very flakey dough. The chicken has a nice light spice and is very moist, probably was stewed. I usually add a bit more spice to them at home.

They are pretty slow there and the line is usually to the door so be ready to wait 10 minutes until you are at the counter.

[yumyum]

I googled a bit and found your old review -- seems like you were the first to find and write about this place. Thanks for the additional info. What spice do you add at home? Hot sauce?

I'm a sucker for patties and have never had a chicken one. Must rectify that.

[eatanddestroy]

I usually use whatever hot sauce I have on hand, but I don't use any that have a strong flavor (outside the spice) since I don't want it to overpower the flavor of the patties.

[FoodDabbler]

Sounds like a terrific place. Thanks. I assume they are still open.

Yumyum: if you like patties, go to India immediately. They are called "pattice" there, and you can get them in "mutton" (dry, slightly sweet, very hot goat filling) or chicken (creamy, black-peppery) form.

[Kunegunde]

I used to have Inner Beauty Hot Sauce. :(