KDay's Cookie Quiz

I got 19/25--fairly respectable. And yes, now I want to eat all of those cookies. When spring break is over, we'll be back in questing mode.

A Cookie Quiz!

The internet officially has everything. Try the "Name the Cookie from the Picture" quiz on our favorite procrastination website and see if you can beat Melanie's score - 18/25. Beware: this quiz will make you want to consume one of each of the 25 pictured cookies immediately.

More Cupcakes!

A few days ago, Mel emailed me to tell me a critical piece of information: the Boston Globe has updated the list of cupcake shops in Boston to try. Mel and I are extremely dedicated questers, so this means we have no choice but to try these new places. When I replied to her email I told Mel that for the sake of QUESTING:Boston, we had to ingest massive amounts of sugar. We simply could not call ourselves true questers without continuing to conduct our cupcake research.

Now, the cookie quest is not yet complete, so trying out these cupcake shops is in addition to our ongoing quest. As Mel and I are experts, we think that we can handle two quests going simultaneously. Sidenote: Now that moot court is coming to end, I will have more free time to quest, which my sweet-tooth will appreciate, but my wallet and waistline may not.

Accordingly, look forward to blog posts about the follow cupcake places.

Monumental Cupcakes at JP Art Market

Isabelle's Curly Cakes

Lulu's Sweet Shop

And because Mel and I loved the original cupcake quest so much, we may use this as an excuse to return to two of our favorite places, Sugar Cupcakes and Kickass Cupcakes.

Crema: Best Accidental Quest Ever

Today is kday's birthday, so this post is going to be partly about Crema and partly about my terrific questing partner in crime, who is currently at her moot court competition in New York.

On Sunday, kday and I decided to go quest. At 5:00 p.m., after I had spent all day working at school and she had been mooting all afternoon, she came up to my office. She told me it was time to put down the Bluebook and eat some cookies. She said we could either go to High Rise Bakery in Harvard Square or one of the places downtown. I felt pressed for time and stressed about the coming week, so told her I wanted to go to the one in Harvard Square because we could drive and park and it wouldn't take as long as messing around with the T. We drove to Harvard and immediately upon arriving in Harvard Square, found The Best Parking Spot On The Planet. If you've ever driven to Harvard Square, you know that this simply does not happen. Even better, we didn't have to feed the meter. My stress began to melt.

We walked to High Rise Bakery, which sits just off the square on Brattle Street, and it was closed. Did my questing buddy or I think to check the hours? Of course not. Coffee shops are always open, right? But High Rise seems to be an actual bakery - the kind where flour-covered men come to work at 4:00 a.m. to bake actual loaves of bread - and so I guess their clientele really aren't the 6:00 p.m.-on-a-Sunday-cookie-quester type of people. 

This photo is from www.cremacambridge.com, obviously.
When we were there it was cold and dark, but the cafe was
all lit up and cozy looking. 

But kday was not to be quest-busted. We walked into Burdick's, home of the most delicious hot chocolate on the planet and lots of very fancy looking pastries, but no cookies. (Pats self on back for exercising restraint and not buying nine cups of hot chocolate). We walked into some weird vegan place, but no cookies. I got out my iphone. We googled "best bakery in Harvard Square" and came up with a list of places. Crema Cafe was about a block from where we were standing and we decided to give it a go. We got to Crema and were delighted - not only did they have chocolate cookies, but they also had seating and a pretty cozy coffee shop vibe. We purchased our cookie ($1.75!) and sat down in 2 empty seats at a large communal table. 

I took this one but no, those aren't our espresso cups. 

Crema was started in Cambridge for Cambridgeans, that much is clear - the menu contains walnut aoli and fancy PB&J, among other Cambridgey things. On their website they state that they wanted to create a "third place" between home and work where people could go and "meet, chat, sip, read, write, watch, think, taste and enjoy" in between all the other obligations in life. We sat there and did all of those things for about an hour. We caught up on what had been going on in both of our lives, talked about The Impending End Of Law School, and did a little bit of good old fashioned gossiping. We went on a secret  side quest right afterwards, which involved several fits of giggles. 

The cookie at Crema was delicious - very buttery, crispy on the outside and rather cakey on the inside, with milk chocolate chips throughout. It was a healthy size, perfect for sharing. But the real delight of this quest was that it exemplified the reasons we started questing in the first place. First, we were both stressed at the beginning of the quest - me with my Bluebook, she with her mooting - and put it aside to spend part of the evening together.  Second, when our quest didn't go according to plan, we found a terrific new spot that we will certainly go back to. Third, we spent longer than we thought we would chatting and catching up, suddenly oblivious to the stress that could have derailed the quest earlier on. Fourth, the evening ended in fits of giggles. 

So on your birthday, kday, I want to thank you. Thank you for telling me to put down the Bluebook and quest with you every week. Thank you for being someone I can tell my secrets to. Thank you for making law school more bearable. Thank you for giggling with me. Next year, when I have to continue Questing Boston all by myself, I will think of you all the time and miss you a lot.

Happy Birthday to the best questing buddy on the planet! 

Kilvert & Forbes: Barely Baked Brilliance

Getting into Quincy Market is a challenge, there's no doubt about it. First, there's usually some acrobatic group or mime on stilts or untalented group of middle schoolers playing brass instruments in front. Giant groups of people inexplicably stop to watch whatever it is that's going on, even though they don't really want to. It's best to stick out your elbows and push through these people because they're generally tourists and aren't in the same rush that you're in to get into the market. They must not know all the delicious stuff that's in there, because I have no idea why any reasonable person would rather watch a very quiet man on stilts than eat cookies and clam chowder and lobster rolls. Even if you successfully get into the market, you still have to get past the slow moving crowd that congregates around Starbucks. Despite the fact that these tourists ought to be properly caffeinated and a little quicker than the mime-watching tourists, they are still very, very slow. But it's okay, because you can see the beacon that marks your destination:

Cue the harp music, it's Kilvert & Forbes Bakeshop. Now, the Forbes part of Kilvert & Forbes refers to John Forbes Kerry, Massachusetts' esteemed senator, relatively awkward presidential candidate, and co-star of the best Jib Jab video ever.   In 1976, Senator Kerry was practicing law, which he apparently found "quite predictable and very boring." He thought that owning a bakery would make things better and so he and his business partner opened a bakery in Quincy Market, named it after their mothers, and ta-da! Kilvert & Forbes was born. Their sweets were baked according to family recipes and apparently, the new owners (Maggie's Sweets) still use them to this day.

Now. Senator Kerry. I was dismayed to hear that you think being a lawyer is predictable and boring. Kday and I have been promised thrilling adventures and epic suspense by our respective future employers, so we're not sure what you're talking about. *Cough* [Reconsiders career plan]...

We do, however, agree with you on one crucial point: COOKIES ARE A GREAT IDEA. Always. More to the point, Senator Kerry, your mom really knew her stuff when it came to cookie baking. Look at this spread! Now, I have to confess. I have been a Kilvert & Forbes cookie monster since before I moved to Boston. Every time I came up from New York (the other place where they keep all my favorite foods), I would purchase an M&M cookie. Indeed, this cookie quest was directly influenced by my desire to see what other cookie magic Boston had up its sleeve. At any rate, our chocolate chip cookie was delicious. We took it to my house, where we shared it with Drew.

It had a very nutty flavor, as though it had been baked on a pan that had just held some of the walnut cookies, all of which had a truly spectacular amount of walnuts on them (in a "would you like some cookie with your walnuts" kind of way). The chocolate chip cookie was oh-so-perfectly baked, soft and bendy in the middle and crispy on the outside. I still prefer the M&M cookies to the chocolate chip cookies (and certainly to the low fat options that Maggie and her misguided friends have introduced to the shop - ptooie!) but the chocolate chip cookie was still excellent. At $3.25, it was a bit expensive, but it was giant and easily shareable so that made up for it.

Moral of the story: If you are in Quincy Market, be sure you shove past the tourists and get yourself a cookie at Kilvert & Forbes. Tourists leave Boston, but cookies are forever.

Boston Chipyard: Cookies We All Can Make

Two Fridays ago, Melanie and I set out to Faneuil Hall for what was going to be one of our most epic quests ever. Our plan involved not one, not two, but three cookie shops in one outing. There were two reasons why we were feeling so ambitious. First, Faneuil Hall is far away from where we live, so it just seemed the most convenient to do all the cookie shops there in one outing. Second, we did double-features for cupcakes, and we are always looking to one-up ourselves, so doing three in one evening seemed like the next logical thing to do.

Upon getting to Faneuil Hall, we first bought a cookie from Kilvert and Forbes. Melanie will write a full post about that extremely delicious cookie shortly. We then set out for the Boston Chipyard. Tucked away in the back of Faneuil Hall is this cookie shop. After trying to purchase 3 chocolate chip cookies (we were being thoughtful and buying one for Mel's husband), we learned that you can only buy them by the half dozen or dozen. So we got 3 chocolate chip cookies, 1 oatmeal chocolate chip, 1 peanut butter chocolate chip, and 1 double chocolate cookie.

We then set out for the third cookie shop, only to find that it was closed. With our three-cookies-in-one-night plan foiled, we set out back into the cold to Mel's apartment where we ate dinner and then began enjoying our cookies.

Quite simply, the Boston Chipyard is selling something that you don't have to buy. The bite-sized cookies had a crunchy texture and just weren't that delicious. After taking one bite, I said "this tastes like something that came out of my oven, and that I overcooked." Now, I'm not a terrible cook, but I'm not trying to make my living selling cookies. If law school doesn't work out, I guess I could consider this career change....But right now, that is neither here nor there. I don't want to spend money on something I could make. As Mel and I discussed these mediocre cookies, Mel yelled "there's only one chip!!" I looked at her, and she held the evidence in her hand. There was only a single chocolate chip in Mel's cookie. That is completely unacceptable. A good chocolate chip cookie has the correct ratio or cookie to chocolate, and a single chocolate chip is just insufficient.

If you're in Faneuil Hall and craving some sweets, you can skip the Boston Chipyard. It's not worth the caloric intake. Instead, walk over to Kilvert and Forbes and buy a much larger, more delicious, and more unhealthy cookie there that is worth all the calories.

The Chocolate Chip Cookie: A Bit of History

The epically snowy winter is putting a damper on our questing but never fear, loyal followers. We'll be back at it once there is no longer a blizzard every week (literally). In the meantime, I thought I would research the chocolate chip cookie.

We got the idea for this quest from this website, which lists the 50 Most Fattening Foods in the 50 States. The chocolate chip cookie is the most fattening food in the Commonwealth (at least according to these people) and I've got to say that alongside things like "livermush" (made of pig head parts, from North Carolina), Eskimo Ice Cream (involving reindeer fat and seal oil, from Alaska), and the "Luther Burger" (donuts + meat, from Georgia), Massachusetts made one of the better contributions to the American waistline. Sidenote: My home state of New Mexico contributed frito pie to the list, which would make a really great quest. At any rate, look at the slideshow. It will make you want to brush your teeth and go to the gym.

Back to the quest at hand.

The Toll House Inn 

The chocolate chip cookie is a "drop cookie," as distinguished from molded cookies, pressed cookies, etc. It was invented, like most delicious things, by accident. Ruth Wakefield owned the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts and she stumbled upon the recipe one day. There are conflicting accounts of her motivations (thanks, Wikipedia). One story, propagated by Nestle, indicates that she was trying to make chocolate cookies and ran out of baker's chocolate. She substituted broken pieces of chocolate and hoped they would melt into the dough and, voila, the chocolate chip cookie was born. She apparently sold the recipe to Nestle in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate chips (good cook, bad businesswoman). Story #2 gives Wakefield more credit as a cook - she was already the author of a cookbook and no stranger to the melting properties of chocolate, and would never have thought they would melt into the dough. Apparently, the "accident" occurred when the vibrations of a mixer caused a bag of chocolate to fall into a batch of cookie dough and only the protestations of a savvy employee (obviously the source of story #2) kept Wakefield from tossing the whole batch into the garbage. Either way, Toll House Cookies were born. GIs asked for them in care packages, people wrote letters to Wakefield asking for the recipe, and the national chocolate chip cookie craze began with a bang. Then we all got fat, which brings me to the 1990s.

In 1997, a third grade class from Somerset, Massachusetts proposed that the Commonwealth adopt the chocolate chip cookie as the official state cookie. The legislature, after many long hours of debate and tastings, obliged. The state beverage (cranberry juice), state bean (Navy), state dessert (Boston Cream Pie), state donut (Boston Cream), and state muffin (corn) welcomed the chocolate chip cookie into the fold.

And here we are! Questing for the official state cookie of Massachusetts is a fitting final quest for kday and I, who will soon part ways (she will take up residence in the home of the BLT and I will stay here and continue eating my way through Boston). We are excited for our adventure, which will include a day of face-stuffing at Fanieul Hall, where Boston keeps many, many cookies (including John Kerry's favorite) so stay tuned!

Clear Flour Bread: A Clearly Delicious Cookie

Upon her first bite of a chocolate chip cookie from Clear Flour Bread, Melanie said, "Wow, this quest can end now. We found the best cookie in the city." Now, we wouldn't be professional questers if we declared Clear Flour Bread the winner without thoroughly investigating many other cookies in the city, but let me be clear: the bar is set high for all future cookies. Anytime on this quest we eat a cookie less delicious than this one, we're going to wish we had returned to this neighborhood bakery and shared a chocolate chip cookie again.

Clear Flour Bread is a quaint bakery near Packard's Corner. The smell of baked bread wafted outside, and the cute young, male cashier's who waited on us had a flour-covered apron. After we both selected a loaf of bread, we ordered one chocolate chip cookie to split (see picture below for approximate size). Since there was no place to sit inside, we ate the cookie in Melanie's car. After all, it's January in Boston and it's freezing outside, so we had to make-do with what we had.

Clear Flour's cookie was divine. The outside had a perfect crisp while the inside was soft and chewy. The rich buttery texture and smooth, milk chocolate chunks resulted in a cookie that just melted in your mouth. Rarely have I ever had a cookie that had such a perfect combination of crunch on the outside and gooey deliciousness on the inside. Despite the size of the cookie, I immediately wished I had purchased an entire one for myself. I'll run it off in marathon training---right?

As this is our first stop on the cookie quest, we should cover some ground rules. No ranking until we're done, and we will discuss the texture, taste, size, and type of chocolate for each cookie. Bonus points going to things like ambiance and other intangibles. Clear Flour Bread scores extremely highly for everything related to the cookie, and the only negative we had for the place was that there was no inside sitting. But honestly, if it were warmer outside, we probably would have overlooked that entirely because we were so enamored with our cookie. The take-away folks? Get to Clear Flour Bread immediately.

Melanie's Gelato Rankings

Again, sorry for the delay. I've been busy passing semester #5 of law school. I'm still working on one paper, actually. It's due "on Christmas Eve, sometime before Santa comes." Way to ruin Christmas, professor. No, really. Thumbs down.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand: GELATO. I do not dispute Kday's overall rankings, so I thought I'd break things down for you by flavor.

First, however, I do have to restate that Angelato is the overall winner by approximately a million miles. I can't wait to go back. Athans was the clear loser, despite the fact that their drinks and seating and spinach pastry thingies have helped me to pass 4 semesters of finals (we're still crossing our fingers on this 5th semester, but Athans helped this time too).

Here it goes: Gelato rankings by flavor!


1. Chocolate: That stuff at Piattini is the runaway favorite, despite the cost. If you're looking for something less...intense (or cheaper), I would recommend Bon Bon (for a cocoa flavor) or Rita's (for classic chocolate flavor).



2. Vanilla: Definitely Gigi.



3. Hazelnut: I didn't do a great job describing the hazelnut at Gigi so I don't remember how good it was, but I just can't give the win to Cafe Paradiso (because we had to pay so much and because they hang witches near the tables). If I had to do it again, I'd try the hazelnut at Angelato, which I'm sure is delish.

4. Other: The wacky flavors at Sapori di Napoli were good (even my giant hunk of chocolate fudge was good), as were those at Angelato (obviously) and Bon Bon.

5. Ambience: Rita's has great ambience if you'd like to study or have a deep, brooding conversation with your gelato-eating mate. Bon Bon has a great ambience if you would like to feel as though Sesame Street and an M&M factory exploded in your face. The best ambience for my money, however, is the greenway near Gigis and near-ish Sapori di Napoli and Cafe Paradiso. There's no better view in Boston and the people watching is fabulous.

That's all she wrote, folks. Stay tuned for another semester of questing - until then, Merry Chrismakwanzukkah/Festivus and Happy New Year!

KDay's Rankings

Sorry for the delay with this posting, but Mel and I are law students and sometimes we actually have to do work. But the gelato quest is complete and below you will find my rankings for the best gelato in Boston.

1. Angelato

2. BonBon

3. Rita's

4. GiGi

5. Sapori di Napoli

6. Piattini

7. Caffe Paradiso

8. Athan's Bakery

Athan's is ranked low because of flavor issues while Caffe Paradiso and Piattini are near the bottom mostly because of cost. Angelato wins out because the flavors were spectacular and the price was perfect. Stay tuned for Mel's rankings--I think we differ on a few. And with that, KDay's gelato quest is complete. Despite gelato being healthier than ice cream, this quest was still extremely caloric and delicious.

Eating Dessert First!

Hello “QUESTING: boston” Readers! I was so pleased to be a “guest quester,” due in part to the fame it is sure to bring, but also (mostly) because I knew even if the gelato disappointed, the company definitely would not.

After deciding that yes, even with my Type A personality, I could eat dessert before dinner, I set out with Kday and Melanie to Sapori di Napoli, but, as Kaitlyn mentioned, it was closed. Fortunately, we were in the North End, where there is no shortage of gelato!

We headed across the street to Napoli Pasty, where we were able to select from many brightly-colored flavors! I debated trying one of the fruity selections, but after Kaitlyn chose turtle, I decided to select a flavor that also included chocolate so that I would not have “gelato-envy.” The scoops got progressively bigger as the scooper-man filled our cups, so Melanie, having selected last, ended up with a huge scoop!

My oreo gelato had a good ratio of oreo chunks to cream and the little plastic spoon moved well through the gelato. (I was told by the expert questers that this is a sign of authentic gelato.) There were a few ice chunks in my gelato, but for $2.50, this was a flaw with which I could definitely deal.

The most impressive thing about this gelato experience was definitely the enormous chunk of salty fudge that comprised about 75% of Melanie’s scoop. As we chatted about bar passage rates (there’s no way we are going to be part of the 9% of “Passachusetts” bar takers that fail, right?) we attempted to tackle the salty fudge chunk, but alas, even between the three of us we could not finish it.

Thank you, Kaitlyn and Melanie for allowing me to crash the gelato quest – I hope I can score an invitation to join you on your third quest!

Napoli Pastry: Questing on the Fly

On Friday afternoon, Mel and I, along with our second guest-quester Sarah, set out for Sapori di Napoli. This was our final stop on the gelato quest. For you avid readers, you will remember that Mel and I tried once before to sample the delicious gelato at Sapori di Napoli, but we found that it was being renovated until October 18th. As Friday was November 5th, you can just imagine our surprise (and disappointment) when we arrived at Sapori di Napoli to find the exact same sign on the door. So we did what any dedicated quester would do: we improvised. We walked across the street to Napoli Pastry (as this hand-written sign told us to do) and tried the gelato there.

Looking across the street, we saw a delightful sign that made us think that the gelato at Napoli Pastry would still be a delicious. Once we were inside, the flavor selection did not disappoint. After staring into the display case for awhile and learning that you could not get more than one flavor in each scoop, we made our selections. I chose turtle, Sarah chose oreo, and Mel tried moose tracks. Despite being limited to one flavor, each scoop cost only $2.50, so we were pleased and ready to again, ruin our dinners by eating dessert first.

My turtle gelato was a bit soupy texture-wise, but flavor-wise, it was spot on. The caramel flavoring was decadent without being overly sweet and the cashew pieces in the gelato were a perfect salty compliment to the dessert. Sarah, our guest quester, will write about her experience with the oreo gelato. Spoiler alert--it was delicious! Mel's moose tracks gelato was a bit confusing. For our first few bites, all three of us greatly enjoyed Mel's choice. The vanilla base of the gelato was very flavorful and the chocolate swirls and peanut butter-chocolate pieces were delicious. However, half way through Mel's gelato scoop, we found one, huge chocolate piece that quite literally, was the size of 1/3 of Mel's cup (see below). This discovery basically meant that there was no gelato in the cup and it was mostly just a scoop of salty, fudgy chocolate. While the chocolate fudge chunk was tasty at first, it ultimately overshadowed the gelato altogether. Not to mention that it just didn't look very appetizing.

We were a bit disappointed to be unable to try Sapori di Napoli, but luckily, Napoli Pastry is owned by the same people, so it was an acceptable substitute. With this last minute substitute, the gelato quest is complete. Some 5000 calories and 8 stops later, our second quest is done. After Sarah's post, be sure to come back to learn which gelato shop in Boston was our favorite.

Bon Bon: Hidden Gem

After a questing hiatus (during which we had some very involved halloween costumes to make), we're back! This Tuesday, kDay and I ventured out once again in search of the best gelato in the Hub. On Mass Ave., between Berklee School of Music, the Boston Symphony, and the massive Christian Science Center, is Bon Bon. The first thing we saw was the display case which was easily the most impressive yet:

A real pumpkin! Half a coconut! A slice of apple pie! A cup of coffee beans! Real Cinnamon Toast Crunch!

No fake fruit here, folks. This is some serious commitment.

We tasted a few flavors (yes, the Cinnamon Toast Crunch tasted exactly like the cereal, yes it reminded me of Saturday mornings circa 1990, and no we did not get a whole cup of it) and settled on 6 flavors between the two of us to cram into our cups.

Each cup looked small, but the friendly Bon Bon employee packed those puppies with so much gelato that neither of us finished our servings. (Dinner was totally ruined, obviously).  kDay chose chocolate peanut butter (with real Reese's Pieces, shown above in the upper left hand corner), coconut, and fudge brownie (lower left hand corner). I chose mint straciatella (upper center), vanilla (lower right), and chocolate (upper right).

We retreated to a very retro sitting area to eat our gelato. It had twirly bar stools made of red, glittery plastic that I would have liked a lot in 1990 (and, let's be honest, really liked on Tuesday). Once we sat down, we realized we were in crazy town.

Why hello, seventeen thousand Sesame Street stuffed animals and all the colored M&Ms you could ever want. It's nice to meet you.

Even though the decor was pretty strange (see below), the gelato was surprisingly delicious. kDay's fudge brownie was the clear loser of the day, only because the gelato was not so fudgy. Despite the pieces of real brownie, it wasn't a properly chocolatey experience to justify such a chocolatey name. The chocolate peanut butter was everything kDay had hoped it would be, in addition to having Reese's Pieces in it (no, we're not gelato purists). In kDay's cup, however, the come-from-behind winner was the coconut. It had the texture that Angelato's educational materials raved about and just the right amount of coconut mixed in.

The vanilla was shockingly yellow, which was a little suspicious but it tasted delicious. Strong vanilla flavor and a great texture give Bon Bon's vanilla the edge over Gigi's vanilla for me, although kDay is resolutely still giving Gigi the win. The chocolate should have been called cocoa - it tasted just like cocoa powder with sugar (delicious but unexpected) and I spent some time puzzling over whether I liked it. I've decided that chocolate gelato comes in three types - the Piattini type (death by gooey fudge), the Standard type (exemplified by Rita's and tasting like chocolate ice cream), and the Bon Bon type (darker, cocoa flavored). I have decided that I can take or leave the standard type but really like the more unique chocolatey flavors. kDay seemed to dislike the cocoa flavor which meant more for me. The last flavor in my cup, the mint straciatella, was perfectly executed. Not too much mint and lots of crunchy chocolate bits made it really tasty and unique - every other straciatella we've seen has had a white/vanilla base.

I just have to come back to the decor though. Big Bird, meet your new neighbor, the hooded skull-in-a-dome. You better lean away so that he can't eat you. Just lie right down on that bear. Push Elmo into the corner. Look natural though, Big Bird. LOOK NATURAL.

Despite the wacky decor, I was pleasantly surprised. Who would have known that some of the best gelato in the city was in a Sesame Street themed acid trip of a store across from the home of Christian Science? Who knew that there was a place you could sit on sparkly stools as a grownup? Who knew they were still making Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

This place definitely gets a big thumbs up from us. It's right off of the Hynes Convention Center T stop, so you don't have to go all the way into the North End. And they've got a pretty sweet view!

Hello questers,

Drew here, with a belated post on Angelato. In the past week, KDay and Mel have increasingly been accusing me of being a 'bad guest-quester' and have threatened that unless I posted vit-vit, I wouldn't be enjoying any quest-related goodies anytime soon. So that got me off my rear (on the couch), on my feet, and back on my rear (at the computer desk).

Both KDay and Mel have waxed poetic at length about Angelato and I have to say that I fully support everything they have said about the place so far. During the quest, I had two roles. First, I took photographs of the occasion. Second, I loaded up the handy-dandy notepad function on my iphone and took notes on the things KDay and Mel said as we took in the atmosphere and took in the gelato. I therefore, present to you, the original "questing notes". Mind you, these were written on the fly. When KDay and Mel get to talking about gelato, they don't stop (except to eat more gelato). That means I had to type as fast as I could just to keep up, and as my iphone made auto-corrections, I didn't bother to go back and fix them.

Quest

Oct 15

It's like a fall harvest (cider)

I didn't even need to tell thou. It tastes

just like a reward pent butter cup

Consistency is perfect light and fluffy

Were coming back here

This is like the best hilarious I've eve

had

Drew you've picked the right gelato

quest to come on

3 dollars for a perfect portion

Kday got a penutenutter and original

chocolate

Mel got cinnamon and pumpkin pie

Drew apple cider and mocha crunch

Mocha flavor is not overlee coffee

It was worth the drive

This has been delightful absolutely

delightful -Mel

"Gelato is the fine wine of frozen desserts"

All right readers, first I have to clear my name. I was the driver that made the wrong turns, the u-turn in the construction zone, and who executed the "pretty poor parking job." Thanks for throwing me under the bus, questing buddy. BUT, the getting lost was not my fault (my navigator gave me faulty directions), the police officer in the construction zone could not have cared less about my u-turning, and the parking job was as good as could be expected when there was freaking gelato to be eaten. Ahem. Back to the real purpose for my post, which is to wax poetic about the tastiest gelato this side of Firenze.

To start: the flavors. On the left, we have kday's cup of peanut butter straciatella gelato (on top) and chocolate gelato (hiding). In the middle is Drew's cup with apple cider sorbetto (on top) and mocha chip gelato on the bottom.  On the right, we have my fall-themed choices, cinnamon (on top) and pumpkin pie (hiding). Kday already gave you her thoughts on her flavors and I don't want to steal Drew's thunder, so I will try my best to stick to my own flavors here but - let's be honest - we did a lot of sharing.

I've never been sure how I feel about cinnamon flavored things (the fault of Big Red gum) and have always felt that cinnamon lends itself better to warm items than to cold ones, but the woman in front of me in line had just ordered a whole quart of cinnamon gelato, which made me think it must be pretty tasty. So I ordered it. After my first bite, I knew that my feelings on cinnamon had changed. Do you know how sometimes, when you're eating inartfully made apple pie, you can feel the cinnamon specks on your tongue? And how when there's too much cinnamon in something, you feel the immediate need to brush your teeth? This gelato wasn't like that at all (obviously). It was smoother than smooth, not too sweet, but also not too cinnamony. It made me envy the Eskimos and all those words they have for ice - there just aren't any words in the English language to describe how delicious this stuff was. And then I got to the pumpkin pie gelato, which had two equally delightful parts: pumpkin gelato (again, perfect consistency, not to sweet) and bits of actual pumpkin pie. The whole thing was an autumnal explosion. Delicious.

The thing that really set this gelato apart from the rest of the stuff we've tasted (even more than the quirky yet perfectly executed flavors) was the texture. Angelato says: "To enjoy your gelato to the fullest, try pulling your spoon through the product. At the correct serving temperature your gelato should be soft enough that you can do this easily, but not so warm that it is melting." I dragged my spoon through my gelato and it was perfection. The death-by-chocolate at Piattini was too runny, kday's chocolate peanut butter at Piattini was too cold, and all the stuff that dripped all over our pants in the north end was also too drippy. Angelato though, true to their educational materials, had the perfect texture. I'll never be a wine connoisseur, but I will be a gelato connoisseur - Angelato also says that "gelato is the fine wine of frozen desserts."

So thank you Angelato. Even though I am a disaster who can't park and who gets lost on Greenough Boulevard and breaks laws with impunity in front of police officers, you came through for us. You are the clear winner in my book (pending completion of the quest, but probably the clear winner anyway).

Oh - I almost forgot. Each cup cost three dollars.

Yeeeaahhh!!!

Angelato: To be enjoyed with gusto!

On Friday, Melanie and I along with our guest-quester, Drew, went to Angelato in Belmont. After making a few wrong turns, including a U-turn in a construction zone in front of a police officer and suffering through a pretty poor parking job, we arrived at our questing location. Immediately upon entering this gelato shop, we were in love.

Staring into the gelato case full of deliciousness, we couldn't decide what to order. After sampling the pumpkin pie and cinnamon gelato, it was so good that we decided we needed to organize. It was decided that the three of us all needed to order different things in order to maximize the number of flavors we could try. This was a good quest to have a guest-quester because we tried 6 flavors. I ordered peanut butter cup stracciatella and chocolate. Melanie chose pumpkin pie and cinnamon, and Drew ordered apple cider and mocha chip.

As soon as we started eating, Drew seemed surprised by our enthusiasm and our ability to wax poetic about gelato. My peanut butter cup stracciatella tasted exactly like a Reese's Peanut Butter cup in frozen form. It was divine. There were good size pieces of chocolate and streaks of peanut butter in a nice vanilla-based gelato. When I shut my eyes and ate the gelato, it was like tasting peanut-butter and chocolate heaven. I'm not exaggerating even in the slightest. The chocolate gelato was also delicious. It tasted like a fudgesicle and had a very smooth consistency. Our dedicated readers will know that nothing will ever top Piattini's dark chocolate magic, but this gelato had a solid, original chocolate taste that didn't disappoint. It was on par with Rita's.

As I was shoveling my gelato choices into my mouth with a colorful and appropriately sized spoon, I noticed a laminated placemat that had the history of Angelato's gelato and expressed the establishment's love for Gelato. Angelato's mission statement is now officially adopted into the gelato quest: Whether the flavor be traditional Italian, otherwordly exotic, or home grown American, we always remain true to the artisan tradition of producing products with love that are intended to be enjoyed with gusto.

As we sat in Angelato's, we enjoyed our gelato with gusto. Because we loved this place so much, each quester (even our first guest quester!) will write their own comments about their flavors. Get excited for what awaits you, as I described Drew's apple cider gelato as tasting like a fall harvest and Melanie's cinnamon gelato mixed just the right amount of warmth and heat into this cold dessert.

Belmont is a bit off the beaten path, but trust us---run (or drive), don't walk to this delicious gelato shop. You too can eat gelato with gusto!

The Polls are Closed

Despite the fact that the polls say they are open for another 80 days, they are now closed. Why? Because Melanie and I said so. We are the questing czarinas, so we do what we want. Plus, we don't really anticipate getting many more votes. I guess only 20 or so people read this thing. But that is neither here nor there because the important thing is that chocolate chip cookies won. This will be a delicious quest, and Melanie and I are equal to the challenge. Thank you for your participation. Also, we are thankful that chowder did not win. How could we possibly make an entire blog about fish soup? Our comments would be limited to the following: too fishy, not enough fishy-ness. That would have been a boring blog. We are confident, however, that we will have lots of say about cookies.

Below are the possible locations for our chocolate chip cookie quest. The list is subject to change and will likely be trimmed down to 8 locations. Any suggestions for the final list would be appreciated.

Clear Flour Bread

Flour

Boston Chipyard

Kilvert and Forbes

Rosie's Bakery

Quebrada

True Grounds

Hi-Rise Bakery

Parziale's Bakery Inc.

Sweet Tooth Boston

Burdick Chocolates

Even though our next quest is taking shape, we still have a few more gelato shops to sample and we are headed to Belmont on Friday to try Angelato. We are confident that we will accomplish our goal of completing the gelato quest before the first snow, which is important because even though we support gelato-induced brain freezes, we dislike eating gelato when the temperature is actually below freezing.

Cafe Paradiso

On Thursday, Kday and I met in the North End to test Cafe Paradiso's gelato. We arrived at the cafe to find several men speaking Italian and watching sports on television. It felt pretty authentic even though the decor of the cafe oscillated between sporty:

(Go ... Albania?) and seriously strange:

For those of you who are confused, this is part of a (real) tree with witches hanging on it. I know we're in Massachusetts and I know it's close to Halloween, but I just don't know how I feel about this bit of decor. There was also a fully stocked bar (seven flavors of limoncello anyone?) staffed by a middle-aged Asian bartender, which you just don't see a lot in the North End.

We sat down and received menus. We asked the waitress how many flavors we could get per order and she told us that there was only one size available and that it included three scoops, each the size of a golf ball. Twist my arm. I ordered Nocciola (hazelnut, per tradition), cappucino, and vanilla. Kday, in a leap of faith, had chosen tiramisu (which looked a bit pre-chewed) and "cookie creme" (which looked like cookies and cream ice cream but only if you were squinting). For her third scoop, Kday asked the waitress for her favorite flavor. The waitress recommended, "zuppa inglese," which contained vanilla gelato, rum, strawberries, and panettone. Kday paid no mind to the fact that the name means "English Soup," which sounds revolting, and includes several ingredients that don't sound like they belong together. Bold choice, questing buddy.

Despite small-but-metal spoons and whimsical parfait glasses, our gelato surprised the heck out of us for being not three golf ball sized scoops, but three baseball sized scoops:

Whoa, nellie. Talk about ruining your dinner.

The vanilla gelato had a nice consistency, but it was nothing to write home about. Gigi is still the winner on the vanilla front. The cappucino was delightful and, according to the menu, award-winning. The nocciola was the best I've had yet. I thought, after Athans, that I would be morally opposed to non-smooth hazelnut gelato, but the nocciola at Cafe Paradiso proved me wrong. While the Athans "chunks" were really some species of almost-but-not-quite pulverized hazelnut, the chunks in this nocciola were real chunks and were, therefore, acceptable. There was also some sort of caramel ribbon, which was a nice counterpart to the chunks.

Kday's tiramisu was excellent, despite looking pre-chewed. It wasn't too boozy but still had a rum flavor and tasted like a gelato version of the real thing. The "cookie creme" tasted "like a blended oreo" and therefore got rave reviews from the chocolate monster who ordered it. The third scoop, the mysterious zuppa inglese, was our least favorite in the dish. It tasted a lot like rum (in addition to ruining her dinner, kday risked getting seriously sauced with two baseball-sized scoops of boozy gelato) and the cinnamon in the pannetone clashed horribly with the strawberries. Blech. Way to lead us astray, otherwise-nice-waitress.

Despite our best intentions, neither of us succeeded in eating our own weight in gelato. Even though we didn't clean our dishes, we were feeling pretty good about the whole experience. And then we got the check. The menu didn't include a price for the one-size-only gelato serving and, what with being so overwhelmed by the decor, we didn't ask the waitress either (mistake).

So when the check came and we each owed $6.98 (plus tip) we were understandably peeved. What gives, Cafe Paradiso? You expect us to pay $7 for the only size of gelato you have? Without telling us? And when your flavors include boring ones (vanilla) and gross ones (english soup)? And when you're hanging witches from a tree next to our table? If it weren't for your tiramisu and your nocciola, I would bite my thumb at you. As it is, I'm quite miffed and probably not coming back. If we do come back, Kday and I will share one dish of gelato and there's nothing you can do about it. And your English Soup flavor is gross. So there.

Reader Poll!

We're almost at the halfway mark of the gelato quest and have turned our minds to the next adventure. Please vote one for one of the options in the poll (right above the "Followers" link).  If you vote for "other," please leave a comment to this post explaining your brilliant idea.

By way of information, our hot chocolate quest would be loosely based on this one from the Boston Globe (but without the $42 chocolate bar, sadly). The donut quest would resemble this list provided by Lynne S. on Yelp. The chocolate chip cookie quest and the chowder quest would be up to our imaginations (and yours) since no one seems to quest for these things.

But mostly, dear readers, we want your help in brainstorming the perfect next quest (or three). We're ready to do this once a week for the rest of the school year, so we need lots of ideas. Our questing criteria include (1) cheap and (2) delicious. With that in mind, cast your votes!

Rita’s Café: A Hidden Gem in Brookline

Yesterday afternoon, Melanie and I continued our tradition of ruining our appetites for dinner by eating dessert first. We quested to Rita’s Café in Brookline, and immediately upon entering the shop, we knew one thing: we would be coming back.

When we walked into the quaint coffee shop, we were kindly greeted by a man who spoke limited English. It didn’t matter. He fully understood that we wanted gelato and he was quick to get that gelato to us. After looking into the display case and pondering one scoop or two, Melanie and I both made our orders. Melanie ordered one scoop of chocolate and one scoop of raspberry, and I got one scoop of chocolate and one of vanilla. We both tried to get one scoop, split into two flavors, but this was lost in translation. But it didn’t matter—as we soon discovered the gelato was delicious and two scoops a piece was perfect. He took our orders, and we waited at the counter for gelato, but then, he directed us to take a seat. We followed his kind orders, and we found a table in the charming and nicely decorated shop. This place even has an exposed brick interior wall. We soon saw him bringing out gelato to us in glass polka-dotted bowls complete with real, metal spoons, and we knew that Rita’s was one classy establishment.

We dug into the gelato with enthusiasm and with the best spoon yet. It was ¾ of a normal spoon size and metal, whereas all of the other spoons to date were cheap and disposable plastic ones. Melanie’s raspberry tasted like sorbet, rather than a true gelato. It had a strong flavor and an intense raspberry color, and she was pleased with her order. The gelato was light and almost fluffy, but she did long for a more creamy consistency. We both ordered a scoop of chocolate, and both of us were very pleased. Melanie aptly described the flavor as “an intense fudgesicle.” While no chocolate gelato will probably ever compare to the dark chocolate heaven we ate at Piattinis, if someone wanted a true and original chocolate, I would direct them to Rita’s. Both of us ate ever last bite of the chocolate gelato in our dish. My vanilla gelato was just average. It tasted just like ice cream. It was creamy and had a vanilla flavor, but it did not have the flavor intensity or lightness that I so enjoyed at GiGis.

After we had eaten to our heart’s content, it was time to pay. Paying for this gelato further confirmed to us what a delightful spot Rita’s Café really is. Two scoops cost just $3.50 a person. While paying, another employee asked Melanie and I if we would like a sample of a new milkshake they were making. The recipe was still in the experimental stage, and he wanted our feedback. We obviously accepted the offer, and we slurped down our chocolate, peanut butter, and banana milkshake offering him all of our thoughts (less peanut butter, more milk, use smooth peanut butter rather than crunchy). Good thing Melanie and I are so opinionated! He really took our comments to heart and after thanking them profusely for the gelato and the bonus milkshake, we got on our way.

Now, no post about Rita’s Café would be complete without this piece of information. Rita’s does not make their gelato onsite; rather, they buy it from Sapori di Napoli (that place in the Northend that was closed last week when we tried to go there). Learning this made Melanie and I very excited to go to Sapori di Napoli in the near future, and we have promised not to repeat any flavors on that quest. Even though we cannot score Rita’s on their gelato making ability, the shop gets perfect scores for its ambiance and the experience as a whole. We both want to go back and get lunch or dinner from this café and then order some gelato for dessert.