Bistro 5 in Medford - excellent Italian

Wow, what a great place! We loved the decor and the food was excellent! Our waiter told us that they make everything in house. We started with a meat antipasti which was quite tasty, especially the foie gras pate' in a tart shell with preserved kumquats on top.

H had the rabbit with (one) giant blue gnocchi and excellent sauteed young artichokes and L had the veal Milanese, but what really made the dinner was the specially ordered side dish of homemade spaghetti, some of it died black with squid ink! Yum!

For dessert we had strawberries with zabliogne and a quartet of chocolate treats.

Great service to boot and pleasant vibe to the place.

With wine and one espresso it was something like $130.
Kind of pricey but worth it!

Next time L wants to try the special butter you can order!

Blue Stove at Nordstrom's

It was our first time at Blue Stove and we were impressed. H had Ahi Tuna Stack and Artichoke Placha and loved them both. L had crab cakes and veggy risotto. The risotto was big and very good. The crab cakes were good but maybe not worth the $12.

We split a blueberry lemon tart, which wasn't bad but I wouldn't order again.

Good bread & free iced tea refills.

H wants to ask for aioli next time with the artichokes!

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We've been back a couple of times. One time we sat at the counter overlooking the food prep area. It was quite nice to watch them work, and they gave us a small delish salad for free!

The chicken tacos everybody mentions are very good.

The butterscotch pot du creme was an excellent dessert!

I found the grilled asparagus and mushrooms too lemony.

Crispy orange chicken was good, but H wouldn't order it again.

Cheap Shiraz was enjoyed by both.

Minado in Natick

Okay, Minado is not exactly Bedford area, but we like it!

My only complaints are that the tables are too small and they charge you $1.50 for basic tea.
We saw a guy get a specially made(?) nori cone of salmon and avocado.

Bring your own teabags for covert 2nd+ use!!

Szechuan Chef's Restaurant in Chelmsford

We went to Szechuan Chef's Restaurant in Chelmsford for the first time on New Year's Eve. There were 6 of us and we had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. The mixed drinks were TERRIBLE!
It was funny, we would try and order a dish and the waitress would say, "Not tonight, kitchen too busy!" She even said that about Scallion Pancakes.
The food we were able to order was good. Unfortunately for some of us, the dishes expected to be spicy were totally devoid of fire. They were still tasty, though.

Easy parking.

I read online that you can ask for dishes that aren't on the menu, so we'll go back and try again.
Hopefully they'll have a better bartender then!