Restaurant Review: Sweet Cheeks Q

Mar 20

Posted by

I love barbeque. Of course, I’m completely spoiled because Howard has a genuine Klose smoker from Texas and makes some very fine meat. However, when you find amazing barbeque out, you have to take advantage, especially in the winter months when Howard’s smoker rests under a tarp.

Last fall, I read about Sweet Cheeks Q, which was going to open soon in Boston, near Fenway. One evening, after an afternoon spent in Boston, we stopped by for an early dinner. The restaurant turned out to have been open for only two weeks. What an wonderful surprise. I have to admit that we’ve returned 3 times since November. Twice for dinner and once for lunch.

This is Texas-style barbeque, rubbed with flavor and smoked long and slow. It’s served without sauce, but the meat plates are served with slices of white bread that fill with meat, pickles and onions, and slide through the sauce of your choice: tomato, vinegar, or hot.

So far, we’ve tried the pork belly, pulled pork, brisket, and ribs. They were all tender and lovely, though I think the brisket is my favorite. I’m not a big fan of brisket, but Sweet Checks Q brisket sold me. All the meat is from local farms, sustainably raised, just like what we try to eat at home.

As much as I’ve enjoyed the meat, I think it’s worth the trip to Sweet Cheeks simply for the sides. The two that I think are to die for are: Cita’s broccoli cheese casserole and the farm salad. Cita is the chef’s mother and the casserole is a mix of tender broccoli and a sort of puffy cheese mixture. The farm salad is seared Brussels sprout leaves and arugula tossed with candied hazelnuts, cooked faro, and grapes and a shallot vinaigrette. I could eat an entire bowl of just salad. The mac and cheese is pretty good too, similar to the broccoli casserole with noodles for the veg.

Leftovers have come home with us on all our trips so far, but on our latest visit, we finally tried dessert. We got the giant nutter butter which is a large peanut butter cookie that everyone at the table shared .

I don’t like to take pictures of my food in restaurants, so you’ll have to visit and see for yourself. So, before the Red Sox season opens, I strongly suggest you get yourself over to Sweet Cheeks and try it out. Get there early. On our two dinner visits, we arrived ridiculously early (before 5:30 pm) and the restaurant was packed by 6 pm. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

Posted in Restaurants

3 Comments

Tags: ,

french fridays with dorie: cheese soufflé

Mar 16

Posted by

This week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie was Cheese Soufflé. I’m not sure I even ate a cheese soufflé before. I know I never made one. However, eggs and cheese are two things I love, so in spite of the intimidation factor that goes along with souffle, I was excited about the challenge.

Whenever you read about soufflé, there are a multitude of warnings about avoiding big thumps in the kitchen while it’s baking and being sure the diners are seated before you take it out of the oven. Couple that with the fact that I always find beating egg whites downright scary. I’m never sure about the distinctions between the different descriptions of “doneness”. For this recipe, I wish there had been a video version.

I had a soufflé dish, but it was smaller than the one called for. That was OK because it was just the two of us for dinner and I knew leftovers weren’t going to keep for this one. So I made two-thirds of the recipe.

First, you make a béchamel sauce, which was something I’m comfortable with. Dorie has you strain the sauce which I did, but thought was an overly-fussy step that I will skip next time. Then you beat in the egg yolks and stir in the cheese. Now it’s time for the scary eggs. I used the stand mixer and beat them until I thought they were firm, but still glossy. Then it’s time to fold the egg whites into the mixture. I still had some white bits showing but Dorie said that’s better than overmixing.

Now, the soufflé goes into the oven. Here’s where I went a little off track. I was making a smaller soufflé, but I wasn’t sure how the adjust the baking time. Mine was smaller, though obviously bigger than the individually sized ones on the next page in the cookbook which cook for 25 minutes. I baked mine for about 25 minutes and then carefully opened the oven to check.

Bella Admires My Souffle

The top was a gorgeous golden brown, and it seemed firm but slightly jiggly. So, I thought it was done. I quickly spooned it onto waiting plates. Oops! Only the top two-thirds of the soufflé was perfectly cooked. The bottom third was still runny. How to recover? Pop the remaining mixture back into the oven to at least cook for another 10 minutes, and immediately sit down to eat the cooked part.

Despite my timing mishap, we deemed the soufflé a success. It wasn’t as difficult or time-consuming as I had assumed. It was also delicious. I might be going out on a limb, but I actually could see making this on a weeknight. With a simple arugula salad, this was an elegant supper.

This is one reason I participant in this group. What a pleasant surprise to discover something so frightening at the outset was highly doable! I’m thrilled. Click here to see what my fellow Doristas are up to with their cheese soufflés.

We don’t post the recipes, but consider getting your own copy of the book, Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.

Next week we’re making Cocoa Sables, an amazing cookie that even a non-chocoholic like me adores.

Posted in French Fridays with Dorie

19 Comments

Tags: , ,

← Older Posts
Newer Posts →