Small Bites: Light Brunch @Sportello, Boston, MA

Back in October after attempting the NYC vs. Boston Food Truck Throwdown with little success, Erika and I headed over to Sportello for a quick bite.  
 
This was my first visit to the establishment.  The kitchen opening up to a diner style counter seating area (but more upscale) was nice and the large windows let in an abundance of sunlight.




The bakery in the corner seemed awkwardly positioned by encroaching upon the surrounding dining tables a bit, but I imagine it draws in a good number of customers looking to satiate their sweet tooth after a meal.

Our simple meal included the smoked duck+root vegetable hash with fluffy, creamy slow-scrambled eggs and the arugula and endive salad with avocado, radish, and pink grapefruit. Oh, and barely there shrimp which was so sparse, it seemed more like a mistake versus an actual listed ingredient.

The flavor profile of the salad was bitter upon bitter upon bitter.  My palate welcomes all of these ingredients alone or as accents to a dish (whether for crunch and texture purposes or acidity), but all together, this was a major failure at marrying diversified, complimentary flavors on one plate.

Smoked duck hash

Arugula and endive salad with radish, pink grapefruit, avocado, and shrimp.

The Best Falafel I've Ever Eaten was in Bridgetown, Barbados @Sahara Arabic Grill & Falafel

We ventured slightly off the beaten path, away from the beachfront hotel and swanky restaurants, to a little area on Highway 7 called the Food Court.  There you had the option of eating Middle Eastern, Jamaican, or Asian Cuisine.  I was excited to partake in other food not included in the Food+Wine+Rum festival we were in town to attend.

Chef Fajer at Sahara truly blew me away with his sesame seed coated falafel.  Even his hummus (as simple a dish as it is) was pretty remarkable!  I also enjoyed the bright, fresh tabbouleh salad.

Chef Fajer and Me @ Sahara Arabic Grill & Falafel

Chef shows off his Grill Skills!

The hummus was smooth and intense in flavors.  It was tangy, creamy goodness - good enough to eat alone, but luckily for me, I had plenty of other delicious foods to pair it with including beef kebab.

I couldn't get enough of the smoky, perfectly charred beef kebab on crisp, light pita.  Both were prepared fresh on the grill with a bit of spiced clarified butter.  One interesting component on the kebab and later served with the falafel were little, tender slices of dill pickles.  The acidity and salinity added a nice, unexpected element to the dishes.  I can't say I eat much Middle Eastern food, but I can't recall ever having pickles on kebab or falafel, yet after some research, I found it's not so uncommon after all.

The falafel that has outdone ALL falafel for me! 

Chef declared that the falafel, made with extra sesame seeds and dressed like the one above, is for "special people".  He calls it the King Falafel.  It's not necessarily fitting for me as I consider myself to be just a new fan, but the name does fit the grand levels of flavors and textures!

The falafel was drastically coated in crisp sesame seeds adding a beautiful outer crunch and soft, rich center which along with the crisp slice of pickle and cucumber (which Chef insisted be added after the first bite only), the creamy, smooth, piquant Tahini sauce, and the spiced dollop of red sauce (Chef's secret) made this The BEST falafel I've had.  

My plan going forward is to challenge Boston falafel joints, holding Chef Fajer's as an industry standard.  Anyone up for a Falafel Crawl around Boston?

How the "normal" falafel is usually prepared.

Carolyn enjoying her first falafel.

On top of the beautiful food, the entire staff (including Elie and Abeo) were lovely people and we had lots of fun hanging with them!

Please check out Sahara on your next visit to Barbados.  I can promise you will not be disappointed!