Tag Archives: Korean Food

Price Shopper in 02138

7 Mar

Daily Table vs. Formaggio? Comparing prices among staples brings results you might expect

By Tom MeekWednesday, March 3, 2021

The new Formaggio has all the cheeses you might expect (and then some). (Photo: Tom Meek)

Formaggio Kitchen opened its (re)located Huron Village shop Monday at 358 Huron Ave., a sparkling space that offers the amenities of the original 244 Huron Ave. site and more. Making good on a commitment to the neighborhood that it would try to fulfill the services and products Fresh Pond Market had for the village enclave since 1922 (closing three years ago), there are batteries, Band-Aids and aspirin and other grab-and-go home needs in the store – but not, to my eye, some essentials such as toilet paper. There are great cheese and bakery spreads like the speciality food chain became famous for since opening in 1978, plus a beguiling butcher shop station abutted by a small offering of fresh fish (salmon, mostly); a prepared foods and deli/sandwich station has much more room to breathe and show its wares, and the same with the wine, a separate and spacious nook with an open, refrigerated display. The newly laid wooden floor, high ceilings and generous light infusing from high windows add to the regal, fresh and inviting atmosphere.

Fans of Formaggio’s old store will certainly revel in the ample space to navigate without having to tuck into a side nook to let another shopper pass, especially during these Covid times. Neighbors hoping for more of a Fresh Pond Market model with affordability in mind are likely to be disappointed, but this is early in the opening. Tweaks and changes will come with feedback from the community, co-owner Ihsan Gurdal has said.

Produce at the newly opened Daily Table in Central Square. (Photo: Tom Meek)

Grocery and home goods alternatives include a relatively close-by Star Market, Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s, and options farther away range from a Market Basket in Somerville to H-Mart and the Daily Table in Central Square, which opened in January with a mission of providing fresh, affordable food. We compared costs at Daily Table, the Star on Beacon Street near Porter Square and the new Formaggio locale, selecting five dairy items as similar as possible across the three stores. (Only three items were able to be compared across all three.) Here’s the chart; some figures are an approximation and subject to market fluctuations.

Formaggio does not sell Hood milk, but offers organic options. Daily Table does not sell home goods, just dairy and produce. Whole Foods, Star and Shaws’ and Market Basket provide all-in-one shopping needs stops.

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Korean Food Returns to Poter Square

27 Jan

ChoCho’s sees challenges reopening after fire, but menu is still a highlight of Porter eateries

 

By Tom Meek
Thursday, January 24, 2019
The ok dol bibimbap with salmon, served in a sizzling hot stone bowl is a classic at Chocho’s in Porter Square. (Photo: Tom Meek)

ChoCho’s, the Korean eatery among a half-dozen Asian choices at 1815 Massachusetts Ave., reopened last month after being closed since a May electrical fire. After much remodeling and mitigation, and despite 16 years in Porter Square, the restaurant has struggled with staffing and regrowing its clientele.

In correspondence with co-owner Eunmi Cho and her son Walter, the Chos said they were greatly relieved to have their regulars back, but the costs of rebuilding and insurance process has taken its toll. Eunmi and her husband Sang also run Yotopia, the neighboring shop with bubble tea, self serve fro-yo and other treats, which stayed open during the seven months ChoCho’s was closed.

The renovated space has been enlarged some, and the menu slimmed down, but savory classics  remain, such as the ok dol bibimbap served in a sizzling hot stone bowl (rice, veggies and a choice of protein – bulgogi, chicken or salmon), the signature soondubu tofu soup that comes with banchans (little snack plates such as kimchi and seaweed salad) and marinated short ribs (kalbi) from the grill. They’ve added a popular bulgogi taco.

ChoCho’s Korean eatery has been in Porter Square for 16 years, with a seven-month gap recovering from a fire. (Photo: Tom Meek)

ChoCho’s is one of the few Korean eateries in Cambridge, even among the neighboring food court-style offerings. Coincidentally, on the day ChoCho’s caught fire, there was also a fire at Koreana, owned by Eunmi’s brother Jae Chung (who ran the Jae’s chain of restaurants in the 1990s); it reopened almost immediately, though.

The holiday timing, when students are away, may have contributed to a slow reboot at ChoCho’s. That said, Yume Ga Arukara Udon (from the owners of Yume Wo Katare, five minutes’ walk up Massachusetts Avenue) has been drawing long lines of udon seekers across the hall since its rave from Bon Appetit. ChoCho’s has udon too, as well as healthy menu offerings that could please people signing up at Planet Fitness downstairs, and whole the cold may keep some away, the stone bowl bibimbap is a perfectly delicious solution for it, with crispy cooked rice and sweet  and spicy gochujang (chili) sauce. But you can’t top the chill-eradicating delight of a boiling bowl of soondubu tofu soup (in vegetable, seafood, bulgogi and kimchi versions) that you drop a raw egg into and let cook. It comes in varying degrees of spice – best to go up if you can; it’s a great cold chaser and nose-clearing medley of flavors. 

“We are excited to be back up and running,” Eunmi said via an email. “It’s as if nothing happened, and I hope future customers who have never eaten at ChoCho’s come enjoy what we have to offer.”

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