mongals and monguys

[juldea]

BD's Mongolian Barbeque is one of my favorite restaurants ever. You go through a buffet-style line where you fill up a bowl with raw meats, veggies, and other fixins and then make a concoction of sauces and spices; then you take it up to the HUUUUGE round grill and give it to the "grillaz" who cook it up for you and pour on your sauce and hand it to you perfectly cooked. Mmmm. I had duck with veggies and thai peanut sauce, tofu with veggies and shiitake mushroom sauce, and sausage/potatoes/onions with a black bean sauce. And salad and thai noodle soup. I'm SO FULL.

Does anyone want to open a BD's in the Boston area? You'd have one repeat customer...

Oh, also. I replaced my falling-apart brown winter boots with some new ones from DSW for $30. Tall, furry-lined, waterproof, warm, sexy... and $30! It's been a good night.

Now, for some knitting.

Comments

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

What you describe sounds exactly like Fire+Ice - of which there is one in Harvard Square. http://www.fire-ice.com/

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I have not heard good reviews of Fire + Ice. :(

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

I've always liked it, I went often when I lived in Waltham, and I still make it out there from time to time. All the friends I used to go with liked it too. I don't know if things changed a lot.

Fire + Ice

[etherial.livejournal.com]

I frequented it when it opened. Then I moved to Worcester and stuff. Any time you want to try it, I'm game.

Re: Fire + Ice

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you were in season that often.

Re: Fire + Ice

[ezrarashkae.livejournal.com]

I really like Fire + Ice, but I had ascare there once when someone else's meat got into my food. Not usually a bad thing if it's a bit of stray chicken or beef but this was a rather large piece of shrimp. A delectible meat indeed but my body dosn't react well to it. And when I mean not reacting well I mean almost fatal and somebody grab the Epipen.

But I really enjoyed it besides that. :) The same goes for Theater, movies, resturants, and just about anything else. Don't knock it till you try it. Plus I really like the atmosphere in that place. Really nice.

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

Sorta. Fire+Ice starts with the Mongolian barbecue concept and tries to turn it into an upscale trendy restaurant. It's okay, but it's not Mongolian barbecue.

[dayeaux.livejournal.com]

Missed you and I hope you had a GREAT trip. Sounds like you kept busy and were able to enjoy lots of time with friends and family. :) Glad you had safe travel amidst the chaos of holiday travelers and snow storms.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I missed you too! There just wasn't enough time in Bartlesville, due to my mother and I arriving late on the 24th. We pretty much went straight into presents, and the next day it was onto the Great-Aunt's house for the annual hugenormous Christmas dinner... But I did think about you!

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

I don't know BD's, in particular, but I've had good Mongolian barbecue at any number of places - none of them local. I really wish there were some good MB around here (Fire+Ice, while clearly inspired by Mongolian barbecue, isn't the same). A few years back, I tried to find local MB. The only place I found in New England is a place in Salisbury, MA (On the coast, by the NH border). They have a mixed buffet, that's a regular Chinese buffet and also some Mongolian barbecue. It was okay, but not great.

I had pretty much come to the conclusion that good MB was a west coast thing, until this last trip to Crystal Ball. We went for dinner to an MB place in rural Illinois, and while it wasn't as good as some of the places I've been to in California, it was a darn sight better than the place in Salisbury. It was kinda depressing.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I have only been to a BD's... I wonder what the trick is to making 'good' MB?

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

I think the 'trick' in MB is a combination of things. One is the ingredients. More is not necessarily better, but what you have should be good quality, and cut to a size that will have it done optimally in the time it will take to cook on the grill. One is the ingredients you can use to make sauces. Most MB places have you take different ladles of various flavours to personalize a sauce to your taste. The prepared sauces at places like Fire+Ice aren't as versatile. Grill temp is also key. It's got to be hot enough to cook everything well, and fairly quickly. Again, this is another place F+I departs from MB, as it takes forever to get food cooked there compared to an MB place.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

BD's has "prepared sauces", but they're simple things like peanut, barbeque, or soy, and there are 15 of them, so mixing and matching is quite easy. There's also about 12-15 jars of various spices to add, so it's quite customizable. (I like how they warn you that pretty much any spice that starts with C will be spicy.)

If BD's took longer than about 2 minutes to cook their food, they'd go out of business. At times last night the line to get to the grill was 30+ people. It's a POPULAR spot.

[oddharmonic.livejournal.com]

It's out west, but All Fired up opened in Hadley earlier this year. It might be worth checking out.

We've hit our local Genghis Grill a couple of times for Date Night, although Laurel needs an afternoon mini-meal to keep her from getting the munchies while we're picking things out. I am so pleased that she likes tofu. (:

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Oof yeah, Hadley's a bit out of the way. Hopefully I'll remember if I'm ever out that way... Do you know the chain?

[rnoble001.livejournal.com]

I've done both BDs and Fire & Ice.

The big differnece that I saw was that Fire and Ice had a wider selection of vegies where BDs had a wider pasta and meat selection.

Also, BDs has the powders and seasonings to add to the Stir Fry, where F&I only has sauces (But a lot more).

Its harder to tailor F&I to what you EXACTLY want where BDs you can... but both have a similar aptmosphere.

Let me know when you wanna give F&I a try, would love to go back again.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Sounds like we should have a F+I party night sometime. :)

[mr-teem.livejournal.com]

Mongolian Barbeque rocks. I first had it in Taipei but then found it in little hole-in-the-wall places in San Francisco and Durham before BD's opened up in the Detroit area. I'm told there was one in Cambridge several years ago but when I went to where it was supposed to be, there was nothing but an empty building. :(

That's actually one thing I didn't do out here and that's hit a BD's. Hurm. Now I'm hungry again.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Are you back in NH yet? If not, head on out to BD's! ;)

[tpau]

foire and ice rocks the universe. the one in harvard sq is muchbetter htenthe one that isw next tothe arisia hotel though

[juldea.livejournal.com]

There's one near the Arisia hotel? Hrm....

[kestrel404.livejournal.com]

Mmmm...mongolian barbecue. I love it, but I haven't found anywhere in MA that does it well (though I haven't particularly been looking, either). I know a couple of good places in NY, though.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

How far away in NY?