Living and working in downtown Boston, I don't often get a chance to spend time in Cambridge. Which is ridiculous, because it is literally across the river, and easily accessible by subway, bus, or my own two legs. But I am spoiled by people like Hao who own cars and drive me to delicious eats. Such was the case a few months ago, when he suggested going to Emma's for some pizza.
It's an adorable little joint near Kendall Square. Cozy and unpretentious.
Hao says hi.
We ordered sodas, and these came.
Awesome.
Since we had already decided to devour two pizzas, we thought we should be good and start off with a salad. Thank goodness we did, because this salad was amazing.
The 'famous fling' salad: baby spinach, granny smith apple, red onions, gorgonzola, and their special house dressing. It was light, super tasty, and the toasted almonds gave it a nice buttery crunch. Who knew salad at a pizza joint could be such a hit?
Then it was time to get real. We started with the #4: crispy smoked bacon, roasted yukon potato, cilantro, dried cranberries, and mozzarella all piled on thin crust.
I absolutely loved this pizza. I'm a big fan of sweet and savory, so naturally I thought the dried cranberries were a fantastic complement to the smoky bacon and cheese. The potatoes were a welcome addition, cooked to a perfect texture as a pizza topping - just a tad chewy, and quite flavorful.
Our second pizza was the #15: thyme roasted mushrooms, roasted red peppers, green peppers, and mozzarella on thin crust. (I say thin crust like it's an option - it's not. All pizzas at Emma's are thin crust - it's their specialty! Ymmm.)
While Hao liked this better than the #4, I thought this one was good, but sort of one-dimensional.
As if we hadn't stuffed ourselves enough, since we were in Cambridge already, we made the short drive to one of our favorite ice cream shops: Toscanini's. #2 on the U.S. News list of America's Best Ice Cream, Tosci's does not disappoint. Back in college, there used to be multiple locations around Boston. Now, sadly, there is only one location left. The good news is it's doing well, feeding hoards of hipsters and hungry students everyday.
Hao got the belgian chocolate (the first picture), and I got the B^3 = brown sugar, brown butter, and brownies. (Pretty sure Hao suffered from order envy.) While Tosci's does hold a special place in my heart making it difficult to withhold any bias, I can also objectively say that this ice cream is superb! There are always interesting, innovative flavors, and the texture is always dense and creamy... just the way I like my ice cream.
I really gotta get to Cambridge more often!
40 Hampshire St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.864.8534
899 Main St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.491.5877
I was going to be like, "No matter what's on that ice cream list, it's a total sham, because my two favourite Ohio ice cream parlors . . ." and then I saw that both of them are on the list. You win.
ReplyDeleteThat first pizza is crazy! Potatoes and cranberries and cilantro? I am in love.
That pizza looks great, but Tosci's is really singing to my heart right now !
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