pretty by the bay

Don’t you love restaurants that exceed your expectations by 1000%? Last night, we had an outrageously delicious meal at Myers + Chang, the latest culinary endeavor from famed Boston baker/chef Joanne Chang. (That’s her, up above…Tina’s hubby orchestrated a meet and greet for two geeky, starstruck food bloggers!) Myers + Chang offers a funky mix of Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese and Thai specialties, all infused with an eclectic and comfortable feel. The decor can only be described as American diner meets Chinatown: patrons sit at closely packed tables (or at the counter overlooking the open kitchen), and places are set with pages from Asian newspapers.

The Myers + Chang menu is surprisingly affordable. On Mondays and Tuesdays, they offer Cheap Date specials that include 5 dishes for $40 per couple. You can pick from pre-set menus or go for the Blind Date, in which the chef selects five random dishes for you to try. We decided on a double Blind Date – and Joanne was kind enough to provide 10 family-style dishes for our table to share.

To start, I enjoyed a few sips of Corey’s Kirin Ichiban.

The meal kicked off with a plate of Asian Pickles (carrot and daikon slaw, plums, cucumbers, cauliflower, jalapenos and kimchee) and Mu La Lat Skewers. These pork meatballs were grilled with lemongrass and served with fresh herbs, lettuce wraps and fish sauce. They were tender and tasty – easily one of my favorite dishes.

The food onslaught continued with a wide variety of meat, vegetable and rice dishes. At one point, we had so many plates on our table, we barely had room to pass the dishes around! It was overwhelming in the best possible way.

Garlicky + Spicy Chicken Wings with Housemade Sriracha and Pickled Salad

Baby Octopus with Grilled Corn on the Cob and Sriracha Butter

Gai Lan (some sort of leafy green) + Ginger

Chinese Sesame Cucumbers

Nasi Goreng (Indonesian fried rice) with Pork, Shrimp, Pineapple and Farm Egg (this was another of my favorites!)

M+C Slammin’ Salmon with Ginger, Sriracha, Rock Sugar

Thai Ginger Chicken Salad with Lemongrass, Rice Vermicelli and Butter Lettuce (This was another favorite – the noodles were tucked underneath the veggies and dressed with an amazing spicy dressing. It also had a unique crunch thanks to toasted ground rice.)

We also enjoyed some Wok-Charred Baby Bok Choy, but that dish apparently escaped the camera’s eye.

As we made our way through this insane meal, we all agreed it was an incredible value considering the quality and quantity. Our server informed us that he was quite jealous – apparently, we had one of the best Blind Dates he’d ever seen! The meal was creative and funky – as was our bill I love little touches like this.

It’s been great to hang out with Tina and Mal. I love getting to know fellow foodies! Myers + Chang was a great find. I’ll definitely go back on my next trip to Boston.