Fun With Carbs

I swear my graduating class was four times this size.

There’s no place like home, and few events evoke this feeling more than a high school reunion. I traveled up to my hometown of Worcester, Mass. this weekend to celebrate 10 years with my St. Peter-Marian classmates, but somehow my weekend still ended up being all about the food.

Fresh Alaskan oysters

First, let’s talk about Worcester’s best sushi, Baba. Despite my initial annoyance with the host (no, we don’t have a reservation, it’s 4:45 p.m.!) the meal was as cleanly beautiful as I’d expected it to be. We started the meal with eight oysters dressed simply with a wash of Tabasco-infused lemon juice and garnished with thin scallions and black caviar. The oysters were fat and meaty. Our waiter couldn’t remember their official name off the top of his head, but told us they were Alaskan.

We then moved on to Baba’s special rolls, which are so creatively crafted with unique ingredients that having to choose two or three could lead you to full-on existential crisis mode. My brother’s favorite, for example, the Godzilla Roll, incorporates spicy tuna with banana tempura. Another blends lobster tempura, avocado and shrimp drizzled with light peanut butter sauce.

Sushi Sandwich

From this list, we chose the Crown Maki (lobster tempura, Alaskan king crab, avocado and caviar wrapped in pink soybean paper) and the Sushi Sandwich (slices of tuna and salmon stacked with nori and rice to look like a club sandwich.) Gorgeous presentation on both fronts. The Crown Maki suffered from none of the overfried gloppiness of lesser ’special rolls’ – the lobster was delicately crusted and mixed beautifully with the sweet flakes of crab and creamy avocado. The Sushi Sandwich’s construction allowed us to appreciate the freshness of tuna and salmon layers.  A-plus, Baba. We’ll be back as soon as we can. And thanks again to my brother Brendan, an unofficial Baba VIP, for the gift.

At my reunion, I came to the realization that I was surrounded by foodie friends. I was fortunate enough to finally try a creation by my friend Mara, a phenomenal pastry chef at Worcester’s Bean Counter bakery. My friend Peter is a rising-star manager with Niche Hospitality Group, the restaurant group responsible for Wootown’s hottest new eateries. Out in San Francisco, our classmate Kate runs a side catering business in addition to her demanding full-time nursing job. Perhaps we need to hold a summit at some point in the near future? Preferably over Dungeness crab?

Crown maki with lobster tempura

Post-reunion, we met up at The Citizen, a fantastic, trendy little wine bar (Peter is a manager there.) While we were too late for The Citizen’s food offerings (cheese plates, panini, artisan chocolate, fondue) we tried out some of the specialty drinks, including champagne cocktails made with blueberries and maple syrup and martinis with rye, red zinfandel and absinthe rinse. I’m making a trip back to The Citizen as soon as humanely (or financially) possible. That’s an open invite, by the way.

This was about the time my husband decided he was so hungry he could have eaten one of the lounge pillows at our table,  so we hightailed it back to the hotel to order some pizza. As the helpful front-desk clerks handed us take-out menus for Golden Pizza and Fresh Way Pizza, I was instantly transported back to Thursday nights at Assumption College. At least it wasn’t Domino’s.

The next morning, I combated a fierce headache and exhaustion the best way I know how – Dunkin’ Donuts. Since it was close to 70 degrees outside, I made my coffee iced and wolfed down a turkey-sausage egg-white flatbread sandwich. We ordered hash browns on the side, which was a nice touch. Never, ever underestimate the restorative power of Dunks. It’s your friend.