#i had to make a special team just for farming fungus

[dandelion-wings]

the combination of "you need these three elements to explore Sumeru's overworld!" and "two of these elements make the fungi drop inactivated stuff instead of pollen" is getting very frustrating for me as I level Tighnari

[merakiui]

You got any yandere hcs of the boys before we start. Im an yandere obsessed anon who lives and brreaths reading this shit and I wanna know how fucked we can get

(Here you go, wonderful anon! I’ll post yandere hcs for the other teams soon. I’d also like to post yandere fics for these boys, but I’m not sure if anyone’s interested. >-< I’ve got two sitting in my drafts, though!)

Yandere Morning and Day Teams

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 TW: (yandere) unhealthy/obsessive behaviors, mentions of kidnapping/captivity, gas-lighting, starvation, abuse

Morning Team (Mane)

🧩 Ghilley 🧩

Ghilley is definitely a stalker. He’ll be in your shadow whether you like it or not. Nothing escapes his watchful gaze, so it’s important that your enemies choose their words around you.

He’s already skilled at sneaking around, so he’ll use that to his advantage. Popping in to give you a spook, showing up when you’re out with someone else, and even when you think you’re alone.

He’ll follow you if he thinks you’re going to get yourself into trouble again. His poor manager just has a habit of attracting bad people. Just let Ghilley handle all those vengeful spirits. You won’t have to lift a finger!

If anyone gives you problems, tell Ghilley and that issue will be solved in no time. And if you get curious and ask him what happened, he’ll just shrug the question off in a playful manner.

His behavior is unpredictable, so you never know what he does in his spare time. Truthfully, Ghilley’s either watching you or he’s playing a few tricks on those who bothered you. They’ll remember not to mess with you if they’re given a permanent fright.

You won’t notice what’s going on until everyone starts to keep their distance. Friends will make up excuses so they won’t have to hang out with you, and those who might’ve had some romantic interest in you have cut communication altogether.

When you’re feeling down, Ghilley will swoop in to cheer you up. You start to normalize your relationship with him because it’s all you currently know. No one else is willing to talk to you, so you can only rely on him.

Ghilley knows it must hurt to be alone, but it’s the only way he can have you to himself. So he’s willing to bury his pain if it means he’ll get to console you.

He wouldn’t hurt you, but he might remind you every now and then that he’s the only one who hasn’t abandoned you yet.

Yet. A word that’s become part of his daily vocabulary. A word that reminds you of the fact that he could leave you one day.

☀️ Ell ☀️

He shouldn’t feel these emotions to begin with. It’s almost...dirty, in a way. Almost like he’s sinning.

He’s not doing anything bad, though. Loving you was what got him kicked out of Heaven in the first place, but that’s not entirely evil in itself. At first, he assumed Cupid’s Arrow was the one to blame for these lovey-dovey feelings, but it’s not Cupid’s job to foster obsession among former angels.

He doesn’t recognize how suffocating his presence truly is. You’d probably have to tell him to back off before he stops sticking by your side, and even if you did something like that it’d make Ell incredibly sad. Without realizing it, he’ll start to guilt-trip you. 

“I’m sorry, Manager! You just looked like you could use some company. I... I can leave you alone if that’s what you want. You might think I’m annoying and—achoo!”

Nowadays, he’s been sneezing a lot, but the idea that his love for you is what’s causing all of this never crosses his mind. He just can’t wrap his head around that. Why would love, a pure, wonderful feeling, make him sneeze?

Under that smile of his are a dozen worries. He’s afraid he’ll chase you away or that you’ll stop liking him. Ell would feel crushed if that ever happened, so all of his energy goes into appeasing you.

He’ll show up unannounced at your office with your favorite snacks, follow you around the campus, and talk to you about literally anything. He could ramble about the grass if it means you’ll spare him your time.

Ell doesn’t really know the meaning of jealousy or hatred. Having been an angel once, he’s not used to negativity. He doesn’t necessarily feel extreme envy, nor does he hate any of the Reapers, but he does sulk about it.

It’s hard to say when he got obsessed. Perhaps it was when you first met and you mistook him for your own guardian angel. Despite the fact that he’s not an angel anymore, Ell likes the sound of that.

It’s a guardian angel’s job to care for and protect humans, so surely you won’t mind if he stays glued to you like a fungus. After all, it’s harmless, happy Ell! You’ve got nothing to worry about!

🐴 Jamie 🐴

Jamie is so strong it’s scary. Good luck trying to beat him in a fight if you ever attempt an escape.

He seems so innocent and kind on the outside, always willing to lend a hand when you’re struggling with Non-Non. If he’s being honest, he likes doing chores with you. It almost feels like the both of you are working on a farm together in the desolate outdoors. Just you, him, sprawling farmland, and no civilization in sight. How cute is that?

No one suspects he's obsessed until they look beyond that soft appearance of his. His gaze will linger to the point where it’s creepy, and he’ll smile while he watches you work.

He’ll get better at technology and city life so he’ll have something else to chat about whenever it’s just you and him.

If he finds out that you’re interested in something, he’ll try his best to learn more about it. Oh, you mentioned a new movie that’s been released in the human world? Maybe he’ll have to see it for himself. Did you want to try a new pastry from your favorite bakery? Jamie will buy it for you, so you should go with him!

He’s reliable, kind, and helpful—surely you’ll fall for those qualities. If not, he’ll find another way. After all, there’s a saying that goes ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way,’ and it’s not like he’ll give up anytime soon.

Jamie likes to imagine a comfortable life with you on the farm. Both of you will tend to the land and the animals, you’ll always have fresh crops, and you'll be together forever. It’s an ideal fantasy, but if you’re not willing he might just have to lock you up in the stables. 

Jamie doesn’t fret over potential rivals. If he was able to silence the thugs in his neighborhood, a few pesky humans are nothing.

He’ll get flustered when you say anything nice to him. It really warms his heart to be at the receiving end of your caring words.

And it’s even better when you're accepting his suffocating love. You’ll find that the bed is much softer than the stable. Just don’t push him too far. Sometimes he doesn’t realize his own strength, and your bones can only take so much pressure.

💋 Licht 💋

Licht didn’t think he’d find his soulmate so soon! Whether you click or not, Licht certainly feels a special connection. He’s going to flirt with you no matter what.

It’s up to you whether you respond to his playful advances, but if you decide to humor him be prepared to have this man all over you. If you’re returning his playful gestures and remarks, it must mean something!

Licht lives for storybook romance. There’s something so lovely about sweeping his true love off of their feet, so he’d like to woo you in traditional ways. He’ll gift you your favorite candies, give you a bouquet of flowers, and buy you cute trinkets that remind him of you.

He takes note of what you wear and whether or not you put on a perfume/cologne on certain days. He’ll memorize your fashion style and then try to match it with his own. Licht’s happy whenever the two of you conveniently match outfits. It’s almost like you’re a couple.

He’ll probably spray his own cologne on your clothes if he ever gets a hold of them. You’ll wonder where this new scent came from, and Licht will be over the moon if you decide to leave it as it is.

Licht will invite you on dates under the guise that the two of you are just hanging out as friends. Lo and behold, his real motive is to act like your boyfriend. If you aren’t careful, he might just go around telling strangers that you’re his partner.

He’s always touching you in some way. Sometimes it’s an arm around your waist or his hands are on your shoulders. To some, it’s just his affectionate personality, but to you it’s completely suffocating.

Whenever he holds your hand, it almost feels like he’s daring you to try. Like he wants you to run off and get a taste of the scary world so that he can come in to save you like a true prince.

He hopes that enough flirting will have you confessing. All of these romantic gestures have got to count for something!

Despite this, Licht wants to believe you love him as much as he loves you. Tricking himself is easy, but convincing you is going to be a challenge.

Day Team (Die)

🎹 Theo 🎹

Theo’s harbored some dark thoughts ever since he witnessed you and Nine in the storage room, happily playing the piano like a pair of friends. Like a pair of lovers.

Theo can’t stand it when the others are around you, especially if they have ill-intent. Whenever he takes care of bullies or vengeful spirits, he’s got this dead look on his face. It’s devoid of any feeling, and his eyes are filled with silent anger. It’s a stare that does more than curse; it could probably kill.

He’s rather clingy, always insisting that he accompany you to and from your destinations. If you decline, he’ll just smile and act polite. But if he finds out that you decided to go with someone else...

Theo wants to be the only one in your life. Everyone else is just a worthless germ that needs to be scrubbed away. If they linger around you for too long, he worries you’ll become infected.

He doesn’t want to hurt you, but sometimes you need to learn a lesson. If you’re so picky about eating the food he so graciously went out and purchased, then maybe you don’t deserve to eat at all. Not until you warm up to his cooking, that is.

He’s willing to do anything for you in order to appear perfect. If you were to tell him to shoulder your workload, he’d do it without a single complaint. If you wanted him to watch paint dry, he’d do it with his head full of you.

All he ever thinks about is you. Sure, his mind flits from June to new recipes to the piano every now and then, but it always seems to settle on you in the end.

What did you eat for breakfast? Did you get enough sleep? Would you like something to drink? Where are you going with Youssef? Why is Nine getting close to you? Why aren’t you looking at him?

Theo will know everything about you in time. Whether you like it or not, he’s going to unearth every detail he can. Even mundane habits you don’t pay attention to. Before you know what’s happening, Theo’s got your schedule memorized thoroughly.

He holds no remorse for those who get in his way. As sweet and disarming as he may seem to those around him, Theo’s wicked behind closed doors. That spell book of his has no business gathering all this dust.

🌹 Louis 🌹

Everyone assumes Louis has no interest in anyone other than himself, so it’s a surprise when he starts to give you more attention than normal.

His compliments start getting personal and they still don’t make sense. Just the other day, you were trudging through the hall, dead-tired, when Louis passed you. He stopped, smiled, and said, “Thy radiance outshines the brightest of stars!”

He’s always energetic like that, so it’s not like his behavior is particularly strange. But he spends more time flattering you than himself. His main priority isn’t his beautiful face anymore.

You deserve the world. Why hasn’t anyone given it to you yet? Fear not because Louis is determined to give you everything you could ever want. He’s a prince, after all, so it’s only fair that you sit upon the throne with him.

There’s no room for anyone else in this relationship. It’s just you and him. If you were to leave him, his heart would shatter! Sadness has never been a good fit on Louis, and you know how much he cares for his appearance. So you’ll do him a favor and stay so he won’t wilt like a rose, right?

It’s almost like he lives off of you. You’re his sunlight, water, and fresh air. Any less of your attention and he’s sighing dramatically. Won’t you be a dear and cheer him up? After all, it’s not every day you see Louis so upset.

He doesn’t want you to hate him. If you do, Louis will just ignore your hurtful feelings. He’s got more than enough love to go around. Surely that’ll convince you that he means no harm.

You’ll be treated like royalty, and everyone else is a mere peasant. Sure, Louis can say that he treasures everyone, but some people just aren’t worth his time.

Naturally, a prince deserves the finest, and he won’t settle for anyone who isn’t you.

So don’t fret! Those chains are only temporary, and once you show him some hospitality he’s willing to ease up on his restrictions. Although his sense of freedom is rather cracked.

♞ Ethan ♞

Ethan is a tough case. He hardly shows his emotions, so it’s difficult to determine how he’s feeling. He’ll never show any hostility towards you, though. It’s nothing but warmth and kindness.

When it comes to the others, he’ll give them the cold shoulder and a few cruel remarks. His patience tends to wear thin when he sees people bothering you.

Ethan’s like a hawk. He’ll keep an eye on you to make sure you’re staying out of trouble and he’ll swoop in as soon as something unsavory happens.

He’ll treat you like a glass figurine that’s always on the verge of breaking. At some point, he becomes your unofficial knight in a way. He’s willing to defend you by all means necessary, so everyone else should back off if they know what’s best for them.

At first, he scorned these feeble emotions for getting in the way of his stony resolve, but now he’s come to accept them.

It’s impossible to deter him from his motives. Once he’s got his mind set, he won’t change it. After all, everything he does is completely intentional.

He’ll just stare at you while you struggle in those bindings. If you were smart, you’d just accept your fate and act docile, but Ethan’s not a fool. He’ll keep you bound for as long as it takes.

You can try to reason with him, but nothing ever works. No matter how sweet the deal may seem, he never agrees to any of it.

Ethan will take care of you while you’re adjusting to a permanent life with him. You won’t go a day without a bath, healthy meals, or a lack of sleep. If Ethan says you’ll bathe, you’ll bathe. If he says you’ll eat, you’ll eat. His word are practically law.

Despite his harsh rules, he’s not that hard on you. He’d never lay a hand upon you, nor will you find yourself at the end of his sharpened sword. As long as you fall into a pleasant routine with little complaint, he’ll be happy.

💥 June 💥

June doesn’t realize his feelings for you are unhealthy. He just thinks they’re a natural part of life! Everyone falls in love at some point, right? So you can’t blame him when he’s doing everything he can to spend more time with you.

Your paperwork will never get done because June wants you to watch him while he trains. He’ll even show you his workout routine, hoping you’ll agree to train with him one day.

He’s one of the Reapers who doesn’t get jealous much. Unless someone’s really trying to get him to snap—which doesn’t happen often. But in the event that he does feel envious, he’ll frown a bit, his voice won’t be at its usual loudness, and he’ll sulk.

Immediately perks up the moment you give him any attention. He practically lives off of your reactions and has no problem announcing that to everyone.

June will remain loyal to you no matter what! Nothing can separate the two of you, and he’s convinced himself that you feel exactly the same. If you’re always smiling, it must mean that you accept his feelings! So then why have you started acting awkward when he continues to ramble passionately about how much he admires your strength and persistence?

Try to leave him and he’ll be so heartbroken. June won’t know how to react! Why would you want to leave? He’s never done anything that would warrant this kind of behavior. Maybe he just needs to give you more affection.

Bright and early, he’s knocking on your dorm with a huge grin. “Manager, the sun hasn’t risen yet, but that doesn’t mean we should wait for it! Let’s train hard today! Haha!”

June loves protecting you. Whenever he saves you from danger, he feels like a hero in those action movies he loves so much. Anyone would love to get saved by someone who’d die for them! This sort of loyalty will have you falling for him in no time.

And if it doesn’t, he can just create a few perilous scenarios. What you don’t know can’t kill you, right?

You’re his soulmate, so there’s no way he’d give you up in his afterlife.

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (122/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

[29 May, 233 Before Age. Yetitan.]

Wampaaan'riix was tired. He had spent much of the day on the windswept pastures of his ancestral farm, clearing brush and counting livestock. For a man of his extraordinary strength, this was physically simple, but the tedium of it had a way of wearing him out. He had gone straight to bed upon returning home, barely making time to say good night to his wives and children.

When the communications terminal alerted him to a priority subspace call, he expected the worst. When he saw it was from Luffa's star-yacht, only for Dr. Topsas to appear on the viewer instead, he was even more concerned. He knew Luffa's Federation alliance was at war, with Saiyans battling on both sides.

"She is recovering in a stasis tank," Topsas explained. "I expect she will be completely healed in two months' time."

Wampaaan'riix stroked the long white hair that hung from his chin. There was long white hair covering the rest of his body as well, but the chin was the part he always reached for when he contemplated grim tidings. "In warfare, two months is an eternity, doctor" he said. "I'm surprised you were able to talk her into it."

"I suspect her injuries were more persuasive than anything I might have said," Topsas replied. "Individually, these enemy Saiyans are no match for her, but she has had to fight groups of them, on planet after planet, with little respite. I think she understood that if she didn't take this opportunity to heal, there might not be another chance later on."

"Is there something I can do to help?" Wampaaan'riix asked. "I've all but retired from fighting, but I owe her my life, after all."

"No, nothing like that," Topsas said. "I simply needed some... advice."

"Advice." he repeated.

"I spoke with one of my sons a few days ago. He wasn't very happy about my presence in Federation space during wartime," Topsas said. "He practically begged for me to come home. He arranged a transport ship to arrive at Woshad in four days."

"Then I think you should take it," Wampaaan'riix said. He first met Luffa and Topsas in a Deathmatch tournament on Plutark VII. He had been so certain of his fighting skills, and she had defeated him with ease, then she toyed with him to test her abilities. Then she accidentally read his mind, and after seeing his regret for walking out on his family, she decided to spare him. "I'm positive that she would understand if you left the war to go back to your loved ones."

"I don't know that I can do that," Topsas said.

"Doctor, you just told me that Luffa will be in a stasis chamber for the next several weeks," Wampaaan'riix said. "I've seen how those things work during my time in the Yetitan military. They're very low-maintenance. Now that you've set it up, you could probably show Zatte how to handle the day-to-day operations. And there's no shortage of doctors in the Federation who could take over for you."

"I'm not so sure..." Topsas said. "The statis chamber is one thing, of course. Plenty of others could handle it."

"Well, what else is there?" Wampaaan'riix asked. It was difficult for him to keep his patience. Bad enough that he had been woken from his sleep, that he was sitting at his desk instead of the warm rugs of his den. But Topsas was never very forthcoming about his feelings. Always masking everything with dry humor and sarcasm. He had never known the arachnoid to ask for help like this, and now he was beginning to understand why. It wasn't stubborn pride so much as the doctor just couldn't quite spit out what the problem was.

And when Topsas finally answered, he only said: "Mycotherapy."

Which told Wampaaan'riix absolutely nothing. "What?" he asked.

"There is a particular species of fungus," Topsas explained. "In the wild, it has the ability to alter its DNA to mimic plant or animal tissue. This allows it to graft itself onto a host while avoiding any immune response. Three years ago, a team of researchers found a way to modify the fungus for medical applications. Genetic engineering, you know. A few fungal cells are applied to the site of the injury, and cultivated to replicate. If managed properly, they'll form a structure to fill in the wounded tissue. Then the fungal mass can be made to transform itself into part of the patient's own body."

"That sounds unbelievable."

"It's a rather new form of medicine," Topsas said. "I only learned of it myself very recently, while I was researching possible treatments for Luffa. I... began casting about for more... radical ideas."

"Radical," Wampaaan'riix said. "As in 'dangerous'?

"The graft has to be carefully monitored. Left unchecked, it could grow out of control, and consume the patient. And it hasn't been tested on many species. Until... recently, there's been no testing on any mammalian species at all."

"If you don't know what it could do to Saiyan biology, then why risk it?"

"Because I do know how it will interact with Saiyan biology. I... performed my own tests, using tissue samples from Luffa herself. I only did it to set my mind at ease-- to prove that it would never work, so that I could stop second-guessing myself. But, the results turned out to be more promising than I expected. There's a very strong chance that I could heal her wounds in a fraction of the time it would take for conventional stasis chamber therapy to work."

"Why haven't you told her about this?"

"I only obtained the results a few days ago, right before she went into the chamber. Before that, it was only an experiment. Besides, there would still be an immense risk. I would need to apply multiple grafts to her body and monitor them all simultaneously. No one has ever attempted this before, on any species. No one would."

"Then why consider it at all?"

"Because when I look at the work that would be involved, I cannot help but think I might be able to carry it off. It's not a certainty, but I've carried out delicate operations that humanoid physicians wouldn't dare attempt. The researchers who devised mycotherapy techniques were all vertebrate doctors. Greater minds than I, but even so, I believe I have abilities they did not. And while I lack experience in this specific therapy, I dare say I know Saiyan physiology better than anyone. If it can be done at all, then I believe it must be I."

Wampaaan'riix stroked his chin again. "And if you try this, you definitely won't make the transport your son sent you. But that's not what's bothering you. Otherwise you would just take the transport and let Luffa heal for two months under someone else's care. That would be the best thing for everyone, right? So why are you even considering this fungus of yours?"

He didn't answer right away, and Wampaaan'riix wasn't terribly surprised. He hadn't called from so far away for idle chit-chat.

"I became a doctor because I wanted to help people," Topsas finally said. "In my religion, it is said that my people were blessed with eight eyes so we may always see when others are in need, and eight limbs so that we may always have one ready to lend aid. I was fascinated with vertebrate anatomy, and I thought becoming a doctor would enable me to see more, to help more. Do you remember when we met?"

"On Plutark. You were patching up the competitors in the Deathmatch tournaments. I never did understand how you ended up there."

The tournament organizers paid handsomely for my assistance," Topsas said. "And my practice needed the funding. Besides, I felt that if I could at least tend to your injuries, then I could know that the competitors received as much genuine care as possible before most of them met their end. Another doctor might not bother, since he would expect most of you to die by the end of the day anyway. But I could hold myself accountable at least."

"But Luffa changed all of that."

"She spared you, and in the process, she defied the tournament organizers, and ended up shutting down their entire operation, thereby saving the lives of the other fighters who still had matches that evening. To say nothing of the fighters who might have participated in future matches that will no longer occur. Before, I had written you and Luffa off as little more than brutes. Yet you returned to your homeworld, to your family. You've raised your son into a fine man, from what I can tell. I trust the rest of your offspring have been just as fortunate."

Wampaaan'riix was honored by the compliment, but he was also wearied by the late hour. "What are you getting at, doctor?" he asked with a loud yawn.

"For a time, I saw my work in those dreadful tournaments as an unpleasant chore. I was less a doctor and more of a priest, administering last rites for the condemned. Oh, one fortunate soul would live to see the next day, but I always knew that survivor would die in some other battle, thinking his victory made him invincible. But Luffa was special, and in discovering that, I realized that I had been remiss in my duties, both medical and spiritual. That was why I came to her aid on the Tikosi Hiveworld. It was the right thing to do, of course, but I wonder if any other doctor would have felt such an obligation. You owed her your life, Wampaaan'riix, but I owed her my soul.

"And now, it seems that she blames me for her overzealous crusade to defend the Federation. I comforted her in her hour of need, you see. I held her hand and calmed her down after the battle with the Tikosi, after she killed her own father. She reminded me so much of my daughter. Nwitt died of a terminal illness. In the final stages, it affected her brain, made her a danger to herself and others. In the end, she was so terrified, and all I could do was euthanize her. I couldn't hold my own daughter's hand in her final moments. She had to be restrained, you see. When Luffa first transformed, it seem as though she might explode at any moment. I thought that if this were to be the end, then comforting her in her final moments would be a fitting way to die. Instead, she lived, and she apparently has taken my gesture as an example of courage.

"I never considered the things my patients might do after they leave my care," he said. "Their lives are their own business, of course. I was content to help them with what I had. But there is a ripple effect to it, isn't there? The person I mend one day may help someone else another day. And another. Perhaps someone down the chain actually manages to save someone's life. It's a frightening thing to consider. And Luffa is no mere pebble tossed into a pond. With her power, she's more like a meteor crashing into the ocean. I cannot bring myself to think of hers as a single life. There are so many other lives that she has influenced and may still influence in the future. A week or two months might mean the difference between life and death for countless people. And I can choose. A week or two months. I can play it safe, or I can dare to perform a challenging procedure that might kill or cripple my patient."

"Cripple?"

"One of the potential side effects of mycotherapy," he explained. "Even if the fungal growth is kept under control, the drugs used to maintain that control can affect the patient's senses. Her sight or sense of smell might be permanently damaged."

Wampaaan'riix leaned back in his chair. "High stakes," he said. "Knowing Luffa, she would probably just as soon fight blind, and she might even win, powerful as she is. But her enemies would just injure her again, and worse than before."

"I trust you see my dilemma," Topsas said. "I asked Ms. Dotz for advice. The woman is a fortuneteller, but she has a psychic blindspot where Luffa's fate is concerned, and she seems to have no idea how many people will live or die as a result of my actions. It serves me right for trying to peek ahead a few pages in my own life. She told me that I would certainly do the right thing, but it isn't that simple. I... I don't know what the right thing is."

"And that's why you contacted me," Wampaaan'riix surmised.

"There was no one else to ask. I wanted an objective opinion from someone who knows her," Topsas said.

Wampaaan'riix sighed and considered the matter carefully. "Doctor," he finally asked, "what do you think Luffa would say to all of this?"

"I haven't discussed it with her yet," Topsas replied. "Knowing her, she would probably insist on taking this gamble. Which is precisely why I am so reluctant to suggest it. For me it's an ethical problem, but for her! As far as she's concerned, even a disabled Super Saiyan would be better than an injured one. All she cares about now is time. The young always worry about running out of something they have in abundance."

"No, that's not what I'm asking," Wampaaan'riix said. "Suppose Luffa were in your position. How do you think she would approach this dilemma?"

"I don't understand... you mean, if she were a doctor treating a patient?" he asked.

"Yes. What would she do?"

His fuzzy pedipalps twitched as he wrestled with this scenario. Wampaaan'riix never quite learned to read Topsas's alien body language, so he watched uncertainly as the doctor thought it over. He was mildly concerned that he might drift off to sleep while he waited for Topsas to respond.

"I suspect," Topsas finally said, "that she would find a way to push herself to her limits. The difficulty of the procedure would only be a challenge for her. She would rise to meet it, unless she were absolutely certain that it was beyond her ability."

"Very good," Wampaan'riix said. "Spoken like a true warrior. I think that is the way you should decide. If you truly believed this plan of yours is unsound, then you would have abandoned it a long time ago. Instead, you've slowly talked yourself into it, until now, you stand at the threshold, but you aren't sure you're ready to commit. You're asking the rest of us for permission to try, but this is your battlefield, doctor, and yours alone."

"I will... consider what you have said," Topsas said after a long pause. "Though, to be honest, this was not quite the advice I was hoping for."

"We have a saying on Yetitan," Wampaaan'riix said. "'Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer, but wish we didn't.' I don't know Dotz, but she sounds like a wise woman. So I agree that you will do the right thing, whatever you ultimately decide. Good luck to you, doctor."

They exchanged a few pleasantries before terminating the connection, leaving Wampaan'riix sitting alone in the darkened room. He thought about returning to his den, but somehow he doubted he would get much sleep, knowing what he knew of Luffa's condition.

*******

[30 May, 233 Before Age. Pillimede Asteroid Belt.]

Topsas did not decide right away. He resolved instead to wait another twenty-four hours and see how Luffa was responding to conventional treatment. The results he obtained from the sensor scans was less than encouraging.

"This isn't working," he said as he read the results. Luffa could not hear him. She floated in a suspension of medicated statis fluid, kept in an induced state of unconsciousness. Nor was there anyone else in the sickbay of the Emerald Eye to hear him. He continued speaking anyway.

"Your injuries are responding to the treatment, but not nearly at the rate I had hoped for. My own fault for being overly optimistic. I expected you to produce another miracle. Somehow your Saiyan biology would repair itself even more quickly, and you would break out of this tank in a mere ten days.

"But no. The inflammation in your feet has barely changed. Your cracked ribs have only just begun to knit. What is wrong with you, Little mammal? Are you so determined to keep fighting that you defy medical attention, even when you're unconscious?"

He had originally projected her full recovery would take at least two months. Based on the data he now had, that estimate would have to be revised upward. Three months, maybe even four. The bio-regenerative gel was working. He had used it on her in the past, after all. But it wasn't fast enough. Something about her condition was slowing down the whole process.

"My apologies. It is a poor physician who blames his patient. And yet, I cannot fathom what is going on in those cells of yours. Is your body focusing itself on increasing your power? The 'zenkai' as your people call it. Am I seeing a physical manifestation of that right now? Ninth Eye, are you so starved for combat that your body would fight itself? Half of you is trying to use this treatment to repair itself, and the other half is working on making you stronger."

He had prided himself on his expertise in Saiyan biology, but that honor was mostly by default. He was the only doctor who had spent this much time on a Saiyan patient, but there was still much that he didn't understand about how their bodies worked. The light of the full moon could make Luffa grow into a gargantuan ape-creature... unless her tail happened to be injured or amputated. It sounded like pure fantasy, but it was well-documented fact. They were so unlike other vertebrates, and Luffa was unique, even among her own kind. She never spoke of it, at least not to him, but he often imagined that being the Super Saiyan made her very lonely.

"I pray that I am wrong," he said. "Perhaps your body simply doesn't have the necessary compatibility with the medication. It can't be that your power is resisting the healing effects. It would be dreadful to be so devoid of peace. I think you crave peace as much as the rest of us do. Perhaps you only want it as a respite between battles, a good night's sleep, a quiet evening with your wife. I wish I could give these to you. As it is, I cannot even give you a swift recovery."

He stooped down in front of the chamber and looked at her through the transparent surface.

"I am not as oblivious as you might think," he said. "I know how important it is that you return to the front lines. Even now, I feel like your expression is daring me to do better. I don't know that I can. Is it worth the risk? Is it worth your life?"

He had gone over the mycotherapy procedure several times after speaking with Wampaaan'riix. He thought he could do it. What troubled him was that it had never been done quite the way he had in mind. As he regarded Luffa's face, he thought of his son, Turner, begging him to take the transport he had arranged to get him out of the warzone. He thought of his daughter, Nwitt, desperate for help, when the only thing he could offer was a painless death.

Then he put his hand on the control panel of the chamber, and activated the program to revive the occupant.

"I'll need to interrupt your sleep," he said. "I have something to discuss with you, and you may want to talk it over with your spouse."

*******

[31 May, 233 Before Age. Pillimede Asteroid Belt.]

They said yes. Of course they did. Topsas never doubted it. Luffa was a warrior anxious to return to her war, and Zatte was... well, she was something of a fanatic where Luffa was concerned. She insisted on performing some Dorlun ritual to honor Topsas before he began his work. It involved some sort of liturgy, and burning bits of her own hair in candle flames. Zatte could be very strange at times. But Luffa was the one that made him the most nervous. When he had explained the risks and difficulties of his proposed mycotherapy treatment, she simply grinned at him with that savage smile of hers, and shook his hand.

"I can tell how fired up you are about this, Doc," she had said before being sedated. "This should be fun."

It was as if she couldn't tell excitement from apprehension. But something about the conviction in her voice made him wonder if maybe she knew his feelings better than he did. Perhaps he was the one who had been mistaking enthusiasm for fear. Luffa had a peculiar talent of making him question himself.

And so far, it was working. Dr. Topsas wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. An early failure at this stage would at least put the matter to rest. He could say he tried, and move on. But it was working, at least for now, which mean that he had to keep going, and brave the potential failures that might still lie ahead.

He had never used seven hands at once. Not for surgery, not for anything, until today. Now, he rested his cephalothoarx on a barstool he had borrowed from a lounge on the ship, and used only one of his limbs to steady himself on that perch. The other seven limbs loomed over the stasis chamber, operating controls, dispensing drugs, and occasionally probing surgical incisions. His eight eyes observed all of this: his own movements, computer monitors, vital sign readouts, and more.

His two greatest points of concern were a hole in Luffa's left foot, and a damaged section of her right kidney. The foot had the largest injury, which required the largest fungal graft. If any of the grafts were to grow out of control, that was the most likely to do so. The kidney, on the other hand, was the most vital organ he had grafted. The graft was small, but if anything went wrong there, it could lead to more serious complications.

There were fifteen other sites to consider as well. Tendon damage in the right tricep. Puncture wound in the right foot. Left ring finger fracture. Three cracked ribs. Anterior cruciate ligament tear on right knee. Six lacerations in the abdomen, all damaging the large intestine. Large contusion on left thigh. Tendon damage on right shoulder. But he was certain that if the left foot and kidney could be made to recover, the others could be made to recover as well.

The first seventy-two hours were the most intensive. Normally, a team of doctors would carefully monitor the patient's progress and make adjustments as needed. He would need to do this alone, continuously. And he would probably have to be more nimble, since there would probably be unforeseen complications. He could slow down and take a little more time, but this carried a risk. If Luffa's organs rejected the fungal grafts, or vice-versa, he would need to take quick action, or risk undoing his progress. Better to exhaust himself across three days than to pace himself across four or five.

An alert from one of the monitors warned him of an acceleration in growth on one of Luffa's ribs. He applied a dilute solution of R-gel to slow it down. Beside Luffa was a tray of solutions he had prepared at various concentrations before beginning the procedure. Normally, a doctor administering mycotherapy would simply use one of the stronger concentrations. At worst, the entire graft might die, and he would have to apply a new one. Topsas didn't want to wait that long, and so he added his own variation to the procedure. He had to slow any runaway fungal growth, but he would try to use dilute R-gel first, so as not to risk destroying his progress on that front.

It was all experimental and unprecedented. The technique was sound, and he was sure of his abilities, but it had never been done quite like this, with so many simultaneous grafts. He didn't care for blazing new trails. Being the first was a scary proposition. But the situation had forced his hand. How could he turn away from this? He had too many hands, and too many eyes not to try.

Luffa's metabolic readouts were fluctuating, and so he had to divide his attention to modifying her nutrient intake. This, in turn, shifted the delicate balance of the grafts. He was losing one of them, the one on her arm.

No. He refused to surrender. It would be all too easy to sacrifice a few of the mycotheraputic sites and start over on a second session. Easier, safer, and more time-consuming. How many people could Luffa help during that lost time? Was he willing to doom them just to make things easier for himself?

He looked down at Luffa's face. Even unconscious, there was something aggressive in her expression, like she was aware of the struggle he was going through.

He had never completely understood his late daughter. Even before her illness, Nwitt's manic passions seemed alien to him, and to everyone he knew. He had seen some of Nwitt in Luffa, and pitied her for it. But over time, he came to see the Saiyan heart as something more than an engine of war. Luffa had shown him a fiery passion that could do more than kill. She could laugh, cry, love, and draw strength from those intense emotions. And as Topsas came to admire Luffa, he began to appreciate Nwitt all the more. For the first time in decades, Topsas saw his daughter as something other than a tragedy to be mourned. Her short life, and the wild emotions that fueled it, were something to be celebrated and cherished. Even the fear that came at the end, well that had its own meaning, in its own way.

He prayed for some of that energy now. If his skill and steady hands should falter, there was still his pride as a healer to drive him. There was still the thrill of the challenge, the fear of failure. His daughter was dead, but if he could save this little mammal in her honor, then maybe it would give some purpose to her loss.

"I won't lose," he said aloud. Whether he was speaking to himself or to his patient, or to Nwitt's spirit, he did not know. As he worked, he soon forgot all thoughts of the risks of this task. He ignored the fatigue that began to weather his stamina. He simply ignored all other courses, save the one he was on.

Zatte--bless her soul--believed Luffa to be an instrument of God's will. While Topsas respected this viewpoint, he disagreed. He had seen Luffa on the day she had first transformed. He had seen how violent and terrified she was. He had held her hand to calm her down. He still remembered the feel of Tikosi blood on her fingers, the whimpers she made as she fought to regain control of her own body. Perhaps this was the way divine instruments were chosen, but Topsas had trouble believing it. There was nothing glorious or honorable about it. She was compelled to follow an unknown path that was fraught with danger. And Luffa had faced that fate with courage on that day.

He swore to do no less on this day.

*******

[1 June, 233 Before Age. Pillimede Asteroid Belt.]

And the next day.

*******

[2 June, 233 Before Age. Pillimede Asteroid Belt.]

And the next...

*******

[3 June, 233 Before Age. Pillimede Asteroid Belt.]

He didn't sleep in the way that vertebrates did. When he was tired, Topsas simply ceased moving, and remained still for a time, though he remained fully aware of his surroundings. He was long overdue for this type of rest, but he couldn't stop for long. Having completed his work on Luffa, he was anxious to drain the chamber and revive her, so that he could conduct a more thorough examination, and make sure there were no lasting side-effects. The entire process took forty-five minutes. While mechanical pumps removed the medicated fluid, a tube attached to a face mask removed the fluid from her lungs, gradually reacquainting her respiratory system with air. The mask also delivered a sedative, and when he was ready, he reduced the dosage, opened the lid of the chamber and waited.

She regained consciousness almost immediately, barely giving him time to prepare the med scanner. "Where...? Oh. Right, the stasis chamber," she said, as she came to her senses. "How did it go?"

"Better... better than expected," Topsas said, surprised by the hoarseness of his voice. "I... yes, better than expected. I'll leave it at that."

"Where's Zatte?"

"Oh, I... er, neglected to call her. I imagine she would be on the bridge. I've lost track of the time."

"How long was I out?"

"Three days." Tired as he was, he could not easily forget this, as he hadn't rested in all of that time.

"Three? You said it would take a week."

"Ah, yes, I did. It seems that your body was much more agreeable to the mycotherapy than I anticipated. I still want you to rest, but I don't know that we'll need the chamber for that. How are you feeling?"

Luffa paused for a moment, as though searching herself for an answer. "Sore," she said. Holding her hands in front of her face. "Not as bad as before, but... my vision's all... blurry."

Relief washed over him. Blurry vision, he could deal with. He had worried that she wouldn't be able to see at all, or something worse. He passed the med-scanner over her face anyway, to verify what she had said, but now he could feel more confident about it.

"A side effect of the fungal grafts," Topsas explained. "Your eyesight will return to normal eventually, though I shall have to monitor it carefully before we repeat the process."

"Repeat it?" Luffa asked.

"I think... yes, I think I've learned enough from this first attempt to feel confident about trying again," Topsas said. "The benefits seem to outweigh the risks at this point."

Luffa tried to sit up, and Topsas reached out to hold her back and guide her upright.

"Hold on," she said. "You're telling me that you managed to heal me up from all of that, in three days' time? And you can do it again? Whenever you want?"

"Not 'whenever'," he said with a sigh. "As I just said, I need to monitor your vision first. If we proceed too quickly, use the fungal graft too often, we run the risk of permanently damaging your senses."

"Yeah, but still..." She held up her left hand and looked at it. "It's not too blurry. Not sure why I see this blue tint on my skin..."

"That is the stasis fluid, little mammal," he said. One of his hands was already reaching up with a towel to wipe it off.

"Doc, are you okay?"

"Why would I not be?"

"You just sound tired somehow. It's hard to tell with you."

"I... may have overexerted a little," he admitted.

"You should rest," Luffa said. She planted her hands on the side of the chamber and began to pull herself out. "I can the service droid to bring us some dinner--"

He grabbed her by the shoulder to stop her from going any further.

"You are going to stay put until I am satisfied that your condition is stable," he said, noticing a faltering in his voice. "I just put you back together, and I want at least a little time to savor the victory before you rush off to undo all of my hard work."

"Sure, Doc, whatever you say," Luffa assured him. He turned to fetch something from one of the benchtops, and then he noticed her smiling at him.

"Does something amuse you?" he asked.

"You turned a corner, didn't you?" Luffa asked. "I'm a little out of it, but I can tell that much."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"You weren't too thrilled about trying something like this, but now that it's over, you're practically champing at the bit to do it again."

"Oh yes, because I always look forward to seeing you return to this ship, bloodied and battered. Truly the highlight of my day."

"You remind me of when I was a kid, after I did my first Gallick Gun," Luffa said.

He said nothing, and pretended to be preoccupied with his scans.

"It might be a while before you get to do it again," she said. "Now that I'm healed up, it'll take a lot more to wear me down again. Those Jindan-using bastards won't have it so easy next time. Don't get too eager. You might get bored waiting for me to get hurt."

"I shall believe that when I see it," Topsas said.

She kept on gloating, as Saiyans so often do, about how she would destroy her enemies and reign supreme on the battlefield. Topsas simply carried on with his work, and when he was satisfied that there was nothing left for him to do for the time being, he called Zatte, then went to Luffa's bedside, and held her hand.

NEXT: To the future...

[ghostbustershq]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife - Trailer A Breakdown

“Troy, wondering what you thought about that new Ghostbusters trailer?”

Well, I’ve waited thirty years for this moment. Something tells me that my long-winded and verbose writing sensibilities won’t be able to convey my thoughts in a text message or 140 characters on Twitter. Welcome anyone that I’ve pointed in this direction. I’ve been waiting an awful long time for this. And that’s not to be dismissive of the wonderful experience and entertaining film we received just three short years ago. This is something different. But the same. Something new, but also something familiar. In one word?

Wow.

Quite a bit to unpack in a trailer revealing the first details on what has otherwise been a very tight-lipped production. Needless to say, the first real look at Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife blew me away. The direct sequel to Ghostbusters II looks to take some twists and turns, while incorporating the iconography and elements that made the original film and its sequel so popular in the 80’s. To be completely honest, it’s quite difficult to sit here and put into words my reaction to seeing a trailer for a movie I’ve been waiting 30 years to see. Excited doesn’t even begin to describe just how fun and exciting this trailer release has been. Not to mention just how special this film release will be.

But you’re not here for a review or my sentiments, you’re here for a breakdown to the trailer with a few comments and screen grabs.

Let’s do it, eh?

Hitting the Road

Right out of the gate, some stunning cinematography from Eric Steelberg on full-display here as a car full of teenage kids approach what appears to be an old mine elevator at the top of an incredible looking vista. Kids being kids, golden hour in full effect, it’s a lovely first introduction to the world in which this film will inhabit. Finn Wolfhard’s character Trevor answers a pointed question that his family has moved to Summerville because they’re completely broke. To the point that he’s getting a haircut at home by his own mother, Callie (played by Carrie Coon). We’re meeting a family on some hard times, forced to make a hard turn in their lives because of finances.

Grandpa’s “Creepy Old Farmhouse”

The family pulls up to a farmhouse and barn that looks like they’ve both seen better days. A giant barn with a collapsed roof and several silos surround a Gothic looking weather vein riddled house that may as well be out of the Addams Family. Dire circumstances have forced them to move to a family farm inherited from an, as of now, unknown grandfather. Phoebe (played by Mckenna Grace) gets out of the car with a look on her face that says it all. And those eyeglasses… well, we’ve all talked about who those look like they belong to at great length.

Something’s Amiss

Trevor’s tender moment with a new friend (Celeste O’Connor’s still as-of-yet-unrevealed character) is interrupted by the mine elevator they’re sitting on shakes violently and a green glow emanates from the mine below them. All is not picture-perfect Americana in Summerville as we’ve been led to believe. An entity explodes from the mine, escaping into the air and pushing the teenagers back in the process. That glimpse of our paranormal haunting kicks us into the studio and production company logos.

Bron Studios/Bron Media Logo

Interestingly, no Ghost Corps logo attached to the trailer. But there is a newcomer to both the trailer and the teaser poster released on Friday, Bron Studios. A Canadian company, Bron gets a logo right after Sony/Columbia possibly suggesting they’re a financial backer of the film or a large partner in some shape or form. A quick look at iMDB shows that Aaron L. Gilbert of Bron Media has been added as an Executive Producer to the film as well.

Earthquakes and Mr. Grooberson

Here’s our first real taste of how Paul Rudd’s character will factor into the film. He’s intrigued by Summerville’s seismic activities, given the fact that it doesn’t lie on a fault line, nor does it have any of the telltale signs of locations that should be moving and shaking. The protagonist family huddles under a table during a quake where we get a good taste of the film’s humor courtesy of Trevor with a quippy one-liner about the summer that they died under a table. So what is happening? Stay tuned. Also, admittedly I was too distracted by the beautiful lighting in the shot with Trevor to notice the symmetrical book stacking visual gag in the background until others pointed it out. Well played, set dec team. I’d expect there will be visual easter eggs like this throughout the entirety of the film.

Mystery Box Revealed

Following one of the quakes at their new home, Phoebe seemingly finds a loose floorboard and a sliding puzzle that has been left behind by their grandfather to hide the presence of a familiar ghost trap. Which Phoebe takes to school and shows off to her still unnamed friend, played by Logan Kim. The sight of a ghost trap tickles Mr. Grooberson, who connects it with the famed-Ghostbusters who saved New York City back in the 1980’s. The kids have no idea of the existence of ghosts, nor what occurred back in 1984 near Central Park. Grooberson is more than happy to educate them.

Jason Reitman Front and Center

After the ghost trap’s appearance, Jason Reitman (deservedly so) gets a card proclaiming the film coming from him as a writer-director hyphenate. The credit comes over an industrial space with a whole lot of Ridley Scott creep-factor going on. If I had one nit to pick with the trailer, it’s the producer in me that is concerned poor Jason’s credit never resolves with the “R” in Reitman not obstructed by the light blooming in the center of the frame.

A Free-Roaming… Something?

Right after Jason Reitman’s card, comes a panning shot across the same industrial space where a gelatinous blob is in the distance doing something. It’s tough to make out exactly what type of entity we’re looking at here, but it seems to appear (and move) like a microscopic organism or something found at the depths of the sea. Which I quite enjoy. A ghost that looks unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Also worth noting that the movements feel practical - there is weight and almost a rubbery movement to it just like the creature designs from the shop in the 80’s. Love it.

New York Was Like the Walking Dead

Mr. Grooberson shows Phoebe and Logan Kim’s character archival footage from the 1980’s where he remembers seeing the ghost trap utilized as a kid. The Ghostbusters were a phenomenon 35 years ago, but have been forgotten. As history tends to move on and generations aren’t impacted by the events of their elders, they’re learning about who the Ghostbusters were. Phoebe comments that her mother has never spoken of the events that took place in New York and that their father isn’t in the picture.

Of note, these two shots are incredible angles that I don’t believe I’ve seen before. Perhaps the result of Jason Reitman and his post production team digging into the mines and finding the original dailies and negative from the 1984 film for use in Afterlife?

PKE Readings and “Does This Pole Still Work?”

Phoebe seems to have found other Ghostbusting equipment and uses it to trace readings back to a makeshift shed. Presumably a continuation of the scene based on the editing, Phoebe slides down a fire pole (!!!) to a subterranean hidden space. She continues to follow readings on the PKE Meter, finding equipment including the orange piece of machinery taken from the original Ghostbusters at Columbia University, a Betamax recorder in the far distance, an oscilloscope, and a whole lot of fungi growing in jars. The camera pans over sample dishes of spores, molds and fungus collections, (subtly cued with Phoebe talking about picking through the rubble of her grandfather’s life) and then continues past a proton pack in progress of assembly.

Admittedly, this was the first moment in the trailer where I could feel my heart doing backflips. We’re seeing the past through Phoebe’s eyes and everything looks, feels, and sounds like Ghostbusters. I love it. This movie is about discovery, as we’ve heard over and over. To me, it feels a bit like we’re (the viewer - the broader public outside of us fans) are rediscovering our love for what made these movies so popular.

The Shoe Drops

This is where any other trailer would take the opportunity to pepper in the bass drops, kick in the soft-breathy cover version of Ray Parker Jr.’s theme song, or some other overused trope. But Ghostbusters Afterlife takes a pretty bold stance and tries something different. And to me, it really works. When Mr. Grooberson discovers that the ghost trap isn’t a replica and is, in fact a real ghost trap (and may be occupied still), he questions who Phoebe is, as there’s a cut to Phoebe’s hand grazing over a rack of flight suits revealing the name tag, “Spengler” barely having enough time to resolve before a smash to black.

In what is absolutely a stroke of genius of whomever is responsible for this wonderful trailer, Bill Murray’s line for the original movie as Venkman and Stantz share a bottle of Apricot Brandy talking about going into business for themselves takes on a whole new meaning: “Call it fate, call it luck, call it karma. I believe everything happens for a reason,” is said while - - to my ear - - a new rendition of the same Elmer Bernstein cue that plays under the scene swells.

A Certified Genius or an Authentic Wacko

After a “Next Summer” sell card, another beautiful Americana (c/o Calgary) vista of the Shandor Mining Company. Interesting, perhaps Ivo Shandor from the original film fancied himself an entrepreneur at one point before he became an architect? Or perhaps this is a result of his interest in metallurgy mentioned by Stantz? Perhaps he mined his own supplies for projects? Either way, I’m starting to think that Sumeriaville… ahem… sorry… Summerville might be following in a classic trope of some of the best horror stories. A town with an incredibly horrible secret. Warning signs don’t matter to Phoebe and Logan Kim’s character as they trudge ahead.

Hello, Beautiful

Meanwhile, in the narrative of our trailer, Trevor follows in Phoebe’s footsteps into the fields of the farm and finds something of his own: a beautiful (but a little rusty) 1959 Miller-Meteor Cadillac as the ground shakes again, something shatters through a row of school buses seemingly attacking Phoebe, and the town goes into high-alert. Amid the chaos, there’s a striking 20 frames or so of Phoebe staring into a horrifying fire pit of arms - lost souls? Something else? And immediately after that, Mr. Grooberson frantically tries to escape from a snarling beast that slams a foot on the hood of his automobile. Trevor’s Ecto-1 adventure continues as he turns the key and an homage that would make Laszlo Kovacs proud reveals the familiar license plate and front grill emerging from the garage and into the field for a joy ride. The ol’ Ecto has a whole lotta horsepower left in the tank.

Damn Right, This Thing Has a Gunner’s Seat

And that’s when the trailer hits us. What can and should be the most amazing surprise in the trailer (if not unfortunately spoiled for you by a few self-interested rotten apples with horrible cell phone photos) - this isn’t the Ecto we’re familiar with. Perhaps an explanation as to why it’s the ol’ Ecto-1, or maybe the car was always being changed throughout the duration of the Ghostbusters’ longevity, THIS Ectomobile looks to have been heavily modified for field work. Phoebe, with a thrower in her hand, swivels out into an attack position and we’re off to the races. The Ecto-1, with Phoebe in the gunner position, looks to be chasing the microscopic entity seen earlier in the industrial space - though some people have speculated that might be Slimer, I don’t think that’s the case. Either way… Dear Hasbro, take my money now. My goodness, what an awesome set-piece (and toyetic moment) that looks like it will be.

Everything about this movie speaks to me. It’s playing with my nostalgia. It’s also giving us something new and the promise of the next generation discovering the Ghostbusters both on-screen and off. The fact that a main character is named Trevor for some reason immediately made me think of my amazing former boss and now guide to the next generation of comedy Trevor Albert, who was a long-time friend and colleague of Harold Ramis. Phoebe’s an intriguing character and the friendship that we saw Mckenna Grace and Logan Kim develop via social media throughout the course of the production seems to have carried over to their on-screen performances.

Of course, noticeably absent are any of the original cast members. But, as the theme of this trailer and seemingly the movie as a whole is discovery and things slowly unfolding, I can imagine that moment will be saved until the absolute very end of the marketing campaign. If the cast isn’t kept in secret similar to Mark Hamill in The Force Awakens completely. To be completely honest, I don’t want to see another frame until opening day of the film itself. And if this is the only trailer they release, that would be a wonderful mystery box. Particularly for this Ghostbusters podcast host who would have to break another TV spot or trailer down frame by frame. I get the sense that the less we know and see about this movie before the first viewing experience, the better.

But most of all - - the iconography, the designs from Stephen Dane, Michael C. Gross, and so many other artists has carried over successfully and looks authentic. This is no replica, as the trailer blatantly tells us. This is the real deal.

[pygmana]

Session Logs Special: Catch-Up Edition

Provided by Gabe (Thank you so much, you saved my life)

Previously, in Pygmana... (Keep in mind I have a cartoonishly bad memory, this is just all that I remember)

After a brief stop to pick up Brynne, a Wizard, and Colyndor, a druid, the group met for the first time the Duke of Davin, who invited them all to a celebration being held later in the week for heroes who actually did something good. Meanwhile, in their unending efforts to do something bad, Wolfgang and Colyndor decided to investigate the duke's castle on their own, and found nothing but a lot of sadness and drug habits, with the one light in the darkness being a map to a blood orgy in the duke's son's room. Colyndor, wandering without thinking, got himself trapped in a cell with a night hag, with whom Wolfgang had to negotiate to get Colyndor out.

The ight hag's deal was that she'd let him out and give Wolfgang an undefined "boon", if he could bring two women to her, while being cartoonishly vague. Colyndor then disappeared after that, and we never bothered to explain why. This lead to the weight of having to find two women for a possibly nefarious purpose down to Wolfgang. After a discussion that was much longer than it should have been about how to properly seduce women to possibly get murdered and where the best places to prey on women were, the party collectively remembered bounties exist. After hitting up a bandit stronghold and taking two of the women with them, the night hag took them in and more or less shoo'ed Wolfgang away.

Meanwhile, at some point I don't remember, Raven, Nereid, and Khunsu found themselves left alone for long enough that they investigated a demonic ritual that went horribly wrong that turned a school to ghouls, and investigating a pyramid. After some light grave robbing, the group got paranoid and left before anything could wipe them off the face of the earth. They kept the items they got from the tomb to themselves, much to the irritation and annoyance of a lot of people, but mostly Brynne.

The blood orgy ended up being the night before the group was headed to the Duke's ball, so naturally Wolfgang, Brynne, and Moira, a Cleric who I don't remember WHEN she showed up, decided to crash it and see what information about demons they could glean from there. The blood orgy was a beautiful mess of rich kids fucking monsters and getting crunk out of their goddamn minds, and while the group didn't fuck the monsters, they sure as shit got naked and crunk. They also found out the name of one of the guys dealing in town, who I completely forget the name of. At the same time though, they hint that their supplier is kind of holding out on them.

Several blackouts later, the group got themselves together, sans Moira I believe (She'll be back later), to go to the ball. For once, the team seemed to have it together, with Wolfgang as a cool teen talking to other cool teens, and Raven as the Dad Friend getting themselves invited to a drug deal and learning how to summon a dealer. Raven also further pursued his endgoal of getting land and a title by accepting a vague request from the duchess to "deal with her husband", who is sleeping with another man and is drugged out and is basically driving her to drink even more.

Wolfgang (who is driving a surprisingly large amount of the plot, now that I'm looking at this) and Raven get down on this new sexy drug deal, and meet this new sexy lady, who wants them to sign a contract that says she and her demon are the only supplier they'll go to anymore for drugs. Everyone finally realizes that Moira was kidnapped to be eaten by a giant, and they all murder it super hard to save her. She still kind of vanishes afterwards to elope with a goblin princess.

After that, the group prepares for the inevitable demon rumpus, and decide to investigate that pyramid from earlier to get a mummified hand for a ritual. Khunsu, despite not noticing the last time they were in the pyramid, realizes this is super sacreligious, and tries to convince everyone they need to leave. This does not sink in for Wolfgang, who waits until everyone leaves to sneak off and take a hand for himself. Unsurprisingly, this has bad consequences, and the group has to go off to a temple of Serket, and do a good deed there so the gods don't hate them and actively work against them.

They stop on the way in Lynnport, where the duke mentioned a series of prostitute murders happening. They meet Aster, who basically is mostly everyone's contact with the constables, and Raven (I think, could be Luke) pays to fix her tusk. They find out that the next murder, according to the pattern, is coming up, and make plans to stop by again on the way back. Brynne picks up a treasure map before the group heads to Serket's temple.

I wanna say they're called the hills of music. Anyways, the group heads there, and immediately find out that the problem they have to deal with is that their water supply is drying up. While Bernie Squanders stays behind to get pampered, the group investigates and finds out that giant mushrooms have overgrown and have taken over the wellspring. After finding and killing the source of it, a parasitic fungus who got a man to come down and plant it, the hand Wolfgang took is regrafted onto the mummy and Wolfgang is forgiven of his crimes against the dead.

Back in Lynnport, after going back the the inn they had previously visited, they find out that a bartender had been sick and missing for a few days. Checking in on her, they find symptoms that are the same as anyone else infected with the tainted heroin, and she passes a little after giving information on her dealer. Finding the gnome that ran the circus, they capture him and zone of truth him so he can be prosecuted for his crimes. The party splits after this, with half the group (Wolfgang, Raven, and Nereid) staying to complete the original plan of "disguise yourself amongst the prostitutes to catch the killer", and the other half (Sir Luke, Khunsu, and Brynne) checking in on the gnome's wife.

After some hijinks while trying to be expensive unavailable prostitutes, the group finds the sexy lady drug dealer from earlier talking and interacting with the prostitutes. Wolfgang, the only member of the group not disguised as a prostitute, tries following her when she leads on of the prostitutes to a back alley, but she warps away with her. A scream is heard a few blocks away, and the woman who was with the drug dealer is found dead. Wolfgang, Raven, and Nereid try and confront the woman, but she shrugs off everything and seems to leave her body, leaving a second corpse. Raven also gets a message around this time that the Duchess has decided how she wants Raven to deal with her husband, and asks him to come by at his earliest convenience.

Meanwhile, with the other group, they go to the home of the gnome's wife to check on her, and unsurprisingly she is still dying of illness (despite her husband making an ill-conceived deal to cure her). Despite their best (bare minimum) efforts, Khunsu and Brynne are unable to do anything and their group heads to a bar. Here at this bar they meet a recurring bartender (Mr. Tummnus, I wanna say his first name is Paul), and Baxter Maplepaw, fey corgi paladin of Bast. (Just go with it.) Baxter is immediately interested in the group, as he's been investigating it a little himself, and agrees to go back to the gnome's wife, who he cures and converts to Bast.

The rest of the group show up, and they all (save Raven) go to church to talk about a series of cattle mutilations they've heard about with the priests there. They find out about gruesomely slaughtered cattle and the three farms that have mostly been hit, while Brynne got kicked out for being disrespectful and Wolfgang slept in a pew. Raven, on the other hand, takes this time to meet with the duchess, who, in a drunken stupor, tells him to kill the duke because he's been consorting with demons. Raven, while realizing that a lot of what's happening in front of him is motivated by anger towards the duke, also realizes she's telling the truth, and accepts the job to kill him at some point.

Wolfgang and Brynne get some time to themselves, and decide to go clubbing against the world's better judgement. They meet Brad, a paladin of the ancients, who's celebrating his 21st birthday, and kidnap him in a friendly way while just absolutely not remembering his name. They all, with their bowls of wine, decide to go to a spa, and end up meeting Thokk, a barbarian and a religious zealot of Tlazolteotl, and they hang out a little. After splitting ways with Thokk, they find out that a Norse temple is infested with frost giants, and take care of that problem (with the help of the police) before going to a strip club. Some breasts and near fights later, Brad decides to stay with Wolfgang and Brynne because his old friends are somehow much shittier.

Now that they're all back together, the group investigates the farms, and Baxter purifies the dead cattle while the farmers prepare small meals for everyone, until the last farm where they tell the group they've prepared traps for whoever's been mutilating cattle. The party tries to prepare for the sleep spell that the cow murderers have been using, but only Nereid, Baxter, and Brynne stay awake. Nereid stays back because he's racist and doesn't trust the drow hostesses (who are all asleep), while Baxter and Brynne try and investigate. One of the two intruders gets his leg stuck in a bear trap, while the second runs and Brynne has to shark bolt him to get him back.

After the shark starts biting the man in the shoulder, everyone wakes up, and they all head out to interrogate the intruders. Thanks to a surprising amount of diplomatic restraint and Brynne charming one of the cattle mutilators, they find out that they were sent by this man with gold eyes (that they can't remember any other details of) to kill enough cattle that it harms the farmers, summoning a demon we all know and love as the Horse Lord. After getting the exact meeting times out of them, Baxter and Nereid murder the two of them and they head to the bar to meet they mystery man.

After waiting a little, he shows up, and the party shows increasing levels of unsubtlety and a lack of restraint, ending with Luke announcing that the group knows who he is, and Baxter lodging an axe firmly in Brad's shoulder. Amused by this, the demon agrees to hear the group out. The Horse Lord is looking to head to the human world since two of his rivals are doing the same thing, but Baxter suggests that instead of coming out, the party (with his help) force the other two back in. The Horse Lord agrees, although he still needs them to work out an exact deal as soon as possible. This leaves everyone immensely nervous.

[fearknocks]

Exit Scott: Aliens Among Us

My friend, eEllisAllen, writes about interesting things she observes on her walks around her community.

I have a walking path near my home, but the leavings on my path are not quite as friendly. My trail is made up mainly of weeds, broken sprinkler systems, and a few trees, of which 66.6 percent are in some stage of death. I walk on it often, mainly to clear my head and get ideas that later become stories, stories that are usually dark.

Off of the trail to the west is a rather nice wire fence that separates the walking trail weeds from the state road weeds. To the east are a number of interesting things: open fields, vinyl-fenced eyesores protecting the surrounding backyards of housing communities from the advance of the Weed Army of Darkness, polygamist farm land, city parks, and land being developed for more homes.

One day out walking, I stumbled on some mysterious wires and a broken utility pole. It had an ominous alien aluminum tube inside. I probably shouldn’t have pulled the tube out, but then I would have never had the excitement of having my Exit Scott Newsletter column literally mean Exit Scott!  But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Looking to the east, I find something strange and out of place. There are three heavy gauge wires, the kind that are usually strung between high-voltage power poles. I have no idea why they are here. They are draped across a copse of rogue trees. Have they magically fallen from the sky?

There are no power poles around, other than the previously mentioned mysteriously broken utility pole. It was more of a stump than a pole. My first thought: are these live wires? I look north and south. I can see no connection. They disappear without end. The thought process continues. Maybe someone is running a long-wire antenna for HF communication? Same problem: where do they connect? Maybe they did fall from the sky, from a passing aircraft or, better yet, an alien spacecraft?

I’d like to know where these wires came from, why they are here, and where they are going.

In the back of my mind, a story about unknown and unidentifiable metal wires, not of this earth, starts to percolate. I look at the trees again. The wires are resting too perfectly on the trees to have fallen from any distance. They certainly didn’t fall off any kind of poles, and they don’t look like the fell off of a passing aircraft (or spacecraft). The number is also interesting: three. Why are there three? I don’t see any tracks. Off in the distance I see the aforementioned broken utility pole of death.  I recall an old pump house or storage shed and decide that maybe investigating a little further may reveal something.

I find  one end of the mysterious wires.

The thought process continues and I wonder if this is connected to the ominous golf course that never existed, the one-water-trap course that hosted 18 holes for a day in order to get the land designated a golf course. The land was condemned for a Department of Transportation (DOT) right-of-way. A golf course would have a much better pay-off then swampland. Ironically, the land was re-zoned. I imagine the price was right for the DOT. What does any of this have to do with broken wires, alien spacecraft, or poison. Did I mention the strange alien aluminum tube hidden within the heart of the broken utility pole was poison?

…the mysterious contents of the mysterious aluminum tube ended up being  a Toxicity Class 1 poison complete with skull and crossbones…

I learned the tube had contained a substance called MITC-FUME, a liquid poison used to protect the “heartwood” of utility poles from pests and fungus. I still wondered about the  possible aliens, or the high-voltage wires that had fallen, or – cue the Twilight Zone theme – what were these mysterious scratch marks on the earth that looked like backhoe teeth? There were no backhoe tracks or tread marks. I continued south.

The stumpy pole-o-death, the unidentifiable metal wires, the poison, they kind of made sense, but not complete sense. Whoever did this left all kinds of trash behind and then I saw it. The old pump-house. The storage shed for the golf course…

It had been destroyed…

They, whoever they were, left the pump-house/shed in splinters… They demolished it completely. I want to believe that it was done to keep the homeless from occupying it, which is sad. What’s the worst that could have happened? It was shelter from the storm. Even if the homeless accidentally burned it down, the site would be cleaner as ashes than as the mess the current tenant was leaving behind (or the aliens). I was sad, but still thinking there may be more to this story The unexplained large bite marks from a back-hoe without tracks…

Then they appeared…

No sooner did I think about the missing tracks then tracks appeared. It’s times like this that I question my thinking, my powers of observation, my level of boredom. When I have nothing better to do but create and investigate mysteries, I kind of wish I was till working for No Such Agency. Maybe I could catch a date with Daphne and the gang riding around in the Mystery Machine, or even tag-team with Dean and Sam Winchester. So much for aliens.

Sometimes I feel like my life is kind of wasted.

What am I? A a house-husband. A primary-care provider. A caring spouse and father. But what do I do? How do I contribute? I take care of a special needs child and support a wife living her dream. Those are good things, right? Why don’t they feel like good things. Why doesn’t it feel like much at all?

The site is a mess. I wonder if these home contractors are going to clean up the trash. There’s a huge tank, probably a few thousand gallons, further south than where I’m standing amidst the alien wreckage. At this point, my imagination has given way to my sarcasm. What are they going to use this tank for? Maybe a selling point? An artistic flourish in the community?

Why can’t they just leave this field alone? Leave the mysteries alone, the wires and pump houses and sheds and tanks. These things just want to live their own lives. Is that the real mystery here?

The trees draw my attention back to the trail. I wonder why the trees to the north are mainly dead, but those to the south are alive, maturing, and thriving? This stretch, both north and south, is maintained by the same city. Could it be that… ??? No, that’s impossible, Obi Wan…

Maybe its the aliens…

The aliens landed their ship on the old pump house and destroyed it. The giant tank they jettisoned to escape the pull of earth’s gravity. But what about the trees? They had something to do with the trees.

Maybe the destroyed pump house, the wires, the aluminum tube, all of it is wreckage. The aliens didn’t leave at all. The mess is actually a crash site. The healthy trees are the aliens.

I hope they made it safely back to their home planet. Makes more sense than a lazy contractor or staying on earth as shipwrecked trees. I guess I better contact the city about the Level-1 toxin. They probably wouldn’t believe the alien story.

Until next time.

[tonyduncanbb73]

The Best Meals of 2017: Crudos, Hand-Pulled Noodles, and More

Local food writers rave about their best meals of the year

As is Eater’s annual tradition, we’re closing out 2017 by surveying local food writers (including our own staff and contributors) on various restaurant-related topics, and we’re publishing their responses in these final days of the year. Readers, please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comment section below.

Keep an eye on the Year in Eater archive page for other stories in this series.

Today’s next question: What was your best (local) restaurant meal of 2017? (See the 2016 responses here.)

MC Slim JB, restaurant critic for The Improper Bostonian:

Huge Galdones for Cultivar

A dish at Cultivar

“Oof, I have to choose just one? A dish that I thought about for weeks afterward was this simple, cold Hunanese salad of wood-ear fungus in a very tart and chili-hot dressing with a ton of raw garlic at Sei Bar in Wakefield.

I often find myself at the bar at Erbaluce on my rare nights off from review research. One memorable dinner there started with an elegantly reductive Pavese soup of game-bird broth floating a crostino with a poached duck egg tucked into it, topped with a shower of great Parmigiana, followed by pork cheeks braised in white wine with herbs, plus pumpkin mostarda, capped by the best version of the ubiquitous octopus I had all year, with a singular crisp/delicate texture: Chef Draghi’s is fresh, never frozen, which makes a massive difference.

But my single favorite repast was a summer feast with dear friends on the lovely patio of Mary Dumont’s stunning Cultivar: gorgeous crudos of crab, tuna, and arctic char; yakitori beets; snails on toast; octopus a la plancha; a spectacular grilled sea bass fillet; an incredible, chili-dusted squid-ink messenesi loaded with mahogany clams, squid, and lobster (more chefs should use sea beans); and three of Robert Gonzalez’s jaw-dropping, high-art desserts. In a highly-competitive field, I’d have to call Cultivar the best new restaurant of the year.”

Marc Hurwitz, founder of Boston’s Hidden Restaurants and Boston Restaurant Talk, restaurant critic for Dig Boston, and more:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Hand-pulled noodles at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe (Boston location)

��Tough one, but I may go with Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe in Woburn. I went there on a rainy evening not too long ago and had their hand-pulled noodles, which pretty much blew me away, but then I decided I still had room and ordered their hot and sour dumpling soup and guess what — that may have been even better. Zero atmosphere but friendly people, cheap prices, and oh, is their food ever good.”

Jenna Pelletier, food editor of Boston Magazine:

Facebook

A dish at Tasting Counter

“So many great meals, but the tasting menu extravaganza at Tasting Counter stands out the most (and their more casual late-night situation is pretty awesome, too). I also had an excellent dinner at Izakaya Minato, in Portland. And it was pretty special to attend chef Michael Scelfo’s Outstanding in the Field dinner at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury.”

Jacqueline Cain, associate food editor of Boston Magazine:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Delicata squash at Haley.Henry

“Hands down, the James Beard Foundation dinner at Wright-Locke Farm that the Table at Season to Taste organized with friends from Bar Mezzana, Uni, Sycamore, SRV, and Toro. Other memorable meals:Before Eventide Fenway opened, Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley teamed up with Tony Messina at Uni and it was amazing. Please bring back that brandade, dudes. I got into Bar Mezzana during Maine shrimp season. I had an awesome meal at Haley.Henry this fall, capped off with a quirky ‘green’ salad of smoked trout, green beans, olives, and more that I still think about.”

Scott Kearnan, editor of Zagat Boston and food editor of the Boston Herald:

Facebook

Pasta at Pammy’s

“This is a toughie. My top two openings of 2017 were Cultivar and Pammy’s, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing about my first meals at either. Not often you can say that! Also, Nicolas Swogger’s Southern-slash-global opening menu at B3 in Back Bay, which has nightly live music programmed by Berklee, was one that sticks out as a really pleasant surprise. (He’s since moved on, and I haven’t had a chance to return and see how they’re doing now.)

MIDA never did me wrong this year, and the cozy digs made every great meal even better. Finally, and this was probably better suited to the ‘top standbys’ category, but on the fast-casual front I’m addicted to Aceituna Grill, one of the few locally-owned counter service joints to pop up in the chain-dominated Seaport (it has an original location in Kendall Square.) My order: tabbouleh salad with spicy chicken shawarma, hummus and baba ganoush… plus a piece of baklava for later.”

Sam Hiersteiner, contributor to the Boston Globe and more:

Facebook

Black bass at Sunbird

“We had this wonderful, unexpectedly awesome meal at Sunbird Kitchen in Orleans over the summer. Featured incredible, memorable local produce, including from Chatham Bars Inn Farm. And astoundingly good beef jerky.”

Dan Whalen, blogger at The Food in my Beard and author of upcoming cookbook Tots!:

Facebook

Pancetta-glazed pork belly with parsnip beignets at Brassica

“I know it isn’t fair, but I am saying three: Holiday lunch at No.9 Park (a four-hour lunch on a Thursday with great friends); Brassica (food from fellow Guy’s Grocery Games champ Jeremy Kean); SRV (we had, like, nine amazing desserts from Meghan Thompson.)”

Dana Hatic, associate editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Razor clam ceviche at Little Donkey

“Yes, I’m late to the game, but I had an exceptional meal at Little Donkey this year. I went with a friend, and the second we walked in, our game plan flew out the window. With cocktails served in grapefruits to guide us, we ate our way through as much as we could of the menu, including delicious pakoras and fried rice.”

Alex Wilking, contributor to Eater Boston:

Brian Samuels for Moona

Chicken bastilla at Moona

“Earlier in the summer, I went to Moona with a group and ordered, like, half of the menu. Everything — from small plates of pickles and hummus to the big bowls of couscous — was just sublime. I can’t remember the last time I was so floored by a meal.”

Rachel Leah Blumenthal, editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Jahunger noodles at Jahunger in Providence

“At the start of 2017, I intended to take notes all year so I could easily rattle off the best few things I ate when this survey came back around. I took note of the incredible pork belly bao at Pagu, and then I forgot to write anything else down the rest of the year. Oops.

In any case, it was a solid year for eating, and there were lots of memorable meals, but I’ll just name one other here: the meal I had at Jahunger in Providence just a few nights ago. It’s a Uyghur restaurant — we’ve only got one of those in the more immediate Boston area — and the food was spicy, deeply satisfying, and not quite like anything else around town. Make the trip. And the make it again. (Shoutout to Molly Birnbaum’s Providence Heatmap for Eater.com for steering me in the right direction!)”

[bitchybluebirdkoala-blog]

Effective ways to Publish Off Anywhere.

Update 2: Wii proprietors can additionally now participate. http://revenirea-latinerete.info/titan-gel-aceasta-este-o-modalitate-eficienta-de-a-creste-un-penis/ is actually offered to download promptly in the UK as well as Ireland using the Wii Outlet Stations (thanks, Nintendo Life ). I described that while professionalism is important, on social networking sites being appealing, intriguing and welcoming is actually frequently more crucial and also often reliability hampers of that. This post reviews the social bookmarking app Delibar for the iPhone and iPod Touch iOS gadgets. Social networking site is actually revolutionary because this squeezes the spectator information pattern to almost absolutely no. Given that this is the last position in this social web link, you could select any alternatives you desire, however there are still some that defer aspects, regardless of not going in the direction of just about anything. The only technology that ISPs are pursuing are actually ones that press additional bucks out of every person's wallets to deliver the same or much worse company. Leave behind the farms and also areas responsible for, jump straight into handling your own planets in The Universim, an all new god-game in advancement through Crytivo Gamings and Alexander Koshelkov. The blame relaxes squarely on Congress, which refuses to let Social Surveillance spend its surplus on increased solutions - or, for that issue, also on servicing of its own services. Even with restricting access, the Cuban federal government possesses a primary footprint online. Determining whether your set up depends on the activity of dealing with PlayStation Right now, there's a hookup examination alternative offered, that also manages prior to you start each activity, enabling you to observe if there's adequate data transfer and low sufficient latency to offer a hassle-free expertise. Call log syncing is discussed in Apple's protection white newspaper discharged in May, a PDF paper that handful of customers would certainly ever read through. However that was certainly not individual int he way individuality has actually come to be critical to social media networks. The PocketCHIP is actually a wonderful little device that showcases the ability from the $9 computer in manner ins which folks like me could create as well as comprehend after. That is straightforward to make use of and also efficient for make use of as a computer substitute yet I cannot aid but really feel that Apple are overlooking one thing. This absence of protection and interaction skills very most definitely boosts stress and anxiety and also anxiety. The typical trade of a bishop for a knight, or a rook for a rook, is consistently going to prefer the gamer along with the perk, and so at first winning games is effortless through thoughtlessly having whatever opposing part you can. They have actually paid attention to tracking for sort or fans or even shares, as well as furthermore a number of the social media resources created as well as right now made use of focus on enhancing to those metrics. She requested her gotten Social Security special needs perks, however must stand by 2 years to obtain a hearing. A misdirected attempt by USA federal government to make a Twitter-like social network in Cuba-- which ended along with $1.6 million devoted as well as only 40,000 customers to present for it-- has actually put the state of the Net on the communist island back on the spotlight. While I could recreate the fundamental task explained above in any of all of them, the ease and also velocity of utilization can easily vary significantly. My initial computer develop utilized an inexpensive scenario with pack-in PSU, which seared itself and the DVD drive, less than 30 seconds after my very first effective post. Basically, they are pointing out that the customer might should have the computer system on and also put in the WePrint software application so the apple iphone can easily use the pc as a hosting server. On the iPhone, Beauty Cloud keeps all your documents available, even when your home computer is shut down. That gives ISPs motivation to strengthen their company and also far better compete for individuals.

Having said that, that appears that attempts have actually been actually made to gain access to customer accounts using e-mail and security password combinations off an unaffiliated, jeopardized web site or database elsewhere online. After some of its own 1st audits in 2008 revealed an amount of sneaky working with methods, Apple introduced projects to battle reflex effort via using exceedingly high employment fees. And also a few months before acquiring the character, she had actually also counted on the world wide web with an inquiry concerning a skin layer fungus. You'll find what percent from the social group area picked each possible feedback. Recognizing the substantial spaces in access to fast net throughout the nation, the Federal Communications Compensation (FCC) recently redefined broadband in an initiative to force access provider to develop faster systems. Not too much to claim here: Midori is actually basic as you would certainly count on, using tabbed browsing, search, bookmarks, rate dial as well as some fundamental extensions (impaired by nonpayment). Real handles enable you to put together a residence Web server that you can easily connect with from outdoors, bring in pc gaming, videoconferencing, voice over Internet Protocol, and numerous various other Web solutions operate far better. Guide Deep Scientific research AI constructs video clip surveillance abilities making use of the current in deep discovering AI. Passion's largest beef along with the method games present sex is actually that, also when personalities typically aren't forever in a committed relationship along with various coatings of apparel, sexual is actually seldom a crucial portion of the encounter. Populace science is generally the study from wellness as well as disease within teams.

[tonyduncanbb73]

The Best Meals of 2017: Crudos, Hand-Pulled Noodles, and More

Local food writers rave about their best meals of the year

As is Eater’s annual tradition, we’re closing out 2017 by surveying local food writers (including our own staff and contributors) on various restaurant-related topics, and we’re publishing their responses in these final days of the year. Readers, please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comment section below.

Keep an eye on the Year in Eater archive page for other stories in this series.

Today’s next question: What was your best (local) restaurant meal of 2017? (See the 2016 responses here.)

MC Slim JB, restaurant critic for The Improper Bostonian:

Huge Galdones for Cultivar

A dish at Cultivar

“Oof, I have to choose just one? A dish that I thought about for weeks afterward was this simple, cold Hunanese salad of wood-ear fungus in a very tart and chili-hot dressing with a ton of raw garlic at Sei Bar in Wakefield.

I often find myself at the bar at Erbaluce on my rare nights off from review research. One memorable dinner there started with an elegantly reductive Pavese soup of game-bird broth floating a crostino with a poached duck egg tucked into it, topped with a shower of great Parmigiana, followed by pork cheeks braised in white wine with herbs, plus pumpkin mostarda, capped by the best version of the ubiquitous octopus I had all year, with a singular crisp/delicate texture: Chef Draghi’s is fresh, never frozen, which makes a massive difference.

But my single favorite repast was a summer feast with dear friends on the lovely patio of Mary Dumont’s stunning Cultivar: gorgeous crudos of crab, tuna, and arctic char; yakitori beets; snails on toast; octopus a la plancha; a spectacular grilled sea bass fillet; an incredible, chili-dusted squid-ink messenesi loaded with mahogany clams, squid, and lobster (more chefs should use sea beans); and three of Robert Gonzalez’s jaw-dropping, high-art desserts. In a highly-competitive field, I’d have to call Cultivar the best new restaurant of the year.”

Marc Hurwitz, founder of Boston’s Hidden Restaurants and Boston Restaurant Talk, restaurant critic for Dig Boston, and more:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Hand-pulled noodles at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe (Boston location)

“Tough one, but I may go with Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe in Woburn. I went there on a rainy evening not too long ago and had their hand-pulled noodles, which pretty much blew me away, but then I decided I still had room and ordered their hot and sour dumpling soup and guess what — that may have been even better. Zero atmosphere but friendly people, cheap prices, and oh, is their food ever good.”

Jenna Pelletier, food editor of Boston Magazine:

Facebook

A dish at Tasting Counter

“So many great meals, but the tasting menu extravaganza at Tasting Counter stands out the most (and their more casual late-night situation is pretty awesome, too). I also had an excellent dinner at Izakaya Minato, in Portland. And it was pretty special to attend chef Michael Scelfo’s Outstanding in the Field dinner at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury.”

Jacqueline Cain, associate food editor of Boston Magazine:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Delicata squash at Haley.Henry

“Hands down, the James Beard Foundation dinner at Wright-Locke Farm that the Table at Season to Taste organized with friends from Bar Mezzana, Uni, Sycamore, SRV, and Toro. Other memorable meals:Before Eventide Fenway opened, Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley teamed up with Tony Messina at Uni and it was amazing. Please bring back that brandade, dudes. I got into Bar Mezzana during Maine shrimp season. I had an awesome meal at Haley.Henry this fall, capped off with a quirky ‘green’ salad of smoked trout, green beans, olives, and more that I still think about.”

Scott Kearnan, editor of Zagat Boston and food editor of the Boston Herald:

Facebook

Pasta at Pammy’s

“This is a toughie. My top two openings of 2017 were Cultivar and Pammy’s, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing about my first meals at either. Not often you can say that! Also, Nicolas Swogger’s Southern-slash-global opening menu at B3 in Back Bay, which has nightly live music programmed by Berklee, was one that sticks out as a really pleasant surprise. (He’s since moved on, and I haven’t had a chance to return and see how they’re doing now.)

MIDA never did me wrong this year, and the cozy digs made every great meal even better. Finally, and this was probably better suited to the ‘top standbys’ category, but on the fast-casual front I’m addicted to Aceituna Grill, one of the few locally-owned counter service joints to pop up in the chain-dominated Seaport (it has an original location in Kendall Square.) My order: tabbouleh salad with spicy chicken shawarma, hummus and baba ganoush… plus a piece of baklava for later.”

Sam Hiersteiner, contributor to the Boston Globe and more:

Facebook

Black bass at Sunbird

“We had this wonderful, unexpectedly awesome meal at Sunbird Kitchen in Orleans over the summer. Featured incredible, memorable local produce, including from Chatham Bars Inn Farm. And astoundingly good beef jerky.”

Dan Whalen, blogger at The Food in my Beard and author of upcoming cookbook Tots!:

Facebook

Pancetta-glazed pork belly with parsnip beignets at Brassica

“I know it isn’t fair, but I am saying three: Holiday lunch at No.9 Park (a four-hour lunch on a Thursday with great friends); Brassica (food from fellow Guy’s Grocery Games champ Jeremy Kean); SRV (we had, like, nine amazing desserts from Meghan Thompson.)”

Dana Hatic, associate editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Razor clam ceviche at Little Donkey

“Yes, I’m late to the game, but I had an exceptional meal at Little Donkey this year. I went with a friend, and the second we walked in, our game plan flew out the window. With cocktails served in grapefruits to guide us, we ate our way through as much as we could of the menu, including delicious pakoras and fried rice.”

Alex Wilking, contributor to Eater Boston:

Brian Samuels for Moona

Chicken bastilla at Moona

“Earlier in the summer, I went to Moona with a group and ordered, like, half of the menu. Everything — from small plates of pickles and hummus to the big bowls of couscous — was just sublime. I can’t remember the last time I was so floored by a meal.”

Rachel Leah Blumenthal, editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Jahunger noodles at Jahunger in Providence

“At the start of 2017, I intended to take notes all year so I could easily rattle off the best few things I ate when this survey came back around. I took note of the incredible pork belly bao at Pagu, and then I forgot to write anything else down the rest of the year. Oops.

In any case, it was a solid year for eating, and there were lots of memorable meals, but I’ll just name one other here: the meal I had at Jahunger in Providence just a few nights ago. It’s a Uyghur restaurant — we’ve only got one of those in the more immediate Boston area — and the food was spicy, deeply satisfying, and not quite like anything else around town. Make the trip. And the make it again. (Shoutout to Molly Birnbaum’s Providence Heatmap for Eater.com for steering me in the right direction!)”

[tonyduncanbb73]

The Best Meals of 2017: Crudos, Hand-Pulled Noodles, and More

Local food writers rave about their best meals of the year

As is Eater’s annual tradition, we’re closing out 2017 by surveying local food writers (including our own staff and contributors) on various restaurant-related topics, and we’re publishing their responses in these final days of the year. Readers, please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comment section below.

Keep an eye on the Year in Eater archive page for other stories in this series.

Today’s next question: What was your best (local) restaurant meal of 2017? (See the 2016 responses here.)

MC Slim JB, restaurant critic for The Improper Bostonian:

Huge Galdones for Cultivar

A dish at Cultivar

“Oof, I have to choose just one? A dish that I thought about for weeks afterward was this simple, cold Hunanese salad of wood-ear fungus in a very tart and chili-hot dressing with a ton of raw garlic at Sei Bar in Wakefield.

I often find myself at the bar at Erbaluce on my rare nights off from review research. One memorable dinner there started with an elegantly reductive Pavese soup of game-bird broth floating a crostino with a poached duck egg tucked into it, topped with a shower of great Parmigiana, followed by pork cheeks braised in white wine with herbs, plus pumpkin mostarda, capped by the best version of the ubiquitous octopus I had all year, with a singular crisp/delicate texture: Chef Draghi’s is fresh, never frozen, which makes a massive difference.

But my single favorite repast was a summer feast with dear friends on the lovely patio of Mary Dumont’s stunning Cultivar: gorgeous crudos of crab, tuna, and arctic char; yakitori beets; snails on toast; octopus a la plancha; a spectacular grilled sea bass fillet; an incredible, chili-dusted squid-ink messenesi loaded with mahogany clams, squid, and lobster (more chefs should use sea beans); and three of Robert Gonzalez’s jaw-dropping, high-art desserts. In a highly-competitive field, I’d have to call Cultivar the best new restaurant of the year.”

Marc Hurwitz, founder of Boston’s Hidden Restaurants and Boston Restaurant Talk, restaurant critic for Dig Boston, and more:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Hand-pulled noodles at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe (Boston location)

“Tough one, but I may go with Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe in Woburn. I went there on a rainy evening not too long ago and had their hand-pulled noodles, which pretty much blew me away, but then I decided I still had room and ordered their hot and sour dumpling soup and guess what — that may have been even better. Zero atmosphere but friendly people, cheap prices, and oh, is their food ever good.”

Jenna Pelletier, food editor of Boston Magazine:

Facebook

A dish at Tasting Counter

“So many great meals, but the tasting menu extravaganza at Tasting Counter stands out the most (and their more casual late-night situation is pretty awesome, too). I also had an excellent dinner at Izakaya Minato, in Portland. And it was pretty special to attend chef Michael Scelfo’s Outstanding in the Field dinner at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury.”

Jacqueline Cain, associate food editor of Boston Magazine:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Delicata squash at Haley.Henry

“Hands down, the James Beard Foundation dinner at Wright-Locke Farm that the Table at Season to Taste organized with friends from Bar Mezzana, Uni, Sycamore, SRV, and Toro. Other memorable meals:Before Eventide Fenway opened, Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley teamed up with Tony Messina at Uni and it was amazing. Please bring back that brandade, dudes. I got into Bar Mezzana during Maine shrimp season. I had an awesome meal at Haley.Henry this fall, capped off with a quirky ‘green’ salad of smoked trout, green beans, olives, and more that I still think about.”

Scott Kearnan, editor of Zagat Boston and food editor of the Boston Herald:

Facebook

Pasta at Pammy’s

“This is a toughie. My top two openings of 2017 were Cultivar and Pammy’s, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing about my first meals at either. Not often you can say that! Also, Nicolas Swogger’s Southern-slash-global opening menu at B3 in Back Bay, which has nightly live music programmed by Berklee, was one that sticks out as a really pleasant surprise. (He’s since moved on, and I haven’t had a chance to return and see how they’re doing now.)

MIDA never did me wrong this year, and the cozy digs made every great meal even better. Finally, and this was probably better suited to the ‘top standbys’ category, but on the fast-casual front I’m addicted to Aceituna Grill, one of the few locally-owned counter service joints to pop up in the chain-dominated Seaport (it has an original location in Kendall Square.) My order: tabbouleh salad with spicy chicken shawarma, hummus and baba ganoush… plus a piece of baklava for later.”

Sam Hiersteiner, contributor to the Boston Globe and more:

Facebook

Black bass at Sunbird

“We had this wonderful, unexpectedly awesome meal at Sunbird Kitchen in Orleans over the summer. Featured incredible, memorable local produce, including from Chatham Bars Inn Farm. And astoundingly good beef jerky.”

Dan Whalen, blogger at The Food in my Beard and author of upcoming cookbook Tots!:

Facebook

Pancetta-glazed pork belly with parsnip beignets at Brassica

“I know it isn’t fair, but I am saying three: Holiday lunch at No.9 Park (a four-hour lunch on a Thursday with great friends); Brassica (food from fellow Guy’s Grocery Games champ Jeremy Kean); SRV (we had, like, nine amazing desserts from Meghan Thompson.)”

Dana Hatic, associate editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Razor clam ceviche at Little Donkey

“Yes, I’m late to the game, but I had an exceptional meal at Little Donkey this year. I went with a friend, and the second we walked in, our game plan flew out the window. With cocktails served in grapefruits to guide us, we ate our way through as much as we could of the menu, including delicious pakoras and fried rice.”

Alex Wilking, contributor to Eater Boston:

Brian Samuels for Moona

Chicken bastilla at Moona

“Earlier in the summer, I went to Moona with a group and ordered, like, half of the menu. Everything — from small plates of pickles and hummus to the big bowls of couscous — was just sublime. I can’t remember the last time I was so floored by a meal.”

Rachel Leah Blumenthal, editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Jahunger noodles at Jahunger in Providence

“At the start of 2017, I intended to take notes all year so I could easily rattle off the best few things I ate when this survey came back around. I took note of the incredible pork belly bao at Pagu, and then I forgot to write anything else down the rest of the year. Oops.

In any case, it was a solid year for eating, and there were lots of memorable meals, but I’ll just name one other here: the meal I had at Jahunger in Providence just a few nights ago. It’s a Uyghur restaurant — we’ve only got one of those in the more immediate Boston area — and the food was spicy, deeply satisfying, and not quite like anything else around town. Make the trip. And the make it again. (Shoutout to Molly Birnbaum’s Providence Heatmap for Eater.com for steering me in the right direction!)”

[tonyduncanbb73]

The Best Meals of 2017: Crudos, Hand-Pulled Noodles, and More

Local food writers rave about their best meals of the year

As is Eater’s annual tradition, we’re closing out 2017 by surveying local food writers (including our own staff and contributors) on various restaurant-related topics, and we’re publishing their responses in these final days of the year. Readers, please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comment section below.

Keep an eye on the Year in Eater archive page for other stories in this series.

Today’s next question: What was your best (local) restaurant meal of 2017? (See the 2016 responses here.)

MC Slim JB, restaurant critic for The Improper Bostonian:

Huge Galdones for Cultivar

A dish at Cultivar

“Oof, I have to choose just one? A dish that I thought about for weeks afterward was this simple, cold Hunanese salad of wood-ear fungus in a very tart and chili-hot dressing with a ton of raw garlic at Sei Bar in Wakefield.

I often find myself at the bar at Erbaluce on my rare nights off from review research. One memorable dinner there started with an elegantly reductive Pavese soup of game-bird broth floating a crostino with a poached duck egg tucked into it, topped with a shower of great Parmigiana, followed by pork cheeks braised in white wine with herbs, plus pumpkin mostarda, capped by the best version of the ubiquitous octopus I had all year, with a singular crisp/delicate texture: Chef Draghi’s is fresh, never frozen, which makes a massive difference.

But my single favorite repast was a summer feast with dear friends on the lovely patio of Mary Dumont’s stunning Cultivar: gorgeous crudos of crab, tuna, and arctic char; yakitori beets; snails on toast; octopus a la plancha; a spectacular grilled sea bass fillet; an incredible, chili-dusted squid-ink messenesi loaded with mahogany clams, squid, and lobster (more chefs should use sea beans); and three of Robert Gonzalez’s jaw-dropping, high-art desserts. In a highly-competitive field, I’d have to call Cultivar the best new restaurant of the year.”

Marc Hurwitz, founder of Boston’s Hidden Restaurants and Boston Restaurant Talk, restaurant critic for Dig Boston, and more:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Hand-pulled noodles at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe (Boston location)

“Tough one, but I may go with Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe in Woburn. I went there on a rainy evening not too long ago and had their hand-pulled noodles, which pretty much blew me away, but then I decided I still had room and ordered their hot and sour dumpling soup and guess what — that may have been even better. Zero atmosphere but friendly people, cheap prices, and oh, is their food ever good.”

Jenna Pelletier, food editor of Boston Magazine:

Facebook

A dish at Tasting Counter

“So many great meals, but the tasting menu extravaganza at Tasting Counter stands out the most (and their more casual late-night situation is pretty awesome, too). I also had an excellent dinner at Izakaya Minato, in Portland. And it was pretty special to attend chef Michael Scelfo’s Outstanding in the Field dinner at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury.”

Jacqueline Cain, associate food editor of Boston Magazine:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Delicata squash at Haley.Henry

“Hands down, the James Beard Foundation dinner at Wright-Locke Farm that the Table at Season to Taste organized with friends from Bar Mezzana, Uni, Sycamore, SRV, and Toro. Other memorable meals:Before Eventide Fenway opened, Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley teamed up with Tony Messina at Uni and it was amazing. Please bring back that brandade, dudes. I got into Bar Mezzana during Maine shrimp season. I had an awesome meal at Haley.Henry this fall, capped off with a quirky ‘green’ salad of smoked trout, green beans, olives, and more that I still think about.”

Scott Kearnan, editor of Zagat Boston and food editor of the Boston Herald:

Facebook

Pasta at Pammy’s

“This is a toughie. My top two openings of 2017 were Cultivar and Pammy’s, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing about my first meals at either. Not often you can say that! Also, Nicolas Swogger’s Southern-slash-global opening menu at B3 in Back Bay, which has nightly live music programmed by Berklee, was one that sticks out as a really pleasant surprise. (He’s since moved on, and I haven’t had a chance to return and see how they’re doing now.)

MIDA never did me wrong this year, and the cozy digs made every great meal even better. Finally, and this was probably better suited to the ‘top standbys’ category, but on the fast-casual front I’m addicted to Aceituna Grill, one of the few locally-owned counter service joints to pop up in the chain-dominated Seaport (it has an original location in Kendall Square.) My order: tabbouleh salad with spicy chicken shawarma, hummus and baba ganoush… plus a piece of baklava for later.”

Sam Hiersteiner, contributor to the Boston Globe and more:

Facebook

Black bass at Sunbird

“We had this wonderful, unexpectedly awesome meal at Sunbird Kitchen in Orleans over the summer. Featured incredible, memorable local produce, including from Chatham Bars Inn Farm. And astoundingly good beef jerky.”

Dan Whalen, blogger at The Food in my Beard and author of upcoming cookbook Tots!:

Facebook

Pancetta-glazed pork belly with parsnip beignets at Brassica

“I know it isn’t fair, but I am saying three: Holiday lunch at No.9 Park (a four-hour lunch on a Thursday with great friends); Brassica (food from fellow Guy’s Grocery Games champ Jeremy Kean); SRV (we had, like, nine amazing desserts from Meghan Thompson.)”

Dana Hatic, associate editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Razor clam ceviche at Little Donkey

“Yes, I’m late to the game, but I had an exceptional meal at Little Donkey this year. I went with a friend, and the second we walked in, our game plan flew out the window. With cocktails served in grapefruits to guide us, we ate our way through as much as we could of the menu, including delicious pakoras and fried rice.”

Alex Wilking, contributor to Eater Boston:

Brian Samuels for Moona

Chicken bastilla at Moona

“Earlier in the summer, I went to Moona with a group and ordered, like, half of the menu. Everything — from small plates of pickles and hummus to the big bowls of couscous — was just sublime. I can’t remember the last time I was so floored by a meal.”

Rachel Leah Blumenthal, editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Jahunger noodles at Jahunger in Providence

“At the start of 2017, I intended to take notes all year so I could easily rattle off the best few things I ate when this survey came back around. I took note of the incredible pork belly bao at Pagu, and then I forgot to write anything else down the rest of the year. Oops.

In any case, it was a solid year for eating, and there were lots of memorable meals, but I’ll just name one other here: the meal I had at Jahunger in Providence just a few nights ago. It’s a Uyghur restaurant — we’ve only got one of those in the more immediate Boston area — and the food was spicy, deeply satisfying, and not quite like anything else around town. Make the trip. And the make it again. (Shoutout to Molly Birnbaum’s Providence Heatmap for Eater.com for steering me in the right direction!)”

[tonyduncanbb73]

The Best Meals of 2017: Crudos, Hand-Pulled Noodles, and More

Local food writers rave about their best meals of the year

As is Eater’s annual tradition, we’re closing out 2017 by surveying local food writers (including our own staff and contributors) on various restaurant-related topics, and we’re publishing their responses in these final days of the year. Readers, please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comment section below.

Keep an eye on the Year in Eater archive page for other stories in this series.

Today’s next question: What was your best (local) restaurant meal of 2017? (See the 2016 responses here.)

MC Slim JB, restaurant critic for The Improper Bostonian:

Huge Galdones for Cultivar

A dish at Cultivar

“Oof, I have to choose just one? A dish that I thought about for weeks afterward was this simple, cold Hunanese salad of wood-ear fungus in a very tart and chili-hot dressing with a ton of raw garlic at Sei Bar in Wakefield.

I often find myself at the bar at Erbaluce on my rare nights off from review research. One memorable dinner there started with an elegantly reductive Pavese soup of game-bird broth floating a crostino with a poached duck egg tucked into it, topped with a shower of great Parmigiana, followed by pork cheeks braised in white wine with herbs, plus pumpkin mostarda, capped by the best version of the ubiquitous octopus I had all year, with a singular crisp/delicate texture: Chef Draghi’s is fresh, never frozen, which makes a massive difference.

But my single favorite repast was a summer feast with dear friends on the lovely patio of Mary Dumont’s stunning Cultivar: gorgeous crudos of crab, tuna, and arctic char; yakitori beets; snails on toast; octopus a la plancha; a spectacular grilled sea bass fillet; an incredible, chili-dusted squid-ink messenesi loaded with mahogany clams, squid, and lobster (more chefs should use sea beans); and three of Robert Gonzalez’s jaw-dropping, high-art desserts. In a highly-competitive field, I’d have to call Cultivar the best new restaurant of the year.”

Marc Hurwitz, founder of Boston’s Hidden Restaurants and Boston Restaurant Talk, restaurant critic for Dig Boston, and more:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Hand-pulled noodles at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe (Boston location)

“Tough one, but I may go with Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe in Woburn. I went there on a rainy evening not too long ago and had their hand-pulled noodles, which pretty much blew me away, but then I decided I still had room and ordered their hot and sour dumpling soup and guess what — that may have been even better. Zero atmosphere but friendly people, cheap prices, and oh, is their food ever good.”

Jenna Pelletier, food editor of Boston Magazine:

Facebook

A dish at Tasting Counter

“So many great meals, but the tasting menu extravaganza at Tasting Counter stands out the most (and their more casual late-night situation is pretty awesome, too). I also had an excellent dinner at Izakaya Minato, in Portland. And it was pretty special to attend chef Michael Scelfo’s Outstanding in the Field dinner at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury.”

Jacqueline Cain, associate food editor of Boston Magazine:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Delicata squash at Haley.Henry

“Hands down, the James Beard Foundation dinner at Wright-Locke Farm that the Table at Season to Taste organized with friends from Bar Mezzana, Uni, Sycamore, SRV, and Toro. Other memorable meals:Before Eventide Fenway opened, Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley teamed up with Tony Messina at Uni and it was amazing. Please bring back that brandade, dudes. I got into Bar Mezzana during Maine shrimp season. I had an awesome meal at Haley.Henry this fall, capped off with a quirky ‘green’ salad of smoked trout, green beans, olives, and more that I still think about.”

Scott Kearnan, editor of Zagat Boston and food editor of the Boston Herald:

Facebook

Pasta at Pammy’s

“This is a toughie. My top two openings of 2017 were Cultivar and Pammy’s, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing about my first meals at either. Not often you can say that! Also, Nicolas Swogger’s Southern-slash-global opening menu at B3 in Back Bay, which has nightly live music programmed by Berklee, was one that sticks out as a really pleasant surprise. (He’s since moved on, and I haven’t had a chance to return and see how they’re doing now.)

MIDA never did me wrong this year, and the cozy digs made every great meal even better. Finally, and this was probably better suited to the ‘top standbys’ category, but on the fast-casual front I’m addicted to Aceituna Grill, one of the few locally-owned counter service joints to pop up in the chain-dominated Seaport (it has an original location in Kendall Square.) My order: tabbouleh salad with spicy chicken shawarma, hummus and baba ganoush… plus a piece of baklava for later.”

Sam Hiersteiner, contributor to the Boston Globe and more:

Facebook

Black bass at Sunbird

“We had this wonderful, unexpectedly awesome meal at Sunbird Kitchen in Orleans over the summer. Featured incredible, memorable local produce, including from Chatham Bars Inn Farm. And astoundingly good beef jerky.”

Dan Whalen, blogger at The Food in my Beard and author of upcoming cookbook Tots!:

Facebook

Pancetta-glazed pork belly with parsnip beignets at Brassica

“I know it isn’t fair, but I am saying three: Holiday lunch at No.9 Park (a four-hour lunch on a Thursday with great friends); Brassica (food from fellow Guy’s Grocery Games champ Jeremy Kean); SRV (we had, like, nine amazing desserts from Meghan Thompson.)”

Dana Hatic, associate editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Razor clam ceviche at Little Donkey

“Yes, I’m late to the game, but I had an exceptional meal at Little Donkey this year. I went with a friend, and the second we walked in, our game plan flew out the window. With cocktails served in grapefruits to guide us, we ate our way through as much as we could of the menu, including delicious pakoras and fried rice.”

Alex Wilking, contributor to Eater Boston:

Brian Samuels for Moona

Chicken bastilla at Moona

“Earlier in the summer, I went to Moona with a group and ordered, like, half of the menu. Everything — from small plates of pickles and hummus to the big bowls of couscous — was just sublime. I can’t remember the last time I was so floored by a meal.”

Rachel Leah Blumenthal, editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Jahunger noodles at Jahunger in Providence

“At the start of 2017, I intended to take notes all year so I could easily rattle off the best few things I ate when this survey came back around. I took note of the incredible pork belly bao at Pagu, and then I forgot to write anything else down the rest of the year. Oops.

In any case, it was a solid year for eating, and there were lots of memorable meals, but I’ll just name one other here: the meal I had at Jahunger in Providence just a few nights ago. It’s a Uyghur restaurant — we’ve only got one of those in the more immediate Boston area — and the food was spicy, deeply satisfying, and not quite like anything else around town. Make the trip. And the make it again. (Shoutout to Molly Birnbaum’s Providence Heatmap for Eater.com for steering me in the right direction!)”

[tonyduncanbb73]

The Best Meals of 2017: Crudos, Hand-Pulled Noodles, and More

Local food writers rave about their best meals of the year

As is Eater’s annual tradition, we’re closing out 2017 by surveying local food writers (including our own staff and contributors) on various restaurant-related topics, and we’re publishing their responses in these final days of the year. Readers, please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comment section below.

Keep an eye on the Year in Eater archive page for other stories in this series.

Today’s next question: What was your best (local) restaurant meal of 2017? (See the 2016 responses here.)

MC Slim JB, restaurant critic for The Improper Bostonian:

Huge Galdones for Cultivar

A dish at Cultivar

“Oof, I have to choose just one? A dish that I thought about for weeks afterward was this simple, cold Hunanese salad of wood-ear fungus in a very tart and chili-hot dressing with a ton of raw garlic at Sei Bar in Wakefield.

I often find myself at the bar at Erbaluce on my rare nights off from review research. One memorable dinner there started with an elegantly reductive Pavese soup of game-bird broth floating a crostino with a poached duck egg tucked into it, topped with a shower of great Parmigiana, followed by pork cheeks braised in white wine with herbs, plus pumpkin mostarda, capped by the best version of the ubiquitous octopus I had all year, with a singular crisp/delicate texture: Chef Draghi’s is fresh, never frozen, which makes a massive difference.

But my single favorite repast was a summer feast with dear friends on the lovely patio of Mary Dumont’s stunning Cultivar: gorgeous crudos of crab, tuna, and arctic char; yakitori beets; snails on toast; octopus a la plancha; a spectacular grilled sea bass fillet; an incredible, chili-dusted squid-ink messenesi loaded with mahogany clams, squid, and lobster (more chefs should use sea beans); and three of Robert Gonzalez’s jaw-dropping, high-art desserts. In a highly-competitive field, I’d have to call Cultivar the best new restaurant of the year.”

Marc Hurwitz, founder of Boston’s Hidden Restaurants and Boston Restaurant Talk, restaurant critic for Dig Boston, and more:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Hand-pulled noodles at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe (Boston location)

“Tough one, but I may go with Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe in Woburn. I went there on a rainy evening not too long ago and had their hand-pulled noodles, which pretty much blew me away, but then I decided I still had room and ordered their hot and sour dumpling soup and guess what — that may have been even better. Zero atmosphere but friendly people, cheap prices, and oh, is their food ever good.”

Jenna Pelletier, food editor of Boston Magazine:

Facebook

A dish at Tasting Counter

“So many great meals, but the tasting menu extravaganza at Tasting Counter stands out the most (and their more casual late-night situation is pretty awesome, too). I also had an excellent dinner at Izakaya Minato, in Portland. And it was pretty special to attend chef Michael Scelfo’s Outstanding in the Field dinner at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury.”

Jacqueline Cain, associate food editor of Boston Magazine:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Delicata squash at Haley.Henry

“Hands down, the James Beard Foundation dinner at Wright-Locke Farm that the Table at Season to Taste organized with friends from Bar Mezzana, Uni, Sycamore, SRV, and Toro. Other memorable meals:Before Eventide Fenway opened, Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley teamed up with Tony Messina at Uni and it was amazing. Please bring back that brandade, dudes. I got into Bar Mezzana during Maine shrimp season. I had an awesome meal at Haley.Henry this fall, capped off with a quirky ‘green’ salad of smoked trout, green beans, olives, and more that I still think about.”

Scott Kearnan, editor of Zagat Boston and food editor of the Boston Herald:

Facebook

Pasta at Pammy’s

“This is a toughie. My top two openings of 2017 were Cultivar and Pammy’s, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing about my first meals at either. Not often you can say that! Also, Nicolas Swogger’s Southern-slash-global opening menu at B3 in Back Bay, which has nightly live music programmed by Berklee, was one that sticks out as a really pleasant surprise. (He’s since moved on, and I haven’t had a chance to return and see how they’re doing now.)

MIDA never did me wrong this year, and the cozy digs made every great meal even better. Finally, and this was probably better suited to the ‘top standbys’ category, but on the fast-casual front I’m addicted to Aceituna Grill, one of the few locally-owned counter service joints to pop up in the chain-dominated Seaport (it has an original location in Kendall Square.) My order: tabbouleh salad with spicy chicken shawarma, hummus and baba ganoush… plus a piece of baklava for later.”

Sam Hiersteiner, contributor to the Boston Globe and more:

Facebook

Black bass at Sunbird

“We had this wonderful, unexpectedly awesome meal at Sunbird Kitchen in Orleans over the summer. Featured incredible, memorable local produce, including from Chatham Bars Inn Farm. And astoundingly good beef jerky.”

Dan Whalen, blogger at The Food in my Beard and author of upcoming cookbook Tots!:

Facebook

Pancetta-glazed pork belly with parsnip beignets at Brassica

“I know it isn’t fair, but I am saying three: Holiday lunch at No.9 Park (a four-hour lunch on a Thursday with great friends); Brassica (food from fellow Guy’s Grocery Games champ Jeremy Kean); SRV (we had, like, nine amazing desserts from Meghan Thompson.)”

Dana Hatic, associate editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Razor clam ceviche at Little Donkey

“Yes, I’m late to the game, but I had an exceptional meal at Little Donkey this year. I went with a friend, and the second we walked in, our game plan flew out the window. With cocktails served in grapefruits to guide us, we ate our way through as much as we could of the menu, including delicious pakoras and fried rice.”

Alex Wilking, contributor to Eater Boston:

Brian Samuels for Moona

Chicken bastilla at Moona

“Earlier in the summer, I went to Moona with a group and ordered, like, half of the menu. Everything — from small plates of pickles and hummus to the big bowls of couscous — was just sublime. I can’t remember the last time I was so floored by a meal.”

Rachel Leah Blumenthal, editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Jahunger noodles at Jahunger in Providence

“At the start of 2017, I intended to take notes all year so I could easily rattle off the best few things I ate when this survey came back around. I took note of the incredible pork belly bao at Pagu, and then I forgot to write anything else down the rest of the year. Oops.

In any case, it was a solid year for eating, and there were lots of memorable meals, but I’ll just name one other here: the meal I had at Jahunger in Providence just a few nights ago. It’s a Uyghur restaurant — we’ve only got one of those in the more immediate Boston area — and the food was spicy, deeply satisfying, and not quite like anything else around town. Make the trip. And the make it again. (Shoutout to Molly Birnbaum’s Providence Heatmap for Eater.com for steering me in the right direction!)”

[tonyduncanbb73]

The Best Meals of 2017: Crudos, Hand-Pulled Noodles, and More

Local food writers rave about their best meals of the year

As is Eater’s annual tradition, we’re closing out 2017 by surveying local food writers (including our own staff and contributors) on various restaurant-related topics, and we’re publishing their responses in these final days of the year. Readers, please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comment section below.

Keep an eye on the Year in Eater archive page for other stories in this series.

Today’s next question: What was your best (local) restaurant meal of 2017? (See the 2016 responses here.)

MC Slim JB, restaurant critic for The Improper Bostonian:

Huge Galdones for Cultivar

A dish at Cultivar

“Oof, I have to choose just one? A dish that I thought about for weeks afterward was this simple, cold Hunanese salad of wood-ear fungus in a very tart and chili-hot dressing with a ton of raw garlic at Sei Bar in Wakefield.

I often find myself at the bar at Erbaluce on my rare nights off from review research. One memorable dinner there started with an elegantly reductive Pavese soup of game-bird broth floating a crostino with a poached duck egg tucked into it, topped with a shower of great Parmigiana, followed by pork cheeks braised in white wine with herbs, plus pumpkin mostarda, capped by the best version of the ubiquitous octopus I had all year, with a singular crisp/delicate texture: Chef Draghi’s is fresh, never frozen, which makes a massive difference.

But my single favorite repast was a summer feast with dear friends on the lovely patio of Mary Dumont’s stunning Cultivar: gorgeous crudos of crab, tuna, and arctic char; yakitori beets; snails on toast; octopus a la plancha; a spectacular grilled sea bass fillet; an incredible, chili-dusted squid-ink messenesi loaded with mahogany clams, squid, and lobster (more chefs should use sea beans); and three of Robert Gonzalez’s jaw-dropping, high-art desserts. In a highly-competitive field, I’d have to call Cultivar the best new restaurant of the year.”

Marc Hurwitz, founder of Boston’s Hidden Restaurants and Boston Restaurant Talk, restaurant critic for Dig Boston, and more:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Hand-pulled noodles at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe (Boston location)

“Tough one, but I may go with Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe in Woburn. I went there on a rainy evening not too long ago and had their hand-pulled noodles, which pretty much blew me away, but then I decided I still had room and ordered their hot and sour dumpling soup and guess what — that may have been even better. Zero atmosphere but friendly people, cheap prices, and oh, is their food ever good.”

Jenna Pelletier, food editor of Boston Magazine:

Facebook

A dish at Tasting Counter

“So many great meals, but the tasting menu extravaganza at Tasting Counter stands out the most (and their more casual late-night situation is pretty awesome, too). I also had an excellent dinner at Izakaya Minato, in Portland. And it was pretty special to attend chef Michael Scelfo’s Outstanding in the Field dinner at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury.”

Jacqueline Cain, associate food editor of Boston Magazine:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Delicata squash at Haley.Henry

“Hands down, the James Beard Foundation dinner at Wright-Locke Farm that the Table at Season to Taste organized with friends from Bar Mezzana, Uni, Sycamore, SRV, and Toro. Other memorable meals:Before Eventide Fenway opened, Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley teamed up with Tony Messina at Uni and it was amazing. Please bring back that brandade, dudes. I got into Bar Mezzana during Maine shrimp season. I had an awesome meal at Haley.Henry this fall, capped off with a quirky ‘green’ salad of smoked trout, green beans, olives, and more that I still think about.”

Scott Kearnan, editor of Zagat Boston and food editor of the Boston Herald:

Facebook

Pasta at Pammy’s

“This is a toughie. My top two openings of 2017 were Cultivar and Pammy’s, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing about my first meals at either. Not often you can say that! Also, Nicolas Swogger’s Southern-slash-global opening menu at B3 in Back Bay, which has nightly live music programmed by Berklee, was one that sticks out as a really pleasant surprise. (He’s since moved on, and I haven’t had a chance to return and see how they’re doing now.)

MIDA never did me wrong this year, and the cozy digs made every great meal even better. Finally, and this was probably better suited to the ‘top standbys’ category, but on the fast-casual front I’m addicted to Aceituna Grill, one of the few locally-owned counter service joints to pop up in the chain-dominated Seaport (it has an original location in Kendall Square.) My order: tabbouleh salad with spicy chicken shawarma, hummus and baba ganoush… plus a piece of baklava for later.”

Sam Hiersteiner, contributor to the Boston Globe and more:

Facebook

Black bass at Sunbird

“We had this wonderful, unexpectedly awesome meal at Sunbird Kitchen in Orleans over the summer. Featured incredible, memorable local produce, including from Chatham Bars Inn Farm. And astoundingly good beef jerky.”

Dan Whalen, blogger at The Food in my Beard and author of upcoming cookbook Tots!:

Facebook

Pancetta-glazed pork belly with parsnip beignets at Brassica

“I know it isn’t fair, but I am saying three: Holiday lunch at No.9 Park (a four-hour lunch on a Thursday with great friends); Brassica (food from fellow Guy’s Grocery Games champ Jeremy Kean); SRV (we had, like, nine amazing desserts from Meghan Thompson.)”

Dana Hatic, associate editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Razor clam ceviche at Little Donkey

“Yes, I’m late to the game, but I had an exceptional meal at Little Donkey this year. I went with a friend, and the second we walked in, our game plan flew out the window. With cocktails served in grapefruits to guide us, we ate our way through as much as we could of the menu, including delicious pakoras and fried rice.”

Alex Wilking, contributor to Eater Boston:

Brian Samuels for Moona

Chicken bastilla at Moona

“Earlier in the summer, I went to Moona with a group and ordered, like, half of the menu. Everything — from small plates of pickles and hummus to the big bowls of couscous — was just sublime. I can’t remember the last time I was so floored by a meal.”

Rachel Leah Blumenthal, editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Jahunger noodles at Jahunger in Providence

“At the start of 2017, I intended to take notes all year so I could easily rattle off the best few things I ate when this survey came back around. I took note of the incredible pork belly bao at Pagu, and then I forgot to write anything else down the rest of the year. Oops.

In any case, it was a solid year for eating, and there were lots of memorable meals, but I’ll just name one other here: the meal I had at Jahunger in Providence just a few nights ago. It’s a Uyghur restaurant — we’ve only got one of those in the more immediate Boston area — and the food was spicy, deeply satisfying, and not quite like anything else around town. Make the trip. And the make it again. (Shoutout to Molly Birnbaum’s Providence Heatmap for Eater.com for steering me in the right direction!)”

[tonyduncanbb73]

The Best Meals of 2017: Crudos, Hand-Pulled Noodles, and More

Local food writers rave about their best meals of the year

As is Eater’s annual tradition, we’re closing out 2017 by surveying local food writers (including our own staff and contributors) on various restaurant-related topics, and we’re publishing their responses in these final days of the year. Readers, please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comment section below.

Keep an eye on the Year in Eater archive page for other stories in this series.

Today’s next question: What was your best (local) restaurant meal of 2017? (See the 2016 responses here.)

MC Slim JB, restaurant critic for The Improper Bostonian:

Huge Galdones for Cultivar

A dish at Cultivar

“Oof, I have to choose just one? A dish that I thought about for weeks afterward was this simple, cold Hunanese salad of wood-ear fungus in a very tart and chili-hot dressing with a ton of raw garlic at Sei Bar in Wakefield.

I often find myself at the bar at Erbaluce on my rare nights off from review research. One memorable dinner there started with an elegantly reductive Pavese soup of game-bird broth floating a crostino with a poached duck egg tucked into it, topped with a shower of great Parmigiana, followed by pork cheeks braised in white wine with herbs, plus pumpkin mostarda, capped by the best version of the ubiquitous octopus I had all year, with a singular crisp/delicate texture: Chef Draghi’s is fresh, never frozen, which makes a massive difference.

But my single favorite repast was a summer feast with dear friends on the lovely patio of Mary Dumont’s stunning Cultivar: gorgeous crudos of crab, tuna, and arctic char; yakitori beets; snails on toast; octopus a la plancha; a spectacular grilled sea bass fillet; an incredible, chili-dusted squid-ink messenesi loaded with mahogany clams, squid, and lobster (more chefs should use sea beans); and three of Robert Gonzalez’s jaw-dropping, high-art desserts. In a highly-competitive field, I’d have to call Cultivar the best new restaurant of the year.”

Marc Hurwitz, founder of Boston’s Hidden Restaurants and Boston Restaurant Talk, restaurant critic for Dig Boston, and more:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Hand-pulled noodles at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe (Boston location)

“Tough one, but I may go with Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe in Woburn. I went there on a rainy evening not too long ago and had their hand-pulled noodles, which pretty much blew me away, but then I decided I still had room and ordered their hot and sour dumpling soup and guess what — that may have been even better. Zero atmosphere but friendly people, cheap prices, and oh, is their food ever good.”

Jenna Pelletier, food editor of Boston Magazine:

Facebook

A dish at Tasting Counter

“So many great meals, but the tasting menu extravaganza at Tasting Counter stands out the most (and their more casual late-night situation is pretty awesome, too). I also had an excellent dinner at Izakaya Minato, in Portland. And it was pretty special to attend chef Michael Scelfo’s Outstanding in the Field dinner at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury.”

Jacqueline Cain, associate food editor of Boston Magazine:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Delicata squash at Haley.Henry

“Hands down, the James Beard Foundation dinner at Wright-Locke Farm that the Table at Season to Taste organized with friends from Bar Mezzana, Uni, Sycamore, SRV, and Toro. Other memorable meals:Before Eventide Fenway opened, Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley teamed up with Tony Messina at Uni and it was amazing. Please bring back that brandade, dudes. I got into Bar Mezzana during Maine shrimp season. I had an awesome meal at Haley.Henry this fall, capped off with a quirky ‘green’ salad of smoked trout, green beans, olives, and more that I still think about.”

Scott Kearnan, editor of Zagat Boston and food editor of the Boston Herald:

Facebook

Pasta at Pammy’s

“This is a toughie. My top two openings of 2017 were Cultivar and Pammy’s, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing about my first meals at either. Not often you can say that! Also, Nicolas Swogger’s Southern-slash-global opening menu at B3 in Back Bay, which has nightly live music programmed by Berklee, was one that sticks out as a really pleasant surprise. (He’s since moved on, and I haven’t had a chance to return and see how they’re doing now.)

MIDA never did me wrong this year, and the cozy digs made every great meal even better. Finally, and this was probably better suited to the ‘top standbys’ category, but on the fast-casual front I’m addicted to Aceituna Grill, one of the few locally-owned counter service joints to pop up in the chain-dominated Seaport (it has an original location in Kendall Square.) My order: tabbouleh salad with spicy chicken shawarma, hummus and baba ganoush… plus a piece of baklava for later.”

Sam Hiersteiner, contributor to the Boston Globe and more:

Facebook

Black bass at Sunbird

“We had this wonderful, unexpectedly awesome meal at Sunbird Kitchen in Orleans over the summer. Featured incredible, memorable local produce, including from Chatham Bars Inn Farm. And astoundingly good beef jerky.”

Dan Whalen, blogger at The Food in my Beard and author of upcoming cookbook Tots!:

Facebook

Pancetta-glazed pork belly with parsnip beignets at Brassica

“I know it isn’t fair, but I am saying three: Holiday lunch at No.9 Park (a four-hour lunch on a Thursday with great friends); Brassica (food from fellow Guy’s Grocery Games champ Jeremy Kean); SRV (we had, like, nine amazing desserts from Meghan Thompson.)”

Dana Hatic, associate editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Razor clam ceviche at Little Donkey

“Yes, I’m late to the game, but I had an exceptional meal at Little Donkey this year. I went with a friend, and the second we walked in, our game plan flew out the window. With cocktails served in grapefruits to guide us, we ate our way through as much as we could of the menu, including delicious pakoras and fried rice.”

Alex Wilking, contributor to Eater Boston:

Brian Samuels for Moona

Chicken bastilla at Moona

“Earlier in the summer, I went to Moona with a group and ordered, like, half of the menu. Everything — from small plates of pickles and hummus to the big bowls of couscous — was just sublime. I can’t remember the last time I was so floored by a meal.”

Rachel Leah Blumenthal, editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Jahunger noodles at Jahunger in Providence

“At the start of 2017, I intended to take notes all year so I could easily rattle off the best few things I ate when this survey came back around. I took note of the incredible pork belly bao at Pagu, and then I forgot to write anything else down the rest of the year. Oops.

In any case, it was a solid year for eating, and there were lots of memorable meals, but I’ll just name one other here: the meal I had at Jahunger in Providence just a few nights ago. It’s a Uyghur restaurant — we’ve only got one of those in the more immediate Boston area — and the food was spicy, deeply satisfying, and not quite like anything else around town. Make the trip. And the make it again. (Shoutout to Molly Birnbaum’s Providence Heatmap for Eater.com for steering me in the right direction!)”

[tonyduncanbb73]

The Best Meals of 2017: Crudos, Hand-Pulled Noodles, and More

Local food writers rave about their best meals of the year

As is Eater’s annual tradition, we’re closing out 2017 by surveying local food writers (including our own staff and contributors) on various restaurant-related topics, and we’re publishing their responses in these final days of the year. Readers, please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comment section below.

Keep an eye on the Year in Eater archive page for other stories in this series.

Today’s next question: What was your best (local) restaurant meal of 2017? (See the 2016 responses here.)

MC Slim JB, restaurant critic for The Improper Bostonian:

Huge Galdones for Cultivar

A dish at Cultivar

“Oof, I have to choose just one? A dish that I thought about for weeks afterward was this simple, cold Hunanese salad of wood-ear fungus in a very tart and chili-hot dressing with a ton of raw garlic at Sei Bar in Wakefield.

I often find myself at the bar at Erbaluce on my rare nights off from review research. One memorable dinner there started with an elegantly reductive Pavese soup of game-bird broth floating a crostino with a poached duck egg tucked into it, topped with a shower of great Parmigiana, followed by pork cheeks braised in white wine with herbs, plus pumpkin mostarda, capped by the best version of the ubiquitous octopus I had all year, with a singular crisp/delicate texture: Chef Draghi’s is fresh, never frozen, which makes a massive difference.

But my single favorite repast was a summer feast with dear friends on the lovely patio of Mary Dumont’s stunning Cultivar: gorgeous crudos of crab, tuna, and arctic char; yakitori beets; snails on toast; octopus a la plancha; a spectacular grilled sea bass fillet; an incredible, chili-dusted squid-ink messenesi loaded with mahogany clams, squid, and lobster (more chefs should use sea beans); and three of Robert Gonzalez’s jaw-dropping, high-art desserts. In a highly-competitive field, I’d have to call Cultivar the best new restaurant of the year.”

Marc Hurwitz, founder of Boston’s Hidden Restaurants and Boston Restaurant Talk, restaurant critic for Dig Boston, and more:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Hand-pulled noodles at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe (Boston location)

“Tough one, but I may go with Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe in Woburn. I went there on a rainy evening not too long ago and had their hand-pulled noodles, which pretty much blew me away, but then I decided I still had room and ordered their hot and sour dumpling soup and guess what — that may have been even better. Zero atmosphere but friendly people, cheap prices, and oh, is their food ever good.”

Jenna Pelletier, food editor of Boston Magazine:

Facebook

A dish at Tasting Counter

“So many great meals, but the tasting menu extravaganza at Tasting Counter stands out the most (and their more casual late-night situation is pretty awesome, too). I also had an excellent dinner at Izakaya Minato, in Portland. And it was pretty special to attend chef Michael Scelfo’s Outstanding in the Field dinner at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury.”

Jacqueline Cain, associate food editor of Boston Magazine:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Delicata squash at Haley.Henry

“Hands down, the James Beard Foundation dinner at Wright-Locke Farm that the Table at Season to Taste organized with friends from Bar Mezzana, Uni, Sycamore, SRV, and Toro. Other memorable meals:Before Eventide Fenway opened, Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley teamed up with Tony Messina at Uni and it was amazing. Please bring back that brandade, dudes. I got into Bar Mezzana during Maine shrimp season. I had an awesome meal at Haley.Henry this fall, capped off with a quirky ‘green’ salad of smoked trout, green beans, olives, and more that I still think about.”

Scott Kearnan, editor of Zagat Boston and food editor of the Boston Herald:

Facebook

Pasta at Pammy’s

“This is a toughie. My top two openings of 2017 were Cultivar and Pammy’s, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing about my first meals at either. Not often you can say that! Also, Nicolas Swogger’s Southern-slash-global opening menu at B3 in Back Bay, which has nightly live music programmed by Berklee, was one that sticks out as a really pleasant surprise. (He’s since moved on, and I haven’t had a chance to return and see how they’re doing now.)

MIDA never did me wrong this year, and the cozy digs made every great meal even better. Finally, and this was probably better suited to the ‘top standbys’ category, but on the fast-casual front I’m addicted to Aceituna Grill, one of the few locally-owned counter service joints to pop up in the chain-dominated Seaport (it has an original location in Kendall Square.) My order: tabbouleh salad with spicy chicken shawarma, hummus and baba ganoush… plus a piece of baklava for later.”

Sam Hiersteiner, contributor to the Boston Globe and more:

Facebook

Black bass at Sunbird

“We had this wonderful, unexpectedly awesome meal at Sunbird Kitchen in Orleans over the summer. Featured incredible, memorable local produce, including from Chatham Bars Inn Farm. And astoundingly good beef jerky.”

Dan Whalen, blogger at The Food in my Beard and author of upcoming cookbook Tots!:

Facebook

Pancetta-glazed pork belly with parsnip beignets at Brassica

“I know it isn’t fair, but I am saying three: Holiday lunch at No.9 Park (a four-hour lunch on a Thursday with great friends); Brassica (food from fellow Guy’s Grocery Games champ Jeremy Kean); SRV (we had, like, nine amazing desserts from Meghan Thompson.)”

Dana Hatic, associate editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Razor clam ceviche at Little Donkey

“Yes, I’m late to the game, but I had an exceptional meal at Little Donkey this year. I went with a friend, and the second we walked in, our game plan flew out the window. With cocktails served in grapefruits to guide us, we ate our way through as much as we could of the menu, including delicious pakoras and fried rice.”

Alex Wilking, contributor to Eater Boston:

Brian Samuels for Moona

Chicken bastilla at Moona

“Earlier in the summer, I went to Moona with a group and ordered, like, half of the menu. Everything — from small plates of pickles and hummus to the big bowls of couscous — was just sublime. I can’t remember the last time I was so floored by a meal.”

Rachel Leah Blumenthal, editor of Eater Boston:

Rachel Leah Blumenthal for Eater

Jahunger noodles at Jahunger in Providence

“At the start of 2017, I intended to take notes all year so I could easily rattle off the best few things I ate when this survey came back around. I took note of the incredible pork belly bao at Pagu, and then I forgot to write anything else down the rest of the year. Oops.

In any case, it was a solid year for eating, and there were lots of memorable meals, but I’ll just name one other here: the meal I had at Jahunger in Providence just a few nights ago. It’s a Uyghur restaurant — we’ve only got one of those in the more immediate Boston area — and the food was spicy, deeply satisfying, and not quite like anything else around town. Make the trip. And the make it again. (Shoutout to Molly Birnbaum’s Providence Heatmap for Eater.com for steering me in the right direction!)”