Americano Rating: 9/10
Espresso Rating: 8/10
There will be a special place in the acknowledgments section of the book I'm writing for Ula (Boston: Jamaica Plain). While I adore the food at Canto No. 6, they don't have much seating, whereas Ula has it in abundance. Despite how busy Ula often gets, I've never been unable to find a table at which to sit and write. It's a great place to meet someone for a coffee and a bite, parents with children are easily accommodated, students study, and business meetings (from graphic design job interviews to transgender Jewish lesbian activist organizing) commonly occur here. There's also a nice one person restroom as well as an additional larger restroom in the adjacent building. They have air conditioning, and the people who work there are generally friendly, some of them quite attractive (mostly lesbians).
Most of the time I wonder if they're somehow picking up the music off my computer: The Decemberists, Justin Timberlake, music I've never heard but love, Paul Simon, etc. The perfect music situation: tasteful, plenty eclectic without being pretentious or hipster elitist or obnoxiously, well, anything.
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Double Espresso - 8/10 |
Coffee is simply my drug of choice. Much the way, while everyone else finds the odor unpleasantly pungent, potheads inhale the fumes of their greenery with delight; the way the slaves of painkillers actually chew their pills rather than, as those of us with a more casual relationship with the pills do, swallowing them; the way former heroin or meth addicts' eyes light up in tortured envy when they watch onscreen injections while the rest of us tightly shut out eyes during those movie scenes; much like those people, I enjoy the taste of thick, dark, unadulterated espresso. The only reason I ever get it americano-ed is to make the drinking of it last longer. And if you think that, like you might lick up the remaining specks of dust from a cut up pill or search the ground of your apartment for any leftover crystals of the drugs of more cash-flush days, if you think that in the same spirit I don't lick my drained espresso cup and then use my finger to scoop out any remaining foam, then you're mistaken.
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I think their espresso actually performs best as an Americano: Rating: 9/10! With two shots of espresso you don't want more than 6 oz of water added. |
Pair this with something chocolately and you may as well be in Heaven.
The food at Ula is generally hit or miss though. I've tried just about everything they've ever made (at least in the past two years), so take a look at my guide to what to order. I'm not going to mention the things that aren't worthwhile.
Savory:
The best of their Permanent Sandwiches:
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"Roasted sweet potato with avocado, Monterey jack, red bell peppers, red onion, sprouts and yogurt-tahini-poppy seed spread on peasant white" |
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The first time I had it they were out of the white peasant bread and so I got this nice hearty bread. Maybe I'll request it next time. |
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The sweet potato sandwich as a salad - another awesome option! |
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Sweet Potato Sandwich grilled! They now have a panini press and can grill any of their sandwiches. Just ask! |
Black Forest Ham Sandwich:
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"All-natural Black Forest ham with garlic and herb cream cheese, apricot chutney, cucumbers and romaine on peasant white" |
The classic summery combo of cucumbers and cream cheese evoked some delicious childhood pleasantness for me. The sweet ham was yummy, as was the sweeter still apricot chutney. Yeah, this was a good goddam sandwich.
The best of their Permanent Salads:
The best of their Guest Sandwiches:
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October 2012's Guest Sandwich - Pear fig chutney, fresh mozzarella, raw kale, and lemon garlic aioli, pressed. Full for $8.75 and half for $5.75 |
This is the best thing I've ever had at Ula, and it's one of the best things I've eaten in a while in general. The sweetness of the chutney mixed with the tart lemon and the, well, garlicky garlic and the oozing creaminess of the mozzarella and aioli (not to mention the slight crunch and feel-good-ness of the kale's presence) came together in the most harmonious, nay, ecstatic way so that I started to feel like I never wanted those ingredients again without the others.
I actually regretted not getting the whole thing this time, whereas I normally get a whole sandwich and regret how full I get, wishing I'd gotten just a half sandwich. I'm going back and getting a full one for lunch today (I'll just go up to Mike's Fitness and work it off afterwards anyway!). Anyone who knows me at all will know just how anomalous it is that I'm not only going to order something I've already ordered before (and not even modify it!) but I'm going to be doing this the next day. It's that good.
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Oh yeah... |
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June 2012's Guest Sandwich: Grilled Black forest ham, swiss, pickles, honey-dijon mayo on rye. |
This Cuban-esque sandwich was great, in large part due to the fact that the Ula-nites just got themselves a panini press. Apparently you can ask for any of their sandwiches to be panini'd. I'm excited for an excuse to get the sweet potato sandwich again, this time hot and melty!
Soups (1-2 daily soups):
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Sweet Potato Peanut Soup (vegan) Bowl for $5, Cup for $4.15 |
It had a nice texture with ground up peanuts and carrots, like croutons for people who don't want simple carbs.. but also don't subscribe to the anti-peanut (which are actually legumes and not nuts) position.. Or those of us who do but have decided to no longer live like a crazy person.
More cilantro please! Not bad on the creaminess for a vegan soup. It reminded me of one of, bringing me nostalgic feelings for yesterfall. But I wouldn't have minded a bit more of some kind of flavor. Maybe a lime.
I suggest avoiding the tomato-based soups (including, sadly, their "tortilla soup") and most of the vegan ones.
Breakfast Foods:
On weekdays they have a daily strata.
They reserve a few specials for Saturdays and Sundays, sort of like a special brunch menu:
The newer breakfast option they've been having lately is this breakfast sandwich:
They also have a whole biscuits and gravy situation. For $3.50, you can get a biscuit and eggs. From there you can add various things for various prices:
+$3.00 for Sausage Gravy or Mushroom Gravy
+$1.40 for Avocado
+$? for Ham
Bakery:
Popover, for which they're sort of famous - $1.95:
Accompanying options include Nutella, raspberry jam and peanut butter.
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Fucking sweet and amazing with a tart finish and just so raspberry-y |
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Popover with Peanut Butter - Didn't find it to be a great match |
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Doesn't it make your head ache with the desire to stuff the fluffy, pillowy softness in your mouth right now? |
One day I came in and saw that at the table next to me someone had a popover with a side of Nutella and a side of six large pieces of bacon. I must have that breakfast myself soon. The table was empty with a jacket draped over the back of a chair, so I was waiting to see who would come for this wonderful meal. Turns out: a seven year old girl who'd just come from ballet practice. She ate every single bite and then, upon seeing my cookie, told her mom she wanted a cookie (she was denied this).
Large Cookies - $1.75 - Varied in quality, but none are truly great:
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Vegan ginger chew - Beware the eggless vegan cookies as they're not as dense and soft. |
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good gooey graciousness |
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Oatmeal Chocolate Walnut Cookie - Oatmeal chocolate walnut cookie ($1.75): Mmm soo much chocolate. |
If you want a cookie but don't want one of those big ones, there's the chocolate coin ($.80):
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Chocolate Coin closeup - It's a chocolatey, chocolate chip cookie, but, unless I'm crazy, there's a bit of anise in there, making it interesting and different too! |
Macarons ($1.10):
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Pumpkin and Honey Caramel |
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Lemon Ginger Macaron - Good flavors, but the marshmallowy texture in these doesn't do it for me |
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Chocolate Mint - The chocolate's a bit too subtle, but the mint seems to be made with fresh mint! How nice! |
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Stroopwafels - On the rare occasion these are available, they're a good option. Put one on your coffee to get the caramel melty. They're tasty and indulgent without being over the top. |
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Brownie ($2.25): Oooh.. dense fudginess.. soo rich... need.. milk... too rich.. for my blood.. sugar levels.. |
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Crumb Cake $2.25: "A tender, buttery brioche dough, stuffed with a cream cheese, honey and vanilla bean filling, and baked with a cinnamon crumb topping"
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This is tasty, to be sure, but it's also a little much, certainly for breakfast for one person. The filling is just too sugary. Your kids and any adult sucrophiles will probably love it. I do enjoy its softness. I bet if there were bacon in it I'd be a real fan.
Tarts (seasonally changing varieties) - $4.25:
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Peach Tart |
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Quince Tart: "Vanilla bean-poached quince baked atop a layer of almond cream, surrounded by a flaky crust" |
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Strawberry Rhubarb Tart |
I think I'm finally ready to admit I just don't like tarts that much. But I did want to see if I could taste the rhubarb, and it looked so beautiful! I think I could finally taste the rhubarb is mostly very mildly flavored but imparting a bit of extra bitternes and some solid tartness. It makes sense to combine it with strawberries since you get a compatible tartness with some balancing sweetness. Just toss in more sugar and you're good to go. I just need to learn that I like fruit in scones, chocolate in croissants, nuts and seeds in breads, and that I don't really like sticky, sweet, tart tarts.
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Chocolate Bun - $2.50 |
The best of the muffins (about $2):
Vegan mocha muffin:
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Raspberry-filled Corn Muffin: The outside may look a little boring, but.. |
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Mmm! It may as well have been a jelly-filled donut except you arguably don't have to feel as bad about eating one of these! |
The best of the Bread Loaf Slices (all $2-$2.10):
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They also sell small, wrapped loaves for $5 (pictured) and larger loaves that might be about four times as big for $16. |
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Rhubarb and Cardamom Cake |
Ever since a few years ago when I saw frozen rhubarb at a grocery store and tried it for the first time (it turned out not to be the greatest ingredient in smoothies, in case you were wondering), I've been hoping to encounter good rhubarb stuff, where I could really taste this mysterious plant and see why some people love it so. My only reference point for rhubarb being movies where some tough man stops at a diner in a small towns and winds up telling the lady serving him, "Ma'am, this is some damn fine rhubarb pie."
Apparently it's rhubarb season since both Canto and Ula are selling rhubarbed pastries right now. I still don't really know what rhubarb tastes like (and in only one bite could I truly detect cardamom), so I think I need to actually seek out a rhubarb pie in order to have a saturated enough experience. Don't get me wrong though, this cake was still a moist, dense and tasty breakfast.
The best of the Scones ($2.10):
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Lemon Ginger Scone |
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Apricot Almond Scone |
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Chocolate Scone |
Savory Scones - They're often dry. I've only really appreciated one:
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Bacon Cheddar Scone |
This was a nice breakfast. Also, there was one stray piece of ginger. I loved it, but I have no idea if it was intentional.
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I didn't realize it was going to be half cornmeal! So it was almost like a bacon cheddar (ginger) cornbread. Now if only there'd been jalapenos in there too. |
The best of the Cakes slices ($2-$2.10):
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Apple Streusel Cake - with pecans! Christmasy! Dense, moist, just the right level of sweet. |
Thoughts on their Iced Coffee Drinks:
I read a tweet from announcing that they're now serving Thai Iced Coffee. I was excited because I love both Vietnamese and Thai Iced Coffee. For them, I'll down a bunch of Lactaid and actually have coffee with some cream. This is because they consist of really strong coffee with sweetened condensed milk and, in the case of Thai Iced Coffee, cardamom.
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"Thai Iced Coffee" - Large for $4 - All this was was their regular cold brewed iced coffee with whole milk, sugar and tons of cardamom. I wasted four Lactaid for nothing but a few sips of bitter disappointment. Who would want a large of this? In my crazy pre-coffee head I somehow assumed that they had two smaller sizes for the small and large options for this since, if they were making real Thai Iced Coffee, the 16 and 24 oz. small and large sizes would obviously be way too large. Not that anyone should ever drink all of a large one of these either, ugh. Fortunately, my date made use of half of it before we threw it away. Oh well, I guess I didn't need Thai Iced Coffee around to tempt me anyway. |
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Iced Spicy Mocha - I used up a free drink card and what would normally be a way too expensive frou frou type drink. I had mine with soy milk, though the chocolate for their mocha is ganache (chocolate and cream), so I still had some minor digestive issues for the day (that was my choice, just warning other lactards). It was pretty good. The heat seemed to me to be all cayenne (that sneaky, biting the back of your throat heat), plus there was cinnamon and maybe other spices. I'll never get it again, but then I'm not much of an indulgent coffee drink drinker anymore. |
The best of the ever-rotating non-coffee Iced beverages:
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Ginger Lemonade - $2.65 for small, $3.15 for large: Plenty sweet without any bull shit added, wonderful ginger flavor. Very balanced, a true summer delight. |
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Strawberry Basil Soda - 3.75 for a small and $4.20 for a large |
This was delicious and not too sweet, a puree of rea strawberries and basil with sparkling water, but the price seems high.
Teas:
I'd been meaning to try some of their interesting teas (which they get from MEM Tea in Somerville) for forever, but I never got around to doing so until the espresso machine needed a break one day, and I had to wait about forty-five minutes for my espresso. This gave me the opportunity to have some tea and read for a while. I had to try the Pu-erh Tea first:
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"Pu-Erh is a fermented tea historically pan-fired, rolled, and sun-dried; and then allowed to mature in warm, humid conditions for up to 50 years. More modern techniques developed a faster fermentation process using an ancient Pu-Erh bacteria culture. The flavor is earthy and woody, smooth and sweet. Pu-erh tea is reputed to have extraordinary health benefits, including lowering cholesterol and reducing body weight. Pu-Erh tea contains mild to moderate amounts of caffeine." |
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"This dark, red amber tea from the Yunnan province in China has been aged, and the result is much like a molded cheese, with a pungent camphor aroma and flavors of mushroom and cocoa." |
Did it actually taste good, you ask?
It smelled like an aquarium tank. If it were possible to drink a butterfly center, this is what is would taste like. And maybe it's because I'm an asshole, maybe because it's just so damn weird, maybe because it brought me pleasant childhood nostalgia, maybe because it meant I got to read David Sedaris longer since I don't write until I've had my coffee, but I really enjoyed it.
Oh and it also tasted a lot like that time I ordered a shit load of kava kava off the Internet, hoping to have a Hawaiian people mystical legal drug experience (it didn't work). Anyhow, if you're into funky tea or funkiness in general, try it.
Then I tried the Genma Chai:
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Japanese green tea with brown rice in it - fun! It really tastes like brown rice! |
