Ok, so this post isn’t about a restaurant…it’s about a TV show about restaurants. The Phantom Gourmet is a great show up in New England that rates the area restaurants, with a focus on the Boston area.
The gist of the show is that a mysterious individual whose identity is never revealed, The Phantom Gourmet, travels around to area restaurants and rates them based on a strict and detailed report card. Every weekend, the show focuses on one type of cuisine or area of restaurants and lets viewers know where to go … and where to avoid. The rubric is very useful, and Drew and I even considered “borrowing” it for our blog….but that would be cheating, now wouldn’t it?
The show is hosted by Daniel and David Andelman, brothers, who have stated that they are not the Phantom Gourmet. Although a bit over-the-top at times, I think this is a great show. It makes me almost (but not quite) jealous that I don’t live in Massachusetts because I definitely want to try many of the restaurants the Phantom Gourmet has rated.
Anyway, those of you up in Massachusetts and New England should definitely check out this show. It airs on weekend mornings (the website says Sat/Sun at 11 AM, the YouTube promos say Sat at 10 AM, Sunday at 5 PM) in the Boston region. You can read more about it on Wikipedia. The show also has a new blog.
Sometimes food is more than food. Let me explain. When I was a freshman in college I went and visited my friend Mike at UCONN and was exposed to the first time to life at a state school. I couldn’t tell you diddly-poo about that meeting eight years ago except for the take-out we ordered. He vehemently insisted the we get wings and I thought ‘hey great wings are wings are wings’ – right? Well when he explained that he wanted to get flavors called ‘mustang ranch’ and ‘godzilla breath’. I knew this place was a little different. And they were earth-shatteringly good! Come to find out that all these years later I would move in a few miles away from the ‘wing’s over storrs’ flagship store The Hangar.
The Hangar is a sports bar within walking distance of the southwest dormitories on the UMASS campus. Often crowded (a line out the door) the food is worth the wait. Inside looks more like a converted garage rather than a mecca to the McNuggets older brother, but one is soon swayed by the smell of BBQ sauce. It is known for one thing, wings. Most famous is there boneless wings that come in cute sizes like DC-10 and 727. The prices are cheap and the wings are perfect. They have close to 20 sauces you can try in addition to varying levels of traditional fiery wing sauce. My favorites are ‘golden BBQ’ and ‘west Texas mesquite’ (despite my inborn aversion to everything Texan). But half the fun is picking a new sauce and the waitstaff is always helpful. For a two person order of wings you can get three sauces so fire away. I prefer the bone in wings, but both are irresistible.
Also beer. beer. the Hangar has 30 beers on tap and a few more bottled. It is cheap so if you are looking for one of those quasi-legal table kegs, the ones that make you look like you are an extra for the movie beerfest, this is the place to go. I would shy away from the watery classics here (don’t worry ‘bud’ family i still love you) and go for something fruity. Yes you heard me, fruity. And not in the lance bass kinda way. Go for a sweet beer. I find is helps to clear away the fire of the hotter sauces. I love the SeaDog – Blueberry (cuz im a Mainah) and the local Paper City – One Eared Monkey (with hints of Peach). Trust me.
Ok, so this post isn’t about a restaurant…it’s about a TV show about restaurants. The Phantom Gourmet is a great show up in New England that rates the area restaurants, with a focus on the Boston area.