Tortilla Flat -- Flautas

The town of Merrimack, New Hampshire is technically made up of three towns: Reed's Ferry, Thornton's Ferry and the central part of Merrimack, sometimes called Souhegan Village.

And what Lobster Boat is to that central section of town, Tortilla Flat is to Reed's Ferry.

This restaurant has been around for umpteen million years. It's Mexican with a slight Tex-Mex flair, but the dank decor has always seemed geared towards cheap cervezas in their bar while watching a game rather than a meal.

So, my expectations were not high when I came here for lunch. And I apologize for this photo of these flautas, but the low price made me think that the price to value ratio was fairly high out of what I got.

The flautas were an appetizer, yet filling enough for a meal. Filled with multiple kinds of meat, covered in some melted jack cheese, and accompanied with cilantro, shredded lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream, this dish really hit the spot.

Prior to the meal, Flat's nachos were warm, but not microwave warm and the sauce was fairly fresh. Maybe the sauce was canned and the nachos were from a bag somewhere, but I could not tell. Maybe give me another few hundred of these reviews and I will, but I couldn't today.

The service was adequate as well, but I think what took the cake was that it was about half the price of El Tapatio with nearly as much food. There are only three Mexican restaurants in Merrimack. We'll have to see if the flautas at Amigo's Cantina can take the prize away here, so far Tortilla Flat is in the lead in the Merrimack Mexican Flauta Challenge.

In the meantime though, Tortilla Flat certainly exceeded my expectations even if those expectations were low and they did themselves alot of favors with the low price. If I had ordered something more substantial, I have a feeling I might have been so favorable here.

Meal: Flautas
Price: $6.53
Speed of Service: 15 minutes
Time of Day: 12:45 Weekday

Chen's Kitchen -- General Tso's

Today we head to Second Street in Manchester, a strip stretching from the Bedford Town line to the Granite Street Bridge that is filled with fast food and slower food that will clog your arteries just as quickly once you eat it.

So, I was in the area recently and expected to be partaking in some of that greasiness, but instead found myself at a packed in Chinese joint right across from McDonald's named Chen's Kitchen.

It appears to be located inside a repurposed residential building, but has been resigned inside to be a couture fancy Chinese-American place. On that note it doesn't do too terribly, even though it falls a little short of the mark. The wallpaper is the only real thing destroying the delusion of being in a place that has food priced far higher than what is served.

On that note, I cannot complain. Here you can see the General Tso's Lunch Special. It certainly isn't a heaping amount of food to be sure, but it is tasty and passes the General Tso's stringiness test. If you're a fan of Tso's sauce, you might be disappointed here since it's a gelatinous coating rather than a sauce scattered over the plate and the croquettes.

The wait staff was not bad either, so we've gotten the good things out of the way. There were two bad things that came up during this meal.

The first one was the free Hot and Sour soup that came with the luncheon special. It had far too much stock in it, there was an overly musky aftertaste at first that eventually you had to plow through with your tastebuds. By the fourth or fifth spoonful, the taste went away, but it was awkward at first.

That was minor though compared to the parking. If I owned this restaurant, I would go to the next door houses every day to see if they wanted to sell so I could expand the parking. This restaurant must be next to impossible to fill unless there's alot of carpooling or Manchester decides to add a bus stop to this restaurant, and I doubt people who use the bus would go to such a hoighty toighty place as this.

Still, I think it deserves another meal. They have a wide array of Japanese offerings as well, and this meal certainly convinced them that they know what they're doing.

Meal: General Tso's Lunch Special
Price: $7.58
Speed of Service: 10 minutes
Time of Meal 12:00 PM Weekday

Red Arrow Milford -- Buffalo Tenders

Well, when everything else is closed, you're left with little option I suppose. The other day I was at the Oval and Milford and wanted to review someplace new, but the two places next to where I parked apparently did not want to follow the hours on their door. That left a old tried and true open 24 hours a day alternative.

The Red Arrow in Milford was my first review at this blog, but I doubted that review would by my last of this restaurant. They may still technically be a chain, but they're a Southern New Hampshire institution as well, and one of the finest purveyors of comfort food anywhere to boot.

So, since they're masters of comfort food, I figured i'd order the Buffalo Chicken, since it is rapidly becoming my favorite dish it seems. I had originally wanted to order the Buffalo Chicken for my first review, but they were all out of Chicken that day. On this day they were out of that recipe and trying a new one.

The new Buffalo Chicken is kind of a glaze, it's fairly unique among the Buffalo Chicken I have eaten, and it is not half bad. The problem lied in the price. With a soda (Moxie in this case), the price was far too high for what you got.

And I don't really know what to make of the service. I know it wasn't the waitresses fault, but they really need three people to cover tables and the counter at lunch time. She was overstretched and stretched to the limit of what an acceptable time to wait between ordering and eating. Maybe the wait time differs elsewhere, but I'm going by local standards here.

Days like the one I was at on this review are a good reason why multiple reviews are a good idea: sometimes you catch a peak at the bad side of a good establishment, and this was certainly one of those times.

Meal: Buffalo Tenders with Moxie
Price: $13.34
Speed of Service: 25 minutes
Time of Visit: 12:45, Weekday

Kowloon Wasabi -- General Tso's and Oshinko Roll

Usually a dumpy strip mall is a clear sign that any restaurant inside it is going to be a poor quality dive establishment. But you can't judge a book by its cover, because there are always exceptions to the rule.

Sometimes the exceptions are just adequate, and then sometimes like in the case of Kowloon Wasabi on 101A in Milford, in between the Oval and the Milford Bypass Junction, you get much better than mere adequacy.

Kowloon Wasabi is a pan-Asian restaurant, well Japanese and Chinese, but that's "pan" enough to be classified as "pan" I suppose. The interior is not as bad as the plaza looks on the outside, but what I was pleased with was the food.

It was lunch time when I went there, and I figured I'd subject this place to the General Tso's test, because even if they failed, I could order some Chicken Fingers. If a Chinese-American restaurant cannot get Chicken Fingers right, it should be shut down by a health inspector, let alone a food critic.

But, suffice it to say, they passed the test. On top of that, the sauce balanced well with the Fried Rice and Chicken Fingers, which were both also fairly good. And this was just the main course.

They also offered Hot and Sour Soup as an accompaniment to the meal, and I ordered an Oshinko Roll as well to get a taste of the Japanese side of things at the restaurant as well. Both were well recieved by my taste buds.

I'd be happy to recommend this establishment to anyone who is looking for good Chinese food in the Milford area and can judge a book by more than its cover.

Meal: General Tso's Chicken Lunch Special with Fried Rice and Oshinko Roll

Price: $10.30

Speed of Service: 10 minutes

Time of Day: 11:40 AM, Weekday

Joey's Place -- Buffalo Chicken

On the border of Amherst and Merrimack (and technically Hollis if you want to split hairs), there's a 50's theme diner called "Joey's Place". I believe it may have had other names over the years, I can't remember to be honest. Either way though, for awhile it's been a 50's diner, and that has made me wary of it because restaurant gimmicks just seem like excuses to skimp on taste, service and price.

Man, was I wrong.

I ordered the Buffalo Chicken. Yes, Buffalo Chicken hadn't been invented in the 1950s (It was invented in 1964 by Teresa Bellissimo, co-owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York), and yes I have written alot of Buffalo Chicken related stories recently (I will write a comparison piece soon, I promise), but goddamn were these ones good.

As you can see from the photo above, there's a balance between the "dry" and "wet" style, but it grasps the all the strengths of each school of thought in the Buffalo Chicken pantheon. Fans of either kind of Buffalo Chicken will be happy there.

Its texture was also fantastic, adding a layer of crunchiness that did not detract from the sauce but only complimented it.

The price was great in comparison to similiar versions of this meal that can be found elsewhere, and the service was pretty good; I was seated quickly, I got my food quickly given the time of day, and the waitress got my check quickly after I asked and did ask every now and then if I needed something, but not too much.

And on top of that, they serve breakfast and lunch simultaneously all day.

I may just need another trip to Joey's. This is a hidden gem on 101A to be sure.

Meal: Buffalo Chicken

Price: $8.71

Speed of Service: 10 minutes

Time of Day: 12:30, weekend.

Poppa Joe’s Humble Kitchen

I've tried going here twice before, but it was closed despite the fact that the hours on their door said they were open. So, I was pleased that they expanded the hours they said they were going to be open when I tried them today.

Poppa Joe's Humble Kitchen on Route 13 in Milford used to be Humble Kitchen on Elm Street, and while I can't vouch for the old Humble Kitchen, I covered a story that brought me here and had me talking about their hamburger with hot dogs and onion rings on it.

While I didn't try that one, I did try a fairly good alternative called "Kelsey's Buffalo Burger".

I'd assume it's named after a staff member like the choices at The Seedling Cafe in Nashua, but I didn't bother to ask, all I asked is if I could put Jalapenos on this bad boy, and they were cool with it.

Despite the fact it was a million degrees inside (they have picnic tables, but it appeared that it was going to rain), they only had a counter, and the previous trips, I was really pleased with this burger. It was certainly comparable to any of those family style joints with the crap on the walls that charge a few bucks more for their burgers and the fast food joints that are offering premium burgers now but make you feel like a number.

And I think even if this burger wasn't appetizing, which it was, I would have given it more than the benefit of the doubt. If Hamburgers are like the Star Wars franchise, Chili's and Red Robin are like the prequel trilogy while Poppa Joe's is like A New Hope: with all the money put into those other guys, anything other than exceptional is a failure, but this was a pleasant surprise.

I may well come back and try that burger with the hot dog and onion rings on it.

Meal: Kelsey's Buffalo Burger and a drink
Price: $6.98
Speed of Service: 5 minutes
Time of Day: 12:30 PM, Weekday

Mehmaan Indian Restaurant

To my knowledge, there are two Indian Restaurants in Nashua: India Palace on Amherst Street and Mehmaan in South Nashua.

It's been said that immigrant communities are often like families, and that's true in this case because Mehmaan is kind of like India Palace's little brother.

Everything with Mehmaan is just slightly worse than India Palace, a sort of imitation in a way that just doesn't get it right. India Palace costs about a dollar less for its buffet*, has more items to choose from on its buffet, and better selections to boot (the Tandoori Chicken in particular).

I'm not saying that Mehmaan is bad, just that India Palace is better. It's strength arises from the fact that the two restaurants are across town from each other and if you're at the Pheasant Lane Mall, you may not want to hike all the way up to Exit 8 and change. Then again, even in that case Mehmann suffers, you can only get to it going southbound.

My heart and stomach go out to this little establishment, but I can't say that it's worth going out of your way for. If it is on your way though, then no problem.


*-Unless I forgot to include the tax, but I am almost certain I did.

Meal: Buffet
Price: $10.64
Speed of Service: Instant
Time of Meal: 12:30 PM, Weekday