May 10th 2013: Lunch at Mangia Mangia Grille, Westford and Dinner at Figs, Boston

Today, I was able to get off work early, so I decided to head to Mangia Mangia Grille in  Westford. When I reached the place, I realized that I have been to the exact same place before, when the name of the restaurant was still Westford Grille. After getting seated at a table which was pretty much the same as it was in the old place, I looked at the menu, and had a hard time deciding what to get as there wasn't anything really interesting on it. I ended up geting the New England Clam Chowder Bread Bowl, and the Italiano Grilled Panini (with salami, pepperoni, mortadella, hot ham and provolone cheese).

The Italiano

New England Clam Chowder Bread Bowl

Both were average in my opinion, and the dessert Chocolate Chip Cannoli was pretty much the same too. Overall, an okay experience, but not awesome in any way. I've had better.

Next, I headed to 17 Depot Street in town to find the Westford Knight, an ancient stone carving along the side of the road depicting a Scottish Knight from the late 1300s, purportedly evidence that other western countries had been on American soil way before Christopher Columbus. There is a cordon around the carving, but I could not see anything remotely like a knight at all, even after close scrutiny. Can you see it from the picture I took of it?

Apparently, it is supposed to look like this.

Anyway, I had to return to work after this, but after work, I had another event to go to, to go bowling at Kings in the town of Dedham. I decided to head to Charlestown for dinner first, at a pretty small but pretty upscale Italian bar restaurant called Figs. Using my Groupon, I decided to get the Slow Braised Short Rib Pappardelle (roasted pearl onions, pistachio gremolata) and the Spicy Shrimp Pizza (spicy gulf shrimp, caramelized leeks, tomato sauce). 

Spicy Shrimp Pizza

Slow Braised Short Rib Pappardelle

The Pappardelle was pretty decent, although I could not find much of the meat, and the rest was mostly vegetables I did not like. The pizza was a little too spicy for me as well, but overall, I think my meal was pretty good.

From here, I headed out to do some bowling with my friends in Dedham at Kings. The bowling alley is pretty fancy with a nightclub sort of feel, especially with the hip bar restaurant behind, but definitely not a place to go if you are more used to normal play, because the lanes here are so narrow, and there are no dots for you to position yourself before moving to throw the ball down the lane. I did poorly in the one game I played, as you might expect.

With that, I had to head to South Station to pick my friend up who had come from NYC for the weekend of food truck activities to come. Looking forward to it.