Snappy Sushi

Having a craving for sushi but not wanting to spend an arm and a leg we decided to check out Snappy Sushi, a sushi joint recently having relocated to 108 Newbury from further up the street. Known for having only koshikari brown rice, Snappy offers a healthier alternative to the more traditional brown rice. The restaurant´s interior is two leveled, with the top floor having a small seating area and the downstairs offering both sushi bar seating and a number of tables.

I was pleased to see that the menu items were very reasonably priced, as sushi can obviously get quite expensive. The fancy rolls average about $10 for 6 pieces, while the more traditional rolls, both standard and "inside-out" averaged at about 5. Pieces of nigiri were either $1 or $2, and there are a number of salads and other plates averaging around $12. We decided to keep it simple and order a few pieces of nigiri as well as a few rolls.

The best roll was the crispy eel roll, which had eel, avocado, cucumber, and flying fish roe topped with mayo and crunchy tempura bits, drizzled with eel sauce. The yellowtail and salmon rolls were standard, and the inside-out spicy tuna was also very good and had a nice sprinkling of sesame seeds on the outside. The fact that all of the rolls came with brown rice was undetectable in all but the spicy tuna roll given that it had the most rice. While I must admit I do prefer the white rice, the brown was certainly nothing to complain about, especially with it being healthier. For nigiri we had the saba (mackerel), tamago (sweet egg omelet), ika (squid), and ikura (salmon roe), all of which were delicious.

I would certainly return for another round of sushi, perhaps sampling one of their very reasonable lunch specials. Other fancy rolls of future interest include the Boston Lobster Roll, which has avocado, cucumber, and green leaf rolled together, and dressed with chopped lobster meat mixed with red onion and flying fish roe in wasabi-butter sauce, and the Roasted Garlic Scallop roll, which is an avocado and cucumber roll dressed with chopped scallops and onion in Snappy Sushi's sweet garlic sauce, topped with garlic mayo and black flying fish roe.

Boston Olive Oil Company

Strolling down Newbury this afternoon we couldn't help but be drawn into the Boston Olive Oil Company. Though it has been there since the fall of 2010 and we had heard good things about it, only now did we finally take the time check it out!

Walking in you see that this place means business - the entire store is lined with rows of handsome stainless steel fusti with spigots for tasting the over 40 varieties of extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars. We were immediately greeted by one of the owners who was happy to educate us a bit about her products. Their Olive Oils are 100% Extra Virgin, unfiltered and settled, and come from both the northern and southern hemispheres. There are the varietals, which are unadulterated oils like the manzanillo and ascalano, and then a large selection of fused/infused oils. The Balsamic vinegars, on the other hand, are harvested in Modena, Italy and imported to the store and bottled on the premises. They range from the traditional balsamic to more interesting varieties like pomegranate and pumpkin.

All of the products are available to be tasted right there in little paper cups and with small pieces of bread. The owner was kind enough to suggest a number of combinations, like the herbs de provence oil with mandarin balsamic and the tuscan herb oil with pomegranate balsamic, the latter of which we ended up purchasing. Another great combination we enjoyed was the harissa olive oil, which is infused with smoked chili peppers, garlic, caraway coriander, cumin, with the tahitian vanilla balsamic vinegar. We could have spent an hour in there guzzling all kinds of delicious oils and vinegars! I must say it was a lovely way to spend a quarter of an hour or so and inspired a delicious antipasto lunch drizzled in our new oil and vinegar combination! I look forward to returning to sample and purchase some more in the near future!

Bottles for purchase are directly underneath the fusti and average at about 18 dollars for 375 ml. You can find the Boston Olive Oil Company at 262 Newbury Street and online at their website, on facebook, and on twitter!