Myers + Chang, Boston, Massachusetts

See: http://www.myersandchang.com

I love Joanne Chang's story (Harvard educated business-women extraordinaire turned restauranteur), and have long been a fan of Flour (especially the carrot cake, sticky buns, curried tuna sandwiches, brioche au chocolat... you get the idea), so was eager to finally try Myers + Chang.

Myers + Chang looks like a modern and trendy diner, complete with counter seating where you can watch the chefs at work. The bar has its own menu, and there is surely something for everyone, as it contains selections of wine, sake, beer, specialty cocktails, and several house-made sodas. I tried the Mint Lime Rickey and it was a grown-up, gently effervescent version of the treat I used to get at Brigham's as a kid.

Myers + Chang has a great option for Monday and Tuesday diners known as the "Cheap Date Night," a collection of prix fixe menus designed to generously feed two people for $40. We tried "The Healthy Date", supplemented with the fish tacos (because we simply could not resist). The pan-roasted, soy glazed salmon stole the show -- it was cooked to perfection (flaking perfectly with the slightest touch of my fork) and served on a bed of brown rice (at our request) with crispy shallots, slices of ginger, and a sauce that was to die for. The fish tacos were also outstanding, and were filled with delicately fried bits of hake, kimchee salsa, and cilantro. With a side of baby bok choy and mustard green and edamame dumplings, this really was a healthy meal. Note that I didn't say low calorie -- it definitely wasn't that -- but this menu sure crammed in a ton of superfoods. Bok choy! Ginger! Mustard greens! Salmon!

Sadly we didn't save room for dessert (I know. Joanne Chang is involved and we didn't save room for dessert. Rookie move.). Let me just say there is ginger-lemon mouse. And Flour's carrot cake.

Lastly, the service was simply impeccable. Both the hostess and our server were warm, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable. I've been trying to increase traffic to this blog so have been making an effort to Tweet a bit. (After all, what fun is it to write like this without interacting with others?) The Myers + Chang folks were kind enough to respond to my Tweet, which was an extra nice way to end the evening (really struggling not to use a smiley-face emoticon here).