Mystery Meet: Myers + Chang
Mystery Meet may not be a secret supper club, but it exudes the same exciting, exclusive aura. It is a monthly event with a prix fixe dinner for Boston foodies who want to explore new restaurants together, and it occurs every second Tuesday of the month. Social Media guru Seth Resler sends hints to subscribers and reveals the dinner location only the day before. I signed up for the notifications and had fun deciphering the clues about this month’s location.
The five hints were:
– the restaurant is located at the South of the Charles River
– it’s family style dining
– the chef was on top of her Stuff this summer
– the chef ran every Boston marathon from 1991 to 2006
– the owners, both Harvard grads, met while working together at Rialto
After the third hint, I knew it was going to be at Myers + Chang, since Joanne Chang was on the cover of Stuff Boston’s Restaurant Issue. I really like Joanne Chang’s Flour Bakery and I’ve heard great things about Myers + Chang, so I’ve been wanting to go there for a while now. Plus, I love meeting new people and this seems like the perfect event. I immediately signed up as soon as registration opened, which was a good call because the event sold out (seating was limited to 20).
I was one of the first people to arrive (I was excited!) and as soon as I sat down to skim our dinner menu and drinks list, I knew I was in for a good night. I got the Kyoto Kiss cocktail special:
soju, matchstick asian pears, hint of tonic, lime
The table then filled up and the food started to arrive! It was family-style dining, and we had 8 courses:
thai ginger chicken salad
crispy vegetarian spring rolls
tea-smoked spare ribs
lemony shrimp potstickers
wok-roasted mussels and grilled garlic toast
chicken and rapini stir-fry
Tiger’s Tears (grilled steak salad)
vegetarian tofu and brocolli chow fun
I had a great time and it was nice to meet fellow bloggers!
I sat beside Daisy
happy foodies
I spent most of the night chatting with Daisy, Emily, Lizzy, Cynthia, Jen, and Ken. My super-hearing powers also enabled me to catch a conversation from a couple of seats away, about Boston Chocolate Tours! I talked to David “Sweet Tooth” Goldstein (founder, ringleader and chief taster of Boston Chocolate Tours) and his lovely daughter Sam. They had me at chocolate, so you can expect a review of the Chocolate Tour soon.
Now I have a confession to make: I’m allergic to fish sauce, a common ingredient in Asian cooking (yes, I recognize the irony of me being Asian). So when our server Lily, who was really sweet and efficient, asked the table at the start of the dinner if anyone has any food allergies, it suddenly dawned on me that I might have to disclose mine. Usually, I try to ignore the existence of my food allergies because I love food too much, and I can deal with some hives and swollen lips. But I thought there might be a lot of fish sauce in an Asian restaurant, and if I eat too much of an allergen, the results are not pretty. To be honest, I hate the smell of fish sauce so I never thought I was missing out, since I’ve had allergic reactions to it since I was a kid… It turns out that most of the dishes for our Mystery Meet dinner had it so I only ended up eating a few dishes (the vegetarian ones and the ribs). But fear not, I did not leave hungry! Why? Because there was DESSERT. Lots of it:
coconut cream pie
frozen vanilla bean parfait with fresh orange granita
chocolate and cocoa nib terrine with Vietnamese coffee sauce
chocolate mousse with marshmallow meringue
banana creme caramel with black and white sesame brittle
lemon-ginger mousse
I was able to eat a couple of bites of each dessert and they were all sumptuous! I may or may have not asked the other end of the table to pass the remaining chocolate cake, and got the last bite of the coconut cream pie… So in spite of my limited dinner, I was very satisfied.
Another highlight of the evening was meeting Joanne Chang! She was very nice and came over to our table to talk with us for a little bit.
that’s Daisy, me, the chef, and Lizzy
I really enjoyed the Mystery Meet dinner and I’m looking forward to attending a few others in the future. Kudos to Seth for organizing the event – what a fun way to bring people together!
Welcome, I’m Bianca Garcia. I love food, yoga, running, sangria, and my job. I'm an advertising professional, social media enthusiast, blogger, freelance writer, and obsessive list-maker. I think about dessert constantly. 
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So sad I missed out on the chance to meet you. I felt like I’d been at Myers + Chang recently enough so I decided to skip this one. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to meet at the next one. Looks like dinner was fabulous, and I’m sorry you didn’t get to try all of it. You did get to eat a bunch of amazing desserts though. I love that cacao nib terrine!
I hope that we finally get to meet at the next Mystery Meet dinner! I recently went to a cooking class at M&C and yes, fish sauce is in their Nuoc Cham sauce – which is in a lot of their dishes. Thankfully there isn’t any in dessert!
Megan & Michelle – yes, I do hope to meet both of you ladies soon!
What a wonderful evening! I’m sad you weren’t able to try everything, wow it all looks SO good, but thank gosh its an allergy to something like fish sauce and not, dairy. Those desserts are to absolutely drool worthy. I love the way the chocolate mousse with marshmallow meringue looks!
So fun! I loved the first Mystery Meet but won’t be able to attend due to my wine classes being every Tuesday for 15 weeks or something like that! I hope to meet you at another event soon!
What an amazing event concept! Would love to go to this…..great photos!
Could go for that coconut cream pie right now…..
Mystery meet sounds fun. Can anyone join?
Sorry you couldn’t eat everything, but at least you liked what you did eat :)
Bianca Garcia replied August 13th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Corinne – oh my, I wouldn’t know what I would do if I were allergic to dairy!
Meghan – that’s too bad, but a wine class sounds AWESOME, I’m jealous…
Mich – yup, let’s go next month!
Melissa – yes, anyone can join :) Maybe I’ll see you there next month?
Lizzy & Daisy – thanks gals, I had a fab time with you!
Great recap! It was so fun to meet you the other night and I look forward to more meetups! Your photos look great : ) I really need to get on the ball and write min- today perhaps!
This was such a great night. 4 days later and I’m still drooling over all the food. Your pictures are fantastic!! Can’t wait to see you again soon.
PS I appreciate the fashion advice today. It was so helpful! you’re the best
HOLY delicious! i would seriously down every.single.item on here! i’m really feeling the crispy veggie spring rolls though…yum!
This is such a fun concept! I’m going to have to dig around and see if anything exists like this in ny!