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!
Hi! I’m Bianca Garcia. I love food, running, yoga, 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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