G's Flog

I made this last week and since it was for a special occasion I went through the trouble of finding real key limes. It took about 9 of these golf ball-sized suckers to get 2/3 cup of juice. I used a recipe from Saveur Magazine that is based on the one served at Joe's Stone Crab in Miami.

I liked the pie – the custard should have been thicker, but I think I ended up using a little more than the 2/3 cup of juice – after all that work juicing them I wasn't going to waste any. I probably used too much zest for the same reason, so there was a touch of bitterness from the pith. The flavor of the custard was bright, tart and refreshing.

I thought the crust was great, I liked the flavor and it had great texture. I only used half the sugar in the recipe.

I always have buttermilk leftover from making my favorite lemon buttermilk cookies, so I'm always on the hunt for recipes to use up the rest. I made these scones for staff meeting and they were excellent – tender and flavorful.

It was an easy recipe - I doubled it and I brushed the tops with buttermilk and a sprinkling of sugar before they went in the oven.

15 years ago, this basement space in One Kendall Square used to be Manhattan Sammy's Deli. I spent 3 summers working at the Human Genome Center at MIT, which was located on the 5^th floor of the same building and had many a lunch at Sammy's. Mostly, I loved their pickles.

Fast forward to 2010 and I was sitting in the same basement space with Brian having a quick meal before bridge, except now it is Think Tank, the latest gastropub concept to crop up in Boston.

We shared the fish and chips, the Seoul burger and the steak flatbread. The fish was tender but the batter was too thick and overshadowed the fish. The flatbread had steak, figs, onions and arugula and the fig was completely overwhelming. The star of the meal was definitely the Seoul burger; the Korean bbq beef was flavorful and a perfect medium rare and I loved the runny yolk from the farm egg on top.

Our server was friendly and he was accommodating with the fact we were in a semi rush. I think the restaurant needs to work on harmonizing the ingredients so that their flavors were together instead of fighting one another. The menu is fairly reasonably priced with entrees in the low 20's. All in all, I think it's a welcome addition to a growing restaurant scene in One Kendall Square.

Food: B+

Service: A-

Value: B+

Overall: B+

http://www.thinktankcambridge.com/