Last weekend, my husband and I, along with a few other area food bloggers and influencers attended a Fall Menu tasting at The Rail Trail Flatbread Company in Hudson, Massachusetts. This was our first “menu tasting” by invitation and it was great fun mixed with a lot of delicious food. My husband was a great sport to join me, but after sampling dishes and chatting with some really fun people, we were both glad we attended! We were greeted by our hosts Karim El-Gamal, one of the owners who walked us through the history of his restaurants and Lindsay Tierney who handles the restaurant’s events and public relations.
The Rail Trail Flatbread Company is located less than 3 miles off Route 495 so it’s a great place to keep in mind if you travel that route at any time. Opened on 12-12-12 by Karim El-Gamal and Michael Kasseris who attended business school at Babson together, Rail Trail has a scratch kitchen and serves food that in Karim’s words they would want to feed their own families. High quality, seasonal ingredients and 8 types of house made bread serve as the backbone of the Rail Trail’s menu that changes quarterly. The menu development process takes roughly 10-12 weeks which means that while the Fall menu is being launched, the staff is already busy at work creating new dishes to introduce during the colder Winter months. Rail Trail is truly the kind of place where anyone can find a dish they want to eat as it offers a wide array of options as you will see below.
Two years after opening Rail Trail, the partners and friend Jason Kleinerman took over the building across the street that had long been an eyesore. New City Microcreamery was born after extensive research on the process of making hard ice creams. We finished our menu tasting by sampling some of the establishment’s delicious offerings. We also got to take a peek into the speakeasy that is only accessible through the ice cream store. From the outside, this part of the building looks like it might house a cobbler, but there is no way of accessing the speakeasy without stepping inside ostensibly to get a scoop or two. You’ll just have to go visit to see what I mean. My husband and I are eager to go back and enter through the secret door!
Here are some pictures of the many, many dishes we enjoyed. This was not my first visit to the Rail Trail. It’s one of my sister in law’s favorite places and it is consistently packed so they are doing a lot of things right. With few exceptions, every dish we sampled was delicious. Some of the salads and sandwiches we did not sample as we were simply too full. But all of the dishes were incredibly fresh, had great eye appeal and flavor alike…
Sweet Potato Hummus with muhammara, falafel crisps, cranberries and pumpkin seeds. Inspired by Karim’s family from Egypt and really tasty. The flatbread served alongside was wonderful as well…
Avocado toast on homemade grilled sourdough bread with whipped ricotta, crimini mushrooms, everything bagel spice and crispy shallots. So delicious and the sourdough was amazing…
Edamame Fritters accompanied by wheat chips and Michael’s family’s tzatziki that I could have eaten by itself it was so perfect…
One of Rail Trail’s beloved appetizers that they removed from the menu is returning. Shredded potatoes are mixed with blue cheese, fried and then tossed with buffalo sauce. Blue cheese dressing is served alongside the tots. Another great vegetarian option…
One of the things I really appreciated about Rail Trail is the empowerment they provide for their staff who are encouraged to contribute new recipes to the menu. These Street Corn Nachos were created by a line cook who is originally from Guatemala. Corn garnachas chips (house made corn tortillas that are fried) are served with fire roasted corn, pimento aioli, roasted cubanelles, red onion, jalapeños, queso, roasted tomatillo salsa and cilantro…
For the salads, we were served the Kale and Romaine Caesar…
Apple and Bibb…
The clever Harvest Poke which included roasted beets, spicy sambal butternut squash, ponzu vin, dan dan tahini, pickled fennel, cucumber, radish, cilantro and brown rice…
Lindsay Tierney holds up the Warm Tuna Nicoise…
Rail Trail offers a wide selection of flatbreads that are baked in a wood fired oven at the front of the restaurant. We were offered just about all of them and took bites of several including the Meatball, below that has little ditalini pasta on top, ricotta and basil…
My absolute favorite might have been this Fire Roasted Squash that had a ricotta base, raisins, a little blue cheese, some pumpkin seeds and sage. So, so good!
We enjoyed this Farmer’s Market as well. Others that are not pictured that are must-trys are the Buffalo Cauliflower and the Chicken Bacon Ranch. You can also craft your own flatbread…
Full yet? We definitely were, so we took small bites of the filling of these Carnitas El Pastor. Shredded pork, pineapple, red onion, a spicy chili sauce and an avocado crema are wrapped in flour tortillas and served with microgreens…
How awesome does this short rib BLT look? Shredded short ribs, pimento cheese, kale, bacon and provolone served on sourdough bread…
We ventured over to sister restaurant New City Microcreamery after lunch to sample some of the ice creams and pastries made on site…
New City offers Counter Culture coffees from Somerville, MEMTEA teas from Watertown and breakfast sandwiches on house made english muffins. However, ice cream and pastries play center stage. Ice cream flavors range from the traditional chocolate and vanilla to the more exotic such as vanilla saffron or chai almond. Three vegan ice creams are offered as well as one dairy free sorbet.
I sampled the vegan coffee ice cream and my husband had the malted milk ball ice cream. Mine was intensely flavored and had a good consistency, although being vegan it didn’t have that creamy mouth feel that traditional ice cream does. My husband’s ice cream was out of this world. Several of the other bloggers had previously been to New City and were raving about the ice cream during lunch so if you are in the area, this is a spot to visit…
And if you like pastry with your coffee, there are plenty on offer created by Executive Pastry Chef, Alyssa Lieberman. Everything from chocolate mousse to vegan peanut butter cupcakes, tres leches cakes, apple pie macarons and tiramisu bavarians are available…
How adorable are these mini ice cream cones coated with ganache?
And don’t forget that within the walls of the New City Microcreamery, you can access the not so secret anymore speakeasy, Less Than Greater which is open every evening except Monday. You can also book parties or cocktail classes at Less Than Greater which I think would be a really fun outing.
I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into The Rail Trail Flatbread Company and New City Creamery. If you are in the area, please stop by and let them know The Kitchen Scout sent you!
Until next time…
One Year Ago: Aunt Elizabeth’s Fresh Apple Cake
Two Years Ago: Homemade Vanilla Extract (make this weekend so they are ready for holiday gift giving)
Three Years Ago: Applesauce Spice Muffins
One More! Restaurant Review of The Farmhouse in Needham, Massachusetts
Wish I had seen this yesterday as I found myself in their neighborhood! Will make it a priority next time.
WOW — what a food fest, Val!! I’m looking forward to getting out there to try these two places. Who knew?!