I think Mussolini’s regime in Italy is pretty interesting, I really do, but truthfully, it doesn’t hold a candle to spring rolls. Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, and maybe you’re reading this blog shaking your head and thinking to yourself, “Ari, are you kidding? Spring rolls are not nearly as interesting as the former fascist leader of Italy!” Maybe once, in my younger and more naive years, I would have agreed, but one day in history class during my senior year of high school, I had spring rolls on my mind, and they trumped my interest in fascism. Everything happening in the classroom became irrelevant and the contents of my notes changed from elements of Mussolini’s regime to calculations of whether or not I could drive to Quang and get back in time for the next class period. After class, I consulted my friend Anna and we sadly concluded that it was not possible. It was a tough day.
The same kind of thing would happen to me from time to time during my freshman year at Tufts: I would lose focus during class, distracted by nostalgia for Punch Pizza, Uptown Diner, and my other favorite Minneapolis restaurants. It was not a matter of disinterest in the content of my classes; I was very excited about my comparative politics, Asian American perspectives in literature, and sexuality in society classes. Sometimes words in class sounded like foods I love (example: one time someone said “male privilege” and it sounded like “maple village” in my head and suddenly I had pancakes on the brain) and that’s when I would get distracted. The problem was that a lot of the food I missed was from specific restaurants back home, and whereas driving five miles to Quang was something I could consider in high school, flying over 1,000 miles from Boston to Minneapolis just so I could get my hands on a grilled cheese and an oreo malt from Convention Grill was, sadly, not an option.
As the snow melted and my friends and I spent more time exploring Boston, we made our way off campus and into Somerville and found two modern-day miracles: Magnificent Muffin and Renee’s Cafe. Magnificent Muffin has these incredible muffins (duh) that are square-shaped because they put so much batter into each tin that the batter oozes beyond the borders of the tin and the muffin tops become square, gigantic and crispy on all four edges. Just as importantly, the everything bagel at Magnificent Muffin (with egg and cheese on it, what else?) is chewy and salty and a tiny bit sweet (you know what I’m talking about?) and I think about it a lot when my mind wanders in class. And Renee’s is the kind of place that is so wonderful, I almost feel like going there is cheating on Uptown Diner back at home (but not enough to deny myself one of their eggs benedict). Discovering Magnificent Muffin and Renee’s didn’t make me stop having crushes on food during class, it just made it possible for me to channel my feelings in more realistic directions.
Now, fast forward to Tufts sophomore year: I’m sitting in my history class about France and Africa and suddenly all I could think about were the breakfast potatoes at Renee’s. They’re cut into wedges, kind of crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and so important in my life that I felt a need to blog about them. Here’s the best part of this story, though: I went to Renee’s and ATE THE BREAKFAST POTATOES on Friday morning. The next afternoon, as I was walking to my dorm room in Carmichael, I was overcome with a need to eat a bagel and muffin from Magnificent Muffin. Well guess what? I DID THAT ON SUNDAY MORNING. What a weekend! College rocks! Dreams can become realities so quickly!
There are still times that I think about my favorite restaurants from Minnesota, and before I head home for Spring Break I’ll obviously make a list of the places I don’t want to miss. What’s been so great, though, is finding new places to love in Somerville. Finding restaurants I love in the neighborhood around campus, not just halfway across the country, has made me fall in love with Tufts even more because it feels more like home. Now, when I can’t stop thinking about my favorite restaurant near my school, it’s no longer somewhere within driving distance of St. Louis Park Senior High. Instead, two very special breakfast places right down Curtis Street come to mind. Frequently.