Dig, Boston

Dig.  Formerly known as Dig Inn, a chain of fast food restaurants with locations in Boston, New York, and Philly, that takes a healthy spin on things, works directly with farmers, sources locally, yadda yadda yadda.  (Side note; they now partner with JetBlue to provide dishes for the new London routes ...).

The concept is build-a-bowl, with a greens or grains base, protein, "market sides", and sauce, or pick from their curated bowls.  Some of the sides and bases are hot, others are chilled.  The menu has some staples, but also adds seasonal offerings every few months. 

Service is assembly line style, everything is pre-made and held in hot steam trays (or cold well), and your bowl is passed down the line with things added.  You can also opt to get any of the market sides as a la carte items.  Service is fast and quite efficient.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I ordered online in advance to skip the line, and it was ready promptly.

Jasper Hill Mac & Cheese.

"Jasper Hill three-cheese blend, Ithaca milk, whole-wheat pasta, crispy panko breadcrumbs."

The mac and cheese is their most popular menu item.  It gets rave reviews.  Mac and cheese lends itself well to that kind of heat and hold serving style, so, I was excited to try it.  It looked great too, creamy, good amount of crispy panko breadcrumb on top.

But ... eh. It was almost too cheesy, if that makes any sense.  Just, too strong in the cheese, and not nearly as creamy as it looked.  And the pasta was mushy (and eh, whole wheat?).

**+, not sure why people love this so much (then again, I'm partial to my totally low end Krispy Krunchy Chicken mac and cheese!).

Coconut Roasted Eggplant (Seasonal).  $3.27.

"Eggplant roasted with coconut oil, confit garlic, toasted coconut, parsley, mint, and lime."

I was going through a serious eggplant phase, so I was excited to see eggplant among the seasonal summer offerings.  And with confit garlic?  It sounded great.

Just a note - this dish is served cold, so, warning if you are expecting a hot item.

I ... didn't really like this either.  The eggplant was quite bitter.  I didn't taste coconut, not that I really wanted to, but the "coconut roasted" element certainly didn't come through.  The garlic wasn't nearly as strong as I hoped either.

It wasn't horrible, but, eh.

**+.

Kitchen Sink Cookie. $1.87.

"Spiced oat cookie with flaxseed, grated carrot, raisins, and chocolate chips."

I threw a cookie on to my order, on complete whim, as I was kinda going through a cookie phase.  And you know I need to have dessert.  But, um, a healthy flaxseed cookie?  I don't know what I was thinking (ok, I do know.  I wasn't going to have it that night really, but rather, uh, save it for breakfast.  Flaxseed, carrots, raisins, chocolate chips?  Sounds like breakfast to me!

I'm glad I got it.  Shockingly.  It was soft, with a slight chew.  It tasted healthy, but, in a way I wanted.  Sorta like carrot cake.  Lightly spiced. Sooo much texture from the flax and sunflower seeds, moist ... just, well, good.  And yes, it worked great for breakfast.

****.