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[Cheap Eats]

Leftover leftovers
Part two of dishes that come back around
BY RUTH TOBIAS

on the cheap
Vici Koreana Real Pizza Cheap Eats Leftovers

Ready for more? Last week’s piece on budget-stretching leftovers was so chock-full of mouthwatering information that it was hard to swallow it all in one sitting. But now that you’ve had time to digest, I’m serving up seconds of Boston’s most fridge-worthy dishes.

• Bar 10’s Mediterranean plate ($18). In the candlelit ochre and crimson hideaway that is Bar 10, this two-tier dish of antipasto can be seen at most of the tables, where lovers hand-feed one another while kissing discreetly. I must admit that my sweetie and I barely notice each other as we gorge ourselves on this cornucopia of cold cuts. But we reunite over the leftovers, when we invent sandwiches, omelets, and the like from our stash of marinated olives, asparagus spears, artichoke hearts, prosciutto, bresaola, duck confit, gentle Portuguese cheddar, tongue-tingling Gorgonzola ... shall I go on? We can also feast on a wild sort of chips-and-dish hash, born of brightly colored tortilla chips macerated in mellow red-pepper hummus and tart eggplant dip. Only the fast-fading tuna tartare is best left behind.

• Atara’s veal meat loaf over mashed potatoes and broccoli rabe with

portobello-Madeira glaze ($14.50). Is it too obvious to say that meat loaf was made for leftovers? Though Larry Kessel elevates the lowbrow classic by choosing delicate veal over beef and replacing ketchup with more subtly sweet Madeira, you can drag it right back down into the mud of meat loaves past by refrigerating your to-go container overnight, reheating the contents to lukewarm, and mashing it all up together with your fork. Enjoy this earthy-rich hodgepodge as it was meant to be eaten: late Sunday

afternoon with the TV on.

• Red Clay’s slow-roasted spice-rubbed pork with black beans, rice, salsa, and lime ($15.50). Frankly, this dish served hot leaves me somewhat cold. But as it cools off, its flavor heats up, becoming ever saltier, smokier, saucier. So get a friend to order it, then pull the old doggie-bag switcheroo on her — hey, it’s her lunch or yours in this doggie-eat-doggie world.

Bar 10 is located in the Westin Hotel Copley Place, 10 Huntington Avenue, in Boston, (617) 424-7446. Atara is located at 1418 Comm Ave, in Brighton, (617) 566-5670. Red Clay is located in the Atrium Mall, 300 Boylston Street, in Chestnut Hill, (617) 965-7000.

Issue Date: May 17-24, 2001