King of clubs: Jazz landmark Wally’s Cafe to be honored as Hub historical site
By Bob Young | Thursday, January 29, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Music News
Elynor Walcott doesn’t remember the first time she visited her father’s club, Wally’s Paradise, on Massachusetts Avenue in the South End. But she heard about it - and there’s a chance that Billie Holiday or Roxbury native Roy Haynes or Charlie Parker may have been onstage at the time.
“My father and mother told me they brought me there in a basket when I was a baby,” said Walcott, who runs the music landmark, now called Wally’s Cafe Jazz Club, with her three sons, Paul, Frank and Lloyd.
Friday, the Bostonian Society will dedicate a marker honoring Wally’s, like Faneuil Hall and Old South Meeting House, as one of the city’s historical sites. Barbados native Joseph “Wally” Walcott started the bar in 1947 - the first African-American to own a club in New England. In 1979, Wally’s moved from its original location at 428 Massachusetts Ave. to 427 Mass. Ave.
“As a kid growing up, I didn’t understand the depth of talent that would come to Wally’s,” Walcott said. “It was located on a corner that was a music mecca during the ’40s and ’50s, with the High Hat, Savoy Ballroom and Wig Wam all nearby.”
Walcott, who tends bar every Sunday afternoon for the club’s jazz jam, recalled that her father made the most of his connections to bring high-caliber performers to Wally’s.
“Many of the musicians who worked there stayed at our house, the house we’re still in today in Rutland Square,” she said. ‘’A friend of my father’s had a club in Montreal and he had another friend at Small’s Paradise in New York, and they would network to share the entertainers. I remember picking up the phone once when I was a little girl and it was Erroll Garner asking for my father.
“My father was a pioneer, but as a little girl I didn’t know that. But I did know that he was a very hard worker. He was always at Wally’s, working so hard. Our mission - myself and my three sons - is to be gatekeepers for my father. He created Wally’s, along with my mom.”
The club still books jazz, 365 days each year. The long, narrow room is a magnet for young players, especially students from Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory. Among the legions of contemporary players who have cut their teeth there are Jeremy Pelt, Donald Harrison, Aaron Goldberg, Jason Palmer and Reuben Rogers.
“I remember going to Wally’s when I was very small, and it was like going to a whole new world,” said Elynor Walcott’s son Frank Poindexter. “My grandfather lived through the Depression, so we learned the American ethic about work and family from him. Wally’s isn’t about aesthetics, it’s about the stuff that lasts for years.”
For Walcott and her sons, that means keeping the jazz flame alive.
“Our mission is to continue to provide a forum for these young players,” said Poindexter, “as well as a place for the entire community to come and feel comfortable, whether you’re white or black, or from South America, Asia or Europe. Jazz is the great American art form, and we’ve got to take care of the garden.”
The Bostonian Society’s historical marker dedication ceremony takes place Friday at 4 p.m. at Wally’s Cafe Jazz Club, 427 Massachusetts Ave. A reception open to the public will follow.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/music/general/view.bg?articleid=1148527
Related Articles:
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Red Sox Ticket Sales behind 2008 pace
Red Sox ticket, sponsorship sales trail 2008 pace
January 29, 2009
Boston Red Sox ticket and sponsorship sales are lagging behind last year’s pace because of the recession, even after the club came within one win of reaching the World Series.
The Red Sox have sold 2.2 million tickets for this season, a “couple of percentage points behind” sales at the same time in 2008, said Sam Kennedy, Boston’s chief sales and marketing officer. (At right, a Globe file photo of Sox star Dustin Pedroia.)
The club won’t be adding the five to 10 new corporate sponsors this year as it has in the past, likely signing up “a few,” he said. He declined to disclose sponsorship revenue.
“We are not immune to what is going on out there,” Kennedy said in a telephone interview. “We are feeling it like everybody else.”
Boston, which has won two World Series titles in the past five years, froze ticket prices for this season for the first time in 14 years because of the economic slowdown. The Major League Baseball club drew more than 3 million fans for the first time in franchise history in 2008, setting an attendance record for the ninth straight season.
In September, the Red Sox broke the record for consecutive sellouts at home, filling Fenway Park for the 456th straight time. The streak, which began in May 2003, stands at 469.
Kennedy said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the sellouts will continue.
“We are not naive to think that it’s a slam dunk,” he said.
The Red Sox play at the smallest ballpark in the major leagues, with a maximum capacity of 37,400. The team also has the most expensive tickets, with an average price of $48.80, according to Team Marketing Report.
Boston began an advertising campaign this month featuring new pitcher John Smoltz to help drum up enthusiasm for the 2009 season and remind fans that tickets are still available.
The Red Sox last year lost the decisive seventh game of the American League Championship Series to the Tampa Bay Rays. Boston won the World Series championship in 2004 and 2007.
With spending on sports sponsorship forecast to grow at the slowest pace in seven years, according to IEG Sponsorship Report, the Red Sox are working more on retaining corporate partners than finding new ones.
“It’s slower than it has been since I have been here,” said Kennedy, who joined the Red Sox in 2002. “We are spending a lot of time renewing existing business as opposed to generating new business. From a sales perspective, that is not a good thing.” (Bloomberg News. File photo of Pedroia: Jim Davis/Globe staff.)
January 29, 2009
Boston Red Sox ticket and sponsorship sales are lagging behind last year’s pace because of the recession, even after the club came within one win of reaching the World Series.
The Red Sox have sold 2.2 million tickets for this season, a “couple of percentage points behind” sales at the same time in 2008, said Sam Kennedy, Boston’s chief sales and marketing officer. (At right, a Globe file photo of Sox star Dustin Pedroia.)
The club won’t be adding the five to 10 new corporate sponsors this year as it has in the past, likely signing up “a few,” he said. He declined to disclose sponsorship revenue.
“We are not immune to what is going on out there,” Kennedy said in a telephone interview. “We are feeling it like everybody else.”
Boston, which has won two World Series titles in the past five years, froze ticket prices for this season for the first time in 14 years because of the economic slowdown. The Major League Baseball club drew more than 3 million fans for the first time in franchise history in 2008, setting an attendance record for the ninth straight season.
In September, the Red Sox broke the record for consecutive sellouts at home, filling Fenway Park for the 456th straight time. The streak, which began in May 2003, stands at 469.
Kennedy said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the sellouts will continue.
“We are not naive to think that it’s a slam dunk,” he said.
The Red Sox play at the smallest ballpark in the major leagues, with a maximum capacity of 37,400. The team also has the most expensive tickets, with an average price of $48.80, according to Team Marketing Report.
Boston began an advertising campaign this month featuring new pitcher John Smoltz to help drum up enthusiasm for the 2009 season and remind fans that tickets are still available.
The Red Sox last year lost the decisive seventh game of the American League Championship Series to the Tampa Bay Rays. Boston won the World Series championship in 2004 and 2007.
With spending on sports sponsorship forecast to grow at the slowest pace in seven years, according to IEG Sponsorship Report, the Red Sox are working more on retaining corporate partners than finding new ones.
“It’s slower than it has been since I have been here,” said Kennedy, who joined the Red Sox in 2002. “We are spending a lot of time renewing existing business as opposed to generating new business. From a sales perspective, that is not a good thing.” (Bloomberg News. File photo of Pedroia: Jim Davis/Globe staff.)
Out of Town News in Harvard Square to stay open
Good news! Corporation rescues Out of Town stand
By Jenna Nierstedt, Globe Correspondent | January 29, 2009
Don't stop the presses yet - Out of Town News, the Harvard Square newsstand and historic landmark, is not closing.
Retail store operator Muckey's Corp., which runs newsstands in the Boston area under Patriot News Inc., signed a five-year lease Monday to take over Out of Town News. It will remain a newsstand, per the signed contract, but also because Muckey's wanted to maintain the tradition.
"I am looking forward to being a part of the community in Cambridge," said Mike Patel, owner of Muckey's Corp., which is headquartered in Pembroke. "I'm very proud to have the business at such a historical place.
"We're going to keep the same kind of vision, and we will try to have more items of whatever the people want. It's still going to be a newsstand. We're not changing anything."
Muckey's will take over on Sunday, Patel said.
The decades-old newsstand, which sells domestic and international publications, was rumored to be closing this month, after its former operator, Hudson News of East Rutherford, N.J., did not renew its lease with the City of Cambridge, citing diminished demand for print news. The lease was to expire Saturday.
When word surfaced in November that Out of Town might close, residents and shoppers expressed shock, while the city scrambled to find another news dealer.
Cambridge, which owns the 450-square-foot property, opened the space up to bidders.
Muckey's Corp. had the highest bid, at $140 per square foot, said Ini Tomeu, Cambridge public information officer. Unofficial Tours, a Harvard student organization that gives tours of the university, came in second with a bid of $136 per square foot. Current manager, Kallol Barua, bid $106.43.
"I think it's fabulous they're keeping the tradition, something that I started," said Sheldon Cohen, who founded Out of Town News in 1955. "I wish them the very best and hope they continue as a newsstand. The community will patronize it."
Cohen sold the business to Hudson News in 1994.
Globe correspondent Victoria Cheng contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
By Jenna Nierstedt, Globe Correspondent | January 29, 2009
Don't stop the presses yet - Out of Town News, the Harvard Square newsstand and historic landmark, is not closing.
Retail store operator Muckey's Corp., which runs newsstands in the Boston area under Patriot News Inc., signed a five-year lease Monday to take over Out of Town News. It will remain a newsstand, per the signed contract, but also because Muckey's wanted to maintain the tradition.
"I am looking forward to being a part of the community in Cambridge," said Mike Patel, owner of Muckey's Corp., which is headquartered in Pembroke. "I'm very proud to have the business at such a historical place.
"We're going to keep the same kind of vision, and we will try to have more items of whatever the people want. It's still going to be a newsstand. We're not changing anything."
Muckey's will take over on Sunday, Patel said.
The decades-old newsstand, which sells domestic and international publications, was rumored to be closing this month, after its former operator, Hudson News of East Rutherford, N.J., did not renew its lease with the City of Cambridge, citing diminished demand for print news. The lease was to expire Saturday.
When word surfaced in November that Out of Town might close, residents and shoppers expressed shock, while the city scrambled to find another news dealer.
Cambridge, which owns the 450-square-foot property, opened the space up to bidders.
Muckey's Corp. had the highest bid, at $140 per square foot, said Ini Tomeu, Cambridge public information officer. Unofficial Tours, a Harvard student organization that gives tours of the university, came in second with a bid of $136 per square foot. Current manager, Kallol Barua, bid $106.43.
"I think it's fabulous they're keeping the tradition, something that I started," said Sheldon Cohen, who founded Out of Town News in 1955. "I wish them the very best and hope they continue as a newsstand. The community will patronize it."
Cohen sold the business to Hudson News in 1994.
Globe correspondent Victoria Cheng contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Dirty Dancing Run at Opera House Extended
The audience has been ready for years
Tickets fly for 'Dirty Dancing' on stage
By Meredith Goldstein, Globe Staff | January 29, 2009
The Recreation Department in Wilmington organizes bus trips to Boston for most big downtown theater productions. Usually one bus is enough.
But when the town advertised that the next voyage would bring residents to the Opera House to see "Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story on Stage", it became clear that a second bus would be necessary.
"This one has had a huge demand," says recreation director Deborah Cipriani. "I think it has a big draw because of the movie."
Despite a recession that has left many with little disposable income for entertainment, Broadway Across America-Boston announced that the show, set to run Feb. 7 to March 15, has had such strong advance ticket sales that it is being extended through April 12 - a run of more than nine weeks. In comparison, "Frost/Nixon," which closes Feb. 8, will have been at the Colonial Theatre two weeks, typical for a touring show. The last time the producers had such a hit was when "Wicked" pulled off a nine-week run in 2007.
And those productions, like most touring shows, came with the built-in buzz of a Broadway hit. "Dirty Dancing" is making its East Coast premiere, with the aim of going to Broadway. It's a stage adaptation of the popular 1987 film about a young 1960s tourist named Baby (Jennifer Grey) who falls for Johnny, a Catskill Mountains dance instructor (Patrick Swayze). Producers say ticket sales are tapping into a large pool of fans of the movie, including many who don't often go to the theater. Fans who want to see Baby learn the mambo one more time. Fans who want to see Johnny lift her triumphantly, as the song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" inspires everyone at the fictional Kellerman's resort to get up and cut a rug.
"We're hoping to get up in the end and do some dancing in the aisles," says Andrea Labonville, 51, of Gorham, N.H., who already has her ticket.
Drew Murphy, president of Broadway Across America-Boston, says about 90 percent of seats at weekend performances in February and March have already sold. "This is doing by far much, much better than other shows," Murphy says. "It's bringing out a lot of your nontraditional theater audience, the people who normally wouldn't buy a theater ticket."
Producers had such people in mind, in fact, when they set up "Dirty Dancing" ticket packages. Ordinarily, group sales call for a minimum of 20 seats. But for this show, producers dropped the number to 10 so friends - presumably women - would be inspired to see the show in packs. Tickets cost $30-$132.50.
Penned by "Dirty Dancing" writer Eleanor Bergstein, the stage show debuted in 2004 in Sydney before moving on to such other cities as London and Toronto. Reviews ran the gamut, but sales were incredibly strong. It had its US premiere in Chicago, where it ran for 16 weeks. According to Eileen LaCario, vice president of Broadway in Chicago, many ticketholders returned for a second performance. "It's a party show," LaCario says.
In Wilmington, the two charter buses will carry 152 people at $85 apiece, and there's a growing waiting list for seats. Cipriani will be on one bus with her 26-year-old daughter Meredith, whose favorite film of all time is - you guessed it - "Dirty Dancing." The trip is her 27th birthday present.
She's one of many "Dirty Dancing" enthusiasts who were too young to see the movie in theaters, but fell in love with it on TV, video, and DVD. Like others, she connected to the love story, the coming-of-age angst, and of course the steamy dance scenes with Swayze.
"Too many," Meredith Cipriani said, when asked how many times she's seen the movie. "A couple thousand."
Deborah Cipriani says she and Meredith, who last visited a theater together for "Wicked," have high hopes for the show because of the dancing. Sure, they could just keep watching the movie at home, but there's something about seeing the dancing live that appeals to them.
" 'Dancing With the Stars,' anything with dancing, you just want to see more of it," Deborah Cipriani said. "Hopefully it will compare [to the movie], and that's why we're going, too - to see how they portray it."
Gayle Baker's Valley Travel in Conway, N.H. also has two full buses booked for the show. The company attributed the trip's popularity to the movie's following and possibly to Swayze's battle with pancreatic cancer, which has put him in the headlines.
"Usually, it's one coach per [show]," said Patti Frasier, marketing tour director for Valley Travel. "It's really quite awesome, especially now in the downturn economy."
Frasier says some of the 100 people on the buses will be traveling eight hours roundtrip, coming from such New Hampshire towns as Berlin and Gorham. The package costs $199, which gets passengers the ride, dinner, and prime seats.
Labonville will be on board, along with co-workers at the Coos County Family Health Services, including nurses, physicians' assistants, and the facility's chief operating officer.
"I've seen the movie probably 25 times," Labonville said. "I think we all had a little crush on Patrick Swayze at one time."
Making a shorter trip will be Lynne Twomey, 47, of Marshfield, who booked tickets with members of her country club - mostly women in their 40s to late 50s.
"I think it was within two days I had everybody all set to go," Twomey said, adding, "I have the VHS. That goes way back."
Meredith Goldstein can be reached at mgoldstein@globe.com
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Tickets fly for 'Dirty Dancing' on stage
By Meredith Goldstein, Globe Staff | January 29, 2009
The Recreation Department in Wilmington organizes bus trips to Boston for most big downtown theater productions. Usually one bus is enough.
But when the town advertised that the next voyage would bring residents to the Opera House to see "Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story on Stage", it became clear that a second bus would be necessary.
"This one has had a huge demand," says recreation director Deborah Cipriani. "I think it has a big draw because of the movie."
Despite a recession that has left many with little disposable income for entertainment, Broadway Across America-Boston announced that the show, set to run Feb. 7 to March 15, has had such strong advance ticket sales that it is being extended through April 12 - a run of more than nine weeks. In comparison, "Frost/Nixon," which closes Feb. 8, will have been at the Colonial Theatre two weeks, typical for a touring show. The last time the producers had such a hit was when "Wicked" pulled off a nine-week run in 2007.
And those productions, like most touring shows, came with the built-in buzz of a Broadway hit. "Dirty Dancing" is making its East Coast premiere, with the aim of going to Broadway. It's a stage adaptation of the popular 1987 film about a young 1960s tourist named Baby (Jennifer Grey) who falls for Johnny, a Catskill Mountains dance instructor (Patrick Swayze). Producers say ticket sales are tapping into a large pool of fans of the movie, including many who don't often go to the theater. Fans who want to see Baby learn the mambo one more time. Fans who want to see Johnny lift her triumphantly, as the song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" inspires everyone at the fictional Kellerman's resort to get up and cut a rug.
"We're hoping to get up in the end and do some dancing in the aisles," says Andrea Labonville, 51, of Gorham, N.H., who already has her ticket.
Drew Murphy, president of Broadway Across America-Boston, says about 90 percent of seats at weekend performances in February and March have already sold. "This is doing by far much, much better than other shows," Murphy says. "It's bringing out a lot of your nontraditional theater audience, the people who normally wouldn't buy a theater ticket."
Producers had such people in mind, in fact, when they set up "Dirty Dancing" ticket packages. Ordinarily, group sales call for a minimum of 20 seats. But for this show, producers dropped the number to 10 so friends - presumably women - would be inspired to see the show in packs. Tickets cost $30-$132.50.
Penned by "Dirty Dancing" writer Eleanor Bergstein, the stage show debuted in 2004 in Sydney before moving on to such other cities as London and Toronto. Reviews ran the gamut, but sales were incredibly strong. It had its US premiere in Chicago, where it ran for 16 weeks. According to Eileen LaCario, vice president of Broadway in Chicago, many ticketholders returned for a second performance. "It's a party show," LaCario says.
In Wilmington, the two charter buses will carry 152 people at $85 apiece, and there's a growing waiting list for seats. Cipriani will be on one bus with her 26-year-old daughter Meredith, whose favorite film of all time is - you guessed it - "Dirty Dancing." The trip is her 27th birthday present.
She's one of many "Dirty Dancing" enthusiasts who were too young to see the movie in theaters, but fell in love with it on TV, video, and DVD. Like others, she connected to the love story, the coming-of-age angst, and of course the steamy dance scenes with Swayze.
"Too many," Meredith Cipriani said, when asked how many times she's seen the movie. "A couple thousand."
Deborah Cipriani says she and Meredith, who last visited a theater together for "Wicked," have high hopes for the show because of the dancing. Sure, they could just keep watching the movie at home, but there's something about seeing the dancing live that appeals to them.
" 'Dancing With the Stars,' anything with dancing, you just want to see more of it," Deborah Cipriani said. "Hopefully it will compare [to the movie], and that's why we're going, too - to see how they portray it."
Gayle Baker's Valley Travel in Conway, N.H. also has two full buses booked for the show. The company attributed the trip's popularity to the movie's following and possibly to Swayze's battle with pancreatic cancer, which has put him in the headlines.
"Usually, it's one coach per [show]," said Patti Frasier, marketing tour director for Valley Travel. "It's really quite awesome, especially now in the downturn economy."
Frasier says some of the 100 people on the buses will be traveling eight hours roundtrip, coming from such New Hampshire towns as Berlin and Gorham. The package costs $199, which gets passengers the ride, dinner, and prime seats.
Labonville will be on board, along with co-workers at the Coos County Family Health Services, including nurses, physicians' assistants, and the facility's chief operating officer.
"I've seen the movie probably 25 times," Labonville said. "I think we all had a little crush on Patrick Swayze at one time."
Making a shorter trip will be Lynne Twomey, 47, of Marshfield, who booked tickets with members of her country club - mostly women in their 40s to late 50s.
"I think it was within two days I had everybody all set to go," Twomey said, adding, "I have the VHS. That goes way back."
Meredith Goldstein can be reached at mgoldstein@globe.com
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Nobu Lawsuit settled
Upscale eatery Nobu to pay workers $2.5M in tips suit
By Associated Press | Saturday, January 31, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
NEW YORK - An international upscale restaurant group partly owned by actor Robert De Niro has agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit over the way it handled worker tips.
The New York Post reports that the plaintiffs in a class action suit against the Nobu eateries filed a motion Friday to request final approval of the settlement.
The suit accuses managers and sushi chefs of illegally taking a share of tips given to the wait staff. Waiters also complained about being shortchanged on overtime.
Nobu has denied any wrongdoing.
Court papers say some 200 employees have signed off on the settlement, which would give them about $3,300 each.
Nobu has 11 restaurants in the U.S. and eight abroad.
___
Information from:
New York Post, http://www.nypost.com
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1149122
By Associated Press | Saturday, January 31, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
NEW YORK - An international upscale restaurant group partly owned by actor Robert De Niro has agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit over the way it handled worker tips.
The New York Post reports that the plaintiffs in a class action suit against the Nobu eateries filed a motion Friday to request final approval of the settlement.
The suit accuses managers and sushi chefs of illegally taking a share of tips given to the wait staff. Waiters also complained about being shortchanged on overtime.
Nobu has denied any wrongdoing.
Court papers say some 200 employees have signed off on the settlement, which would give them about $3,300 each.
Nobu has 11 restaurants in the U.S. and eight abroad.
___
Information from:
New York Post, http://www.nypost.com
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1149122
Newbury Street Vacancies on the rise
Fashioning an exit
With rents up, sales down, many shops quitting Newbury St.
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | January 31, 2009
They waited years to score coveted digs on Newbury Street. Now they are disappearing literally overnight.
Faced with a decline in sales and a rise in already exorbitant rents, boutiques, galleries, and even chain stores are shuttering shops up and down what is considered Boston's most desired retail address. The exodus of exclusive merchants from the shopping district has proceeded in a steady drumbeat of sudden departures.
Employees at clothier Tess & Carlos, at 141A Newbury St., carried out boxes late one night earlier this month and never returned. A few days ago, shoe seller Rockport at 83 Newbury St. closed its doors.
Kidder Smith Gallery, at 131 Newbury St., posted a letter dated Jan. 23 on its now empty store: "Unfortunately, we were unable to come to terms with the new owners on a mutually acceptable agreement on our gallery, so we are officially in transition."
Comptoir de Famille, a vintage French home furnishings boutique at 127 Newbury St., will close today, blaming it on a new landlord who raised the monthly rent from $7,000 to $12,000. Next door neighbor Maha Barsom, a blouse designer, is likely to leave next month for the same reason. "People just disappear," said Ella Akinci, a manager at Comptoir de Famille. "It's scary."
The rash of recent closures follows one of the worst holiday seasons in decades as consumer spending slowed significantly. Retailers across the country are slashing expenses and shuttering stores. But to retail analysts and local merchants it is shocking to see such a rapid pace of departures from a prime location such as Newbury Street. In just one four-block stretch, there are now more than 18 vacancies.
Whittard of Chelsea, a coffee and tea shop at 170 Newbury St., has vanished. The Gap left a gaping hole last summer when it closed its massive store at the corner of Newbury and Exeter streets. Nearby, signs advertising available retail space are plastered in the windows where clothing boutique Stil left late last year for The Shops at Prudential Center. In recent weeks, Sugar Heaven abruptly abandoned its sweet shop at 218 Newbury St., and clothier Whim withdrew from its 253 Newbury St. space. Upscale pizzeria Croma at 269 Newbury St. is up for sale. The doors are locked, and the phone disconnected at eco-friendly gift store Fiddlehead, located at 292 Newbury St.
Some merchants are just taking time off.
Louis Boston shut down this past week with a letter on its front door proclaiming, "It's a good time to take a break." The upscale clothing emporium is planning to vacate its stately building on the corner of Newbury and Berkeley streets when its lease expires next year.
It's a reversal of fortune for this Back Bay district, which has long been a retailer's dream: an eight-block stretch from Arlington Street to Massachusetts Avenue that attracts office workers from nearby towers, college students from local campuses, and tourists charmed by row after row of boutiques in brownstones.
In recent years, shops that line Newbury Street have witnessed dramatic increases in rent as chain stores with deep pockets, such as H&M and Victoria's Secret, moved into the neighborhood. It's not unusual for landlords to charge up to $200 per square foot in many of the cramped shops.
And the once hot real estate market has also exacerbated the problem, as many buildings were sold to new owners, some of whom now depend on sky-high rents to pay off enormous mortgages. The result: tenants, struggling with sluggish sales, can no longer afford the rents.
"People are having a hard time. There's no doubt about that," said Michele Messino, of Sterling Real Estate in Boston and treasurer of the , a nonprofit organization representing businesses on the street.
Some landlords are starting to reduce rents but more with tenants seeking office space rather than retail. "Before, there was no possibility of negotiating," said Messino. "If you didn't want to pay it, someone else would."
Kimco Realty, the landlord for Comptoir de Famille at 127-129 Newbury St., declined to comment on rent increases.
Newbury Street is still attracting new merchants, including Nespresso, an espresso machine seller that opened a few weeks ago, and clothing store Oak, which is moving next month from Gloucester Street. Haute designers, from Burberry to Marc Jacobs to Valentino, still have a presence.
But the flurry of January closings will further drive up the downtown vacancy rate. Already, a preliminary survey, which includes the Back Bay, Financial District, Downtown Crossing, and other neighborhoods, showed the retail vacancy rate had jumped to 8.1 percent in December 2008 compared with 6.1 percent in the previous year, according to Robert F. Sheehan, vice president of research at KeyPoint Partners LLC in Burlington.
"It's really surprising to see all these shops closed," said Aimee Mone, 41, as she walked down Newbury Street with her mother on Thursday. "The street was just saturated with stores. Now, it's hard to even find a place open for lunch."
The growing number of empty storefronts is worrying Michael Selletto, who has run the Fairy Shop, known for its gnome statues, fairies, and unicorns, on Newbury Street for 15 years. Last summer, Selletto's landlord asked the Fairy Shop to move down the street to fill a spot vacated by a maternity store. With his lease up in June, Selletto is having second thoughts about how much longer he can make it here.
"It's been getting slower and slower. There's going to be a lot more fallout, a lot of people going out of business, more than ever before," Selletto said. "There's very little room for error on this street these days if you want to survive."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Compan
With rents up, sales down, many shops quitting Newbury St.
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | January 31, 2009
They waited years to score coveted digs on Newbury Street. Now they are disappearing literally overnight.
Faced with a decline in sales and a rise in already exorbitant rents, boutiques, galleries, and even chain stores are shuttering shops up and down what is considered Boston's most desired retail address. The exodus of exclusive merchants from the shopping district has proceeded in a steady drumbeat of sudden departures.
Employees at clothier Tess & Carlos, at 141A Newbury St., carried out boxes late one night earlier this month and never returned. A few days ago, shoe seller Rockport at 83 Newbury St. closed its doors.
Kidder Smith Gallery, at 131 Newbury St., posted a letter dated Jan. 23 on its now empty store: "Unfortunately, we were unable to come to terms with the new owners on a mutually acceptable agreement on our gallery, so we are officially in transition."
Comptoir de Famille, a vintage French home furnishings boutique at 127 Newbury St., will close today, blaming it on a new landlord who raised the monthly rent from $7,000 to $12,000. Next door neighbor Maha Barsom, a blouse designer, is likely to leave next month for the same reason. "People just disappear," said Ella Akinci, a manager at Comptoir de Famille. "It's scary."
The rash of recent closures follows one of the worst holiday seasons in decades as consumer spending slowed significantly. Retailers across the country are slashing expenses and shuttering stores. But to retail analysts and local merchants it is shocking to see such a rapid pace of departures from a prime location such as Newbury Street. In just one four-block stretch, there are now more than 18 vacancies.
Whittard of Chelsea, a coffee and tea shop at 170 Newbury St., has vanished. The Gap left a gaping hole last summer when it closed its massive store at the corner of Newbury and Exeter streets. Nearby, signs advertising available retail space are plastered in the windows where clothing boutique Stil left late last year for The Shops at Prudential Center. In recent weeks, Sugar Heaven abruptly abandoned its sweet shop at 218 Newbury St., and clothier Whim withdrew from its 253 Newbury St. space. Upscale pizzeria Croma at 269 Newbury St. is up for sale. The doors are locked, and the phone disconnected at eco-friendly gift store Fiddlehead, located at 292 Newbury St.
Some merchants are just taking time off.
Louis Boston shut down this past week with a letter on its front door proclaiming, "It's a good time to take a break." The upscale clothing emporium is planning to vacate its stately building on the corner of Newbury and Berkeley streets when its lease expires next year.
It's a reversal of fortune for this Back Bay district, which has long been a retailer's dream: an eight-block stretch from Arlington Street to Massachusetts Avenue that attracts office workers from nearby towers, college students from local campuses, and tourists charmed by row after row of boutiques in brownstones.
In recent years, shops that line Newbury Street have witnessed dramatic increases in rent as chain stores with deep pockets, such as H&M and Victoria's Secret, moved into the neighborhood. It's not unusual for landlords to charge up to $200 per square foot in many of the cramped shops.
And the once hot real estate market has also exacerbated the problem, as many buildings were sold to new owners, some of whom now depend on sky-high rents to pay off enormous mortgages. The result: tenants, struggling with sluggish sales, can no longer afford the rents.
"People are having a hard time. There's no doubt about that," said Michele Messino, of Sterling Real Estate in Boston and treasurer of the , a nonprofit organization representing businesses on the street.
Some landlords are starting to reduce rents but more with tenants seeking office space rather than retail. "Before, there was no possibility of negotiating," said Messino. "If you didn't want to pay it, someone else would."
Kimco Realty, the landlord for Comptoir de Famille at 127-129 Newbury St., declined to comment on rent increases.
Newbury Street is still attracting new merchants, including Nespresso, an espresso machine seller that opened a few weeks ago, and clothing store Oak, which is moving next month from Gloucester Street. Haute designers, from Burberry to Marc Jacobs to Valentino, still have a presence.
But the flurry of January closings will further drive up the downtown vacancy rate. Already, a preliminary survey, which includes the Back Bay, Financial District, Downtown Crossing, and other neighborhoods, showed the retail vacancy rate had jumped to 8.1 percent in December 2008 compared with 6.1 percent in the previous year, according to Robert F. Sheehan, vice president of research at KeyPoint Partners LLC in Burlington.
"It's really surprising to see all these shops closed," said Aimee Mone, 41, as she walked down Newbury Street with her mother on Thursday. "The street was just saturated with stores. Now, it's hard to even find a place open for lunch."
The growing number of empty storefronts is worrying Michael Selletto, who has run the Fairy Shop, known for its gnome statues, fairies, and unicorns, on Newbury Street for 15 years. Last summer, Selletto's landlord asked the Fairy Shop to move down the street to fill a spot vacated by a maternity store. With his lease up in June, Selletto is having second thoughts about how much longer he can make it here.
"It's been getting slower and slower. There's going to be a lot more fallout, a lot of people going out of business, more than ever before," Selletto said. "There's very little room for error on this street these days if you want to survive."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Compan
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Sal's Pizza may open in Downtown Boston
Neighbors: Fix-ings are in for Sal’s Pizza in Suffolk space
Pizza fight on Common
By Thomas Grillo | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Photo by Matt Stone
A food fight is brewing in Downtown Crossing and some neighbors say Mayor Thomas M. Menino is throwing his weight around so a favored pizza joint will win.
Suffolk University wants to rent space at 151 Tremont St. to Sal’s Pizza, but some neighboring condominium owners oppose the plan.
“We’ve fought to make this a neighborhood,” said George Coorssen, a Tremont on the Common resident since 1973. “A fast-food takeout joint on our block will attract undesirables and turn it into Kenmore Square.”
At issue is a vacant 600-square-foot shop on the ground level of a Suffolk dorm.
Condo owners next door, who would prefer a more upscale shop, say the Menino administration wants Sal Lupoli in the space, but Menino denied any deals have been made.
“I have not promised Sal the Suffolk location,” he said. “Sal wants a Boston location and that’s one of the places we thought would be a good spot for his restaurant.”
Some Tremont on the Common owners insist the fix is in because Harry Collings, the former executive secretary of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, set up a meeting between the pizza maker and residents in an effort to convince them to accept the eatery.
“No one knows why, but it’s a done deal to get Sal’s into that location,” said Sam Ditzion, a Tremont on the Common resident.
Since 2007, Lupoli’s family has contributed $4,000 to the Menino campaign, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Collings did not return a call seeking comment.
Susan Elsbree, a BRA spokeswoman, said Collings routinely works with potential tenants as part of the city’s retail initiative to fill a variety of empty spaces in Downtown Crossing.
John Nucci, Suffolk’s vice president of external affairs, said no deal has been signed and the school has not been pressured by City Hall.
“The BRA does everything it can to encourage business development where there are vacant storefronts and that’s completely above board,” he said. “We do know that the worst thing for a neighborhood is a vacant storefront.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1148271
Pizza fight on Common
By Thomas Grillo | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Photo by Matt Stone
A food fight is brewing in Downtown Crossing and some neighbors say Mayor Thomas M. Menino is throwing his weight around so a favored pizza joint will win.
Suffolk University wants to rent space at 151 Tremont St. to Sal’s Pizza, but some neighboring condominium owners oppose the plan.
“We’ve fought to make this a neighborhood,” said George Coorssen, a Tremont on the Common resident since 1973. “A fast-food takeout joint on our block will attract undesirables and turn it into Kenmore Square.”
At issue is a vacant 600-square-foot shop on the ground level of a Suffolk dorm.
Condo owners next door, who would prefer a more upscale shop, say the Menino administration wants Sal Lupoli in the space, but Menino denied any deals have been made.
“I have not promised Sal the Suffolk location,” he said. “Sal wants a Boston location and that’s one of the places we thought would be a good spot for his restaurant.”
Some Tremont on the Common owners insist the fix is in because Harry Collings, the former executive secretary of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, set up a meeting between the pizza maker and residents in an effort to convince them to accept the eatery.
“No one knows why, but it’s a done deal to get Sal’s into that location,” said Sam Ditzion, a Tremont on the Common resident.
Since 2007, Lupoli’s family has contributed $4,000 to the Menino campaign, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Collings did not return a call seeking comment.
Susan Elsbree, a BRA spokeswoman, said Collings routinely works with potential tenants as part of the city’s retail initiative to fill a variety of empty spaces in Downtown Crossing.
John Nucci, Suffolk’s vice president of external affairs, said no deal has been signed and the school has not been pressured by City Hall.
“The BRA does everything it can to encourage business development where there are vacant storefronts and that’s completely above board,” he said. “We do know that the worst thing for a neighborhood is a vacant storefront.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1148271
Ghazal Fine Indian Cuisine review
CHEAP EATS
A healthy dose of Indian
By Denise Taylor, Globe Correspondent | January 28, 2009
A funny thing happened on our way back from Ghazal Fine Indian Cuisine's 15-foot-long buffet. No one groaned about eating too much. No one felt as heavy as lard. Not even the dieter among us felt a tinge of regret. But self-control hadn't spared us. It was the health-minded cook.
Whether a curry, a korma, or a vindaloo, dishes at this month-old Jamaica Plain eatery seem lighter than the usual Indian fare. So while the mainly North Indian menu may be typical, the cook's light-handed use of cream, oil, and ghee, a kind of clarified butter, is not.
Saag paneer ($11.95), typically a fat-heavy spinach curry, dares to favor spinach over cream. Goat and lamb curries ($17.50 or $12.50) arrive in subtly spicy gravies thick with tomato and tender chunks of meat. Our chicken tikka masala's ($12.95) tomato cream sauce is rich, as it should be, but modestly so. Shahi bhindi ($11.50) arrives with gently spiced al dente okra shimmering with (rather than sopping with) ghee.
Forkful for forkful, our dishes are as graceful and light as the elegant cafe décor. Dark paneled wainscoting gives way to caramel walls warmed by a funky mix of chandeliers and lamps. The trifecta of good food, a soothing space, and deft service leaves us simply feeling good. Of course the full bar, Indian beers, and extensive wine list carried over from the previous occupant, Café D, helps as well.
Ghazal also earns good marks for unusually tender and moist tandoor meats ($11.95-$18.95) and crisp, savory South Indian stuffed dosa pancakes ($7.25-8.95). Proper frying makes for tasty, greaseless appetizers, such as pakora, which are chickpea fritters ($3.50) and stuffed samosa turnovers ($2.95). In most dishes, spices are somewhat subdued, leaving us occasionally missing the kick of bold flavors.
Cheese pakoras ($4.95) are the standout starter. These quivering, light, fried rectangles of freshly made paneer (a farmer's cheese) stuffed with a mash of garlic, ginger, and potato dissolve on the tongue like edible clouds. But dahi bhalla ($3.95), lentil flour dumplings, are too dry.
The well-stocked buffet ($7.95 weekdays, $9.95 weekends) will likely attract most lunchtime diners, but Ghazal also offers a host of well-made soups ($3-$4) such as the house chicken soup, which plunks pink cubes of tandoor chicken into a reviving broth afloat with green onion and cilantro. A bowl makes a square meal when paired with samosas or a Punjabi-style sandwich of eggs or meat tucked into freshly baked naan ($5-8).
Desserts, for now, are the weakest link. But then again, not craving a sweet finale is just one more way to keep it light.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
A healthy dose of Indian
By Denise Taylor, Globe Correspondent | January 28, 2009
A funny thing happened on our way back from Ghazal Fine Indian Cuisine's 15-foot-long buffet. No one groaned about eating too much. No one felt as heavy as lard. Not even the dieter among us felt a tinge of regret. But self-control hadn't spared us. It was the health-minded cook.
Whether a curry, a korma, or a vindaloo, dishes at this month-old Jamaica Plain eatery seem lighter than the usual Indian fare. So while the mainly North Indian menu may be typical, the cook's light-handed use of cream, oil, and ghee, a kind of clarified butter, is not.
Saag paneer ($11.95), typically a fat-heavy spinach curry, dares to favor spinach over cream. Goat and lamb curries ($17.50 or $12.50) arrive in subtly spicy gravies thick with tomato and tender chunks of meat. Our chicken tikka masala's ($12.95) tomato cream sauce is rich, as it should be, but modestly so. Shahi bhindi ($11.50) arrives with gently spiced al dente okra shimmering with (rather than sopping with) ghee.
Forkful for forkful, our dishes are as graceful and light as the elegant cafe décor. Dark paneled wainscoting gives way to caramel walls warmed by a funky mix of chandeliers and lamps. The trifecta of good food, a soothing space, and deft service leaves us simply feeling good. Of course the full bar, Indian beers, and extensive wine list carried over from the previous occupant, Café D, helps as well.
Ghazal also earns good marks for unusually tender and moist tandoor meats ($11.95-$18.95) and crisp, savory South Indian stuffed dosa pancakes ($7.25-8.95). Proper frying makes for tasty, greaseless appetizers, such as pakora, which are chickpea fritters ($3.50) and stuffed samosa turnovers ($2.95). In most dishes, spices are somewhat subdued, leaving us occasionally missing the kick of bold flavors.
Cheese pakoras ($4.95) are the standout starter. These quivering, light, fried rectangles of freshly made paneer (a farmer's cheese) stuffed with a mash of garlic, ginger, and potato dissolve on the tongue like edible clouds. But dahi bhalla ($3.95), lentil flour dumplings, are too dry.
The well-stocked buffet ($7.95 weekdays, $9.95 weekends) will likely attract most lunchtime diners, but Ghazal also offers a host of well-made soups ($3-$4) such as the house chicken soup, which plunks pink cubes of tandoor chicken into a reviving broth afloat with green onion and cilantro. A bowl makes a square meal when paired with samosas or a Punjabi-style sandwich of eggs or meat tucked into freshly baked naan ($5-8).
Desserts, for now, are the weakest link. But then again, not craving a sweet finale is just one more way to keep it light.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Patriot Place Restaurant Reviews - CBS Scene and Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro
Playing the field
Serving sports fans and others at Patriot Place
By Devra First, Globe Staff | January 28, 2009
This year the Super Bowl presents us with two choices: Embrace the Pats-free game and enjoy the sport of it, or pretend it isn't happening.
As you would expect, Patriot Place has the perfect option for those looking to do the former - CBS Scene, with more than 100 high-definition screens, some of them nearly as big as a football field. As you might not expect, the Foxborough dining-shopping-sporting-entertainment complex also offers a place where you can ignore sports altogether. Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro has one smallish flat-screen TV at the bar, and you can easily turn your back to it.
CBS Scene's strength is dressed-up bar food. For those who need wings while watching a game, they're here, if hidden inside a chichi white bowl. Coated in a sweet chili-garlic glaze, they're sticky, crispy, and juicy. (There's plenty of beer, of course, as well as cocktails that tend toward the bikini-tini end of things.)
Pizza? Yes, it's here too, good enough while it's hot, but then the crust turns to cardboard. You can get your classic cheese or pepperoni, but you've got options. The New England lobster pizza seems an iffy idea, but it works. A bite first reveals the richness of mascarpone, followed by plentiful pieces of nicely cooked lobster. The pie is drizzled in a light green sauce that tastes faintly of avocado. An even iffier idea is the Kobe cheese- burger pizza, a love-it-or-hate-it proposition. It's topped with ground beef (Kobe, though it tastes pretty much like Any Burger USA in this context), melted cheddar, tomatoes, "secret sauce," and chopped pickles. It looks like a pizza and tastes like a Big Mac, causing cognitive dissonance as you chew. "Some people would come here all the time just to eat this," one diner says, tucking into his second piece. Not me, but maybe you.
If you like your pizza to be pizza and your burgers to be burgers, there's a customizable 10-ouncer of Kobe beef (which has apparently gone the way of french fries and Belgian waffles; this is hormone- and antibiotic-free wagyu from Texas's Strube Ranch). It comes with tomato, lettuce, onion, and horseradish mayo; you can add cheddar, Swiss, blue cheese, bacon, mushrooms, and/or caramelized onions for $1 each. It comes with pub fries but you can substitute shoestrings that are incredibly satisfying to shovel in while they're hot, before they too turn to cardboard.
Both times we ordered burgers they arrived overdone; our server offered a replacement, then comped us a dessert, which the manager brought over. CBS Scene is a giant, glitzy sports bar, with a bit of "Jeffersons" memorabilia here and there, and the chance to watch "I Love Lucy," "The Brady Bunch," and "The Twilight Zone" on your own personal TV at your table. The counters change colors. It's a theme park in the guise of a restaurant, or vice versa (and I mean this in a good way - in terms of scale and sensory overload, the place is awesome). But when it comes to hospitality and service, there's nothing theme park-like about it. Servers are polite to teenagers, apologetic when things aren't right, and obliging when it comes to requests. (Of course, this was during a slow sports period; I make no promises for what happens on a crazy night.)
Likewise, the menu reaches beyond bar food; chef Brian Corbley formerly cooked at the Sherborn Inn. A club steak has great flavor and comes with buttery mashed potatoes and asparagus; the menu also offers New York strip steak, filet mignon, and grilled ribeye, all with some permutation of potato. If hitting the turf isn't enough for you, you can also have surf; $6 more gets you an add-on of shrimp scampi. Meatloaf is heavier on pork than many versions; the slices are grilled and topped with onion gravy that makes the dish taste like Salisbury steak. It also comes with mashed potatoes.
Not everything here is so manly. There are salads, seared tuna, pumpkin ravioli, pan-roasted cod in a sauce of curry and coconut milk. The fish is fairly tasteless, though it looks pretty with a julienne of snow peas sprinkled over it. Detracting from the presentation are whole, underdone fingerling potatoes, which in the broth look a bit like hippos trying to cool themselves by bathing: lumpy and not terribly pretty.
The signature bread pudding comes in a little skillet, where it sizzles in caramel sauce. Signature or no, it's trumped by a sundae of vanilla and chocolate ice cream, hot fudge, Marshmallow Fluff, and nut brittle, a skewer of toasted marshmallows planted in it like a flag of triumph. Coconut cheesecake beignets are not the way to go; the frying overcomes the cheesecake, and separate components of berry sorbet and berry dipping sauce seem imported from another dessert. There are a few fumbles, but foodwise, CBS Scene acquits itself better than a three-story shrine to televisions and testosterone might.
Ah, but you were looking to avoid bad "fumble" puns? Just a few feet away from CBS Scene, you'll find Tastings. The only thing out of the ordinary happening here on Feb. 1 is Sunday brunch; it's the first week the wine bar and bistro is offering it. Here you'll find Tuesday-night tastings and special menus pairing food and wine. This isn't the kind of place that holds an unveiling party for the Pats cheerleaders' swimsuit calendar and video - on Sept. 11. (Really, CBS Scene?)
Atmospherically, Tastings is the opposite of the sports bar across the way: warm and cozy, with burgundy walls, hardwood floors, and a soundtrack that traverses from Stevie Wonder to Jack Johnson to jazz. If CBS Scene is where men go to be dudes, this is where their wives hang out in the meantime.
Tastings, at least theoretically, is a small-plates restaurant. These are really more like medium plates. There's a bit of a Spanish bent, with a healthy dose of America thrown in. In keeping with the name, there are tastings of New England cheeses, oysters, bruschette, and beef; flights of wine sport hardy-har titles such as "pinot evil" and "chards of class." The list is lighter on the wines of Spain than you might expect, with January's featured wines mostly from France, Italy, and California (with an Israeli sauvignon blanc blend thrown in). Bottles are on the inexpensive side, with about half priced in the $20s and $30s. Flights of three generous pours run $12-$15.
The kitchen paces delivery of dishes perfectly, though puts them in a slightly strange order. You'd think oysters would come before the requisite macaroni and cheese, for example, but the pasta arrives first. It's a great version with sharp cheddar and plentiful truffle slices, if perhaps a bit heavy on the crumb topping.
It's followed by a hash of winter vegetables - carrots, potatoes, fennel, and tiny golden beets - roasted just tender enough, crisp at the edges and soft in the center; the dish is topped with a perfectly poached farm egg, simple but elegant. Then a "progressive oyster tasting" - the oysters aren't the best we've ever had, but they're presented creatively: two with lemon, two with creme fraiche and black caviar, and two out of their shells in little shooters of strange but interesting yuzu-and-cucumber soda. Then fried chickpeas, doused with a lot of paprika; they'd make a good snack to munch before the other food arrives.
Wild boar meatballs come on a plate with a mozzarella-stuffed arancino. The meat is spiced unexpectedly with cinnamon, set off by a smoky tomato sauce; the rice ball has a nicely crisped outside, but it's not hot enough on the inside for the cheese to melt. It's disappointing to cut into it expecting stretchy cheese, only to see a little cube of mozzarella fall plop on the plate.
Served on a triangular plate, the beef tasting comprises a very caper-y tartare; seared Kobe beef that's oversalted - the exception at Tastings, where the seasoning tends to be spot on - but comes with complementary truffle butter; and a braised short rib that sits on Boursin polenta. An excellent version of paella then arrives on a rectangular plate (trying to fit the different-shaped plates on the table with assorted wine glasses from wine flights is like playing culinary Tetris). The rice is seasoned with saffron and paprika, and laden with perfectly cooked shrimp, mussels, calamari, and baby octopi. Braised Berkshire pork shank is as delicious as it is impressive-looking, plated vertically on the bone and surrounded by butter beans, chunks of bacon, and almond milk foam, which tastes like smoothie base on its own but somehow works with the rest of the dish. An orange-scented gremolata pulls the dish together and lifts it with a hit of bright flavor.
Dessert could use a little work, though there's a nice selection of port and dessert wine. A chocolate tasting includes an "urchin" - a hard, spiny truffle that lacks taste - a pleasant meringue, and a white chocolate and cranberry risotto that's truly weird. Goat cheesecake is more cheese than cake, salty and goaty, with a hint of rosemary. The texture is gooey, as if it contains too much cornstarch.
It's a lovely meal, nonetheless. The servers are friendly and solicitous; chef Richard Garcia says hello to the guests at each table and asks how everything is. It seems more than a gesture; he just changed the menu and genuinely wants to know. Tastings is the only independent restaurant in Patriot Place, fighting the likes of Davio's, Skipjack's, and Five Guys Burgers for diners. It deserves them, and a permanent place at the table.
Devra First can be reached at dfirst@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Serving sports fans and others at Patriot Place
By Devra First, Globe Staff | January 28, 2009
This year the Super Bowl presents us with two choices: Embrace the Pats-free game and enjoy the sport of it, or pretend it isn't happening.
As you would expect, Patriot Place has the perfect option for those looking to do the former - CBS Scene, with more than 100 high-definition screens, some of them nearly as big as a football field. As you might not expect, the Foxborough dining-shopping-sporting-entertainment complex also offers a place where you can ignore sports altogether. Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro has one smallish flat-screen TV at the bar, and you can easily turn your back to it.
CBS Scene's strength is dressed-up bar food. For those who need wings while watching a game, they're here, if hidden inside a chichi white bowl. Coated in a sweet chili-garlic glaze, they're sticky, crispy, and juicy. (There's plenty of beer, of course, as well as cocktails that tend toward the bikini-tini end of things.)
Pizza? Yes, it's here too, good enough while it's hot, but then the crust turns to cardboard. You can get your classic cheese or pepperoni, but you've got options. The New England lobster pizza seems an iffy idea, but it works. A bite first reveals the richness of mascarpone, followed by plentiful pieces of nicely cooked lobster. The pie is drizzled in a light green sauce that tastes faintly of avocado. An even iffier idea is the Kobe cheese- burger pizza, a love-it-or-hate-it proposition. It's topped with ground beef (Kobe, though it tastes pretty much like Any Burger USA in this context), melted cheddar, tomatoes, "secret sauce," and chopped pickles. It looks like a pizza and tastes like a Big Mac, causing cognitive dissonance as you chew. "Some people would come here all the time just to eat this," one diner says, tucking into his second piece. Not me, but maybe you.
If you like your pizza to be pizza and your burgers to be burgers, there's a customizable 10-ouncer of Kobe beef (which has apparently gone the way of french fries and Belgian waffles; this is hormone- and antibiotic-free wagyu from Texas's Strube Ranch). It comes with tomato, lettuce, onion, and horseradish mayo; you can add cheddar, Swiss, blue cheese, bacon, mushrooms, and/or caramelized onions for $1 each. It comes with pub fries but you can substitute shoestrings that are incredibly satisfying to shovel in while they're hot, before they too turn to cardboard.
Both times we ordered burgers they arrived overdone; our server offered a replacement, then comped us a dessert, which the manager brought over. CBS Scene is a giant, glitzy sports bar, with a bit of "Jeffersons" memorabilia here and there, and the chance to watch "I Love Lucy," "The Brady Bunch," and "The Twilight Zone" on your own personal TV at your table. The counters change colors. It's a theme park in the guise of a restaurant, or vice versa (and I mean this in a good way - in terms of scale and sensory overload, the place is awesome). But when it comes to hospitality and service, there's nothing theme park-like about it. Servers are polite to teenagers, apologetic when things aren't right, and obliging when it comes to requests. (Of course, this was during a slow sports period; I make no promises for what happens on a crazy night.)
Likewise, the menu reaches beyond bar food; chef Brian Corbley formerly cooked at the Sherborn Inn. A club steak has great flavor and comes with buttery mashed potatoes and asparagus; the menu also offers New York strip steak, filet mignon, and grilled ribeye, all with some permutation of potato. If hitting the turf isn't enough for you, you can also have surf; $6 more gets you an add-on of shrimp scampi. Meatloaf is heavier on pork than many versions; the slices are grilled and topped with onion gravy that makes the dish taste like Salisbury steak. It also comes with mashed potatoes.
Not everything here is so manly. There are salads, seared tuna, pumpkin ravioli, pan-roasted cod in a sauce of curry and coconut milk. The fish is fairly tasteless, though it looks pretty with a julienne of snow peas sprinkled over it. Detracting from the presentation are whole, underdone fingerling potatoes, which in the broth look a bit like hippos trying to cool themselves by bathing: lumpy and not terribly pretty.
The signature bread pudding comes in a little skillet, where it sizzles in caramel sauce. Signature or no, it's trumped by a sundae of vanilla and chocolate ice cream, hot fudge, Marshmallow Fluff, and nut brittle, a skewer of toasted marshmallows planted in it like a flag of triumph. Coconut cheesecake beignets are not the way to go; the frying overcomes the cheesecake, and separate components of berry sorbet and berry dipping sauce seem imported from another dessert. There are a few fumbles, but foodwise, CBS Scene acquits itself better than a three-story shrine to televisions and testosterone might.
Ah, but you were looking to avoid bad "fumble" puns? Just a few feet away from CBS Scene, you'll find Tastings. The only thing out of the ordinary happening here on Feb. 1 is Sunday brunch; it's the first week the wine bar and bistro is offering it. Here you'll find Tuesday-night tastings and special menus pairing food and wine. This isn't the kind of place that holds an unveiling party for the Pats cheerleaders' swimsuit calendar and video - on Sept. 11. (Really, CBS Scene?)
Atmospherically, Tastings is the opposite of the sports bar across the way: warm and cozy, with burgundy walls, hardwood floors, and a soundtrack that traverses from Stevie Wonder to Jack Johnson to jazz. If CBS Scene is where men go to be dudes, this is where their wives hang out in the meantime.
Tastings, at least theoretically, is a small-plates restaurant. These are really more like medium plates. There's a bit of a Spanish bent, with a healthy dose of America thrown in. In keeping with the name, there are tastings of New England cheeses, oysters, bruschette, and beef; flights of wine sport hardy-har titles such as "pinot evil" and "chards of class." The list is lighter on the wines of Spain than you might expect, with January's featured wines mostly from France, Italy, and California (with an Israeli sauvignon blanc blend thrown in). Bottles are on the inexpensive side, with about half priced in the $20s and $30s. Flights of three generous pours run $12-$15.
The kitchen paces delivery of dishes perfectly, though puts them in a slightly strange order. You'd think oysters would come before the requisite macaroni and cheese, for example, but the pasta arrives first. It's a great version with sharp cheddar and plentiful truffle slices, if perhaps a bit heavy on the crumb topping.
It's followed by a hash of winter vegetables - carrots, potatoes, fennel, and tiny golden beets - roasted just tender enough, crisp at the edges and soft in the center; the dish is topped with a perfectly poached farm egg, simple but elegant. Then a "progressive oyster tasting" - the oysters aren't the best we've ever had, but they're presented creatively: two with lemon, two with creme fraiche and black caviar, and two out of their shells in little shooters of strange but interesting yuzu-and-cucumber soda. Then fried chickpeas, doused with a lot of paprika; they'd make a good snack to munch before the other food arrives.
Wild boar meatballs come on a plate with a mozzarella-stuffed arancino. The meat is spiced unexpectedly with cinnamon, set off by a smoky tomato sauce; the rice ball has a nicely crisped outside, but it's not hot enough on the inside for the cheese to melt. It's disappointing to cut into it expecting stretchy cheese, only to see a little cube of mozzarella fall plop on the plate.
Served on a triangular plate, the beef tasting comprises a very caper-y tartare; seared Kobe beef that's oversalted - the exception at Tastings, where the seasoning tends to be spot on - but comes with complementary truffle butter; and a braised short rib that sits on Boursin polenta. An excellent version of paella then arrives on a rectangular plate (trying to fit the different-shaped plates on the table with assorted wine glasses from wine flights is like playing culinary Tetris). The rice is seasoned with saffron and paprika, and laden with perfectly cooked shrimp, mussels, calamari, and baby octopi. Braised Berkshire pork shank is as delicious as it is impressive-looking, plated vertically on the bone and surrounded by butter beans, chunks of bacon, and almond milk foam, which tastes like smoothie base on its own but somehow works with the rest of the dish. An orange-scented gremolata pulls the dish together and lifts it with a hit of bright flavor.
Dessert could use a little work, though there's a nice selection of port and dessert wine. A chocolate tasting includes an "urchin" - a hard, spiny truffle that lacks taste - a pleasant meringue, and a white chocolate and cranberry risotto that's truly weird. Goat cheesecake is more cheese than cake, salty and goaty, with a hint of rosemary. The texture is gooey, as if it contains too much cornstarch.
It's a lovely meal, nonetheless. The servers are friendly and solicitous; chef Richard Garcia says hello to the guests at each table and asks how everything is. It seems more than a gesture; he just changed the menu and genuinely wants to know. Tastings is the only independent restaurant in Patriot Place, fighting the likes of Davio's, Skipjack's, and Five Guys Burgers for diners. It deserves them, and a permanent place at the table.
Devra First can be reached at dfirst@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Winter Food in Boston
WHY WE LOVE WINTER IN BOSTON
Getting fed
January 28, 2009
It's perfectly OK to long for the glories of the summer table and its bountiful produce and fruits. In the warm months, however, once you fill your stockpot with soup or your Dutch oven with stew the house is unbearably hot. This comfort food is chilly day cuisine. Wintery fare steams the windows and fills your belly. Fortify yourself: Settle into a bar, choose a hearty dish, find a fireplace. Globe staffers explore icicle season's menus and more.
THIS WINTER, GET YOUR LICKS IN
Oh, the weather outside is frightful. But inside J.P. Licks in Jamaica Plain, you'll be warm and toasty in the comfy leather chairs around the fireplace, which flickers with little gas flames and radiates real heat. Glowing ember-like orange neon sticks hanging overhead add to the coziness. And what's more decadent than eating ice cream in a snowstorm? At the counter, you'll find the old stand-bys: Cherry Garciaparra - oops, that's Ortiz now - Cow Trax and Kowlua. Or you can indulge in flavors with a little kick; the Myers Rum Raisin has alcohol in the mix. J.P. Licks, 659 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, 617-524-6740. - PAYSHA RHONE
MIXING IT UP
You know how St. Bernards used to rescue people in the snow, bounding up all furry and happy and tail-wagging, bearing flasks of warming booze? Well, consider Boston's bartenders the modern urban equivalent, minus the tails (and usually the fur) and with considerably better mixology skills. Particularly of late - the craft cocktail movement is catching on big in the city, at places such as Craigie on Main, Drink, Eastern Standard, and Green Street. It's not unusual to find yourself warming up with a glass of house-made bitters, fresh-squeezed juice, hand-chipped ice, and herbs plucked fresh from the pot. Being rescued is nice; being rescued with such skill is even better. - DEVRA FIRST
WARMING UP TO BREAKFAST
Deluxe Town Diner has windows on three sides and an enclosed entrance to prevent drafts from coming in. So once you're in your seat, it's cozy and very light inside. Like a bubble. Take that seat along the counter on the far right, so you can watch the grill cook turn flapjacks by the dozens. But don't get the pancakes. Settle in to two deliciously soft-poached eggs, a side of chewy seven-grain toast, easily the best around, heaping spoonfuls of bittersweet marmalade for the slices, and a pot of English breakfast tea (real leaves!), all for under $7. If you're lucky, waitress Marguerite will take your order and you'll be treated to her Irish lilt. Deluxe Town Diner, 627 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, 617-926-8400. www.deluxetowndiner.com. - SHERYL JULIAN
THE OYSTER IS OUR WORLD
"What restaurant should I go to for great seafood?" the tourist asks. Just about any of them. We don't have seafood restaurants so much as we have restaurants with great seafood. And some chefs claim local lobster and oysters are at their best in the winter. You'll find $1 oyster deals at Lineage, Rialto, 28 Degrees, Great Bay, and Legal Sea Foods, as well as small plates of oysters on Sundays and lobster on Mondays for short money at B&G Oysters. It's almost enough to make you love these cold months with Rs. - DEVRA FIRST
CHOWDER IS THE LEAST OF IT
Bostonians perversely consume clam chowder in the high-food-poisoning-risk dog days of summer, at outdoor festivals, Sox games, and seafood shacks. During the winter, we barely touch the stuff we're so famous for. There are other - dare I say better - soup options to warm up with: spicy crab noodle soup at Xinh Xinh, chicken soup with cumin gnocchi at Sportello, ramen at Ken's Noodle House, restorative beef broth with Korean dumplings and rice cake at Buk Kyung in Somerville. And, if you insist, what may be our best local chowder - the one found at Japanese restaurant o ya, which contains tempura bits, potato, and kurobuta pork cracklins. - DEVRA FIRST
ALL THAT'S MISSING IS A WARM BREEZE
Boston may be a town with a huge Caribbean community, but it sure is a hard place to find tasty roti or Jamaican patties. I've encountered bland roti and patties that look like blocks of unidentified meat. I finally achieved patty and roti nirvana at Irie Jamaican Style Restaurant in Dorchester. Irie makes to order the roti skin that surrounds the curried chicken, potatoes, and cabbage inside, delivering a delicious result. The baked patties, filled with beef, chicken, vegetables, or shrimp, are some of the most flavorful I've eaten; they take me back to a time when I was on a beach in Negril. Irie Jamaican Style Restaurant, 31 Bowdoin St., Dorchester, 617-929-3866. - VANESSA E. JONES
YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO FAR TO TASTE THE WORLD
Can you say "Baby, it's cold outside" in several different languages? Practice with a brisk walk from the South End through Chinatown to the North End. In about two miles you'll have passed through several different worlds; English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Italian spoken here. From the bistros, cafes, and upscale watering holes of the South End, and its few remaining downscale watering holes; to the dim sum, noodle, and dumpling restaurants of Chinatown, fish swimming in blue-lit tanks in the windows; to the after-work happy hours and expense-account dens (still, yes) of the business crowd in Downtown Crossing and the Financial District; to the trattorias, enotecas, and honest red sauce emporia of the North End - what can't you eat in two miles? What more would you want to? - DEVRA FIRST
DIP INTO THE SEASON
Every season has a must-own implement. You can't get along without big colanders for washing summer vegetables. Fall demands a roomy roasting pan for holiday roasts. In winter, every kitchen needs a handsome ladle, nice enough to go from the stovetop to the table and dip into your hearty boeuf Bourguignon, arroz con pollo, or pho. The Rosle "dripless" stainless steel ladle with a hooked handle and pouring rim will make every long-simmered stew and soup worth the trouble. It comes in various sizes. The 3.3 ounce ($30) is a fine ladle for nightly suppers and most of your dishes. A 7.8 ounce size ($36) - almost 1 cup - is worthy of a celebration. Sur La Table, the Mall at Chestnut Hill, 199 Boylston St., 617-244-0213; or surlatable.com. - SHERYL JULIAN
RECESSION FOOD IS WINTER FOOD
How convenient that the economy sank with the thermostat. All of the things you want to fill your stomach with in the winter - slow braises and stews, hearty root vegetables, casseroles and meatloaf (below) and potpies - also happen to be inexpensive to make. These dishes are currently what restaurants are serving, and they're what we can afford. It may not be long till every establishment in Boston has macaroni and cheese on the menu. Good thing our appetite for it seems endless - till summer, at least. - DEVRA FIRST
DRINKING IN THE DARK
Crazy as it sounds, February might be my favorite month. Despite the bone-cracking cold and the annual post-holiday weight gain, February also marks the arrival of Portsmouth Brewery's Russian Imperial Stout, Kate the Great (there's a countdown to the Feb. 9 release on the New Hampshire brewpub's site, www.portsmouthbrewery.com). When I tasted this dark, complex brew a few years ago, it was love at first sip. It's the beer I crave every winter; the flavors of dried fruit, smoke, and port wine will chase the chill right out of you. Portsmouth Brewery, 56 Market St., Portsmouth, N.H., 603-431-1115.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Getting fed
January 28, 2009
It's perfectly OK to long for the glories of the summer table and its bountiful produce and fruits. In the warm months, however, once you fill your stockpot with soup or your Dutch oven with stew the house is unbearably hot. This comfort food is chilly day cuisine. Wintery fare steams the windows and fills your belly. Fortify yourself: Settle into a bar, choose a hearty dish, find a fireplace. Globe staffers explore icicle season's menus and more.
THIS WINTER, GET YOUR LICKS IN
Oh, the weather outside is frightful. But inside J.P. Licks in Jamaica Plain, you'll be warm and toasty in the comfy leather chairs around the fireplace, which flickers with little gas flames and radiates real heat. Glowing ember-like orange neon sticks hanging overhead add to the coziness. And what's more decadent than eating ice cream in a snowstorm? At the counter, you'll find the old stand-bys: Cherry Garciaparra - oops, that's Ortiz now - Cow Trax and Kowlua. Or you can indulge in flavors with a little kick; the Myers Rum Raisin has alcohol in the mix. J.P. Licks, 659 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, 617-524-6740. - PAYSHA RHONE
MIXING IT UP
You know how St. Bernards used to rescue people in the snow, bounding up all furry and happy and tail-wagging, bearing flasks of warming booze? Well, consider Boston's bartenders the modern urban equivalent, minus the tails (and usually the fur) and with considerably better mixology skills. Particularly of late - the craft cocktail movement is catching on big in the city, at places such as Craigie on Main, Drink, Eastern Standard, and Green Street. It's not unusual to find yourself warming up with a glass of house-made bitters, fresh-squeezed juice, hand-chipped ice, and herbs plucked fresh from the pot. Being rescued is nice; being rescued with such skill is even better. - DEVRA FIRST
WARMING UP TO BREAKFAST
Deluxe Town Diner has windows on three sides and an enclosed entrance to prevent drafts from coming in. So once you're in your seat, it's cozy and very light inside. Like a bubble. Take that seat along the counter on the far right, so you can watch the grill cook turn flapjacks by the dozens. But don't get the pancakes. Settle in to two deliciously soft-poached eggs, a side of chewy seven-grain toast, easily the best around, heaping spoonfuls of bittersweet marmalade for the slices, and a pot of English breakfast tea (real leaves!), all for under $7. If you're lucky, waitress Marguerite will take your order and you'll be treated to her Irish lilt. Deluxe Town Diner, 627 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, 617-926-8400. www.deluxetowndiner.com. - SHERYL JULIAN
THE OYSTER IS OUR WORLD
"What restaurant should I go to for great seafood?" the tourist asks. Just about any of them. We don't have seafood restaurants so much as we have restaurants with great seafood. And some chefs claim local lobster and oysters are at their best in the winter. You'll find $1 oyster deals at Lineage, Rialto, 28 Degrees, Great Bay, and Legal Sea Foods, as well as small plates of oysters on Sundays and lobster on Mondays for short money at B&G Oysters. It's almost enough to make you love these cold months with Rs. - DEVRA FIRST
CHOWDER IS THE LEAST OF IT
Bostonians perversely consume clam chowder in the high-food-poisoning-risk dog days of summer, at outdoor festivals, Sox games, and seafood shacks. During the winter, we barely touch the stuff we're so famous for. There are other - dare I say better - soup options to warm up with: spicy crab noodle soup at Xinh Xinh, chicken soup with cumin gnocchi at Sportello, ramen at Ken's Noodle House, restorative beef broth with Korean dumplings and rice cake at Buk Kyung in Somerville. And, if you insist, what may be our best local chowder - the one found at Japanese restaurant o ya, which contains tempura bits, potato, and kurobuta pork cracklins. - DEVRA FIRST
ALL THAT'S MISSING IS A WARM BREEZE
Boston may be a town with a huge Caribbean community, but it sure is a hard place to find tasty roti or Jamaican patties. I've encountered bland roti and patties that look like blocks of unidentified meat. I finally achieved patty and roti nirvana at Irie Jamaican Style Restaurant in Dorchester. Irie makes to order the roti skin that surrounds the curried chicken, potatoes, and cabbage inside, delivering a delicious result. The baked patties, filled with beef, chicken, vegetables, or shrimp, are some of the most flavorful I've eaten; they take me back to a time when I was on a beach in Negril. Irie Jamaican Style Restaurant, 31 Bowdoin St., Dorchester, 617-929-3866. - VANESSA E. JONES
YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO FAR TO TASTE THE WORLD
Can you say "Baby, it's cold outside" in several different languages? Practice with a brisk walk from the South End through Chinatown to the North End. In about two miles you'll have passed through several different worlds; English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Italian spoken here. From the bistros, cafes, and upscale watering holes of the South End, and its few remaining downscale watering holes; to the dim sum, noodle, and dumpling restaurants of Chinatown, fish swimming in blue-lit tanks in the windows; to the after-work happy hours and expense-account dens (still, yes) of the business crowd in Downtown Crossing and the Financial District; to the trattorias, enotecas, and honest red sauce emporia of the North End - what can't you eat in two miles? What more would you want to? - DEVRA FIRST
DIP INTO THE SEASON
Every season has a must-own implement. You can't get along without big colanders for washing summer vegetables. Fall demands a roomy roasting pan for holiday roasts. In winter, every kitchen needs a handsome ladle, nice enough to go from the stovetop to the table and dip into your hearty boeuf Bourguignon, arroz con pollo, or pho. The Rosle "dripless" stainless steel ladle with a hooked handle and pouring rim will make every long-simmered stew and soup worth the trouble. It comes in various sizes. The 3.3 ounce ($30) is a fine ladle for nightly suppers and most of your dishes. A 7.8 ounce size ($36) - almost 1 cup - is worthy of a celebration. Sur La Table, the Mall at Chestnut Hill, 199 Boylston St., 617-244-0213; or surlatable.com. - SHERYL JULIAN
RECESSION FOOD IS WINTER FOOD
How convenient that the economy sank with the thermostat. All of the things you want to fill your stomach with in the winter - slow braises and stews, hearty root vegetables, casseroles and meatloaf (below) and potpies - also happen to be inexpensive to make. These dishes are currently what restaurants are serving, and they're what we can afford. It may not be long till every establishment in Boston has macaroni and cheese on the menu. Good thing our appetite for it seems endless - till summer, at least. - DEVRA FIRST
DRINKING IN THE DARK
Crazy as it sounds, February might be my favorite month. Despite the bone-cracking cold and the annual post-holiday weight gain, February also marks the arrival of Portsmouth Brewery's Russian Imperial Stout, Kate the Great (there's a countdown to the Feb. 9 release on the New Hampshire brewpub's site, www.portsmouthbrewery.com). When I tasted this dark, complex brew a few years ago, it was love at first sip. It's the beer I crave every winter; the flavors of dried fruit, smoke, and port wine will chase the chill right out of you. Portsmouth Brewery, 56 Market St., Portsmouth, N.H., 603-431-1115.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Boston Restaurants Struggling
Table for none
Restaurants reeling as storms, economy keep patrons home
By Devra First, Globe Staff | January 27, 2009
Suddenly chefs want to shake your hand. Waiters ply you with coupons for $10 off your next meal: Come back soon. Please. Bring friends.
Boston restaurants are struggling in this economy, and recent snowstorms - which have cut into all-important weekend business - have only made matters worse. Establishments that were already operating on thin margins now find themselves in real trouble; some teeter on the edge of closing.
"Restaurant business has slowed down dramatically," said Pat Moscaritolo, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, which cosponsors the city's biannual Restaurant Week promotion. "Nationally, it's trending anywhere from 20 to 40 percent down, and Boston is unfortunately following that trend line. People get nervous about their jobs when they hear about layoffs, store closings, and cutbacks. They get nervous about going out."
That's true of Samantha Lentz, 36, who was shopping for groceries at Whole Foods in Cambridge on a recent evening. She and her husband, who works in sales and marketing, are relocating to Boston from Colorado. "We tend to cook more," she said. "We used to eat out twice a week. Now it's once every two weeks."
The past few months have been challenging for Steve DiFillippo, owner of Davio's in Park Square, Foxborough, and Philadelphia; and Avila in the Theatre District. "The stock market is killing me," he said. "When stocks go down, what are you going to do, go out to dinner? 'Gee, honey, we just lost 10 percent. Let's go drink at Davio's!' "
Companies are cutting back, too. Corporate holiday celebrations, usually lucrative for restaurants, were less extravagant last year. Some were canceled altogether. "More than any side, we've seen the slowdown on the corporate entertaining side," Moscaritolo said. Industry forecasts predict hotel business in Boston and Cambridge will be down 10 percent in 2009. "This means business travelers aren't staying in hotels. If they're not in hotels, they're not out eating in our restaurants or shopping on Newbury Street."
Chris Douglass owns Icarus, an upscale restaurant in the South End, as well as the less expensive Ashmont Grill and Tavolo in Dorchester. Business travel once accounted for most of Icarus's weeknight customers, he said. "Now we're not seeing much of that at all."
This month, after more than 30 years in business, Douglass put Icarus on the market. If the right offer doesn't come in, he hopes to retool the restaurant's concept, making it more casual and less expensive.
"We're just barely holding our head above water, and I see the writing on the wall," he said. "I'm trying to be proactive and make a change before I'm not able to. People are still going out - they're going to the Grill, certainly - but they're really not going out to Icarus these days."
Nor to quite a few other restaurants, apparently. Circle opened in the South End in October and closed right after Thanksgiving. Croma on Newbury Street is for sale. New owners bought Duxbury's Sun Tavern in September 2007; they shut down last month. (New restaurants, however, continue to open - recently, Bond in the Financial District and Sensing on Battery Wharf, for example.)
Listings with the real estate firm Atlantic Restaurant Group Inc. are up about 30 percent from last year, broker Daniel Newcomb said. "In the last four or five days, we've had another 15 phone calls from people looking to sell their business," everything from little pizzerias to national chains, he said. "One fine-dining operator on the South Shore, between pre-Christmas and New Year's Eve with the snow, his sales were off $40,000 from the previous year."
Still, restaurants with more modest price points, geared toward social rather than corporate dining, and with loyal neighborhood customer bases can thrive.
"We're packed on a Tuesday; we're packed at 6:15," said John Kessen, co-owner of Hungry Mother in Cambridge. "Sometimes on a Sunday or a Wednesday, we're turning people away." The restaurant's main courses run from $18 to $27. "We wanted to design a menu where people could come back a couple of times a month. Given the turn in the economy, that's held to be more advantageous."
Hungry Mother's location near the Kendall Square Cinema doesn't hurt. Diners who arrive before 6 p.m. can purchase discounted movie tickets for $6 through the restaurant; a staffer will pick the tickets up and deliver them to the table. "It's driven a lot of early traffic," Kessen said. "Everyone wants 7:30. We only have about 60 seats, so it's that much more important."
This is one of the many promotions restaurants are offering to lure customers: half-price bottles of wine on Monday nights at Stella in the South End; cooking demonstrations at Dante in Cambridge; small-plate menus at Mistral in the Back Bay; and specially priced three-course prix fixe menus at just about every place in town. Every week is starting to look like Restaurant Week. And Restaurant Week itself approaches, beginning March 15. In the works: less expensive two-course lunch deals for $15.09 in addition to the usual $20.09 three-course lunches, and the likely inclusion of Saturdays, in the past a blackout date.
"Someone said to me, 'Can we make it Restaurant Year?' " Moscaritolo said with a laugh.
But a warmer future beckons. "One thing we know, the snow will end eventually," DiFillippo said. "You're going to see a lot of restaurants hunker down and get stronger. There's competition, and the economy like this is going to make us better. If you can survive it."
The next big event for restaurants to pin their hopes on is Valentine's Day, which falls on a Saturday, already a busy night. "Saturday is the worst day," Newcomb said. "You want it to be a Monday, a Thursday." But there is good news: St. Patrick's Day is on a Tuesday this year.
Devra First can be reached at dfirst@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Restaurants reeling as storms, economy keep patrons home
By Devra First, Globe Staff | January 27, 2009
Suddenly chefs want to shake your hand. Waiters ply you with coupons for $10 off your next meal: Come back soon. Please. Bring friends.
Boston restaurants are struggling in this economy, and recent snowstorms - which have cut into all-important weekend business - have only made matters worse. Establishments that were already operating on thin margins now find themselves in real trouble; some teeter on the edge of closing.
"Restaurant business has slowed down dramatically," said Pat Moscaritolo, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, which cosponsors the city's biannual Restaurant Week promotion. "Nationally, it's trending anywhere from 20 to 40 percent down, and Boston is unfortunately following that trend line. People get nervous about their jobs when they hear about layoffs, store closings, and cutbacks. They get nervous about going out."
That's true of Samantha Lentz, 36, who was shopping for groceries at Whole Foods in Cambridge on a recent evening. She and her husband, who works in sales and marketing, are relocating to Boston from Colorado. "We tend to cook more," she said. "We used to eat out twice a week. Now it's once every two weeks."
The past few months have been challenging for Steve DiFillippo, owner of Davio's in Park Square, Foxborough, and Philadelphia; and Avila in the Theatre District. "The stock market is killing me," he said. "When stocks go down, what are you going to do, go out to dinner? 'Gee, honey, we just lost 10 percent. Let's go drink at Davio's!' "
Companies are cutting back, too. Corporate holiday celebrations, usually lucrative for restaurants, were less extravagant last year. Some were canceled altogether. "More than any side, we've seen the slowdown on the corporate entertaining side," Moscaritolo said. Industry forecasts predict hotel business in Boston and Cambridge will be down 10 percent in 2009. "This means business travelers aren't staying in hotels. If they're not in hotels, they're not out eating in our restaurants or shopping on Newbury Street."
Chris Douglass owns Icarus, an upscale restaurant in the South End, as well as the less expensive Ashmont Grill and Tavolo in Dorchester. Business travel once accounted for most of Icarus's weeknight customers, he said. "Now we're not seeing much of that at all."
This month, after more than 30 years in business, Douglass put Icarus on the market. If the right offer doesn't come in, he hopes to retool the restaurant's concept, making it more casual and less expensive.
"We're just barely holding our head above water, and I see the writing on the wall," he said. "I'm trying to be proactive and make a change before I'm not able to. People are still going out - they're going to the Grill, certainly - but they're really not going out to Icarus these days."
Nor to quite a few other restaurants, apparently. Circle opened in the South End in October and closed right after Thanksgiving. Croma on Newbury Street is for sale. New owners bought Duxbury's Sun Tavern in September 2007; they shut down last month. (New restaurants, however, continue to open - recently, Bond in the Financial District and Sensing on Battery Wharf, for example.)
Listings with the real estate firm Atlantic Restaurant Group Inc. are up about 30 percent from last year, broker Daniel Newcomb said. "In the last four or five days, we've had another 15 phone calls from people looking to sell their business," everything from little pizzerias to national chains, he said. "One fine-dining operator on the South Shore, between pre-Christmas and New Year's Eve with the snow, his sales were off $40,000 from the previous year."
Still, restaurants with more modest price points, geared toward social rather than corporate dining, and with loyal neighborhood customer bases can thrive.
"We're packed on a Tuesday; we're packed at 6:15," said John Kessen, co-owner of Hungry Mother in Cambridge. "Sometimes on a Sunday or a Wednesday, we're turning people away." The restaurant's main courses run from $18 to $27. "We wanted to design a menu where people could come back a couple of times a month. Given the turn in the economy, that's held to be more advantageous."
Hungry Mother's location near the Kendall Square Cinema doesn't hurt. Diners who arrive before 6 p.m. can purchase discounted movie tickets for $6 through the restaurant; a staffer will pick the tickets up and deliver them to the table. "It's driven a lot of early traffic," Kessen said. "Everyone wants 7:30. We only have about 60 seats, so it's that much more important."
This is one of the many promotions restaurants are offering to lure customers: half-price bottles of wine on Monday nights at Stella in the South End; cooking demonstrations at Dante in Cambridge; small-plate menus at Mistral in the Back Bay; and specially priced three-course prix fixe menus at just about every place in town. Every week is starting to look like Restaurant Week. And Restaurant Week itself approaches, beginning March 15. In the works: less expensive two-course lunch deals for $15.09 in addition to the usual $20.09 three-course lunches, and the likely inclusion of Saturdays, in the past a blackout date.
"Someone said to me, 'Can we make it Restaurant Year?' " Moscaritolo said with a laugh.
But a warmer future beckons. "One thing we know, the snow will end eventually," DiFillippo said. "You're going to see a lot of restaurants hunker down and get stronger. There's competition, and the economy like this is going to make us better. If you can survive it."
The next big event for restaurants to pin their hopes on is Valentine's Day, which falls on a Saturday, already a busy night. "Saturday is the worst day," Newcomb said. "You want it to be a Monday, a Thursday." But there is good news: St. Patrick's Day is on a Tuesday this year.
Devra First can be reached at dfirst@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Brandeis to Close Rose Art Museum and sell art
Ailing Brandeis will shut museum, sell treasured art
No other choice, says president
By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff | January 27, 2009
Rocked by a budget crisis, Brandeis University will close its Rose Art Museum and sell off a 6,000-object collection that includes work by such contemporary masters as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Nam June Paik.
The move shocked local arts leaders and drew harsh criticism from Rose supporters and the Association of College and University Museums and Galleries. Michael Rush, the Rose Art Museum director, only learned of the decision late yesterday afternoon, hours after the university's board of trustees voted unanimously to close the 48-year-old museum.
In an interview last night, he estimated the collection’s value could top $350 million. Still, the director and other museum supporters took issue with the university's decision, which came after endowment losses and a sharp slowdown in fund-raising.
"It is the largest asset that the university owns, and it is a world-class asset," said Jonathan Lee, who chairs the Rose's board of overseers. "So they're saying, 'Oops, we've had some bad reversals in our endowment investments, and we're going to make it up by selling our art.' What a second-class institution we've decided to be."
Brandeis president Jehuda Reinharz said yesterday that the university had no other choice. The university's endowment had suffered in the economic meltdown, and Reinharz said he anticipated further fallout from the Bernard Madoff scandal, in which several longtime Brandeis donors have lost money.
"This is not a happy day in the history of Brandeis," Reinharz said last night. "The Rose is a jewel. But for the most part it's a hidden jewel. It does not have great foot traffic, and most of the great works we have, we are just not able to exhibit. We felt that, at this point given the recession and the financial crisis, we had no choice."
A university spokesman said that Brandeis's endowment, which topped $700 million at one point, is down dramatically, though he declined to say by how much. Closing the Rose is likely to be one among several cost-cutting moves meant to bridge a budget deficit that could be as high as $10 million. Options include cutting faculty by 10 percent, boosting undergraduate enrollment, and overhauling the undergraduate curriculum by eliminating individual academic programs in favor of larger, interdisciplinary divisions.
The university may also require students to take one summer semester, allowing Brandeis to expand without overcrowding. The changes would take place, at the earliest, in 2010.
Brandeis said the museum would be closed late this summer. It was founded in 1961; a new wing designed by celebrated architect Graham Gund was added in 2001. Rush estimated museum attendance at between 13,000 and 15,000 annually.
After the art works are sold at auction, the building will be used as a fine arts teaching center with studio space and an exhibition gallery. A Brandeis spokesman said that the Massachusetts attorney general's office, which oversees donations, has been informed of the move and will not block it. Money from the sale of the art will be reinvested in the university.
Rush, a leading expert on video art, had arrived in 2005 with plans to expand the museum. He also launched a full scale analysis of the collection's value by Christie's auction house.
Rush said last night that he had commissioned the analysis to show the administration the importance of the permanent collection and to encourage it to move forward on an expansion.
"There's always a risk with that," he said. "Some people have said, 'Don't let people know what you have.' Because once you do, people may think differently about what you have."
While museums regularly deaccession individual pieces, the wholesale sell-off of a collection of the Rose's stature is unprecedented. Codes of practice common among museums stress that art should not be sold to cover operating expenses.
"Clearly, what's happening with Brandeis now is that they decided the easiest way is to look around the campus and find things that can be capitalized," said David Robertson, a Northwestern University professor who is president of the Association of College and University Museums and Galleries. "It's always art that goes first."
Built to house a small group of art works and the porcelain collection of its benefactors, the Rose grew quickly under the leadership of its first director, Sam Hunter, who came from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Over the years it has grown especially strong in American art of the 1960s and 1970s, and includes works by Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Morris Louis, and Helen Frankenthaler. Besides its permanent collection, the museum also puts on a roster of other shows, with a retrospective of work by the abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann up now.
"I'm in shock," said Mark Bessire, the recently named director of the Portland Museum Of Art. "This is definitely not the time to be selling paintings, anyway. The market is dropping. I'm just kind of sitting here sweating because I can't imagine Brandeis would take that step."
A recent survey of auction houses showed that prices are down dramatically. Auctions in late 2008 at Sotheby’s and Christie's raised a combined $238 million, down from equivalent sales the year before of a combined $640 million.
The move also angered David Genser, a Boston-area collector who last year gave the Rose a James Rosenquist drawing.
"This art was never given to the museum for those purposes," he said. "It should be a last resort. I can't understand how Brandeis is in such dire straits."
Lee, the overseer, said he was disturbed by the secrecy by which the administration operated. Reinharz said talks about closing the Rose began six weeks ago. But Lee said he learned of the decision in a series of phone calls last night from Rush, Rose donor Lois Foster, and Whitney Museum of American Art director Adam Weinberg.
"There's a history of the Rose, a beautiful history in the annals of contemporary art that is not understood by the president or any of the board of trustees," said Lee. "What they’re doing is a travesty."
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com. Peter Schworm of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
No other choice, says president
By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff | January 27, 2009
Rocked by a budget crisis, Brandeis University will close its Rose Art Museum and sell off a 6,000-object collection that includes work by such contemporary masters as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Nam June Paik.
The move shocked local arts leaders and drew harsh criticism from Rose supporters and the Association of College and University Museums and Galleries. Michael Rush, the Rose Art Museum director, only learned of the decision late yesterday afternoon, hours after the university's board of trustees voted unanimously to close the 48-year-old museum.
In an interview last night, he estimated the collection’s value could top $350 million. Still, the director and other museum supporters took issue with the university's decision, which came after endowment losses and a sharp slowdown in fund-raising.
"It is the largest asset that the university owns, and it is a world-class asset," said Jonathan Lee, who chairs the Rose's board of overseers. "So they're saying, 'Oops, we've had some bad reversals in our endowment investments, and we're going to make it up by selling our art.' What a second-class institution we've decided to be."
Brandeis president Jehuda Reinharz said yesterday that the university had no other choice. The university's endowment had suffered in the economic meltdown, and Reinharz said he anticipated further fallout from the Bernard Madoff scandal, in which several longtime Brandeis donors have lost money.
"This is not a happy day in the history of Brandeis," Reinharz said last night. "The Rose is a jewel. But for the most part it's a hidden jewel. It does not have great foot traffic, and most of the great works we have, we are just not able to exhibit. We felt that, at this point given the recession and the financial crisis, we had no choice."
A university spokesman said that Brandeis's endowment, which topped $700 million at one point, is down dramatically, though he declined to say by how much. Closing the Rose is likely to be one among several cost-cutting moves meant to bridge a budget deficit that could be as high as $10 million. Options include cutting faculty by 10 percent, boosting undergraduate enrollment, and overhauling the undergraduate curriculum by eliminating individual academic programs in favor of larger, interdisciplinary divisions.
The university may also require students to take one summer semester, allowing Brandeis to expand without overcrowding. The changes would take place, at the earliest, in 2010.
Brandeis said the museum would be closed late this summer. It was founded in 1961; a new wing designed by celebrated architect Graham Gund was added in 2001. Rush estimated museum attendance at between 13,000 and 15,000 annually.
After the art works are sold at auction, the building will be used as a fine arts teaching center with studio space and an exhibition gallery. A Brandeis spokesman said that the Massachusetts attorney general's office, which oversees donations, has been informed of the move and will not block it. Money from the sale of the art will be reinvested in the university.
Rush, a leading expert on video art, had arrived in 2005 with plans to expand the museum. He also launched a full scale analysis of the collection's value by Christie's auction house.
Rush said last night that he had commissioned the analysis to show the administration the importance of the permanent collection and to encourage it to move forward on an expansion.
"There's always a risk with that," he said. "Some people have said, 'Don't let people know what you have.' Because once you do, people may think differently about what you have."
While museums regularly deaccession individual pieces, the wholesale sell-off of a collection of the Rose's stature is unprecedented. Codes of practice common among museums stress that art should not be sold to cover operating expenses.
"Clearly, what's happening with Brandeis now is that they decided the easiest way is to look around the campus and find things that can be capitalized," said David Robertson, a Northwestern University professor who is president of the Association of College and University Museums and Galleries. "It's always art that goes first."
Built to house a small group of art works and the porcelain collection of its benefactors, the Rose grew quickly under the leadership of its first director, Sam Hunter, who came from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Over the years it has grown especially strong in American art of the 1960s and 1970s, and includes works by Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Morris Louis, and Helen Frankenthaler. Besides its permanent collection, the museum also puts on a roster of other shows, with a retrospective of work by the abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann up now.
"I'm in shock," said Mark Bessire, the recently named director of the Portland Museum Of Art. "This is definitely not the time to be selling paintings, anyway. The market is dropping. I'm just kind of sitting here sweating because I can't imagine Brandeis would take that step."
A recent survey of auction houses showed that prices are down dramatically. Auctions in late 2008 at Sotheby’s and Christie's raised a combined $238 million, down from equivalent sales the year before of a combined $640 million.
The move also angered David Genser, a Boston-area collector who last year gave the Rose a James Rosenquist drawing.
"This art was never given to the museum for those purposes," he said. "It should be a last resort. I can't understand how Brandeis is in such dire straits."
Lee, the overseer, said he was disturbed by the secrecy by which the administration operated. Reinharz said talks about closing the Rose began six weeks ago. But Lee said he learned of the decision in a series of phone calls last night from Rush, Rose donor Lois Foster, and Whitney Museum of American Art director Adam Weinberg.
"There's a history of the Rose, a beautiful history in the annals of contemporary art that is not understood by the president or any of the board of trustees," said Lee. "What they’re doing is a travesty."
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com. Peter Schworm of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Best of the New - Hot Spots and Hangouts
BEST OF THE NEW
Hotspots and hangouts
Cozy cafes, soothing spas, the best of Patriot Place, And Saugus's little Vegas.
January 25, 2009
Drink Barbara Lynch's aptly named Fort Point bar highlights the craft of the cocktail perhaps more than any other establishment in town. The concoctions are made with fresh herbs, specialty liqueurs, and hand-chipped ice, and the space feels like a contemporary speak-easy. There's no drink list; all-star mixologists ask what you're in the mood for, then improvise. 348 Congress Street, Boston, 617-695-1806, drinkfortpoint.com
Orchid Vegas comes to Saugus at this restaurant, lounge, and nightclub, where, on "Seduction Saturdays" or "Obsession Fridays," you can dance hypnotically, enjoy a Cherry Blossom cocktail, and eat Asian-inspired food. Just remember: What happens at the Orchid stays at the Orchid. 20 Bennett Highway, Saugus, 781-231-1330, orchidboston.com
Cafe 939
For the young, hep, and musically inclined, Cafe 939 is a melodic oasis in the Back Bay desert of fratastic bars. The Berklee College-run concert venue is one part nostalgia-infused java shop, one part high-concept performing grounds. It claims no musical niche -- a refreshing openness not usually seen in Boston's sectarian music scene. 939 Boylston Street, Boston, 617-747-6038, cafe939.com
City Feed & Supply
One thing JP's Centre Street didn't have was a destination, a place to hang at 8 a.m. or 8 p.m. Problem solved with City Feed's second JP spot. Critics may carp about the prices and organic everything, but the wood decor, comfortable seating, fresh coffee, and fun munchies help wash away your worries. 672 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, 617-524-1700, cityfeed.com
Crema Cafe Liza Baer-Kahn and Marley Brush's spot brings a cheery, inclusive spirit to exclusive Harvard Square. You'll get first-rate coffee, delicious soups and sandwiches, and the best ham-and-cheese croissant in Cambridge. And look, Ma, no attitude. 27 Brattle Street, Cambridge, 617-876-2700
Walker Contemporary After a decade working in local galleries, Stephanie Walker has opened a must-see spot of her own. Walker Contemporary leans toward the slick and minimal, bringing together abstract and narrative pieces in an array of mediums, created by emerging and mid-career artists from Boston and beyond. 450 Harrison Avenue,
Boston, 617-695-0211,walkercontemporary.com
BYOD Dog Wash
Two new outposts of the popular LaundroMutt chain opened, one in Southie and the other in Newton. Both provide everything needed to get your pup smelling friendly again: stainless-steel easy-access tubs, spray hoses, towels, and specialty shampoos and coat brighteners. Prices range from $5 to $23. 617 East Broadway, South Boston, 617-765-4800; 208 Sumner Street, Newton Centre, 617-431-4363
Black Bears at Stone Zoo Smoky and Bubba, the newest additions to the Stone Zoo's menagerie, love an audience. Rescued from Georgia after their mother was killed, the 3-year-old, 300-pound cubs often wrestle, climb trees, and generally show off for crowds. 149 Pond Street, Stoneham, 617-541-5466, stonezoo.org
Munchkin Land Need a place for your wee ones to expend their energy? Munchkin Land is the ideal fix. A gym and an indoor play area (named Tiny Town) provide the perfect solution for bored and, ahem, hyper kids. 30 Oak Street, Westborough, 508-366-7799, munchkin-land.org
Frog Pond Carousel During the shoulder season between wading and skating, the city experimented with a new attraction on Boston Common that we fell head over heels for: a carousel. A ride cost $2, and the merry-go-round stayed open into the post-dinner and movie hour of 9 p.m., when lights make the city more magical. Keep an eye out for the carousel's return this spring, when things start hopping again.
Koullshi Lounge Casablanca native Samad Naamad, owner/executive chef of Charlestown's Tangierino, dropped a cool $1.6 million to expand and rebirth his Moroccan mecca. The result is an opulent, fantasy-inducing overdose of canopy-covered couch thrones, hand-carved Moroccan furniture, hookah lounge, and, oh yes, belly dancers. 73 Main Street, Charlestown. 617-242-6009, koullshi.com
Look Good, Feel Good
Beauty doesn't come without a little work, but relaxation does.
PowerHouse Kickboxing Konstantin Selivanov's sweat studio in Central Square may offer the most intense total body workout in town. Selivanov, who trained in underground fight clubs in Russia, has perfected a "street friendly" style of mixed martial arts training. Selivanov has offered group classes for years, but now you can spar with him one-on-one for $90 an hour. Bring tissues -- he may have you crying like a baby. 91 Sidney Street, Cambridge, 617-225-7977, powerhousekickboxing.com
Mandarin Oriental You don't have to be a resident at this grand hotel to spend a day in the lap of luxury. Start your morning with a visit to The Spa at Mandarin Oriental with their popular "Time Rituals" package. While your feet are being massaged, a personal consultant will help you select custom treatments. Nosh on Asian cuisine downstairs at Asana. Next stop, the Mizu hair salon opened by Elan Sassoon, talented son of Vidal. A purchase at the sumptuous Frette linens boutique will let you sleep like royalty. (Even the pope snoozes on Frette.) Or pick up the next "It" bag at Gucci. End the day at the M Bar & Lounge, a chic spot to sip a drink. 776 Boylston Street, Boston, 617-535-8888, mandarinoriental.com
Life in Synergy A fitness studio without costly membership fees or yearlong commitments? Works for us. At $15 per class, or $120 for a package of 10, this well-appointed eco-friendly facility offers everything from yoga and Pilates to martial arts and funky dance classes. 867 Boylston Street, second floor, Boston, 617-867-6500, lifeinsynergy.com
Jeanne Lee Salon
After years of performing foot-pampering pedicures at other Newbury Street salons, Jeanne Lee has opened her own serene, calming, and extremely private space with her equally experienced mother Cathy Tran. Since both are skilled in Chinese reflexology, put your feet up and stay awhile. 125 Newbury Street, Suite 4, Boston, 617-536-0143, jeannesalon.com
Eat, Shop, Play
With live music and a freshwater aquarium,
Foxborough's Patriot Place isn't your average mall.
Showcase Live This sparkling music venue, which has hosted performances by Al Green, Chaka Khan, and Aimee Mann, features a large open dance area, impressive sound system, a capacity of 1,000 for concerts, and intimate seating for smaller shows. You'll feel as if you're at a club in Boston -- without the parking headaches. 888-354-7042, showcaselive.com
The Hall at Patriot Place Still can't believe that the once laughable Patriots have won three Super Bowl titles this decade? Well, it really did happen, and there is proof positive here. This state-of-the-art museum is filled with video and memorabilia that capture the team's history, from its bumbling early days (yes, Mark Henderson's snowplow is there) right up to today's dynasty and the shining Lombardi trophies. 508-698-4800
CBS Scene What better place to watch a Patriots road game -- battle the crowd during a home game at your own risk -- than in the shadow of Gillette Stadium. The ESPN Zone-like sports bar and restaurant has more than 150 TVs, so you won't miss a play. It may not be quite as good as your tailgate feast, but it's close. 508-203-2200, cbsscene.com
Bass Pro Shops Aside from an exhaustive selection of hunting, fishing, and camping gear, the 143,000-square-foot superstore features an expansive boat showroom, a waterfall, and a 34,000-gallon freshwater aquarium stocked with 400 types of native New England fish. Those longing to be more outdoorsy should check out the free classes -- everything from fly-fishing to how to smoke the best BBQ. 508-216-2000, basspro.com
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Hotspots and hangouts
Cozy cafes, soothing spas, the best of Patriot Place, And Saugus's little Vegas.
January 25, 2009
Drink Barbara Lynch's aptly named Fort Point bar highlights the craft of the cocktail perhaps more than any other establishment in town. The concoctions are made with fresh herbs, specialty liqueurs, and hand-chipped ice, and the space feels like a contemporary speak-easy. There's no drink list; all-star mixologists ask what you're in the mood for, then improvise. 348 Congress Street, Boston, 617-695-1806, drinkfortpoint.com
Orchid Vegas comes to Saugus at this restaurant, lounge, and nightclub, where, on "Seduction Saturdays" or "Obsession Fridays," you can dance hypnotically, enjoy a Cherry Blossom cocktail, and eat Asian-inspired food. Just remember: What happens at the Orchid stays at the Orchid. 20 Bennett Highway, Saugus, 781-231-1330, orchidboston.com
Cafe 939
For the young, hep, and musically inclined, Cafe 939 is a melodic oasis in the Back Bay desert of fratastic bars. The Berklee College-run concert venue is one part nostalgia-infused java shop, one part high-concept performing grounds. It claims no musical niche -- a refreshing openness not usually seen in Boston's sectarian music scene. 939 Boylston Street, Boston, 617-747-6038, cafe939.com
City Feed & Supply
One thing JP's Centre Street didn't have was a destination, a place to hang at 8 a.m. or 8 p.m. Problem solved with City Feed's second JP spot. Critics may carp about the prices and organic everything, but the wood decor, comfortable seating, fresh coffee, and fun munchies help wash away your worries. 672 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, 617-524-1700, cityfeed.com
Crema Cafe Liza Baer-Kahn and Marley Brush's spot brings a cheery, inclusive spirit to exclusive Harvard Square. You'll get first-rate coffee, delicious soups and sandwiches, and the best ham-and-cheese croissant in Cambridge. And look, Ma, no attitude. 27 Brattle Street, Cambridge, 617-876-2700
Walker Contemporary After a decade working in local galleries, Stephanie Walker has opened a must-see spot of her own. Walker Contemporary leans toward the slick and minimal, bringing together abstract and narrative pieces in an array of mediums, created by emerging and mid-career artists from Boston and beyond. 450 Harrison Avenue,
Boston, 617-695-0211,walkercontemporary.com
BYOD Dog Wash
Two new outposts of the popular LaundroMutt chain opened, one in Southie and the other in Newton. Both provide everything needed to get your pup smelling friendly again: stainless-steel easy-access tubs, spray hoses, towels, and specialty shampoos and coat brighteners. Prices range from $5 to $23. 617 East Broadway, South Boston, 617-765-4800; 208 Sumner Street, Newton Centre, 617-431-4363
Black Bears at Stone Zoo Smoky and Bubba, the newest additions to the Stone Zoo's menagerie, love an audience. Rescued from Georgia after their mother was killed, the 3-year-old, 300-pound cubs often wrestle, climb trees, and generally show off for crowds. 149 Pond Street, Stoneham, 617-541-5466, stonezoo.org
Munchkin Land Need a place for your wee ones to expend their energy? Munchkin Land is the ideal fix. A gym and an indoor play area (named Tiny Town) provide the perfect solution for bored and, ahem, hyper kids. 30 Oak Street, Westborough, 508-366-7799, munchkin-land.org
Frog Pond Carousel During the shoulder season between wading and skating, the city experimented with a new attraction on Boston Common that we fell head over heels for: a carousel. A ride cost $2, and the merry-go-round stayed open into the post-dinner and movie hour of 9 p.m., when lights make the city more magical. Keep an eye out for the carousel's return this spring, when things start hopping again.
Koullshi Lounge Casablanca native Samad Naamad, owner/executive chef of Charlestown's Tangierino, dropped a cool $1.6 million to expand and rebirth his Moroccan mecca. The result is an opulent, fantasy-inducing overdose of canopy-covered couch thrones, hand-carved Moroccan furniture, hookah lounge, and, oh yes, belly dancers. 73 Main Street, Charlestown. 617-242-6009, koullshi.com
Look Good, Feel Good
Beauty doesn't come without a little work, but relaxation does.
PowerHouse Kickboxing Konstantin Selivanov's sweat studio in Central Square may offer the most intense total body workout in town. Selivanov, who trained in underground fight clubs in Russia, has perfected a "street friendly" style of mixed martial arts training. Selivanov has offered group classes for years, but now you can spar with him one-on-one for $90 an hour. Bring tissues -- he may have you crying like a baby. 91 Sidney Street, Cambridge, 617-225-7977, powerhousekickboxing.com
Mandarin Oriental You don't have to be a resident at this grand hotel to spend a day in the lap of luxury. Start your morning with a visit to The Spa at Mandarin Oriental with their popular "Time Rituals" package. While your feet are being massaged, a personal consultant will help you select custom treatments. Nosh on Asian cuisine downstairs at Asana. Next stop, the Mizu hair salon opened by Elan Sassoon, talented son of Vidal. A purchase at the sumptuous Frette linens boutique will let you sleep like royalty. (Even the pope snoozes on Frette.) Or pick up the next "It" bag at Gucci. End the day at the M Bar & Lounge, a chic spot to sip a drink. 776 Boylston Street, Boston, 617-535-8888, mandarinoriental.com
Life in Synergy A fitness studio without costly membership fees or yearlong commitments? Works for us. At $15 per class, or $120 for a package of 10, this well-appointed eco-friendly facility offers everything from yoga and Pilates to martial arts and funky dance classes. 867 Boylston Street, second floor, Boston, 617-867-6500, lifeinsynergy.com
Jeanne Lee Salon
After years of performing foot-pampering pedicures at other Newbury Street salons, Jeanne Lee has opened her own serene, calming, and extremely private space with her equally experienced mother Cathy Tran. Since both are skilled in Chinese reflexology, put your feet up and stay awhile. 125 Newbury Street, Suite 4, Boston, 617-536-0143, jeannesalon.com
Eat, Shop, Play
With live music and a freshwater aquarium,
Foxborough's Patriot Place isn't your average mall.
Showcase Live This sparkling music venue, which has hosted performances by Al Green, Chaka Khan, and Aimee Mann, features a large open dance area, impressive sound system, a capacity of 1,000 for concerts, and intimate seating for smaller shows. You'll feel as if you're at a club in Boston -- without the parking headaches. 888-354-7042, showcaselive.com
The Hall at Patriot Place Still can't believe that the once laughable Patriots have won three Super Bowl titles this decade? Well, it really did happen, and there is proof positive here. This state-of-the-art museum is filled with video and memorabilia that capture the team's history, from its bumbling early days (yes, Mark Henderson's snowplow is there) right up to today's dynasty and the shining Lombardi trophies. 508-698-4800
CBS Scene What better place to watch a Patriots road game -- battle the crowd during a home game at your own risk -- than in the shadow of Gillette Stadium. The ESPN Zone-like sports bar and restaurant has more than 150 TVs, so you won't miss a play. It may not be quite as good as your tailgate feast, but it's close. 508-203-2200, cbsscene.com
Bass Pro Shops Aside from an exhaustive selection of hunting, fishing, and camping gear, the 143,000-square-foot superstore features an expansive boat showroom, a waterfall, and a 34,000-gallon freshwater aquarium stocked with 400 types of native New England fish. Those longing to be more outdoorsy should check out the free classes -- everything from fly-fishing to how to smoke the best BBQ. 508-216-2000, basspro.com
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Best of the New - Restaurants
Best of the New
A shoe addict's emporium. A modern-day speak-easy. Heaven in a waffle cone. Here's to 128 of our favorite arrivals last year - and long may they run.
January 25, 2009
Chocolee Chocolates
Veteran pastry chef Lee Napoli's transition from the kitchen to candy counter has been as smooth (and sweet) as the treats that fill her South End shop. Her truffles, made fresh daily, are irresistible, as is her warm and chatty demeanor. Be sure to sample the main draw, offered only on the weekends: beignets oozing with a ganache of dark chocolate and mascarpone. 83 Pembroke Street, Boston, 617-236-0606, chocoleechocolates.com
Hungry Mother
Julia Child meets Dixie. Shrimp and grits sit comfortably alongside French-style gnocchi on the menu. Hungry Mother manages to be both homey and happening, with ham sacks and skillets doubling as wall hangings, and drinks served in canning jars. 233 Cardinal Medeiros Avenue, Cambridge, 617-499-0090, hungrymothercambridge.com
Bina Osteria
If it looks like you're in Europe, it tastes like you're in heaven. Bina Osteria is the new venture of brother and sister Babak Bina and Azita Bina-Seibel, of Lala Rokh and Bin 26. (Next door is their European grocery, Bina Alimentari.) The bright and modern space in the Ritz-Carlton residences features a menu filled with sophisticated indulgences, such as lobster wrapped in lardo and crispy suckling pig confit. 581 Washington Street, Boston, 617-956-0888, binaboston.com
Gitlo's Dim Sum Bakery
It looks shabby: rickety tables, a curtain separating customer from cook. But when the food's this tasty and served this quick, it seems downright criminal to criticize the ambience. The menu offers staples like scallop shumai and pork buns, and daily specials are scribbled on a chalkboard. Best of all, it's available all day. 164 Brighton Avenue, Allston, 617-782-2253
Highland Kitchen
Since opening in Somerville in late 2007, this has quickly become a hip addition to the neighborhood, with classic soul on the jukebox, tasty cheeseburgers and seafood gumbo on the menu, and live music on Sunday nights. Add inventive cocktails to that, as well as a friendly staff, and you've got one comfortably cool hot spot. 150 Highland Avenue, Somerville, 617-625-1131, myspace.com/highlandkitchen
Vee Vee
Just what you want in a neighborhood bistro, particularly if you're not much of a carnivore. Vee Vee focuses on fish, vegetables, and grains. You won't miss the meat with the likes of deliciously chewy shrimp and scallop cakes, creative salads, and butternut squash enchiladas. Also good: weekend brunch and a wide selection of craft beers. 763 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, 617-522-0145, veeveejp.com
Persephone
The Fort Point restaurant shares a space with Achilles, a boutique that sells designer togs for hipsters. But the food doesn't play second fiddle to the fashion -- Michael Leviton of Lumiere is the chef. Here, his food is seasonal, well composed, and playful: fancied-up pretzel dogs, local lobster with gnocchi. And you can play Guitar Hero in the lounge area. 283 Summer Street, Boston, 617-695-2257, achilles-project.com
Sixty2 on Wharf
The North Shore got a dose of urban sophistication with this hot bistro on Pickering Wharf. Standouts include the chickpea fritters and date compote starter, handmade pastas, and the savory striped bass. Don't miss the warm toffee pudding. 62 Wharf Street, Salem, 978-744-0062, 62onwharf.com
Mike & Patty's
Run by two Formaggio's veterans in Bay Village, this might be Boston's best breakfast and sandwich shop -- and its tiniest. If you're lucky enough to get a seat, grab it and enjoy eggs with fantastic salsa, buckwheat pancakes, or a decadent croque-monsieur. If not, there's always takeout. 12 Church Street, Boston, 617-423-3447, mikeandpattys.com
Concord Prime & Fish
This pristine family-run butcher shop and fish market has everything a protein lover could ask for: fabulously fresh cuts and catches (the fish comes from the family's high-end wholesale fish business), variety (four different cuts of short ribs), and friendliness. 97 Thoreau Street, Concord, 978-451-4197, concordprime.com
Five Guys Burgers and Fries // Four Burgers
There's no better place to satisfy a burger craving than Five Guys, and (finally!) two have opened locally, in Dedham and Foxborough. Started in a suburb of Washington, D.C., the rapidly expanding fast-food franchise will quickly have you falling for the juicy, greasy stacks. Single and double burgers are made to order (but they're always well done), and you pick from 15 classic toppings. At Four Burgers, in Central Square, the space is charmless but the meat sizzles. Choose among four patties: beef, turkey (highly recommended), veggie, or wild salmon. The fries are a must if you love skinny spuds that are crisp on the outside, soft and feathery on the inside. Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Dedham Mall, 781-326-1158, and Patriot Place, Foxborough, 508-203-9441, fiveguys.com; Four Burgers, 704 Mass. Avenue, Cambridge, 617-441-5444 , fourburgers.com
Erbaluce
An Italian restaurant unlike any other in Boston. The cuisine takes particular inspiration from Piemonte, where chef Charles Draghi's family is from. But the flavors go well beyond that, from lavender to nutmeg to fermented wild Concord grapes. The menu changes several times a week, and ingredients are fresh, fresh, fresh. 69 Church Street, Boston, 617-426-6969, erbaluce-boston.com
Sofra
Oleana-ites Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick team up for this Middle Eastern bakery/cafe, which serves an array of meze, grilled flatbread sandwiches, and excellent sweets, like chocolate cookies sandwiched together with milk jam. Even the coffee is worth braving the weekend crowds for. 1 Belmont Street, Cambridge, 617-661-3161, sofrabakery.com
Cast Iron Kitchen
Good food finally comes to Maynard, land of dive bars and sub shops. The kitchen and staff aim to please. "Little plates" globe-trot with pork taquitos and Catalonian toast. "Bigger plates" focus on foolproof classics like baked ziti and beef short ribs. A respectable beer list rounds out the menu. 177 Main Street, Maynard, 978-897-2897, castironkitchen.net
Grezzo
Raw food never tasted so wonderfully complex. At this vegan restaurant, a welcome change of pace in the North End, the freshest, most seasonal produce is transformed into "gnocchi," "fettuccine," and "sliders" that will delight the palate. A meal isn't cheap, but your healthy body's worth it. 69 Prince Street, Boston, 857-362-7288, grezzorestaurant.com
JoJo Tai Pei
When there's something called "smelly bean curd" on the menu, you know you're not getting Westernized Taiwanese food. Here you'll find intriguing dishes such as bamboo cap rice pudding. Be adventurous; most of the offerings are delicious. But be warned: That smelly bean curd lives up to its name. 103 Brighton Avenue, Allston, 617-254-8889, jojotaipeiboston.com
Craigie on Main
After years in its tiny basement space, Craigie Street Bistrot has a new location and name. Chef Tony Maws is still cooking the ingredient-inspired, seasonal fare he's known for. Now there's a bar to match, with seasonal cocktails that riff on the classics and a bar menu that includes a killer burger. 853 Main Street, Cambridge, 617-497-5511, craigieonmain.com
The Battery
Brighton has always been an Irish expat haven, but now it finally has an authentic Irish chipper, serving homemade battered and fried . . . everything, from fish and chips to potato pies to sausages and burgers. You heard right -- breaded and deep-fried hamburgers. (Take that, good cholesterol!) But the menu includes healthier, baked options, too. 379 Washington Street, Brighton, 617-987-0884
Ristorante Damiano
Small plates go Italian. This is the perfect place when you want a taste of the North End in a stylish setting but not a gut- (or wallet-) busting meal. Scaled-down eggplant Parm and penne with gorgonzola hit all the right notes. 307-309 Hanover Street, Boston, 617-742-0020, ristorantedamiano.com
Ecco
Yes, a martini bar in East Boston, and it's just what the neighborhood needed. How can you tell? The whole neighborhood is here. People of all ages and fashion senses sit side-by-side in the swanky/cozy space, sipping well-made cocktails and eating short-rib shumai and lobster mac and cheese. 107 Porter Street, East Boston, 617-561-1112, eccoboston.com
Marliave
Grotto chef Scott Herritt restored this classic space downtown, first opened in 1885. There's an upstairs level for fine dining and a tiny, lower-level oyster bar. The latter is most likely to win your heart with its well-executed comfort food, such as meatball sliders. 10 Bosworth Street, Boston, 617-422-0004, marliave.com
Townsend's
Owners Michael and Rosaleen Tallon used to run the Kendall Cafe in Cambridge. Now they bring their own kind of hospitality to their own neighborhood. Hyde Park needed a place like this: upscale-cozy, with a stone fireplace, dark wood, well-prepared Irish pub fare, and more than 50 kinds of beer. 81 Fairmount Avenue, Hyde Park, 617-333-0306, townsendsrestaurant.com
Scampo
Lydia Shire's latest venture is her most creative. While decidedly Italian, the menu branches out to include Indian breads. The homemade bufala mozzarella is a must. Both the open kitchen, which acts as a centerpiece, and the outdoor patio charm. 215 Charles Street, Boston, 617-536-2100, scampoboston.com
Baza Gourmet Foods & Spirits
Tucked into this supermarket with an Eastern European feel is an impressive takeout spread. Select from nearly 20 hot entrees and sides ranging from tortellini carbonara to typical Russian fare like chicken Kiev -- most at $6.99 a pound. There are even more cold choices, including "caviars" -- chopped salads of mushroom, eggplant, or zucchini. 30 Tower Road, Newton, 617-986-8510, bazaboston.com
Bin Ends
Think of this discount wine warehouse as a Filene's Basement for oenophiles: For every week that certain wines are in the store, they drop in price. More than 450 wines grace the bins, from well-known vintners such as Groth to off-the-beaten-vine choices from India and Israel. 236 Wood Road, Braintree, 781-817-1212, binendswine.com
banQ
Are you tired of French and Indian food with large portions of meat cooked in cream or butter? The emphasis at banQ is a much lighter touch, resulting in a seamless blending of subcontinental spices and continental refinement. 1375 Washington Street, Boston, 617-451-0077, banqrestaur.web151.discountasp.net
Benatti
Some of the best Italian food in the Boston area is to be found nowhere near the North End, but in heavily Portuguese and Brazilian East Cambridge. Chef Andrea Benatti's food sings, from the simple grilled vegetable antipasti to pasta made fresh each day and the perfect risotto. 1128 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, 617-492-6300, benattispecialities.com
Estragon and Las Ventas
A trip to this South End tapas bar and Spanish grocery store might be the next best thing to round-trip tickets to Madrid. At Estragon, you'll find traditional tapas -- garlic shrimp, tortilla espanola -- and more unusual dishes in a room that's equal parts 1930s Spain and present-day SoWa. Next door, Las Ventas sells products for the Spain-loving foodie, including jamon iberico, finally available in America. 700 Harrison Avenue, Boston, 617-266-0443 (Estragon) and 617-266-0905 (Las Ventas), estragontapas.com
Abbott's Frozen Custard
Upstate New Yorkers aren't the only ones lining up for this treat -- a creamier yet denser alternative to soft-serve ice cream -- now that this Rochester institution has opened an outpost in Needham. Several flavors are made daily. You can't go wrong with the sublime chocolate almond in a waffle cone. 934 Great Plain Avenue, Needham, 781-444-9908, abbottscustard.com
Sportello
The name is Italian for counter service, and that's what you'll find. It looks like a gleaming-white mod diner, and it tastes like modern Italy -- a simple chicken soup gets a twist with cumin-scented gnocchi, and magnificently chewy-tender pasta twists come with a ragout of rabbit and green olives. 348 Congress Street, Boston, 617-737-1234, sportelloboston.com
Bokx 109
Sitting on the quiet side of the Riverside T stop, the Hotel Indigo's LA-styled steakhouse brings the lavishness of sustainably raised corn-fed beef (try the Brandt Farms tenderloin with horseradish black pepper chantilly), sleek leather and wood paneling, and poolside dining cabanas to the suburbs. 399 Grove Street, Newton, 617-454-3399, bokx109.com
Bigger, Better
For a couple of standouts, more space means even more appeal.
Both East-meets-West restaurant Blue Ginger and the cafe South End Buttery saw successful expansions last year, bringing new life to old favorites. Blue Ginger added a lounge with a bar and a menu of small plates. Dishes like Ming’s Bings (below) – a cross between a dumpling and a burger – lend themselves to sharing. The South End Buttery, now Buttery Bar + Bistro, added space and nighttime hours to become a neighborhood bistro serving appealing, casual fare. Blue Ginger, 583 Washington Street, Wellesley, 781-283-5790, ming.com/blueginger; Buttery Bar + Bistro, 314 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, 617-482-1015, southendbuttery.com
Take Two
A few ethnic favorites branched out in style.
Tamarind Bay Coastal Indian Kitchen
This Brookline offshoot of Harvard Square’s Tamarind Bay specializes in authentic
Indian seafood dishes, with whole-fish presentations and creamy shrimp curries from Kerala, Goa, and other seaside states. Don’t worry – the amazing black lentils from the Cambridge restaurant are also here. 1665 Beacon Street, Brookline, 617-277-1752, tamarind-bay.com/coastal.html
Orinoco
Now also in Brookline, Orinoco serves the arepas, salads, and Venezuelan specialties you’ve come to love at the original South End site. You’ll find more room and more parking spots in this neighborhood, but a similarly lively scene. 22 Harvard Street, Brookline, 617-232-9505, orinocokitchen.com
Olecito
This takeout-only baby sister of Ole Mexican Grill in Inman Square is easy on the wallet and oh-so-satisfying. You can still get Erwin Ramos’s famous shrimp tacos here, but make sure you try the skirt steak torta, not available at the sibling restaurant across the street.
12 Springfield Street, Cambridge, 617-876-1374
Machu Picchu Charcoal Chicken & Grill
Peruvians know a thing or two about cooking a chicken. The specialty of the house (a stone’s throw from sister restaurant Machu Picchu) is marinated in spices and spit-roasted over coals until the skin is a dark golden brown and the meat is rich and smoky. Dunk it in creamy hot pepper sauce and prepare to swoon. 25 Union Square, Somerville, 617-623-7972, machuchicken.com
Best of the Old
There’s plenty that’s exciting and new at established favorites, too – from innovative dishes that have just landed on the menus to special deals designed to help us weather the cold economy. Take Taco Tuesdays. Once a week at Boston’s La Verdad and tremont 647, tacos are $1 and $2 each, respectively. Another great city deal is the stuzzi, or small plates, menu at sage; the Italian restaurant in the South End offers the likes of white anchovy crostini or arancini with short rib and truffle aioli for $4 to $8 a pop. The ever-creative Gargoyles on the Square in Somerville serves a new take on a classic with its French onion “cappuccino”: onion soup in a cappuccino cup topped with foamed Swiss cheese-infused milk. It’s served with a sandwich of oxtail marmalade. And for a low-key, comforting start to the week, try Rialto’s new Sunday roasts. On that night, the Cambridge restaurant serves a one-plate meal for $20 that’s centered on a roast – roast lamb with rosemary, white beans, and pancetta or roast pork with pumpkin, potatoes, and sage. La Verdad, 1 Lansdowne Street, Boston, 617-421-9595, laverdadtaqueria.com; Tremont 647, 647 Tremont Street, Boston, 617-266-4600, tremont647.com; Sage, 1395 Washington Street, Boston, 617-248-8814, sageboston.com; Gargoyles on the Square, 219 Elm Street, Somerville, 617-776-5300, gargoylesonthesquare.com; Rialto, 1 Bennett Street, Cambridge, 617-661-5050, rialto-restaurant.com
Best of the New contributors: Kevin Alexander, Susanne Althoff, Mark Baard, Kara Baskin, Joel Brown, Terry Byrne, Andrea Calabretta, Katie Johnston Chase, Devra First, Tim Flynn, Brooke Lea Foster, Scott Haas, Stephen Jermanok, Susan Johnston, Sheryl Julian, Joseph P. Kahn, Marni Elyse Katz, Susan Chaityn Lebovits, Alison Lobron, Christie Matheson, Tom Matlack, Eric Moskowitz, Doug Most, Colin Nickerson, Janice O'Leary, Jenna Pelletier, Juliet Pennington, Shawn Peters, John Powers, Molly Jane Quinn, Sarah Rodman, Christopher Rowland, Jennifer Schwartz, Tina Sutton, Denise Swidey, Visi Tilak, Rachel Travers, Jennifer Weeks
Send comments or suggestions about this year's Best of the New to magazine@globe.com.
A shoe addict's emporium. A modern-day speak-easy. Heaven in a waffle cone. Here's to 128 of our favorite arrivals last year - and long may they run.
January 25, 2009
Chocolee Chocolates
Veteran pastry chef Lee Napoli's transition from the kitchen to candy counter has been as smooth (and sweet) as the treats that fill her South End shop. Her truffles, made fresh daily, are irresistible, as is her warm and chatty demeanor. Be sure to sample the main draw, offered only on the weekends: beignets oozing with a ganache of dark chocolate and mascarpone. 83 Pembroke Street, Boston, 617-236-0606, chocoleechocolates.com
Hungry Mother
Julia Child meets Dixie. Shrimp and grits sit comfortably alongside French-style gnocchi on the menu. Hungry Mother manages to be both homey and happening, with ham sacks and skillets doubling as wall hangings, and drinks served in canning jars. 233 Cardinal Medeiros Avenue, Cambridge, 617-499-0090, hungrymothercambridge.com
Bina Osteria
If it looks like you're in Europe, it tastes like you're in heaven. Bina Osteria is the new venture of brother and sister Babak Bina and Azita Bina-Seibel, of Lala Rokh and Bin 26. (Next door is their European grocery, Bina Alimentari.) The bright and modern space in the Ritz-Carlton residences features a menu filled with sophisticated indulgences, such as lobster wrapped in lardo and crispy suckling pig confit. 581 Washington Street, Boston, 617-956-0888, binaboston.com
Gitlo's Dim Sum Bakery
It looks shabby: rickety tables, a curtain separating customer from cook. But when the food's this tasty and served this quick, it seems downright criminal to criticize the ambience. The menu offers staples like scallop shumai and pork buns, and daily specials are scribbled on a chalkboard. Best of all, it's available all day. 164 Brighton Avenue, Allston, 617-782-2253
Highland Kitchen
Since opening in Somerville in late 2007, this has quickly become a hip addition to the neighborhood, with classic soul on the jukebox, tasty cheeseburgers and seafood gumbo on the menu, and live music on Sunday nights. Add inventive cocktails to that, as well as a friendly staff, and you've got one comfortably cool hot spot. 150 Highland Avenue, Somerville, 617-625-1131, myspace.com/highlandkitchen
Vee Vee
Just what you want in a neighborhood bistro, particularly if you're not much of a carnivore. Vee Vee focuses on fish, vegetables, and grains. You won't miss the meat with the likes of deliciously chewy shrimp and scallop cakes, creative salads, and butternut squash enchiladas. Also good: weekend brunch and a wide selection of craft beers. 763 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, 617-522-0145, veeveejp.com
Persephone
The Fort Point restaurant shares a space with Achilles, a boutique that sells designer togs for hipsters. But the food doesn't play second fiddle to the fashion -- Michael Leviton of Lumiere is the chef. Here, his food is seasonal, well composed, and playful: fancied-up pretzel dogs, local lobster with gnocchi. And you can play Guitar Hero in the lounge area. 283 Summer Street, Boston, 617-695-2257, achilles-project.com
Sixty2 on Wharf
The North Shore got a dose of urban sophistication with this hot bistro on Pickering Wharf. Standouts include the chickpea fritters and date compote starter, handmade pastas, and the savory striped bass. Don't miss the warm toffee pudding. 62 Wharf Street, Salem, 978-744-0062, 62onwharf.com
Mike & Patty's
Run by two Formaggio's veterans in Bay Village, this might be Boston's best breakfast and sandwich shop -- and its tiniest. If you're lucky enough to get a seat, grab it and enjoy eggs with fantastic salsa, buckwheat pancakes, or a decadent croque-monsieur. If not, there's always takeout. 12 Church Street, Boston, 617-423-3447, mikeandpattys.com
Concord Prime & Fish
This pristine family-run butcher shop and fish market has everything a protein lover could ask for: fabulously fresh cuts and catches (the fish comes from the family's high-end wholesale fish business), variety (four different cuts of short ribs), and friendliness. 97 Thoreau Street, Concord, 978-451-4197, concordprime.com
Five Guys Burgers and Fries // Four Burgers
There's no better place to satisfy a burger craving than Five Guys, and (finally!) two have opened locally, in Dedham and Foxborough. Started in a suburb of Washington, D.C., the rapidly expanding fast-food franchise will quickly have you falling for the juicy, greasy stacks. Single and double burgers are made to order (but they're always well done), and you pick from 15 classic toppings. At Four Burgers, in Central Square, the space is charmless but the meat sizzles. Choose among four patties: beef, turkey (highly recommended), veggie, or wild salmon. The fries are a must if you love skinny spuds that are crisp on the outside, soft and feathery on the inside. Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Dedham Mall, 781-326-1158, and Patriot Place, Foxborough, 508-203-9441, fiveguys.com; Four Burgers, 704 Mass. Avenue, Cambridge, 617-441-5444 , fourburgers.com
Erbaluce
An Italian restaurant unlike any other in Boston. The cuisine takes particular inspiration from Piemonte, where chef Charles Draghi's family is from. But the flavors go well beyond that, from lavender to nutmeg to fermented wild Concord grapes. The menu changes several times a week, and ingredients are fresh, fresh, fresh. 69 Church Street, Boston, 617-426-6969, erbaluce-boston.com
Sofra
Oleana-ites Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick team up for this Middle Eastern bakery/cafe, which serves an array of meze, grilled flatbread sandwiches, and excellent sweets, like chocolate cookies sandwiched together with milk jam. Even the coffee is worth braving the weekend crowds for. 1 Belmont Street, Cambridge, 617-661-3161, sofrabakery.com
Cast Iron Kitchen
Good food finally comes to Maynard, land of dive bars and sub shops. The kitchen and staff aim to please. "Little plates" globe-trot with pork taquitos and Catalonian toast. "Bigger plates" focus on foolproof classics like baked ziti and beef short ribs. A respectable beer list rounds out the menu. 177 Main Street, Maynard, 978-897-2897, castironkitchen.net
Grezzo
Raw food never tasted so wonderfully complex. At this vegan restaurant, a welcome change of pace in the North End, the freshest, most seasonal produce is transformed into "gnocchi," "fettuccine," and "sliders" that will delight the palate. A meal isn't cheap, but your healthy body's worth it. 69 Prince Street, Boston, 857-362-7288, grezzorestaurant.com
JoJo Tai Pei
When there's something called "smelly bean curd" on the menu, you know you're not getting Westernized Taiwanese food. Here you'll find intriguing dishes such as bamboo cap rice pudding. Be adventurous; most of the offerings are delicious. But be warned: That smelly bean curd lives up to its name. 103 Brighton Avenue, Allston, 617-254-8889, jojotaipeiboston.com
Craigie on Main
After years in its tiny basement space, Craigie Street Bistrot has a new location and name. Chef Tony Maws is still cooking the ingredient-inspired, seasonal fare he's known for. Now there's a bar to match, with seasonal cocktails that riff on the classics and a bar menu that includes a killer burger. 853 Main Street, Cambridge, 617-497-5511, craigieonmain.com
The Battery
Brighton has always been an Irish expat haven, but now it finally has an authentic Irish chipper, serving homemade battered and fried . . . everything, from fish and chips to potato pies to sausages and burgers. You heard right -- breaded and deep-fried hamburgers. (Take that, good cholesterol!) But the menu includes healthier, baked options, too. 379 Washington Street, Brighton, 617-987-0884
Ristorante Damiano
Small plates go Italian. This is the perfect place when you want a taste of the North End in a stylish setting but not a gut- (or wallet-) busting meal. Scaled-down eggplant Parm and penne with gorgonzola hit all the right notes. 307-309 Hanover Street, Boston, 617-742-0020, ristorantedamiano.com
Ecco
Yes, a martini bar in East Boston, and it's just what the neighborhood needed. How can you tell? The whole neighborhood is here. People of all ages and fashion senses sit side-by-side in the swanky/cozy space, sipping well-made cocktails and eating short-rib shumai and lobster mac and cheese. 107 Porter Street, East Boston, 617-561-1112, eccoboston.com
Marliave
Grotto chef Scott Herritt restored this classic space downtown, first opened in 1885. There's an upstairs level for fine dining and a tiny, lower-level oyster bar. The latter is most likely to win your heart with its well-executed comfort food, such as meatball sliders. 10 Bosworth Street, Boston, 617-422-0004, marliave.com
Townsend's
Owners Michael and Rosaleen Tallon used to run the Kendall Cafe in Cambridge. Now they bring their own kind of hospitality to their own neighborhood. Hyde Park needed a place like this: upscale-cozy, with a stone fireplace, dark wood, well-prepared Irish pub fare, and more than 50 kinds of beer. 81 Fairmount Avenue, Hyde Park, 617-333-0306, townsendsrestaurant.com
Scampo
Lydia Shire's latest venture is her most creative. While decidedly Italian, the menu branches out to include Indian breads. The homemade bufala mozzarella is a must. Both the open kitchen, which acts as a centerpiece, and the outdoor patio charm. 215 Charles Street, Boston, 617-536-2100, scampoboston.com
Baza Gourmet Foods & Spirits
Tucked into this supermarket with an Eastern European feel is an impressive takeout spread. Select from nearly 20 hot entrees and sides ranging from tortellini carbonara to typical Russian fare like chicken Kiev -- most at $6.99 a pound. There are even more cold choices, including "caviars" -- chopped salads of mushroom, eggplant, or zucchini. 30 Tower Road, Newton, 617-986-8510, bazaboston.com
Bin Ends
Think of this discount wine warehouse as a Filene's Basement for oenophiles: For every week that certain wines are in the store, they drop in price. More than 450 wines grace the bins, from well-known vintners such as Groth to off-the-beaten-vine choices from India and Israel. 236 Wood Road, Braintree, 781-817-1212, binendswine.com
banQ
Are you tired of French and Indian food with large portions of meat cooked in cream or butter? The emphasis at banQ is a much lighter touch, resulting in a seamless blending of subcontinental spices and continental refinement. 1375 Washington Street, Boston, 617-451-0077, banqrestaur.web151.discountasp.net
Benatti
Some of the best Italian food in the Boston area is to be found nowhere near the North End, but in heavily Portuguese and Brazilian East Cambridge. Chef Andrea Benatti's food sings, from the simple grilled vegetable antipasti to pasta made fresh each day and the perfect risotto. 1128 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, 617-492-6300, benattispecialities.com
Estragon and Las Ventas
A trip to this South End tapas bar and Spanish grocery store might be the next best thing to round-trip tickets to Madrid. At Estragon, you'll find traditional tapas -- garlic shrimp, tortilla espanola -- and more unusual dishes in a room that's equal parts 1930s Spain and present-day SoWa. Next door, Las Ventas sells products for the Spain-loving foodie, including jamon iberico, finally available in America. 700 Harrison Avenue, Boston, 617-266-0443 (Estragon) and 617-266-0905 (Las Ventas), estragontapas.com
Abbott's Frozen Custard
Upstate New Yorkers aren't the only ones lining up for this treat -- a creamier yet denser alternative to soft-serve ice cream -- now that this Rochester institution has opened an outpost in Needham. Several flavors are made daily. You can't go wrong with the sublime chocolate almond in a waffle cone. 934 Great Plain Avenue, Needham, 781-444-9908, abbottscustard.com
Sportello
The name is Italian for counter service, and that's what you'll find. It looks like a gleaming-white mod diner, and it tastes like modern Italy -- a simple chicken soup gets a twist with cumin-scented gnocchi, and magnificently chewy-tender pasta twists come with a ragout of rabbit and green olives. 348 Congress Street, Boston, 617-737-1234, sportelloboston.com
Bokx 109
Sitting on the quiet side of the Riverside T stop, the Hotel Indigo's LA-styled steakhouse brings the lavishness of sustainably raised corn-fed beef (try the Brandt Farms tenderloin with horseradish black pepper chantilly), sleek leather and wood paneling, and poolside dining cabanas to the suburbs. 399 Grove Street, Newton, 617-454-3399, bokx109.com
Bigger, Better
For a couple of standouts, more space means even more appeal.
Both East-meets-West restaurant Blue Ginger and the cafe South End Buttery saw successful expansions last year, bringing new life to old favorites. Blue Ginger added a lounge with a bar and a menu of small plates. Dishes like Ming’s Bings (below) – a cross between a dumpling and a burger – lend themselves to sharing. The South End Buttery, now Buttery Bar + Bistro, added space and nighttime hours to become a neighborhood bistro serving appealing, casual fare. Blue Ginger, 583 Washington Street, Wellesley, 781-283-5790, ming.com/blueginger; Buttery Bar + Bistro, 314 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, 617-482-1015, southendbuttery.com
Take Two
A few ethnic favorites branched out in style.
Tamarind Bay Coastal Indian Kitchen
This Brookline offshoot of Harvard Square’s Tamarind Bay specializes in authentic
Indian seafood dishes, with whole-fish presentations and creamy shrimp curries from Kerala, Goa, and other seaside states. Don’t worry – the amazing black lentils from the Cambridge restaurant are also here. 1665 Beacon Street, Brookline, 617-277-1752, tamarind-bay.com/coastal.html
Orinoco
Now also in Brookline, Orinoco serves the arepas, salads, and Venezuelan specialties you’ve come to love at the original South End site. You’ll find more room and more parking spots in this neighborhood, but a similarly lively scene. 22 Harvard Street, Brookline, 617-232-9505, orinocokitchen.com
Olecito
This takeout-only baby sister of Ole Mexican Grill in Inman Square is easy on the wallet and oh-so-satisfying. You can still get Erwin Ramos’s famous shrimp tacos here, but make sure you try the skirt steak torta, not available at the sibling restaurant across the street.
12 Springfield Street, Cambridge, 617-876-1374
Machu Picchu Charcoal Chicken & Grill
Peruvians know a thing or two about cooking a chicken. The specialty of the house (a stone’s throw from sister restaurant Machu Picchu) is marinated in spices and spit-roasted over coals until the skin is a dark golden brown and the meat is rich and smoky. Dunk it in creamy hot pepper sauce and prepare to swoon. 25 Union Square, Somerville, 617-623-7972, machuchicken.com
Best of the Old
There’s plenty that’s exciting and new at established favorites, too – from innovative dishes that have just landed on the menus to special deals designed to help us weather the cold economy. Take Taco Tuesdays. Once a week at Boston’s La Verdad and tremont 647, tacos are $1 and $2 each, respectively. Another great city deal is the stuzzi, or small plates, menu at sage; the Italian restaurant in the South End offers the likes of white anchovy crostini or arancini with short rib and truffle aioli for $4 to $8 a pop. The ever-creative Gargoyles on the Square in Somerville serves a new take on a classic with its French onion “cappuccino”: onion soup in a cappuccino cup topped with foamed Swiss cheese-infused milk. It’s served with a sandwich of oxtail marmalade. And for a low-key, comforting start to the week, try Rialto’s new Sunday roasts. On that night, the Cambridge restaurant serves a one-plate meal for $20 that’s centered on a roast – roast lamb with rosemary, white beans, and pancetta or roast pork with pumpkin, potatoes, and sage. La Verdad, 1 Lansdowne Street, Boston, 617-421-9595, laverdadtaqueria.com; Tremont 647, 647 Tremont Street, Boston, 617-266-4600, tremont647.com; Sage, 1395 Washington Street, Boston, 617-248-8814, sageboston.com; Gargoyles on the Square, 219 Elm Street, Somerville, 617-776-5300, gargoylesonthesquare.com; Rialto, 1 Bennett Street, Cambridge, 617-661-5050, rialto-restaurant.com
Best of the New contributors: Kevin Alexander, Susanne Althoff, Mark Baard, Kara Baskin, Joel Brown, Terry Byrne, Andrea Calabretta, Katie Johnston Chase, Devra First, Tim Flynn, Brooke Lea Foster, Scott Haas, Stephen Jermanok, Susan Johnston, Sheryl Julian, Joseph P. Kahn, Marni Elyse Katz, Susan Chaityn Lebovits, Alison Lobron, Christie Matheson, Tom Matlack, Eric Moskowitz, Doug Most, Colin Nickerson, Janice O'Leary, Jenna Pelletier, Juliet Pennington, Shawn Peters, John Powers, Molly Jane Quinn, Sarah Rodman, Christopher Rowland, Jennifer Schwartz, Tina Sutton, Denise Swidey, Visi Tilak, Rachel Travers, Jennifer Weeks
Send comments or suggestions about this year's Best of the New to magazine@globe.com.
Boston Breaker's Coach profile
FIRST PERSON
Call It a Comeback
with women's pro soccer ready to strike with a new league, Boston Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco, 60, believes that, this time, failure is not an option.
By Sheila Eldred | January 25, 2009
You've devoted your career almost exclusively to coaching women's soccer (most notably, the 1999 women's national team), and this spring you'll coach the Boston Breakers. Women generally play by the same rules on the field, but do men and women respond differently to coaching?
Guys are kind of blunt instruments. Guys don't even have to like each other that much and they'll be fine on the field. With women, that isn't going to work. Their relationships are so important that if you don't have them as a unit off the field, it's hard to get the maximum out of them on the field.
So you had to be a quick study in sport psychology?
If I say to the team something like, "Our fitness needs to get to the next level," they will all take that as "Oh, my God, he's talking to me." Guys would be going, "Yeah, that's right. I'm the only fit one here."
How do you stay in shape to keep up with all these fit women that you're coaching?
They inspire you. One of my players has this 13-minute ab thing, which is murder. I got to about eight minutes of it.
Can you score against your goalkeepers?
Yes, if we'd blindfold 'em, I'd probably have a pretty good chance.
You served as commissioner of the WUSA, which folded in 2003. What did you learn?
Everything from sponsorship to marketing to the competition side to creating a fan-friendly festive environment for games to trying to get butts in seats. We did a lot of things right, but we made a lot of mistakes as well.
Such as?
We spent too much money. The business plan was never right. But from an entertainment level, from a competitive level, from a player-development level, every team in three years made the playoffs; it was a different champion in every year; there were very few lopsided scores.
Is that why you think the new league will make it?
Yes. And American women soccer players play sports the way Americans think sports should be played: with tremendous commitment, with fitness, with finding ways to win fairly. Plus, they have this girl-next-door-type demographics.
The Breakers will be the only professional women's sport team in Massachusetts. Do you think Boston will take to an all-female team?
Boston was very close to making money last time. I think we can replicate what we did last time and average around 7,000 fans. I think business plans have a goal of 4,000, 5,000.
How many of the fans were screaming tweens?
It was great family entertainment. It wasn't incredibly expensive. It was easy. It was fun. I still think that is the core demographic.
Your youngest son, now 17, was 4 when you were preparing for the Olympics. Did growing up around the national team affect him?
He was at practice with me one day and Mia Hamm was injured, so she could not participate. Mia sat in the van with him and read him a book.
So she became his favorite player.
Of course. A year or two later, somebody asks him who his favorite player is, and he went, "Well, it's Mia Hamm, but now everybody's copied me." I think that's happened for this whole generation, where boys have looked at these girls and been able to use them as role models.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Call It a Comeback
with women's pro soccer ready to strike with a new league, Boston Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco, 60, believes that, this time, failure is not an option.
By Sheila Eldred | January 25, 2009
You've devoted your career almost exclusively to coaching women's soccer (most notably, the 1999 women's national team), and this spring you'll coach the Boston Breakers. Women generally play by the same rules on the field, but do men and women respond differently to coaching?
Guys are kind of blunt instruments. Guys don't even have to like each other that much and they'll be fine on the field. With women, that isn't going to work. Their relationships are so important that if you don't have them as a unit off the field, it's hard to get the maximum out of them on the field.
So you had to be a quick study in sport psychology?
If I say to the team something like, "Our fitness needs to get to the next level," they will all take that as "Oh, my God, he's talking to me." Guys would be going, "Yeah, that's right. I'm the only fit one here."
How do you stay in shape to keep up with all these fit women that you're coaching?
They inspire you. One of my players has this 13-minute ab thing, which is murder. I got to about eight minutes of it.
Can you score against your goalkeepers?
Yes, if we'd blindfold 'em, I'd probably have a pretty good chance.
You served as commissioner of the WUSA, which folded in 2003. What did you learn?
Everything from sponsorship to marketing to the competition side to creating a fan-friendly festive environment for games to trying to get butts in seats. We did a lot of things right, but we made a lot of mistakes as well.
Such as?
We spent too much money. The business plan was never right. But from an entertainment level, from a competitive level, from a player-development level, every team in three years made the playoffs; it was a different champion in every year; there were very few lopsided scores.
Is that why you think the new league will make it?
Yes. And American women soccer players play sports the way Americans think sports should be played: with tremendous commitment, with fitness, with finding ways to win fairly. Plus, they have this girl-next-door-type demographics.
The Breakers will be the only professional women's sport team in Massachusetts. Do you think Boston will take to an all-female team?
Boston was very close to making money last time. I think we can replicate what we did last time and average around 7,000 fans. I think business plans have a goal of 4,000, 5,000.
How many of the fans were screaming tweens?
It was great family entertainment. It wasn't incredibly expensive. It was easy. It was fun. I still think that is the core demographic.
Your youngest son, now 17, was 4 when you were preparing for the Olympics. Did growing up around the national team affect him?
He was at practice with me one day and Mia Hamm was injured, so she could not participate. Mia sat in the van with him and read him a book.
So she became his favorite player.
Of course. A year or two later, somebody asks him who his favorite player is, and he went, "Well, it's Mia Hamm, but now everybody's copied me." I think that's happened for this whole generation, where boys have looked at these girls and been able to use them as role models.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Upscale Boston Hotels Find Creatve Ways to Cut Costs
5-star cost-cutting
Luxury hotels are finding creative ways to trim their budgets - without letting demanding consumers in on the secret
By Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff | January 25, 2009
At the city's best-known hotels, it used to be the little things that counted: exotic maroon flowering bromeliads, smiling greeters in the lobby, logos on the bathroom paper towels.
Now, with even the high-end economy in a tailspin, those hotels are realizing a lot of little things can add up.
"It sounds crazy" to discreetly trim back on small things like flowers or paper towels, said John D. Murtha, general manager of the Omni Parker House. "But that's something you can do that's not going to change the quality of the experience at all, but will save money."
In the latest sign that hard times are rippling throughout the US economy, fancy Boston hotels are scrounging for creative - and subtle - ways to trim expenses without putting off their guests or risking having their stars or diamonds snatched away by hotel ratings agencies such as AAA and Mobil Travel Guide.
It's a fine line to walk, to say the least, as some changes have "a tendency to be a no-no," said Paul J. Sacco, chief executive of the Massachusetts Lodging Association. "You still have to care for your customer and you still have to maintain your ratings."
Still, cuts are becoming necessary for Boston hotels as companies tighten travel budgets and consumers have less money to spend on vacations. PKF Consulting, a national hospitality data analysis firm, forecasts that revenue per available room - a key measure of a hotel's health - at Greater Boston hotels will drop in 2009, with a rebound unlikely until 2010. The average revenue per available room is expected to be $96.68 in 2009, down 6.5 percent when compared with an estimated $103.45 for 2008.
At some hotels, the knee-jerk reaction is to save big bucks by postponing renovations or slashing staff. "But that can be very risky, especially in this time when customers are going to be looking for nothing less than what they're used to," said Michael Petrone, who oversees hotel inspections as AAA's director of tourism information development. "And if they go and spend their money at a luxury hotel, they're really going to want to get their money's worth."
So upper-crust Boston hotels are trying to pinch pennies in smaller ways they hope guests won't notice. The tactics Boston's upscale hotels are using are "relatively creative," said Shane O'Flaherty, chief executive of Mobil, the hospitality industry's most revered evaluator. The changes "work because they don't have a significant impact on ratings," he said.
"There's a way to cut costs in an efficient manner that doesn't impact the consumers' sense of luxury of the property," O'Flaherty said.
The Boston Marriott Long Wharf has shaved $400, or 15 percent, off its monthly florist bill by substituting low-maintenance plants for some tropical flowers. "We're not really changing much," said general manager Victor Aragona, "just using common sense."
At the Omni this month, the management replaced paper towels imprinted with the hotel's name and hibiscus logo in two colors with new ones that only feature the flower in gray. The move saves the hotel 2.5 cents per towel, or $7,000 a year.
The hotel also asked its florist, Winston Flowers, to find a way to save $1,000 a month this year without reducing the number of arrangements or the frequency with which they're changed. The fix? A Winston spokesman said the florist is delivering simpler arrangements for public areas that receive less foot traffic. But the change is so subtle that Murtha, the general manager, said he doesn't know what's different.
Several guests checking out of the Omni recently said they didn't notice any missing amenities, either. "The service was really good," said Kevin Hoagland, 21, who booked a room so he and a friend could enjoy a Celtics game and then drive home to Glastonbury, Conn., the next morning. "That's what matters."
The tweaks at the Langham Hotel Boston may be more noticeable. At the hotel, where winter bookings are down 10 to 12 percent through March, compared with the last two winters, there is now only one greeter in the lobby instead of two. Additionally, the hotel's night manager began pulling double duty this month as the room-service waiter between midnight and 5 a.m.
Managing director Serge Denis is even advising the housekeeping staff to ration bathroom amenities such as bubble bath, mouthwash, and shampoo so they "do not overdo it when it's not necessary." So if you stay in a room alone, you'll get one bottle of the hotel's fancy spa-branded bubble bath instead of the usual two.
The move, Denis hopes, will keep guests from walking off with the surplus suds. "If the guest supplies are nice, people tend to take the guest supplies with them," he said. "I do it, too."
Skimping on such things is unacceptable, said Roy Joseph, an assistant professor of communications in the Chicago area who enjoys living like a king in top-tier hotels.
"That's where I draw the line. I need my soaps - as many as I can get," said Joseph, 36. The reason? "It's more of a sentimental aesthetic: For a few minutes, you feel transposed to another world."
Nicole C. Wong can be reached at nwong@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Luxury hotels are finding creative ways to trim their budgets - without letting demanding consumers in on the secret
By Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff | January 25, 2009
At the city's best-known hotels, it used to be the little things that counted: exotic maroon flowering bromeliads, smiling greeters in the lobby, logos on the bathroom paper towels.
Now, with even the high-end economy in a tailspin, those hotels are realizing a lot of little things can add up.
"It sounds crazy" to discreetly trim back on small things like flowers or paper towels, said John D. Murtha, general manager of the Omni Parker House. "But that's something you can do that's not going to change the quality of the experience at all, but will save money."
In the latest sign that hard times are rippling throughout the US economy, fancy Boston hotels are scrounging for creative - and subtle - ways to trim expenses without putting off their guests or risking having their stars or diamonds snatched away by hotel ratings agencies such as AAA and Mobil Travel Guide.
It's a fine line to walk, to say the least, as some changes have "a tendency to be a no-no," said Paul J. Sacco, chief executive of the Massachusetts Lodging Association. "You still have to care for your customer and you still have to maintain your ratings."
Still, cuts are becoming necessary for Boston hotels as companies tighten travel budgets and consumers have less money to spend on vacations. PKF Consulting, a national hospitality data analysis firm, forecasts that revenue per available room - a key measure of a hotel's health - at Greater Boston hotels will drop in 2009, with a rebound unlikely until 2010. The average revenue per available room is expected to be $96.68 in 2009, down 6.5 percent when compared with an estimated $103.45 for 2008.
At some hotels, the knee-jerk reaction is to save big bucks by postponing renovations or slashing staff. "But that can be very risky, especially in this time when customers are going to be looking for nothing less than what they're used to," said Michael Petrone, who oversees hotel inspections as AAA's director of tourism information development. "And if they go and spend their money at a luxury hotel, they're really going to want to get their money's worth."
So upper-crust Boston hotels are trying to pinch pennies in smaller ways they hope guests won't notice. The tactics Boston's upscale hotels are using are "relatively creative," said Shane O'Flaherty, chief executive of Mobil, the hospitality industry's most revered evaluator. The changes "work because they don't have a significant impact on ratings," he said.
"There's a way to cut costs in an efficient manner that doesn't impact the consumers' sense of luxury of the property," O'Flaherty said.
The Boston Marriott Long Wharf has shaved $400, or 15 percent, off its monthly florist bill by substituting low-maintenance plants for some tropical flowers. "We're not really changing much," said general manager Victor Aragona, "just using common sense."
At the Omni this month, the management replaced paper towels imprinted with the hotel's name and hibiscus logo in two colors with new ones that only feature the flower in gray. The move saves the hotel 2.5 cents per towel, or $7,000 a year.
The hotel also asked its florist, Winston Flowers, to find a way to save $1,000 a month this year without reducing the number of arrangements or the frequency with which they're changed. The fix? A Winston spokesman said the florist is delivering simpler arrangements for public areas that receive less foot traffic. But the change is so subtle that Murtha, the general manager, said he doesn't know what's different.
Several guests checking out of the Omni recently said they didn't notice any missing amenities, either. "The service was really good," said Kevin Hoagland, 21, who booked a room so he and a friend could enjoy a Celtics game and then drive home to Glastonbury, Conn., the next morning. "That's what matters."
The tweaks at the Langham Hotel Boston may be more noticeable. At the hotel, where winter bookings are down 10 to 12 percent through March, compared with the last two winters, there is now only one greeter in the lobby instead of two. Additionally, the hotel's night manager began pulling double duty this month as the room-service waiter between midnight and 5 a.m.
Managing director Serge Denis is even advising the housekeeping staff to ration bathroom amenities such as bubble bath, mouthwash, and shampoo so they "do not overdo it when it's not necessary." So if you stay in a room alone, you'll get one bottle of the hotel's fancy spa-branded bubble bath instead of the usual two.
The move, Denis hopes, will keep guests from walking off with the surplus suds. "If the guest supplies are nice, people tend to take the guest supplies with them," he said. "I do it, too."
Skimping on such things is unacceptable, said Roy Joseph, an assistant professor of communications in the Chicago area who enjoys living like a king in top-tier hotels.
"That's where I draw the line. I need my soaps - as many as I can get," said Joseph, 36. The reason? "It's more of a sentimental aesthetic: For a few minutes, you feel transposed to another world."
Nicole C. Wong can be reached at nwong@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Upscale Restaurants offer Prix Fixe Dinners
Upscale dining, downsized prices
Boston restaurants lure customers with prix fixe menus
By Mat Schaffer | Friday, January 23, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Dining News
Given the tough economy, many high-end Hub restaurants are turning to creative ways to attract customers. Their pitch? Prix fixe dinner specials, one or more nights a week, especially Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, typically the slowest nights in the restaurant biz.
Think of this as an extended Restaurant Week when you can sample some of the city’s most expensive fare without breaking the bank.
Been hankering to try T.W. Food? Haven’t been to Olives in years? Wish you could afford to eat at Da Vinci or Restaurant dante more often? The following recession price-busters deliver some of the city’s best eating at kinder-than-usual prices.
Beacon Hill Bistro. 25 Charles St.. 617-723-1133; beaconhillhotel.com
Sunday nights are fondue nights at Beacon Hill Bistro, where for $26 you can enjoy a classic cheese fondue large enough for two (or even three) to share. This is the real deal: an enamel pot of gooey melted abondance, appenzeller and laguiole, seasoned with nutmeg, white pepper, Kirshwasser cherry brandy and French white wine with plenty of cubed bread, boiled potatoes, pickled pearl onions and cornichons for dunking. “I learned (the recipe) from a Swiss guy,” confides executive chef Jason Bond. Bond is one of the city’s most-overlooked talents, so any opportunity to taste his food is worth grabbing. Because dinner is so cheap, splurge with a salad of baby lettuces and shallot vinaigrette, a bottle of Alsatian wine and maybe the walnut tart with stewed plums and Armagnac ice cream from the restaurant’s fabled dessert cart.
Da Vinci Ristorante. 162 Columbus Ave.. 617-350-0007; davinciboston.com
You won’t go home hungry after the $29, three-course dinners at Da Vinci on Monday and Tuesday nights. “I don’t like small portions,” boasts chef-owner Shingara “Peppino” Singh, a loquacious dynamo who loves yakking with patrons almost as much as he loves cooking Italian food. Singh changes the prix fixe menu weekly. You might choose between a lovely seared portobello on arugula salad or a simple lentil and spinach soup. Or grilled breast of chicken with citrusy Marsala raisin sauce and garlicky mashed potatoes or a slab of pan-seared salmon with Israeli couscous and peas. Save room for chocolate mousse or creme caramel. Discerning and thrifty diners will want to return on Wednesdays for five-course dinners paired with wines. At $59, they’re a bargain.
Olives. 10 City Square, Charlestown. 617-242-1999; toddenglish.com
Olives remains as warm and welcoming as I remember - shining copper pans hanging over the open kitchen with its stone hearth. Dine here on a budget when you opt for the Sunday-Thursday, three-course prix fixe for $35. We blissed out on executive chef Joe Brenner’s streamed mussels (sans shells) in saffron aioli, and blue-cheese endive Caesar salad with sauteed wedges of Anjou pears. For entrees we shared seared scaloppini of veal in Marsala and sage sauce with scallion mashed potatoes and slices of smoky, wood-grilled petit filet mignon, arranged on grainy mustard-soaked bruschetta and decorated with roasted tomatoes and vinaigrette-tossed pea tendrils. Brown sugar and cinnamon panna cotta is custardy good. Chocolate and butterscotch pudding (a brownie topped with butterscotch pudding) vanishes in a flurry of spoons.
Restaurant dante. 40 Edwin H Land Blvd. (Royal Sonesta Hotel), Cambridge. 617-497-4200; restaurantdante.com
I can’t imagine more delicious, affordable fare than the Monday-Saturday, $35, three-course menu da favola at Restaurant dante. It’s the entire menu - minus sfizi cocktail snacks, contorni sides and formaggi cheeses. (Two or three dishes will run you a few bucks more.) Feast on chef and owner Dante de Magistris’ signature hand-cut spaghetti a la chitarra,in tomato sauce and slivered basil or his trippa tripe braised in wine. Vegetarians will love crespelle crepes stuffed with ricotta and spinach with wild mushroom ragu while carnivores will swoon over grilled hangar steak with herbed frites and truffle ketchup. De Magistris shines when it comes to homey cucina Italiana. Memories of the pumpkin and espresso rum cake semifreddo and PG-13-rated bittersweet-cocoa zabaglione and warm hazelnut cake will have you eagerly planning your next visit.
Sage. 1395 Washington St. 617-248-8814; sageboston.com
There’s always pasta on the menu at Tony Susi’s $22, three-course Sunday supper at Sage. One recent Sunday, there were two salads: mixed greens, local blue cheese and pistachios or arugula, shaved mushrooms and parmesan. Then came a gratis intermezzo of delectable chickpea and eggplant caponata that we mounded on crisp rounds of toast. For entrees, we selected from homemade spaghetti putanesca, in a piquant, made-to-order sauce of tomatoes, olives, capers and a hint of crushed red pepper. Or clam ragu - a savory stew of Ipswich shellfish and house-cured pork belly pancetta on a bed of tender cabbage. Both were divine. Dessert was almond-scented, fried ricotta zeppole fritters garnished with fresh berries. So many zeppole per person, we could barely finish. But we did. Happily.
T.W. Food. 377 Walden St., Cambridge. 617-864-4745; twfoodrestaurant.com
Call ahead to make a reservation for the $39 Sunday-Thursday prix fixe dinner at tiny, 26-seat T.W. Food; the room sells out quickly. Chef Tim Wiechmann keeps a low profile. All the more reason to cross the Charles River for his dreamy, slow-scrambled farm egg with sea urchin and rosemary oil and delish galantine of pork, venison, foie gras, currants and chestnuts with Armagnac plum marmalade. Choose any appetizer and entree from a swank menu, which changes daily. A few weeks back, we feasted on braised venison in puff pastry and seared foie gras and salt-rubbed local albacore tuna drizzled with sherry buerre blanc with a saffron mashed chickpea cake. Dessert is the kitchen’s whim. It doesn’t get better than cold Valrhona chocolate soup topped with meringues. No wonder this North Cambridge gem has a devoted clientele.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/general/view.bg?articleid=1147066
Boston restaurants lure customers with prix fixe menus
By Mat Schaffer | Friday, January 23, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Dining News
Given the tough economy, many high-end Hub restaurants are turning to creative ways to attract customers. Their pitch? Prix fixe dinner specials, one or more nights a week, especially Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, typically the slowest nights in the restaurant biz.
Think of this as an extended Restaurant Week when you can sample some of the city’s most expensive fare without breaking the bank.
Been hankering to try T.W. Food? Haven’t been to Olives in years? Wish you could afford to eat at Da Vinci or Restaurant dante more often? The following recession price-busters deliver some of the city’s best eating at kinder-than-usual prices.
Beacon Hill Bistro. 25 Charles St.. 617-723-1133; beaconhillhotel.com
Sunday nights are fondue nights at Beacon Hill Bistro, where for $26 you can enjoy a classic cheese fondue large enough for two (or even three) to share. This is the real deal: an enamel pot of gooey melted abondance, appenzeller and laguiole, seasoned with nutmeg, white pepper, Kirshwasser cherry brandy and French white wine with plenty of cubed bread, boiled potatoes, pickled pearl onions and cornichons for dunking. “I learned (the recipe) from a Swiss guy,” confides executive chef Jason Bond. Bond is one of the city’s most-overlooked talents, so any opportunity to taste his food is worth grabbing. Because dinner is so cheap, splurge with a salad of baby lettuces and shallot vinaigrette, a bottle of Alsatian wine and maybe the walnut tart with stewed plums and Armagnac ice cream from the restaurant’s fabled dessert cart.
Da Vinci Ristorante. 162 Columbus Ave.. 617-350-0007; davinciboston.com
You won’t go home hungry after the $29, three-course dinners at Da Vinci on Monday and Tuesday nights. “I don’t like small portions,” boasts chef-owner Shingara “Peppino” Singh, a loquacious dynamo who loves yakking with patrons almost as much as he loves cooking Italian food. Singh changes the prix fixe menu weekly. You might choose between a lovely seared portobello on arugula salad or a simple lentil and spinach soup. Or grilled breast of chicken with citrusy Marsala raisin sauce and garlicky mashed potatoes or a slab of pan-seared salmon with Israeli couscous and peas. Save room for chocolate mousse or creme caramel. Discerning and thrifty diners will want to return on Wednesdays for five-course dinners paired with wines. At $59, they’re a bargain.
Olives. 10 City Square, Charlestown. 617-242-1999; toddenglish.com
Olives remains as warm and welcoming as I remember - shining copper pans hanging over the open kitchen with its stone hearth. Dine here on a budget when you opt for the Sunday-Thursday, three-course prix fixe for $35. We blissed out on executive chef Joe Brenner’s streamed mussels (sans shells) in saffron aioli, and blue-cheese endive Caesar salad with sauteed wedges of Anjou pears. For entrees we shared seared scaloppini of veal in Marsala and sage sauce with scallion mashed potatoes and slices of smoky, wood-grilled petit filet mignon, arranged on grainy mustard-soaked bruschetta and decorated with roasted tomatoes and vinaigrette-tossed pea tendrils. Brown sugar and cinnamon panna cotta is custardy good. Chocolate and butterscotch pudding (a brownie topped with butterscotch pudding) vanishes in a flurry of spoons.
Restaurant dante. 40 Edwin H Land Blvd. (Royal Sonesta Hotel), Cambridge. 617-497-4200; restaurantdante.com
I can’t imagine more delicious, affordable fare than the Monday-Saturday, $35, three-course menu da favola at Restaurant dante. It’s the entire menu - minus sfizi cocktail snacks, contorni sides and formaggi cheeses. (Two or three dishes will run you a few bucks more.) Feast on chef and owner Dante de Magistris’ signature hand-cut spaghetti a la chitarra,in tomato sauce and slivered basil or his trippa tripe braised in wine. Vegetarians will love crespelle crepes stuffed with ricotta and spinach with wild mushroom ragu while carnivores will swoon over grilled hangar steak with herbed frites and truffle ketchup. De Magistris shines when it comes to homey cucina Italiana. Memories of the pumpkin and espresso rum cake semifreddo and PG-13-rated bittersweet-cocoa zabaglione and warm hazelnut cake will have you eagerly planning your next visit.
Sage. 1395 Washington St. 617-248-8814; sageboston.com
There’s always pasta on the menu at Tony Susi’s $22, three-course Sunday supper at Sage. One recent Sunday, there were two salads: mixed greens, local blue cheese and pistachios or arugula, shaved mushrooms and parmesan. Then came a gratis intermezzo of delectable chickpea and eggplant caponata that we mounded on crisp rounds of toast. For entrees, we selected from homemade spaghetti putanesca, in a piquant, made-to-order sauce of tomatoes, olives, capers and a hint of crushed red pepper. Or clam ragu - a savory stew of Ipswich shellfish and house-cured pork belly pancetta on a bed of tender cabbage. Both were divine. Dessert was almond-scented, fried ricotta zeppole fritters garnished with fresh berries. So many zeppole per person, we could barely finish. But we did. Happily.
T.W. Food. 377 Walden St., Cambridge. 617-864-4745; twfoodrestaurant.com
Call ahead to make a reservation for the $39 Sunday-Thursday prix fixe dinner at tiny, 26-seat T.W. Food; the room sells out quickly. Chef Tim Wiechmann keeps a low profile. All the more reason to cross the Charles River for his dreamy, slow-scrambled farm egg with sea urchin and rosemary oil and delish galantine of pork, venison, foie gras, currants and chestnuts with Armagnac plum marmalade. Choose any appetizer and entree from a swank menu, which changes daily. A few weeks back, we feasted on braised venison in puff pastry and seared foie gras and salt-rubbed local albacore tuna drizzled with sherry buerre blanc with a saffron mashed chickpea cake. Dessert is the kitchen’s whim. It doesn’t get better than cold Valrhona chocolate soup topped with meringues. No wonder this North Cambridge gem has a devoted clientele.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/general/view.bg?articleid=1147066
Amid cuts in local aid, a proposal to increase hotel and meals taxes
Deval Patrick to slash local aid by $128M
Gov threatens cuts of $375M more in next year’s budget
By Hillary Chabot | Saturday, January 24, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com |
Municipal and state officials are bracing for an upcoming budget bloodbath after Gov. Deval Patrick slashed $128 million in local aid yesterday and said he’d hack off another $375 million in next year’s budget.
Health and human service providers in particular are facing deep cuts when Patrick unveils his 2010 budget Wednesday.
“We’re calling it Bloody Wednesday because we know there will be hundreds of millions in cuts,” said Lew Finfer, executive director of Massachusetts Communities Action Network.
Patrick did not detail how he will make up the rest of the $1 billion deficit in this year’s budget, but did propose an additional one percent statewide increase on hotel and meals taxes to raise $150 million.
“We have tough choices among miserable options,” Patrick said at a Massachusetts Municipal Association meeting yesterday. “My job is to make those choices, and I have.”
While he didn’t touch the $3.9 billion in state aid to schools, Patrick moved to cut local aid from cities and towns that don’t lower their health insurance costs to the rates of the Group Insurance Commission or lower.
“The point is blunt but necessary - we must all get on with the business of savings,” Patrick said.
“I’m a little disappointed about that,” said Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, who said any local aid cuts could raise local property taxes. “You can’t keep taxing families because they just can’t afford it.”
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino called the proposal “a start.”
“I have faith if we work together we’ll solve these problems . . . It’s not going to be easy,” he said.
Patrick also moved to:
file a bill to allow cities and towns to levy their own hotel and meals taxes.
lower the union approval to join the Group Insurance Commission from 70 percent to 50 percent.
Patrick said most of the $150 million raised from the additional meals and hotel tax would go toward local aid cuts, but said an undisclosed portion would go to market tourism in the Bay State.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1147365
Gov threatens cuts of $375M more in next year’s budget
By Hillary Chabot | Saturday, January 24, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com |
Municipal and state officials are bracing for an upcoming budget bloodbath after Gov. Deval Patrick slashed $128 million in local aid yesterday and said he’d hack off another $375 million in next year’s budget.
Health and human service providers in particular are facing deep cuts when Patrick unveils his 2010 budget Wednesday.
“We’re calling it Bloody Wednesday because we know there will be hundreds of millions in cuts,” said Lew Finfer, executive director of Massachusetts Communities Action Network.
Patrick did not detail how he will make up the rest of the $1 billion deficit in this year’s budget, but did propose an additional one percent statewide increase on hotel and meals taxes to raise $150 million.
“We have tough choices among miserable options,” Patrick said at a Massachusetts Municipal Association meeting yesterday. “My job is to make those choices, and I have.”
While he didn’t touch the $3.9 billion in state aid to schools, Patrick moved to cut local aid from cities and towns that don’t lower their health insurance costs to the rates of the Group Insurance Commission or lower.
“The point is blunt but necessary - we must all get on with the business of savings,” Patrick said.
“I’m a little disappointed about that,” said Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, who said any local aid cuts could raise local property taxes. “You can’t keep taxing families because they just can’t afford it.”
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino called the proposal “a start.”
“I have faith if we work together we’ll solve these problems . . . It’s not going to be easy,” he said.
Patrick also moved to:
file a bill to allow cities and towns to levy their own hotel and meals taxes.
lower the union approval to join the Group Insurance Commission from 70 percent to 50 percent.
Patrick said most of the $150 million raised from the additional meals and hotel tax would go toward local aid cuts, but said an undisclosed portion would go to market tourism in the Bay State.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1147365
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)