Tag: Cambridge

“Food Spot” Conversation Is Our Friday Link

One of the best area food conversations this week is over on the Chowhound Boston Board. It's titled, "Best non-restaurant food spots in Boston (or other "foodie" recommendations)" and includes a few of our favorite spots.

James Hook & Company was on the list. This place has been our traditional source for holiday lobsters and the Dungeness crabs we love for our occasional crab feasts.

No list of great Boston area food purveyors would be complete without mentioning Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge and the South End Formaggio. A visit to our cheese corner will give you a sampling of the cheeses we've enjoyed from these shops.

And, Formaggio is also a starting point when we're inspired to explore the food of a specific region with friends.

A Chowhound regular, 9lives, added Polcari's in the North End to the list and reminded me how long it's been since I've spent an afternoon popping in and out of shops in that neighborhood.

Hop over to this conversation and read the growing list of places you may love or may not have explored lately. Add your own two cents if you wish or just see what others have to say.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a holiday gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2008-2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

January 10, 2014
Where to Dine on New Year’s Eve 2013 in Boston
Our readers are already searching our past posts to figure out where to dine this New Year's Eve in Boston. It's time for you to grab a reservation at a special place!

This is an outdated post. Click below for the link to:

Where to Dine on New Year's Eve 2015 & New Year's Day Brunch 2016

We all have our ideas of the perfect New Year's Eve.
- Are you looking for a place to ring in 2014 with a happy crowd?
- Will you be out and about dropping in on events or house parties?
- Or will you make a reservation for a quiet dinner before popping a cork for a private celebration?
- Is a walk to view the ice sculptures and skating on the Frog Pond more yours style?
We'll leave the New Year's Eve reservation for those of you who like to be part of a bigger celebration, while we spend the evening with some sparkling wine, good food, and great companions. However, we have gathered resources to help you find a place for any kind of New Year's Eve you'd like.

We always recommend Hamersley's Bistro as a perfect place to enjoy a meal on a special occasion. It's been one of the few exceptions to our stay-at-home rule. This year, they're planning a four-course prix fixe menu with a champagne toast if you're there at midnight.

Everyone can begin at Open Table. They maintain a list of special New Year's celebrations at area restaurants.

You can put a time into the reservation box on the main page and see what's available. Remember, many places have special prix fixe menus for occasions like this and some may require a credit card to hold a reservation.

The site Boston Chefs always posts a listing of its member restaurants that have special plans for New Year's Eve. Here is their New Year's Eve list. And, here's the list for New Year's Day.

And, here are a few suggestions published by Boston's great food sites last year: We'll update this section as we spot new information from these sources.
- 12.27.12: Eater Boston has added its Map of What to do on New Year's Eve.
- 12.28.12: Grub Street Boston put up their, "Grub Guide: Where to Get Dreamy Takeout on New Year's Eve," some good choices there.
There are also restaurants that have planned a special New Year's Eve menu but have built their reputation on high quality food. These are places where you can expect to have a wonderful meal any day of the year.
- Island Creek Oyster Bar is serving its regular menu and, for that kindness, we've put them at the top of this list.
- Eastern Standard, next door, is doing the same. Regular menu, great wine list, craft cocktails.
- Grotto on Beacon Hill, Kitchen in the South End, and Marliave downtown all join that list of places sticking with the food you love.
- Brasserie JO has a special menu but alway provides great food in a relaxed atmosphere, and their desserts are a party in themselves.
- La Morra in Brookline – chef Josh Ziskin says he saves some of his most prized dishes just for this evening. He's serving a four-course Italian dinner with a glass of Prosecco for toasting.
Where are you spending the evening? What's your favorite way to celebrate? Come back on January 1st and tell us about your New Year's Eve.

To be notified of updates to this post, sign-on to the comment feed for this post or follow us on Twitter for updates.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: Photo: iStockphoto.com

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
December 17, 2013
Where to Dine on New Year’s Eve 2013 in Boston
Our readers are already searching our past posts to figure out where to dine this New Year's Eve in Boston. It's time for you to grab a reservation at a special place!

This is an outdated post. Click below for the link to:

Where to Dine on New Year's Eve 2015 & New Year's Day Brunch 2016

We all have our ideas of the perfect New Year's Eve.
- Are you looking for a place to ring in 2014 with a happy crowd?
- Will you be out and about dropping in on events or house parties?
- Or will you make a reservation for a quiet dinner before popping a cork for a private celebration?
- Is a walk to view the ice sculptures and skating on the Frog Pond more yours style?
We'll leave the New Year's Eve reservation for those of you who like to be part of a bigger celebration, while we spend the evening with some sparkling wine, good food, and great companions. However, we have gathered resources to help you find a place for any kind of New Year's Eve you'd like.

We always recommend Hamersley's Bistro as a perfect place to enjoy a meal on a special occasion. It's been one of the few exceptions to our stay-at-home rule. This year, they're planning a four-course prix fixe menu with a champagne toast if you're there at midnight.

Everyone can begin at Open Table. They maintain a list of special New Year's celebrations at area restaurants.

You can put a time into the reservation box on the main page and see what's available. Remember, many places have special prix fixe menus for occasions like this and some may require a credit card to hold a reservation.

The site Boston Chefs always posts a listing of its member restaurants that have special plans for New Year's Eve. Here is their New Year's Eve list. And, here's the list for New Year's Day.

And, here are a few suggestions published by Boston's great food sites last year: We'll update this section as we spot new information from these sources.
- 12.27.12: Eater Boston has added its Map of What to do on New Year's Eve.
- 12.28.12: Grub Street Boston put up their, "Grub Guide: Where to Get Dreamy Takeout on New Year's Eve," some good choices there.
There are also restaurants that have planned a special New Year's Eve menu but have built their reputation on high quality food. These are places where you can expect to have a wonderful meal any day of the year.
- Island Creek Oyster Bar is serving its regular menu and, for that kindness, we've put them at the top of this list.
- Eastern Standard, next door, is doing the same. Regular menu, great wine list, craft cocktails.
- Grotto on Beacon Hill, Kitchen in the South End, and Marliave downtown all join that list of places sticking with the food you love.
- Brasserie JO has a special menu but alway provides great food in a relaxed atmosphere, and their desserts are a party in themselves.
- La Morra in Brookline – chef Josh Ziskin says he saves some of his most prized dishes just for this evening. He's serving a four-course Italian dinner with a glass of Prosecco for toasting.
Where are you spending the evening? What's your favorite way to celebrate? Come back on January 1st and tell us about your New Year's Eve.

To be notified of updates to this post, sign-on to the comment feed for this post or follow us on Twitter for updates.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: Photo: iStockphoto.com

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
December 17, 2013
Where to Dine on New Year’s Eve 2013 in Boston
Our readers are already searching our past posts to figure out where to dine this New Year's Eve in Boston. It's time for you to grab a reservation at a special place!

This is an outdated post. Click below for the link to:

Where to Dine on New Year's Eve 2015 & New Year's Day Brunch 2016

We all have our ideas of the perfect New Year's Eve.
- Are you looking for a place to ring in 2014 with a happy crowd?
- Will you be out and about dropping in on events or house parties?
- Or will you make a reservation for a quiet dinner before popping a cork for a private celebration?
- Is a walk to view the ice sculptures and skating on the Frog Pond more yours style?
We'll leave the New Year's Eve reservation for those of you who like to be part of a bigger celebration, while we spend the evening with some sparkling wine, good food, and great companions. However, we have gathered resources to help you find a place for any kind of New Year's Eve you'd like.

We always recommend Hamersley's Bistro as a perfect place to enjoy a meal on a special occasion. It's been one of the few exceptions to our stay-at-home rule. This year, they're planning a four-course prix fixe menu with a champagne toast if you're there at midnight.

Everyone can begin at Open Table. They maintain a list of special New Year's celebrations at area restaurants.

You can put a time into the reservation box on the main page and see what's available. Remember, many places have special prix fixe menus for occasions like this and some may require a credit card to hold a reservation.

The site Boston Chefs always posts a listing of its member restaurants that have special plans for New Year's Eve. Here is their New Year's Eve list. And, here's the list for New Year's Day.

And, here are a few suggestions published by Boston's great food sites last year: We'll update this section as we spot new information from these sources.
- 12.27.12: Eater Boston has added its Map of What to do on New Year's Eve.
- 12.28.12: Grub Street Boston put up their, "Grub Guide: Where to Get Dreamy Takeout on New Year's Eve," some good choices there.
There are also restaurants that have planned a special New Year's Eve menu but have built their reputation on high quality food. These are places where you can expect to have a wonderful meal any day of the year.
- Island Creek Oyster Bar is serving its regular menu and, for that kindness, we've put them at the top of this list.
- Eastern Standard, next door, is doing the same. Regular menu, great wine list, craft cocktails.
- Grotto on Beacon Hill, Kitchen in the South End, and Marliave downtown all join that list of places sticking with the food you love.
- Brasserie JO has a special menu but alway provides great food in a relaxed atmosphere, and their desserts are a party in themselves.
- La Morra in Brookline – chef Josh Ziskin says he saves some of his most prized dishes just for this evening. He's serving a four-course Italian dinner with a glass of Prosecco for toasting.
Where are you spending the evening? What's your favorite way to celebrate? Come back on January 1st and tell us about your New Year's Eve.

To be notified of updates to this post, sign-on to the comment feed for this post or follow us on Twitter for updates.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: Photo: iStockphoto.com

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
December 17, 2013
What’s Happening during October 2013 in the Boston Area
Here's an edited version of a subject that Penny posted over on the Trip Advisor Boston Forum. Many visitors don't understand why hotel prices are sometimes higher one week than the next and why restaurant reservations may be hard to obtain.

Foliage on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall

As other locals and destination experts added to the list, we discovered the conversation was useful to us, too. So, we're sharing the highlights for us with our BostonZest readers.

Foliage can be beautiful right here in Boston

Fall Foliage is a big tourist draw throughout the month and is fun for all of us, too.

Screenshot courtesy of the Fenway Cultural District

October 14th, Opening Our Doors 2013 with lot's of free admission and special happenings in the Fenway Cultural District.

Racers at the Head of the Charles Regatta

October 19th-20th – The Head of the Charles Regatta will jam hotels throughout the region and is a wonderful spectator event. An estimated 9,000 participants and 300,000 spectators are expected to attend.
- From a couple of years ago, here's a post we did on the event: 3 Things I Didn’t Know About the Head of the Charles – Our Friday Link
Lots of things that are of interest to other Bostonians and visitors will be added to the trip advisor conversation so be sure to click over there for more ideas.

Add what you love to do in October to the comments section! Save this page and we'll update it as the month goes on.

Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. It doesn't cost you any more but they put a few coins in our tip jar.

What's on your Fall Shopping List. Click here for Fall Season Savings over at Amazon.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2011-2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
September 30, 2013
What’s Happening during October 2013 in the Boston Area
Here's an edited version of a subject that Penny posted over on the Trip Advisor Boston Forum. Many visitors don't understand why hotel prices are sometimes higher one week than the next and why restaurant reservations may be hard to obtain.

Foliage on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall

As other locals and destination experts added to the list, we discovered the conversation was useful to us, too. So, we're sharing the highlights for us with our BostonZest readers.

Foliage can be beautiful right here in Boston

Fall Foliage is a big tourist draw throughout the month and is fun for all of us, too.

Screenshot courtesy of the Fenway Cultural District

October 14th, Opening Our Doors 2013 with lot's of free admission and special happenings in the Fenway Cultural District.

Racers at the Head of the Charles Regatta

October 19th-20th – The Head of the Charles Regatta will jam hotels throughout the region and is a wonderful spectator event. An estimated 9,000 participants and 300,000 spectators are expected to attend.
- From a couple of years ago, here's a post we did on the event: 3 Things I Didn’t Know About the Head of the Charles – Our Friday Link
Lots of things that are of interest to other Bostonians and visitors will be added to the trip advisor conversation so be sure to click over there for more ideas.

Add what you love to do in October to the comments section! Save this page and we'll update it as the month goes on.

Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. It doesn't cost you any more but they put a few coins in our tip jar.

What's on your Fall Shopping List. Click here for Fall Season Savings over at Amazon.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2011-2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
September 30, 2013
What’s Happening during October 2013 in the Boston Area
Here's an edited version of a subject that Penny posted over on the Trip Advisor Boston Forum. Many visitors don't understand why hotel prices are sometimes higher one week than the next and why restaurant reservations may be hard to obtain.

Foliage on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall

As other locals and destination experts added to the list, we discovered the conversation was useful to us, too. So, we're sharing the highlights for us with our BostonZest readers.

Foliage can be beautiful right here in Boston

Fall Foliage is a big tourist draw throughout the month and is fun for all of us, too.

Screenshot courtesy of the Fenway Cultural District

October 14th, Opening Our Doors 2013 with lot's of free admission and special happenings in the Fenway Cultural District.

Racers at the Head of the Charles Regatta

October 19th-20th – The Head of the Charles Regatta will jam hotels throughout the region and is a wonderful spectator event. An estimated 9,000 participants and 300,000 spectators are expected to attend.
- From a couple of years ago, here's a post we did on the event: 3 Things I Didn’t Know About the Head of the Charles – Our Friday Link
Lots of things that are of interest to other Bostonians and visitors will be added to the trip advisor conversation so be sure to click over there for more ideas.

Add what you love to do in October to the comments section! Save this page and we'll update it as the month goes on.

Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. It doesn't cost you any more but they put a few coins in our tip jar.

What's on your Fall Shopping List. Click here for Fall Season Savings over at Amazon.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2011-2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
September 30, 2013
Farmers’ Market Lobster Rolls: Lobster Roll Chronicles

On our recent visit to the Central Square Farmers' Market, we were happy to meet Chris Manning of C & C Lobsters and Fish. Chris is a lobsterman from Hull who is bringing fresh seafood to Cambridge each Monday!

We had just stuffed ourselves with dosas from the nearby Dosa Factory so something light and fresh, like a lobster roll, for dinner seemed a great idea. Chris showed us his containers of fresh lobster. He catches them and his wife Carolyn picks the meat, deveins the tails, and makes it easy to make your favorite dish with their fresh lobster meat.

While hot dog rolls are traditional, we stopped by the Hi-Rise Bread Company table and grabbed some of their hamburger rolls. They offered lots of surface for piling on the lobster.

The lobster included big pieces of claw and tail, so step one was cutting those into bite size bits.

Notice that we are not mixing anything into our lobster rolls. We lightly toasted the buns, spread the tiniest bit of melted butter on the bottom half, and then piled on the lobster meat.

With the lobster ready to fall off the sides, Penny dripped a bit of melted butter onto the meat …

… just enough to give it a golden glow. And, as you can see in the top photo, we each had a wedge of lemon and small dish of melted butter to adjust our lobster roll to our own taste.

Thanks, Chris and Carolyn! You did most of the work and we had two heaping lobster rolls plus leftovers.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

June 6, 2013
Farmers’ Market Lobster Rolls: Lobster Roll Chronicles

On our recent visit to the Central Square Farmers' Market, we were happy to meet Chris Manning of C & C Lobsters and Fish. Chris is a lobsterman from Hull who is bringing fresh seafood to Cambridge each Monday!

We had just stuffed ourselves with dosas from the nearby Dosa Factory so something light and fresh, like a lobster roll, for dinner seemed a great idea. Chris showed us his containers of fresh lobster. He catches them and his wife Carolyn picks the meat, deveins the tails, and makes it easy to make your favorite dish with their fresh lobster meat.

While hot dog rolls are traditional, we stopped by the Hi-Rise Bread Company table and grabbed some of their hamburger rolls. They offered lots of surface for piling on the lobster.

The lobster included big pieces of claw and tail, so step one was cutting those into bite size bits.

Notice that we are not mixing anything into our lobster rolls. We lightly toasted the buns, spread the tiniest bit of melted butter on the bottom half, and then piled on the lobster meat.

With the lobster ready to fall off the sides, Penny dripped a bit of melted butter onto the meat …

… just enough to give it a golden glow. And, as you can see in the top photo, we each had a wedge of lemon and small dish of melted butter to adjust our lobster roll to our own taste.

Thanks, Chris and Carolyn! You did most of the work and we had two heaping lobster rolls plus leftovers.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

June 6, 2013
Farmers’ Market Lobster Rolls: Lobster Roll Chronicles

On our recent visit to the Central Square Farmers' Market, we were happy to meet Chris Manning of C & C Lobsters and Fish. Chris is a lobsterman from Hull who is bringing fresh seafood to Cambridge each Monday!

We had just stuffed ourselves with dosas from the nearby Dosa Factory so something light and fresh, like a lobster roll, for dinner seemed a great idea. Chris showed us his containers of fresh lobster. He catches them and his wife Carolyn picks the meat, deveins the tails, and makes it easy to make your favorite dish with their fresh lobster meat.

While hot dog rolls are traditional, we stopped by the Hi-Rise Bread Company table and grabbed some of their hamburger rolls. They offered lots of surface for piling on the lobster.

The lobster included big pieces of claw and tail, so step one was cutting those into bite size bits.

Notice that we are not mixing anything into our lobster rolls. We lightly toasted the buns, spread the tiniest bit of melted butter on the bottom half, and then piled on the lobster meat.

With the lobster ready to fall off the sides, Penny dripped a bit of melted butter onto the meat …

… just enough to give it a golden glow. And, as you can see in the top photo, we each had a wedge of lemon and small dish of melted butter to adjust our lobster roll to our own taste.

Thanks, Chris and Carolyn! You did most of the work and we had two heaping lobster rolls plus leftovers.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

June 6, 2013