Stuff Boston : Restaurants

Stuffed: the Fourth Annual Stuff@Night Dining Awards

Stuff Boston — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:33:00 GMT

By MC Slim JB and Ruth Tobias

MC SLIM JB:
It’s our second tag-team on Stuff@night’s Dining Awards! How many steak frites did you eat this year? I musta had a dozen and only got excited about one.

RUTH TOBIAS:
Me, I managed to dodge the steak frites, only to find myself in a minefield of gelée and burrata. Granted, there are worse ways to go. What food trends have blown you to heaven recently?

MC SLIM JB:
Sensible portion sizes. i hate “tapas” the size of appetizers, but i’ve seen genuinely small plates at places like Persephone. Give me variety, two bites at a time, like rijsttafel.

RUTH TOBIAS:
A fine choice, sir. And what will you have to drink with your sensible portions?

MC SLIM JB:
Well-crafted cocktails: quality spirits, fresh juices, proper bitters and garnishes, chilled glasses — hold the candy-flavored vodka. Maybe a nice hoskins. luckily, those are getting easier to find; thanks, B-Side! [sniffle] What’s yours?

RUTH TOBIAS:
A shot of bison-grass vodka at the Good Life. Make it a double.

MC SLIM JB:
Hey, that’s where i got my one exciting steak frites: the late-night prime skirt, $18! The circle is complete. To the Awards!

>>Click here to view the Dining Awards gallery<<

>>Click here for the complete list of winners<<

Win dinner on us! Text FEED, followed by a space, followed by the name of your favorite restaurant, to 22122.

What's cooking?

Heather Bouzan — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:49:00 GMT

What happens when you put eight local chefs together at a table and ask them to dish on their industry? We decided to find out.

Our recent roundtable discussion with a group of local DJs sparked so much conversation that we decided to try the format again. This time, we gave Boston’s chefs the floor, allowing them a muchneeded chance to share their opinions and air their grievances. We agonized over the guest list, looking for the perfect combination of styles, experiences, and personalities. In the end, we lured eight of the city’s finest culinary talents out of their kitchens for a few hours one Friday afternoon, plying them with food and drink in the private dining room at Eastern Standard. At the table: Rebecca Newell (the Beehive), Will Gilson (Garden at the Cellar), Brian Reyelt (Franklin Café), Adam Fuller (Great Bay), Tom Fosnot (Rocca), Mary Dumont (Harvest), Marco Suarez (Eastern Standard), and, after being detained by a meeting and Boston’s notorious traffic, Marc Orfaly (Pigalle and Marco).

Q: O Ya was recently singled out by The New York Times’ Frank Bruni as the country’s top new restaurant; Ken Oringer bested Cat Cora on Iron Chef America. Do achievements like these mean that people are finally starting to pay attention to Boston as a dining destination?
Marco Suarez: I was in Manhattan not too long ago, and it was interesting, somebody asked me where I worked; I mentioned this place, and they said, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of Eastern Standard.” We got into this huge talk about how people down there are starting to hear about restaurants up here, and they were naming places like Clio and KO [Prime] and the Beehive. It was interesting to think that some random restaurant in Brooklyn had heard of Boston and was even following the scene that was going on up here.

Q: How do you respond to the naysayers? What chefs or restaurants do you send them to?
Tom Fosnot: I’m not trying to blow up Will here, but I send people to Garden at the Cellar.
Will Gilson: I’m blushing.
TF: I think that it has really great food, remarkable prices.
Brian Reyelt: I just went to have lunch, and I go maybe three times a week to Myers + Chang in the South End. I love it. It’s really funky inside. It’s something out of San Francisco, the way it’s laid out. The food’s clean, you can have a nice lunch. It’s a good play on Chinese food. I think Alison [Hearn] is doing a good job.
Rebecca Newell: I’m totally a Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe girl, and I love Zaftigs, and I love Washington Square Tavern. Those are the places that I went to when I first moved to Boston and I really like. If I have a few bucks, I’ll go to Oleana and sit out on the patio. And I like fiery places; I like the East Coast Grill. And Eastern Standard. Ever since it’s opened, I’ve come here. I love it; I love your steak tartare. The food here is awesome, and it’s in the price range that I can afford without making a car payment.
BR: It’s true. My wife is nine months pregnant, and she can’t wait until she has the baby to come have your steak tartare.
WG: If I have a night off, I like to be relatively gluttonous and eat as much meat as possible. I mean, ever since Jamie [Bissonnette] was here [at Eastern Standard] — and everything is still just as good if not better, my man, here — but Jamie is a good buddy of mine and everything he’s doing over at KO is absolutely awesome. He’s such a solid guy and a good talent, and really willing to share stuff too. Like offers to have you come in and take apart a pig head if you want to learn how to do it. It was awesome. Doing demos and just sharing info. Or telling dirty jokes. Either way.

Q: What are the biggest challenges you face as chefs here? What’s the toughest part of your jobs?
TF: Staffing.
RN: For me, the T is the biggest problem in Boston, because it stops running and the Beehive’s still open. What am I supposed to tell the dishwashers? Now we’re just paying for cabs, hundreds of dollars every week, for them to stay and wash dishes. Last week I had this great idea that I would just send them home at 12 anyway, and it didn’t work. I’m just telling the sous [chefs], “Just send home the dishwashers.” They’re like, “Really?” I’m like, “Yeah, man. We’re not going to have that many plates.” That wasn’t smart.
Adam Fuller: Valet is a problem here. Marco, I’m sure you guys run into it. With the two restaurants, Eastern Standard and Great Bay here, there’s a point [during] Red Sox games where we can’t take another guest. People who are driving literally can’t park. Keeping the prices down in restaurants helps, because people are paying $25 to valet park every night; that’s another added expense that nobody really thinks about in Boston. It’s like, you think your menu is affordable, and then you think about driving from the suburbs and paying gas and then paying for valet. That’s another $100 on top of whatever anyone’s charging.
TF: I think the challenge for us is, people expect prices still to be low, yet [food] prices keep going up. I’m not an owner, but I know that being responsible for the costs, it’s a real challenge. Our expectations are that food shouldn’t cost that much, but it does, and it’s ridiculous now.
WG: And people don’t understand the other costs that go into it. I just had my real food cost. I’m like, I just want to pay for the food [and] have the fuel cost be a totally different thing, because it’s jacking things up. It’s like, that’s not the price of salmon, that’s not the price of halibut — it’s the price of gas.

Q: Describe your typical Boston diners. Do you consider them hardtoplease and unwilling to experiment, as is the stereotype?
AF: I think that it’s more of a myth. I mean, I think the dining scene’s come a long way in Boston in the last five or six years. But I think that just in general, with more publications, the Internet, ... people [are] able to read and see more food, even if it’s pictures of food — [and] they know better what to expect in the restaurants now.
BR: I think a lot of people are considering themselves foodies, too. Because they watch more television.
AF: Like Bravo, blogs, that type of thing.
BR: Everybody thinks they know what they’re doing.
RN: What sucks a little bit about the foodies is that sometimes they have no idea what it takes to put together some of the items and put the menu in a streamlined [manner]. Beehive is known for an eclectic menu, but how to string it all together and how to open up an 80seat patio and have it collaborate with the menu inside and have two different things going? It’d be great if you published this because I would appreciate it, but someone said on Chowhound, “What kind of idiot is running Beehive kitchen?” And I was like, “You wanna try it on? You can come in and wear this chef coat. You’ll cry in an hour.”
WG: That’s the other thing. Chowhound and Citysearch and things ike that make it so hard for you to feel as though you’re in control. For the longest time, it was just the reviewers in the city that were writing those articles. And now anybody can write whatever they want about you and it’s on there.
MD: You open your restaurant and, boom, up comes a blog.
WG: Yeah, up comes a blog [on] Chowhound that says, like, “I went there and everything sucked.” And it’s like, okay, that guy got fired that day, came, and had a really bad time. And now I’ve got to listen to this rant.
RN: The guy that called me an idiot said, “I have never been to Beehive, but whoever’s running that kitchen must be an idiot.”
BR: I think the best advice is like a ballplayer, how they never watch the news or read the paper, you know? ’Cause everybody’s going to have something to say about everything. So why bother? Let them do what they’re going to do; they’re going to do it anyway.

Q: What do you think about the whole concept of the celebrity chef?
MD: I think it’s positive as long as you don’t become an ass.
MS: It has a tendency of making people into a monster that they’re not originally. I think how the system is set up and how you become a chef automatically instills some of that in some people, and then to go that one step further and say, “Hey, we’re going to stick you on TV” — it can be rough. I don’t want to name names, but it’s tough to work for those people a lot of the time, and it’s tough to bring them back to reality.
WG: You reach an imbalance, too, with how people who want to become cooks look at the industry. Kids going through culinary school now are like, “Oh, I want to grow up and I want to be Emeril,” and then they actually are like, “What do you mean, I have to work 80 hours a week?” It’s like, yes, it’s not easy.
BR: TV just makes it look a lot more glamorous than it really is. Shows like Top Chef or any of those things make it look like so much fun — you do all this, you do a couple of challenges, here’s $100,000, go open a restaurant. And it’s not that easy.
MD: The people on Hell’s Kitchen are making $250,000 a year, and they’re terrible. None of them would make it as a line cook.
MS: I went to a culinaryschool graduation for one of my cooks who graduated recently, and the class that was graduating was four times the size of my graduating class when I graduated — that was in 2001. They’re pumping kids out of these schools, and these kids have no idea.

Q: In the time that you’ve been working and cooking in Boston, how do you think the restaurant scene has changed here?
Marc Orfaly: I think it’s great. Because we’re so close to New York ... I think Boston would probably feel a whole lot better about itself if we were next to, like, Minneapolis or something. We just happened to be next to one of the greatest cities in the world, but I think it’s paid off that a lot of the guys from New York come here; there’s a ton of influence here. In the last five years, I think the younger generation has helped change the landscape of restaurants in Boston. We don’t have just uppertier restaurants anymore. There’s Craigie [Street Bistrot], there’s TW [Food].
WG: The other thing to mention is what people will invest in now. The more people that keep going to steak houses, all they’re going to keep opening is steak houses because they know that they’re a sure win. Anything else that you want to open up is so tough, because no one’s continually educating people on what’s going on today. Like “Mary’s using rams from Maine,” or “You’re using some great maple syrup from wherever.” And to keep pumping the public like that, so they can know. They’re like, “Yeah, Great Bay’s got some awesome black bass. I’ve never had black bass, let me try it.”

Q: What’s next for the Boston restaurant scene?
MD: I think the one really great thing for the restaurants and the chefs in this area is that the economy, as much as it’s hurting, is going to work for us, because people will stay here. They’re going to want to look to eat here and be local, and not outsource to, say, New York. They’re not going to travel as much, which is unfortunate for a lot of places, but it’s great locally.
MS: They’re also not going to eat out as much, though.
WG: There’s some sort of study though, where they say that the last recreation that people give up in a time of
recession is going out to dinner.
RN: Even when I’m broke, I’ll spend my last $10 on a beer and a Cuban at Anchovies. I’m like, screw it. I’ll do it; it doesn’t matter.
MO: I think the chefs are doing a great job in town, and I hope the media continues helping educate the clientele here, and I hope the clientele is able to become more aware of the different options that they have out there. People [need to] keep expanding their horizons a little around here and look outside the box.
TF: You would hope the trend continues to be independent restaurants with chefs doing creative food. Places like O Ya or TW Food — you hope that’s the trend.
MS: Wherever Boston is going, it’s on an upward trend. I made two hires before this baseball season: a kid from Michigan and a kid from Montandon, Pennsylvania — I don’t even know where that is. But either way, those kids had heard of Boston, decided not to go to New York, and they’ve come to Boston, so we’re doing something right. There’s this kid from Detroit who came here, and I brought him to do an event at the State Room last week, and his eyes were lit up. He’s like, “I was a sous chef in Michigan for three years, and I never got to go to an event.” He’s like, “You know that chef and you know that chef, and how do you guys all know each other?” And I was like, “Well, it’s like a little incestual scene, you know? We all know each other a little bit.” He was just blown away by it. So, we’re doing good. Whatever that may be, we’re doing it well.

Hit the road: more options for suburban dining

Heather Bouzan — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:31:00 GMT

There’s plenty of good eating to be found in the ’burbs — even without the involvement of a Boston restaurateur. Pony up a few extra bucks at the pump and check out some of our favorites.

Blue Ginger (583 Washington Street, Wellesley, 781.283.5790).
Thanks to charismatic chef (and TV personality) Ming Tsai, you’ve probably already been to Blue Ginger, the most famous of our suburban eateries. But with its recent renovations and expansion, we think it’s worth a fresh look. Tsai’s sophisticated East-meets-West cuisine is a welcome alternative to the standard, mediocre, suburban Italian joint.

Blue-Ribbon Bar-B-Q (1375 Washington Street, Newton, 617.332.2583; 908 Mass Ave, Arlington, 781.648.7427).
Barbecue is one of those hotly-debated cuisines — everyone seems to have an opinion about which Boston-area spot is best. We haven’t quite settled on a favorite, but we’re willing to swing by Blue Ribbon to sample the pulled pork again. And again. And again.

Coriander Bistro (5 Post Office Square, Sharon, 781.784.5450).
Sharon might feel a little bit like a foreign country to us city folk, but we’re seduced by Coriander’s brand of modern French with a local twist. Trust chef Kevin Crawley’s impeccable judgment with the five-course Chef’s Tasting Menu ($65) if you’re looking to truly put dinner in someone else’s hands.

The Fat Cat (24 Chestnut Street, Quincy, 617.471.4363).
We consider ourselves dog people, but we’re willing to make an exception here. When we talk about fabulous bar food, this is the sort of thing we mean. Think fried pickles, barbecue-pork nachos — and no one, and we mean no one, can stop raving about the lobster mac and cheese.

Haddad’s Ocean Café (291 Ocean Street, Marshfield, 781.837.2722).
Best. Fried clams. Ever. We advise coming in sandy and straight off the beach, craving a cold beer and some fried seafood. This place is no-frills, but dishes are fresh and delicious. Try not to piss off the surly fisherman perched at the bar.

Il Capriccio (888 Main Street, Waltham, 781.894.2234).
Il Capriccio’s upscale Northern Italian fare has been charming day-tripping diners for years. The prices might not be what you’d expect in the ’burbs, but then again, neither is the quality. Connoisseurs won’t find fault with Capriccio’s lauded wine list, either.

NewBridge Café (650 Washington Avenue, Chelsea, 617.884.0134).
We’ll be honest: we’ve never eaten anything here but the steak tips. But why mess with a good thing? The preparation is faultless, the fries are hefty and perfectly browned, and the marinade is worth licking the plate for.

Red Rock Bistro (141 Humphrey Street, Swampscott, 781.595.1414).
Seafood always tastes better on the water, doesn’t it? The fantastic skyline views match the caliber of the food here, and regular live music augments the atmosphere.

The Tap (100 Washington Street, Haverhill, 978.374.1117).
The food’s solid, but it’s not like we go here to eat. Instead, we tip back brews like HaverAle and Leatherlips I.P.A., and soak up the old-school pub feel.

Vela (312 Washington Street, Wellesley, 781.235.4449).
The Chowhounders seem quite divided about Vela. We consider that the best reason to give Vela a try and add your own opinionated review to the mix. Executive-chef/owner, Frank Santonastaso, has an eclectic Italian style that’s all his own.

Get out of town

Ruth Tobias — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:47:00 GMT

Why are so many urban restaurateurs flocking to the ’burbs? We asked; they answered.

I may be a legend in my own mind, but I didn’t really imagine, when I left Boston last fall after years of churning out, in my sleep, the kind of shockingly original food writing that revolutionized the genre, that half the chefs in town would decamp promptly thereafter, knowing in their hearts they’d never again enjoy the privilege of cooking for someone with both the soul of an immortal poet and the appetite of a raging beast. (Not to mention the face of an absolute angel.)

But even I couldn’t argue with the flattering facts, as I got wind of hordes of local toques heading for the hills.

Okay, perhaps I could. In the interest of something like responsible journalism, I decided maybe I’d better go ahead and ask a few of them just what led them to hie for the hinterlands at the height of their bigcity heydays. Their answers may surprise you — especially since not one involves me. Go figure.

Lydia Shire
Along with maybe two or three others back in the late ’80s and early ’90s (Jasper White and Frank McClelland come to mind), Lydia Shire shaped — painstakingly, by hand — the upscale dining scene as Bostonians know it today. She was serving offal, well before any but the most staunchly French or Chinese chefs dared; she introduced us to the lobster pizza; she ushered no lesser a crumbling institution than Locke-Ober back into the culinary limelight. And now she’s scoring big with Scampo at the Liberty Hotel.

But even as downtowners are rediscovering the Med-style derring-do that made Shire’s Biba such a sensation back in the day, Mainers are marveling over her acute, astute slant on New England cooking at Blue Sky on York Beach (where she’s joined by longtime cohort Susan Regis, of the erstwhile Pava). Think lobster deep-fried in homemade lard. Crispy sole filets with crab biscuits. Hot potato doughnuts. Hmm, suddenly that Pine Tree State grass is looking pretty darned green. How’d they get so lucky?

Q: Why traipse off to York Beach? Why not stay in Boston?
A: I didn’t go looking outside of Boston. It sort of came to me. A man named Don Rivers had taken this beautiful building that had become an ugly eyesore (it’s 100 years old; it was a hotel at one point but now there were skunks living in it) and he was restoring it, and he needed a restaurant operator. In January 2005, he asked me if I wanted to do it. I said I’d decide by Labor Day. It turned out Labor Day weekend was just glorious — the sky was electric blue — and I thought, “Oh my God, I really do want to live here.”

I love Maine. It’s just a beautiful state — somewhat unadulterated, pristine. It’s not rich like New York or Los Angeles; it doesn’t have that glitz, and that’s what I found to be so appealing. It’s kind of a down-home place. I just felt very strongly that if I did something very nice there, but not overthetop fancy, it would be appreciated. There’s a lot of great food in Maine — not far from me is Arrows in Ogunquit; and [Arrows’ chefs] Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier opened up MC Perkins Cove; there’s Melissa Kelly in Rockland and Sam Heyward over at Fore Street — but there’s some room to grow, because [the market’s] never oversaturated.

Q: From a culinary standpoint, how does the location compare with Boston?
A: Here you have to have lobster as a significant part of your menu, for obvious reasons. Our lobster section is pretty large. There’s lobster stew, lobster pizza, ... steamers dipped in lobster butter, which are my favorite.

The one little thing I am trying to do right now is introduce French-Canadian dishes onto the menu — a sugar pie, haddock with a tourtière [a type of meat pie]. I think when you write a menu for a specific location, you try to see what’s around you — and you do take hints from your customers.

Geoff Gardner
That eggplant–goat cheese dip with black walnuts. Those rosemary pomme frites. A rhubarb clafouti whose memory is now some seven years old, but no less vivid or fond for that. Ever since Geoff Gardner left L’Espalier to open Sel de la Terre with mentor Frank McClelland, I’ve been a big fan. Now he’s branching out with a second Sel de la Terre in Natick — but he wants you to know he’ll be careful not to overload the bough until it breaks. When we spoke, Gardner’s determination not to stretch himself too thin was palpable.

Q: Why did you decide to open a second Sel de la Terre in Natick instead of in, say, Cambridge? Or, for that matter, instead of opening a whole new Boston venue?
A: We actually are opening a Sel de la Terre in August in the Back Bay. So it’s not that we’re running away from Boston; we love this city. But Natick has great demographics. It’s an underserved community. We fit that upscalecasual niche, which people in Metrowest are looking for and appreciate. It’s a nice complement to what’s already out there — the larger, more casual, familystyle chains. Also, a tremendous developer was working on [the Natick Collection] who we were excited to work with. It’s just a gorgeous facility. We used the same designer who we used downtown, because part of what we’re doing is building a brand. It’s different than a quoteunquote chain — Sel de la Terre is too handson, too chefdriven, too creative for that.

Q: How’s the outpost the same? How’s it different?
A: The design is not a carbon copy of the original, and the new one we’re working on in the Back Bay isn’t either. Each one is an evolution. The earth tones, some of the materials, some of the design elements are common throughout — very warm, comfy country French. But in Natick, the barslashatrium happens to have 30to40foothigh ceilings, with glass going all the way up. There’s lots of beautiful natural light. So we designed around that.

When we expanded, I could no longer be the round-the-clock chef I’d been for the past seven years. So my [former] sous chef is now the chef at State Street, and the sous chef from L’Espalier, Daniel Bojorquez, is now the chef in Natick. They preserve the rustic French style of cooking, and there are signature dishes — but only a handful. I divide my time between the two locations and work closely with the chefs, but I don’t want to stifle their creativity.

The two chefs do a lot of different things, but I think if they were to switch places they wouldn’t change what they’re doing. One whole category on the Natick menu that’s not on the downtown menu is Provençal tapas. Bojorquez was born in Mexico, and he worked at Masa for a while and does beautiful tapas. But he also worked with Frank [McClelland], he worked with Charlie Trotter, and so he can draw from different cultures and styles. I think it’s a lot of fun.

Michael Schlow
Show me a chef who isn’t restless and I’ll show you, however talented, a cook. Michael Schlow epitomizes the ever-energized epicure. Considering all the Boston cream pies the man has had his finger in over the years — Radius, Great Bay, Via Matta, the gusto with which he’s taken to poking around beyond Beantown is mind-boggling, at least for those of us without such zest for adrenaline. Press him for details, though, and it all begins to make perfect sense. Especially if you do it, as I did, by phone amid the background noise of the MGM Grand at Foxwoods, where Schlow was putting the finishing touches on Alta Strada numero due following the success of the Wellesley flagship.

Q: Hey, why doesn’t Boston boast an Alta Strada?
A: I already have an Italian restaurant in Boston. I don’t necessarily need to create my own competition. Boston is pretty small. The competition for resources, for staff, for customers, is fierce. And ever since I moved to Boston from New York in 1995, I’d hear people saying, “We need more restaurants out [in the ’burbs].” You hear it enough in your own restaurant, and after a while you start to do something about it. My eyes are always open for that next great spot, and I have the luxury to be choosy.

Q: How do your Italian restaurants differ? Are there things you can do at Alta Strada that you can’t do at Via Matta, or vice versa?
A: First of all, at Alta Strada, we have a togo market where you can buy our products fresh. That’s a big change, one that fits suburban needs. One of the most popular dishes that you can’t get at Via Matta is a pasta called sacchetti; they look like little beggar’s purses. Another is the lune [a ravioli-like pasta].

I don’t think it’s really the case that urban diners in New England are that much more sophisticated than [their suburban counterparts]. Take tripe. You’re never going to sell tripe anywhere in New England; in Rome, I could do it. On the other hand, look at what’s happening in Portland, Maine, and in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Those are hotbeds of new culinary talent. Or look at burrata — it’sa very creamy, fresh mozzarella that I get from Campania. Ten or even five years ago, you couldn’t even find it. Now it sells like hotcakes at both Via Matta and Alta Strada.

Dante deMagistris
After coming, it seemed, from out of the “blu” — where he made a splash pronto — Dante deMagistris, joined by brothers Damian and Filippo, quickly took the plunge with Restaurant Dante, the sleek Med hang overlooking the Charles in the Royal Sonesta Cambridge. Now the trio’s backtracking to their hometown of Belmont, where Il Casale is in the works.

Q: We thought you couldn’t go home again. Why Belmont?
A: Ever since I was a little boy, people who knew I loved cooking would say, “Wouldn’t it be great if you opened a restaurant in Belmont Center, right next to your dad’s hair salon?” It’s something that many locals need and are very excited for. We’ve always said, “Yes, that would be nice, but how can we make it work without a liquor license?” Well, now that we can have the first bar and full liquor license in Belmont, the time is right, and the perfect building is available.

My brothers and I started negotiating to open up a restaurant in the Belmont firehouse over two years ago — even before we opened Dante. At that time it was a working firehouse, but now it’s being renovated. It’s a very slow process. When the basebuilding work is finished — and I’m not sure when that will be exactly, we’ll begin our fourmonth buildout. Considering what has been going on with the economy, it’s actually a good thing we didn’t open sooner. We’ve been able to change our business plan accordingly.

What we hope is for Il Casale to be a second living room for Belmont residents in particular, a good oldfashioned gathering place — not only for eating and drinking well, but for seeing old friends and neighbors [and] meeting new ones. Boston already has these types of places; Belmont doesn’t just yet.

Q: How do you envision the dining experience at Il Casale as opposed to the one at Dante?
A: At Dante, many of our diners come for multi-course tastings in an elegant setting. Il Casale will be more casual. Both restaurants serve Italian food; however, at Dante, each dish adds a modern twist. Il Casale will be traditional, home-cooked Italian food like we grew up on. Which doesn’t mean we won’t be adventurous — diners all over are more into eating unique ingredients than ever.

John Moore
You can’t get more iconically local than the Navy Yard Bistro: smack dab in the shipyard, steps from Boston Harbor, it nonetheless caters not to tourists insisting ad nauseum on “chowdah,” but to stalwart Charlestowners seeking bistro-style bargains otherwise hard to come by in these parts. So why does Moore’s sophomore venture, Downtown Bistro and Wine Bar, have to be so far away?

Q: Lynn, huh? What’s the draw?
A: I grew up outside of Lynn, a lot of my family still resides there, and my father worked for the city for a long time. So I have a long family history with it. What’s more, the Office of Economic and Community Development helped me finance it. I wasn’t looking to get an investor; I wanted to finance myself. And they wanted more business downtown.

Q: So it’s a win-win.
A: Yeah, I wanted to be one of the frontrunners. [Downtown Lynn] has the potential to be a mini–South End. But for a 70seat restaurant in the South End, you’d pay $15,000 a month in rent. Here I pay $2500.

Q: How are the economics reflected in the aesthetics?
A: The location in Lynn is more upscale than the one in the Navy Yard; it’s more of a destination spot. In fact, 75 percent of my clientele comes from Marblehead. I tell people we’re Marblehead’s favorite restaurant [laughs]. Also, we have a bigger kitchen, so we can make homemade desserts, homemade ice cream. We plate everything a little fancier, and people order more courses, nicer bottles of wine. And we have to take reservations there, because the customers are definitely more high-maintenance.

Q: Really? More than the city slickers?
A: In Boston, it’s more like people’s second kitchen. I have sports celebrities coming into Navy Yard, and they don’t care — they’ll wait an hour for a table, they’ll take any table. But in Lynn, God forbid if it’s a Saturday night and someone can’t get a table by the window after five minutes [laughs].

Where to find them

Alta Strada, 92 Central Street, Wellesley, 781.237.6100

MGM Grand at Foxwoods, 240 MGM Grand Drive, Mashantucket, Connecticut, 866.MGM.0050

Blue Sky on York Beach, 2 Beach Street, York Beach, Maine, 207.363.0050

Downtown Bistro and Wine Bar, 191 Oxford Street, Lynn, 781.593.3111

Great Bay, 500 Comm Ave, Boston, 617.532.5300

Il Casale, 50 Leonard Street, Belmont.

Locke-Ober, 3 Winter Place, Boston, 617.542.1340

Navy Yard Bistro and Wine Bar, First Avenue and Sixth Street, Charlestown, 617.242.0036

Radius, 8 High Street, Boston, 617.426.1234

Restaurant Dante, Royal Sonesta Cambridge, 40 Edwin H. Land Boulevard, Cambridge, 617.497.4200

Scampo, Liberty Hotel, 215 Charles Street, Boston, 617.536.2100

Sel de la Terre, 255 State Street, Boston, 617.720.1300; 1245 Worcester Street, Natick, 508.650.1800.

Via Matta, 79 Park Plaza, Boston, 617.422.0008

What do you want? Stuff@Night readers share their favorite splurges

Heather Bouzan — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:11:00 GMT

THE IPHONE. Super-fancy underpants. The triple-chocolate-orgasm-fudge-explosion ice cream that’s forever leering at us from inside its frost-bitten glass case. What do they have in common? All three rank on our list of must-have splurges. But what about the rest of you? We checked in with some enthusiastic bar patrons at Vox Populi to find out.

Julie Dunn
Age: 27
Occupation: medical researcher
From: Quincy
What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever splurged on?
It was probably a gown for a gala I went to a few years ago. It was at the Four Seasons for the March of Dimes, so I had to go all out. It’s charity, so it gives you an excuse to splurge.
What’s your favorite place in Boston to splurge?
Either the Coach store in the Pru or someplace great to go out with friends, like Excelsior for cocktails and appetizers. More than a material thing, I’d rather spend money on creating a great experience with friends.
What’s your favorite thing to splurge on?
Makeup at Sephora and really good wine and chocolate. Those are my three big things.
What’s your biggest “dream splurge”?
Trip around the world, hands down — with all my friends.
What’s your most recent big purchase?
My condo.
What are you saving for right now?
I am saving up for a really great European vacation that will include a lot of wine and chocolate tasting.

Kevin Loughlin
Age: 26
Occupation: sales
From: Newburyport
What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever splurged on?
I just went to the Bahamas. I spent about nine grand down there, so …
What’s your favorite place in Boston to splurge?
Abe & Louie’s.
What’s your favorite thing to splurge on?
Sporting events.
What’s your biggest “dream splurge”?
A boat. I really want a boat.
What’s your most recent big purchase?
I bought a Lexus.
What are you saving for right now?
A beach house.

Lisa Del Toro
Age: 30
Occupation: flight attendant
From: Winthrop
What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever splurged on?
I went to San Diego for mussels. And fish tacos. I’m a flight attendant, so it’s not a huge splurge, but it was just go there, have dinner, come back.
What’s your favorite place in Boston to splurge?
I like Fleming’s, as far as a restaurant goes. Oh, and Nordstrom.
What’s your favorite thing to splurge on?
I like to splurge on myself. I like massages, I like pedicures, I like manicures. I think it’s important that if you’re going to splurge on something, you should splurge on yourself.
What’s your biggest “dream splurge”?
If money’s not an object, Bali. I would like a cabana on the water. I’d like someone bringing fresh seafood and fruit daily. I’d like to hike up a volcano — which I’ve done, actually. And deep-sea fishing.
What’s your most recent big purchase?
My car.
What are you saving for right now?
A house.

Chris Scully
Age: 32
Occupation: antique dealer
From: Winthrop
What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever splurged on?
Rims.
What’s your favorite place in Boston to splurge?
I’d say Urban Outfitters.
What’s your favorite thing to splurge on?
Clothes.
What’s your biggest “dream splurge”?
A ski house. Or a helicopter — that would be even better.
What’s your most recent big purchase?
An antique chest of drawers.
What are you saving for right now?
A ring. And a house.

Kara Henson
Age: 29
Occupation: sales coordinator
From: Back Bay
What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever splurged on?
A couture gown; it was a Valentino.
What’s your favorite place in Boston to splurge?
It would be Louis Vuitton.
What’s your favorite thing to splurge on?
I would say travel.
What’s your biggest “dream splurge”?
I guess jewelry.
What’s your most recent big purchase?
A bag — Fendi.
What are you saving for right now?
Real estate.

Chip Flowers
Age: 33
Occupation: attorney
From: Back Bay
What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever splurged on?
Probably an unplanned date with a former girlfriend of mine. I surprised her with a trip to this wonderful resort in Mexico.
What’s your favorite place in Boston to splurge?
The Gucci store. If you can’t spoil yourself there, where can you? And Saks, too.
What’s your favorite thing to splurge on?
A suit. There’s nothing better than a quality Armani suit.
What’s your biggest “dream splurge”?
The biggest dream splurge would be a villa on the French Riviera. And then, of course, in the back yard would be a vineyard. If money wasn’t an object, that would be the first thing I would buy.
What’s your most recent big purchase?
A Gucci trench coat. That was nice.
What are you saving for right now?
I am saving up for a nice, expensive Parisian vacation. A nice two-month vacation in Paris.

Carolyn Schwartz
Age: 26
Occupation: sales manager
From: Back Bay
What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever splurged on?
A dress from Saks — it was Diane von Furstenberg. And I never wear it. That’s what makes it outrageous.
What’s your favorite place in Boston to splurge?
Urban Outfitters.
What’s your favorite thing to splurge on?
Definitely clothes.
What’s your biggest “dream splurge”?
A house in Miami or the Greek islands.
What’s your most recent big purchase?
Diane von Furstenberg luggage — but I got it for a really good deal. I’m a splurger, but I try to find really good deals.
What are you saving for right now?
To buy a condo.

[Photos by Melissa Ostrow]

Mommy dearest: Local chefs dish on their mother's epicurean influences

Heather Bouzan — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:41:00 GMT

EVERY TIME we sit down to a divine home-cooked meal at our mother’s house, we get to thinking: what influences have mothers had on their professional-chef offspring? So we got personal with eight of Boston’s finest cooks, who shared memories of family meals, childhood culinary lessons, and what it’s like to serve dinner to the women who are, in many cases, their toughest critics. An added bonus: they even agreed to share recipes passed down from their family kitchens.

Josh Ziskin, owner/executive chef of La Morra (48 Boylston Street, Brookline, 617.739.0007)
Childhood cooking lessons weren’t what inspired Josh Ziskin. It was simply all of his mother’s home-cooked meals (aside from indulgent Thursday-night trips to McDonald’s, that is). “Looking back on it recently, I’ve realized that [my mother’s dinners] were pretty good stuff,” he recalls. “She had her main dishes, like roast chicken. She always had rice, always had a vegetable — sort of a square meal, you know?” Ziskin never made it into the kitchen himself until college, when he’d call his mother with questions. “I had a bunch of roommates, and we rented a house, and I’d do basically all the cooking,” he says. “I’d call her for her [recipes].” These days, Ziskin’s parents are frequent diners at La Morra — though Mama Ziskin’s presence is felt whether she’s there or not. “I definitely hear her in the background, like, ‘Do you have to add that much butter to that?’ or ‘Does it need that much oil?’ or ‘Can you do without the bacon or pancetta in that dish?’ ”

Chicken with Red Wine and Tarragon
1 whole roasting chicken
1 can cheddar-cheese soup
Equal amount red wine
2 tablespoons dried tarragon
Salt and pepper

Mix soup, red wine, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Cover chicken with mixture. Roast at 350 degrees for one hour or until done. Serves 4.

Gabriel Bremer, chef/owner of Salts (798 Main Street, Cambridge, 617.876.8444)
For Gabriel Bremer, who was raised in a small family outside of Cleveland, “Food was always part of the family and growing up.” Family dinners were a big deal during his childhood — “[We weren’t] the family that would make a quick meal and eat in front of the TV” — and on weekends, he and his mother would bake together. “We would pick a couple recipes and try some new breads, some muffins, things like that.” His mother didn’t necessarily teach him cooking techniques, but she did instill in him a love of food and family. “I think with the techniques we use [at Salts], she wouldn’t know where to begin,” he says. “It was more of the involvement in having food and the family be kind of one.” If anything, Bremer’s current style draws on the preferences of his grandparents: braised cabbage, sauerkraut, and lots and lots of pork. But it was his mother’s support of his culinary endeavors — even if she “turned around and threw it out when I wasn’t looking” — that had the most significant impact on his career.

Heirloom Squash Soup
with Cider Cream
For the soup:
4 cup peeled, seeded squash
cut into two-inch pieces
1 leek, sliced
1 Granny Smith apple, quartered
4 Medjool dates, pitted
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 teaspoon whole cloves
1/4 teaspoon whole allspice
1/4 teaspoon whole coriander
2 tablespoons butter
8 cups chicken or vegetable stock

In a four-quart saucepan over low heat, add butter, squash, leek, apple, and dates. Cook for two minutes, being careful not to burn the squash. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. Place the spices in a small piece of cheesecloth and tie closed with a string. Add the spice pouch and stock to the squash mixture and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes, or until the squash is very tender. Remove the spice pouch and purée the soup in a blender until smooth.

For the cider cream:
1 cup apple cider reduced
down to 2 tablespoons
1 cup heavy cream

In a small saucepan, slowly reduce the apple cider. In a mixer fitted with a whisk, whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks. Gently fold the cider reduction into the whipped cream and season with salt and white pepper to taste. To serve, top the soup with a dollop of cider cream and a little fresh grated nutmeg (optional). Serves 4.

Peter Beresford, chef at 224 Boston Street Restaurant (224 Boston Street, Dorches-ter, 617.265.1217)
Peter Beresford’s mother was always ahead of the crowd. “When other mothers were plugging in that fondue pot, she was reducing balsamic vinegar and cooking with lentils,” he says. Naturally, then, “My mom definitely taught me to fly by the seat of my pants in the kitchen. She taught me to try new things and to go against what the conventional style of the minute is.” In addition to the bonding time dinner provided, nutrition was also key, and Beresford’s mom had her family on a macrobiotic diet. “As a kid, honestly there were times I was like, ‘Oh, this is so crappy. Can’t we just go to McDonald’s like every other family?’ ” he remembers. “But now I use a lot more vegetables and things like that than I think I normally would have in my cooking, had I not had that sort of background.” When it comes down to it, the inventiveness of his mother’s strict diet proved a major inspiration to chef Beresford. “Sometimes her stuff was so oddball, I was like, ‘Wow, Mom, nobody in the world is going to eat this.’ But she never stuck to the rigidity of how a dish should be or how a recipe should be.” Lesson learned.

Lentil Loaf
1/2 cup barley
1 cup green lentils, rinsed
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium Spanish onion, minced
1 rib celery, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
1 cup wheat cracker crumbs
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups water
2 cups low sodium chicken or
beef broth

Sauté garlic, onion, and celery in medium stock pot with olive oil. When vegetables begin to sweat, add barley and lentils. Stir frequently for about one minute. Add liquid and sea salt. Bring to a boil for one minute, then reduce heat to low and simmer. Add carrot. After simmering for approximately 40 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed, add egg and cracker crumbs. Bake for 35 minutes in lightly oiled 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan. Allow to rest for 15 minutes, then turn out on serving platter. (This recipe can be doubled or tripled with no additional ingredient adjustment. Eggs can be deleted, but the finished product will be looser in consistency.) Serves 6.

Carla and Christine Pallotta, cook/owners of Nebo (90 North Washington Street, Boston, 617.723.NEBO)
When they were growing up, Christine and Carla Pallotta were barely allowed within swatting distance of their traditional Italian mother while she was prepping meals. “There were no [cooking] lessons; there was, ‘Get out of my kitchen,’ ” says Christine. As the girls grew older, they were allowed small tasks — sealing homemade ravioli, making pizzelle cookies — but everything had to be done their mother’s way. So when they abandoned a salon business to open Nebo, based solely on their mother’s recipes and their family’s social style of eating, the Pallotta women had their work cut out for them. “We actually didn’t have any recipes when we came to the restaurant, because she doesn’t measure anything,” explains Carla. “So when we decided to do this restaurant, a couple of months before, we literally stuck her in the kitchen here and had to stop her hands as she was doing things and move the stuff from her hand, put it in a measuring cup, measure it out, write it down. It was a long process, believe me.” When it comes to style, the Pallottas haven’t changed a thing. “We’re very adamant about having [the cooking] done the way we do it, the way my mother did it,” Carla stresses. “I feel like, if something’s been working that long, it’s already perfected. Why change it?”

Minestra with Fried Polenta
2 pepperoni, preferably
Santa Margherita
4 pounds end of prosciutto di Parma
2 racks of baby-back pork ribs
2 heads escarole
2 cups white beans (cannelloni)

Brown ribs and put aside. In a large saucepan, place prosciutto end, pepperoni cut into quarters, and ribs. Cover completely with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 hours. Meanwhile, place beans in cold water and bring to a boil. Drain beans and rinse with water. Add beans to stew. Chop escarole into thirds. Continue cooking for 30 minutes.

For polenta:
1/4 pound coarse cornmeal
3/4 pound fine cornmeal
1/2 cup canola oil
Kosher salt
Water

Bring three quarts of salted water to a boil. Slowly add in cornmeal, stirring continuously. Lower heat and simmer. Continue stirring until the consistency of mashed potatoes. Pour oil into a medium-size frying pan. Heat oil. Pour polenta into pan. Smooth into cake form. Cook over medium heat until bottom is crisp. Place a large dish over top of pan and flip polenta over. Slide polenta back into pan and continue to cook until other side is crispy. Slice polenta into eight pieces and serve with minestra on top. Serves 6.

Geoff Gardner, chef/creative director at Sel de la Terre (255 State Street, Boston, 617.720.1300)
“The kinds of things that my mother would cook would be comfort food, but homemade comfort food,” says Geoff Gardner. “Roasts like pot roast, or stews like beef stew, or chicken fricassee or chicken cacciatore. Pretty simple, but also oftentimes things that would be just cooking away, low and slow all day long and sort of filling the house with the wonderful aroma of food.” Gardner’s mother’s meals brimmed with “real food made with real ingredients” that helped to shape his feelings about what makes a good meal. “It was just nice beef and onions and celery and carrots with some spices and stewed up, and it was just good, wholesome comfort food,” he says. The slow-cooking style that he remembers from his youth has had a lasting appeal for him, and it’s evident in the professional techniques he uses today. “I learned to love eating long, long before the cooking part of it,” he says. “I kind of fell into that later in life, almost out of necessity in my teens, looking for work. But I think the seeds were planted early on with a love of food and eating.”

White Bean Soup with Clams,
Pancetta, and Fines Herbes
2 cups dried navy beans, soaked
overnight in water (use extra water
since beans will expand)
1 cup diced pancetta
1 medium white onion, peeled
and diced
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 medium-size carrot, peeled
and diced
1 stalk celery, washed and diced
2 quarts chicken stock
3 tablespoons chopped mixed fines
herbes (chervil, chives, parsley,
tarragon)
2 cups tomatoes, peeled, seeded,
and chopped
24 Littleneck clams, washed to
remove any sand
Salt and pepper

Put pancetta in medium-size souppot over medium heat. Gently render for 7 or 8 minutes. Add onion, garlic, carrots, and celery and gently sauté in the rendered pancetta for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove navy beans from their soaking water and add to the pot. Discard the water. Immediately add chicken stock and simmer gently, uncovered, for 1.5 to 2 hours, or until beans are tender. Add tomatoes and season to taste with salt and pepper. All of this can be done one day in advance and refrigerated. When ready to serve, return to a simmer, add clams and fines herbes and cover. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes until clams open. Serve immediately. This recipe assumes 3 clams per serving. Feel free to add more if you would like. (Note: Many prepared chicken stocks can be quite salty, so taste the soup before adding any additional salt.) Serves 6 to 8.

Joanne Chang, chef/co-owner of Myers+Chang (1145 Washington Street, Boston, 617.542.5200) and pastry chef/owner of Flour Bakery (1595 Washington Street, Bos-ton, 617.267.4300; 12 Farnsworth Street, Boston, 617.338.4333)
Part of the reason Joanne Chang opened her latest venture, Myers+Chang, was that the takeout Chinese she was eating bore little resemblance to her mother’s cooking. “We grew up eating Chinese food, and that’s all we ever ate,” she explains. “I think I was about 13 or 14 when I realized that not everyone eats Chinese food every night.” One of the most important components of her mother’s cooking, which has translated to the restaurant, is the use of fresh vegetables. “I don’t know if that’s a Mom thing or a Taiwanese thing, but she’s always, all the time since I was growing up, cooking us lots of vegetables,” Chang says. “We have a lot of vegetables on the menu, and we don’t have a lot of fried things; we try to keep things really tasty and really fresh and really healthy.” In fact, many items on the Myers+Chang menu — Mama Chang’s Pork and Chive Dumplings, Spicy Silky Tofu, Mung Bean Cake — are direct descendants of dishes Chang’s mother cooks at home, and the elder Chang has spent time in the restaurant’s kitchen, teaching the cooks her methods. As for Flour, Chang’s mother doesn’t bake — so your guess is as good as ours.

Mom’s Hot and Sour Soup
4 cups chicken stock
2 ounces pork loin, julienned
1/3 cup bamboo shoots, julienned
1/3 cup wood ear mushrooms, soaked
and sliced
1/4 cup lily buds, soaked and chopped
1 block firm tofu
3 pieces scallions, chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sambal oelek
1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
2 teaspoons fresh ginger,
finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 egg

Heat chicken stock and add pork, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and lily buds. Simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add tofu, chopped scallion, soy, salt, vinegar, sugar, sambal, pepper, ginger, and sesame oil. Simmer for a few minutes until flavors meld. Taste and adjust seasoning. Whisk in egg right before serving and divide into 4 bowls. Sprinkle with a little sesame oil, fresh ground pepper, and some chopped scallions for garnish. Serves 4.

Carlos Rodriguez, executive chef at Orinoco (477 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, 617.369.7075)
Growing up in Venezuela, Carlos Rodriguez’s weekday meals were prepared by his family’s housekeepers. But what stands out for him are the Sunday dinners he’d help his mother, Trina Michelangeli, assemble. “We took a theme every time,” he recalls. “We’d do a really, really complicated Chinese dish. Sometimes we did Indian, sometimes we did Venezuelan. [We were] always looking for international recipes.” The most important lesson his mother imparted, Rodriguez says, is to have a passion for cooking. “Most of the things that I learned, I learned right in the industry. But I think she gave me the passion to do it.” And, he says, she’s most definitely his number-one fan. These days, when she’s given a traditionally Venezuelan recipe (Rodriguez uses some, like the Asado Negro, at Orinoco), it’s mother who calls son for ideas. “She’ll call me and say, ‘Baby, can you give me this recipe for this rice that you made, I don’t know, 20 years ago?’ ” he laughs. But when it comes down to it, she’ll also be the first to give it to him straight. “I know if I give her a [bad] dish — and I know I’m her son and she loves me to death — she will tell me the dish is not good,” Rodriguez says. “So if I go too trendy, she will tell me, ‘Too many flavors. Go back, keep it simple, let the ingredients come out from themselves.’ ”

Escabeche de Mariscos, a/k/a
Rompe Colchon (mattress breaker)
1/2 cup each of mussels, clams,
conch (all without shells), and
baby octopus
21 to 25 deveined shrimp
1 red onion
1 bunch cilantro
1 cup lime juice
1 red bell pepper
1/4 cup white vinegar
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Worcestershire sauce, as desired
Ketchup, as desired

Cook all shellfish for 1/2 hour over medium heat. Julienne onion, pick the cilantro leaves, and cut peppers in small squares. Cool down the shellfish, mix all ingredients in a glass jar, and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Enjoy at a party or at the beach with Saltine crackers. Serves 6.

Nadsa de Monteiro, executive chef at the Elephant Walk (900 Beacon Street, Boston, 617.247.1500; 2067 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.492.6900; and 663 Main Street, Waltham, 781.899.2244)
Nadsa de Monteiro and her mother are practically opposing forces — but that doesn’t mean they can’t run a restaurant (or three) together. During Nadsa’s childhood in Cambodia, her mother enjoyed preparing food even though the family employed cooks — which meant Nadsa never had to learn. “When I was growing up, I didn’t get into cooking — I was just really good at eating,” she says. In fact, she didn’t spend time in the kitchen until her family moved to France after the fall of their native country. While away at school in Paris, she’d crave Cambodian food and call her mother for recipes. Eventually, the family relocated to the United States and opened the first Elephant Walk, but Nadsa didn’t end up in the kitchen until their chef failed to show up one evening. “I lasted the night, and I realized that I had a natural knack for it.” She began working side by side with her mother — which wasn’t always easy. “There’s always the tension of mother and daughter. We’re so different from each other, character-wise,” Nadsa says. “But overall, when it came to food, we worked well together.” Currently, Nadsa handles the day-to-day operations of the business, while her mother has transitioned into more of a consulting role. The two still butt heads — Nadsa’s willing to experiment, while her mother’s style is more traditional — but as Nadsa admits, “There’s integrity in every cuisine, and you have to respect the integrity in order to take it somewhere else.”

Poulet Pochani
For the chicken breast:
4 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled
and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken
breast, cut on the diagonal into
1/4-inch-thick pieces

Blend the chopped ginger with the water until smooth; add a little more water if necessary to blend. Extract the ginger juice and discard the rest. Marinate the chicken with the juice and set aside while you make the paste.

For the paste:
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons fennel seeds
1 tablespoon galangal, peeled and
coarsely chopped
3 dried New Mexico chilies, soaked,
seeded, and deveined
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 large shallots, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons shrimp paste
1/2 cup water

Blend all the above ingredients in a blender until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes.

To assemble:
3 tablespoons soybean or other
vegetable oil
Paste (see above)
2 cups coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
Marinated sliced chicken
breast (see above)
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed,
quickly blanched, and cut in half
1 1/2 teaspoons hot chili flakes

Preparation:
Heat oil in large sauté pan or small wok over medium-high heat. Add paste and stir to render for about 20 seconds. Add coconut milk, salt, sugar, and fish sauce and stir to cook for 2 minutes. Add sliced chicken and stir to mix well and cook for 2 minutes longer. Add the green beans and hot chili flakes and cook until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Serve with steamed jasmine rice. Serves 4. @

A wink and a smile

Heather Bouzan — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:29:00 GMT

Whether we’re single or attached, no matter: we love a good flirt. The best are full of lash-fluttering and witty banter and devoid of any particular intentions (though we have been known to use our skills to mess with someone we know is a sleaze, just for the fun of it). If nothing else, a lighthearted flirting session leaves us with a boost of self-confidence and a smile we can’t shake. And since we just can’t stomach another February index of the city’s most eligible singles, we decided to round up of a few of our favorite local flirts instead. How many of them have unleashed their charms on you?

Nicole Kanner, director of restaurant strategy at Regan Communications
She throws around terms of endearment with a refreshing lack of restraint, and it never feels insincere. But you won’t catch Nicole Kanner noisily fawning over every group she encounters, as some publicists are wont to do. Instead, she has an infectious, endearing charm that instantaneously puts those around her at ease. Still, she doesn’t think of herself as a flirt. “I guess it’s the best kind, because I’m a naïve flirt,” she finally concedes. “I have no concept of what I’m doing; I’m just being myself.” Kanner considers talking to a stranger on a neighboring barstool “just being personable”; she chats with the simple intention of “meeting cool people”; and she loves being “cutesy” to drive the innately bad-tempered a little bit crazy. As for the true flirt test?

When she giggles, we can’t help but giggle, too.

Seth Selman, stylist at James Joseph Salon
The guy flirted his way into a VIP party at the Versace mansion in Miami — if that’s not legendary, we don’t know what is. For stylist Seth Selman, flirting is sometimes more about his fearless, eclectic sense of style than anything else. “Sometimes I don’t even have to say anything or do anything when I walk into a room to kind of flirt with the crowd,” he explains. Conversations will ensue about clothing items, like his new vintage blazer with tails, then progress naturally from there. Selman’s advice for aspiring flirts is not to try so hard. “Be yourself, and just try as best you can to present yourself in a confident manner,” he says. “And smile, smile, smile. What are you going to lose?” The bottom line is, Selman adores “any excuse to flirt with anybody — even if it’s just to get a rise out of someone. It’s fun.”

Sandy Hussain, freelance event planner for the Estate and student at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design
Sandy Hussain is a flirt, and she owns it like no one else we’ve met. “I wasn’t surprised at all when you contacted me about [this],” she admits. In fact, when her friends were dealing with a wave of guy troubles a few years back, Hussain was the person they called on for some romance coaching. Her tips? “If someone initiates contact with you in a bar, you have to make the effort to actually show some interest in what they do,” she says. When it comes to her personal flirting style, Hussain considers herself an entertainer of sorts. “It’s not really a conscious effort, because it sort of comes naturally, but [I’m] definitely trying to always entertain people,” she explains. “Not getting up on stage and dancing and entertaining them that way — even though I do do that as well — but just in conversation.”

Jonathan Lev, president of J. Lev Inc.
Jonathan Lev’s job is to represent artists, record labels, managers, and radio stations as a lobbyist in the music industry, so career-wise, his gift of gab is absolutely essential. But in his personal life, he’s hesitant to accept the “flirt” label, although he admits that “people have said I’m fairly easy to talk to, that I’ll talk to anybody. My attitude is, if you’re out and about, what sense is there sitting in a corner?” He’s forever trying to uncover what’s interesting about a person (there’s always something, he stresses), and he’s a great listener. Lev’s the guy who often finds himself sitting at the bar when he eats out in order to interact with new people even more. But for him, it’s all just instinct. “The truth of the matter is, don’t you like just talking to people sometimes?”

Kelly Bongiovanni, server at Eastern Standard
How does Kelly Bongiovanni describe herself? Succinctly: “I’m very outgoing and boisterous and very blunt.” Yes, Bongiovanni is outspoken, and she can hold her own in any crowd, but she also possesses a disarming ability to make nearly everyone fall a little bit in like with her. Whether conversing with customers or close friends, she has a way of taking a genuine interest in what they have to say, a trait she likely gleaned from her upbringing. “Growing up in New Jersey,” she tells us, “it was a very open family. You learned to communicate and to care about people, and there are no secrets in our family.” At the same time, she never takes herself too seriously. When flirting, Bongiovanni advises, “Don’t be afraid to say something that you think is going to be awkward or make somebody else uncomfortable. Be comfortable in what you’re saying and who you are. At the end of it, at least you get a laugh out of it.”

Chris Haynes, owner of CBH Communications
If you know Chris Haynes, or if you’ve ever attended one of his parties — hell, if you’ve ever been in the same room with the publicist extraordinaire — you understand why we simply had to include him in this feature. Still, Haynes prefers the term “charming” to “flirt.” “I consider it interacting with anybody and everybody,” he says. “So if you describe that as flirting, then I flirt with everybody from garbage men to grandmothers. It’s just the way I am.” Haynes, who thinks Bill Clinton is “the ultimate flirt,” loves walking into a room knowing no one and walking out knowing everyone. But he says he’s careful never to flirt for professional ends — he considers that approach transparent, fake, and insincere. Instead, his flirtee of choice is the person who’d never expect it. “I mean, what’s the fun flirting with someone who looks like Jessica Alba?” he notes. “Although I know I could win her over.” We couldn’t agree more.

Renatta Hosein, model for Maggie, Inc. and assistant women’s buyer/merchandising at Karmaloop
Local fashionista Renatta Hosein doesn’t always realize she’s being flirty — though her friends sure do. Even her boyfriend (whom she thinks is quite the charmer himself) has been known to call her out on her coquettish ways. But Hosein insists that she just loves talking with new people, especially those with experiences different than her own. When she’s consciously trying to turn on the charm, however, she relies on her sense of humor. “I’m definitely always trying to make people laugh and get them to talk about themselves,” she says. “And if they don’t want to talk about themselves, I’ll talk about myself and tell them everything they need to know.” Hosein also loves working behind the scenes, playing matchmaker for her single friends. No success stories yet, but if she shares some of her flirting expertise, it’s only a matter of time.

Eric Santiago, managing partner at Cafeteria
Flirting, schmoozing, and mingling were integral to the now-defunct Armani Café. Now its former general manager, Eric Santiago, has brought the same mentality to his new Newbury Street venture, Cafeteria. In fact, it’s Santiago’s affinity for the restaurant business that brought out his inner flirt in the first place. “I really enjoy taking care of people and making sure that everyone who needs something can come to me, that I can be the guy who everyone knows,” he confesses. Santiago describes his flirting style as “subtle”; we agree that it’s all in the details: an extra acknowledgement, a coy hello. But he urges those seeking guidance in the flirting department not to go it alone: “Get a little dog like I have,” he suggests. “I walk my little Boston terrier down Newbury Street all the time. Works like a charm.” @

[Photos by Eric Levin]

Judgement day: Local bartenders share what they're really thinking about when you order that drink

Heather Bouzan — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:35:00 GMT

Call us “mean girls,” call us Simon Cowell, call us US Weekly — we can’t help it; we love to judge. Whether it’s the size of a trust fund, the desirability of a street address, or the thickness of a midsection, we find ourselves constantly (and a smidge wickedly) cooking up preconceptions about people based on superficial details. And we’re not the only ones. We asked six local bartenders to share the snap judgments they make based on the drink orders they take. What are they really thinking when you sheepishly order the pink concoction that you love so dearly? Read on.

Cosmopolitan
Daniel Motsinger, Radius (8 High Street, Boston, 617.426.1234): “Simple-drinking, very easy, needs something refreshing.”
Jason Zahlaway, Middlesex Lounge (315 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.868.6739): “Well, first of all, most likely a female, due to the color of the drink. Usually a person who orders a Cosmopolitan is put together quite well as far as their outfit goes. Someone who’s dressed sloppily isn’t going to order a Cosmo, but someone who is wearing something nice — it’s a good complement to the whole ensemble.”
Sara Armour, Pour House (907 Boylston Street, Boston, 617.236.1767): “I would say that you don’t know any other fruity drink. That person is definitely a girl, and she doesn’t really care that it’s going to take us a while to make it.”
Michael Ahearn, Stella (1525 Washington Street, Boston, 617.247.7747): “Usually classic, doesn’t take any chances. Usually a lady of a certain age.”
Patrick Sullivan, B-Side Lounge (92 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, 617.354.0766): “I didn’t realize it was ladies’ night. Honestly, what I think is, this person watches too much TV.”
Gabriel Foster, Davio’s (75 Arlington Street, Boston, 617.357.4810): “Unoriginal. Try something new.”
Trina Sturm, bartender at City Bar (61 Exeter Street, Boston, 617.933.4800) and the Beehive (541 Tremont Street, Boston, 617.423.0069): “Definitely a woman; most guys don’t order pink drinks. If they do, I think it’s without their knowledge. I think I would have to say that they’re in a rut, and they haven’t really moved on.”

Gin & Tonic
DM: “Gin & Tonic is for the long-going drinker who doesn’t want to overdo it too quickly.”
JZ: “Usually it’s a guy who’s going to order a Gin & Tonic, from my experience. Well, 75 percent of the time. Someone who’s reliable. Someone who’s traditional, classic. Knows what they want, doesn’t follow the trends.”
SA: “Gin & Tonic means that that’s what you saw your mother drinking growing up, and so you’re drinking that, because it’s all you really know.”
MA: “Gin & Tonic is usually, I would say, 30-something male. Usually the straight male. A guy’s guy.”
PS: “Genius. Forward-thinker. Gin makes you smarter — it’s a scientific fact.”
GF: “I would try to introduce them to Hendrick’s gin, because Hendrick’s gin is delicious. It’s flavored with cucumbers and rose petals, and if they’ve never tried it, they’re probably going to love it, especially in the summer. [Personality-wise], normal nine-to-fiver. Normal, in a good way.”
TS: “Probably somebody who just knows what they like and they have their staple. Unless they’re more specific. If they’re ordering a Plymouth and tonic or a Hendrick’s and tonic, I’d say maybe they’re a little bit more adventurous and still like their staple but maybe want to try something [new].”

Negroni
DM: “A Negroni is for a purist, a drinker who loves big flavor in a cocktail.”
JZ: “Usually someone who’s well-traveled, because it’s more of a traditional Italian drink. Obviously, if you go to most parts of the country, I don’t think people are going to be ordering Negronis. Here in Boston, it makes sense because of our closeness to Europe and a lot of the international people who live here.”
SA: “I don’t even know what a Negroni is. It’s a drink that you like saying, just because you like saying the name. It says that you just want to be a clown; you’re a comedian.”
MA: “Very rarely do I get an order for a Negroni, and there are two types of people that order it: either people over 70, or young gay men.”
PS: “We will not have a problem with this person — that’s the first thing that comes to my mind. This is a seasoned veteran of the bar.”
GF: “Not afraid to drink. It would usually be a man. If they had never tried a Negroni, because we have one on our signature list, they’re probably not going to like it. Campari’s pink, and it looks like it’s sweet, but it actually tastes like soil.”
TS: “They know what they want, especially if they’re telling me to stir it. If they’re telling me specifically how to make their Negroni, I know that they are an experienced drinker. They know what they want, and they’re not out to just get drunk. They’re out to actually enjoy their cocktail.”

Caipirinha
DM: “Someone who just wants to order something difficult to watch you do your work.”
JZ: “We [in Boston] have the largest population of Brazilians in the United States. It’s like, people who order them are basically starting to get turned on to Brazilian food and Brazilian culture, and that’s directly related to all the stuff that’s popping up around Boston. They’re excited when they order it; they get a kick out of it. So, someone who is curious.”
SA: “It means that, again, you don’t really care if it takes us time to muddle that; you will wait. And you’re feeling sort of ethnic, sort of Brazilian that day.”
MA: “Typically, you get the Brazilians who come in and tell you, ‘That’s not a Caipirinha,’ no matter how you make it. It’s kind of like giving an Italian someone else’s gravy — not as good as their mother’s. I feel like it’s a very sexy drink, and it’s somebody who can handle their liquor, because those things will definitely, definitely take you down.”
PS: “Tourist. That’s the first thing. This is one of those drinks people don’t like to drink as much as they like ordering the drink. They like to say the word ‘Caipirinha.’ This is like the mojito; I like to hear the way people say ‘mojito.’ It’s great laughs behind the bar. The Caipirinha and the mojito, as the number of drinks grows, the attitude ... by the end of it, you think that you’re watching someone in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the way they snarl their face. It’s true.”
GF: “Caipirinha’s simply Euro. They’re probably from Brazil or Spain. They probably like to party.”
TS: “They’ve either never had it before and it sounds good to them, or they’ve had it before and they like that bite. I definitely think it’s someone who has tried quite a few other drinks in their past, because it’s not something that you come across. Caipirinha, it’s like the mojito was five years ago; nobody really knew about it, and now it’s one of the number-one drinks out there. A Caipirinha’s kind of the same way. Once you start ordering it and you order it with authority, I think you know what you’re doing and you know what you’re getting.”

Martini
DM: “Straight-up martini is just as classic as you can get. And you need one; you just need it.”
JZ: “It’s going to fall very much along the lines of the Gin & Tonic, since it’s a classic cocktail. The person who’s going to order a martini is usually a straight shooter. Their tastes aren’t very complicated, yet you find with people who order martinis, they are particular about what type of martini they’re going to get. I consider those people to be knowledgeable. Either you love them or you hate them.”
SA: “I would say that you have a high tolerance for pain. You could probably go to a business meeting afterward and be totally, appropriately drunk.”
MA: “I don’t think it gets more classic than that. I know that’s what I drink. I like just a simple, ‘Give me booze in a glass, and skip the vermouth.’ I would say
it’s somebody who likes a classic drink, doesn’t like to fool around, straight to the point — ‘Just give me my booze.’ ”
PS: “It depends. Anyone who asks for a martini list makes me shudder. Anyone who asks for a martini, I used to be okay with. Now I’m nervous. Because of vodka martinis, martini drinkers make me nervous. That’s the overall impression, a feeling that I get. First of all, vodka drinkers make me nervous. Vodka drinkers are always trouble; that’s the truth. Gin martini [drinkers], these people are the salt of the earth, pillars of the community.”
GF: “I would just ask you if it’s gin or vodka. Gin martini, they’re pretty serious about their cocktail, so they like to make it count. And vodka, they’re like gin-martini rookies.”
TS: “[Gin martini drinkers], they’re really, really enjoying their cocktail. I appreciate them so much. It’s not about the glass for them; it’s about the cocktail — that perfect balance between dry vermouth and the perfect gin of their choice. A gin martini drinker will never come up to you and say, ‘I want a martini.’ They want a specific brand of gin, they want it slightly dry. It’s very, very specific for them.”

French 75
DM: “French 75 is a very classic drinker, but one who likes a lot of fun in their cocktails.”
JZ: “A joyful person. Someone who’s not afraid to treat themselves, or pamper themselves.”
SA: “I would say that that person is out for a good night, and really knows their drinks. Someone who’s definitely bartended before, for sure.”
MA: “It’s more of an upscale drink. It’s usually someone who goes to the finer restaurants. Not to say we’re not a great restaurant, but we don’t really get that clientele. It’s kind of the person who’d be likely to order a Champagne cocktail, but wants it a little fortified, perhaps. I would definitely say it’s the more upscale clientele.”
PS: “If someone specifies that they want their French 75 made with gin, this person is the gold-star winner. They’re in the exclusive club of cocktailers. First of all, any drink made with Champagne is awesome, so this is a person who knows how to drink. And if they sit down and they specify, ‘Can I please have my French 75 with gin?’ then this person gets a high-five. [If a customer requests it made with brandy], I don’t know about that. I’m a gin guy. Gin makes you smarter. Why anyone would want brandy over gin is beyond me.”
GF: “A simply sophisticated woman.”
TS: “One of my favorite drinks. When someone orders that drink and they know what they’re getting, I just think that they want something balanced, they want something that’s refreshing, they want something that’s obviously classic. Thank you for being experienced enough to know a good cocktail that’s not overly strong, that’s just completely refreshing, and it’s completely balanced. They’re probably a balanced person themselves.”

Manhattan
DM: “Manhattan is for a patriarch.”
JZ: “Ah, Manhattan. Classic gentleman’s drink. Although ladies are more than welcome. A special tip of the hat to any female who orders a Manhattan. She has a steely personality. Steely, yet very attractive.”
SA: “I would say, someone who’s like 85 or above, channeling their grandparents. Just sort of like an old lady drink.”
MA: “Somebody after my own heart. I rarely serve Manhattans to women, unless they’re older women; I don’t think I’ve ever served a Manhattan to a young lady. Usually it’s a guy. It’s, again, a guy’s guy who wants his Manhattan — and don’t forget the bitters.”
PS: “Gentleman. Manhattan’s the greatest cocktail ever invented. The Manhattan is the drink, man. It’s like, say no more. At the B-Side, we make awesome Manhattans. This is why you’re drinking, is to get to this drink. But the martini and the Manhattan, I like you for the first one or two, but then I’m looking to call you a cab. Because no one can have more than one or two of these drinks; I don’t care who you are. It just turns south in a hurry.”
GF: “Old-school. [But] a woman who orders a Manhattan is, like, wow. It’s always shocking when a woman orders a Manhattan, because it’s a man’s drink. It’s just almost always men who order them. It’s kind of a tough-guy drink; it’s straight whiskey, more or less.”
TS: “That’s my drink of choice. I have an appreciation for any woman who orders brown liquor. And if it’s a guy, kudos. Again, an experienced cocktail drinker is going to want to be specific about it. If you are ordering a Manhattan, you’re pretty specific about it as well. You know what type of rye or bourbon or whatnot that you want in there. You say your brand, you say how you want it served, whether it’s straight-up or not, you tell me the garnish that you want on it, bitters or no bitters. Most people really are very specific about it. And if you order that, I’m going to make it with so much love, you’re going to just keep coming back for more.”

Shot of whiskey
DM: “A shot of whiskey is for someone who really had a bad day and is likely to order another one.”
JZ: “My type of person. All business. I think someone who’s not afraid to get their hands dirty. In my estimation, if they’re willing to swallow whiskey ... . After a hard day’s work, it’s nice to have a shot of whiskey, as far as I’m concerned.”
SA: “A shot of whiskey means that you’re a dude, and you want everyone to know that you’re a dude.”
MA: “If we’re talking about whiskey or single-malt scotch, it’s usually a gentleman, probably over 40, usually has a bit of money, especially if he’s ordering the single-malts. Usually a businessman.”
PS: “If it’s a man ordering whiskey, it’s very polished. Someone orders a glass of whiskey, I don’t have to worry too much about that person. If it’s a woman ordering a glass of whiskey, that’s extra, extra sexy.”
GF: “Older-school. Probably used to drink Manhattans, but now they just do a shot of whiskey. I think if they’re young, they’re trying to be a cowboy, but if they’re old, they’ve just been drinking whiskey for a long time.”
TS: “I’ve never had someone just come up to me and say, ‘Can I get a shot of whiskey?’ I’ve had people ask me for whiskey and whatever, whiskey and Coke or whiskey and soda, and I make them be more specific: ‘Do you want American whiskey, Canadian whisky? Do you want a blended?’ Whiskey’s a huge, huge category. So for me, a shot of whiskey is more of a conversation-starter than anything. I’m going to get them to be specific, and I’m going to want to know why they’re ordering a shot. And I think they’ve been probably been watching too many cowboy movies.”

Pisco Sour
DM: “Someone who I want to know.”
JZ: “Someone who is, for lack of a better word, trendy. Or someone who’s interested in the latest trends in drinks. And is an adventurous drinker.”
SA: “I’d say, ‘Christmas is over; order something without food in it.’ It says that you’re just getting beefed up. You’re just trying to drink some protein. It’s like a protein shake at the bar. Egg white is the most pure form of protein, and you’re aware of that at all times.”
MA: “The Pisco Sour is pretty much a Latin drink. It’s definitely somebody who’s either Latin or exposed or into Latin culture, because it’s so specific with the egg whites and the Pisco, and it’s pretty hard to find somebody who’s carrying Pisco. It’s usually someone who’s worldly, let’s say. Definitely somebody who’s been around, who’s traveled.”
PS: “My first thought is, put down your Food & Wine magazine and go out and do something. That’s my first thought. The Pisco Sour, this is one of those drinks that, this is a Food & Wine drink, and no one really drinks these.”
GF: “I would think that they’re presumptuous. We don’t make those here. I know they make those at Eastern Standard; maybe I would send them over there. Because I know they make fantastic Pisco Sours at Eastern Standard.”
TS: “When someone orders a Pisco Sour, I think that they’re into the cocktail scene, they kind of know what they’re talking about. And I’m hoping that they understand that it should have the egg white, and if you’re lucky enough to go to a bar that actually uses that, I hope they appreciate it. I hope they’re not thinking that, ‘Ooh, Pisco’s some weird liquor I’ve never heard of, but I know I like sours.’ I’m hoping that they understand what they’re getting, and that they have an appreciation for it.” @

[Photos by Ian Barnard}

In Recovery: The holidays are finally over. Here’s how to unwind and chill out, stat.

Heather Bouzan — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:54:00 GMT

ALL THE THINGS we love about the holidays - the expensive bottles of wine, the multi-course meals, the fancy soirées that end with breakfast - are also the things that leave us bleary-eyed, pudgy, and hating ourselves come the season's proverbial "morning after." As much as it pains us to admit it, even we find ourselves craving a few nights in, a simple salad ... in a word, a little detox. So here's a roundup of nightspots, spa treatments, classes, and cultural activities that give our puffy lids time to shrink and our livers a chance to regenerate. Trust us, after a few calm days and quiet nights, you'll be yanking your Louboutins out of the back of your closet rejuvenated and ready to make your re-entry onto the social scene.

raising the bar on relaxing
Yes, we said we wanted to chill out - but we never purported to swear off drinking entirely. Instead of heading to the city's latest hotspot only to endure long lines, cramped bars, and far too many air kisses, we recommend a low-key hangout where you can disappear into a corner with a well-mixed drink and - if you're feeling social - a chatty friend. We love the way the low-lit, bookish Washington Square Tavern (714 Washington Street, Brookline, 617.232.8989) quiets us upon entering; once the bartender slides us a glass of wine from a well-chosen list, we've all but melted into our stool. There aren't many bars in this city where we'd hang solo, but this is one of them. A quick cab or T ride down Beacon Street is Audubon Circle (838 Beacon Street, Boston, 617.421.1910), where we can't help but feel as relaxed and casual as the clientele - no buttoned-up business types here. Cambridge Common (1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.547.1228) has always been a comforting spot to grab a post-work beer without the nuisance of eager, chatty singles, and we've always felt at home at Clery's cousin Brownstone (111 Dartmouth Street, Boston, 617.867.4142), with its slightly older, slightly more sober crowd. Another option? Hit your favorite nightspots when it's - the horror! - still light out. Alibi (Liberty Hotel, 215 Charles Street, Boston, 617.224.4000), still new and hot enough to be mobbed at peak hours, envelops us in its basement calm on off nights, and 28 Degrees (One Appleton Street, Boston, 617.728.0728) is an early-evening treat.

lose the booze
If your holiday revelries have left you unable look at another alcoholic beverage without needing to hightail it to the restroom, plenty of local bartenders have created mocktails with you - and your hard-drinking reputation - in mind. Want to enjoy Sushi Teq (InterContinental, 510 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, 617.747.1000) without indulging in the latter half of the restaurant's moniker? Pair your spicy tuna rolls and salmon sashimi with booze-free margaritas offered in lush, fruity flavors, including Blackberry Mango ($6) and Blood Orange Strawberry ($6). Meanwhile, the doting bartenders at Eastern Standard (528 Comm Ave, Boston, 617.532.9100) have devoted a whole section of their cocktail list to non-alcoholic tipples. The Stormy Monday ($5), a ginger-beer-based beverage, can assuage even the queasiest of stomachs, and the Sophisticated Lady ($5), which melds cranberry and cucumber, is just that. And we love the connotations of the Lemmy Tum Tum ($5), described as a "cure for what ails you." If even those are too close to the real stuff for comfort, find solace in a pot of peppermint tea - or another of more than 25 varieties - offered at the 1369 Coffee House (1369 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, 617.576.1369; 757 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.576.4600), with locations in Inman and Central squares. They're open later than most coffee shops, too, boasting hours until 10 or 11 p.m. nightly.

weighty issues
If it's sustenance you desire, we can only assume that it's the light, low-fat stuff you're looking for after the gluttony that is December. Forgo rich, creamy dishes for tastes from the raw bar at Neptune Oyster (63 Salem Street, Boston, 617.742.3474) or East Coast Grill (1271 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, 617.491.6568), and sate your sweet tooth with the super-fresh Watermelon and Feta Tidbit appetizer ($7.95) at Vlora (545 Boylston Street, Boston, 617.638.9699). Eateries like Harvest (44 Brattle Street, Cambridge, 617.868.2255), Garden at the Cellar (991 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.230.5880), and Craigie Street Bistrot (5 Craigie Circle, Cambridge, 617.497.5511) are known for their natural, wholesome takes on fresh, simple foods with big flavors, and we've long admired the merits of the salad selection at the Metropolitan Club (1210 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, 617.731.0600). And as we reported earlier in this issue, keep an eye out for the ultimate in detoxifying dishes with the opening of Alissa Cohen's new raw restaurant, Grezzo (69 Prince Street, Boston).

gym dandies
We've always subscribed to the idea that the best way to cure a hangover (no matter that this one has lasted weeks) is to sweat it out. We all have our favorite trainer - or the neighborhood gym to which we've vowed to devote our lives come January 1 - but there are other ways to supplement those hours on the elliptical machine. To get the booze oozing out of your pores quickly, turn up the heat, literally, with a Bikram yoga class. With the average temperature cranked up to 105 degrees and 40 percent humidity, you won't leave the class dry - but you will emerge incredibly clear-headed and cleansed. A number of classes are offered daily at Bikram Yoga Boston (108 Lincoln Street, Loft 1A, Boston, 617.556.9926) and Bikram Yoga Harvard Square (30 JFK Street, Second Floor, Cambridge, 617.54.SWEAT). If you're in need of a little extra oomph (i.e., you'll talk yourself out of that workout with the slightest provocation), we suggest plunging in headfirst with a session at Ultimate Bootcamp (www.ultimatebootcamp.com; 617.787.1224). The program kicks off '08 with a six-week class held outdoors on Boston Common Monday through Thursday mornings beginning on January 7. For less hardy folk, indoor sessions begin on January 7 and February 25. After a few workouts, you won't even think about sleeping through that early-morning wake-up call. Finally, mixing things up with your gym's group fitness classes is always beneficial. Not only will you work muscles you likely never knew you had, you'll also be less inclined to allow yourself an out when the going gets tough - especially when the post-menopausal woman with Madonna arms next to you is crunching her abs double-time. Each gym has its own roster of offerings, some more creative than others (think stripper-pole workouts, samba dancing, ass-class); one of the more innovative and imaginative of the bunch is Equinox (131 Dartmouth Street, Boston, 617.578.8918), which debuts new classes including "Hardbody Meltdown" (exaggerated step-training), "Red Carpet Ready" (covering cardio and toning, plus confidence, poise, and grace), and "Temple Dance" (sexy, exotic moves to world music) in January.

spaaah!
If your definition of "sweating it out" involves a stint in the steam room after a spa treatment, we have some less active (yet still rejuvenating) options worth exploring. Heat up with a 75-minute Hot Stone Massage ($100) at Inman Oasis (243 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, 617.491.0176) - the rocks work wonders on a fatigued body - followed by a soothing soak in one of the wellness center's hot tubs. If you'd rather scrub away your demons, try the Urban Renewal Exfoliating Facial ($125) at G Spa (35 Newbury Street, Boston, 617.267.4772), which incorporates cleansing enzymes; exfoliating alpha hydroxy acids; and hydrating cranberry, pomegranate, and green-tea moisturizers. If your eyelids are puffy from too many carbs, too much booze, and too little sleep, head to Pyara (104 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge, 617.497.9300) for the Revitalizing Eye Treatment ($35; $25 as a spa enhancement), while people looking for a full-body experience might do well to invest in the Sea Foam Head-to-Toe Body Ritual ($265) at Bella Santé (38 Newbury Street, Boston, 617.424.9930), featuring two hours of re-mineralizing, oxygenizing masques, scrubs, and creams.

it's academic
Don't be afraid to get studious about your detoxing. The Cambridge Center for Adult Education (42 Brattle Street, Cambridge, 617.547.6789) offers evening and weekend classes in subjects as diverse as "Introduction to Decoupage" (beginning January 15) and "Greek Philosophy" (beginning January 16); visit www.ccae.org to browse the winter course catalog. If you've been itching to put pen to paper and engage in more literary pursuits, enliven your prose with one of the themed writing workshops at Grub Street (160 Boylston Street, Boston, 617.695.0075). Updated listings are posted at www.grubstreet.org. Food and wine education more your speed? The latest addition to the Barbara Lynch empire, Stir (102 Waltham Street, Boston, 617.423.STIR), offers classes with a sophisticated take on both, including an introduction to chenin blanc on January 7 and, on January 8 and 9, instruction on how to assemble Lynch's "No. 9 Classics" such as prune-stuffed gnocchi and steak tartare. And the Boston Wine School (1354 Comm Ave, Boston, 617.784.7150) leaves no bottle uncorked in its quest for vino wisdom.

art attack
If you crave culture's more social side, Boston has a wealth of opportunities. The ICA (100 Northern Avenue, Boston, 617.478.3100) offers date-worthy programming that swaps late nights at the bar for lectures, films, and performance pieces that inspire discussion. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (280 The Fenway, Boston, 617.566.1401) appeals to a young, savvy crowd with its "Gardner After Hours" events every third Thursday of the month; on January 17, attend "People and Portraits," which includes a drawing session, tours of the museum's portrait collection, and, for an additional fee, the Boston debut performance of the International Contemporary Ensemble in "Composer Portraits: Music of Magnus Lindberg." And cultural veterans like the Museum of Fine Arts (465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, 617.267.9300) and the Museum of Science (Science Park, Boston, 617.723.2500) have also stepped it up in an attempt to appeal to more than just big-name donors and grade-school field trippers. The MFA has made a name for itself as an edgy live music venue, and it also sponsors mfafirstfridays cocktail events and "Winesday" wine tastings on the last Wednesday of every month; the scientifically minded can find romance in the Museum of Science's planetarium or rock out to Zeppelin, U2, the Beatles, and Metallica at a laser show. And there's always the cool, dark, hangover-dulling sanctuary of a movie theater: the Somerville Theatre (55 Davis Square, Somerville, 617.625.5700), the Coolidge Corner Theatre (290 Harvard Street, Brookline, 617.734.2500), the Harvard Film Archive (24 Quincy Street, Cambridge, 617.495.4700), and the Brattle Theatre (40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, 617.876.6838) all have eclectic offerings. @

[Photos by Kelly Davidson]

Gifted: Find out what local notables are hoping to get - and give - for the holidays this year

Heather Bouzan — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:26:00 GMT

Greg Pic, DJ/producer
Last year I got: an incredible number of Starbucks gift cards! I’m seriously addicted to the iced mochas — can’t start my day without one.

This year I want: I hate to be a “band geek,” but since I spend more time in my studio than I do sleeping, I really want a new set of Mackie 824 studio monitors.

My fantasy gift: a summer on Spain’s island of Ibiza. Not just a week or two — the entire season! Seems to me it would be the only way to really experience it.

I’m buying myself: a trip to the March Winter Music Conference in Miami. If you’re into clubs, parties, and house music, this is a MUST!

My workplace needs: people who understand that I am not a morning person — never have been and never, ever will be! Just let me have my coffee and be miserable ’til lunchtime rolls around.

I’m planning to give: way more than I can afford, I’m sure; somehow I always end up doing that!

Aldo Velaj, chef/owner of Vlora (545 Boylston Street, Boston, 617.638.9699)
Last year I got: an Audi Q7.

This year I want: a ticket to Las Vegas.

My fantasy gift: having my mother come from Albania to my first restaurant in the US.

I’m buying myself: a new membership to the gym.

My workplace needs: a really cool sign that would reflect what it looks like inside.

I’m planning to give: a ticket for my wife to Las Vegas.

Crystal Carlton, director of public relations at Neiman Marcus (5 Copley Place, Boston, 617.536.3660)
Last year I got: a trip to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

This year I want: Stella McCartney gray patent side-zip boot.

My fantasy gift: Michael Kors three-quarter-length sheared mink coat with leather patch pockets.

I’m buying myself: Ippolita bangles.

My workplace needs: less paperwork!

I’m planning to give: Fresh’s Sugar Star Treatment.

Brandon Keith, owner/head stylist of BrandonKeithHair (161 Newbury Street, Boston, 617.536.9843)
Last year I got: clothes, a pasta maker, a few DVDs, and a book or two! And a little bit of money!

This year I want: an iPod Nano, a healthy family, and maybe a little money.

My fantasy gift: an iPhone.

I’m buying myself: nothing! It’s the first year of business!

My workplace needs: tons and tons of happy clients.

I’m planning to give: lots and lots of hugs and kisses and holiday cheer! And maybe a few presents if I can afford it!

Kyla Moore, event and marketing manager at Saint (90 Exeter Street, Boston, 617.236.1134) and Domani (51 Huntington Avenue, Boston, 617.424.8500)
Last year I got: a gorgeous black pea coat with a removable mink collar.

This year I want: to watch my little nephew open his presents. Priceless!

My fantasy gift: a round-trip ticket around the world.

I’m buying myself: a trip to Costa Rica to relax after event season.

My workplace needs: a longer December to accommodate more holiday parties.

I’m planning to give: I should have that figured out by the 24th.

Ernie Boch Jr., president and CEO of Boch Enterprises
Last year I got: my wife bought me a copy of Eric Clapton’s Blackie guitar.

This year I want: underwear.

My fantasy gift: a Boeing Business Jet.

I’m buying myself: a new pedal board.

My workplace needs: a new office building. It will be completed fall of ’08.

I’m planning to give: lots of stuff to my friends and family.

Nancy Haas, store manager, Shreve, Crump & Low (Mall at Chestnut Hill, 199 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, 617.965.2700)
Last year I got: diamond swirl earrings.

This year I want: a trip to Saint Barths.

My fantasy gift: Bentley convertible.

I’m buying myself: donations to charity.

My workplace needs: a great holiday season.

I’m planning to give: gift certificates to Capital Grille, one-hour massages, and the original Shreve, Crump & Low Gurgling Cod pitchers.

Frances Rivera, News Anchor, 7NEWS/CW56
Last year I got: yet ANOTHER Juicy Couture track suit (it’s my family’s good ol’ standby when they don’t know what else to get me!).

This year I want: as many holidays off as possible.

My fantasy gift: a personal assistant.

I’m buying myself: a gym membership (I tell myself this every year but have yet to do it!).

My workplace needs: parking in the building.

I’m planning to give: more compliments to people all year round.

Stephanie Sokolove, chef/owner of Stephanie’s on Newbury (190 Newbury Street, Boston, 617.236.0990)
Last year I got: a convertible.

This year I want: a diamond watch.

My fantasy gift: to play golf with Lorena Ochoa.

I’m buying myself: a luxury week in Mexico.

My workplace needs: to continue to be successful.

I’m planning to give: a bigger bonus to my managers.

Dante de Magistris, chef/owner of Dante (40 Edwin H. Land Boulevard, Cambridge, 617.497.4200)
Last year I got: my brothers gave me an extra day off.

This year I want: Ratatouille on DVD; a personal assistant; and for my friends, family, and guests to always eat well.

My fantasy gift: to receive or give?

I’m buying myself: a firehouse/restaurant in Belmont for my brothers and me.

My workplace needs: a glass-wall partition in one of our dining rooms to host more private events, there’s always room for kitchen updates, and a retractable awning and heaters for the patio.

I’m planning to give: more time to my family outside the restaurant.

Mohamad El Zein, general manager of Masa (439 Tremont Street, Boston, 617.338.8884)
Last year I got: an LCD screen and some clothes.

This year I want: a new laptop.

My fantasy gift: a plane ticket to an exotic destination.

I’m buying myself: clothes.

My workplace needs: always more improvement.

I’m planning to give: money and charity to the poor and hungry.

James Cochener, co-owner of Coda Bar and Kitchen (329 Columbus Avenue, Boston, 617.536.CODA) and Common Ground Bar & Grill (85 Harvard Avenue, Allston, 617.783.2071)
Last year I got: a pair of Persol sunglasses.

This year I want: socks and underwear.

My fantasy gift: a 24-foot Boston Whaler.

I’m buying myself: two weeks on the beach in the Caribbean.

My workplace needs: less stress.

I’m planning to give: my wife a piece of custom-made jewelry by Emily Scott.

Kevin Troy, owner of Dharma Group (Gypsy Bar, Liquor Store, Match, Jillian’s, Tequila Rain, Lucky Strike Lanes)
Last year I got: a coloring book.

This year I want: crayons.

My fantasy gift: dinner with Steve-O and the president of Mensa.

I’m buying myself: the new edition of An Idiot’s Guide to Running a Nightclub.

My workplace needs: an abacus for accounting.

I’m planning to give: my body to science.

Me Soon Ellis, makeup artist/store manager at Beauty and Main (30 Brattle Street, Cambridge, 617.868.7171)
Last year I got: I can’t remember. I must not have been a very good girl.

This year I want: world peace ... and two tickets to somewhere warm and on the water for me and my man. (I think I wished for a pair of these gorgeous YSL shoes over world peace last year, thus the unmemorable presents.)

My fantasy gift: a house somewhere warm and on the water for me and my man ... and the cat and the dog, too.

I’m buying myself: I couldn’t help it, I already treated myself to a couple of the holiday gift sets and palettes from Laura Mercier. God knows I already have more than enough makeup, but I did pick up some for my mom and sister too!

My workplace needs: Christmas decorations! We’re all pitching in and decorating.

I’m planning to give: I can’t tell you that. It would ruin the surprise! @

[Photos by Mitch Weiss]

Nouvelle New England: These are not your great-great-grandfather’s hoecakes

MC Slim JB — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:29:00 GMT

NEW ENGLAND’S culinary tradition may be America’s oldest, but it’s not often considered its most delicious. After all, our local cuisine originally sprang from the British Isles, land of the boiled potato and overdone roast, and the Pilgrims, whose religious convictions and the harsh privations of early colonization demanded a bland parsimony at the table. Consider two signature dishes of our colonial forebears: New England boiled dinner, a wan soup of stringy boiled beef and root vegetables, and red flannel hash, the remains of the previous night’s boiled dinner chopped up for the next morning’s breakfast. Is it any wonder that the only Boston restaurant still dishing out unrepentant Olde New England cookery is Durgin-Park, a cartoonish, conglomerate-owned Faneuil Hall tourist trap?

Fortunately, New England cuisine didn’t stop evolving with the Puritans, but continued to absorb influences from subsequent waves of immigrants from all over the world. And we remain blessed with an incredible range of fresh local foodstuffs: abundant seafood; superb dairy products; heirloom fruits and berries; wild game; beautiful squashes, corn, and legumes; good beer and cider. Independent chef/owners have cultivated a more modern local cuisine that highlights the best of our local forests, farms, and fisheries, but supplants Puritan frugality with epicurean flair and the accents of later-arriving New Englanders. You can continue to enjoy your plain boiled lobster and Indian pudding; just don’t overlook the efforts of our most creative local chefs to update classic New England dishes.

Union Bar & Grille
A relative veteran of the burgeoning South End restaurant scene, Union Bar & Grille (1357 Washington Street, Boston, 617.423.0555) hews to a modern New American ethos that favors local, seasonal ingredients in refreshed versions of American classics. Its handsome ambience is bolstered by a mostly American wine list and famously smooth service. Perhaps in response to its scads of new nearby competitors, Union offers an autumn prix-fixe menu, making it possible to have a three-course feast featuring game, gourds, tree nuts, root vegetables, and maple syrup ($40; $68 with wine pairings) that would have been mostly foraged or hunted in the wild three centuries ago.

An appetizer of wild boar in a gingersnap braise is a bit gamier than farmed pork loin (like dark turkey meat versus light), flanked by a featherweight parsnip purée and showered with crunchy fried sweet-potato matchsticks. A hefty medallion of seared New Zealand venison is milder and leaner than the liverish meat of wild deer served in my hunting cousins’ homes, but benefits from a sweet-spiced, concentrated pan gravy. The roasted chestnuts in this jus are a little confounding: they have a pleasant flavor reminiscent of chickpeas, but an odd chewy/chalky texture.

More appealing are sides of pumpkin spätzle (like gnarled yet fluffy gnocchi) and wilted turnip greens. A recently offered maple bread pudding tastes of Grade B syrup, the darker, more intensely flavored product that maple farmers reserve for themselves while selling so-called Grade A syrup at a premium to unwitting outsiders. Granted, most of these dishes would be as familiar to Squanto and Myles Standish as Martian cuisine, but the refined treatment of high-quality rustic ingredients suits this posh urban oasis to a T.

Petit Robert Bistro
How could a modest-looking Parisian bistro in Kenmore Square evoke classic New England cuisine? Certainly not in the canonical French classics featured here, like charcuterie, duck confit, bouillabaisse, coq au vin, cassoulet, and steak frites. Yet there is one clear echo of that homely Yankee one-pot supper, the aforementioned New England boiled dinner, which Petit Robert Bistro (468 Comm Ave, Boston, 617.375.0699) exalts with a Gallic flair and luxury that might furrow a Boston Brahmin’s stingy brow. When a premature arctic breeze whistling down Comm Ave has me turning up my collar, Petit Robert’s pot au feu ($16) manages to warm my chilly bones from the inside.

The basic boiled dinner ingredients are all here: a tough, cheap, fatty cut of beef (boneless short ribs) braised slowly to falling-apart tenderness, plus some parsley-flecked potatoes, carrots, and onions (but no cabbage) in a mild, clear broth. What boosts this stew to kingly heights is the side plate of roasted marrow bone (a donut-sized shank segment) garnished with dollops of Dijon mustard and pink-tinged horseradish dressing. The steaming marrow, spooned onto hunks of excellent baguette, is unctuous and decadent-tasting, a coarse country cousin of the noble foie gras.

One could hardly follow this elegant gloss on the Irish-heritage boiled bacon and cabbage with mere pumpkin pie, so we opt for a pumpkin soufflé ($10) with cinnamon crème Anglaise, which arrives the promised 20 minutes later. It’s as scalding, sweet, and steamily evanescent as a salacious dream. (There’s one more parallel to Olde New England here in the refreshingly stony demeanor of the waitstaff. They offer no obsequious smiles, no phony familiarity — just a taciturn, workmanlike service that, while eminently French, would not seem out of place in Puritan Boston.)

Green Street
Under new Cambridge-native ownership, Central Square institution Green Street (280 Green Street, Cambridge, 617.876.1655) dropped its spicy Caribbean menu in favor of casual Yankee cooking for the 21st century. Chef Peter Sueltenfuss’s innovative approach to old-timey New England fare is exemplified by his treatment of bluefish, an oily local game fish that in clumsier hands can be unpleasantly fishy. On most local menus, bluefish is carefully trimmed of its darkest meat and grilled to reduce its natural greasiness, or smoked and mashed with cream cheese into a mild pâté. Here, Sueltenfuss produces an extraordinary appetizer of bluefish ($8) by curing thin filets in-house with salt and sugar. The result has the tender, almost-melting texture of cured salmon while retaining the unmistakable blue-gray color and richness of bluefish. This artisanal product is remarkable by itself but well-served by its piquant accompaniments: crunchy pickled green beans, cubes of vinaigrette-dressed beets, and a sinus-clearing horseradish cream. Combine bites of these on chunks of crusty bread and you get the flinty New England cousin of that deli classic: lox, cream cheese, and red onion on a bagel.

New England-style chowder is another traditional dish that’s inspired many colloquial variants. What they share is a clear broth lightened with cream or milk, cured pork (often fatback) for saltiness, root vegetables, and local sweet corn, lobster, oysters, clams, or cod, usually with a garnish of plain crackers. Some versions are absurdly rich with heavy cream, others lighter-bodied with whole milk. In Rhode Island, chowder is sometimes served clear, whitened to each diner’s taste with hot milk or cream at the table. Aficionados agree that the only unforgivable sin — one constantly committed in lesser restaurants — is heavy-handed thickening with flour or cornstarch.

Green Street’s chowder ($8) is a beautifully light, inland-style corn chowder with bacon, potatoes, and a touch of cream. Its novel twist is the addition of crisp, deep-fried soft-shell clams, combining the flavors of sweet corn chowder, fried clams, and briny clam chowder in a single bowl. You might add a side of the excellent, not-oversweetened baked beans with molasses-rich brown bread ($5) to complete the nutritious and frugal meal. It will gladden the hearts of your swamp-Yankee ancestors, who’d probably rather not know how tasty it all is.

Neptune Oyster
With its extensive raw bar and French-inspired menu of mostly seafood specialties, Neptune Oyster (63 Salem Street, Boston, 617.742.3474) provides a rare respite from the North End’s endless procession of Italian restaurants. But it also may be the best small-Western-style seafood restaurant in Boston, offering an astonishingly fresh, broad, and thoughtfully prepared cornucopia of local and flown-in marine delicacies: littlenecks and quahogs; steamers and mussels; crab, lobster, and langoustines; sea urchin, squid, and octopus; sardines, tuna, bluefish, and anchovies; sturgeon and trout; smoked salmon and salt cold. Neptune’s kitchen sings of the river and the sea, the raw and the cooked, the smoked and the cured, in salads and crudos, deep-fries and stews and grills. If you want to show a visitor what New England seafood is about, this is a nonpareil starting point.

On Monday nights, Neptune gives a rare nod to its Italian neighbors by featuring a special of lobster spaghettini ($33). This is a big, bold-flavored dish, a mound of slightly underdone pasta with copious chunks of Maine lobster tail meat, sauced in a spicy plum-tomato marinara with white wine and a fistful of sliced garlic, topped with Parmigiano and dark-roasted breadcrumbs. This makes a fitting follow-up to the similarly Italophilic oyster stew ($10), a true minestrone loaded with poached oysters and the pungent aroma of fresh oregano. You might argue that the delicate flavor of lobster and oysters are overwhelmed by the insistent Mediterranean flavors of these dishes, but you’d go unheeded by the crowds packing Neptune on a night when its competitors are mostly empty, and the special always runs out well before the kitchen closes.

Pops
With its elegant turn-of-last-century décor, Pops (560 Tremont Street, Boston, 617.695.1250) looks as fancy as its tonier South End neighbors, but has prices (all under $22) that put it in a more modest class. Chef/owner Felino Samson serves a kind of elevated comfort food that attracts thrifty Bostonians who might feel guilty splurging on a Tuesday-night dinner. Indeed, Pops often seems more packed with locals than the wealthy suburbanites who flood the neighborhood on weekends, no doubt drawn by Samson’s creative-yet-budget-friendly stamp on prosaic dishes like the stuffed quahog.

This staple of Rhode Island clam shacks is designed to make the best use of the quahog, a cheap, oversized hard-shell clam with tough, chewy meat. In its traditional preparation, a steamed quahog is removed from its shell, chopped, mixed with a mild Wonder Bread stuffing, and stuffed back into the shell for serving. Samson’s update of the humble “stuffie” ($9) doesn’t vary much from this formula; it just uses better ingredients with more trenchant flavors: very fresh quahogs, homemade Portuguese-bread crumbs, diced linguiça (a garlicky Portuguese pork sausage), sweet corn, a vibrant topping of minced tarragon and parsley, and a dollop of eye-wateringly garlicky aioli.

Samson has managed to punch up a beloved but often insipid shore-food classic with flavors from the Portuguese-speaking immigrant community that historically manned much of our local fishing industry. His glamorized stuffie is another example of how classic New England cuisine is evolving to reflect the increasing diversity and culinary sophistication of New Englanders themselves. With chefs like these at work, we can all be thankful we’ve moved beyond pot roast and codcakes. @

[Photos by Joel Veak]

Worth their salt: Local veteran chefs choose their favorite young guns

Heather Bouzan — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:01:00 GMT

YOU ENTRUST your dinner to them, so doesn’t it make sense to ask your favorite local chefs which up-and-coming
cooks they think are talented? We checked in with restaurant vets Jody Adams, Robert Fathman, Marc Orfaly, Bill Poirier, and Jeremy Sewall about the young, still-under-the-radar talent working in kitchens all over Boston.

Colin Lynch, executive sous chef at No. 9 Park
We can’t imagine that it’s easy for one chef to impress another as talented as Barbara Lynch. But Marc Orfaly, chef/owner of Marco and Pigalle, saw it happen. Not only that, he shared her sentiments. Who was it? Colin Lynch, who serves as executive sous chef for Barbara Lynch (no relation) at No. 9 Park (9 Park Street, Boston, 617.742.9991). “Barbara and I and a few friends of ours all went to eat at No. 9, and [Colin Lynch] cooked for us — stuff that wasn’t on the menu,” remembers Orfaly. “Everything was great. It was really great to see a young chef like that taking the reins and doing his thing — even Barbara was impressed. I thought that was cool.”

Culinarily speaking, Colin Lynch has taken a traditional route: in high school, he worked summer jobs cooking in Newburyport, which led to his enrollment at the Culinary Institute of America. From there, he scored a three-month externship at No. 9 Park; after graduation, he worked briefly at B&G Oysters until a full-time position at No. 9 opened up. And that brings us to the present: Colin Lynch has spent almost four years toiling in the storied downtown kitchen, and with Barbara Lynch’s new Seaport District projects on the horizon, he hopes to log at least five more with the company. Though he claims he didn’t really know how to cook until he came to No. 9 — “It was a whole new world of intricacies and intensity and just perfection” — Lynch describes his style as “steeped in French technique” with a strong focus on the seasonality of ingredients. But when it comes down to it, “most of what I’ve learned is through Chef Barbara, and her style really comes through me.” Lynch is a fan of Craigie Street Bistrot, KO Prime, and O Ya, and you might also catch him on a 4 a.m. Chinatown run for salt-and-pepper shrimp. But what makes him a great chef is his willingness to learn. “It’s just been an incredible experience,” he says, “and it’s really what drives the restaurant, the ability to teach and be taught.”

Nick Terrafranca, executive chef at 28 Degrees
Jeremy Sewall, chef/owner of Lineage, has done some consulting work for 28 Degrees (One Appleton Street, Boston, 617.728.0728). He still helps out at the South End lounge from time to time, but the kitchen is truly executive chef Nick Terrafranca’s territory — and Sewall considers him supremely qualified. “He’s a young man who’s just really committed to the craft and committed to the business,” says Sewall, who also notes that Terrafranca is easy to work with and has “a great leadership quality,” especially for a young chef. (Terrafranca is 30.) “[Nick] has a great food sense; he knows when to add a little bit or stop when it comes to preparing dishes. He’s proven [that] to me time and time again, every time I go over there to eat. His food comes from the heart; it doesn’t come from trends or pages of magazines. He cooks solid food with a solid foundation.”

Terrafranca began his career as a sort of traveling chef, which he describes as his “have whisk, will travel” phase. He’d work six months here, six months there, hitting cities including Colorado Springs, Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon, and fitting his studies at the New England Culinary Institute somewhere in between. His first gig in Boston was as line cook and then sous chef at Grotto; from there, he helped open 28 Degrees, where his menu is intensely seasonal and each dish is created to be shared. “Your perfect dining experience at 28 Degrees,” says Terrafranca, “would be to sit down with a couple of friends and have a couple half-carafes of wine or cocktails while you enjoy a slow yet steady parade of food.” He’s a disciplined, detail-oriented chef, but he’s also learned to relax and let his ingredients shine. “I go back to my Italian roots and simplicity,” he explains, “letting quality ingredients speak for themselves on the plate, and doing lots of little things — rather than several big things — to ingredients to improve where I can.” As for what’s up next, Terrafranca is still thinking about it. “It’s a question I’ve been asking myself for quite some time,” he says. “I really want to just learn. It’s going to be more exploring who I am as a chef and as a cook, what kind of style is really mine and not anybody else’s. But I think that that’s a challenge that chefs go through their whole lives.”

Ben Hennemuth, chef at the Harp
When Ben Hennemuth worked as Robert Fathman’s chef de cuisine at the now-defunct Anthem, Fathman, who’s currently the executive chef at Azure, found him “an easy guy to work with. He’s not a raging lunatic like some people that happen to be in the kitchen — just a calm, cool, collected type of dude.” That attitude translates to the cuisine that comes off Hennemuth’s line. “His food is the kind of food I like to eat,” Fathman says. “It’s comfortable without being predictable.” After Anthem closed its doors, Hennemuth was brought on at the Harp (85 Causeway Street, Boston, 617.742.1010) to inject the sports bar’s menu with some fresh ideas — and Fathman is impressed with the results. “[Ben] is encompassing this casual, new American cuisine,” he says. “And when it comes to the integrity of the product, the balance of flavors in his dishes, I think that he’s doing a great job.”

Hennemuth’s early training might come from the family-style dinners he prepared for his UMass Amherst dorm and a college course on the “Anthropology of Food,” but none of that matters now. He developed his technique working at Anthem under Fathman, and he’s applying what he learned there — “a free-spirited approach to sophisticated food” — to the menu overhaul he’s just debuted at the Harp. Hennemuth says the new dishes are “recognizable as comfort food” and “approachable” with a “fresh twist,” but they still reflect the Harp and its customer base. Highlights include pulled-pork wontons with chipotle-honey barbecue sauce, nachos made with tortillas fried in-house, and a classed-up American chop suey — all a serious improvement on typical bar fare. Hennemuth develops menu items based on what he’s been eating, what he’s been craving, and what’s fresh. “You don’t have to do a lot to support something that is already inherently good and flavorful,” he explains.

Jason Maynard, line cook at Troquet
As one of chef Bill Poirier’s sous chefs at Sonsie, Jason Maynard was “very eager to learn,” according to his former boss. “[He] really absorbs what goes on” and has a strong palate that’s enhanced by his intuitive understanding of how flavors interact. But what really stands out for Poirier is Maynard’s post-Sonsie career move: he left his sous-chef position at the Back Bay hotspot for a line-cook job at the smaller, more upscale Troquet (140 Boylston Street, Boston, 617.695.9463). “Being exposed to a busy restaurant like Sonsie, that was a great foundation for [Jason],” Poirier says. “He decided, now, to step in a direction of doing a smaller, finer-dining establishment, where it’s not such a hurried pace and there’s more involvement in ingredients, plate presentation. I think that was a great career move on his part.”

So who is Jason Maynard? A former UMass Amherst student, Maynard opted to attend the New England Culinary Institute, landing at Sonsie for his second-year internship and staying on after graduation. He considers his time at Troquet a learning experience; he’s there to try his hand at a different style of food and for the restaurant’s reliance on top-notch products. “I just cook with my heart, if you can call that a technique,” Maynard says of his approach. As for what his future holds, “it’s still kind of undecided. It’s up in the air.” Maynard will stick around in Boston as long as there’s more for him to learn here — and he thinks there will be. His ultimate goal is to own his own place, but that’s about more than just the food. “I’d want a place that has a performance space, where there would be live music,” he muses. “Fairly small, very casual, organic sandwiches and maybe some sort of pasta dishes. More of a place just to go and hang out than a place to go and eat.” For a guy raised on grilled cheese and “simple food,” that sounds spot-on.

David Punch, chef at Ten Tables
Jody Adams, chef/owner of Rialto, first met David Punch when he worked in the nearby kitchen at UpStairs on the Square. “I was struck by his passion, energy, and sense of humor,” Adams says. “The food they produced was fabulous. David always seemed to be willing to take chances and push the culinary envelope, without making wacky food.” Now that Punch is the chef at Ten Tables (597 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, 617.524.8810), Adams makes the journey there for his wild boar sausage with juniper-braised sauerkraut. (“Tremendous,” she notes.) Says Adams, “[David’s] choice to work at Ten Tables shows a commitment to working with the best ingredients and treating them with respect. And since it is such a tiny place where all hands are used, there is no doubt he loves to cook.”

Punch’s start in the industry was less than glamorous: he washed dishes and worked the counter at sub shops throughout high school in Natick, ending up at a burrito place in Vermont in his early 20s. Fine dining or not, it whetted his appetite for cooking, and he headed back to Boston for a culinary course at BU. Just six years later, with stints at the Nightingale, UpStairs, and Rendezvous under his belt, he’s at the helm of Ten Tables, where, he says, “I’m just really freaking proud of the fact that we try our hardest every day to give [our customers] the most affordable fine-dining kind of cuisine in Boston.” His enthusiasm for the job is infectious, but Punch is a grounded guy. He describes his specialty as “food that tastes good” and says his ultimate goal is “to keep cooking food that people want to keep eating.” @

[Photos by Tim Gray for Furnald/Gray]

Shop talk: Ever wonder where your favorite chefs find all those great ingredients?

Heather Bouzan — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:15:00 GMT

ASK US WHERE we shop and it’s a simple answer: Newbury Street, Copley Place, and, when time allows, the Natick Collection. But when we pose the same question to 10 local chefs, most wax enthusiastic on the merits of various meat distributors, organic farms, local cheese shops, and, in a few cases, the vaguely mysterious “Ben the Mushroom Guy.” Read on for a glimpse into some of the best-stocked fridges, pantries, and spice racks in the city.

Jason Santos, executive chef at Gargoyles on the Square
Meat/poultry: “I use Cambridge Packing. These guys are definitely the most honest, definitely the highest quality. We use a lot of natural meat — that’s all I use — natural, no-hormones, no antibiotics. They have a lot of natural lines. For me, it’s sort of a one-stop shop. I can get something simple like burgers, and I can also get Kobe strip if I want.”

Fish: “Cambridge Packing does some fish. But I also do a lot from Constitution Seafood. They’re [supplying] restaurants for the most part. They’re smaller; the owner often delivers it himself. They’re just good people.”

Produce: “I use Russo’s, predominately Russo’s. I’ve been using Russo’s for, like, 15 years. If they deliver and I forgot to order a lime, they’ll bring over a lime. I guarantee, if you start getting into asking all the chefs, like 90 percent of the people probably use Russo’s.”

Breads: “We bake everything in house. But if I had to buy, Iggy’s, I think, is the best bread in the city.”

Cheese/dairy: “Basic dairy I buy from Paul Marks. And then specialty dairy, like cheeses and stuff, I use Capone’s. They make homemade pastas there, and they have lots of cheeses. It’s really, really small. But their stuff is super-high quality. [I use] a little bit of Formaggio, too.”

Herbs/spices: “I get my spices from a lot of different people. But I’d say Christina’s in Cambridge; they do a lot of spices. Some of the spices I use, I have to buy on the Internet because nobody has them. I get some spices from France, from Spain. If you want something authentic, unfortunately — or fortunately — you have to get it from the source. We’re using a great Filipino sea salt right now.”

Other: “I use D’Artagnan; I buy my mushrooms from [them]. It’s a company out of New York; they do specialty mushrooms and truffles and stuff like that. They do a lot of high-end meat, too, so I buy some meat from them.”

Andy Husbands, chef/owner of Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel
Meat/poultry: “We use John Kinnealey. Good price, and really good, high-quality stuff. They do our grass-fed burger; they do Giannones, which is a free-range chicken, hormone-free.”

Produce: “A. Russo and Sons [Russo’s]. I’ve done business with them for, jeez, maybe 15 years now. They have a lot of local stuff, good quality, and just a good variety. Also, they’re kind of a grocer, so they have great cheeses if you need them. Also, we use Nesenkeag Farms. I talk to the farmers twice a week. We’re using what they have, what’s fresh.”

Bread: “We make most of our own, but Iggy’s rocks. We buy our bagels from there for brunch. Sometimes we buy their focaccia, because it’s just awesome. Like anything, you’ve got to start with good ingredients. And they’re a great company; they’re good people.”

Cheese/dairy: “Formaggio Kitchen, of course. That’s the cheese place, as far as I’m concerned, in Boston. Selection, quality, and just overall good people. I like to do business with people that I enjoy.”

Herbs/spices: “Herbs is Nesenkeag Farm. Also Eva’s Garden. Good, local, fresh. [For spices], Christina’s. We also use Paul Marks, Accardi. They’re awesome. Those are more wholesale, where Christina’s is wholesale and retail. [And] sometimes you’ve got to run down to Chinatown when you’re looking for something really goofy.”

Exotic items: “Accardi and Sons, they’ll get us a lot of stuff. When you’re looking for some good snails, they’re going to be carrying [them].”

Other: “Pat the clam guy. They’re Wellfleet clams, and Pat Woodbury is his name. I’m also a big fan of Louisiana shrimp, so there’s this woman, Kay, I deal with out of Louisiana. Kay Brandhurst sends me an e-mail pretty much every week about what they’re catching. They also have great crab meat. These things are caught this morning and we’ll get them the next day, and they are just fresh and awesome.”

Ana Sortun, chef/owner of Oleana
Meat/poultry: “Savenor’s. [For poultry], I get the chickens from Canada — Giannones, they’re called. Very delicious, free-range bird.”

Fish: “Some comes from Maine, some comes from Gloucester. I’m partial to Captain Marden’s. Again, it’s quality.”

Produce: “It’s our farm, [Siena Farms]. We started it a couple years ago. My husband is a farmer. [In the off-season], for the restaurant, we shop through a wholesale vendor, Specialty Foods.”

Bread: “Clear Flour Bakery, and we make some.”

Cheese/dairy: “That varies. It comes from all over the place; it’s so random. Sometimes we go to Formaggio Kitchen.”

Herbs/spices: “Watertown, Sevan Bakery.”

Other: “Wine: Violette. It’s on the corner of Mount Auburn Street and Belmont Street. It’s an organic-wine store. And the other great place to shop is called Vintages in West Concord. It’s an unbelievable store; it’s worth driving out to.”

Rachel Klein, chef at OM
Meat/poultry: “We use D’Artagnan. D’Artagnan and William & Company. They work with a lot of restaurants; they just kind of know how to talk to their chefs. And they really work with me to get me the product I need.”

Fish: “Honolulu Fish Company, or Foley. Foley is a national company. They’re very particular on how they handle their seafood; everything’s very fresh. And Honolulu Fish Company, they’re out of Hawaii. We get all our West Coast fish from them, like our tunas and our opah, or anything a little bit more exotic. We get our blue prawns from them. And that comes in FedExed every day.”

Produce: “For the restaurant, our produce comes from Russo’s. Russo’s and the Chef’s Garden. Russo’s has really nice quality. They’ve been around a long time, it’s a family-operated establishment, and, to be quite honest with you, if I lived closer I would personally go there myself and shop. Chef’s Garden, that’s out of Ohio, and we get all our microgreens from there — we get baby vegetables, little precious vegetables and fruit or lettuces, the really delicate stuff.”

Bread: “We bring bread in for brunch, and it’s Iggy’s. We also use Mariposa Bakery in Central Square. Iggy’s does all of our little pastries for brunch. They do baguettes for us, and they do our hot dog buns — we do a hot dog on our lunch menu. And Mariposa used to do scones for us, and they do a really good brioche.”

Exotic items: “When I’m bringing in anything exotic, I really just talk to the companies I’m presently using, and they source them for me. So if I say, ‘Hey, I’m looking for a Japanese purple yam,’ Russo’s is going to find it for me, and then they’ll call me the next day and be like, ‘We found it.’ ”

Other: “I go shopping a lot at Super 88, personally and for the restaurant. We use a lot of Asian products here, and my pastry chef happens to be part Chinese. You can find really bizarre things there sometimes, like mini octopus and frogs’ legs. They have some really funky things in the fish department and the frozen foods department at Super 88. Of course, no one speaks English there, so it’s hard to get any information. You have to learn by trial and error.”

Tim Wiechmann, chef/owner of T.W. Food
Meat/poultry: “Most of the meat comes from the Big Ox Farm, which is my friend Peter. It’s in Concord. He raises the meat pretty much for the restaurant. We talk a lot about the diet, and we are in control of the whole production. He usually only has, like, two pigs at a time, and I buy them. He had a steer about four weeks ago, and I bought the whole steer.”

Fish: “For the restaurant, I have some fishermen friends in Marblehead, ’cause that’s where I grew up, and oftentimes I’ll get fish directly off the boat from them. After that, I consign myself to buying fish that’s only in season and only fished off of our waters. So I don’t buy Alaskan fish, or I don’t buy Oregon salmon, because it takes forever to get here. I buy whatever bluefish is running or bass is running. They’re both Massachusetts fish. Or lobster. And there’s a great store in Marblehead called Marblehead Lobster Company, and they have lobster right from off of Marblehead.”

Produce: “I get it from Grateful Farm, which is in Franklin. They come to me three times a week with whatever they’ve grown. I also have given them stuff to grow for me. Like, kohlrabi was something I had them plant in the spring.”

Bread: “Bread I only get from B&R Bread. He’s my friend, and he’s a very good baker.”

Cheese/dairy: “Dairy, I use Vermont Butter & Cheese. I use their high-fat butter. Best butter out there, by far. Cheese I get from Russo’s. They have a great cheese department. I go to Formaggio as well.”

Herbs/spices: “Herbs we grow ourselves out in Marblehead.”

Exotic items: “We had mallard duck from Long Island, which is the duck that’s indigenous to our East Coast. D’Artagnan, they’re the big guys that do that. And right now we have Oregon porcini mushrooms — fresh, so they’re really, really good.”

Jamie Bissonnette, chef de cuisine at KO Prime
Meat/poultry: “I use Cambridge Packing Company, D’Artagnan, and Kinnealey a lot. Kinnealey will do all of our aged meats, because they have an aging room. D’Artagnan helps me with farmers out of New York state and Pennsylvania, getting things like veal, Berkshire pigs, small farm chickens, and ducks. And Campco helps me get our all-natural grass-fed meat from Brandt Farm, Brandt Meat Company out of the West Coast, Nebraska, and California. We use Bella Bella Gourmet to get our foie gras.”

Fish: “We get a lot of it from Sunny’s Seafood. It’s a Boston company, just known as Sunny’s. When striped bass comes in season in the summer, the first day it’s in season, the guys at Sunny’s Seafood know that I’m gonna want it. [For more exotic fish], we use a Japanese company called True Worlds.”

Produce: “We use a lot from Eva’s Garden in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. [She’s an] organic farmer. She custom plants things, so you can say, ‘Hey, I really want ground ivy next year,’ or ‘I love lovage. Can you make sure you have extra lovage for me?’ And her herbs are impeccable; her edible flowers are unbelievable.”

Bread: “B&R Artisan Bread, Michael Rhodes. I love his baguettes and his bread. I also do use Iggy’s for a lot of things as well. I prefer Iggy’s for their breakfast pastries.”

Cheese/dairy: “I’d say 90 percent of our artisanal cheeses, we go through Ishan at Formaggio.”

Herbs/spices: “Fresh herbs pretty much all come from Eva, or we have a garden on the roof here at the restaurant. So we’ll grow stuff over the summer. Lovage, tarragon — I didn’t plant tarragon, but I couldn’t get rid of it. And chives, garlic chives, allium flowers, chili peppers, and tomatoes. We’ve got about 250 cubic feet of sod; it’s pretty cool.”

Exotic items: “I sourced out my Wagyu beef from a woman who bills herself as the ‘Kobe connection’ out of New York. Her father and uncles farm Wagyu beef in Kyoto, and they sell it, but it gets distributed through a company called Austin Meat that’s based, ironically, out of New York. Mushrooms, I love using Ben, a local mushroom forager. I forget his last name, but ‘Ben the Mushroom Man’ is pretty much what he’s known as. He lives in Jamaica Plain with his wife, and they forage all over New England.”

Other: “I’m really happy with our coffee. It’s a local roaster called Karma Coffee. He delivers three or four times a week, with beans that are roasted the day of or the day before. Coffee is so much better when it’s roasted so much more fresh.”

Tom Fosnot, chef at Rocca
Fish: “We buy from Captain Marden’s, and from Seafood Specialties. It’s good to have multiple purveyors in case someone’s out of something.”

Produce: “For the restaurant, we use Verrill Farm and Nesenkeag Farm when in season. Otherwise, we use Russo’s. They’re the kind of purveyor that will deliver one bunch of thyme. If you forget and you call them up, they’ll order one bunch of thyme for you.”

Bread: “We buy from Iggy’s, and we make it ourselves. We make our crackers and our focaccia in-house, and we’ll buy our bread that we use for crostini from Iggy’s.”

Herbs/spices: “Eva’s Garden would be one good place we get a lot of herbs from. She just has really nice, fresh herbs she grows down in [South Dartmouth]. I think that being near the ocean, they’re heartier and they have a lot more of an intense flavor.

Other: “We buy our gelato from a company called Spasso Foods. We buy some Ligurian olive oil through Accardi. I think sweet yeast is probably the most non-standard [ingredient we use]; we get it from Italian delis. We use it in the crust for our fig walnut tart. We talked to someone in Italy who used it in a bakery there, and we bought a ton while we were over there and brought it over.”

Paul O’Connell, chef/owner of Chez Henri
Meat/poultry: “We buy from Savenor’s. I’ve known Ronnie for a long time, and I like his quality. And he’s local. He’s in Cambridge, right on the corner, so if we’ve forgotten something on the order, he can get it over to me pretty quick, or I can swing by there and grab it.”

Fish: “Captain Marden’s Seafoods. Again, it’s a relationship, and quality.”

Produce: “In the summer, I’m most seasonal, so I buy from Nesenkeag Farm, and then there’s some people at the farmers’ market I deal with on different apple orchards and stuff. I buy mushrooms from Ben the Mushroom Guy. When he started out, he used to just forage, but now he also has connections where he imports stuff from the West Coast, like chanterelles from Washington State.”

Bread: “We make half our own bread, and the other half I buy from this artisan bread guy out in Framingham, B&R Artisan Breads.”

Cheese/dairy: “I buy all my cheese from Formaggio Kitchen. Ishan’s probably the top cheese shop in the country. Ishan travels to Europe frequently and is always finding new cheeses and new products.”

Exotic items: “From Ishan [at Formaggio Kitchen], I just got this Maras pepper; it’s a Turkish pepper. It’s somewhere between cayenne and Italian red pepper flakes, but it’s softer and fluffy, and it costs like $15 for a little teeny thimbleful — it’s like saffron, but it’s delicious. I’m using that on lamb right now.”

Other: “I go to Latin markets to get Latin ingredients. My secret place is Market Basket over here, and if I happen to be over in JP, there’s the tropical supermarkets. I can buy frozen banana leaves that I use to wrap tamales in, and dried corn husks, and yucca.”

Mary Dumont, executive chef at Harvest
Meat/poultry: “The lamb actually comes from Pennsylvania. But I think they do a lot of mail-order things for the general public. [It’s called] Jamison Farm.”

Bread: “We cook a lot of our breads in-house. We get some other breads from Iggy’s. And there’s another companycalled Pain D’Avignon.”

Herbs/spices: “Her name is Eva and she has Eva’s. She goes to some of the farmers’ markets, but she also supplies some of the restaurants in the city. It can be a little spendy, but she has some really, really interesting herbs and varieties that she grows that I really appreciate. She grows burnet, which is kind of a melon-flavored herb that looks like a really small parsley. And she grows lemon verbena and lemon balm and calumet and all these really cool heirloom herbs. Not only [is it] good to support sustainable agriculture, but they have historical significance as well, which I really like to weave into the food. Food that represents a time and a place.”

Alison Hearn, executive chef at Myers+Chang
Meat/poultry: “I use Kinnealey for most of my meats. It’s actually a purveyor. They sell meat to restaurants everywhere, all over Boston and New England. Super 88 over in South Bay Shopping Plaza has super-fresh chickens. They have head-on, feet-on chickens. The Chinese tend to be really fanatical about having super-fresh chickens.”

Fish: “Captain Marden’s, hands-down. Captain Marden’s is run by Kim Marden; it’s out in Wellesley. They have a retail store that’s got a pretty wide selection as well.”

Produce: “We have a certain challenge, which is that we’re trying to get a lot of Asian greens and Asian produce. I’d love to find some farms, and I’m hoping to, maybe next spring, where I can get some of the things we use. When I walk around the South End there’s these little garden plots. I’ve seen various people out there, and people growing their own Asian greens. Maybe I’ll go tap one of them on the shoulder and see if they want to sell to me. But I find that Russo’s has a pretty good selection of Asian greens, and that’s someplace I like to go on my days off. It’s a purveyor that also has a retail market, so they get a very brisk turnover and very good prices.”

Herbs/spices: “I really like the herbs I get from Specialty Foods. Some stuff I can’t find from them, though, which is a shame. I have to go pound the pavement to track down yellow chives.

Cheese/dairy: “[Dairy isn’t relevant to Asian restaurants]. I do use tofu, which is what Asian people use. There’s a place right around the corner from me called Ho Kong, and I call up Ho Kong every morning for my fresh tofu and super-fresh, gorgeous bean sprouts. They get it from somebody who makes it every day; it’s local.”

Exotic items: “I use the same places for myself personally if I’m cooking Asian at home as I do if I’m cooking for the restaurant. Of course, Super 88, which carries tons of great Asian ingredients.” @

[Additional reporting by Melissa Cronin]

[Photos by Kelly Davidson]

Where were they then?: Local notables recall their lives a decade ago

Heather Bouzan — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:59:00 GMT

WHEN Stuff@night hit the streets for the first time in 1997, Boston was a very different place. The Red Sox still sorta sucked, M-80 was the place to see and be seen at night, and Kenmore Square was its old, scuzzy self. But what about the people? What were Boston’s notables doing a decade ago, and where were they doing it? We asked, they answered. Some were doing pretty much the same things they’re doing now — only in tighter pants and tackier haircuts. Some were working in completely different industries and patronizing then-hotspots no longer on our radar. And some — well, some haven’t a clue. But no matter how fuzzy their memories, all were game to predict what their lives will be like 10 years from now.

MP3: Stuff@Night editor Tamara Wieder talks to FNX about turning 10

Todd English, chef/owner, Olives, Figs, Bonfire, and others
Where were you 10 years ago?
I was in between opening Figs in Wellesley and preparing for the opening of Olives Las Vegas at the Bellagio. I was living in Charlestown and splitting my time between working and family — my youngest son, Simon, was about a year and a half, so he was getting into fun stuff like crawling. My first cookbook, The Olives Table, came out, which was very exciting. I was always busy, but I found time to spend at Biba. One of the cool spots at the time was the Plough & Stars. I used to stop in to hang out and listen to my friend “banging on his axe.”

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I hope to be traveling across the globe, experiencing different cultures and cuisines — hopefully with my children. Nothing inspires me more than traveling, and then hopefully returning home to enjoy the magnificent view of my vineyard in the south of France or somewhere in the Italian countryside.

Peter Fiumara, owner, and Marisa Fiumara, owner and function coordinator, the Good Life
Where were you 10 years ago?
Peter: I was living in the North End, finishing up at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston as a painter. [I was a] carpenter by day and DJ by night (mainly at house parties only). I was running down to New York City just about every weekend, because I was getting ready to move there, which I did the next year. I spent a lot of time in the North End/Cambridge/Back Bay. In the North End, I was living with three (sometimes four) of my best friends, listening to the Doors and drinking way too much. [I] needed a change — NYC was it. Although I miss New York every day, Boston is home and always will be; I just felt very comfortable here.

Marisa: I was 20 years old — young and wild, sneaking into all the bars in Boston, because I was a year shy of 21. Still in college, Hartwick College. When I was home in the summer, waitressing at two restaurants while working for free in the corporate world, interning. [I was] young and busy, always looking for the best parties in town. I was a social butterfly. I was living in Boston in the summer, and then during the winters I was up at school.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Peter: I’ll be 45 — I hope to have helped the music and nightlife scene in Boston to gain more respect and exposure. The talent in this city is amazing, and I want Boston to be looked at as a city of serious DJs, producers, and bands. I want Beantown to be noted as one of the great cities for music, and hopefully I can help provide a few more venues for that. Otherwise, I will be painting in my studio and listening to the Doors with a few drinks, I’m sure.

Marisa: I’ll be 40. I’ll still want to be young at heart, owning, hopefully, four more restaurants. Different types of restaurants and bars. An eclectic group: maybe one high-end restaurant, one funky bar, stuff like that. In Boston, and possibly in New York. Hopefully married and having a family, having a wonderful husband that supports me on my career. And always having two German shepherds.

William George, owner of James Joseph Salon and James Joseph Studio
Where were you 10 years ago?
I was just getting started in the beauty industry. I opened James Joseph Salon in April 1997, and the first couple years were really tough. I was living in the South End but didn’t have much of a social life except for summer weekends in Provincetown and an occasional party in the South End. The gay house-party scene had peaked in the early ’90s and was on a steady decline, so I was happy when Stuff@night asked me to cover the greater Boston social scene as the first “party pics” photographer. It was a really exciting time for me.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I hope to have 10 salons in the Boston area and a couple in California. My product line will be in Target, and I’ll be really exhausted.

Max Toste, bar manager/owner, Aaron Sanders, general manager/owner, and Josh Velazquez, chef/owner, Deep Ellum
Where were you 10 years ago?
Max: I was working downtown as a busboy/back waiter at the 125-year-old Locke-Ober restaurant, pre Lydia Shire. There I learned from some of the most experienced waiters and bartenders I’d ever seen. (Most of the staff had worked there longer than I’d been alive.) I had just moved to Allston a year earlier. Like most twenty-nothings, I was looking for a good time all the time, and Boston had the food and the booze. Besides my neighborhood haunts in Allston Rock City, I spent some time at the much-missed Tar Bar, where I probably stumbled unknowingly into my future partner Aaron.

Aaron: I was working at Division 16 — it’s not there anymore. Division 16 was there for probably 16, 17 years, and I was there right on the brink of when they started to kind of close down. It was a restaurant-bar; it was a big hotspot. I had just moved here from Texas, so I was kind of getting used to Boston’s scene. A lot of my restaurant experience was from Division 16.

Josh: I was in Knoxville, Tennessee. I was sous chef at a restaurant called Tuscany, a northern Italian restaurant. And I had begun learning about beer at Knoxville’s first beer bar, called Union Jack’s. That was it: working and drinking.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Max: Considering where I was 10 years ago, I would be hard-pressed to try to speculate the future. But I will say that our new business is far beyond what I could have hoped for in the past.

Aaron: Probably sitting on Deep Ellum’s deck. We just got approved to build our deck out back at Deep Ellum, so we’re going to be building that this winter. There’s no decks around in the neighborhood, so probably in 10 years, I’m going to be sitting back there.

Josh: I hope to still be working with Max and Aaron on a project. I’m sure we’ll always have some project going, but personally I think I’d like to also — I love talking to people about food and culinary things, and I’d like to somehow work that into my life. Before I was a chef, I was a writer, and I’d like to bring those two things together.

George Regan, president/owner of Regan Communications
Where were you 10 years ago?
I was working really hard to try to keep our company afloat, trying to head in the right direction, and I obviously made a lot of sacrifices to do that. The company has grown a lot in 10 years, so I probably work harder now than I did 10 years ago. I used to go hang around a lot of times at Daisy Buchanan’s, but now that I’ve gotten older, I go to Ciao Bella instead. I used to go to the Hard Rock Café a lot, but I think I sort of grew out of that one, too. Ten years ago [at Regan Communications], we just had this office, and we had just opened up an office in Providence. We probably had, back then, maybe 40 [employees]. Now, we have seven offices and an advertising agency we just bought down in Barnstable. It’s much more corporate clients [now]. We’ve really grown.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Hopefully, settled down. Married to somebody, not just my company. I would hope [Regan Communications] would continue to grow. I would hope that we continue to play a bigger role in the community. I really insist upon, we have to give back, and philanthropically, try to get more involved, because it’s a wonderful opportunity, in a city with so many issues and problems, for us to play more of a role philanthropically. And I’d probably try to get involved in a couple more boards, too. I’d like to continue to strive to be a better person — I’ve got a ways to go, but I’m hopefully heading in the right direction.

Darryl Settles, owner of Bob’s Southern Bistro, co-owner of the Beehive, and foun-der of BeanTown Sounds
Where were you 10 years ago?
I was doing what I’m doing now: real-estate development and owning Bob’s. And so the only change is, I founded the BeanTown Jazz Festival, and opening the Beehive. And I got married and had two lovely and wonderful kids — that’s what I’ve done since 10 years ago. Ten years ago, my life pretty much centered around Bob’s Southern Bistro, or, at the time, Bob the Chef’s — building that business.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I can see myself owning additional nightspots in and around Boston. I can see myself doing more real-estate deals with partners. I can see myself spending more time with my wife and kids than I am today. And I can see myself going back to traveling more, like I used to.

Lesley Carvalho and Allison Levangie, co-owners of Casa di Stile
Where were you 10 years ago?
Lesley: We were both juniors in college. I went to Bentley College, and Allison went to Syracuse University. At that time, we were both focusing on school and our socially active sorority lives. Junior year in college, you start preparing your resume and start thinking about what jobs you’re going to apply for and what jobs you might be able to secure when you graduate, so that was definitely a focus, too. Allison was in the retail management program, and I was business communications. We’ve been friends since the sixth grade, childhood friends. Our evenings and weekends 10 years ago were filled with sorority meetings, mixers, and community service.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Lesley: We see ourselves both as co-owners of two very successful stores. Two Casa di Stile stores — one in the Boston area, and we’re exploring [opportunities] outside of Massachusetts. But just kind of expanding our store, expanding our name. Ten years from now, we’ll have a much larger following. More consistent, repeat customers. Ten years from now, both with happy, healthy families. Children, husbands, both truthfully probably living in the city still. We’re really happy with our city lives, living in the North End, and just being part of a close-knit neighborhood. I see myself with investment opportunities, a real-estate portfolio, owning some buildings, doing a few things in real estate in addition to the store. More entrepreneurial things, because I think now that it’s really almost been a year of being on our own, there [are] definitely more entrepreneurial things we can do.

Dylan Black, bartender/owner of Green Street
Where were you 10 years ago?
I was a bartender at Redbones during the day, in Davis Square, which was probably the hub of my social life. I had friends at the Someday Café, I had friends at the Somerville Theatre. I would also drink at Sligo’s Pub in Davis Square, and I lived in North Cambridge, so that was kind of where [I was], along the Red Line. And, being a bartender, most of the weekends and evenings, I was working. I started bartending during the days, and at night I was still waiting tables and doing takeout, other duties like that. At that time, I was 23 years old. I didn’t realize, but my life was about to change a bit. Shortly after that, I was hired at the B-Side Lounge, and that’s when it went from kind of a job ... it became a legitimate career when I started at the B-Side Lounge.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I would say, hopefully, celebrating my 12th year of Green Street being open, is one goal. Working a little less. Fishing more. But 10 years from now, I see myself still in Cambridge, where I grew up, still in Central Square, where I grew up, and hopefully with a family and more friends.

Mario Russo, owner of Salon Mario Russo and owner/creator of Mario Russo product line
Where were you 10 years ago?
Professionally, 10 years ago I was just starting to strategize my own line of products. Networking with elite chemists, listening to my clientele basis, and researching the health benefits of olive oil on the scalp (like my grandmother used for me, as a child). My line was just a twinkle in my eye back then. My salons were truly prospering, and I was beginning to differentiate myself as a “non-conformist” modern and contemporary trend-setter in Boston. This is the time I started to become known as a celebrity stylist with [clients like] Rhea Perlman, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, et cetera.

Personally, I was buying art and building my collection. Some things never change! Weekends are always spent with friends and family and my true love, Tessa — my dog. Summer weekends spent at my home in Provincetown. Winter and fall, skiing in Vermont and Colorado.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I envision growing and re-vamping my product line and salons — lots of innovative products and services on the horizon. [Also], enjoying the emerging art scene in Boston and the ICA.

Lydia Shire, chef/co-owner of Locke-Ober, Blue Sky, and Scampo
Where were you 10 years ago?
My last son, Alex, was born in 1990, so he was seven years old. I owned two restaurants then: Biba and Pignoli. I had just moved out to Weston, Massachusetts, in a beautiful old home; my daughter, who’s an architect, she designed it. Moving out to Weston was very special — it’s a beautiful town. I was having fun in my two restaurants. Traveling a lot. I love to travel, go to China — I’ve been to China four times, and love to eat.

[Locally, I spent time at] Olives, for sure. I think what Todd English does is pretty fabulous. I think he’s one of the best cooks ever to have been in Boston. I’m always amazed at his food and his menus; they’re great. So I would say that was one good place. Peach Farm, which is in Chinatown — that’s a very special restaurant. I love the food there. They taught me how to make salt-and-pepper beef short ribs. Of course, I always loved to go over and visit Gordon Hamersley — he’s my good buddy. These were all restaurants that were happening back then, and still happening.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I would be 68. So, I will have my three restaurants, which are Locke-Ober, Blue Sky on York Beach — that’s in Maine — which I’m opening next week. It’s very exciting. And we have a bakery there that I named after my granddaughter: Clara’s Cupcake Café. So, hopefully my granddaughter, she’s nine years old, so she’ll be 19, and I’m sure she’ll be working there in the summer. She loves to cook. And my son will have taken over my mini-restaurant empire, and he’ll probably be based at my newest restaurant, which is Scampo, at the Liberty Hotel. I’ll be there writing menus, the same thing I’ve done for forever. I’ll be writing menus and basically helping my son. Personally, just more traveling — I love to travel. As long as in 10 years I continue to be surrounded by beauty, I’ll be a very happy person.

Oh, and by the way: I think I’ll be old enough to own a Jaguar by then. I love BMWs and all that, but I’ve always kind of wanted a Jaguar, but I always think of them as old people’s. But I’ll officially be old by then, and I think I can have a Jaguar. So you’ll see me tooling around in, probably, a dark-green or a red Jaguar.

Bill Emery, managing partner of 28 Degrees
Where were you 10 years ago?
I was just moving to the South End. Professionally, I was consulting with interior designers and architects on the business aspect of that industry. I still do that, actually. Besides owning a restaurant, that’s what I do professionally. Socially, probably pretty similar to what I’m doing today. I think Mistral was around about 10 years ago, if I remember correctly. Tim’s Tavern, for some reason that comes to mind. Bomboa. Used to go to the Tar Bar all the time; loved the Tar Bar. I had just started in the consulting, so that was kind of a big thing. I was just starting it at that time.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Pretty much doing the same thing. Hopefully I’ll be doing some other venture in the restaurant or lounge industry 10 years from now. I think the Seaport area is a great up-and-coming area, so possibly living down there or working down there in 10 years, I would think. I’m very happy with the way my life is right now, so hopefully 10 years from now, it will still be in the same capacity. Just more of the same, I guess.

Julie Salickram, director of marketing at Gypsy Bar, Liquor Store, Match, Tequila Rain, Jillian’s, and Lucky Strike
Where were you 10 years ago?
I was still in college. I went to Northeastern, so I was out on co-op at the time. I was working as the executive assistant at WBCN. I had just turned 21, so the whole Boston nightlife scene really opened up for me then. There really wasn’t anything for under-21 at the time. And I was also living on campus for the first time, because I had been commuting. So all of that, all at once, really opened up a lot. One of the girls I worked with introduced me to Bombay Sapphire martinis, and that became my drink — I really went all for it, right at the beginning. And I remember Pravda 116, which is now Gypsy, had just opened right around the same time. I remember going there — the food there was fabulous — and just sitting at the bar, and getting all dressed up. Just turned 21, all grown-up. I wanted to be 31 when I was 21; now that I’m 31, I want to be 21.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
My first thought is, I’ll probably be pulling out my hair, as my son, who’s three now, will just be hitting his teenage years. I’ll probably be Boston-based. I lived in New York for a while, but I really like Boston. And probably still something in hospitality, promotions, marketing. But exactly what, I’m not sure.

Deborah Hughes, chef and co-owner, and Mary Catherine Deibel, co-owner, Up-Stairs on the Square
Where were you 10 years ago?
Mary Catherine: I decided to take a summer-long sabbatical to ready myself to repair a long-standing injury to my knee by having a knee replacement. So for the first time, I actually was free to travel, which I did all summer, to visit Vancouver, New Brunswick, Texas, Colorado. It was a time of great growth for UpStairs at the Pudding, when the “secret garden” had really caught the city’s imagination for outdoor dining, so it was the busiest year we’d ever had, and was challenging but exciting for Deborah and me. Biba on Friday nights was where you could find us and our crowd. Deborah and I really took the time and effort to get out and about at events and parties that year and had a blast. By 1997, UpStairs at the Pudding was celebrating its 15th year in business!

Deborah: 1997 was the year of great men in my life: I had a great general manager, a great boyfriend, a great property manager, great people in my kitchen. It was the year I had bought a condo, and I was painting my floors, and I spent a lot of time on flowers — it was the year of peonies for me. I used to go with André Robert, Friday night, to Biba, and that was how I got to be friends with Lydia and Susan Regis. Lots of women chefs used to go out. Mary Catherine and I, in 1997, were just beginning to imagine that we would be changing spaces.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Mary Catherine: I see myself right here in Harvard Square, the gods willing, at the helm of UpStairs on the Square, greeting old friends at the door, making new friends on our lovely pedestrian street. I just hope that by that time, I can count on more time off!

Deborah: I see myself on a farm; I’d love to be a grower. It’s sort of a natural progression. I would love to be a farmer, and I’d love to have a bakery — sell great blueberry muffins and grilled cheese. [I’ll be with UpStairs on the Square], in some fashion, I would imagine, 10 years from now. I love the idea of doing some version of a bakery with great family dinners at night. I love the idea of communal dining, some kind of supper club. And I definitely have products I want to market. I’ve got this great “bad-girl plaid” and “good-girl plaid” in my restaurant on the wall, and I want to make that into fabric and do like cocktail aprons, things like that.

Ken Oringer, chef/owner of Clio, Uni, Toro, and La Verdad; consulting chef at KO Prime
Where were you 10 years ago?
I was settling in at Clio. We had opened in June 1997. And it was right about this time of year, too, when I had my first day off. I was just starting to think about Spain for inspiration — I planned my first trip and went to El Bulli, where chef Ferran Adrià was wowing the world with his creations. I actually got to work in the lab with Ferran and his crew. I was having a lot of fun, working hard and searching for Celine (my beautiful wife). Where was I hanging out? Silvertone and Clio late night. Also, Bukowski Tavern was and is a great place to be. When I had free time, I liked to venture to other restaurants.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Sitting on the beach in Mexico with my family and enjoying the first La Verdad in Mexico City. I also look forward to continuing to provide authentic and unique cuisine for greater Boston.

Marc Harris, owner of Salon Marc Harris
Where were you 10 years ago?
I was in a partnership in a salon called Ecocentrix on Newbury Street. I had one salon. Personally, I was married with one child. Locally, I’ve pretty much always hung out at 29 Newbury, so that was kind of my spot back then. [Professionally], I was fairly established. I originally opened [Salon Marc Harris] in 1990, and I’ve been on the same block on Newbury Street since 1978 [starting with John Dellaria]. I was pretty established in the business at that point. For me, 10 years doesn’t seem like that long.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Based on where my company has gone — we’ve evolved quite a bit — I see myself, in 10 years, probably having a minimum of five salons and a very well-developed product line. Now, I’m no longer in Ecocentrix. We re-branded; it’s called Salon Marc Harris. We own three salons now: one in Providence, one in Andover, [one in Boston]. We’re opening a fourth location in downtown Boston, probably within the next few weeks. We’ve been working on it for a while — we’re hoping to close this week on it. I’ve produced a product line, that is just a phenomenal line, and hopefully in 10 years, the goal would be to really have the product line help us establish the brand nationally. And then make a determination: if that brand’s strong enough nationally, do we follow that with salons? I see five as my short-term goal with the salons, but long-term, I can see it being a lot more.

Right now, I’m not married and I have three daughters, so I guess [they’re] the most important thing on a personal level. My oldest daughter is coming into the business, so on a personal level, I would really like to see her be established in the business and see what happens with the two younger ones.

Tony Susi, chef/owner of Sage
Where were you 10 years ago?
I was living the life of a line cook at Olives — not much money but had connections all over town, so we still had a decent lifestyle. Much like today, [I] was surrounded by great food and wine and people. I was single, and God only knew then where I was heading. I was living in Boston, moved back from San Francisco the previous year. After work or [on a] night out, we would usually hit Joy Club, Biba, Franklin Café, or TC’s Lounge (depending if you wanted chic, casual, or dive).

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Still cooking and creating great food; relaxing and enjoying life with my family and friends; still doing Q&A segments for magazines!

Garrett Harker, owner of Eastern Standard
Where were you 10 years ago?
I was running Scala’s Bistro, one of San Francisco’s most popular restaurants, for the Kimpton Group. Ironically, the same company that, 10 years later, gave [chef] Jamie Bissonnette the opportunity at KO Prime that took him away from Eastern Standard. I was waiting for an opportunity to move back to Boston, where my wife was from. We had met together waiting tables at Legal Sea Foods and moved out to SF for our twenties. Around this time in ’97, I had phone conversations with Todd English about the Olives Group. But it was a friend at United Liquors, Vince Maxson, who twisted my arm to meet a woman who was looking to open a small place on Beacon Hill, a place that felt neighborhood-y but had the highest of ambitions. He said she cooked like your Italian grandmother. Well, my Italian grandmother was 100 percent Irish and bred several of Baltimore’s finest cops. And Barbara Lynch was a lot closer to my grandmother than any little Italian lady. It felt right. That restaurant became No. 9 Park.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I expect my hair to be white, to have two days off a week, and to have successfully fought back from ankle, knee, and hip replacement to run food at Eastern Standard.

Chris Douglass, chef/owner of Icarus and the Ashmont Grill
Where were you 10 years ago?
Ten years ago, I …

•spent my mornings with my one-year-old son, Walker, and my four-year-old daughter, Emma, while my wife Maryellen was busy at work doing landscape design.

•took the kids out to parks (Dorchester Park, Blue Hills) and museums (Science, Children’s, DeCordova, Aquarium, MFA, Gardner).

•lived in an apartment on Ashmont Hill in Dorchester, now live on same street in a house we bought eight years ago.

•worked the line at Icarus four or five nights a week, made a real effort to be home at least two nights a week for dinner with the family.

•conceived, planned, and organized two consecutive annual Chefs Collaborative “chef retreats” at Alyson’s Apple Orchard in Walpole, New Hampshire.

•celebrated Icarus’s 20th anniversary.

•cooked my 400,000th meal (approximate — 16 years x 100 per day x 52 weeks).

•adopted black and white mutt (lab/Dalmatian), Toby.

•bought my first mini-van.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
10 years from now …

•I will probably still be working, although not so much in the kitchen.

•[I will be] celebrating Icarus’s 40th anniversary, Ashmont Grill’s 12th, and Tavolo’s 10th (Tavolo opening spring ’08).

•[I will be] spending more time at the beach.

Frank McClelland, chef/owner of L’Espalier and Sel de la Terre, owner/guru at Au Soleil Catering
Where were you 10 years ago?
My third child, James, was born — it’s really, obviously a big highlight: January 28, 1997. Another highlight was, I was completing in 1997 a major renovation of L’Espalier. Also, I had developed the idea in 1997 of Sel de la Terre, and I traveled to Provençe that year to investigate my idea. That’s really the three large happenings, for me, personally and in business.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Hopefully on an island somewhere, in a lounge chair, watching the waves ripple up on the beach. I hope to continue my work chasing perfection at L’Espalier and Sel de la Terre, and just continue to reach for the stars in my profession, with the culinary arts and business, both. Personally, to be fishing out on the Gulf Stream.

Chris Schlesinger, chef/owner of East Coast Grill and All-Star Sandwich Bar
Where were you 10 years ago? I did the same thing 10 years ago that I’m going to be doing in 10 years. We go to Costa Rica, I hang out at the same places, I hang out with the same people. I basically do the same thing. I think I’m kind of boring that way. I wear the same clothes and drive the same car. I was doing the same stuff 20 years ago, too. We hang out, we go to Westport.

Just working. [I hung out at] Green Street Grill, shopped at Formaggio’s, [went to] Santarpio’s. I always kind of had concepts around in my head, always thinking about concepts, but no, [I wasn’t thinking about All-Star Sandwich Bar] at that point.

My partner had left three years before, so I had pretty much made the transition and started taking over more of the business side. Probably had a different chef back then, and a different manager.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I love the restaurant business, and I’m fortunate to have a lot of very different things going on in it. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if I was doing pretty much the same thing. I’ve always wanted to have a bar, so I can see maybe owning a bar or something like that. I like to try to keep things interesting — when I have one restaurant, I want two, and when I have two, I want one. I’m sure that trend will continue. I like the work, so I don’t feel an impending need to lessen my workload. I’d like to travel as much as possible — Asia and the Middle East, I’d like to see more of that. I feel fortunate — I feel like things are going really good, and I don’t feel the need to do anything differently.

Esti Parsons, co-owner of Radius, Via Matta, and Great Bay
Where were you 10 years ago? I’ve been doing this for 20 years. At 10 years ago, we were just starting the process of opening Radius. What was going on personally? Well, when you’re in restaurants, that is kind of what your personal life is. I was not married but was dating my current husband. He was probably on the road an awful lot. And opening a restaurant, as you can well imagine, was sort of 24/7. At that point, we were probably just in the design phase, so it was a lot of meetings and dealing with the construction end of things.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Hopefully doing the same thing. Hopefully running restaurants — I really like what I do, so I hope to still be doing it. I’m never bored, even after 20 years, and there’s always something new and challenging, and you get to throw parties and work with great people. And I hope to be as happy as I am right now.

[Photos by Tim Gray for Furnald/Gray]

Now and then: Hot trends from the last decade — and their contemporary counterparts

Heather Bouzan — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 20:20:00 GMT

WE’RE GLAD that one of the inherent qualities of a trend is its brevity, because if we’d had to endure a lifetime’s worth of leggings, scrunchies, and New Kids on the Block, we’re not sure we’d still be around to talk about it. In the last 10 years, what were once obsessions have trailed off to distant memories, only to be replaced by more contemporary counterparts. (As for the next 10 years, we can’t wait to see what comes next — just, please, not the hot pants again.)

1997
THEN
basic black
Minimalist-chic was in, Calvin Klein was our man, and black was our color. In fact, 1997 was the year black pants became our uniform. Shapes were sleek, spare, and streamlined, so we wore the hue head to toe, with shades of charcoal for a little variety. Might a patterned scarf or something in paisley have brightened our moods? Probably. But we were too busy stomping around like a humorless New York fashionista to care.

NOW
jewel tones
In contrast, the more recent red carpets have been the perfect backdrop for fashion’s latest color craze: jewel tones. Tired of looking dismal, starlets have been gravitating toward lush purples, velvety blues, and vibrant greens for their eveningwear, and designers have used similar shades to make a statement on the runways. Visit American Apparel (138 Newbury Street, Boston, 617.536.4768) for basic pieces in high-impact hues. The current collection at Anthropologie (799 Boylston Street, Boston, 617.262.0545) skews towards brights, and at Wolford (Copley Place, 100 Huntington Avenue, Boston, 617.236.5070) you can swathe your legs in hues like “True Red” and “Mazarine Blue.”

1998
THEN
boy-band heartthrobs
That bleached-blond hair. Those chiseled abs. Those overalls. Boy bands were hot in ’98, with groups such as the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and 98 Degrees belting out cheeseball love tunes and causing millions of girls — and women — to squeal with excitement. Boy bands, no matter their canned harmonies, cookie-cutter personalities, and dubious fashion sense, ruled the airwaves and, we’ll go so far as to say, the world in 1998. We have the trading cards and ticket stubs to prove it.

NOW
indie-rocker heartthrobs
Lately, a new crush has emerged on the music scene. Indie rockers might not bring us to tears like the boy bands of yesteryear, but their bad-boy personas, nerdy glasses, tight pants, and sensitive lyrics serve similar purposes. Bands such as the Shins, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nada Surf, and Death Cab for Cutie paved the way, and now it’s hip — and hot — to be indie.

1999
THEN
feathered hair
Farrah Fawcett’s locks may have peaked during her Charlie’s Angels days, but her ’do was back in style (with a little less oomph and a lot less hairspray) in 1999, with soft, sweeping layers showcased on stars such as Gwen Stefani. (It might’ve helped that hype for Drew Barrymore’s Angels remake, which hit theaters the next year, was in full swing.) We thought the feathered look made for a smooth transition out of the Jennifer Aniston–inspired Rachel cut we’d been rocking for years.

NOW
movie-star curls
We’re so glad that classic looks — including glamorous movie-star curls with a 1940s flair — are back. Best suited for evening, the full, bouncy ringlets pair nicely with this season’s statement-making red lips. Jessica Alba wears the style with the mix of elegance and sex appeal that we aim for — even if our red carpet is actually the welcome mat outside our door.

2000
THEN
designer jeans
We admit it: we got a little obsessed. We could identify a brand from its pocket stitching a mile away, and though we’re normally a little thrifty, we couldn’t stop collecting pair after pair of designer jeans. It was the year that denim megabrand 7 For All Mankind launched, and dozens of others followed. We bought light washes and dark, wore them with our cutest flats and our favorite heels, and pulled out the credit card whenever a new line appeared on shelves. But with pairs going for $150 to more than $300, our bank account wasn’t such a fan.

NOW
Target collections
When one of Target’s GO designer collections hits stores, we’re among the first lined up to tear through the racks. Thus far, the retail giant has partnered up with superbly credible brands including Proenza Schouler, Behnaz Sarafpour, Libertine, and, most recently, Alice Temperley for limited-edition collections at almost laughably low prices. Following Target’s lead, we’ve seen Vera Wang for Kohl’s and Kate Moss for Topshop. Now if only there was some way to keep the eBay resale value from skyrocketing.

2001
THEN
the Cosmopolitan
From the minute Carrie Bradshaw picked up a delicate martini glass and sipped her first Cosmopolitan, the drink has been all the rage — much to the chagrin of the bartenders who were forced to mix them up night after night for troupes of giggly young women. We won’t deny having once had a taste for the sickly-sweet pink cocktails, but this trend was one that hung on well past its prime.

NOW
the renaissance of classic cocktails
When it comes to cocktails, everything old is new again — and our taste buds couldn’t be happier. Locally, people such as John Gertsen at No. 9 Park (9 Park Street, Boston, 617.742.9991) and Jackson Cannon at Eastern Standard (528 Comm Ave, Boston, 617.532.9100) have been spearheading the renaissance; just reference Cannon’s cocktail menu for a huge listing of classics, among them the Negroni ($9), the Sazerac ($10), and the Jack Rose ($10). And we’ve already told you about the ladies of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails), led by Misty Kalkofen of Green Street (280 Green Street, Cambridge, 617.876.1655). Theirs is one history lesson we can stomach.

2002
THEN
stilettos
For a while there, it seemed like we were all competing to see who could teeter and totter around the longest on the skinniest of heels. Sexy they were; practical they were not. We can’t even tell you how many times our spikes lodged in the cobblestones and brick walkways of Faneuil Hall and Government Center — and the cobbler fees were atrocious. But armed with handbags full of backup flip-flops, we soldiered on.

NOW
chunky heels
Our poor, pained feet rejoiced when the chunky heel clomped down the runways of almost every fall collection. They’re not the unflattering, squared-off heels of old: these pumps are sexy, sleek, and modern, often with a hint of retro sensibility. Now our toes aren’t throbbing and staying upright isn’t a challenge — even after a few martinis. Habit (703 East Broadway, Boston, 617.269.1998) carries a line called DRU New York that we love, and Marc Jacobs (81 Newbury Street, Boston, 617.425.0707) stocks a range of styles.

2003
THEN
the South Beach Diet
When Dr. Arthur Agatston’s The South Beach Diet hit shelves, even the Atkins-obsessed thought they’d found their miracle. Using three phases (and thankfully reintroducing carbs in phase two), the plan aimed to help dieters make a natural — and actually achievable — lifestyle change instead of yo-yo dieting their way to their goals. The diet was hugely successful, spawning a range of cookbooks, cereal bars, salad dressings, and more. We even considered trying it — until we realized that Phase One requires two weeks of alcohol-free hell. We’ll live with our pudge, thank you very much.

NOW
eating locally
The current eating craze is all about intermingling environmental goodness and overall health: eating locally. T.W. Food (377 Walden Street, Cambridge, 617.864.4745) and Craigie Street Bistrot (5 Craigie Circle, Cambridge, 617.497.5511) are known for stocking their kitchens with locally-grown products, and the increasing importance of farmers’ markets has been emphasized over and over in our city. The idea of the 100-mile diet, which sprung from one couple’s realization that most foods we eat travel 1500 pollution-filled miles before reaching our table — see Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon’s Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally — further underscores the trend.

2004
THEN
SUVs
It wasn’t long ago that mammoth sport utility vehicles lumbered with mind-boggling frequency down Newbury Street. (Al Gore wasn’t quite so Inconvenient yet.) When it came to the status vehicle, bigger was unquestionably better, and spacious, tricked-out interiors rivaled the scope of some city apartments. But countless sideswipes and mirror dings — not to mention gas-price increases — later, Boston’s elite started rethinking things.

NOW
hybrid cars
Perhaps it was celebs like Leo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz buzzing around LA in their sporty Toyota Priuses, or maybe we just collectively grew a conscience. Whatever the catalyst, we’re liking the change: stroll Newbury Street now and though you’ll still see plenty of BMW SUVs and Mercedes M-Classes, they’ll look like monstrosities compared with the perky little eco-conscious vehicles scooting by. And don’t you know, less gas consumption means more money for Newbury Street cocktails.

2005
THEN
small plates
For a while there, it seemed like we couldn’t get a normal-sized entrée on a normal-sized platter. Instead, small plates were all the rage, inspiring course after course of two-bite dishes — and the puzzle of trying to fit them all on one little table. (Back in the kitchen, the nonstop dishwashing couldn’t have been much fun, either.) But as much as we loved the creativity that went into so many of these tapas-style dishes, we really sucked at sharing.

NOW
high-end sushi
We know sushi isn’t a new trend. What’s noteworthy is that we’re finally willing to shell out the big bucks for it. The Leather District’s pricey O Ya (9 East Street, Boston, 617.654.9900) is known for its execution and sumptuous flavors. Not too long ago, the swelling popularity of closet-sized Oishii (612 Hammond Street, Chestnut Hill, 617.277.7888) forced the opening of a South End location (1166 Washington Street, Boston, 617.482.8868) with décor to match its new neighborhood. Back Bay’s chic Douzo (131 Dartmouth Street, Boston, 617.859.8886) is packed on a nightly basis, while Ken Oringer’s Uni (Clio, 370 Comm Ave, Boston, 617.536.7200) is popular as ever with the Black Card set.

2006
THEN
skulls
Johnny Depp rocked his Pirates of the Caribbean look with such flair that we emblazoned everything we could with bony skulls. They dangled from our necks, leered from our knuckles, and sported sinister smiles on our sweatshirts. Then there’s the other Johnny in our lives — Johnny Cupcakes, that is — whose ubiquitous confection-and-crossbones stamp also found its way into our T-shirt drawer.

NOW
snakes
Snakes are the latest icon to appear on clothes and jewelry all over town. They look great wrapped around wrists in bangle form and slithering across trendy T’s. Portia de Rossi even wore a bedazzled snake to help hold up her dress at the 2007 Emmys. We’re crushing on the Antonio Palladino Silver Snake Ring ($465) at Barneys New York (100 Huntington Avenue, Boston, 617.385.3300); for thriftier types, Urban Outfitters (11 JFK Street, Cambridge, 617.864.0070) carries a super-hot snake belt ($28) in gold mesh. @