City council candidates and math education? Those are two utterly unrelated topics, aren’t they? But there turns out to be a connection.
First of all, this afternoon I had already been intending to comment on an op-ed piece from this morning’s New York Times, titled “How to Fix Our Math Education.” And I was going to relate it to a comment by Frank Baker, candidate for Boston City Council from the Third District (where I live). But I didn’t actually finish the post before dinner, and then I had to leave immediately in order to go hear all seven of the candidates participate in a candidates’ forum. So let’s discuss all three topics: the op-ed piece, the candidates’ forum, and the connecting link: Frank Baker.
The op-ed piece, by the distinguished Sol Garfunkel and David Mumford, argues for a major change in the emphasis of high-school mathematics. Their views are basically correct, so go read their entire essay. Here is a brief excerpt so you can see what their claim is:
This highly abstract curriculum is simply not the best way to prepare a vast majority of high school students for life…. Imagine replacing the sequence of algebra, geometry and calculus with a sequence of finance, data and basic engineering. In the finance course, students would learn the exponential function, use formulas in spreadsheets and study the budgets of people, companies and governments. In the data course, students would gather their own data sets and learn how, in fields as diverse as sports and medicine, larger samples give better estimates of averages. In the basic engineering course, students would learn the workings of engines, sound waves, TV signals and computers. Science and math were originally discovered together, and they are best learned together now.
The reason I say that their views are only “basically” correct is that such a curriculum would not be sufficient for students preparing for any career that requires a traditional mathematical background. Even though only a small minority of college-students study science, engineering, and pre-med courses, they need to be well served, and it would be folly to think that we can identify exactly who those students will be when they’re in tenth grade (although many countries do exactly that). We could just offer Garfunkel and Mumford’s solution to non-honors students, but who wants to increase the difference between honors and non-honors courses? That wouldn’t be good either. Some kind of a combination is needed, where students could move more in one direction or another in their last two years of high school, and where the ideas presented in the op-ed piece are incorporated into the traditional program as well. The first of these solutions is what we do at Weston High School, where we offer three semesters of “Applied Discrete Math Concepts” to those who want something different from the traditional pre-calculus and calculus courses. While many of the students who elect this course tend to be our weaker math students, that is far from universally true, and some excellent math students even take Applied Discrete Math in addition to precalculus.
Now let’s move to the apparently unrelated candidates’ forum. We have a surprisingly large field this year, as our long-term councilor, the hard-working Maureen Feeney, is retiring after serving many years. Of the seven candidates who are vying to succeed her, two are clearly Republicans (even though they might not admit it) and I won’t comment on their ideas or their presentations at the forum. The Boston City Council is officially non-partisan, but the other five candidates are clearly Democrats. Three of them gave pretty weak presentations tonight, leaving only the remaining two, whose supporters are coincidentally the only ones whose supporters you will see in this picture:
It may be a little difficult to tell from the picture, but this crowd on both sides of the street was almost entirely white, a bad sign in racially mixed Dorchester. Inside the hall I counted close to 300 people in the audience, of whom 98% were white. So much for “racially mixed.”
Finally, how are these two topics related? The connection is a paragraph last week in the Dorchester Reporter:
Baker suggested the city bring back trade schools and attempt to replicate popular schools like the Richard Murphy K-8 School. “Why aren’t we looking at that and trying to apply it to other schools?” he said.
But here’s the dilemma. On the one hand, college isn’t for everyone, and vocational programs can do a lot to keep kids in school and teach them useful skills. On the other hand, it seems unbearably classist to say that Weston should have a college-preparatory program and Boston should be oriented toward life skills. I don’t know how to resolve this dilemma. Weston is so college-oriented that “college-prep” is the name for our lowest level of courses! Everything that isn’t honors or AP is college-prep. Students who want vocational training can go to Minuteman Career and Technical High School, which offers an excellent program — but it is socially deprecated in Weston and kids don’t want to be separated from their friends. So basically everyone in Weston is assumed to be college-bound. Boston, of course, is far more diverse. Even if it doesn’t bring back trade schools as an option, the kind of math curriculum proposed by Garfunkel and Mumford would at least be a start.
My inspection sticker expires this month, so I took the car to our dealer this morning (in case any work was needed) and discovered that our registration had expired two months ago! The current registration was nowhere to be found. What to do, what to do? Obviously I should drive to Braintree or to Watertown and get a new copy of the registration.
But wait! Maybe the wonders of technology will make this task easier. Sure enough, it turns out that car owners can easily download a perfect copy of their car registration in PDF format from the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Whew!
Everyone always blames the Registry and the Post Office for poor service, but here at least the Registry gets points for making this process a simple one. But I didn’t know which of the two organizations to blame for the missing registration: did the Registry fail to send it out, or did the Post Office fail to deliver it?
Anyone who has seen my desk can guess the real end to this story.
It turned out that the Registry had indeed sent out the registration in late May, the Post Office had delivered it promptly, and I had “filed” it in a pile of papers on my desk. So now we have two copies of the current registration. Perhaps the extra one will come in handy some day.
After a hiatus of more than three months, it seems fitting for me to resume blogging with a post about the Ashmont Grill. For Barbara and me it has become our go-to restaurant at least twice a month. It probably doesn’t hurt that they know us there, and we know them, but all that would be insufficient if it weren’t for the quality of the food. The picture below shows one of their amazing new dishes, a tuna sashimi tartine, which the menu describes as “puff pastry, tomatoes, green beans, fingerlings, soft boiled egg, garlic-anchovy vin,” but it’s much better than that. It’s as delicious as it is beautiful. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Yesterday another successful Dorchester/Roxbury/Mattapan Community Seder was held at First Parish Church in Dorchester. There were only 40 attendees — half of last year’s number — probably because Passover managed to overlap with both Easter weekend and school vacation week this year. As always there was a great ecumenical spirit, even though there still wasn’t as much diversity as one had hoped for, especially given the inclusion of Roxbury and Mattapan in the title. A sprinkling of non-whites was better than nothing, but not enough to outweigh the sense that the participants were mostly Jewish or Unitarian (or members of otherwise Jewish or Unitarian families) — not that that’s particularly surprising, but it’s still disappointing. Children were everywhere; their presence was also not surprising, and it was certainly appropriate for a seder, even though the under-eight-year-old crowd was mildly disruptive from time to time (not often, just occasionally). Here are a few photos:
  
The City of Boston is installing new lights on the sides of the streets in my neighborhood and others. But there’s a lot of controversy about these LED bulbs.
On April 14 the Dorchester Reporter published an article under the headline “New street lights get applause.” It included the following remarks:
The new lights, which were installed with the help of power company NSTAR and energy efficiency block grant funds, use longer-lasting, 39-watt light emitting diodes (LEDs), allowing for greater night-time visibility because the distribution of light is more even in its focus on the street, and involving less energy usage.
…
Local residents say they have noticed a difference. “It’s like night and day on Myrtlebank,” said Sean Weir, head of the Cedar Grove Civic Association. “For the most part, I think it’s great.”
…
City officials say they worked with St. Mark’s Area Main Street, the BOLD Teens, and the Codman Square Neighborhood Council on the installation.
Sounds good, right? But not according to Barry Mullen and Kevin Barry in a letter published six days later in the Reporter:
The LED lighting provides focused bright light in the direction that it shines, much like the LED flashlights. This leaves the areas not in the direct beam as much darker than the former lights. The brightness of the LED makes sharp black & white contrasts between the areas in and out of the LED light.
Conversely, the lighting that has now replaced the LED’s on St. Mark’s Rd. more effectively diffuse the light. They give a day-time effect to the light. One can now see people standing in the shadows.
Features and descriptions are much easier to discern than in the stark contrasts created by LED lighting.
This is a public safety issue. Was the police department consulted about the effectiveness of the lighting? I implore people to come to Florida St. and see the distinctions for themselves. At Florida St. one can stand in one spot to see Glenrose Rd. with the LED lights and St. Mark’s Rd. with their replacement lights. Similarly, one can stand at Lonsdale St. to compare its LED lights to the more universal lighting on Florida St.
While we are all in favor of saving money, it would not be wise to jump at the new program for that consideration alone. If crime can’t be seen with LED lighting, then how much have we really saved?
So, who’s right? I think I’ll take Barry and Kevin up on their suggestion for “people to come to Florida St. and see the distinctions for themselves.” Maybe they’re right, though I suspect the issue isn’t with LEDs but with wattage. Here’s the response from Commissioner of Public Works Joanne Masaro:
We will upgrade the wattage as needed. We understand that what works on one street may not work somewhere else. This project is very important and we will work to evaluate it and make changes as needed.
I’ll let you know what I observe. This is an empirical question.
Yay, a real restaurant has opened in my neighborhood! Until this point all we’ve had has been two pizza-and-sub places and a café. There are real restaurants one neighborhood over — take your pick of directions, a couple to the south, the west, and the north, and even more if you go two neighborhoods north or south— but not right where we live. The Sea Breeze Mexican Grill has changed all that. Barbara and I waited a couple of weeks for it to settle in, and then had dinner there last night, along with our friend Jane. On the whole it was definitely a positive experience. We will return.
After the obligatory chips and salsa that appeared immediately at our table, Barbara and Jane started with fresh guacamole, made right at our table with a mortar and pestle. They report that it was delicious. I wouldn’t know, since I can’t stand avocado. Then Barbara had mussels, which were unfortunately unsuccessful, being small and overcooked. I had ceviche de camarones, which was served on small, crispy taco shells or something similar. It was excellent, though blander than I might have liked.
For our entrees, Barbara had quesadillas with mushrooms, Jane had an assortment of three different enchiladas, and I had Acapulco chimichangas with pork. All three were excellent, though not especially spicy. I think I’m detecting a theme here. Barbara also reports that her mango smoothie (smoothy?) was delicious.
The entire restaurant has only six tables, four for two customers and two for four. They do not yet have a take-out license, so several potential diners had to be turned away. (We got there at 6:30, which was early enough to be able to grab a table for four.) They also have not yet been able to acquire a license to serve alcohol, a deficiency that will surely limit their appeal and their profitability; I hope they manage to get it soon. Right now they’re open for three meals a day, seven days a week, presumably in an attempt to gain both customers and income, but they’re going to need to be able to serve at least wine and beer (and some people want margaritas for some reason). Service by the gracious co-owner was just fine, even though she and (presumably) her husband had to manage all by themselves until 7:30 since two other staff members had called in sick. (I don’t know whether they eventually showed up or whether it was a pair of substitutes who arrived.)
Once again we had delicious dim sum at Chau Chow in Dorchester…but one thing was different this time. Usually it happens that either Barbara and I are the only non-Asians in the place or else maybe there are one or two others. But this morning the restaurant was a hotbed of ethnic diversity! We saw a table of Latinos, a table of blacks, a mixed black-white couple, a table of people who were even whiter than we are…still of course an Asian majority, but it’s great to see such a diverse scene at a Dorchester restaurant. (Ashmont Grill, incidentally, is also becoming more and more diverse every month.) Let’s hope this trend continues.
Come to the Taste of Dorchester on April 28! The food is from Ashmont Grill, Big Moe’s M&M Ribs, Blarney Stone, Butcher Shop Market, Inc., Dot 2 Dot Café, Down Home Delivery & Catering, Flat Black Coffee, Freeport Tavern, Gerard’s Restaurant, The Ice Creamsmith, Irie Jamaican Style Restaurant, Ledge Kitchen & Drinks, McKenna’s Cafe, Pat’s Pizza & Catering , Phillips Candy House, Pho Hoa Restaurant, Restaurante Cesaria, Shanti: Taste of India, and Tavolo — and it’s all for a good cause. (This is an unsolicited and uncompensated ad!)
About seven weeks ago, music critic Anthony Tommasini took on the thankless task of listing the “the top 10 classical music composers in history, not including those still with us.” Of course this task is impossible; no matter whom he chose, there would be more people disagreeing with him than agreeing with him. But fortunately he made the right choice for the #1 position:
I am about to reveal my list, though as those who have been with me on this quest already know, I’ve dropped hints along the way. And the winner, the all-time great, is … Bach!
You wouldn’t really disagree, would you?
Tommasini continues…
My top spot goes to Bach, for his matchless combination of masterly musical engineering (as one reader put it) and profound expressivity. Since writing about Bach in the first article of this series I have been thinking more about the perception that he was considered old-fashioned in his day. Haydn was 18 when Bach died, in 1750, and Classicism was stirring. Bach was surely aware of the new trends. Yet he reacted by digging deeper into his way of doing things. In his austerely beautiful “Art of Fugue,” left incomplete at his death, Bach reduced complex counterpoint to its bare essentials, not even indicating the instrument (or instruments) for which these works were composed.
On his own terms he could be plenty modern. Though Bach never wrote an opera, he demonstrated visceral flair for drama in his sacred choral works, as in the crowd scenes in the Passions where people cry out with chilling vehemence for Jesus to be crucified. In keyboard works like the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, Bach anticipated the rhapsodic Romantic fervor of Liszt, even Rachmaninoff. And as I tried to show in the first video for this project, through his chorales alone Bach explored the far reaches of tonal harmony.
So, who comes after Bach? Here’s the entire list:
- Bach
- Mozart
- Beethoven
- Schubert
- Debussy
- Stravinsky
- Brahms
- Verdi
- Wagner
- Bartok
It’s not my list — but close enough. (Actually, it isn’t solely Tommasini’s list either, since he had solicited input from readers prior to assembling it.) The only one of the ten who does nothing for me is Debussy, but I certainly have no complaints about admiring nine out of the ten.
And speaking of #10 on the list, Bartok, a composer who would probably not make most people’s top ten, I need to report on a terrific concert I attended last night at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. The renowned Benjamin Zander conducted the NEC Philharmonia in Bartok’s wonderful Concerto for Orchestra and Dvorak’s beautiful Cello Concerto. The soloist for the Dvorak was fellow Dorchesterite Tony Rymer — “the famous Tony Rymer” as one of my former students once referred to this gifted 21-year-old back when he was only 18. Tony is a truly outstanding cellist who will indeed be famous, and I predict it will happen not too many years from now.
They really shouldn’t be displaying a frayed flag. And I think they would get more business if they changed their name, perhaps to Red Sox.
Mixed feelings about the American Lamb Jam held yesterday at the Charles Hotel:
On the one hand, the food was excellent and plentiful. Seventeen restaurants, mostly from the Boston area, provided a huge variety of lamb preparations and side dishes, all to be sampled in small portions. Also on the plus side was the company. Although Barbara was not interested, as she eats lamb only under duress, my friends Phil and Meredith accompanied me and we had a great time together.
On the other hand, there must have been 800 people there, so it was ridiculously crowded. Everyone was jammed into the Charles Ballroom, which made it almost painful to move around. Even worse, there were only five or six small tables (plus a couple of high stand-up tables), so there was no place comfortable where we could sit and enjoy the event. Fortunately I was able to approach one of the staff and explain that we needed chairs since Phil is elderly and Meredith is disabled; he quickly produced three extra chairs and we crowded around a table for four that already had three people sitting there. Then of course it was a continual up-and-down as we got small plates of food from various stations.
It was a good way to end one year and start the next. For New Year’s Eve, Barbara and I went out to eat at dBar; then, for breakfast the next morning, we went to Chau Chow for dim sum. I’ve written about dim sum at Chau Chow enough in the past, so there’s nothing new to say on that score — except perhaps for the fact that it was very busy and the clientele was almost entirely Asian; I think we were the only non-Asians there. But dBar is worth describing in detail. Unsurprisingly they had a very limited (and special) New Year’s Eve menu, from which we had no trouble selecting delicious meals. Barbara had the following [capitalization verbatim]:
- Three Oysters Chilled on the Half Shell with Champagne Grapefruit Sorbet
- Adam and Larry’s Scituate Lobster Bisque Lightly Frothed & Perfumed with Saffron, Ginger & Lemongrass
- Premium Angus Beef &, Sunchoke & Potato Gratinée, & Chantennay Carrot, Crispy Mushrooms, Sauce Bordelaise infused with Bone Marrow
- Dulce de Leche Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crust with Winter Fruits
I managed to have an almost completely different dinner, despite the limited choices:
- Herb Crusted Wagyu Beef Carpaccio, Roasted Cipollini Onions, Cornichons, Rosemary-Mustard Aioli, Manchego
- Warm Salad of Forest Mushrooms & Duck Confit with Frisee, Truffle-Sherry Vinaigrette, & Blood Orange Supremes, Fine Herbs, Cranberry Port Sauce
- Perigord Black Truffle Stuffed Giannone Chicken with Goat Cheese & Potato Croquettes, Sautéed Baby Spinach, Parsnips & Salsify, Crispy Beets & Sauce Perigeux
- Dulce de Leche Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crust with Winter Fruits
Highly recommended to all for next year…but why wait? The regular menu is great too!
Apparently in honor of the holidays, someone has “enhanced” local artist Joseph Wheelwright’s sculpture, Sleeping Moon, which sits prominently in Peabody Square in Dorchester right next to Ashmont Station. I have no idea whether the modification was authorized or not. I don’t know whether it was done with the approval of the sculptor. But here’s what it looks like today:
I liked the original version better.
Just got back from another excellent dim sum at the Dorchester branch of Chau Chow. If you live anywhere near Dorchester, come here for dim sum! Unlike Chinatown, parking is easy in their own lot and the overflow lot across the street.
We particularly like one offering that we don’t always see on the carts. The solution, of course, was to take a photo and show it to the servers on my iPhone, since most of them don’t speak English. We eventually found out, from one of the English-speaking employees, that we’re talking about Shanghai Dumplings:
We happened to be seated where we could gaze out at the one remaining Corita Kent gas tank, a.k.a. Rainbow Swash. It was a good angle, as long as you could ignore the used car lot, its prominent lighting, and the Expressway exit sign:
As we had an about-to-expire Groupon for the Back Bay location of Sel de la Terre, Barbara and I had dinner there this evening. We’ve been to the original Long Wharf location many times, so it seemed appropriate to try out their newest incarnation. This is my fourth review of Sel de la Terre, but my first review of this location.
Capsule summary: food was excellent (almost the same quality as at Long Wharf); service started out hectic but calmed down; atmosphere was…well…a bit too young and trendy for us.
Barbara started with an Aviation (including the canonical crème de violette, unlike Mark Bernstein’s version) and a huge portion of curried chickpea purée, served with olive oil and “yummy breads.” She pronounced this appetizer excellent but had to take home half of it. I started with a small flatbread pizza, which came with mushrooms, onions, and feta cheese; it was good, but nothing special. For her main course Barbara had roasted monkfish with littleneck clams, cranberry beans, and brussels sprouts, all of which she liked; I had duck breast with fingerling potatoes and red cabbage. The duck was supposed to come medium rare, but it actually came rare — fine with me, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be fine for some other people. It was well-prepared and delicious, as were the sides. (The potatoes were there because I said I didn’t want the puréed squash that was supposed to accompany the duck; Erika, our server, volunteered the potatoes as a substitute, without my having to ask.) We had the same wine we had ordered 21 months ago at Long Wharf: Les Arbousiers Domaine La Remejeanne 2005 Cotes de Rhone. We enjoyed it just as much this time, and paid the same $40 we paid then. Erika encouraged us to aim a bit higher next time: she enthusiastically recommended a Regusci Cabernet at $80 a bottle. While this is distinctly above our price range — and our facial expressions must have shown that — she claimed that it was a steal as it would cost $120 anywhere else. Maybe so. Hmmm….
Speaking of our server, service was a tad inconsistent overall. The place seemed understaffed and overworked when we arrived at 6:32 for a 6:45 reservation. We were seated in six minutes (pretty good for a promised five-minute wait!) but then had to sit at our table for another eleven minutes before anyone came over to take our order for drinks. Since Erika was so busy with others, including a large party at another table, it was someone else who spotted us sitting there and stepped in to help. A third server came over at another point, as did the manager. So in the end we got plenty of attention and good service, but it didn’t match the calm atmosphere of the Long Wharf location. Valet parking works well in both places, as on-street parking would be a nightmare at either one and garages would cost more than the valet parking while being less convenient.
We would go back, but on the whole we prefer Long Wharf. It’s more relaxed, and for this kind of money we want a relaxing dining experience. The style fits us better.
If you’re 18 or over, be sure to vote tomorrow! There’s a lot at stake. If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain.
Barbara and I used to go to 224 a lot, but we haven’t been there very often in recent years. This is partly because of a couple of meals that were only OK (but overpriced), and partly because Ashmont Grill and 88 Wharf are not only closer to us but also more attractive for various reasons. But things may change.
We’re happy to tell you that we just had an unquestionably excellent meal at 224. Barbara had a first-rate Caesar salad (not so easy to find as one might think) followed by crabmeat sliders, which she describes as delicious and perfectly prepared. I helped her with a few of her generous portion of French fries — crisp and thin the way they should be. But I think I had the better meal, if I do say so myself. I started with a lamb chop “appetizer,” which turned out to be an amazing trio of grilled rosemary-and-garlic-marinated baby lamb chops atop a combo of cipollini and balsamic-dressed greens. Then came the main course (fortunately a bit smaller than the appetizer): pan-roasted sea scallops with a coulis of corn, smoked applewood bacon, shallots, and basil, topped with micro arugula and plum tomato concassé. Without my specifying, the lamb chops turned out to be medium rare and the scallops slightly undercooked, just as they should be. Yum!
Barbara and I just got back from our first time at Gaslight Brasserie du Coin, and it won’t be our last. Mostly excellent food, excellent service, and free parking — in the South End! — what more could one ask for?
Cheaper prices, I suppose. Gaslight is definitely on the pricey side… but no more so than any other first-rate restaurant in Boston.
We arrived 35 minutes before our reservation time and were seated immediately. The restaurant has a very French ambiance. Though surprisingly large, it immediately feels welcoming. Our server, Lily, was both friendly and professional — just the right combination. It was (surprisingly) not too noisy, considering that a group of 14 arrived halfway through our dinner to sit at the next table. Many reviewers have reported that Gaslight is too loud, so maybe we were just lucky. Or maybe it was because we were there on a Tuesday.
Barbara started with a shaved beet salad, which she found a bit stronger than she likes, partly because the beets were raw and partly because the dressing contained a lot of horseradish. Not being that much of a beet fan, I can’t comment. But I started with a first-rate French onion soup, unquestionably the best I have had in years. It was rich and hearty, probably because it contained some shredded truffled short ribs.
For our entrees, Barbara ordered steak frites medium rare, and I ordered duck confit with roasted garlic potatoes and an interesting salad. The steak turned out to be rare, not medium rare; our server graciously agreed, whisked it away, and returned in a couple of minutes with the steak appropriately unrarefied. My duck was great, as were the accompaniments. We also ordered a side of haricots verts to share; they were excellent too. While portions were on the small side, we had more than enough to eat, unlike some of the Open Table reviewers.
I ordered the crème brulée for dessert. It was perfectly prepared, though the crust was cold and they were out of the promised fresh berries that were supposed to accompany it. The server compensated by providing a lovely disk of candied cherries, figs, and kumquats. My dessert was also accompanied by a well-made double espresso.
The whole thing came to $154 including wine, tax, and tip. As I say, not cheap — but not outrageous either. By the way, that free parking is in a supervised parking lot.
Our quest for new dining experiences in Dorchester continues with Harp & Bard, a follow-up to our recent visit to Ledge. Barbara and I — this time with our friends Al and Melanie — enjoyed our meal enough to be willing to return. Like Ledge, we have a renovated bar turned into a real restaurant that appeals too much to kids while still being too much of a bar, both features resulting in too much noise. (Is this some kind of trend?) But the food was more consistent, and all four of us were pleased with our dinners. The one real exception was the French onion soup, which I had to try in order to compare it with the same item at Ledge. Unfortunately someone had goofed massively in the kitchen, as I fished out six — count them, six — bay leaves in my one cup of soup! After performing the essential laurelectomy I was able to enjoy the soup without being overwhelmed by the scent and taste of bay leaves, which shouldn’t have been left in the soup in the first place even if there had been only one of them; six was a ridiculous quantity.
Oh well, enough of that rant. My companions report excellent corn-and-bacon chowder; we also were pleased with the Caesar salad, the high-quality sliders (an entree-sized appetizer), the perfectly prepared mussels, and the excellent prime rib, which was cooked exactly as ordered (very differently for Melanie and for me, an indication of success on their part). Wine was OK but disappointing. Finally, I have to say that I’m impressed with their new logo:
So, on the whole it’s a thumbs-up for the Harp & Bard, despite a few reservations. (No, not that kind of reservations. It’s not that sort of restaurant.)
Barbara and I, along with our friend Mary, were disappointed with Ledge, the newest restaurant in the up-and-coming Dorchester dining scene. It would probably be a fine place for lunch, but we were unimpressed with our dinner there. The most jarring thing was the atmosphere — oddly both too much like a bar and too full of young kids, neither being conducive to the quiet dining experience we had expected. Service was correspondingly erratic. The food — this is beginning to sound like a theme — was of inconsistent quality, featuring steak of mediocre quality, adequate onion soup, routine mac and cheese, and excellent vegetables. Probably one could put together a good meal here if one knew what to order, but there are too many other better dining options around to make it worth returning to Ledge.
I’ve written about dBar twice before: on January 17, 2006, and on February 15, 2008. It has maintained its high standards. Barbara had mussels, followed by steak tacos, and she reports that both were excellent. I started with a scrumptious duck confit with lentils — how could I resist? — followed by a perfectly prepared tuna ceviche.
As our appetizers were being served, the entire experience was enhanced by the entrance of two men, accompanied by the Wedding March: they were holding their wedding reception right there in dBar! (It’s all one big room, so there was no private space, although the bar area is marked off by a half-height wall.)
Apparently I’m reviewing one of Archer Mayor’s novels each year. I see that I wrote about St. Alban’s Fire on February 3, 2007; and I wrote about The Second Mouse on March 8, 2008. Unfortunately I have to report that The Catch is not up to the standard of those two earlier books, nor is it up to the standard of the rest of Mayor’s Vermont series.
This is not to say that The Catch is badly written. It’s workmanlike enough, and at least I never wanted to abandon it partway through. The main characters are developed in somewhat further depth than in previous works in the series — better than no development at all, but still disappointing. Some of the secondary characters are intriguing. The clash among various police agencies is moderately interesting, but it’s overwhelmed by their cooperation. The geographic setting is expanded from Vermont to Maine and to Dorchester, with the three locations playing off one another to create some mild interest; the reader does gain something of a sense of the vastness of the state of Maine and some characteristics of its fishing industry. But it’s all superficial.
And what about Dorchester? First, you’ll have to know that the plot revolves around drug dealers and drug smuggling. And so of course you’re supposed to think of South Boston and Dorchester — and Dot Ave in particular, right? Well, no…that’s one of the things that irritates me in The Catch. Here’s an example:
She gave him an address in Boston, on Dorchester Avenue — nicknamed “Dot Ave” among cops, and infamous as a drug and gang hotbed.
We’ll forgive Mayor for the “among cops” qualification, since it’s known as Dot Ave among everyone; that’s not what bothers me. Later it becomes clear that they’re talking about the northern segment of Dot Ave — in Southie — not the rest of it in Dorchester. But still we have paragraphs like this one:
In some ways, Maine was like a frat party. The Dorchester people, they were after your blood — there were turf battles, ethnic issues, real down-and-out gunfights.
Now I’m not denying that there are drug busts, turf battles, ethnic issues, and gunfights in Dorchester and Southie. Of course there are. But why does everyone in this novel take it for granted that that’s where you look if you’re after gangs and drug dealers in Boston? I can’t readily find any appropriate map or figures from different neighborhoods, but a quick search shows plenty of drug busts in Allston, Charlestown, Roxbury, West Roxbury, and every other neighborhood in Boston.
Maybe I should refer Mayor to Whalehead King’s regular paeans to Dorchester, even if their enthusiasm is occasionally over the top.
The southern half of Dorchester is becoming known for its new restaurants, especially if you extend the southern edge a bit into Milton. As you know from my brief review of Mrs. Jones, I’ve already written about one of these new restaurants. We still haven’t tried Ledge or Abby Park, but yesterday Barbara and I had a first-rate dinner at 88 Wharf, located unsurprisingly at 88 Wharf St. As you can see on the map, this restaurant is actually in Milton, but it’s only about 200 feet from the Dorchester border as the crow flies. Or, if you happen to have a car rather than a crow, you’ll have to venture a little further (about 500 feet) into Milton. But don’t worry; it’s not scary. Here’s the map:
Anyway, the atmosphere was slightly elegant but still welcoming and comfortable. Service was perfect: prompt, attentive, and appropriately chatty, but never rushed or overbearing. (Are you beginning to sense a theme here?) When we ordered a bottle of wine that they turned out to have run out of, the waiter offered us a choice of two somewhat comparable but higher-priced wines for the price of the one we had ordered. So we got a Zaca Mesa Syrah for the price of a Seghesio Zin. Both Barbara and I really liked the perfect Caesar salad, even though at first I didn’t taste the promised anchovies, which turned out to be a subtle ingredient of the dressing. Barbara then had an excellent short-ribs stroganoff, which was served over papardelle noodles, along with a side of properly cooked green beans. I had the lamb shank — why is it so hard to find lamb in restaurants these days? — which came with barley and kale. The flavors of all three merged wonderfully to produce a memorable dish.
I wasn’t intending to have dessert, but I couldn’t pass up the “traditional crème brulée,” balanced by a large cup of strong, black coffee. The crème brulée was indeed traditional; more to the point it was smooth and perfectly prepared. A fitting end to a fine meal. As General MacArthur and his wife said, “We shall return.”
Earlier today I just happened to make a small remark to my junior class, complimenting them (and indirectly their parents) on how well brought up they were. The context was that two students had gone out of their way to apologize (for things that weren’t even their fault). So I said that it was great to see that Weston students knew how to behave and were typically polite, in contrast to the usual stereotype of teens as viewed by the general public. This kind of interaction always puts me in a good mood, the same as when students say thank-you as they leave the classroom. (There are always two or three who do this after any class — not just upperclassmen, not just honors students — a fact that astonishes my adult friends who remember their own high-school experiences.)
And now for the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say.
In my Honors Geometry class slightly later in the day, a freshman raises his hand and asks me in front of the whole class, “Do you live in the ghetto in Dorchester?” This offensive question demands an immediate response from me, and fortunately the rest of the class sits frozen; no one laughs or rewards this kid in any way. I tell him that I am offended by the question and that I prefer to say that I live in the inner city, not the ghetto…and then we return to geometry, since I don’t want to pursue this matter any further. Maybe I should….
But of course this ironic combination of incidents in two classes causes a flurry of thoughts in my head:
- I remind myself that my generalization about polite Weston students was just that: a generalization. Of course there are exceptions. But I do believe that the exceptions are surprisingly rare. I’ll notice maybe a couple of incidents of rudeness a month. As I think I remarked in an earlier post, many students even say thank-you when I hand them a test. After all, it’s the right thing to do.
- Then I think of my own experience back in my first year here. Weston High School is a remarkably tough school for new teachers — and I mean “new to Weston,” not merely new to teaching. With rare exceptions (like our new math teachers this year), teachers new to Weston find it initially very troubling to cope with the degree of entitlement among some Weston students — it’s definitely not a majority of students, but there are still too many. It took me about a year to adjust. Ater that year I’ve loved teaching here. I can’t quite untangle the apparent clash between this observation and the one in my first paragraph above. Have students changed since my first year at Weston? Maybe…but that wouldn’t explain why other new teachers in recent years have had experiences similar to the one I had 13 years ago. Have I changed? Maybe that’s more likely.
- Next I wonder whether these observations are unique to Weston. I have only three groups that I can compare, or perhaps four if you subdivide the data in a certain way:
- kids who live in Weston and attend Weston High School
- those who live in Boston (or elsewhere) and attend Weston High School through the Metco program or because their parents are town employees
- those who live in Boston and attend various Boston public schools during the school year plus the Crimson Summer Academy in the summer
- those who live in Cambridge or elsewhere and attend Cambridge Rindge & Latin or various charter or parochial schools in the area during the school year plus the Crimson Summer Academy in the summer.
The bottom line is that all four groups are approximately equally polite, so my observations are not unique to Weston. At least among these four groups, rude remarks are notable for their scarcity. I can’t help but be reminded of the words of W.S. Gilbert in the immortal* Gilbert & Sullivan operetta Princess Ida:
His wise remarks are valued by his court
As precious stones.
And for the self-same cause.
Like precious stones, his sensible remarks
Derive their value from their scarcity.
*How can it be immortal when so few people in the general public have even heard of this operetta? Oh well, don’t get me started on the taste of the general public.
This year’s Halloween was the best and the worst. Let’s save the best for last. So the first question is, “How many trick-or-treaters did we get this year?” For perspective, we need to know that Barbara and I just happened to go out for dinner on Halloween in both 2008 and 2007, so we weren’t at home for visitors (cough, cough). But in 2006 we got over 200 trick-or-treaters. So we loaded up on lots of candy for this year, just in case.
End result? 37.
What a disappointment. I guess I’ll have to dream up lots of class activities for which candy will be a suitable prize.
Now onto the plus side. At Weston High School this year’s Halloween Assembly was definitely the best ever — at least for my 13 years there. The level of enthusiasm was extremely high, as was the participation rate. Last year, for example, I don’t think more than 10% of the freshmen dressed up, but it seemed that about 50% of this year’s freshmen were in costume. There was similarly high participation among the sophomores, juniors, and seniors, as well as the faculty. Here are some pictures.
As you see, my colleague, Jim McLaughin, dressed as Rock — part of the Rock, Paper, Scissors trio, of course:
But the highlights of the assembly were three groups of students. One pair came as two bunches of grapes, one as the Village People, and one as Kiss. While the Village People stole the show with their rousing performance of YMCA, the grand prize went to Kiss.
I was recently asked whether a Boston voter should always vote for the full allotment of four at-large City Council candidates, or whether bullet voting made sense. I unhelpfully replied, “It depends.”
It occurred to me that I had already dealt with this issue four years ago. So read that link if you want to read the mathematical arguments (actually, not too much math!) for or against bullet voting, depending on the situation.
After several enthusiastic recommendations from friends, Barbara and I decided to try the take-out from Mrs. Jones, a small restaurant at 2255 Dorchester Avenue in Lower Mills, Dorchester. We are pleased to report an enthusiastic thumbs-up. For an exceptionally reasonable price we got two dinners of fried chicken wings with assorted sides — cole slaw, candied yams, stuffing, mac & cheese, and cornbread — which provided not only Sunday dinners for the two of us but also another meal’s worth of leftovers for two. Almost everything was delicious (other than the overcooked macaroni), so we are recommending Mrs. Jones to all our friends. Aside from a tiny counter, with maybe four seats, it’s entirely take-out. For more details, check out the reviews in Hidden Boston and Yelp.
First of all, if you’re one of my students, you should not read this post, since you’re under 21 and know nothing about wine.
Yesterday afternoon we were introduced to “Dorchester’s best-kept secret,” the Boston Winery, at a fundraiser for the Dorchester Historical Society (DHS). You probably never knew that there’s a winery in Dorchester — in fact, you probably never knew that there was one anywhere in Boston. I, at any rate, never knew that. But in fact the Boston Winery has been around for a few years, and not only makes its own wines but also provides customers with the opportunity to make their own.
The fundraiser consisted of a tour of the winery and a tasting of several varietals, including Syrah, Cabernet, Zin, and Merlot. I was quite surprised at the high quality of the wines. That may be due to the fact that the grapes come from California (in contrast, say, to the undrinkable wines from upstate New York). The winery is owned by the family that owns the Venezia Restaurant next-door, and is located in a beautiful, renovated old factory. Check it out; it’s located on Ericsson Street, which you’ve probably never heard of — but that’s appropriate, since you’ve never heard of the Boston Winery either. It’s right on the waterfront, in the Port Norfolk section of Dorchester.
This evening’s Taste of Dorchester event was a great success. When I moved to Dorchester in 1985, I never would have guessed that there would soon be a couple of dozen good restaurants in this part of Boston — and with such a wonderful diversity. Among the places providing all-you-can-eat (actually, more-than-you-can-eat) food at the IBEW Hall were Chau Chow (Chinese), Saigon Seafood (Vietnamese), Shanti (Indian/Bangladeshi), Ashmont Grill (local gourmet), Tavolo (Italian), Blarney Stone (eclectic, no longer Irish as the name suggests), Greenhills (I guess they’re still Irish), Cesaria (Cape Verdean), Irie (Jamaican), Belle Cuisine (Haitian), Big Moe’s (ribs) — I could go on, but you get the idea! Come to Dorchester and try them out. As we like to say, it’s no farther from Arlington to Dorchester than it is from Dorchester to Arlington.
How nice to see a website that actually recognizes Dorchester as a neighborhood of Boston! Povo not only lists it prominently, but its description is an accurate portrayal of Dorchester’s many virtues:
Dorchester is the largest geographic and most populated neighborhood in the city of Boston. Home to Dot Ave., it is also Boston’s most diverse neighborhood, with large pockets of African Americans, Irish, Vietnamese, Caribbean, and South and Central American residents. In recent years, the neighborhood has seen an influx of young working professionals, working artists (in areas like Lower Mills, Peabody Square, and Savin Hill), and a growing GLBT community along Dorchester Avenue, while it’s still predominantly a working class neighborhood and a thriving center of immigration. The neighborhood also includes vast economic diversity. Housing varies incredibly from housing projects in places like Bowdoin/Geneva and Franklin Field to stately Victorian homes in places like Ashmont Hill and Melville Park.
Contrast this paragraph with the usual treatment. Other websites almost always do one of the following:
- They ignore Dorchester completely, because they think it has little to offer out-of-towners. For example, here’s Fodor’s list of “Places to explore” in Boston:
- Alternatively, they notice nothing about Dorchester except for its crime, which is so well publicized by the media. For example, here’s a sentence from a movie review written halfway across the country, in Madison, Wisconsin:
The Dorchester neighborhood is a tough one, mostly lower working class, dotted with slummy bars where drug-related shootings are a regular occurrence.
So check out Povo for the straight scoop with a positive POV that’s not written by the real-estate industry.
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