On our way home from yet another doctor’s appointment (they come far too often, don’t they, when you’re getting close to 80), Barbara suggested stopping for lunch at The Pearl. She had to twist my arm, but I finally agreed… Read More ›
Food & Restaurants
Gyu-Kaku
Yes, it’s a chain, but don’t dismiss it out of hand. After all, it’s a Japanese chain, not an American one. From Waikiki to Kansas City, Toronto to Dorchester, Gyu-Kaku has some five dozen locations in North American alone, supplementing… Read More ›
Linguini, meet clams!
A month ago I posted this comment: “I’ve already written many times about Tavolo, so just a word about one new item.” And now, once again a new item. You guessed it from this post’s title: linguini with clams on… Read More ›
Dorchester-Italian (two ways): Via Cannuccia and Tavolo
Everyone knows North End Italian — but the North End is approximately a thousand miles away and parking is impossible. Yes, there’s always the MBTA, but… well… the T is the T. So why not think about Dorchester Italian, a… Read More ›
Vietnamese and Chinese Food on the Dot
Where oh where do you go for Vietnamese and Chinese lunches? Dorchester, of course! Over the past week, one day for the Davidson-Bean household was Vietnamese food day and two were Chinese food days. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures… Read More ›
Instead of the Neponset Cafe…
Barbara and I used to go to our local Neponset Cafe (the Dorchester one by that name) whenever we needed a ramen fix, as their ramen was the best around. But alas they were another victim of the pandemic and… Read More ›
What do you do when you’re too exhausted to cook?
So…think about this schedule: you teach a one-hour class of 33 high-school juniors, immediately followed by a one-hour faculty meeting in a different building, immediately followed by a four-hour class of 39 high-school sophomores in yet a third building! And… Read More ›
Where do you go for that special occasion?
It used to be easy. We always went to the Ashmont Grill. Sadly, the Grill is no more. Happily, there is Tavolo. Same owner, same manager, some of the same staff. So we went to Tavolo for our special occasion… Read More ›
Don’t forget to make reservations!
So here we are, eating a delicious dinner at our third monthly visit to Via Cannuccia, and we look out the front window. We see three reservationless couples on the sidewalk waiting patiently for a table to open up; they… Read More ›
Just Thai Kitchen keeps getting better and better…
Now with more local competition, Just Thai Kitchen is even better and has a greatly enlarged menu. No way to try everything! Barbara and I decided to get delivery from there last night. We chose three old favorites and two… Read More ›
Tavolo: Pizza Ieri
Normally we have a full Italian dinner whenever we go to Tavolo, but yesterday was Taco Tuesday, so Barbara and I decided to just have a simple meal of a margherita pizza and a kale Caesar salad without kale. (You… Read More ›
Still no haggis for me, thanks.
Eight months ago I reviewed The Haven, and today was our return visit. You’re wondering, I’m sure, about three things: whether anything has changed, whether I relented and had haggis this time, and whether there was any bagpipe music. The… Read More ›
Brunch at Via Cannuccia
To follow our first excellent experience—dinner on April 20—Barbara and I joined our friend Meredith for brunch yesterday at Via Cannuccia. Like the dinner, brunch was first-rate. From Stefano’s wonderful home-made pastries, we each had a shy brioche roll with… Read More ›
“JP” stands for…
For some of us, JP means Jamaica Plain. For others of us, it’s the country code for Japan—as in URLs ending in “.jp” and other related uses. For everyone, and for both of the above reasons, it’s appropriately in the… Read More ›
Two truths and a lie
Your task, of course, is to figure out which of the three is the lie. Yesterday, you see, was a special occasion. (No, not my birthday. And that’s no lie.) As a result, Barbara and I decided to indulge in… Read More ›
As promised, Via Cannuccia!
A mere week and a half after opening day, Barbara and I finally got to have dinner at Via Cannuccia, which is small (maybe 30 seats), very Italian, and absolutely delicious. Warm and welcoming too, it’s clearly destined to be… Read More ›
Tavolo again, Via Cannuccia soon
Now that Ashmont Grill is no more 😢, our closest local restaurants are Tavolo and Via Cannuccia. Barbara and I haven’t been to Via Cannuccia yet (it just opened), but we had dinner at Tavolo last night. As usual, the… Read More ›
Kapow
A few months ago I observed that we now have three Thai restaurants along Dorchester Avenue between Lower Mills and Fields Corner! The oldest of these closed briefly a few months ago and recently reopened under new management with a… Read More ›
S&W, Take Two
Exactly a month ago I published a review of Smith and Wollensky in this blog. It was based on a single visit, and it was definitely not a 5-star review. More like a 3.5, and that was apparently not satisfactory… Read More ›
S&W
That stands for Smith and W… …Relax: the W doesn’t stand for Wesson! It stands for Wollensky, of course. Normally Barbara and I would never go to such a high-end restaurant, but this was a special occasion. We had dinner… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 