The new Boston Public Market opened a couple of weeks ago to much fanfare. Along with a lot of positive publicity, there were some vocal critics, so I had to check it out. This isn’t the kind of farm stand… Read More ›
Food & Restaurants
Sea Breeze revisited
Just over four years ago, I favorably reviewed the Sea Breeze Mexican Grill, which had just opened in our neighborhood. This restaurant chugged along for a while, being an adequate neighborhood restaurant but nothing special. My initial enthusiasm began to wane…. Read More ›
Mimi, Cole, & Abby
In early June, Barbara and I decided to celebrate our upcoming June 23 anniversary by having dinner at Abby Park, since Barbara’s friend Mimi McCaffrey would be performing with her band, The Blue Hotel. The dinner was surprisingly good (after three… Read More ›
88 Wharf revisited
A little over a year ago, I wrote a post in which I speculated about whether 88 Wharf was going out of business. I had liked this Milton restaurant a lot back in 2009–2011, but by 2012 it had gone downhill…. Read More ›
Calculating calories at Jake's
After visiting one of those railroad museums in Connecticut, Barbara and I were looking for a place to have lunch without having to drive around a lot to find a good restaurant. So we spotted Jake’s Wayback Burgers right there in… Read More ›
Connecticut
October is always a good month for traveling within New England, and this past weekend (a long weekend!) was no exception. Barbara agreed to a mini-vacation that focused on railroad museums in Connecticut, so off we went, intending to visit four… Read More ›
Peanut allergies
What can possibly be so controversial about peanut allergies? Plenty, apparently. According to an article in yesterday’s Jamaica Plain Patch, “peanut products are still served in many school cafeterias” and “almost half of children who have food allergies have been bullied.” This… Read More ›
Lobstah Bake at Ashmont Grill
Mmm…what a feast! Last night was the much-anticipated occasion for the Ashmont Grill’s annual Lobstah Bake, three hours of unlimited grilled lobsters, tuna ceviche, striped bass ceviche, mussels, potato salad, tomato salad, cheddar-and-scallion biscuits, fresh corn on the cob, wine,… Read More ›
Ruth's Chris
Barbara and I went to Ruth’s Chris last night — the first time for either of us at any Ruth’s Chris location. The positives outweighed the negatives, but… Here’s the scoop. By and large the food was excellent. We both… Read More ›
Annabelle's
The late lamented CF Donovan’s, in the Savin Hill neighborhood of Dorchester, closed its doors for good just over three years ago. Barbara and I had always enjoyed eating there — not for its gourmet food, but for the standard… Read More ›
A bad sign
I fear that 88 Wharf, which I reviewed three years ago, is going downhill. The rumor is that it’s about to go out of business. I don’t know whether that is really true, but the subject line of their recent… Read More ›
Soup and suans
Changsho may or not be the best Chinese restaurant in Cambridge, but it definitely has the best hot-and-sour soup. Mary Chung may or may not be the best Chinese restaurant in Cambridge, but it definitely has the best suan la… Read More ›
Fox and Hound
Groupons, of course, are designed to have two principal advantages. The most obvious one is that they save you money. The other advantage is that they encourage you to try new places (surely the main reason businesses offer them). So… Read More ›
Ashmont Grill, yet again
OK, time to write about the Ashmont Grill for the nth time. For some reason, attendance at their Wine Club has been getting sparser and sparser each week. Actually, today was only the second time in several months that Barbara… Read More ›
Food Matters
Mark Bittman is not Michael Pollan, though they have some things in common. Bittman’s book, with the deliberately ambiguous title of Food Matters, is quite different from his standard fare. Bittman is best known for his cookbooks (and his appearances as… Read More ›
A plate at Bella Luna
As is the case in most restaurants, when you sit down at a table at Bella Luna you see a place setting in front of you. But at Bella Luna you get a plate that has been drawn or painted… Read More ›
Sea Breeze Mexican Grill
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… Read More ›
Diversity at dim sum
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… Read More ›
Taste of Dorchester
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,… Read More ›
Lamb Jam
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,… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 