Thursday Sips & Nibbles

I am back again with a new edition of Thursday Sips & Nibbles, my regular column where I briefly highlight some interesting wine and food items that I have encountered recently. **********************************************************
1)  I was previously a fan of Gennaro’s 5 North Square and the addition of consulting chef Marisa Iocco only increases the quality of this restaurant. Iocco is now focusing her skills on Italian-American dishes, which she feels have been both maligned and mangled in the years since immigrants from Italy (like her paternal grandfather Vincenzo) created them two generations ago. Check out this restaurant!

Her latest bestsellers include:
--Eggless “macaroni ranging from whole wheat chitarra amatriciana and rigatoni Bolognese, to linguini scampi and gnocchi vongole pizzaiola
--A meatball medley boasting chicken marsala and roasted eggplant versions
--Cod in Bianco with potatoes and olives in white wine
--Giambotta, a  seasonal vegetable stew that changes daily
--Lobster Conchiglie,– half moon pasta in fra diavolo sauce
--Treccia (custom-braided mozzarella) with Mixed Greens
--A quintet of family style specialties served for four or more people Sunday thru Thursday
--Garlic Bread Stuffed Shrimp
--Rum baba with whipped cheese crema and strawberry salsa

2)  Post 390’s bar team unveils an all new Summer Cocktail List on June 20, the first Day of Summer. Headlining the list of more than a dozen new cocktail creations are home-made summer classics with a twist, literally, straight from the kitchen to the cocktail. Inspired by the kitchen’s farm-to-table mission, the bar team is taking that spirit to new levels with home-made ingredients sourced directly from Post 390’s kitchen.

Eric Brennan, executive chef, and Molly Hanson, pastry chef of Post 390 like well-crafted cocktails too. They are working side by side with the bar team, creating product exclusively for the Summer Cocktails at Post 390. For example, Chef Brennan can be found preparing items such as Home-made Dry Vermouth, Habanero Stuffed Olives, Home-made House Bitters, Tobacco Bitters, Charred Pineapple garnish and Freshly Grilled Peaches garnish. Pastry Chef Hanson is creating a variety of home-made simple syrups, such as Sage, Mint, Peach, and Lemon/Lime and her signature strawberry rhubarb juice. She is also making Lemongrass Tonic Syrup with Peruvian Cinchona Bark for a house-made Gin & Tonic.
Some of the new cocktails include:
Filthy Martini: Ketel One Vodka, home-made dry vermouth, dash of Fire Water (Olive Juice & Bittermen’s HellFire Bitters), with house-stuffed habanero olive
G&T: Gin muddled with fresh lemongrass, home-made bitters, home-made Lemongrass Tonic from Peruvian Cinchona Bark
Peach ‘n Pig: Bacon infused house-smoked bourbon, home-made bitters, muddled peaches, punt e mes and peach simple syrup, grilled peach
Rio Grande Paloma: Zapopan 100% Agave Tequila, grapefruit juice, agave nectar, smoked sea salt, homemade bitters, a splash of soda on the rocks, a salted rim, spicy lime wedge
Corpse Reviver No. 2: Tanqueray, home-made Cointreau, cocchi aperitivo Americano, lemon juice, absinthe, lemon peel, luxardo cherry

3)  Launching July 7, check out the Taste Gloucester, a food and cultural tour of this historic port city. Guests of the tour will make their way on foot through downtown Gloucester sampling food from local vendors. From chowder to olive oil, from local beer to a special sandwich, the St. Joseph (that Gloucester natives have been enjoying for decades), Taste Gloucester will expose guests to a number of local treats. The 2.5 hour (roughly 1 mile) tours are lead by dynamic tour guides providing the backdrop to this 400-year-old city with fascinating stories and interesting facts about the oldest working seaport in America.

Tickets must be bought in advance and are $47.50 per person. Tours run on select days throughout the summer at 11:00am and 2:30pm, rain or shine, and tour groups are small to ensure that everyone gets the most out of their experience. Buy tickets online.

4)  In recognition of June as National Hunger Month, Lovin’ Spoonfuls, a Boston based non-profit organization that works to facilitate the recovery and distribution of perishable and unserved foods, is launching an innovative fundraising campaign called #Tweet2Beat Hunger. They will utilize social media, specifically Twitter, to collect monetary donations in support of their mission to beat hunger.

Starting Monday, June 25 and lasting through Saturday, June 30, Lovin’ Spoonfuls will run its first ever #TWEET2BEAT hunger campaign. Tweeters can assist Lovin’ in its mission in just seconds by simply tweeting the monetary amount he/she would like to pledge followed by “TweetDonate to” and Lovin’ Spoonfuls Twitter Handle, @LovinFoodRescue. For example: #Tweet2Beat $10 TweetDonate to @LovinFoodRescue. Just seconds later, donors will receive a link to PayPal where they can complete their donations.

The week-long fundraiser will come to a grand conclusion on International Social Media Day, Saturday, June 30, with the help of Whole Foods Market River Street located in Cambridge, which has generously agreed to match select $10 donations for every ten (10) tweets that includes hashtag #Tweet2Beat, TweetDonate to, the Lovin’ Twitter handle (@LovinFoodRescue), and their own Twitter handle, (@WholeFoodsRVR). For example: #Tweet2Beat Hunger $10 TweetDonate to @LovinFoodRescue @WholeFoodsRVR

During the final week of June, make sure to tweet @LovinFoodRescue, to aid Lovin’ Spoonfuls in their quest to “BEAT Hunger.”