Thursday Sips & Nibbles

I'm back again with a new edition of Sips & Nibbles, my regular column where I highlight some interesting, upcoming food and drink events. I hope everyone dines out safely, tips well and are nice to their servers.
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1) Executive Chef/Owner Mario LaPosta has announced the inaugural wine dinner at da LaPosta, which opened in Newtonville this past year. The event holds special meaning for Mario—guest vineyard Villa Matilde Winery is located an hour’s ride north of Naples, where LaPosta studied pizza making and began his storied career.

The winer dinner, which will be held on Wednesday, September 28, at 6:30pm, will be comprised of a five-course Italian dinner with wine pairings for each course. The menu includes Fiore de Zucca (locally grown, fried zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta), Tuna Crudo, Roman Style Pizza (baked in da LaPosta's very own wood-fired oven), and Hand-made Fusilli in a Heritage Pork Ragu. Dessert will be homemade Italian cookies with house-made limoncello. 

Tickets are now available on Resy, and cost $95 per person. I have been to da LaPosta once before and really enjoyed the food, so expect this dinner should be excellent. 

2) On Labor Day, Monday, September 5th, at 11am, Rochambeau, a French brasserie and  café  in the Back Bay, will be kicking off brunch. They will be serving up classic French cuisine, brunch favorites including Croque Monsieur with ham, brioche, béchamel, gruyère, pommes frites; Duck Confit Hash with harissa hollandaise poached eggs; and Moules Frites with sauce provencale, white wine, tomato, capers, grilled eggplant. I do enjoy a good Croque Monsiuer! 

For Reservations, please go HERE.

3) Chef Brian Poe and Partner Nick Giannotti announce the grand opening of Crane River Cheese Club – a specialty chef-curated grocery store – carrying high-end meats and eclectic wild game; sliced deli meats and cheeses; fresh seafood and shellfish; farm fresh produce; seasonal fruits, vegetables and herbs; rubs and seasonings; and select items from small purveyors from Greater Boston, throughout all of New England, and beyond.

Located at 138b Cambridge Street and adjacent to the Tip Tap Room (also owned by Chef Poe), the concept for Crane River Cheese Club was born out of the pandemic as a specialty grocery delivery service as a way for Chef Poe to supply friends, neighbors and family with easier access to quality foods and produce when there was uncertainty about going to public places. What turned into a few deliveries per week to in Danvers and surrounding towns, blossomed into over two dozen deliveries a week throughout Essex and Middlesex counties, and cities and towns just north of downtown Boston. When restaurants started to re-open, Crane River Cheese Club had become a growing and flourishing business, so Chef Poe contemplated the idea of transitioning it from a delivery service to a brick-and-mortar location if the right opportunity presented itself. That opportunity presented itself when Subway closed its doors on the corner of Cambridge and Temple Street.

“It was a surreal moment to hang up the Crane River Cheese Club sign right next to Tip Tap, which has been an integral part of Beacon Hill for over ten years and counting,” said Brian Poe. “Nick Giannotti and I love this neighborhood so much, and it means a lot to start another neighborhood tradition by creating an intimate grocery store with high-quality options, and where nearby businesses can leverage us for office catering and new lunch options from our rotating sandwich board. And for our Tip Tap guests that love the meal they just had, I can offer them the ingredients right next door, and give them tips on how to prepare it at home.”

Crane River Cheese Club will also serve fresh made-to-order sandwiches and salads along with a couple different desserts from Tip Tap Room Chef de Cuisine Guillermo Guzman like his blueberry pie and homemade ice cream. Crane River will showcase items from Valley View Farm Cheese in Topsfield; Four Fat Fowl in Stephentown, NY; Cato Corner Farm in Colchester, CT; New Entry Sustainable Farming Project; Iron Ox and First Light Farm out of Hamilton and Eva’s Garden in Dartmouth. Crane River will even feature hand-crafted wood boards by Nick Giannotti, a partner at Crane River and GM at Tip Tap Room, and they are planning on a weekly pop-up series with Boston-area chefs as well.