Instead of making plans to attend a food festival, maybe you want something a little more spontaneous. What you could do then is to visit certain streets, squares or neighborhoods and check out their restaurants, food markets, wine stores, bakeries and more. In certain areas, you could easily spend several hours just eating, drinking and shopping for culinary finds.
So, what are some of the best areas to visit?
Charles Street in Boston, Harvard Square in Cambridge, Porter Square in Cambridge, and Beacon Street in Brookline are all excellent choices. The South End in Boston has also become a culinary mecca and I will go into more detail about the choices available there.
For a culinary tour of the South End, to maximize your possibilities, you will want to drive there. But, if you don't have a car, you can still visit many of the places. You can use the subway to access the area. You can start your visit at either end of the South End: Washington St. at the intersection with Massachusetts Ave. or Tremont St. at the intersection with East Berkeley St.
Let us first touch on some of the sights of Washington St. Note that this is just a sampling of the possible places you can visit.
Flour Bakery & Cafe: A famed and excellent bakery. They serve breakfast and lunch, and also have many different pastries, cookies, breads and other baked goods.
Seiyo: A combination wine store and Japanese restaurant. Excellent sushi and a good selection of wines. Also have a number of Japanese sakes. Have bento boxes for lunch.
Toro: A Spanish tapas restaurant, only open for dinner. Located at 1704 Washington St.
Stella’s: Fine Italian food as well as Sunday brunch.
Brix: Small wine store but with an excellent and diverse selection.
You can then cut over to Shawmut Avenue to check out a couple other places.
South End Buttery: Another fine bakery.
South End Formaggio: An excellent shop for fine cheeses and gourmet foods.
Then you can move onto Tremont Street, which has many possible places to check out.
Garden of Eden Café & Lionette’s Market: Organic cafe and food market.
Wine Emporium: A large wine store with wines from all over the world, including more unusual regions.
Acquitaine: A French bistro with brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.
B&G Oysters: Oyster bar. Part of Barbara Lynch's culinary empire.
Butcher Shop: Restaurant and butcher shop. Also part of Barbara Lynch's culinary empire.
Sibling Rivalry: Superb restaurant with an excellent brunch.
South End Open Market: On Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., except on holiday weekends, you can visit this market. This market has numerous food vendors as well as non-food vendors, such as antique dealers, jewelers and more.
There are plenty of other culinary places in the South End. New restaurants are opening all the time. You can find a list of many others on UrbanSpoon.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Summer Culinary Outings--Part 1
With summer nearly here, plenty of us are considering what we can do on the weekends. You might go to an outside concert, go bicyling, or visit the beach. Or you could go on a culinary adventure. There are a number of options for these culinary outings and I will present one here. I will discuss other options in a future post.
Summertime is a time for food festivals! The Scooperbowl just passed but there are plenty of other festivals coming up. Here is a sampling.
The Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Party will be held June 22-24 on Boston City Hall Plaza.
The 26th Annual Chowderfest is July 1 on Boston City Hall Plaza.
The 5th Annual Tanglewood Wine & Food Classic will be held August 8-11.
The 7th Annual Boston Summer Restaurant Week will be held August 5-17.
The Phantom Gourmet Food Festival will be held September 23 on Landsdowne St.
There are plenty of other festivals that you will find in your local newspaper or local magazines such as Boston Magazine. I may post about some of the others later as well.
Besides food festivals, there are also many local cultural fairs and festivals, such as Greek and Italian festivals. The North End has a ton of festivals during the summer. They have festivals just about every weekend. Some of the upcoming festivals include the celebration of St. Jude starting on June 24, St. Joseph on July 27, and Madonna del Soccorso (the Fisherman’s Feast) on August 24. At these cultural festivals, you get to try many ethnic foods and drinks. They can be lots of fun.
Summertime is a time for food festivals! The Scooperbowl just passed but there are plenty of other festivals coming up. Here is a sampling.
The Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Party will be held June 22-24 on Boston City Hall Plaza.
The 26th Annual Chowderfest is July 1 on Boston City Hall Plaza.
The 5th Annual Tanglewood Wine & Food Classic will be held August 8-11.
The 7th Annual Boston Summer Restaurant Week will be held August 5-17.
The Phantom Gourmet Food Festival will be held September 23 on Landsdowne St.
There are plenty of other festivals that you will find in your local newspaper or local magazines such as Boston Magazine. I may post about some of the others later as well.
Besides food festivals, there are also many local cultural fairs and festivals, such as Greek and Italian festivals. The North End has a ton of festivals during the summer. They have festivals just about every weekend. Some of the upcoming festivals include the celebration of St. Jude starting on June 24, St. Joseph on July 27, and Madonna del Soccorso (the Fisherman’s Feast) on August 24. At these cultural festivals, you get to try many ethnic foods and drinks. They can be lots of fun.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Kyoto
Want some good sushi in Tewksbury? Try Kyoto.
Kyoto is a Japanese teppanyaki and sushi restaurant. I have eaten sushi here five times but have not yet tried their teppanyaki. Their sushi is a little less expensive than average. The sushi is fresh, good-sized and well-made. One of my favorite maki is their sweet potato tempura maki. It is basically just pieces of sweet potato tempura wrapped with rice and nori.
Kyoto has a full bar and carries many of the usual drinks you find at Asian restaurants. But, they only have one brand of Sake.
Service is very good and the staff is very friendly and personable. Give Kyoto a try!
Kyoto
1487 Main St.
Tewksbury, MA
Phone: (978) 863-9889
Kyoto is a Japanese teppanyaki and sushi restaurant. I have eaten sushi here five times but have not yet tried their teppanyaki. Their sushi is a little less expensive than average. The sushi is fresh, good-sized and well-made. One of my favorite maki is their sweet potato tempura maki. It is basically just pieces of sweet potato tempura wrapped with rice and nori.
Kyoto has a full bar and carries many of the usual drinks you find at Asian restaurants. But, they only have one brand of Sake.
Service is very good and the staff is very friendly and personable. Give Kyoto a try!
Kyoto
1487 Main St.
Tewksbury, MA
Phone: (978) 863-9889
2006 Domaine Tempier rose
In the realm of Rose, Domaine Tempier is often said to be one of the elites. The 2006 Domaine Tempier Rose ($34) is a blend of Mourvedre, Cinsault, and Grenache. It is estate bottled from organic fruit. It is one of the most expensive Roses you will find. I brought a bottle to my weekly get together with the Real World Winers.This Rose is a very pale pink, lighter than most of the other Roses I have tasted recently. It has a fruity nose though the nose is mild. This is a more subtle Rose than the others I have had. It is definitely more Old World, very French in style. If you do not like subtle wines, you may not care that much for this wine. But, if give it a chance, you will find much complexity in thise Rose. It has tastes of strawberries, a bit of herb, and maybe some melon. It has a lingering finish and all of its tastes mingle harmoniusly. This is not a casual wine, not one to guzzle. It is a wine you linger over, one which you think about each sip. It is not a big bold wine, and it is not intended to be. But, it is a fine wine, one I definitely recommend as a Drink & Buy.
I should also note that Domaine Tempier makes a few reds, Mourvedre blends, which are superb!
Win 100 Bottles of Wine
Win 100 Bottles of Wine!
All you have to do is fill out an entry form at http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/100
If you don't win the 100 bottles, they will also award 100 second place winners a bottle of wine. You have nothing to lose by entering. Winners will be announced July 31.
Flemings Steak House is a a chain steakhouse with locations all across the country. Locally, there is one on Boston, near the Park Plaza Hotel. I was last there at a recent Restaurant Week and had an excellent meal. They do have good steaks. Plus, they are well known for having a huge list of wines, 100, available by the glass. Most restaurants have maybe 2 dozen available by the glass. But, Flemings truly is a wine lover's haven.
Each June, they choose a new list of 100 wines. 60 of those wines are the same for all of their restaurants. The other 40 are chosen by the specific restaurants. I am on the Flemings mailing list so just got the announcement of their contest. The mailer also lists the 60 wines they have newly chosen.
All you have to do is fill out an entry form at http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/100
If you don't win the 100 bottles, they will also award 100 second place winners a bottle of wine. You have nothing to lose by entering. Winners will be announced July 31.
Flemings Steak House is a a chain steakhouse with locations all across the country. Locally, there is one on Boston, near the Park Plaza Hotel. I was last there at a recent Restaurant Week and had an excellent meal. They do have good steaks. Plus, they are well known for having a huge list of wines, 100, available by the glass. Most restaurants have maybe 2 dozen available by the glass. But, Flemings truly is a wine lover's haven.
Each June, they choose a new list of 100 wines. 60 of those wines are the same for all of their restaurants. The other 40 are chosen by the specific restaurants. I am on the Flemings mailing list so just got the announcement of their contest. The mailer also lists the 60 wines they have newly chosen.
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