tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65343233963817499642024-03-23T04:36:06.756-04:00MC Slim JBMC Slim JB: Commentary on the dining and drinking scene in Greater Boston, Massachusetts, USA by a veteran professional restaurant critic and food / drinks feature writer, with links to his published articles.MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-35649886773663578512023-12-23T09:29:00.001-05:002023-12-23T09:29:50.675-05:00Links to My Recently Published Restaurant Reviews, Food/Drinks Features and Interviews<p> </p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 17.8px;"><li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">7 Dec 2023 <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2023/12/07/coquette-seaport/" target="_blank">Boston Magazine -- Coquette</a></span></li><li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">25 Oct 2023 <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/best-restaurants-in-boston/" target="_blank">Boston Magazine -- Top 50 Restaurants in Boston 2023</a> (</span>Rachel Leah Blumenthal with additional reporting by Jacqueline Cain, MC Slim JB, Valerie Li Stack and Madison Trapkin)</li><li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">28 Sep 2023 </span><a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2023/09/28/grace-by-nia-review-seaport/" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Boston Magazine -- Grace by Nia</a></li><li>24 Aug 2023 <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2023/08/24/bar-vlaha-review/" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Boston Magazine -- Bar Vlaha</a></li><li>30 May 2023 <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2023/05/30/review-comfort-kitchen-dorchester/" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Boston Magazine -- Comfort Kitchen</a></li><li>25 Apr 2023 <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2023/04/25/tonino-jamaica-plain/" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Boston Magaine -- Tonino</a></li><li>28 Feb 2023 <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2023/02/28/moeca-review-cambridge/" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Boston Magazine -- Moeca</a></li><li> 4 Jan 2023 <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2023/01/04/lenox-sophia-review/" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Boston Magazine -- Lenox Sophia</a></li></ul>MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-26543027687982322922017-01-18T19:07:00.001-05:002017-01-18T23:17:19.200-05:00My Responses to Eater Boston's 2016 Year-End Survey of Local Food Writers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWHqEwiRWPzAymkBtlKaiInoF_5o19h77VonX32tU1CRmDj4K9XGQM9J-rct3wrPR4wiY914uVEdl3hM7Hr9mORA8U2aaTNNaHkcmjACih8-9j6pm9OCfxkBcNqUVkRaZs9FIZDBetQU/s1600/TheYearInEater+graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="34" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWHqEwiRWPzAymkBtlKaiInoF_5o19h77VonX32tU1CRmDj4K9XGQM9J-rct3wrPR4wiY914uVEdl3hM7Hr9mORA8U2aaTNNaHkcmjACih8-9j6pm9OCfxkBcNqUVkRaZs9FIZDBetQU/s320/TheYearInEater+graphic.png" width="320" /></a></div>
I don't pen many original essays for this blog: it mainly exists as a place for people to find links to my professionally-published restaurant reviews, food/drink features, and occasional interviews by other outlets. Researching and writing my biweekly reviews for <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/" target="_blank">The Improper Bostonian</a> (on top of a day job in an unrelated field) doesn't leave me much spare time to write here. But I can offer up an easy one: reprinting my contribution to <a href="http://boston.eater.com/" target="_blank">Eater Boston</a>'s annual survey of local food writers, where we recount our past year of dining and drinking all over Greater Boston -- our favorite new places, reliable old standbys, saddest closings, etc. -- and look ahead to trends in the New Year.<br />
<br />
So here is my 2016 year in review with some thoughts on what's ahead in 2017. Thanks as always to Eater Boston for including me in this feature every year, and to my fellow Boston food-geek writers for their ongoing insightful, valuable and entertaining work. I encourage you to read their funny, thoughtful year-end responses in the "Year in Eater" story stream <a href="http://boston.eater.com/year-in-eater" target="_blank">here</a>, too.<br />
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<b>What were the top
restaurant newcomers of 2016?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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For me, as I imagine for many of us, 2016 was a carbuncle
of a year. A world on fire, the passing of many beloved cultural icons, the
election, watching family members and friends die or struggle with heartbreak,
illness or unemployment: all prompted me to seek solace in good food and drink.
That made the past twelve or so months’ welter of great openings in Boston an
estimable, necessary salve.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Those newcomers ranged from fantastic watering holes with
excellent drinks and food (<a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/green-and-golden/" target="_blank"><b>Casa Verde</b></a>, <b>The Automatic</b>, <b>Ruka</b>), sublime regional
Italians (<a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/south-end-serenity/" target="_blank"><b>SRV</b></a>, <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/cock-of-the-walk/" target="_blank"><b>Fat Hen</b></a>, <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/block-party/" target="_blank"><b>Bar Mezzana</b></a>), a welcome Greek renaissance (<a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/grecian-yearning/" target="_blank"><b>Kava</b></a>,
Brendan Pelley in his short-term perch at Wink & Nod and now at <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/greek-revival/" target="_blank"><b>Doretta</b></a>), dazzling
Asian entrants (<a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/better-stronger/" target="_blank"><b>BLR by Shojo</b></a>, <b>Sichuan Gourmet</b> Burlington, <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/big-bulls-eye/" target="_blank"><b>Little Big Diner</b></a>,
<a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/earning-stripes/" target="_blank"><b>Tiger Mama</b></a>, the reinvented <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/leap-of-faith-2/" target="_blank"><b>UNI</b></a>, <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/noodle-nirvana/" target="_blank"><b>Ganko Ittetsu Ramen</b></a>, <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/mina-machine/" target="_blank"><b>Pabu</b></a>), a couple of lovely
wine bars (<a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/maiden-voyage/" target="_blank"><b>The Maiden</b></a>, <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/tin-star/" target="_blank"><b>haley.henry</b></a> with its novel focus on luxury tinned
seafood), superb pizza makers (the <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/reign-of-fire/" target="_blank"><b>Stoked </b></a>brick-and-mortar, <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/wood-oven-love-in/" target="_blank"><b>Area Four South End</b></a>, <b>Ciao!</b> in Chelsea, Arlington’s <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/stealth-bomber/" target="_blank"><b>Commune Kitchen</b></a>), and worthy new spots from
familiar and upcoming local stars (<a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/gold-coast/" target="_blank"><b>Waypoint</b></a>, <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/arise-fair-sun/" target="_blank"><b>Juliet</b></a>, <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/eat-bray-love/" target="_blank"><b>Little Donkey</b></a>, <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/branching-out/" target="_blank"><b>Branch Line</b></a>).<o:p></o:p></div>
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But I took special pleasure in the opening of <a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/fress-to-the-nines/" target="_blank"><b>Mamaleh’s</b></a>,
a smashing traditional Jewish deli from the team behind State Park. Boston
hasn’t had exceptional, housemade Ashkenazi soul food in living memory: its revival
was painfully overdue. Dining here was one of the best balms I found for 2016’s
many surreal anxieties and lacerations of the spirit. I don’t doubt I’ll find
more reasons to seek its hearty, delectable comforts in 2017.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>What were your top
restaurant standbys of 2016?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I spend so many nights researching my restaurant reviews
for The Improper that I can’t revisit already-beloved places nearly enough. But
I still hit a few favorites on the regular:</div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://thetakemagazine.com/insiders-take-this-is-italian/" target="_blank">Erbaluce </a></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">still kills it Every Single Frickin’ Time
with its singular Piemontese cuisine and rare wines. Were I forced at gunpoint
to choose one favorite fine-dining restaurant in Boston, this would be it.</span></li>
<li>You could routinely find me at Chinatown’s <b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Peach
Farm</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">, enjoying its unfussy, splendid Hong Kong style live-tank seafood and Cantonese
dishes, especially very late at night.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/sex-on-a-platter/" style="text-indent: -0.25in;" target="_blank"><b>Yvonne’s </b></a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">served as a versatile stop all year to
take visiting out-of-towners to gawp at its cheeky, glamorous atmosphere, enjoy
the top-tier cocktails, and share a celebratory meal.</span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/no-joke/" style="text-indent: -0.25in;" target="_blank"><b>Hojoko</b></a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">, with its hip, raucous rock-bar ambiance,
long menu of upscale-izakaya fare, and wicked cocktails (notably authentic Tiki
drinks) became part of my standard pre- and post-Fenway rotation.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/03/drink-cocktail-bar-review-boston-mc-slim-jb.html" target="_blank">Drink </a></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">in Fort Point and </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The Hawthorne</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> in Kenmore
Square aren’t just pinnacles of Boston’s craft cocktail movement, perhaps my
favorite dining-out trend of the last 20 years: they serve as crucial engines
of its growth as they train and disgorge new generations of talent year in and
year out. Both understand the essential equality of hospitality and technical
chops in creating a nonpareil drinking experience.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/block-party/" target="_blank">Bar Mezzana</a></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> lured me back often for its amazing
crudos, crostini, pastas, sleek atmosphere, warm hospitality, and outstanding
cocktails and wines.</span></li>
<li>The new <b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Sichuan Gourmet</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> near the Burlington Mall
is maybe the best of the mini-chain’s outposts of numbingly spicy, invigorating
traditional Sichuan cuisine. It’s even better with a crowd.</span></li>
<li>And as ever, there’s my longtime local, <b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">J.J.
Foley’s Café</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> in the South End, presided over by publican supreme Jerry Foley, bolstered
by his many strong sons (most ubiquitously his eldest, GM Mike Foley), a sweet
waitstaff, and the kind of modest Irish and American bar fare that perfectly suits
watching a big game, playing pub trivia, or idling away a few hours with
friends from the neighborhood. It’s the textbook incarnation of a great and
ancient Boston tavern.</span> </li>
</ul>
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<b>What was the
biggest dining surprise of 2016?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I suppose I could say it was the spectacle of once-timid
friends gobbling down the octopus that appeared on countless menus this year,
but really it was the continued stamina of Greater Boston’s restaurant
expansion: so many big new openings that I now fret about the ability of the
economy and labor pool to support. I was more hopeful than some of my peers in
this roundup last December about the prospect of a bubble, but there are
ominous portents of it now. (Crap: <b>Emma’s Pizza</b>, <b>Spoke Wine Bar</b>? Really? Eff
you, 2016. Eff you to hell.) <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>What was the
saddest closure of 2016?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The food was nothing special, but I was truly saddened by
the closing of <b>Johnny D’s</b>, an intimate venue for many memorable shows over the
years -- my standouts include The English Beat and multiple Sleepy LaBeef gigs.
Among proper restaurants, I will most long for the quirkily-inventive,
frequently mind-blowing, umami-overloaded Italianate cuisine of mercurial chef
Tim Maslow at <b>Ribelle</b>. Glad he’s still around, cooking at <b>Tiger Mama</b>, but I kinda
wish he’d never gone uptown after his reinvention of <b>Strip-T’s</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>What was your most
disappointing meal of 2016?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I’m a fan of the original <b>Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana</b>
in New Haven, made pilgrimages there over the years for its justly-storied clam
pies. That magic has not made the trip up I-95 to their new outlet in a
Chestnut Hill mall. All of the hassle, none of the charm, not nearly enough of
the flavor.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>What was your best
restaurant meal of 2016?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I was delighted to uncover fantastic traditional Mexican
tacos at the itty-bitty, humble <b>Rincon Mexicano</b> in East Somerville: that chef
from the D.F. has it going on. But the red-letter-day dinner was an epic debauch
at <b><a href="http://www.improper.com/food-drink/eat-bray-love/" target="_blank">Little Donkey</a></b>, Jamie Bissonnette and Ken Oringer’s terrific globe-trotting
small plates joint in Central Square. A few cocktails, 17 dishes highlighted by
an awesome special of live uni with flatbread, a couple of bottles of wine, all
the desserts. (I won’t cop to the party size, but will admit to later hearing
that even the staff was gobsmacked by our horrific excess.) The evening ended
with us waddling over to <b>Trina’s</b> for some desperately needed Fernet-Brancas. I
generally eat with more restraint, or I’d risk serious health issues, but for
some reason – maybe my scarily food-nerdy companions, the elbow room that feels
liberating after the tight quarters of <b>Toro</b> and <b>Coppa</b>, the fabulousness of the food
and drinks – we really went off the rails that night. I can’t blame the review-research
imperative every time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>What are your
headline predictions for 2017?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Well-ridden hobbyhorses of mine, but these issues
continue to worry and frighten me:</div>
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<ul>
<li>2017 will be another year where our chances at
slowing <b>climate change</b> -- and heading off the resulting catastrophic
consequences for our food chain -- continue to dwindle.</li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>Invasive corporate chains</b> will keep surging at
the expense of far better locally-owned establishments. (I for one will not be
abandoning my favorite local Italian purveyors and restaurants to patronize
</span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Eataly Boston</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">We will continue to fail to deal with <b>how abusive
to restaurant industry workers our current wage practices and transportation
systems are</b>. That isn’t just awful for them: when it results in good indies
fighting and sometimes failing to survive, it’s bad for you and me.</span></li>
</ul>
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<b>Sum up the 2016
restaurant world in one word.</b><br />
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<b><i>Resource-constrained</i></b>. Our locally-owned restaurants battled
anew in 2016 to attract talent both front and back of house against competition
from deep-pocketed nationals: looking at you again, Eataly, and every chain in
the godforsaken Seaport. And now I shudder to think of the impact of proposed
draconian new immigration policies on our kitchen staffs. Said it before, and
I’ll keep saying it: <b>support your local independents</b> -- maybe be willing to pay
a little more so they can compensate quality staffers fairly -- <b>if you don’t
want Boston’s dining scene to become dull and middlebrow, indistinguishable
from every less interesting, culturally-diverse city in the USA.</b> Do your job.</div>
MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-71509570115752788332015-11-15T23:51:00.000-05:002015-11-16T01:37:07.947-05:00RIP, Ryan McGrale, Beloved Boston Bartender.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHmoxizSJWXvrPkOS3khB3QpOspcVVJXveFUCyeO5vsk6zZYwEuiu5tx-yHGtQL4fjy_1ZRG5FEiT9jAFdgC5qFzWsy6hYA4M2aRHvYTEmmIPyYDzUk93iF7zdy2nzIiNU9YYxL_aUT2g/s1600/bartender+issue+cover+photo+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHmoxizSJWXvrPkOS3khB3QpOspcVVJXveFUCyeO5vsk6zZYwEuiu5tx-yHGtQL4fjy_1ZRG5FEiT9jAFdgC5qFzWsy6hYA4M2aRHvYTEmmIPyYDzUk93iF7zdy2nzIiNU9YYxL_aUT2g/s400/bartender+issue+cover+photo+2014.jpg" width="335" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of The Improper Bostonian</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By now you’ve probably heard that Ryan McGrale, beverage director at <a href="http://tavernroad.com/">Tavern Road</a>, passed away suddenly, unexpectedly this weekend. The news left me stunned: I'd sat countless times at his bar at <a href="http://no9park.com/" target="_blank">No. 9 Park</a> (a late-afternoon weekend ritual for my wife and me for years), the <a href="http://flatironlounge.com/" target="_blank">Flatiron Lounge</a> in Manhattan, and finally at Tavern Road. I cannot add much that has not already been said in the recent online outpouring of shock, grief and celebratory remembrances of this extraordinarily talented bartender, genuinely caring hospitality pro, and uncommonly vivid force of nature.<br />
<br />
But I did get to feature him in my April 2014 cover story for The Improper Bostonian on Boston bartenders, entitled <a href="http://www.improper.com/features/pouring-reign/" target="_blank">"Pouring Reign"</a>. (I so love his front-and-center badassery in <a href="http://www.adamdetourphotography.com/" target="_blank">Adam DeTour</a>’s awesome cover photo, right.) In this piece, I talked with a dozen local pros I admire: six promising newcomers, and six talented veterans whom I felt didn’t get the press attention they deserved, in which latter company I firmly placed McGrale. I had to edit the interviews heavily for length, which left too many colorful, telling reflections from my subjects on the cutting room floor. One small thing I can do in Ryan’s memory is present his unexpurgated comments here.<br />
<br />
Thanks, Ryan. You left a huge mark on a legion of patrons and industry colleagues. I will never forget your incredible energy, riotous good humor, fantastic cocktails, and above all, your dedication to making your customers feel loved and well cared for. RIP.<br />
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<i>MC Slim JB: Measure or free-pour?</i><br />
Ryan McGrale: Mostly measure, but free-pour occasionally.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Drink that you wish more customers would order?</i><br />
RM: I wish more customers would order gin cocktails (e.g., "Gin doesn't agree with me!")<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Drink you wish customers would forget existed?</i><br />
RM: Wish customers forgot about a Margarita WITH SALT.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What is your most prized bartending accoutrement, e.g., spoon, ice tool, ice mold, shaker, mixing glass, knife, Lewis bag, cocktail book, serving glass, other piece of barware or glassware, etc.? (Could be a work piece or something on your home bar.)</i><br />
RM: First-edition <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jerry-Thomas-Bartenders-Guide-Companion/dp/1440453268" target="_blank">“Bon Vivant’s Companion” by Jerry Thomas.</a><br />
<br />
<i>MC: Most annoying customer behavior?</i><br />
RM: Yelling drink orders at the bartenders while we are either making drinks, taking another drink order, or interacting with another guest.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Every bartender has a collection of Fiasco Moments, e.g., the tray of glasses smashed into the ice bin, the flyaway tin that resulted in a guest wearing a shakerful of cocktails, the strangers you introduced at your bar that ended up in a murder/suicide, your proud original creation that customers hated, etc. What’s a particularly egregious / entertaining one of yours?</i><br />
RM: My last bar shift in NYC. The bar was getting slammed around 10 pm. In NYC, that's early. This bar also does some of the most cocktail volume in the country. So things were getting pretty stressful. I had a guy from Jersey waving his credit card and cash at the opposite end of the bar. My nearest bartender was just getting stomped on with no end in sight. I looked down to check on her and locked eyes with this guy waving his credit card and cash in the air. I said, "We'll be with you in a minute." He continued to wave and be animated, insisting someone come up to him and take his order despite us politely saying we’d get to him in a moment. He thought we were ignoring him and started *snapping his fingers* to get anyone’s attention. I hate when anyone does that. So I figured I’d go out in a little blaze of glory for all the rough nights the Jerseyites had given me over the years, especially as a Bostonian. So I got down on all fours, walked down the bar, jumped onto the bar in front of the guy, crouched down, put my hands on his left and right cheek, and licked the left side of his face. The crowd was now seeing what was happening. I said, "We are here to serve you as best we can. We are people, not dogs. Don't you ever dare snap at anyone who serves you!” loud enough for people around him to hear. I hopped off the bar and took his order. The crowd started cheering like crazy! He smiled and said "You’re right, I’m sorry, never again in this or any bar!" Then he and I had a shot together and the night continued as it started.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Spirit (or wine varietal/region or beer style) that more customers should be trying, and your favorite cocktail or bottling to introduce a newbie to it?</i><br />
RM: Sherry. "Perfect Bamboo" cocktail: Amontillado Sherry, sweet and dry vermouth, Angostura and orange bitters.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s the best day of the week and time of day for a customer to engage you in a leisurely, educational five-minute conversation about drinks?</i><br />
RM: Any day at start of service except Fridays and Saturdays.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: You may have seen <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/16/opinion/sunday/20140216_SCHOTTBARWORDS.html" target="_blank">this article</a> on the in-house lingo of certain NYC bars: What’s one of your house’s code words/phrases for intra-staff communication in front of customers? </i><br />
RM: I worked at <a href="https://cloverclubny.com/" target="_blank">Clover Club</a> when it opened, then went to sister bar Flatiron Lounge after. I still use NYC lingo at my bar now. I use "Staff meeting" and "Point." Lately we use the phrase "Bar tool!" Imagine what I’m referring to.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s your typical end-of-shift drink?</i><br />
RM: Usually a cold beer accompanied by an amaro (but not Fernet-Branca.)<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s a great book / film / record / play / TV show you’ve consumed recently and recommend?</i><br />
RM: Been catching up on film, especially after the Oscars. I really liked "Gravity", saw it in IMAX, very gripping and suspenseful. I strongly suggest it.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Do you have a guilty-pleasure drink, the kind of thing you wouldn’t want your peers or customers to catch you drinking?</i><br />
RM: I'm an open book. Not ashamed about letting people know what I drink, especially when they think we drink cocktails or craft beer every chance we get. I do enjoy a NASCAR Spritz: Bud Lite Lime with a shot of Aperol in it and a lemon twist.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s the last astonishing restaurant meal you had other than at your place?</i><br />
RM: <a href="http://www.erbaluce-boston.com/" target="_blank">Erbaluce</a>! By far one of my favorites, if not the favorite restaurant in Boston. Classic rustic Italian, amazing homemade pasta, awesome wine list and stories for days from owners Chuck and Joan!<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What are a couple of dives you favor on your own time?</i><br />
RM: I love a good dive bar. Delux was one of my favorites until it closed recently. <i>[N.B.: it has since reopened under new ownership.]</i> I love <a href="http://www.anchoviesboston.com/" target="_blank">Anchovies</a> in South End and The Field in Central Square.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Dr. Bartender, what’s the best cure for my hangover?</i><br />
RM: Either Gatorade or a shot of whatever your last drink was the night before. If you were drinking beer all night and still got drunk, sadly, a good shot of whiskey with a hit of bitters.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Most interesting current trend in cocktails (or beer or wine)?</i><br />
RM: Mists and foams.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Most ridiculous / overhyped / bullshit trend?</i><br />
RM: National and local cocktail competitions (except for the Cocktail Wars and World Class competitions.)<br />
<br />
<i>MC: As a bar customer yourself, what’s one aspect of Boston’s bars that you wish more operators would do a better job of? </i><br />
RM: Teaching humility.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What Greater Boston bar (besides your own) is absolutely killing it right now? Of all their qualities, what’s the single standout attribute that makes you want to drink there?</i><br />
RM: <a href="https://www.ming.com/blue-dragon.htm" target="_blank">Blue Dragon</a>. Somehow flying off the radar, though they have an amazing program of sprits, cocktails and beer, and a great meal at the bar to top it off. They are always busy and ready to show you a good time atop their knowledge and friendly service.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What are the top two or three (or four or five) destinations on your Bars of the World Bucket List?</i><br />
RM: <a href="http://harrysbar.fr/en/" target="_blank">Harry's New York Bar</a> (Paris), <a href="https://website.theaviary.com/" target="_blank">The Aviary</a> (Chicago), <a href="http://www.tiki-ti.com/pages/home.html" target="_blank">Tiki Ti</a> (LA), <a href="http://www.barhighfive.com/" target="_blank">Bar High Five</a> (Tokyo), <a href="https://www.themerchanthotel.com/" target="_blank">The Merchant Hotel</a> (Belfast).<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s the most ridiculous thing a Yelper (or other amateur reviewer) has ever said about you or the place you work?</i><br />
RM: I'm a very energetic and excited person, especially when I’m in the zone behind a bar: more than most, I can say. A Yelper once said that I had to be on drugs to like my job this much: literally on drugs. She was seriously saying that I was under the influence.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What bartender or bar manager, currently working or retired, is your first-ballot lock for entry into Boston’s Bartending Hall of Fame? </i><br />
RM: Tom Mastricola.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Offer a sentence or two of advice to aspiring bartenders.</i><br />
RM: It’s not about the drink. It’s about the WHOLE experience you provide them. Also: having respect and humility will lengthen your bartending career.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvpU8AzI-KuKC41sqZLLSf4RFhp0LCUhQYcTo2dDsY87Rl-RbMJBju7poLtmIO6GcrDV-S4BegTQunqHBI5uAo2fKXBbbeNoVVraBGm7Fgh8DQKIx3pUmgfIo1LH6eBBsd0S9E4w1u4Y/s1600/ryan+mcgrale+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvpU8AzI-KuKC41sqZLLSf4RFhp0LCUhQYcTo2dDsY87Rl-RbMJBju7poLtmIO6GcrDV-S4BegTQunqHBI5uAo2fKXBbbeNoVVraBGm7Fgh8DQKIx3pUmgfIo1LH6eBBsd0S9E4w1u4Y/s400/ryan+mcgrale+photo.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of The Improper Bostonian</td></tr>
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<i>MC: Say a few words about your most influential bartending mentors.</i><br />
RM: I have many mentors that have gotten me to today. It’s a tie between two. My first was Tom Mastricola: the reason there are fresh-juice programs in Boston pre-cocktail culture and the classic cocktail movement of the early 2000s. The second was when I worked in NYC: Julie Reiner. She helped take my game to another level that I couldn't have gotten to if I’d stayed in Boston. Living legend. One of the reasons we do what we do today behind cocktail bars. Overall badass! xoxo<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>MC: What’s the most surprisingly useful life skill that bartending has taught you?</i><br />
RM: Again, humility!<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>MC: What question do you think I should have asked? Answer it. </i><br />
RM: I would have asked "Greatest Bartending Moment? Was it career-defining? Guest you took care of? Personally life-changing? Wake-up call?" Answer: Introduced two strangers to each other at a bar I worked at: two single people and I was talking to each of them then decided to have us all in one conversation because we were all talking about similar topics that they seemed to have some things in common and needed a companion that evening. They later started dating and then married. Six years later they had their first child, and his middle name is Ryan.MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-83634573351760427092015-06-27T17:55:00.000-04:002015-07-10T21:23:22.921-04:00My Contributions to The Improper Bostonian’s 2015 Boston’s Best Issue<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwNJxBEuGJ-nPuTjFGJFoyKBIrDMcI15zhaf5kU5fpe88QuvumtBD6PINdWThO4zQxtOCFzwcHt3oX_CJ0Ogmd_sESDr8KYkxgahgwBG0sDgbsx7-yYGJdP4vde3Ml73WOXDuWh_udO5E/s1600/improper+boston%2527s+best+2015+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwNJxBEuGJ-nPuTjFGJFoyKBIrDMcI15zhaf5kU5fpe88QuvumtBD6PINdWThO4zQxtOCFzwcHt3oX_CJ0Ogmd_sESDr8KYkxgahgwBG0sDgbsx7-yYGJdP4vde3Ml73WOXDuWh_udO5E/s400/improper+boston%2527s+best+2015+cover.jpg" width="329" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover image courtesy of The Improper Bostonian</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/" target="_blank">The Improper Bostonian</a> just published its annual awards issue, recognizing local standouts in categories including Arts & Entertainment, Bars & Clubs, Beauty & Health, Fashion, People & Places, and the one I helped shape for the second year running, <a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink" target="_blank">Boston's Best Food & Drink</a>. I’m glad to see my work expanding the range of award categories in 2014 survived into this year. While I helped select this year’s winners, they are not all my first choices (though I agree with the vast majority of them). My other contribution was doing the write-ups for the following winners:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">STANDOUT INDIVIDUALS, DISHES AND RESTAURANTS</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/banh-mi-pho-viets/" target="_blank">Banh Mi: Pho Viet’s</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/bartender-ran-duan-of-the-baldwin-bar-at-sichuan-garden-ii/" target="_blank">Bartender: Ran Duan of the Baldwin Bar at Sichuan Garden II</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/bread-clear-flour-bread1/" target="_blank">Bread: Clear Flour Bread</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/breakfast-south-end-buttery/" target="_blank">Breakfast: South End Buttery</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/chinese-best-little-restaurant1/" target="_blank">Chinese: Best Little Restaurant</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/deli-moodys-delicatessen-provisions1/" target="_blank">Deli: Moody’s Delicatessen & Provisions</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/dim-sum-winsor-dim-sum-cafe3/" target="_blank">Dim Sum: Winsor Dim Sum Cafe</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/gluten-free-myers-chang/" target="_blank">Gluten-Free: Myers + Chang</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/gyros-zo/" target="_blank">Gyros: Zo</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/ice-cream-christinas-homemade-ice-cream/" target="_blank">Ice Cream: Christina’s Homemade Ice Cream</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/indian-dosa-n-curry/" target="_blank">Indian: Dosa-n-Curry</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/italian-erbaluce1/" target="_blank">Italian: Erbaluce</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/japanese-o-ya3/" target="_blank">Japanese: O Ya</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/mexican-angelas-cafe/" target="_blank">Mexican: Angela’s</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/patio-river-bar/" target="_blank">Patio: River Bar</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/pies-petsi-pies/" target="_blank">Pie: Petsi Pies</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/ramen-yume-wo-katare/" target="_blank">Ramen: Yume Wo Katare</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/restaurant-of-the-year-sarma/" target="_blank">Restaurant of the Year: Sarma</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/soup-dumplings-dumpling-cafe/" target="_blank">Soup Dumplings: Dumpling Café</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/spanish-toro3/" target="_blank">Spanish: Toro</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/steakhouse-grill-23-bar1/" target="_blank">Steakhouse: Grill 23 & Bar</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/steakhouse-grill-23-bar1/" target="_blank">Tacos: Dorado Tacos y Cemitas</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/thai-cha-yen-thai-cookery/" target="_blank">Thai: Cha Yen Thai Cookery</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/west-african-teranga/" target="_blank">West African: Teranga</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">NEIGHORHOOD STANDOUTS</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-allston-the-glenville-stops/" target="_blank">Allston: The Glenville Stops</a></span><br />
<a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-back-bay-deuxave/" target="_blank">Back Bay: Deuxave</a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-brighton-mdm-noodles/" target="_blank">Brighton: MDM Noodles</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-brookline-fairsted-kitchen1/" target="_blank">Brookline: Fairsted Kitchen</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-central-square-viale/" target="_blank">Central Square: Viale</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-dorchester-anh-hong/" target="_blank">Dorchester: Anh Hong</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-east-boston-rincon-limeno/" target="_blank">East Boston: Rincon Limeño</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-east-cambridge-loyal-nine/" target="_blank">East Cambridge: Loyal 9</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-harvard-square-alden-harlow/" target="_blank">Harvard Square: Alden & Harlow</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-newton-sycamore2/" target="_blank">Newton: Sycamore</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-north-end-neptune-oyster2/" target="_blank">North End: Neptune Oyster</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-porter-square-giulia1/" target="_blank">Porter Square: Giulia</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-roxbury-merengue/" target="_blank">Roxbury: Merengue</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-south-boston-moonshine-152/" target="_blank">South Boston: Moonshine 152</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-south-end-coppa1/" target="_blank">South End: Coppa</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/neighborhoods-union-square-casa-b/" target="_blank">Union Square: Casa B</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Congratulations, everybody, and thanks for all the great eating, drinking and hospitality!</span>MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-69520391660124729042015-06-20T01:42:00.002-04:002015-11-06T21:16:05.153-05:00The Last Waltz: Food Nerd Edition<div style="text-align: right;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEr30imQYfM_qm-aLQpz8-RAJGoPKF1WXBRlUKM9f4NlvcRjffhN0K7kv8OAisbZWKcMkYtxFEO_Fvs8o5KNM_8wBs5Xmtuigs97rKZiNQMMnRMzIoJZX_XEVNMEnbb5iqrFiRz3r_zPM/s1600/death+waiter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEr30imQYfM_qm-aLQpz8-RAJGoPKF1WXBRlUKM9f4NlvcRjffhN0K7kv8OAisbZWKcMkYtxFEO_Fvs8o5KNM_8wBs5Xmtuigs97rKZiNQMMnRMzIoJZX_XEVNMEnbb5iqrFiRz3r_zPM/s320/death+waiter.jpg" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration courtesy of Sally Corp.</td></tr>
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</div>
I recently attended a funeral for the mother of an old friend.
Beyond the beauty of a simple wake marked by heartfelt, moving testimonials by
her closest relatives and friends, I was impressed by the meal the family
hosted afterwards for the mourners at a nearby restaurant. The food reflected
this woman’s refined tastes and gregarious, sincere, native-New-Englander
personality in an unpretentious yet celebratory way. I didn’t know her well,
but well enough to think: “A great lobster roll: luxurious, but something you
can eat while holding a glass of the kind of nice Chardonnay she favored. Unfussy
yet deluxe. Perfect."<br />
<br />
For better or worse, I’m the kind of food geek who can weep for my friends’ pain while admiring their thoughtfulness about a menu they somehow managed to plan amidst their sorrow. And I realized that I’ve been to many such memorials where the food was understandably an afterthought. Of course that doesn’t matter much in the scheme of things to most people: the bereft have far more profound, immediate concerns on their minds in that trying moment than damned passed hors d’oeuvres.<br />
<br />
But I couldn’t help considering that ancient notion about food as communion, as standing for something deeper than mere sustenance at such moments. I watched the video collage of happy snapshots from a life well lived, heard the heartbreaking, loving words of the people closest to this woman, and thought that serving good food at that moment was pertinently true to her memory, a good cook whose good cooking was as much about nourishing the souls of the people she loved as their bodies.<br />
<br />
It left me thinking about my own wake, what I’d want served to people mourning my absence. “Here lie the ashes of Slim, who spent an inordinate amount of his free time in life pursuing the pleasures of food and drink, and spilled a small sea of ink encouraging strangers to enjoy the work of the chefs and somms and bartenders who had thrilled him.” It’s natural for me to want that moment to feature an awe-inspiring, memorable repast, isn’t it?<br />
<br />
Without being morbid – I’m planning to stick around for a few more decades if I can help it – I think that deserves some consideration, and pondering it, I’m quickly faced with a dilemma. Part of me wants that moment to promote the kind of food and drink I most loved myself: one more chance to evangelize the abstruse dishes and odd cocktails that made my jaded palate tingle in life. But is the memorial really about me? That last shared public moment: shouldn’t it be more about making the people you’ve left behind happy and comforted, especially when most of them aren’t obsessive food dorks? This is an old balancing act for food nerds – indeed, for nerds of any stripe – recognizing that the joys of your own infatuations aren’t often shared by laypeople, and so striving for a middle ground where they can enjoy the heat you bask in without getting singed (though in truth, bored is the likelier risk.)<br />
<br />
I’ve idly considered my Final Playlist, songs the dead man wanted you to hear. That’s easier. The music I favored in life is more like old photos: full of ridiculous choices, pure idiosyncrasy, more forgivable for any strangeness and awfulness. But food and drink are different: you’re gone, they’re there, and they’re hungry and thirsty. Meanwhile, you’ll be missed, but maybe some of them are thinking, “Well, at least I’m never going to have to be talked into eating another weird tentacled or stinky fermented thing again.”<br />
<br />
I have no idea just now what I want served at my wake, but I’m thinking about it, even if it’s a discomfiting reality. I suppose it’s something a grownup can and should see to, like their will or life insurance, best attended to well in advance of the necessity. Having just seen my friends manage to serve both the memory of their dear mom and the immediate needs of the people she left behind equally well, aptly, beautifully, I don’t want to let that detail of my own passing left to chance.<br />
<br />
So what do I want served? Foie gras poutine? Great Coney Island dogs? Sublime sashimi? Chouriço pizza? Pig bones and tails in mostarda? Steamers a-go-go? Pork-and-crab soup dumplings all around? A couple of square meters of jamón ibêrico de bellota? Buffalo beef on weck? Vintage Brunello, Jet Pilots in crazy Tiki mugs, a keg of Guinness, all three? Is it really appropriate to torture the bereaved by insisting on a Fernet Flip toast? I feel I have to triangulate somewhere between the poles of humble comfort, extravagance, and the strange-but-good. I can’t manage how the people I loved remember my life as a whole, but with enough deliberation, maybe I can make them say: “That was a great fucking funeral. What a spread! What hooch!” I’m pretty sure that has to be more about what <i>they </i>love to eat and drink, not so much what I loved to eat and drink. I’ll be damned if I don’t get that one right.MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-78482714052044730982015-04-27T23:42:00.002-04:002018-07-04T01:56:51.569-04:00They Demolished The Hilltop, But They Can’t Take My Memories<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGoc1in3zGJqlGitsEf0C2k_WF7U6BH-IY_Wpj0ePUnm_LUqsSfQXgzTQoij5TYEzDGed4NwNx3BfWIWYuODnCgOcMQLjiziuNw3xPg99QZSO-PLaA8uwO6n8QIwmT70a7Egci35uSTlE/s1600/hilltop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGoc1in3zGJqlGitsEf0C2k_WF7U6BH-IY_Wpj0ePUnm_LUqsSfQXgzTQoij5TYEzDGed4NwNx3BfWIWYuODnCgOcMQLjiziuNw3xPg99QZSO-PLaA8uwO6n8QIwmT70a7Egci35uSTlE/s1600/hilltop.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hilltop Steakhouse in brighter days<br />
Photo courtesy of bothkindsofmusic.com</td></tr>
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I felt a twinge of ambivalent nostalgia today at the news that <a href="http://www.wcvb.com/news/32591314" target="_blank">The Hilltop Steakhouse in Saugus, once a legendary national landmark, was undergoing its final demolition</a>. Countless Bostonians, myself included, recall it fondly as an early experience of Special Occasion Dining in the form of choice-grade steak and gummy lobster pie.<br />
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I'll never forget being one of the vast crowds waiting boistrously in its ever-present long lines, the bustle of its enormous dining rooms, its kitschy Old-West-themed fun, epitomized by the herd of petrified fiberglass cattle out front. “The Smith party of six for Sioux City, Sioux City”, intoned over a scratchy PA by an ancient hostess in a beehive hairdo and cat’s-eye glasses, is an ineffable memory for many of us.<br />
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We can all skip the part where Frank Giuffrida -- the founder who opened The Hilltop in 1961 and built it into one of the highest-grossing restaurants in the United States by the early 1980s -- decided eventually to sell it to new owners, who through some combination of cupidity and incompetence began shepherding it through its long, slow decline into irrelevance and eventual oblivion.<br />
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The ultimately ignominious end of The Hilltop, once so iconic it was frequently name-checked as “The Hungry Heiffer” by barfly Norm Petersen on the long-running, Boston-set network sitcom “Cheers”, got me thinking about how former restaurant powerhouses lose their luster over time. Hang around long enough, and you're often faced with the question: <i>"Did that place really go downhill, or did my tastes simply evolve past it?"</i><br />
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Both are true with The Hilltop, I think. Plenty of factors beyond its control pushed it into the grave: the rise of attractively-priced national chain steakhouses, the slow fade of US Route 1 roadside culture, the increasingly sophisticated tastes of and options available to the American dining public. It's a rare restaurant I revisit after a couple of decades that: a) is still thriving, and b) still delivers the same joy I remember from my youth. The restaurant business and its customers march relentlessly onward. But not every restaurant is doomed to lose its power to satisfy old hungers, to beguile with no-longer-fashionable charms.<br />
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Some of my most treasured dining experiences of the last few years consist of revisiting one of the few restaurants from my youth that my dad could afford to take his large, dubiously-mannered brood out to dinner. Decades later, my family uniformly recalled it fondly long after we had moved away from the area, often talked about it at holidays. So in my dad’s last years of failing health, we decided to bring him back there, hired a wheelchair van to do it. Confounding our muted expectations, the place turned out to be practically preserved in amber, every bit as terrific in its humble way as we'd remembered it. It still had the same icy pitchers of Bud, superb local seafood dishes (steamers, stuffies, and clams casino, particularly), hearty Italian-American fare (notably the house special, a spicy, soupy pasta with white or red sauce and littlenecks, langoustines, shrimp and scallops), and a few Portuguese specialties. (Chouriço and peppers! Pork and clams!)<br />
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They even made Manhattans just the way my pop preferred them, with Canadian rye and one of those awful neon-red Maraschino cherries in a squat, sturdy cocktail glass. The granddaughter of the owner who once took fond care of us had taken over his role, though the ancient restaurateur still kept his hand in, tottering around to inspect the place a couple of times a week. It was an uncanny, beautiful time-trip. My family remains deeply grateful for the several occasions we got to take Dad there near the end: it meant a lot to all of us, especially him, to return to a place for which we had such deep affection long ago and yet find everything we loved about it still perfectly intact. Those kind of profound, lovely restaurant experiences are too rare.<br />
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RIP, The Hilltop. RIP, all those other restaurants and bars we once loved that the inexorable slog of time has consigned to memory. RIP, oh my papa, a man who wasn’t the most worldly of gourmands -- he adored The Hilltop, too, after all -- but knew how to recognize a joint with good, unfancy, lovingly-prepared food and drink for not too much money when he saw it, share it with his family and friends when he could, and find that to be just right, just enough.MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-89535060952863589492015-01-06T23:44:00.000-05:002015-11-06T21:23:00.996-05:00Friends of Eater Boston 2014 Year-End Questions: My Responses, Plus Some Honorable Mentions<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvVLS4ZO4CSxBZXzQ8biXwXkNI8Ls3O8gLdXFFexnO6Z2g2jXoxknrsntzw5Gublnp-MpeyDCDg43D0IxfYdTwGprMqnpyJyE_J_eopKxnax1YjcHZZoB2n2lXU1Dv_pwBHZh_hZRSrv0/s1600/the+year+in+eater+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvVLS4ZO4CSxBZXzQ8biXwXkNI8Ls3O8gLdXFFexnO6Z2g2jXoxknrsntzw5Gublnp-MpeyDCDg43D0IxfYdTwGprMqnpyJyE_J_eopKxnax1YjcHZZoB2n2lXU1Dv_pwBHZh_hZRSrv0/s1600/the+year+in+eater+2014.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration courtesy of Eater Boston</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://boston.eater.com/">Eater Boston</a>, the local affiliate of the national <a href="http://eater.com/">Eater</a> network of city-based blogs covering restaurants, bars and nightlife, is essential reading for local food dorks. Editor <a href="http://www.rachelblumenthal.net/" target="_blank">Rachel Leah Blumenthal</a> and a cast of contributors cover the length and breadth of the Boston dining and drinking waterfront with impressive depth and welcome sly humor. I've participated in a few of these year-end retrospectives of and looks ahead at the Boston scene, featuring a small group of local professional food and drink feature writers, restaurant critics and bloggers. It's great fun, and I'm always honored to be included. I'm collecting my answers here, including some Honorable Mentions that didn't make it into the Eater features. Check out the whole motley group's responses as well as Eater Boston's other 2014-in-review coverage <a href="http://boston.eater.com/year-in-eater" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Eater Boston: What were your top restaurant standbys of 2014? </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">MC Slim JB: Friends envy me my restaurant-reviewing gig, not understanding that continually having to research the next new place crimps the time I have to devote to established places I already know and love. Here are a few I managed to get back to repeatedly in spite of that:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.cafeportobello.net/" target="_blank">Café Porto Bello</a>, City Point, the kind of modest, old-school, red-sauce Italian place your grandparents would love, with a welcome bit of Old Southie sass in the service. Pro tip: upgrade to the house-made pasta.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.jjfoleyscafe.com/" target="_blank">J.J. Foley’s Café</a> in the South End, a nonpareil family-run Irish-American tavern with a palpable hundred-plus years of history. Puts the city’s countless dull fake-Irish bars to shame and disgrace.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Franklin Southie, a more modern neighborhood joint with a genuinely loveable bartending crew (one example <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2014/07/pouring-reign-directors-cut-part-vi.html" target="_blank">here</a>). I mourn its imminent passing, though I’m hopeful for its successor, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/moonshine152southie" target="_blank">Moonshine 152</a>, from first-time chef/owner Asia Mei. Her cooking at Sam’s at Louis Boston was about the only thing I’ve ever liked about the Seaport.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/geneschineseflatbreadcafe/" target="_blank">Gene’s Chinese Flatbread</a>, DTX and Woburn Center, lonely local outposts of Shaanxi cuisine, with its emphasis on hearty wheat-based foods like astonishing hand-pulled noodles and mind-blowing accents of garlic, chilies and Sichuan peppercorns. Soulful, satisfying and cheap: a food nerd’s dream.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.dumplingcafe.com/" target="_blank">Dumpling Café</a>, Chinatown. I’d go just for the best soup dumplings in Greater Boston, but its long menu of Taiwanese fare is consistently rewarding and a great bargain.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://moodyswaltham.com/" target="_blank">Moody’s Delicatessen</a>, Waltham. The one new place on my list. It plugs a giant hole in our scene with astonishing Jewish deli meats like brilliant pastrami and corned beef, but offers so much more, drawing on French, Italian, Spanish, German and other notable traditions of cold cuts, sausages, and pâtés. If the Food Dork Gods are just, Moody’s expanded wholesale operation will mean you can buy their singular artisanry from your local market soon.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.thehawthornebar.com/" target="_blank">The Hawthorne</a>, Kenmore Square. Absolutely brilliant craft bartending on both the technical and hospitality sides of the coin, in a lovely, dimly-lit, hiding-in-plain-sight setting. The short menu of bar snacks is very nice, too. Long, slow kowtow to its sublimely talented bar manager Katie Emmerson (whom I called Boston's best bartender in this year's <a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/" target="_blank">Boston's Best issue of The Improper Bostonian</a>), who decamped to L.A. late this year.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>EB: What were the top restaurant newcomers of 2014?</i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><br />MCSJB: My favorite new places included:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/smoke-show/" target="_blank">Alden & Harlow</a>. Folks who have been reading me for a decade know I’ve long tried to bring attention to the assiduous work of Michael Scelfo, who elevated a succession of other owners’ restaurants out of deserved obscurity. His first place of his own got my Best New Restaurant of the Year nod in The Improper Bostonian back in July, and I stand by that in December, despite some stiff competition. A humble, dedicated craftsman is finally getting his due. About effing time.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.sarmarestaurant.com/" target="_blank">Sarma</a>, which I know opened in late 2013 but I was slow to get to, so please indulge me. Running delectably around the Mediterranean, with some emphasis on one of my favorite underrated-by-Americans cuisines (Turkish), this ultra-cool Somerville place makes every sequence of small plates a memorable night out. Vik Hegde’s terrific bar program is another huge plus. One protracted, 20-plate, overstuffed January evening there – did we really say yes to four helpings of the Turkish-style fried chicken thighs with yogurt remoulade? -- was a close second on Single Best Meal of 2014. </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/cloak-dazzle/" target="_blank">La Brasa</a>. Beautiful, eclectic, inventive food, much of it kissed by wood fire and smoke, with another fine bar program. I don’t live in Somerville, but places like this and Sarma make me wish I did.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/elysian-fields/" target="_blank">Thao Ngoc</a>. Humble room, incredible Vietnamese fare from a huge menu, and prices so low it feels like theft. Don’t call yourself a food geek if you haven’t been here.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/moody-beauty/" target="_blank">Moody’s</a>. I’m no longer bitching about the lack of a proper delicatessen in Boston, even if it means I have to extend my definition of Boston to Waltham. Feast on one of their shockingly good sandwiches on premise if you can, but regardless, don’t leave without an armful of sausages, charcuterie and salumi. No deli in my experience this side of New York or Montreal holds a candle to it.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>EB: Describe 2014 in one word.</i> <br /><br />MCSJB: Smoky! The flavors of wood fire and smoke beguiled me at dozens of places, including Alden & Harlow, La Brasa, <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/pizza-on-point/" target="_blank">Pastoral</a>, <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/avenue-a-plus/" target="_blank">Viale</a>, <a href="http://www.river-bar.com/" target="_blank">River Bar</a>, the <a href="http://stokedpizzaco.com/" target="_blank">Stoked </a>truck (with its genius wood-fired Neapolitan pizza oven on wheels), <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/oyster-cloister/" target="_blank">Row 34</a>, and many others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>EB: What was the best dining neighborhood in 2014? </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i>MCSJB: I say it every year: Allston. The most diverse concentration of affordable restaurants serving amazing traditional cuisines from all over the globe. I’m hopeful it can sustain more grownup, Western-tradition restaurants like the fine new <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/urbane-renewal/" target="_blank">Glenville Stops</a>, too easily overlooked in its location on an obscure side street. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>EB: What was the biggest dining surprise of 2014?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCSJB: I was gobsmacked that in the age of Yelp and Instagram I could still uncover a new restaurant that had been open for eight months yet was entirely overlooked by the local press and barely acknowledged by amateur reviewers: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thaongocrestaurant" target="_blank">Thao Ngoc</a>, a homey Vietnamese place in Fields Corner. One of my favorite new restaurants of 2014: a place to bring six friends, feast like a king, and collect $20 apiece to cover the check, including a fat tip. I’m truly grateful that The Improper occasionally lets me review more modest places like this in sorely under-reported neighborhoods like Dorchester.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">EB: What was your single best meal in 2014?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCSJB: A tasting menu at <a href="http://giuliarestaurant.com/" target="_blank">Giulia </a>in Cambridge. Gorgeous, ravishing yet subtle from start to finish, notably in the house-made pastas that were rolled out earlier in the day on the very table at which we dined. Just a fantastic, traditionally-centered, chef-owned Italian indie, with evident love and long-honed finesse in the cooking. Mike Pagliarini is another original <span id="goog_2043413500"></span><span id="goog_2043413501"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>who toiled for years in service to more-famous owners (<a href="http://stuffboston.com/2009/09/07/antipasto-di-magro-at-via-matta" target="_blank">I long admired his work running Michael Schlow’s Via Matta</a>) that I’m really gratified got the chance to helm his own place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>EB: What was the biggest restaurant grievance of 2014?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCSJB: The proliferation of popular but mediocre chain restaurants in tourist neighborhoods like the Seaport, which is inflicting a line cook and server shortage on far worthier independent restaurants around town. I cringe at the advantages that deep-pocketed nationals have over home-grown talent. Every dink city in the US has those chains; the quality of Boston’s currently-fantastic scene depends on its indies. Support them, I beg you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>EB: What are your headline predictions for 2015?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i>MCSJB: I'm not a prognosticator, but I'll offer a few hopes for the new year:</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m going to lean hopeful, pray that the recovering economy will support a worrisome expansion of restaurant seats in the city, and expect that new-broom Mayor Marty Walsh, with his appointment of an all-new Boston Licensing Board and purported commitment to <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2014/10/rip-tom-menino-boston-food-nerds-friend.html" target="_blank">the late, beloved Tom Menino’s ideals about providing access to better food for all Bostonians</a>, will wreak some positive changes on our dining scene. We need that greenmarket, for starters, Mr. Mayor. </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Against a welter of evidence to the contrary, I hope that Uber will retire the “Be Evil” plaque that seems to currently inspire its executives, and become a more ethical thorn in the side of our corrupt, deplorable taxi system. Affordable ride-sharing alternatives are not just a boon to customers, but to the many restaurant employees who work past the T’s closing.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">I firmly expect that the legacy of the great <a href="http://publicradiokitchen.wbur.org/2010/08/20/meet-your-bartender-drinks-john-gertsen" target="_blank">John Gertsen</a>, whom I literally wept to see leave <a href="http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/03/drink-cocktail-bar-review-boston-mc-slim-jb.html" target="_blank">Drink </a>for San Francisco this year, and still-here peers like Jackson Cannon of Eastern Standard, Row 34 and The Hawthorne – specifically, their indispensable training of successive waves of highly-skilled craft bartenders -- will continue to be felt in the presence of fine cocktail, wine and beer programs in bars and restaurants all over the city. The next time you raise a glass here with something really good in it, remember how uncommon that was ten years ago, and thank those folks and their gifted lieutenants.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My honorable mentions that did not make their way into Eater Boston's year-end questions:</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/145902-shrimp-capellini-egg-nest-at-shojo/" target="_blank">Shojo</a>, already a unique venue for Chinatown with its hip atmosphere and superb cocktail program, getting a serious kitchen upgrade with Mark O’Leary’s smashing, street-food-driven cookery. The most memorable, delicious iteration of the wildly-overblown burger trend I had in 2014 was his witty, mantou-based gloss on a McDonald’s Big Mac. </span></li>
</ul>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/uighur-please/" target="_blank">Chef Chang’s on Back Bay</a>, which offers Bostonians rare glimpses of the foods of Henan, Shaanxi and Xinjiang, among other more familiar regions of China. I’m hopeful that this represents growing local desire to visit the lesser-known corners of the world’s greatest collections of regional cuisines, but at the very least, it’s a huge addition to the Back Bay, a neighborhood that has long been a food-nerd desert.</span></li>
</ul>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2009/08/24/pansoti-at-erbaluce.aspx" target="_blank">Erbaluce</a>, to my mind the single most consistently soul-satisfying Italian restaurant in Boston, if for nothing else than the way that <a href="http://www.improper.com/features/save-the-planet-eat-a-dogfish/" target="_blank">chef/owner Charles Draghi quietly makes the case for sustainable seafood</a>. One sure way to get people eating less-familiar species is to present them so deliciously that you don’t necessarily notice that the chef’s sourcing choices are better for the health of our scarily-overtaxed and increasingly global-warming-damaged fisheries. Not hurting the cause: Draghi’s impeccable grounding in Northern Italian tradition, nor partner Joan Johnson’s heartfelt hospitality and extraordinary, idiosyncratic Italian wine list.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/avenue-a-plus/" target="_blank">Viale</a>, for hitting the ground running with exceptional food, drink and service, admirably filling some very big shoes: the former home of the long-running, beloved Rendezvous in Central Square. Having a team of old pros at the wheel doesn’t guarantee that you will avoid some ugly shakedown-cruise bumps, but Viale crushed it from about Week Two on. </span></li>
</ul>
Happy 2015: good eating and drinking in the coming year!</div>
MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-48734305611559990882014-10-31T22:08:00.000-04:002014-11-01T10:39:06.894-04:00RIP, Tom Menino, the Boston food nerd’s friend<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBpa_zsg1PnfRtWOQK7RAC8OcyVlGP0ge9vyXbn7AovsIQF18Y6zxl6-DeRD7gHj2wsgsZcpMQmO9zCoJ2Xrqr26kY0Yehtjo3ayjrAtswHepnjfzLNQ4Nda6ndRehDjYA4yy1rTgZTbE/s1600/menino.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBpa_zsg1PnfRtWOQK7RAC8OcyVlGP0ge9vyXbn7AovsIQF18Y6zxl6-DeRD7gHj2wsgsZcpMQmO9zCoJ2Xrqr26kY0Yehtjo3ayjrAtswHepnjfzLNQ4Nda6ndRehDjYA4yy1rTgZTbE/s1600/menino.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mayor Menino at a charity event<br />
(Photo courtesy of Hubbub)</td></tr>
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I can’t add much to the countless heartfelt remembrances of Boston’s late, beloved, longest-tenured mayor, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/10/tom-menino-the-mayor-of-food/382224/">Thomas M. Menino</a>. Myself, I ran into him personally three times, always when browsing the way-marked-down suit racks at the original <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filene's_Basement">Filene’s Basement in Downtown Crossing</a>, looking for bargains on my lunch hour. The third time, we exchanged more than pleasantries: I told him I was proud as a Bostonian that he had upped his sartorial game lately with better suits and ties and tailoring. He seemed genuinely pleased. I meant it: I thought he looked more dignified and statesmanlike with his newly-smart dress sense, bringing a much-needed, high-profile dash to <a href="http://www.gq.com/style/fashion/201107/worst-dressed-cities-america">our famously schlubby burg</a>.<br />
<br />
That’s my only anecdote, one of tens of thousands among a citizenry that, according to one famous survey, more than half of had met Menino personally, an astonishing statistic, and doubtless a big part of the reason he endured and thrived as a popular and effective change agent in Boston for so long.<br />
<br />
My real point here is to encourage you to check out these two pieces by <a href="http://www.bostonmagazine.com/post-author/corby-kummer/">Corby Kummer, the longtime restaurant critic of Boston Magazine</a> whom I’ve long admired for <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/corby-kummer/">his food journalism</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Corby-Kummer/">estimable books</a> on the history of food. One is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNstFpMy-hc">a video interview with The Mayor at Esperia Grill </a>(one of my very favorite Greek restaurants in town, in part for its phenomenal pork gyros). It’s part of a promised series by Boston Univerity's <a href="http://www.bu.edu/buniverse/search/?category=4">BU Today</a> that trailed Menino as he visited local, family-run restaurants out in the neighborhoods. I’m really looking forward to seeing the rest of those.<br />
<br />
The other is <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/10/tom-menino-the-mayor-of-food/382224/">a piece Kummer wrote for The Atlantic</a> that makes a convincing case for Menino’s stunning, positive influence on our food scene. I was a longtime Menino supporter, especially appreciated <a href="http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/default.aspx?id=5182">his pioneering advocacy of our food-truck movement</a>, but I had scant idea of how broadly and pervasively he improved our access to quality food, benefiting Bostonians of every age and stripe.<br />
<br />
Thanks, Corby, for shining some light on that. And thanks, Mr. Mayor, for being a fellow food nerd, but also one with an aggressive social conscience and political dedication to making good, healthy food available to every one of the citizens about whom you so obviously, deeply cared over a lifetime of public service. That ought to humble every one of us who merely writes about the pleasure in good eating. You left an indelible mark. We owe you a huge debt of gratitude.MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-44796542339634973682014-10-22T22:38:00.000-04:002015-11-06T21:26:15.765-05:00Vanna White Rules the Food World<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi43vF0u2QbOwXWuix7pkTa1EoEFFJlUj_GlbhQy_eUn3ww5wrsfKTSuVZrHQbuS_bcwe2UW4rTEgmtzO6VgmQJXJxYcVtOmAJrZIx8KvGo4Nzl7uBbggVXyLqQ5DGJJ5oHvPIFT0V-Pds/s1600/vanna+white+eating.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi43vF0u2QbOwXWuix7pkTa1EoEFFJlUj_GlbhQy_eUn3ww5wrsfKTSuVZrHQbuS_bcwe2UW4rTEgmtzO6VgmQJXJxYcVtOmAJrZIx8KvGo4Nzl7uBbggVXyLqQ5DGJJ5oHvPIFT0V-Pds/s1600/vanna+white+eating.jpg" width="331" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vanna White, courtesy of Flickr</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Don't ask me how the Facebook comments on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=888617374482686&set=a.108500292494402.14935.100000032965126&type=1&theater&notif_t=like">a photo I uploaded</a> of my lunch at <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/geneschineseflatbreadcafe/">Gene's Chinese Flatbread</a>, a terrific Boston purveyor of Shaanxi cuisine, somehow morphed into a discussion of so-called food hacks (employing simple, inventive tricks to improve your eating), then devolved into an extended <a href="http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/chuck-norris-top-50-facts">"Chuck Norris Facts"</a>-style riff centered on <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/vanna-white-9542236">Vanna White, "Wheel of Fortune" star</a>. But it happened. For my part, I blame a few Guinnesses at a failed night of pub trivia earlier in the evening. But I had enough fun with it to want to reproduce it here. I have since learned that Ms. White, like many people in the entertainment business, has had a troubled relationship with food in her day, no joking matter, so I hope readers take it purely in the affectionate spirit it was intended.<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/hiddenboston">Marc Hurwitz</a> [esteemed food writer and author of the <a href="http://www.hiddenboston.com/">Hidden Boston</a> collection of blogs, which you should really read if you care about the Boston dining scene]: Vanna White is doing the garlic thing [<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d3oc24fD-c">shaking garlic cloves vigorously between two bowls to quickly peel them</a>, a famous food hack] on Wheel of Fortune right now. I promise this will be on half a dozen food blogs tomorrow at minimum.<br />
<br />
MC Slim JB: It's not really a thing until Vanna does it.<br />
<br />
Marc: Who cares about Vanna White?<br />
<br />
MC: She was way ahead on kale, on food trucks, on poutine. She's an oracle in a spangly evening gown.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/TheDrewStarr">Drew Starr</a> [another well-known <a href="http://boston.eater.com/authors/drew-starr">Boston food writer</a> you should follow]: She taught Jean-Georges how to not finish baking a chocolate cake.<br />
<br />
MC: She rearranged her food vertically on opening night at Gotham.<br />
<br />
Marc: Wheel of Wow! Who knew? Consider me a convert.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna taught Ferran how to spherify.<br />
<br />
MC: Sous-vide was based on Vanna's bathtub regimen.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna put a fried egg on everything when she was in grammar school.<br />
<br />
Drew: And told Robuchon to add more butter to his potatoes.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna shames all her bartenders into measuring.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna gently suggested in an early Chowhound post that Danny Meyer should focus on hospitality.<br />
<br />
Drew: But she can free pour.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna stabbed James Beard in the heart for being a cold, fish-eyed bastard.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna knows that they're called jimmies, not sprinkles.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna's soufflés rise on the better angels of her nature.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna out-eats Chuck Norris at churrascaria rodizio.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna once drank Richard Burton, Richard Harris, and Peter O'Toole under the table.<br />
<br />
Drew: When she was running the OSS, Vanna tasked Julia and Paul Child to France, knowing it would result in the reawakening of the American palate.<br />
<br />
MC: When Vanna orders dancing shrimp, the shrimp aren't drowned in booze, but voluntarily dance for her before jumping into her mouth to die happy.<br />
<br />
Marc: I heard that Vanna has never waited 15 minutes after finishing a meal before returning to the pool.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna eats ortolan without a linen napkin over her head. What does she have to be ashamed of?<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna thinks ghost chilies are wimpy, but is too polite to say so.<br />
<br />
Drew: If Vanna accidentally puts ketchup on a hot dog, it turns to mustard.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna White forgives Pat Sajak over 4am scrambled eggs.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna White saved David Chang's failing ramen shop by showing him how it's done.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna checked Anthony Bourdain into rehab, but has mixed feelings about it now.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna nearly broke up Bowie and Imam's marriage when he couldn't stop talking about her carnitas tamales.<br />
<br />
Drew: Vanna doesn't have to hand-pull noodles; when they see her, they pull themselves<br />
<br />
MC: Vladimir Putin fears no man and no thing, but he quakes in hope that Vanna will like his beluga and vodka service.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna was the only one of Keller's friends with the guts to tell him his ratatouille dish in "Ratatouille" was the least appetizing thing in the movie, and as she tartly put it, "That film has a lot of scenes of rats eating garbage."<br />
<br />
Drew: I'm sad. Only 5 results on twitter when I searched "vanna garlic"<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna once told a young Rene Redzepi, "You know, your food's pretty good, but you know what would make it great? Put a bunch of twigs and stuff on it."<br />
<br />
MC: The finest Kobe beef from Hyogo Prefecture comes from Wagyu steers who get daily massages, dine on rice straw, drink sake, and watch an endless looped video of Vanna turning over the letter "K".<br />
<br />
MC: The most prized copy of Playboy among collectors features a lingerie shoot of Vanna in which she confesses her favorite dish is "sashimi made from the flesh of my enemies."<br />
<br />
MC: As heir to the fortune of a great-grandfather who invented the orange powder essential to Kraft Macaroni n' Cheese, Vanna was expected to go into the industrial food business. Her entertainment career was her way of breaking from the soulless path laid out for her by familial obligations. She has no regrets.<br />
<br />
MC: If, after a night of passion with Vanna White, she serves you grilled Fluffernutters in bed the next morning, you did well. If it's Fage with fresh strawberries, don't expect her to return your subsequent calls.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna White gets a nickel royalty for every hamburger served in the US. Yep: everybody serving a hamburger was her idea.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna White likes to tilt at windmills. She's the secret mastermind behind a SuperPAC whose goal is to legislate public-school teaching of European-style dining with the fork in the left hand, knife in the right. Its secondary goal is the US adoption of the metric system.<br />
<br />
MC: Vanna White's favorite beauty secret is a good night's sleep. She just texted me to remind me of my early alarm tomorrow.<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
I know. Food nerds.MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-82563577461292506902014-07-31T13:55:00.000-04:002014-07-31T13:55:26.325-04:00"Pouring Reign (The Director's Cut)", Part VI: Moira Costello Horan of The Franklin Southie<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP2hUaLc1lV9X3hG74FAW5WrZZYHxF1Jg0uXTVicS5ktgS44f_efkUvsnxMvm3upxyKGlYJp4qdIlMWmq5wNvKkM97zVeUKxXy5RWkDtniZEhAqeziU0AzM3GPK4kf75nxth1F5HoB75o/s1600/moira+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP2hUaLc1lV9X3hG74FAW5WrZZYHxF1Jg0uXTVicS5ktgS44f_efkUvsnxMvm3upxyKGlYJp4qdIlMWmq5wNvKkM97zVeUKxXy5RWkDtniZEhAqeziU0AzM3GPK4kf75nxth1F5HoB75o/s1600/moira+cropped.jpg" height="400" width="251" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moira Costello Horan of The Franklin Southie<br />Photo courtesy of Moira Costello Horan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In April 2014, I
wrote a cover feature for <a href="http://www.improper.com/">The Improper Bostonian</a> entitled <a href="http://www.improper.com/features/pouring-reign/">“Pouring Reign”</a>, in which I interviewed twelve Boston bartenders I admire. Six are
veteran talents I felt had been overlooked by local media; six are newcomers
promising enough to get themselves situated in some of our top bar programs.
All had many more interesting things to say than I could fit in the space
allowed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">How many more? My
initial draft ran to 10,000 words, but the feature was allotted 2500; I begged
my editors for more room, and they generously let it swell to 3500, a very long
feature for the publication.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As happy as I was
with the piece (and especially the gorgeous accompanying portrait photography
by <a href="http://www.adamdetour.com/">Adam DeTour</a>), a lot of great material got left on the cutting-room
floor. I got permission to run the unexpurgated interviews here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here’s number
six, my unedited interview with Moira Costello Horan, whom I first ran into at
<a href="http://www.unionrestaurant.com/">Union Bar & Grille</a> in the South End, later at <a href="http://local149.com/">Local 149</a> in Southie’s City
Point neighborhood, and later still at <a href="http://www.franklincafe.com/franklin-southie/basic-info-southie/">The Franklin Southie</a>, where she is
currently the bar manager. Here are Moira’s original, unvarnished words.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">======<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC SLIM JB: The
life of a professional bartender is a vampiric existence, in the sense that you
don’t see a lot of daylight. Plus there’s that pesky requirement to work
weekends and holidays, times that many professions enjoy as time off. How do
you manage to work a social life, let alone a romantic life, around these
constraints? Aside from the professional compensations, are there other
advantages to the night owl’s existence that civilians aren’t aware of? <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MOIRA COSTELLO
HORAN: It is a vampiric existence, but there are many advantages to it. I'm
never stuck in traffic, there's never a line at the supermarket, the days I
have off are slow ones at bars and restaurants. Restaurants become your family,
so holidays are spent with the people you love and care about. I honestly don't
have a lot of friends who aren't in the industry because it just doesn't make
sense. My boyfriend is a fellow bartender, so we understand each other's
schedules. Being so social as a profession makes me want to just stay home on
my time off. There is no better place than my couch and being quiet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Measure or
free-pour?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Measure
cocktails, free-pour mixed drinks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Drink that
you wish more customers would order?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Gin martinis
with a twist. They're delicious. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Drink you
wish customers would forget existed?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Dirty vodka
martinis. They're disgusting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: What is
your most prized bartending accoutrement, e.g., spoon, ice tool, ice mold,
shaker, mixing glass, knife, Lewis bag, cocktail book, serving glass, other
piece of barware or glassware?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: I have lots
of tools, but don't particularly feel like the tools make the bartender. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Most
annoying customer behavior?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Don't wave
in my face, don't interrupt me when I'm talking to someone else, don't give me
a drink order when I ask you how you're doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Spirit
that more customers should be trying, and your favorite cocktail or bottling to
introduce a newbie to it?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Gin is one
of my favorite spirits because it’s so versatile. People have so many negative
thoughts about gin because of one bad experience in their youth. Screw vodka: I
like to get every vodka drinker to at least try gin because essentially it's
just flavored vodka. Start with something simple like a Tom Collins, because
who doesn't like a Tom Collins? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: What’s the
best day of the week and time of day for a customer to engage you in a
leisurely, educational five-minute conversation about drinks?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: On a quiet
night when it’s slow. Ask if I have the time first. I will always try to find
the time to talk cocktails.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: You may
have seen <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/16/opinion/sunday/20140216_SCHOTTBARWORDS.html">this NY Times article</a> on the in-house lingo of certain NYC bars. What’s one of your house’s code words/phrases for intra-staff communication in
front of customers?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Two words:
“bar meeting”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: What’s
your typical end-of-shift drink?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Beer and a
shot: Rittenhouse straight American rye and a Notch Pils, please.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Do you
have a guilty-pleasure drink, the kind of thing you wouldn’t want your peers or
customers to catch you drinking?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: A piña
colada. That love came from when I used to live and bartend in Puerto Rico. The
difference is now I can use quality ingredients, none of that frozen
nonsense. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: What’s the
last astonishing restaurant meal you had other than at your place?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: <a href="http://www.sarmarestaurant.com/">Sarma</a>.
Delicious. Great staff. I can't wait to go back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: What are a
couple of dives you favor on your own time?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: <a href="http://www.hiddenboston.com/dive-english.html">Tom English's</a> on Dot Ave. <a href="http://www.hiddenboston.com/dive-croke-park.html">Whitey's</a>. <a href="http://drinkboston.com/2006/08/01/delux-cafe/">Delux Cafe</a> before it closed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC, aside:
Happily, the Delux Café has since reopened under new ownership.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Dr.
Bartender, what’s the best cure for my hangover?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Hair of the
dog. Pedialyte and Green Chartreuse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB, aside: I
assume that’s a sequence, not a cocktail.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Most
interesting current trend in cocktails?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Amaro-based
cocktails are the jam right now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Most
ridiculous / overhyped / bullshit trend?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Yeungling.
Who cares?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: As a bar
customer yourself, what’s one aspect of Boston’s bars that you wish more operators
would do a better job of? <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Vermouth in
the well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: What
Greater Boston bar is absolutely killing it right now? Of all their qualities,
what’s the single standout attribute that makes you want to drink there?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: <a href="http://tavernroad.com/">Tavern Road</a>,
because every bartender there is amazingly talented. They make you feel like
family as soon as you walk in the door. That's my kind of bar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: What
bartender or bar manager, currently working or retired, is your first-ballot
lock for entry into Boston’s Bartending Hall of Fame?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH:<a href="http://www.caughtinsouthie.com/sites/g/files/g403621/f/styles/large/public/photo-52_0.JPG?itok=9U0zk7Vj"> Peter Cipriani</a> [currently at The Franklin Southie]. He is the whole package. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB, aside: I'm a big fan of Mr. Cipriani, too.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Offer a
sentence or two of advice to aspiring bartenders.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: Try and find
the balance between hospitality and knowledge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Say a few
words about your most influential bartending mentor.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: <a href="http://www.sebastienphotography.com/SebastienPhotography-images/Portfolios/PortraitsandFamilies/i-vr6L272/3/XL/IMG_1261-XL.jpg">Tom Mastricola</a> [most recently of <a href="http://commonwealthcambridge.com/">Commonwealth Cambridge</a>, currently preparing to open <a href="http://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/blog/2014/04/08/clios-todd-maul-harvards-david-edwards-open-cafe-artscience/">Café Artscience</a>]. I met him over three years ago and he's been my go-to guy since.
He's legendary and has helped me become the bartender I am today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: What’s the
most surprisingly useful life skill that bartending has taught you?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH:
Patience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MCSJB: Compose
the question you think I should have asked, and answer it.</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">MCH: “What do you
love the most about bartending?” Giving the best possible guest experience,
making people smile, and learning.</span></div>
MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-33187145347349819792014-07-28T09:48:00.000-04:002014-07-29T12:36:46.907-04:00"Pouring Reign (The Director's Cut)", Part V: Tyler Jay Wang of Audubon Boston<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTCZZkLOcvM9PQVRKleesszhsnNYJz-sP3EmkB-UABmqWbptz41arBao0HodrYM9-9cSuvTJEBSKuaqlBXmf2IoRlO2oIVTKOhdbSp1hWUBXAC2YcMY51aGxAtsEljkzQ7es3hm1QzOp4/s1600/tyler+jay+wang.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTCZZkLOcvM9PQVRKleesszhsnNYJz-sP3EmkB-UABmqWbptz41arBao0HodrYM9-9cSuvTJEBSKuaqlBXmf2IoRlO2oIVTKOhdbSp1hWUBXAC2YcMY51aGxAtsEljkzQ7es3hm1QzOp4/s1600/tyler+jay+wang.jpeg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyler Jay Want of Audubon Boston, Boston, MA<br />
Photo courtesy of onthebar.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In April 2014, I
wrote a cover feature for <a href="http://www.improper.com/">The Improper Bostonian</a> entitled <a href="http://www.improper.com/features/pouring-reign/">“Pouring Reign”</a>,
in which I interviewed twelve Boston bartenders I admire. Six are veteran
talents I felt had been overlooked by local media; six are newcomers promising
enough to get themselves situated in some of our top bar programs. All had many
more interesting things to say than I could fit in the space allowed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">How many more? My
initial draft ran to 10,000 words, but the feature was allotted 2500; I begged
my editors for more room, and they generously let it swell to 3500, a very long
feature for the publication.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As happy as I was
with the piece (and especially the gorgeous accompanying portrait photography
by <a href="http://www.adamdetour.com/">Adam DeTour</a>), a lot of great material got left on the cutting-room
floor. I got permission to run the unexpurgated interviews here. Here’s number
five, my unedited interview with Tyler Jay Wang, whose bartending talents I’ve
enjoyed for quite a while at places like <a href="http://drinkfortpoint.com/">Drink</a>, the bar at <a href="http://no9park.com/">No. 9 Park</a>
(particularly when I had an office nearby), and the <a href="http://kirklandtapandtrotter.com/">Kirkland Tap & Trotter</a>,
but about whom I hadn’t seen much written. At the time of the interview, Wang
was still at the Kirkland, though he would leave shortly to help launch the bar
program at the just-rebooted <a href="http://www.audubonboston.com/site/">Audubon Boston</a>. I’m happy to present his
unedited responses to my interview questions here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">======<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC SLIM JB: I’ve long praised [Kirkland Tap & Trotter chef/owner Tony Maws's other restaurant] <a href="http://www.craigieonmain.com/">Craigie on Main</a> for its somewhat overlooked bar program, and think Kirkland has much the same thing
going on, including my preference for dining and drinking at the bar. What does
a KT&T customer get dining at your bar that she might miss sitting in the
dining room? Are you a bar or a dining room customer on your own time? Does
anyone ever come in for drinks and not get anything to eat? (Maws does some pretty alright food, after all.)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">TYLER JAY WANG:
The bar at Craigie is a staple for any thoughtful bar patron in the city. Their
bar, like No. 9’s, is both elegant and enthralling. While the environment at
the Craigie bar is more casual, Tony’s philosophies towards perfection in the
kitchen are reflected in the bar program. The bar at Kirkland works the same
way. And to cap it off, Tony is generally about three feet away from the
service bartender, so his influence is always felt. At Craigie, the bar almost
feels like another restaurant. It’s somewhat secluded from the hustle and
bustle of the noisy kitchen. In the bar room at KT&T, and especially in the
first few seats next to service bar, you can feel the heat from the grill. It
becomes a much more interactive experience to sit at the bar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Frankly, working
the service bar at KT&T is the only time I’ve ever felt like no one is
watching the bartender. The grill cooks over our shoulders are captivating, and
Tony’s open kitchens are always a great show. So a bar patron gets that, but
like most bars what really sets the experience apart is the interaction with my
‘tenders. The relationships forged between guest and bartender are always more
interactive and personal than those at a table. That’s why I always choose to
sit at the bar and one of the reasons I became a bartender.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, we
definitely get bar guests who just want to have a couple drinks and hang out
with us. They are neighborhood folks and I honestly take their visits as a
greatest compliment. To choose our humble bar as the place for your late night
tipple against all the other great bars in the area means we really must be
doing something right!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Measure or
free-pour?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Measure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Drink that
you wish more customers would order?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Stirred gin
cocktails, and shaken ones, and gin neat. Really any gin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Drink you
wish customers would forget existed?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Dirty
Martinis. I can eschew judgment on virtually any other beverage, but why do you
want the leftover waste from old olives in your cocktail?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC, aside: This!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What is your
most prized bartending accoutrement, e.g., spoon, ice tool, ice mold, shaker,
mixing glass, knife, Lewis bag, cocktail book, serving glass, other piece of barware
or glassware?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: My muddler.
My dad made it for me from Osage orange wood. It’s modeled after [Drink GM John] Gertsen’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Most annoying
customer behavior?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: “Can I have [insert house cocktail] but with vodka, and just a little bit of citrus, and
not too sweet, but also like a splash of grenadine?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Spirit that
more customers should be trying?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: GIN! The “New World gin” category is vast and
ever-expanding. People get hung up on Hendrick’s and then never get to try all
of the wonderful new gins the craft spirit move is producing. Drink more gin!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Your favorite
cocktail or bottling to introduce a newbie to it?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Tom Collins.
It’s a familiar name, but when made right, a Tom Collins really stands out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What’s the
best day of the week and time of day for a customer to engage you in a
leisurely, educational five-minute conversation about drinks?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Wednesday
from 5:30-6:30, and then 10 to midnight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: You may have
seen <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/16/opinion/sunday/20140216_SCHOTTBARWORDS.html">this New York Times article</a> on the in-house lingo of certain NYC bars. What’s
one of your house’s code words/phrases for intra-staff communication in front
of customers? <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: We’re too
new for any of those.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What’s your
typical end-of-shift drink?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Stout and a
shot Monday to Saturday, a Sazerac on Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What’s a
great book / film / record / play / TV show you’ve consumed recently and
recommend?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: [Broadway
musical] <i>In the Heights</i>. What can I say? I went to school for musical theater.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Do you have a
guilty-pleasure drink, the kind of thing you wouldn’t want your peers or
customers to catch you drinking?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: No. I’m not
a bashful drinker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What’s the
last astonishing restaurant meal you had (what and where) other than at your
place?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Astonishing?
Shit, probably <a href="http://www.perseny.com/">Per Se</a> last year. But astonishing has like a wow factor to it I
wouldn’t attach to Per Se. Per Se was just perfect. Everything was perfect.
Astonishing has like, a magical quality to it. On second thought, <a href="http://www.ribellebkline.com/">Ribelle</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What are a
couple of dives you favor on your own time?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: I make it to
<a href="http://www.brickandmortarbar.com/">Brick & Mortar</a> once a month or so. That place is pretty divey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Dr.
Bartender, what’s the best cure for my hangover?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Don’t drink
so much, dummy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Most
interesting current trend in cocktails (or beer or wine)?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Can’t say
I’ve ever been trendy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Most
ridiculous / overhyped / bullshit trend?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Having every
whiskey or amaro that has ever been produced. Curate those lists a little!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: As a bar
customer yourself, what’s one aspect of Boston’s bars that you wish more
operators would do a better job of?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Standing up
for what they believe in! Don’t just buy shit spirits for no reason. Advocate
for better products. Advocacy for our guests and our craft is the most
important part of our job. Be excited about something behind the bar and then
sell it to me with enthusiasm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What Greater
Boston bar (besides your own) is absolutely killing it right now? Of all their
qualities, what’s the single standout attribute that makes you want to drink
there?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Visiting
Katie at Hawthorne is one of life’s great joys.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC, aside: Amen to that.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What are the
top destinations on your Bars of the World Bucket List?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Bar High
Five - Tokyo, Polite Provisions - San Diego, Wherever Scott Marshall is
working. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC, aside: For
the curious, the brilliant Scott Marshall is now at 22 Square in Savannah, GA.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What’s the
most ridiculous thing a Yelper has ever said about you or the place you work?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Plead the
5th<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What
bartender or bar manager, currently working or retired, is your first-ballot
lock for entry into Boston’s Bartending Hall of Fame?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Misty
[Kalkofen]. Scotty [Marshall]. Josey [Packard]. John [Gertsen].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Offer a
sentence or two of advice to aspiring bartenders.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Slow down!
If you want to be good at what you do, slow down. You can’t call yourself a
craft bartender if you don’t take the time to learn about the craft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Say a few
words about your most influential bartending mentor.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: I’ve had the
pleasure of working with some of the best bartenders in the world, let alone
our little town. I would not be who I am today without the patience of Ted Kilpatrick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC, aside: For the curious, No. 9 alum Ted Kilpatrick now runs Manhattan's <a href="http://www.roofatparksouth.com/">Roof at Park South</a> bar for Boston restaurateurs Tim and Nancy Cushman of <a href="http://www.oyarestaurantboston.com/">O Ya</a>. </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What’s the
most surprisingly useful life skill that bartending has taught you?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Sweat the
small stuff, make it perfect, and then say fuck it and take it like a shot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Compose the
question you think I should have asked, and answer it.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">TJW: Boston needs
a small bar that focuses on rum, agave and Latin food. That’s the answer. I’ll
take half credit.</span></div>
MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-74868606072647239962014-07-25T10:33:00.000-04:002014-07-25T10:34:51.275-04:00"Pouring Reign (The Director's Cut)", Part IV: Frederic Yarm of Russell House Tavern<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3howQPslM7buEZzTLsq_ghseGS50OUq-Sygnx0bYanwg5v5GeFkpAYtLXbwo1BDawLEfusSaaDE0wjn3mqpm9EWlDb89vy2QYoZ-5ZnNLuvkcopyerY6FWiqq-JYoByjukujGT0HZHFE/s1600/yarm+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3howQPslM7buEZzTLsq_ghseGS50OUq-Sygnx0bYanwg5v5GeFkpAYtLXbwo1BDawLEfusSaaDE0wjn3mqpm9EWlDb89vy2QYoZ-5ZnNLuvkcopyerY6FWiqq-JYoByjukujGT0HZHFE/s1600/yarm+3.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frederic Yarm of Russell House Tavern, Cambridge, MA<br />
Photo courtesy of Maggie Campbell of Privateer Rum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In April 2014, I
wrote a cover feature for <a href="http://www.improper.com/">The Improper Bostonian</a> entitled <a href="http://www.improper.com/features/pouring-reign/">“Pouring Reign”</a>, in which I interviewed twelve
Boston bartenders I admire. Six are veteran talents I felt had been overlooked
by local media; six are newcomers promising enough to get themselves situated
in some of our top bar programs. All had many more interesting things to say
than I could fit in the space allowed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">How many more? My
initial draft ran to 10,000 words, but the feature was allotted 2500; I begged
my editors for more room, and they generously let it swell to 3500, a very long
feature for the publication.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As happy as I was
with the piece (and especially the gorgeous accompanying portrait photography
by <a href="http://www.adamdetour.com/">Adam DeTour</a>), a lot of great material got left on the cutting-room
floor. I got permission to run the unexpurgated interviews here. Here’s the
fourth one, my unedited interview with Frederick Yarm, a relative newcomer to
the bartending scene whose work as a cocktail writer I’ve been reading for
years, both for his blog and his 2012 book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Drink-Tell-Boston-Cocktail-Book/dp/0988281805">Drink & Tell: A Boston Cocktail Book</a>, a historical tour of Boston's cocktail scene. His was another interview that space constraints forced me to slash
drastically, so I’m glad to be able to offer the unwhittled version here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">======<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC SLIM JB:
Improper readers may not know about your <a href="http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/">Cocktail Virgin blog</a>, or how it has found you sampling and documenting
thousands of cocktails from Greater Boston bars for over six and a half years.
<a href="http://russellhousecambridge.com/">Russell House Tavern</a> is your first professional bartending gig. How has being a
prolific cocktail blogger shaped your experience and outlook as a bartender?
And vice versa: how has manning the stick professionally changed your
perspective as a cocktail blogger?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FREDERIC YARM:
Tasting and writing about a lot about drinks has not shaped my outlook as a
bartender so much as the experience of sitting at lots of bars in the process;
observing both the good and bad of hospitality, techniques, recipes, and
interactions has been an invaluable learning experience. My work with the blog
has given me a lot of exposure to a wide variety of styles out there and the
pros and cons of each. Discussing my knowledge about cocktails, techniques, and
local establishments does help with guest rapport and has helped to solidify
some regulars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Manning the stick
professionally has encouraged me to be a more easy going guest, and this has
caused me lighten up a bit both in my attitude and the posting rate. If I do
not see something on the cocktail menu that I wish to write about, I often will
order a beer. If it is a slower night, I will see if the bartender has some off
menu items that they wish to make, but I will not push the issue. I definitely
want to keep the blog going, but it has become one of my cocktail outlets
instead of the main one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Measure or
free-pour?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: I originally
thought I was only going to jigger everything, but after working a few busy
brunches, I got tired of the amount of washing it took to get all traces of
serrano pepper-infused mezcal that we use in our Mezcal Mary out of a jigger. I
tested out my free pour, and my count is pretty solid for a 2 ounce pour. I
will not free pour for anything other than simple drinks like Highballs and
Bloody Marys though.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Drink that
you wish more customers would order?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: Drinks with
vermouth. For some reason, the Manhattan drinker does not shy away from
vermouth nor specify the proportions, but the Martini drinker does. Fresh
vermouth is delightful, and I often opt for a 2:1 or equal parts Martini at
home. And many guests look confused when you tell them that vermouth and other
aromatized wines are a delight to drink on the rocks with an orange twist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC, aside: Right
on!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Drink you
wish customers would forget existed?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: I have a
section in my bar notebook dedicated to “those 70s drinks.” I cannot (or choose
not to) remember the difference between a Bay Breeze and a Sea Breeze, and most
of them are just fruit mixtures to hide the flavor of vodka. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What is your
most prized bartending accoutrement, e.g., spoon, ice tool, ice mold, shaker,
mixing glass, knife, Lewis bag, cocktail book, serving glass, other piece of
barware or glassware?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: A beautiful
inlaid three-wood ice crushing mallet made by CME Handworks that I have at
home. Actually, it’s a furniture wood carving mallet and they were surprised
and amused by my application. I also bought one for Ryan Lotz when he was at
Lineage for I felt that he deserved better than the camping mallet he was using
to crush ice at the time. At work, I have access to crushed ice from our Kold-Draft machine, so the mallet stays at home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Most annoying
customer behavior?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: Impatience,
feelings of entitlement, and lack of sense of humor when things get busy. If
guests want a more perfect experience, they should go on the off hours and
slower nights. Then again, that suggestion would fall on deaf ears to those
types.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Every
bartender has a collection of Fiasco Moments, e.g., the tray of glasses smashed
into the ice bin, the flyaway tin that resulted in a guest wearing a shakerful
of cocktails, the strangers you introduced at your bar that ended up in a
murder/suicide, your proud original creation that customers hated, etc. What’s
a particularly egregious / entertaining one of yours?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: So far there
has been little that has gone too wrong bartending-wise save for a few customers
who have gotten a little splash of water from our glass washer or other minor
mishaps. Therefore, I’d have to say go with not refusing service to disruptive
customers. There was one guest who kept harassing customers more so with each
return to the bar during the day, and had to be ejected after the third return.
Or the two townie drunks who made such a mess of the place. Besides sucking up
a lot of my time, it can make the other guests rather uncomfortable to the
point that they transfer from the bar to the table or leave the establishment
completely. I am getting better at
dealing with these characters but it is sometimes difficult to switch from a
hospitality mode to a more authoritarian state. And this discomfort to guests
is probably far -worse than splashing a customer or spilling some drinks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What’s the
best day of the week and time of day for a customer to engage you in a
leisurely, educational five-minute conversation about drinks?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: Lately, I
work mostly day shifts during the week that only can get busy during the lunch
burst and the pre-dinner rush. Still, I can generally find time to talk to
guests at length save for some Fridays, holidays, and brunch shifts, especially
if they are fine with interruptions as I attend to drink tickets and other
guests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: You may have
seen <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/16/opinion/sunday/20140216_SCHOTTBARWORDS.html">this New York Times article</a> on the in-house lingo of certain NYC bars. What’s one of your house’s code words/phrases for intra-staff communication in
front of customers?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: Yes, we have
them, but they are usually tied to a bartender’s, bar back’s, or regular’s name
(making it into a verb), so no I don’t feel at ease mentioning them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What’s your
typical end-of-shift drink?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: When I have
worked nights, it has been Fernet Branca and/or a shift beer from our bottle
and cans collection. During the day, my shift drinks have to be done elsewhere.
Often, I just wait until I get home, but on a bad day, it’s often stopping in
somewhere close by or on the way home for a beer unless I can think of an out
of the way place that has a new cocktail on their menu to check out for the
blog. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Do you have a
guilty-pleasure drink, the kind of thing you wouldn’t want your peers or
customers to catch you drinking?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: Not sure I
have guilty pleasures like that save for drinking High Lifes although I do that
without shame. And when lowbrow things like Fireball or blackberry brandy shots
are consumed, I am often with my peers. I do remember when Josh Childs
interviewed me for Boston.com after Drink & Tell: A Boston Cocktail Book
came out, he forced the question and I answered a Rusty Nail, although that’s a
legitimate enough drink that I am not embarrassed about consuming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What are a couple
of dives you favor on your own time?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: Last dive I
went to was <a href="http://www.paddys34.com/">Paddy’s Lunch</a> for one of the Russell House Tavern bartenders does a
few shifts there. But that falls into the realm of why I go out drinking which
includes being in front of a specific bartender. Luke O’Neil included <a href="http://www.charlieskitchen.com/">Charlie’s Kitchen</a> in his
dive bar book [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bostons-Best-Dive-Bars-Drinking/dp/1935439251">Boston's Best Dive Bars: Drinking and Diving in Beantown</a>], so I’ll add that, but I generally go there with co-workers
instead of choosing it on my own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Dr.
Bartender, what’s the best cure for my hangover?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: For settling
the stomach, ginger beer or Angostura bitters works well, as does dried candied
ginger. For the headache, Advil and coffee will be your friend. Getting fluids
is key, but water alone will not provide the lost electrolytes. I am a fan of
toughing it out, but if the malaise cannot be shaken by mid-afternoon,
sometimes a single drink can even things out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Most
ridiculous / overhyped / bullshit trend?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: I deleted my
response – I don’t want to speak negatively about anyone’s bar program or
things they include in their bar program, at least publicly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: As a bar
customer yourself, what’s one aspect of Boston’s bars that you wish more
operators would do a better job of?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: Turning over
bar menus. It has become rather common at many establishments that cocktail
menus stay static for great lengths of time indicating a lack of focus on the
program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What’s the
most ridiculous thing a Yelper (or other amateur reviewer) has ever said about
you or the place you work?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: I have only
made it into one Yelp review; it was more praising the brunch food and it
happened to mention that the bartender was great. Between the food order and
the party size, I was able to deduce it to the crew of eight who showed up to
my ten seat bar on New Year’s Day a few minutes before open. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What
bartender or bar manager, currently working or retired, is your first-ballot
lock for entry into Boston’s Bartending Hall of Fame?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: John Gertsen
for having a vision and enacting on it to elevate Boston’s stature in the cocktail
world, and Josh Childs for showing that keeping it simple and focusing on
warmth and hospitality is just as important as what is in the glass if not more
so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Offer a
sentence or two of advice to aspiring bartenders.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: Two sayings
that stick in my head are Sam Treadway’s “Bartending is about watering down
spirits and babysitting adults” and John Gertsen’s “If you know where
everything lives and know how to smile, you’ll be a great bartender.” Both of
those sayings remove the ego-driven ideals that plague a lot of bartenders, for
a great bartender is one that makes the guests feel special and not one that
reinforces the idea that the bartender is the star. And lastly, always keep
learning. Read, taste, discuss. And know when guests just want a drink instead
of even a hint of pleasantries much less a lecture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: Say a few
words about your most influential bartending mentor.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: I would be
remiss if I did not name Sam Gabrielli who helped shape me from a restaurant
industry newbie into a bartender. I am also thankful for fellow bartender Adam
Hockman; when I have complained about certain situations, instead of just
giving me a “that sucks” reply, he offers solid advice gathered from his years
of experience behind the stick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>MC: What’s the
most surprisingly useful life skill that bartending has taught you?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">FY: Always be
closing. Bartending is a job that relies on salesmanship, and less about
glorified ideals. Success at previous
jobs meant completing projects by a deadline, but that was not tied to my
salary which was pretty much fixed. One of the bar backs agreed that learning
to close is an important life skill, whether for money or for romance, that
should be learned as early in life as possible. Indeed, the movie <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kZg_ALxEz0">GlengarryGlen Ross</a> has taught me that coffee’s for closers.</span></div>
MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-16078891490238330552014-07-21T12:41:00.001-04:002014-07-25T10:35:35.212-04:00"Pouring Reign (The Director's Cut)", Part III: Dan Valachovic of Vee Vee<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBlmzbPRqdCVS93tv7d5Zt1_2CwXniKd6o2wtWnqEO-SqfIUVMsCVKuFf-XSCj3GiqHKUQaoDeKQtdGCOk3N5jA9rcP_ZWgnwao86rg7HPgLfQmYuZXlx-iKXBeQj7a8gTfpUISDUbBis/s1600/dan+valachovich+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBlmzbPRqdCVS93tv7d5Zt1_2CwXniKd6o2wtWnqEO-SqfIUVMsCVKuFf-XSCj3GiqHKUQaoDeKQtdGCOk3N5jA9rcP_ZWgnwao86rg7HPgLfQmYuZXlx-iKXBeQj7a8gTfpUISDUbBis/s1600/dan+valachovich+cropped.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan Valachovic of Vee Vee, Jamaica Plain, MA<br />
Photo courtesy of Dan Valachovic</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In April 2014, I wrote a cover feature for <a href="http://www.improper.com/" target="_blank">The Improper Bostonian</a> entitled <a href="http://www.improper.com/features/pouring-reign/" target="_blank">“Pouring Reign”</a>, in which I interviewed twelve Boston bartenders I admire. Six are veteran talents I felt had been overlooked by local media; six are newcomers promising enough to get themselves situated in some of our top bar programs. All had many more interesting things to say than I could fit in the space allowed.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
How many more? My initial draft ran to 10,000 words, but the feature was allotted 2500; I begged my editors for more room, and they generously let it swell to 3500, a very long feature for the publication.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As happy as I was with the piece (and especially the gorgeous accompanying portrait photography by <a href="http://www.adamdetour.com/" target="_blank">Adam DeTour</a>), a lot of great material got left on the cutting-room floor. I got permission to run the unexpurgated interviews here. Here’s the third one, my unedited interview with Dan Valachovic, co-owner of <a href="http://veeveejp.com/" target="_blank">Vee Vee in Jamaica Plain</a>. I included Dan because of his intent focus on local craft beers, a real plus at an already great little indie neighborhood place that <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/12/26/steamed-local-hake-at-vee-vee.aspx" target="_blank">I originally reviewed back in 2011</a>. I’m glad to be able to publish his thoughtful answers here, which had to be cut severely for publication.<br />
<br />
======</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>MC SLIM JB: Vee Vee is a neighborhood joint leaning local, seasonal and sustainable, with a bar focus on small, local craft brewers. A lot of newcomers seem to be copying your template. Meanwhile, Bostonians have gotten geekier about beer, and their options in like-minded bars have expanded greatly. You were ahead of that curve: what changes have you seen in your customers, suppliers?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
DAN VALACHOVIC: The biggest change in the customers has been in trusting what we are putting on our draught list. There are so many new breweries in the area just in the last several years, and many new options for consumers. Our regular customers have come to respect and trust my palate and style of beer that I gravitate towards, and seem happy to try whatever new offering might be available. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>MC: How has it changed your philosophy (if at all) and product mix? What does that rising tide mean for your bar program going forward?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
DV: I have found myself digging deeper with specialty distributors and importers in an effort to keep things fresh and current. We are also in talks with JP's <a href="http://streetcarwines.com/" target="_blank">Streetcar Wine & Beer</a> shop about collaborating with local breweries for one-off brews. Establishing personal relationships with the local brewers is very important to me and a key to staying on top of things. <br />
<br />
Moving forward, I actually like the idea of paring back rather than adding more. We have only four draught lines and about 20 bottles on our list; it's a fun challenge to curate those lists in a way that is interesting and exciting. No fluff or filler. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: Beer that you wish more customers would order?</i><br />
<br />
DV: I recently added a rare Belgian beer called De Dolle Arabier to the bottle list. While all of the other beers on the list contain descriptors conveying style and flavor profiles, I simply describe this as "Dan's favorite beer in the world". It's been very interesting to see regulars as well as first-timers order it and monitor their reaction. I've yet to encounter anyone that hasn't thoroughly enjoyed it (or, at least anyone willing to tell me they haven't enjoyed it!)<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Drink you wish customers would forget existed?</i><br />
<br />
DV: Any of the mass-produced yellow lagers. On the rare occasion that someone asks for one, we point them to a can of Notch Session Pils. It's probably a little hoppier than they are expecting, but most are satisfied. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: What is your most prized bartending accoutrement, e.g., tool, book, glassware, etc.?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
DV: I built myself a keg fridge in my cellar at home. It's very satisfying to have your favorite beer readily available on demand. <br />
<br />
<i>MC, aside: I am green with envy!</i><br />
<br />
<i>MC: Beer style that more customers should be trying?</i><br />
<br />
DV: I really enjoy beers that are fermented with <i>Brettanomyces</i> yeast. When properly used, it can give a beer a tropical, funky complexity that you wouldn't otherwise see. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s your favorite example to introduce a newbie to it?</i><br />
<br />
DV: Orval is a Belgian Trappist ale that is fermented with a traditional ale yeast and then re-fermented in the bottle with a slight amount of <i>Brett</i> yeast. So if you try a young bottle next to one that has aged for several months, you can begin to see its effect on the flavor profile. Belgian beer bars often offer different vintages of Orval on their menus: I've been thinking of adding this option as well. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s the best day of the week and time of day for a customer to engage you in a leisurely, educational five-minute conversation about drinks?</i><br />
<br />
DV: Tuesday nights either between 5:30-7:00pm or 9:30-10:30pm.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: You may have seen <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/16/opinion/sunday/20140216_SCHOTTBARWORDS.html" target="_blank">this article</a> on the in-house lingo of certain NYC bars. What’s one of your house’s code words/phrases for intra-staff communication in front of customers?</i><br />
<br />
DV: We don't have any of our own, but after that article ran we adopted the "I need you to bar back seat six for me" as a way to retrieve the forgotten name of a regular customer.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s your typical end-of-shift drink?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
DV: Whatever Trillium beer is currently on tap. Last night was their American Blonde ale, Pocket Pigeon. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s a great book / film / record / play / TV show you’ve consumed recently and recommend?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
DV: <i>Nothing Can Hurt Me</i>, the Big Star documentary. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: Do you have a guilty-pleasure drink, the kind of thing you wouldn’t want your peers or customers to catch you drinking?</i><br />
<br />
DV: Nothing beats a shandy at the beach. Last summer I bought a case of Leinenkugel’s version, but rumor has it that Narragansett and [RI frozen lemonade maker] Del’s will be teaming up this year, which sounds awesome. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s the last astonishing restaurant meal you had (what and where) other than at your place?</i><br />
<br />
DV: Last week I stopped off at <a href="http://www.eventideoysterco.com/" target="_blank">Eventide Oyster Co.</a> in Portland, Maine for a quick lunch and had a fried oyster bun and an Oxbow Farmhouse Pale Ale. The sandwich perfectly balances the airy softness of the Asian-style bun with the crunch of the fried oyster and tanginess of tartar sauce and some pickled onions. That lunch is crave-worthy and worth the trip. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: What are a couple of dives you favor on your own time? </i><br />
<br />
DV: The <a href="http://www.galwayhouse.net/content/" target="_blank">Galway House </a>on Centre Street in JP is a go-to for a post-shift beer and bar pizza. J.J. Foley’s Fireside Tavern near Forest Hills is the place to go when we feel like darts. <a href="http://www.pleasantcafe.com/" target="_blank">Pleasant Cafe</a> is a dependable old-school classic out in Rozzie.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Dr. Bartender, what’s the best cure for my hangover?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
DV: I keep it pretty simple: a greasy burger, plenty of water and Advil. And a nap.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Most interesting current trend in beer?</i><br />
<br />
DV: Beer brewers experimenting with slight variations on a style. <a href="http://www.trilliumbrewing.com/" target="_blank">Trillium Brewing</a> and <a href="http://www.mystic-brewery.com/" target="_blank">Mystic Brewery</a> are two locals that I see tweaking a standard of theirs just slightly to emphasize how a different hop, grain or yeast can affect the final product. <br />
<br />
<i>MC? Most ridiculous / overhyped / bullshit trend:</i><br />
<br />
DV: Yuengling.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: As a bar customer yourself, what’s one aspect of Boston’s bars that you wish more operators would do a better job of?</i><br />
<br />
DV: Listing serving sizes and ABV of beers on beer menus. It's important to know, especially if you have a long night ahead. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: What Greater Boston bar is absolutely killing it right now? Of all their qualities, what’s the single standout attribute that makes you want to drink there? </i><br />
<br />
DV: <a href="http://statepark.is/" target="_blank">State Park</a>. The whole place was designed around having fun and that's exactly what they've accomplished. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: What are the top destinations on your Bars of the World Bucket List?</i><br />
<br />
DV: There's a year-old place in Austin, Texas that I've read about called <a href="http://craftprideaustin.com/" target="_blank">Craft Pride</a>. They have 52 lines of Texas-only craft beers and park a bacon food truck in their back patio. I look forward to spending an afternoon there some day educating myself on all things Texas beer. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s the most ridiculous thing a Yelper has ever said about you or your place? </i><br />
<br />
DV: I stay away from reading Yelp. Not much good can come from the anxiety it brings on. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: What bartender or bar manager, currently working or retired, is your first-ballot lock for entry into Boston’s Bartending Hall of Fame?</i><br />
<br />
DV: John Gertsen. He has been a class act innovator for as long as I've been going out in Boston. <br />
<br />
<i>MC: Compose the question you think I should have asked, and answer it.</i><br />
<br />
DV: "What are your top three most inspirational beer bars?" 1) The Other Side, Boston (RIP). I had my beer “Aha!” moment there many years ago when I ordered a Duvel with my lunch. That was the moment I realized there was a lot more to beer than I had thought. 2) <a href="http://spuytenduyvilnyc.com/" target="_blank">Spuyten Duyvil</a>, Brooklyn. They only have a handful of draught lines but the selection is so well thought out. It feels like a funky European cafe inside and all of the furnishings and art and knickknacks are for sale. 3) ‘t Velootje, Ghent, Belgium. I was there is the middle of the winter-- the place has no heat, just a fireplace that the owner feeds rubbish into over the course of the night. There is no beer list, he just pours you what he happens to have that day. Somehow it is just the most wonderful place to enjoy a few beers.</div>
MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-50432531849363042372014-07-17T08:48:00.001-04:002014-07-25T10:37:42.071-04:00"Pouring Reign (The Director's Cut)", Part II: Will Isaza of Fairsted Kitchen<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_I2A6bGhtYlSqR6TX-kqPX_cXkZmLwpcgwloniXgrM0mP0fHTEgKvfAP6Yqpm5JcXzoTpXyiY2HxB7wnRr4hjTxzOpkOgUF5Fp6bJtZbPfUD9d1kOIvbsXDJQ8sPafvI1APg6wizwV0/s1600/will+isaza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_I2A6bGhtYlSqR6TX-kqPX_cXkZmLwpcgwloniXgrM0mP0fHTEgKvfAP6Yqpm5JcXzoTpXyiY2HxB7wnRr4hjTxzOpkOgUF5Fp6bJtZbPfUD9d1kOIvbsXDJQ8sPafvI1APg6wizwV0/s1600/will+isaza.jpg" height="320" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Will Isaza of Fairsted Kitchen, Brookline, MA<br />
Photo courtesy of Will Isaza</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In April 2014, I wrote a cover feature for<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/" target="_blank">The Improper Bostonian</a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>entitled<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://www.improper.com/features/pouring-reign/" target="_blank">“Pouring Reign”</a></span>, in which I interviewed twelve Boston bartenders I admire.
Six are veteran talents I felt had been overlooked by local media; six are
newcomers promising enough to get themselves situated in some of our top bar
programs. All had many more interesting things to say than I could fit in the
space allowed.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
How many more? My initial draft ran to 10,000 words, but the feature was
allotted 2500; I begged my editors for more room, and they generously let it
swell to 3500, a very long feature for the publication.<br />
<br />
As happy as I was with the piece (and especially the gorgeous accompanying
portrait photography by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://www.adamdetour.com/" target="_blank">Adam DeTour</a></span>), a lot of
great material got left on the cutting-room floor. I got permission to run the
unexpurgated interviews here. Here’s the second one, my unedited interview with
Will Isaza of <a href="http://fairstedkitchen.com/" target="_blank">Fairsted Kitchen</a>, an independent restaurant in Washington Square,
Brookline. I first got to know Will as I was researching <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/love-stove/" target="_blank">my review of Fairsted for The Improper</a>, where he impressed me as a relatively new talent.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
======</div>
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<i>MC SLIM JB:
Will, you've probably seen my Improper Bostonian review of Fairsted Kitchen, in which I note its extraordinary hospitality ethos. You may have read <a href="http://drinkboston.com/2008/02/09/at-the-bar-its-the-little-things-that-count/" target="_blank">my essay about the importance of hospitality to the bartender's game</a>. Is hospitality something
that can be learned, or is it purely innate? Did you come in with that
inclination already built-in? How does Fairsted cultivate that attitude in the
staff?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WILL ISAZA: I think that if someone wants to make a
career out of this industry, hospitality should be the first priority. We are
in the business of satisfying people through food and drink, but having that
little extra flair to make a guest smile I don't think can be taught. I've
always loved meeting new people and interacting with many different
personalities, it's pretty cool to have a job where I can do that on a nightly
basis. My bosses; Andrew Foster, Steve Bowman, and Patrick Gaggiano, have
instilled much of that philosophy at Fairsted. They want everyone who walks
through the door to feel as though they're at home having dinner/drinks amongst
family. Of course that only works because of the staff, we all kind of have
that family sense as a staff including management and ownership, therefore that
is reflected when we are in the middle of service. Being a small staff helps a
lot, but we all genuinely like each other and I don't think that was a mistake.
Those guys just really enjoy creating a home style environment and having a
great time with guests, which not many places in Boston can do. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
<i>
MC: Measure or free-pour?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Mostly measure.<br />
<br />
<i>
MC: Drink that you wish more customers would order?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Vieux Carre.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: Drink you wish customers would forget existed?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: None, they all should be consumed by those who love them!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
<i>
MC: What is your most prized bartending accoutrement, e.g., spoon, ice tool,
ice mold, shaker, </i><i>mixing glass, knife, Lewis bag, cocktail book, serving glass,
other piece of barware or glassware?</i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Just give me ice and a Boston shaker and I'll figure out the rest.
I'm not really one to be picky about that stuff. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: Most annoying customer behavior?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: To quote Mr. [Andrew] Foster, "Never really
had annoying guests, just people who don't know what they want". And
that's what we're here for. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
<i>
MC: Every bartender has a collection of Fiasco Moments, e.g., the tray of
glasses smashed into the ice bin, the flyaway tin that resulted in a guest
wearing a shakerful of cocktails, the strangers you introduced at your bar that
ended up in a murder/suicide, your proud original creation that customers
hated, etc. What’s a particularly egregious / entertaining one of yours?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Back when I first started tending bar, I was working a busy<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="aqj">Friday</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>night service bar, and the guests in
front of me got into a really huge argument and proceeded to start their
divorce as they had dinner. I gave them a couple shots and told them to love
each other, the woman involved immediately started crying and left the bar. Whoops. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: Spirit, wine or beer that more customers should be trying?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Rum or rhum [agricole]. You would think people drink more of it, but they really
don't. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: Your favorite cocktail or bottling to introduce a newbie to it?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: It all depends on the individual and what flavors they naturally
enjoy. Everyone is different. I never really have a "go-to" recipe
without interacting with someone. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: What’s the best day of the week and time of day for a customer to engage
you in a leisurely, educational five-minute conversation about drinks?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: I would say Mondays at around<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="aqj">6pm</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>or Tuesdays
at around<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="aqj">5pm</span>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: You may have seen this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/16/opinion/sunday/20140216_SCHOTTBARWORDS.html" target="_blank">New York Times article on the in-house lingo of certain NYC bars</a>. What’s one of your house’s code
words/phrases for intra-staff communication in front of customers?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: "Getting Crowed" is unique to Fairsted Kitchen. We treat
our VIP guests to a fantastic shot of Old Crow Reserve. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>MC: What’s your typical end-of-shift drink?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Whisky or whiskey, that's it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
<i>
MC: What’s a great book / film / record / play / TV show you’ve consumed recently
and recommend?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Esquires-Handbook-Hosts-Esquire/dp/B000H7GJVK/" target="_blank"><i>Esquire's Handbook for Hosts </i>(1953)</a>. An awesome handbook on how to be
the life of any party. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: Do you have a guilty-pleasure drink, the kind of thing you wouldn’t want
your peers or customers to catch you drinking?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Daiquiris all around, please. Guests seem confused when I tell them
that, but most of my peers share my affinity for daiquiris -- don't you?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i>[MC: Yep.]</i></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: What’s the last astonishing restaurant meal you had (what and where) other
than at your employer's?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: In Boston I haven't really had time to go out and about because of
work, but on vacation, Sylvain in New Orleans was the last great memorable meal
I had and would recommend in a heartbeat. The meal was solid from start to
finish and the one dish that stood out the most to me was a braised Wagyu beef
belly on a bed of toasted parsnips. Just saying it makes me want to go
back! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: What are a couple of dives you favor on your own time?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Sligo in Davis Square has always been great, but recently, O’Leary’s
on Beacon Street in Brookline has slowly but surely become a black hole of
greatness. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: Dr. Bartender, what’s the best cure for my hangover?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Cure? The key is to never go to sleep. </div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: Most interesting current trend in cocktails, beer or wine?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: I would put bottled cocktails and beer cocktails at the top of the
list for current trends. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: Most ridiculous / overhyped / bullshit trend?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Bars calling themselves "craft cocktail bars" as opposed to
just bars. Over-hyped and bullshit. All great bars should be able to make you a
great cocktail and tell you everything you need to know about the ingredients
used. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: As a bar customer yourself, what’s one aspect of Boston’s bars that you
wish more operators would do a better job of?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: As a guest, I wish that bartenders would focus more on helping me
have a great time, rather than just feed me information on what I'm drinking.
Most of the times I go to bars to drink, eat, and have a good time, not to be
educated. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
<i>
MC: What Greater Boston bar is absolutely killing it right
now? Of all their qualities, what’s the single standout attribute that makes
you want to drink there?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: I think Boston as a whole is killing it right now. It's really tough
to single out any one bar. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: What are the top destinations on your Bars of the World Bucket List?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Bar High Five in Tokyo is definitely up in my Bucket List. The
Floridita in Havana and Bodeguita Del Medio in Havana, which I have had the
pleasure of attending were the two bars that I really wanted to go to for a
long time. I remember the bartender at Bodeguita Del Medio looked at me and
said, "Here is the first mojito you have ever had, all the rest have been
merely an imitation". Paired with a handmade Cohiba, it was by far the
best bar experience I've ever had. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: Offer a sentence or two of advice to aspiring bartenders.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: I would tell an aspiring bartender to always keep in mind that your
job is to make other people happy, not just yourself. And to enjoy every moment
behind any bar, because if you don't enjoy what you’re doing or where you work,
then what’s the point? Cocktails, beer, wine, etc. can always be taught and you
will only learn as much as you allow yourself to learn. <br />
<br />
<i>
MC: Say a few words about your most influential bartending mentor.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: The first bar manager I ever worked for definitely showed me the
ropes and gave me a chance when a lot of people wouldn't. I would say that my
style of tending bar was greatly influenced by what he taught me. Also my brother,
Moe Isaza, currently a manager at Grafton Street, always pushed me to try new
things, and from him I learned the most important thing of all: if I'm not
having fun while I'm behind a bar, the people I'm serving won't be
either. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<i>
MC: What’s the most surprisingly useful life skill that bartending has taught
you?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
WI: Communication in every aspect has definitely been the most useful
life skill that tending bar has taught me. You would be surprised how many
people start problems and/or misunderstandings by simply not being able to
communicate.</div>
MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-74680958671396399862014-07-15T12:27:00.003-04:002014-07-25T10:37:07.131-04:00"Pouring Reign (The Director's Cut)", Part I: Ezra Star of Drink<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-PfYYA49gXJU-U2bsBnH_YcbmdQ9HT-PRHGP3eUXVbiCElQABqd62kwBpVzISVIv26R9o6eAYRAO9_awZO02B6k-iRKjVWLr65a_CCUQdBPI6F8A4CqOA8loSxcZmegFLBQGNgju3E-U/s1600/ezra+star.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-PfYYA49gXJU-U2bsBnH_YcbmdQ9HT-PRHGP3eUXVbiCElQABqd62kwBpVzISVIv26R9o6eAYRAO9_awZO02B6k-iRKjVWLr65a_CCUQdBPI6F8A4CqOA8loSxcZmegFLBQGNgju3E-U/s1600/ezra+star.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ezra Star of Drink, Boston, MA<br />
Photo courtesy of Ezra Star</td></tr>
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In April 2014, I wrote a cover feature for <a href="http://www.improper.com/" target="_blank">The Improper Bostonian</a> entitled <a href="http://www.improper.com/features/pouring-reign/" target="_blank">“Pouring Reign”</a>, in which I interviewed twelve Boston bartenders I admire. Six are veteran talents I felt had been overlooked by local media; six are newcomers promising enough to get themselves situated in some of our top bar programs. All had many more interesting things to say than I could fit in the space allowed.<br />
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How many more? My initial draft ran to 10,000 words, but the feature was allotted 2500; I begged my editors for more room, and they generously let it swell to 3500, a very long feature for the publication.<br />
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As happy as I was with the piece (and especially the gorgeous accompanying portrait photography by <a href="http://www.adamdetour.com/" target="_blank">Adam DeTour</a>), a lot of great material got left on the cutting-room floor. I got permission to run the unexpurgated interviews here. Here’s the first one, my unedited interview with Ezra Star of <a href="http://drinkfortpoint.com/" target="_blank">Drink</a>, one of my personal favorites among an absurdly talented staff at one of Boston’s most popular and acclaimed craft cocktail bars.<br />
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<i>MC SLIM JB: Drink (the bar) is arguably Boston’s most nationally-famous craft cocktail destination; it’s been a while since I’ve been by when there weren’t dense crowds and a line out the door. How do you balance the demands of high-volume service with the ideal of a personalized cocktail experience?</i><br />
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EZRA STAR: Balancing the demands of high volume service and individual attention can be very difficult especially in a place that doesn't have a menu. The first way I deal with this is to not think about making drinks. We have to make a ton of drinks, but the more focused I can be on the people at my bar the better. I rely on creating and refining systems that allow the team as a whole to execute and refine the standards of Drink.<br />
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<i>MC: Measure or free-pour?</i><br />
<br />
ES: Drink uses OXO stainless steel cups for measuring, which I find to be very quick and easy measuring tools. The problem with them, though, is that as you use them, the numbers eventually wear off, so essentially we are free-pouring our drinks. My personal preference is to free pour, but I trust myself when I make a drink. At this point I have made at least ten thousand cocktails and know by sight and feel generally what a quarter-ounce, ounce, or whatever is when it comes out of a bottle. When I go out, unless the person seems as though they know what they are doing, I prefer to see them measure.<br />
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<i>MC: Drink that you wish more customers would order?</i><br />
<br />
ES: I would love to see people ordering more brandy-based drinks, especially women. Nine times out of ten, if I have someone who claims to not like whiskey or dark alcohol, I can always surprise them with a brandy-based drink and they love it.<br />
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<i>MC: Drink you wish customers would forget existed?</i><br />
<br />
ES: The Long Island Iced Tea. I love them, but come on... I know you want to get drunk; let's be a little more aggressive. How about a 151 all-dark-alcohol Long Island?<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What is your most prized bartending accoutrement, e.g., spoon, ice tool, ice mold, shaker, mixing glass, knife, Lewis bag, cocktail book, serving glass, other piece of barware or glassware?</i><br />
<br />
ES: My most prized bartending tool is my ice saw. I love the thing, I even engraved some stars on it to make it known to whom it belongs. Plus it looks pretty bad-ass sticking out of my bag when I'm walking to work. I feel like an Edo-period samurai walking through the city.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Most annoying customer behavior?</i><br />
<br />
ES: Asking about my tattoos, or grabbing my arms while I'm making drinks to ask about my tattoos.<br />
<br />
<i>MC, aside: Kids, remember the ice saw.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>MC: Every bartender has a collection of Fiasco Moments, e.g., the tray of glasses smashed into the ice bin, the flyaway tin that resulted in a guest wearing a shakerful of cocktails, the strangers you introduced at your bar that ended up in a murder/suicide, your proud original creation that customers hated, etc. What’s a particularly egregious / entertaining one of yours?</i><br />
<br />
ES: I had been working for about ten days straight and had just finished making six Ramos Gin Fizzes when on my seventh, the shaker slid from my hand and went into the lap of the person across from me at the bar and covered her in cream and egg. She was really nice about it (though I don't think she'll ever order another one), but I was pretty embarrassed.<br />
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<i>MC: What spirit, wine or beer should more customers be trying, and what do you suggest to introduce a newbie to it?</i><br />
<br />
ES: Armagnac, grappa, Cognac, anything made from grapes. A great introduction is Pierre Ferrand Ambre Cognac. I love it so much I actually have a habit of signing the back of every bottle I see.<br />
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<i>MC: What’s the best day of the week and time of day for a customer to engage you in a leisurely, educational five-minute conversation about drinks?</i><br />
<br />
ES: I am always down to talk about booze and making drinks, but because of how busy we get, I tend to ask people to come in early on Tuesday, Wednesdays or Thursdays (and by early, I mean when we open at 4pm).<br />
<br />
<i>MC: You may have seen <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/16/opinion/sunday/20140216_SCHOTTBARWORDS.html" target="_blank">this article</a> on the in-house lingo of certain NYC bars. What’s one of your house’s code words/phrases for intra-staff communication in front of customers? </i><br />
<br />
ES: My favorite one is "In the pool", as in someone who is only getting water or is too drunk to have drinks.<br />
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<i>MC: What’s your typical end-of-shift drink?</i><br />
<br />
ES: Pierre Ferrand Ambre Cognac in a glass.<br />
<br />
MC: What’s a great book / film / record / play / TV show you’ve consumed recently and recommend?<br />
<br />
ES: <i>House of Cards</i> for a show, but I have been reading this amazing book called <i>What the Nose Knows</i> by Avery Gilbert and it has been blowing my mind.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Do you have a guilty-pleasure drink, the kind of thing you wouldn’t want your peers or customers to catch you drinking?</i><br />
<br />
ES: Apricot Sour: 2 ounces of Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot liqueur, half an ounce of simple, and half an ounce of lemon. It is so good, so sweet, and so wrong.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: What’s the last astonishing restaurant meal you had other than at your place?</i><br />
<br />
ES: I recently went to <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/love-stove/" target="_blank">Fairsted Kitchen</a> and was blown away by what they are doing over there!<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Dr. Bartender, what’s the best cure for my hangover?</i><br />
<br />
ES: An Italian Greyhound cocktail and pho. Recently after an incredible night of birthday drinking, I had to come in at noon hungover to cut some ice. The salt rim of the Italian Greyhound and the soup were the only things that got me through it.<br />
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<i>MC: Most interesting current trend in cocktails, wine or beer?</i><br />
<br />
ES: Loire Valley reds seem to be popping up all over the place. Love it!<br />
<br />
<i>MC: Most ridiculous / overhyped / bullshit trend?</i><br />
<br />
ES: Drinking orange bitters.<br />
<br />
<i>MC: As a bar customer yourself, what’s one aspect of Boston’s bars that you wish more operators would do a better job of? </i><br />
<br />
ES: Good sound. So many places have shitty sound systems or sound proofing.<br />
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<i>MC: What Greater Boston bar is absolutely killing it right now? Of all their qualities, what’s the single standout attribute that makes you want to drink there?</i><br />
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ES: <a href="http://www.sarmarestaurant.com/" target="_blank">Sarma</a>. Amazing food, wine and cocktails. I love what these guys are doing, just wish I lived a little closer to them.<br />
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<i>MC: What are the top destinations on your Bars of the World Bucket List?</i><br />
<br />
ES: Happiness Forgets (London), Artisan (London), Callooh Callay (London), William and Graham (Denver), Honeycut (LA), Experimental Cocktail Club (Paris), The Black Pearl (Australia), Alembic (San Fran), Rick House (San Fran), Trick Dog (San Fran), Anvil (Houston).<br />
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<i>MC: What’s the most ridiculous thing a Yelper (or other amateur reviewer) has ever said about you or the place you work?</i><br />
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ES: "They have a line to get in. Why don't they just let more people in?"<br />
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<i>MC: What bartender or bar manager, currently working or retired, is your first-ballot lock for entry into Boston’s Bartending Hall of Fame? </i><br />
<br />
ES: <a href="http://drinkfortpoint.com/talent/john-gertsen/" target="_blank">John Gertsen</a> and <a href="http://drinkboston.com/2009/01/12/a-rhodes-scholar-of-bartending/" target="_blank">Misty Kalkofen</a><br />
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<i>MC: Offer a sentence or two of advice to aspiring bartenders.</i><br />
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ES: Work hard, read everything you can about what you do, forget what you read, find a person who will yell at you to forget, then look at the people on the other side of the bar and get to know them.<br />
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<i>MC: Say a few words about your most influential bartending mentor. </i><br />
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ES: I have had the privilege to work for some of the industry's most amazing people, and I am still blown away by <a href="http://drinkboston.com/2010/11/09/scott-marshall/" target="_blank">Scott Marshall</a> [formerly of Drink, now at 22 Square in Savannah, GA.] The things I learned from him are still echoing in my mind to this day.<br />
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<i>MC: What’s the most surprisingly useful life skill that bartending has taught you?</i><br />
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ES: Learning to listen to other people.<br />
<br />MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-53081578122531797432014-07-07T10:19:00.001-04:002014-07-17T16:06:41.895-04:00My Contributions to The Improper Bostonian's Boston's Best Food & Drink 2014<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZFTxngacPgmpbvcbvNijChMqu4KiUsKpCkhN4BAU67OZrGIXxFQgK2INm6oNiRQSSmvz16eBw6iTNExl-zG8gKvnKgtxvQueXHSXcVKLnYubthxmYZf7jqZXh5Lh-L49DASPnUr25yQ/s1600/boston's+best+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZFTxngacPgmpbvcbvNijChMqu4KiUsKpCkhN4BAU67OZrGIXxFQgK2INm6oNiRQSSmvz16eBw6iTNExl-zG8gKvnKgtxvQueXHSXcVKLnYubthxmYZf7jqZXh5Lh-L49DASPnUr25yQ/s1600/boston's+best+cover.jpg" height="400" width="340" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of The Improper Bostonian</td></tr>
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The Improper Bostonian's 2014 Boston's Best Awards issue just came out. I encouraged the editors to create a bunch of new award categories in the <a href="http://www.improper.com/bostons-best/food-drink/" target="_blank">Food & Drink section</a>, helped select the winners, and did the write-ups for half of them, including many places I've reviewed in recent years. The following were my contributions:<br />
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Barbecue: Sweet Cheeks Q<br />
Bartender: Katie Emmerson at The Hawthorne<br />
Burger: Craigie on Main<br />
Butcher Shop: M.F. Dulock Pasture-Raised Meats<br />
Cheese: Formaggio Kitchen<br />
Coffee Shop: Thinking Cup<br />
Comeback: Delux Cafe<br />
Deli: <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/moody-beauty/" target="_blank">Moody's Delicatessen & Provisions</a><br />
Dessert: Clio<br />
Diner: My Diner<br />
Dinner with a View: Sam's at Louis Boston<br />
Food Truck: Fugu Truck<br />
Greek: Esperia Grill<br />
Hidden Gem: Gene's Chinese Flatbread<br />
Hot Dog: Que Padre Taqueria y Mas<br />
Indian: India Quality<br />
Italian: <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2009/11/16/raviolo-di-uovo-at-prezza.aspx" target="_blank">Prezza</a><br />
Lobster Roll: Belle Isle Seafood<br />
Mexican: El Centro<br />
Neighborhoods -- Back Bay: The Salty Pig<br />
Neighborhoods -- Brookline: <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/love-stove/" target="_blank">Fairsted Kitchen</a><br />
Neighborhoods -- Cambridge, Porter Square: Giulia<br />
Neighborhoods -- Davis Square: Posto<br />
Neighborhoods -- Downtown Crossing / Fi-Di: <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2009/03/20/food-coma-rabbit-at-restaurant-marliave.aspx" target="_blank">Marliave</a><br />
Neighborhoods -- East Boston: <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Food/90325-Rinos-Place/" target="_blank">Rino's Place</a><br />
Neighborhoods -- Fenway / Kenmore: Audubon Boston<br />
Neighborhoods -- Fort Point: <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/pizza-on-point/" target="_blank">Pastoral</a><br />
Neighborhoods -- North End: Neptune Oyster<br />
Neighborhoods -- South Boston: Cafe Porto Bello<br />
Neighborhoods -- South End: <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/high-bar/" target="_blank">Merrill & Co.</a><br />
Neighborhoods -- Union Square: <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/mittel-ground/" target="_blank">Bronwyn</a><br />
New Restaurant: <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/smoke-show/" target="_blank">Alden & Harlow</a><br />
Pho: Pho Le Vietnamese Cuisine, Dorchester<br />
Pop-Up: The Future of Junk Food<br />
Salads: <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/comfort-enjoy/" target="_blank">Stephi's in Southie</a><br />
Sandwich: <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/98316-cuttys/" target="_blank">Cutty's</a><br />
Sommelier: Theresa Paopao at <a href="http://www.improper.com/columns/rebel-revel/" target="_blank">Ribelle</a><br />
Spanish: Toro<br />
Thai: <a href="http://stuffboston.com/2012/05/08/nam-prik-ong-at-thai-north" target="_blank">Thai North</a><br />
Torta: Tenoch Mexican<br />
Unwelcome Trend: Earsplitting Noise in Dining Rooms<br />
Vegetarian/Vegan: <a href="http://www.improper.com/going-out/good-seeds/" target="_blank">Root</a><br />
Welcome Trend: Shareable PlatesMC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-52287931424862861152014-06-25T12:11:00.000-04:002015-11-06T22:01:41.509-05:00From the Archives: "Leftovers: Testing the enduring appeal of some of Boston’s old-school dining favorites"<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The now-closed and crumbling Anthony's Pier 4<br />
Photo courtesy of Chris Rich</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As some of my old published work gradually fades from view online -- in this case, as the archives of Phoenix Media's bygone publications The Boston Phoenix and Stuff Magazine become more unreliable -- I will occasionally reprint pieces here, like this old Stuff cover feature. Filed with the proposed title, <em>"Your Fifteen Minutes Were Up Fifteen Years Ago",</em> it recounted my visits to four Boston restaurants that had passed their peak of fame and critical acclaim, former "It Places" still coasting on ancient laurels. It is perhaps unsurprising that five years on, none of them remains in business. <em>Sic transit gloria.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">LEFTOVERS</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Testing the enduring appeal of some of Boston’s old-school dining favorites</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
by MC Slim JB</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Stuff Magazine, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">February 23, 2009</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ever been to dinner and wondered, </span><em style="font-family: inherit;">"Damn, is this the hottest restaurant in Boston right now?"</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"> The signs are obvious. Weekend prime-time reservations are like gold. The bar is four-deep with walk-ins waiting an hour-plus for a table. There’s excitement in the air, in your glass, on the plate. You spot a local celebrity or two. You can’t wait to tell your friends how amazing it is. You’re at an It Place, alright.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course, seasoned observers know that It Places don’t stay that way for long. Most have their moment in the sun and quickly fade. The crowd that makes it their obsessive business to patronize only the freshest of the fresh has a short attention span – after a few months, it grows bored and moves on, anointing another darling du jour. Today’s news is tomorrow’s fish-and-chip wrapper.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Boston’s restaurant landscape is pocked with the craters of meteoric stars that flared briefly before crashing to earth, like Excelsior, a former Back Bay hotspot that abruptly shut down last month. The current economic freefall is partly to blame: many high-end restaurants are struggling to survive the drastic shrinkage in business entertaining. But Excelsior had already lost whatever edginess made it exciting when it opened in 2004. After a white-hot debut, it faded into the Not-It twilight, becoming just another expensively-decorated restaurant with an unchallenging menu, crazily-priced wines, and a bar prowled by plump businessmen and flinty-eyed gold-diggers. Its last-fresh-sale date was a distant memory.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So how is it that certain former It Places – restaurants whose bright, shining moment passed years before Excelsior’s – manage to survive despite the imploding economy? Knowledgeable locals may dismiss them with a, "Pfah, that place started sliding ten years ago", or, "Oh, I guess we loved it as kids when our grandparents took us there", but they’re still packing in the customers. One theory is that today’s faded-It-Place patrons are naïfs who’ve been sold a bill of goods: clueless tourists following their hotel-room dining guides, business travelers steered by graft-collecting concierges, local rubes who think the Phantom Gourmet is not only funny but untainted by sponsor bribery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But what if the conventional wisdom is wrong? Could these superannuated superstars still have something worthwhile to offer? How fun would it be to convince your food-snob friend that a restaurant she derides as a passé tourist trap is in fact a hidden gem? I decided to test this contrarian idea by revisiting a few restaurants that are still popular, despite not having been The Hotness since at least before the arrival of PlayStation 2.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Todd English neglected to pay his bills at Olives Charlestown<br />
Photo courtesy of the Boston Globe</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">RESTAURANT: </span><em style="font-family: inherit;">OLIVES</em><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>
</em></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">PEAK OF IT-NESS: <em>15 YEARS AGO</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>
</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I checked in first at Olives Charlestown, which for a long time was one of the most critically-acclaimed and popular restaurants in town, but now inspires indifference from many once-ardent fans. (Olives failed to even crack the top 50 of <i>Boston Magazine</i>’s recent ranking of local restaurants, a composite of the reviews of Boston’s major food critics.) How did the first smash hit from chef/owner Todd English, one of the most successful and telegenic chefs ever to emerge from Boston, fall so far from the top of the heap?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When Olives debuted as a 50-seat Charlestown storefront in 1989, English was the smokingest young chef on the scene. His take on rustic Italian cooking was creative, fresh, and full of bold, concentrated flavors. (Some critics carped at "too many tastes on the plate", but I disagreed, adoring his dense, fiercely-flavored compositions.) With a no-reservations policy, Olives had folks lining the sidewalk before the doors opened each night; two-hour waits for tables were common. It was a brilliant, deserved success.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">English got progressively more ambitious, moving Olives to a larger location and opening his first Figs pizzeria. He added Kingfish Hall and Bonfire, more Olives and Figs outlets, and eventually another dozen restaurants around the world, attaining bona fide celebrity-chef stature. But running an empire left English with little time to actually cook at his flagship restaurant; Olives’ quality suffered under the stewardship of various lieutenants.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Twenty years on, Olives still draws crowds, though it now takes reservations. A recent visit revealed a crumbling physical plant (men’s-room partitions falling off the walls) and indifferent bartenders decanting overly-sweet $11 cocktails into unchilled glasses. One appetizer was a delightful echo of Olives’ glory days: a luxurious, truffle-flecked savory flan ($15) topped with fine wild mushrooms, foie gras and a wondrously intense reduction of veal stock. Entrees were pretty fine, too, like a slow-smoked lamb shank ($25) atop a rich root-vegetable mash, and a Flintstones-esque wood-grilled pork chop ($30) so moist it must have been brined, though it arrived overdone. But an appetizer of tagliatelli Bolognese ($11) was a major misfire: overcooked fresh pasta drowning in truffle butter and sporting a crown of carmine ragú crudely overseasoned with cinnamon. It was terrible in concept and execution, a dish that would never have been served had The Man Himself been in the kitchen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Other aberrations cropped up, too, like a neighboring couple’s side order, a football-sized mound of deep-fried onion strings ($8). This seemed better suited to a casual-dining chain like the nearby Ninety-Nine than the restaurant where English won two James Beard awards. Service was sweet and mostly attentive if a bit callow, but at $200 including a modest bottle of wine, dinner for two was a distinctly uneven, unsatisfying experience. For those of us who remember how perfectly delicious Olives was in the days before English became a superstar, when he was at the stove every night, it’s a cautionary tale on the perils of expansion. Maybe Gordon Hamersley, a chef/owner of lesser fame and fortune whose single, far-more-consistent restaurant still makes the top ten lists, is onto something after all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Olives, 10 City Sq., Charlestown, 617-242-1999</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_BZ5ri1xC_s3D_IYQRaMfRLLFtGgXqW6tO5B1AbXVmiLDuJga5hzVh5TzaYr3ntZga1MVhbuu_tOfm33qBkF9mL-7Q8iRTngOePfVY6aGzCI7qqJzFD0_OhmA7zOxeXr2DTgLNwxIyYs/s1600/anthony's+wide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_BZ5ri1xC_s3D_IYQRaMfRLLFtGgXqW6tO5B1AbXVmiLDuJga5hzVh5TzaYr3ntZga1MVhbuu_tOfm33qBkF9mL-7Q8iRTngOePfVY6aGzCI7qqJzFD0_OhmA7zOxeXr2DTgLNwxIyYs/s1600/anthony's+wide.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harbor view of the forlorn Anthony's Pier 4<br />
Photo courtesy of Chris Rich</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">RESTAURANT: </span><em style="font-family: inherit;">ANTHONY’S PIER 4</em><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">PEAK OF IT-NESS: <em>30 YEARS AGO</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I moved on to Anthony’s Pier 4, which my dad, back when he was a high-flying salesman, favored for celebrating his big business deals. Anthony’s was the reigning king of Boston fine dining in the 1970s, an oversized temple to Americanized Continental cuisine and fancy New England seafood whose football-field-sized parking lot was always full. Pretty harbor views, one of the city’s biggest and best wine lists, the bustle of a cavernous dining room, and an always-throbbing bar scene made it the preferred haunt of the city’s movers and shakers. For a long while, it was the It Place for the thousands of Bostonians who would never (or could never) set foot in the stuffy French restaurants and Yankee private clubs that otherwise dominated fine dining at the time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thirty years later, Anthony’s remains pretty much a fly in amber, exactly what it was in its heyday. Formally-clad waiters still wheel out trolleys laden with lobster bisque ($11.95), New England clam chowder ($6.95), and bouillabaisse ($12.95). The deluxe raw bar platter ($49.95) is a showy pile of local raw oysters, cherrystones, littlenecks, shrimp, mussels and lobster on a mountain of crushed ice. Popular entrees include scrod ($24.95), baked stuffed shrimp ($27.95), grilled swordfish ($27.95), a pound-and-a-quarter boiled lobster ($32.95), and prime rib ($31.95). The a la carte menu boasts old-school sides like char-broiled onions and ratatouille Provençale (both $7.95). You can even order a proper Grand Marnier soufflé ($9.95).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If all this sounds like a short step up from the dinner buffet on a mid-market cruise ship, you’re not far off. Anthony’s crowds might be the oldest in town; its tables are spaced widely enough to accommodate walkers. Every other party seems to be celebrating some golden anniversary or diamond birthday. Boston’s dining scene has become a UN of global influences, but you’d never know it here, aside from a lonely sashimi platter ($19.95). We recently took my now-wheelchair-bound dad there, and you could see him reliving his glory days, when his expense account would let him order fine French wines and that giant raw-bar platter for his clients, then grandly commandeer the check. At Anthony’s, it’s still 1979 in the kitchen, and that’s exactly how its nostalgic, snowy-haired customers like it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anthony’s Pier 4, 140 Northern Blvd., Boston, 617-482-6262</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6K69tibiyFu6BY2vCwh2hKyP1CFqrhZ_navt7ZkQvysLUrb64XU2iWiuZWnT1I6HVRfvGyDIaYCBdOvchqFUhD7dCZSdRrauBfeZcBM2FF_YVIvz6G3BrSSb3w4t1yQmSb3TSqJxw0UE/s1600/locke-ober.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6K69tibiyFu6BY2vCwh2hKyP1CFqrhZ_navt7ZkQvysLUrb64XU2iWiuZWnT1I6HVRfvGyDIaYCBdOvchqFUhD7dCZSdRrauBfeZcBM2FF_YVIvz6G3BrSSb3w4t1yQmSb3TSqJxw0UE/s1600/locke-ober.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bygone Locke-Ober Room in its goldenly glowing glory days<br />
Photo courtesy of The Hub's Metropolis</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">RESTAURANT: </span><em style="font-family: inherit;">LOCKE-OBER</em><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">PEAK OF IT-NESS: <em>45 YEARS AGO</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Next I visited Locke-Ober, which opened in 1875 as the kind of hushed, formal, mahogany-and-old-mirror-lined room then favored by our dwindling Brahmin class. You’ve seen them around town, those gaunt old WASPs with good Beacon Hill addresses and family fortunes dating to the 17th century. One family at a nearby table was prototypical: mom in the Hermes scarf, Chanel suit, and helmet of white hair resembled an 80s-vintage Barbara Bush, while her son, fortyish in brown tweeds and a hand-tied bow tie, probably played squash with Tucker Carlson when they prepped at St. George’s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Locke-Ober’s peak of national fame occurred during the presidency of John F. Kennedy (the Hope and Change candidate of 1960), whose family loved the joint precisely because as <i>arrivistes </i>they coveted its aristocratic sheen. In a token of his clan’s belated acceptance by the Palm Beach set, the superb lobster stew ($18) is now named after JFK. But by the 1990s, this grande dame was distinctly threadbare: I used to worry that the ceiling paint might flake off into my chowder. The 19th-century menu looked like a worn relic, too. Bostonians were flocking to nouvelle French and New American cuisine: Dover sole Meunière and Wiener Schnitzel a la Holstein seemed about as hip as Burt Parks singing Auld Lang Syne.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then along came Lydia Shire, one of Boston’s most original and beloved chefs, who decided to rescue Locke-Ober and renew its former luster. With a deep-pocketed partner, she bought it in 2001, restored the space’s <i>fin-de-siècle</i> elegance, and subtly refreshed the menu in her signature style, adding bits of offal here, unusual vegetables there, and Mediterranean accents throughout. The old formal flourishes – rolls served on silver salvers, individual salt-cellars, the flattering glow of Art Nouveau sconces – remained. (One regrettable holdover is the 1970s-vintage bartending; if any place ought to catch up to the current revival of Golden Age cocktail craft, it’s Locke-Ober’s handsome little bar.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite the recent, much-buzzed-about suspension of lunch service -- a terrifying omen for local restaurants -- Locke-Ober continues to host big parties of trophy-wine-swilling Financial District types celebrating whatever remaining deals they’re still winning. One nearby table full of navy and gray suits overflowed with slurred toasts to Mammon, racks of lamb ($42), prime strip steaks ($44), and gargantuan lobster Savannahs ($62). I ordered one of those old-school classics that isn’t much seen anymore, a perfectly-tender, barely-seared calf’s liver ($28) with two beautiful, oversized onion rings, bacon, carefully fried parsley, and (thanks to Shire), a balsamic/fig reduction loaded with toasted garlic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My server, in his traditional vest, bowtie and apron, was a steely, dignified old pro who monitored his tables like a hawk, swooping in with finesse to fulfill his customers’ whims, something he’s been doing here for thirty years. I finished with baked Alaska ($11), another bygone classic: a spiky, flambéed snowball of meringue encasing a thin layer of cake with strawberry and vanilla ice cream, flanked by strawberry sauce and fresh berries. Grandma would surely have oohed at that one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So on reflection, maybe Locke-Ober doesn’t belong on this list. Its resuscitation under the loving eye of a certified celebrity chef brought it some brief attention from trend-scenting exurban lemmings. But mainly it resists the strongest tides of modernity, holding out as the last dining room in town where patrons in sneakers or jeans are firmly refused a table. Locke-Ober abides more as an indispensable fixture, a Mecca to which faithful habitués of the dining scene should make at least one hajj. Not ever really an It Place, I hope it remains as an Always There Place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Locke-Ober, 3 Winter Pl., Boston, 617-542-1340</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmyNdw0qEhk-tZSFuJ7eCLte1hnK1CPvhvdmD72sho0im7R0uNuMThI6veUGI0UqLmXx2Vg2x73sxZ1JVlQOcGLkO4yMPD26-MeQf_-T-1zfiDOeVLFHXXL5qFkKPaJb3_c3CayVsPs_E/s1600/seasons+restaurant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmyNdw0qEhk-tZSFuJ7eCLte1hnK1CPvhvdmD72sho0im7R0uNuMThI6veUGI0UqLmXx2Vg2x73sxZ1JVlQOcGLkO4yMPD26-MeQf_-T-1zfiDOeVLFHXXL5qFkKPaJb3_c3CayVsPs_E/s1600/seasons+restaurant.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seasons, once a great incubator of chef talent, disappeared and nobody noticed<br />
Photo courtesy of the Boston Business Journal</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">RESTAURANT: </span><em style="font-family: inherit;">SEASONS</em><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">PEAK OF IT-NESS: <em>25 YEARS AGO</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My last stop was Seasons at the Millennium Bostonian Hotel, which in the early 1980s was an essential station on the Boston food-geek circuit. The owners had a knack for hiring immensely talented, fast-rising chefs to execute the restaurant’s innovative New American menu; many left to attain local and national stardom on their own. Seasons launched the independent careers of Jasper White, Lydia Shire, Jody Adams, Gordon Hamersley, Scott Hebert, Peter McCarthy, Tony Ambrose, and many others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As I walked up to the hotel, I thought, "Nobody talks about Seasons anymore, but maybe it’s hiding the next Tony Maws or Barry Maiden. Hmm, where did the entrance go?" The doorman ruefully informed me that Seasons had closed nine months ago, converted into a ballroom. I felt a pang: a wellspring of Boston’s culinary renaissance had vanished, unremarked and unlamented. I mentally lit a candle for Seasons, wondering how a former It Place could fade away with most of us not even noticing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">That experience left me hoping that restaurateurs remember to cherish their regulars, the folks who come in on a Tuesday night when it’s snowing, and will still be there when the trend-moths have fluttered along to the newest sparkly light in town. And I reminded myself that it’s never good as a diner to get too wrapped up in the pursuit of novelty – especially when the pressures of the economy now threaten to put many worthy restaurants out of business. While you’re out scrambling for a table at this week’s Miss Thing, you’re neglecting a solid old standby in your back yard that may be dying. Guess which one you’ll miss more if they both disappear?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span>MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-45173369610242172102014-04-11T11:40:00.000-04:002014-04-13T15:25:39.529-04:00From the Archives: Squeegee Your Anomie with Rye Whiskey<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipzOFESrZcKk3W3c9pKkW7RnH5psB5jqqWndeLeo7yD1CQ8CzaMxEIcNSudFVu88gflehQtFO22QNHy7xrGM6pyqFKg2gUU9htoXQQlHIbFN1D74lR5w33kjWn0BmKR8vTj-NvquqmXS0/s1600/max+toste+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipzOFESrZcKk3W3c9pKkW7RnH5psB5jqqWndeLeo7yD1CQ8CzaMxEIcNSudFVu88gflehQtFO22QNHy7xrGM6pyqFKg2gUU9htoXQQlHIbFN1D74lR5w33kjWn0BmKR8vTj-NvquqmXS0/s1600/max+toste+photo.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max Toste of Deep Ellum decants a Rye Manhattan<br />
(photo courtesy of The Boston Herald)</td></tr>
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As I rarely have time to create original essays for this blog, I occasionally reprint ancient pieces of mine, including articles I wrote long ago for alt-weekly Boston’s Weekly Dig (now known as <a href="http://digboston.com/" target="_blank">Dig Boston</a>), many of which became unavailable online after its mid-2007 website makeover.<br />
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Here’s one of a series of cocktail pieces I did for The Dig focusing on little-known and underappreciated spirits, in this case, American straight rye whiskey. Rye was just making its comeback in Boston bars with the help of the scene’s best craft cocktail purveyors; few local food writers seemed to have noticed. I also suspect this is a very early mention in the Boston press of a raw-egg cocktail.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">SQUEEGEE YOUR ANOMIE WITH RYE WHISKEY</span></b><br />
It’s a <i>film noir</i> world: drop that Technicolor cocktail<br />
First published in Boston’s Weekly Dig, February 21, 2007<br />
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Rye commands reverence among booze historians as America’s oldest whiskey, the original base of ancient cocktails like the Manhattan. Yet despite cultish adherents and growing press attention, rye cruises in the blind spot of most Boston bartenders. Order it and you’re liable to get a blank stare, or an unassuming blended Canadian whisky like Crown Royal, a substitute that Americans had to settle for during Prohibition. Repeal came too late to restore American rye’s fortunes: bourbon had usurped the American whiskey throne, relegating the impoverished surviving ryes to the plebian front-end of Boilermakers.<br />
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Philip Marlowe, the archetypal private detective of 1940s hardboiled crime fiction, slugged rye from bottles stashed in his desk and glove box. Preferring brash rye to sweeter, mellower bourbon flagged Raymond Chandler’s protagonist as an old-school hard guy. The assertive bite Marlowe favored is distilled from a mash of at least 51% rye grain (where bourbon uses sugar-rich corn) and aged in charred-oak barrels. Respectable ryes under $40 are still produced by venerable brands like Van Winkle and Sazerac, but this roughneck is also getting the super-premium makeover: you can now drop $100 or more on 21-year-old ryes from boutique producers like The Classic Cask.<br />
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As for cocktails, rye’s emphatic character is ill-suited to the sickly-sweet concoctions that rookies order when they graduate from Goldschläger shots. Crafting a well-balanced rye cocktail demands a certain scholarly, 19th-century rigor and inventiveness. Such precise bartending chops are cultivated at only a handful of local bars, like Cambridge’s B-Side Lounge, which spearheaded Boston's vintage-cocktail revival and has trained some of our best mixologists. At these elite establishments, rye is one tool in the campaign to hoist Boston drinkers out of the dark age of chocolate “martinis”. When you’re ready for a grown-up drink with some grizzled authenticity, try curling your lip like Bogart and ordering a rye cocktail from one of these expert purveyors.<br />
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<b>Green Street</b>. Dylan Black, proprietor of this recently-remade Central Square restaurant that serves robust New England fare, is an accomplished barman and savant of American imbibing history. His long cocktail list prominently features rye. The Daisy Black ($7.50) – named for his great-grandfather, himself a bartender in rye’s original heyday – softens the burred edges of Old Overholt rye with fresh lemon juice and honey syrup. More adventurous tipplers might try the Toronto ($8), a prize fight in a cocktail glass: jangly rye duking it out with blackish, poisonously-bitter Fernet Branca, with simple syrup trodden underfoot. You might flirt with the cross-dressing weirdness of the Double Standard ($8), which drapes rye in fruity, Cosmo-pink togs of Plymouth gin, lime juice, and raspberry syrup. Or you could just savor some Michter’s rye ($6) plain with a bit of water, a better match for this gastro-tavern’s bluff, unaffected charm.<br />
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Green Street, 280 Green St, Cambridge. 617.876.1655 <a href="http://www.eatatgreenstreet.com/">www.greenstreetgrill.com/</a><br />
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<b>Deep Ellum</b>. This Allston newcomer serves a creative pub-food menu, but is foremost a connoisseur’s beer bar with 22 drafts, 90+ bottles, a cask unit, and lots of brew-specific glassware. Fortunately, co-owner Max Toste is also a devotee of old-time cocktails like the Sazerac ($7): Old Overholt rye, Peychaud’s bitters and simple syrup stirred with ice, decanted into a cocktail glass rinsed with anise-scented Absente pastis, finished with a lemon twist. After just one, I feel like an honored guest at a particularly well-appointed French Quarter brothel. Less complicated but also delightful is the Rye Sour ($7), rye and a house-made sour mix of fresh citrus juices and sugar. With several brands to choose from, including Old Potrero, a 100%-malt-rye straight whiskey from San Francisco that Max declares “better for sipping”, we’ll return to explore obscure corners of Deep Ellum’s vintage bar guides. Maybe that beer list, too.<br />
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Deep Ellum, 477 Cambridge St, Allston. 617-787-2337,<a href="http://www.deepellum-boston.com/" target="_blank"> www.deepellum-boston.com/</a><br />
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<b>No. 9 Park</b>. The cocktail cheffery practiced at this luxury Italian/French restaurant near the State House may be the best in Boston, worth suffering the obnoxious company of its toffee-nosed Beacon Hill regulars. Occasional twee flourishes of molecular gastronomy, like toppings of nitrous-oxide foams, are forgivable: the bar staff executes the classics with integrity and impeccable ingredients. A Green Point ($11) takes Old Overholt rye and Punt e Mes, an intensely-aromatized Italian sweet vermouth, and adds Green Chartreuse liqueur for herbal complexity and a faint sweetness. The result is a multi-faceted, mahogany-hued riff on the Manhattan, gorgeously trimmed with a fresh cherry steeped in Maraschino liqueur (no horrific candied-clown-nose garnishes here). After dinner, I order a Rye Flip ($10). Heads swivel as Courtney [Hennessey] cracks a raw egg into a dry shaker, agitates it, adds ice, Rittenhouse rye and simple syrup, shakes it again long and hard, strains it into a claret glass, and grinds some fresh nutmeg on top. Half the bar watches my first swallow; the effete blueblood-wannabe on my left cringes with nausea. I grin. This is what real nog is supposed to taste like: rich, potent, just barely sweet. I feel virtuous, vigorous, like a star in my own black-and-white movie. While I agree with Chandler that “It is not a fragrant world,” the right rye cocktail can certainly refresh it for a moment.<br />
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No. 9 Park, 9 Park St, Boston. 617.742.9991 <a href="http://www.no9park.com/">www.no9park.com</a><br />
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MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-65885140217983725562013-12-17T00:18:00.000-05:002019-10-11T02:38:59.028-04:00RIP, Peter O'Toole. Glad I Got to Review You in "Ratatouille"<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7imQyYhoCPwvtAwBrE2V06RuOu4K1fsurWS4LluKHFSP0TY3XaKGJDjRgNHUdkmT-aCtB5LEer9jIV2-AGeD01v-m_PX11I5S7Fvx2B8P5G61znUW-24RLUXaUwMgH1RQ-GOQ-AZEDk/s1600/otoole+as+ego.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7imQyYhoCPwvtAwBrE2V06RuOu4K1fsurWS4LluKHFSP0TY3XaKGJDjRgNHUdkmT-aCtB5LEer9jIV2-AGeD01v-m_PX11I5S7Fvx2B8P5G61znUW-24RLUXaUwMgH1RQ-GOQ-AZEDk/s400/otoole+as+ego.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy of Picture Show Pundits</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was saddened to read of the passing of Peter O’Toole, the great British actor I much admired in films like <em>Lawrence of Arabia</em>, <em>The Stunt Man</em>, <em>The Ruling Class</em> and <em>My Favorite Year</em>. But I was especially tickled by one performance that many obituaries omitted: his icy Parisian restaurant critic Anton Ego in Pixar’s 2007 animated feature <em>Ratatouille</em>. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aside from O’Toole’s vivid voice work, I loved the fact that -- six-year-old-movie spoiler alert -- the chef/hero, a rat from the provinces who improbably ends up running a Parisian restaurant kitchen, manages to win over Ego’s hard-hearted professional spoilsport with a Provençal comfort-food dish that mashes the critic’s nostalgia buttons. (I confess: that same tactic has worked on me.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">When the film debuted, I was writing only restaurant reviews and food/drink features for alt-weekly <em>Dig Boston</em>; doing a film review was a lark. As it happened, I loved the movie, even though its depiction of food critics is a bit problematic.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>The Dig</em> redesigned its website in the summer of 2007 and in the process accidentally blew up its online archives, so I’m running it again here. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">RIP, Mr. O’Toole. It’s not the size of the life, but the size of the liver.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">From <em>Boston’s Weekly Dig</em>, 27 June 2007</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">RATATOUILLE</span><br />
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There’s a rat in me kitchen, thank goodness.</span><br />
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Review by MC Slim JB</span></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">When the Dig asked me to provide a Chowhound’s take on <em>Ratatouille</em> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">– Pixar’s new computer-animated feature about a rat who aspires to be a great chef – I thought, what business does a food writer have reviewing movies? But as a restaurant fanboy </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">and film geek, I’ve noticed the two worlds have much in common. They’re collaborative efforts: a film’s scenarist, director and actors mirror a restaurant’s chef, cooks and servers. Enjoyment of each requires a couple of hours’ time and benefits from comfy seats and boon companions. Whether dining or viewing is the main event, discussing it afterward is part of the fun.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">No surprise, I love food-themed movies. I went in prepared to measure <em>Ratatouille</em> against the greats of the genre. My all-time favorite is <em>Tampopo</em> (1985, Japan), in which a trucker helps a young widow save her failing ramen stand by taking her on a quest to uncover the quintessential noodle soup recipe. It both respects and satirizes genre films, movie lovers and food dorks, and features some jaw-dropping scenes that deliriously conflate the pleasures of food and sex.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Another is <em>Big Night</em> (1996), in which two immigrant brothers struggle to keep their traditional Italian restaurant afloat in philistine 1950s New Jersey. The climactic feast, prepared for a VIP who never shows, is one of filmdom's giddiest, most tantalizing dinner parties, while the wordless finale is a lyrical reminder of how cooking and sharing a meal can express love and forgiveness. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Does <em>Ratatouille</em> belong in this rarified company?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">It has some bona fides. The film got the food-nerd community buzzing by hiring Thomas Keller </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">– chef/owner of The French Laundry and Per Se, two of America’s mostly highly regarded restaurants – as a consultant. Keller guided the filmmakers’ painstaking efforts to realistically recreate the workings of an Escoffier-vintage kitchen brigade and its product. Meanwhile, co-writer/director Brad Bird – of <em>The Iron Giant</em> (1999) and <em>The Incredibles</em> (2004) – has created a hero any food obsessive can identify with.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">That would be Remy (ingenuously voiced by alt-comedy genius Patton Oswalt), a rural rat with a hypersensitive nose, refined palate, and dreams of culinary greatness. He covets fresh people-food and emulates its cooking, to the bemusement of his trash-scavenging family. Separated from them during an emergency evacuation of their country nest, he lands in Paris in the kitchen of Gusteau’s, a once-famed, now down-at-the-heels restaurant. The ghost of the late chef Gusteau himself (Brad Garrett, sage and dolorous), whose cookbooks and cooking shows have made him Remy’s hero, pops up periodically as mentor and conscience.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Remy forges a symbiotic relationship with the kitchen’s plongeur Linguini (Lou Romano), a clumsy doofus utterly bereft of cooking skills. Like Cyrano turning an inarticulate hunk into a silver-tongued Romeo, Remy becomes Linguini’s literal puppet master, making him a talented cook by proxy. Thus Linguini earns acclaim for himself and the envious enmity of the gnomish, scheming Skinner (a gleefully wicked Ian Holm), the restaurant’s current chef/owner.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Remy and Linguini’s other antagonist, restaurant critic Anton Ego (imperiously voiced by Peter O’Toole) may cause food writers everywhere to squirm, and not just because he looks like a refugee from Tim Burton’s <em>Corpse Bride</em>. The real affront is how the film misrepresents their profession. Ego’s a pompous aesthete, insufferably certain of his power and infallible taste. Wait, that’s not the error: it’s his announcement that he’ll dine at Gusteau’s the following evening to review it. I know that every local restaurateur recognizes the critics from <em>Boston Magazine</em> and the <em>Boston Herald</em>, ensuring they get fabulous meals, but some of us still cultivate anonymity, seeking the same treatment as our readers.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">That’s a quibble in a film where the food looks so fabulous, the milieu and technique so true to life. Ironically, another false note belongs to Keller with his design of the titular specialty that Remy creates to impress Ego. Unlike most of Remy’s soulful, instinctive cooking, Keller's ratatouille is a fussy, post-modern abstraction of the humble French peasant stew. Looking like a Bundt cake made of poker chips, ringed by a too-careful smear of sauce and crowned with a tiny sliver of basil, it’s the least appetizing dish </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">in the movie.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mercifully, <em>Ratatouille</em> eschews the obnoxious pop-culture riffing that has plagued recent animated films, which should help it age much better than anything involving Robin Williams. The CG looks gorgeous: wet rat fur is as lovingly rendered as the sleek, Anna Karina-esque bob worn by Colette (a winning smarty-punk performance by Janeane Garofalo), the brigade’s feisty lone female cook. I’m grateful that Remy and his clan aren’t Disney-cute; they look especially glossily, greasily gross when running for their lives, as rats frequently must do.<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /><em>Ratatouille</em> features thrilling action sequences, abundant slapstick, nefarious intrigue, screwball romance, and lovely Parisian scenery, albeit with some pat homilies about daring to follow your dreams. I particularly enjoyed Colette’s Anthony Bourdain-like description of Skinner’s dubious kitchen crew, as well as Remy’s musings on the ecstasies of well-matched flavors. The kids will love it, but even meat-and-potatoes grownups should find <i>Ratatouille </i>brisk, hilarious and moving. With any luck, </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">it will also inspire them to cook with a bit more passion and joy, and maybe eat a little less garbage.</span></span></span>MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-70661098546166497262013-04-09T19:14:00.002-04:002018-04-08T02:33:11.422-04:0011 Reasons Your Yelp Reviews Suck, and 11 Things You Can Do About It<div style="text-align: right;">
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<b>I recently appeared on Minnesota Public Radio’s <i>“Daily Current”</i> program</b> in a segment entitled, <a href="http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/04/09/daily-circuit-yelp-reviews" target="_blank">“Everyone's a critic: Yelp reviews hold great power”</a>, which examines the growing impact of amateur restaurant reviews posted to sites like <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g60745-Boston_Massachusetts.html" target="_blank">TripAdvisor</a>, <a href="http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=TdZ02yT6U57PsjZ5DqsOtA" target="_blank">Yelp </a>and <a href="http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/12" target="_blank">Chowhound</a>.* In preparation for this interview, <b>I gathered some thoughts about the flaws in many amateur reviews</b>, the concerns I have with anonymous reviews, and some tips for amateurs on writing fair and useful restaurant reviews.<br />
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<b>COMMON PROBLEMS WITH AMATEUR REVIEWS</b><br />
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<b>I’m very wary of taking restaurant advice from anonymous reviewers online</b> for the same reasons I wouldn’t trust a stranger who gave me unsolicited advice on the street. <i>I don’t know anything about you; who knows what kind of awful food you like?</i> But beyond this issue, which I’ll dig into more below, I often see a host of <b>common problems in the reviews on sites like Yelp</b>. Specifically, the reviewer:<br />
<ul>
<li>Bases his opinion on <b>too small a sample or an unrepresentative one</b>: a single visit, or brunch, a Restaurant Week meal, or on what the industry calls the Shitshow Days – New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving Eve -- where specialty menus and/or mobs of customers don’t reflect the typical dining experience. There are good reasons why pros always put in three or four visits before formulating an opinion. You should, too, though just two visits would still be better than one.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Is obviously making <b>unfair judgments or poor decisions based on ignorance of the restaurant’s cuisine, level of formality, intentions, or audience</b>. For example, he’s angry that he couldn’t order Cantonese dishes at a Sichuan restaurant, doesn’t understand why the dive bar serves poorly-made Martinis, or can’t believe the Michelin three-star place has no children's menu and won’t seat him while he’s wearing a bathing suit and flip-flops.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Clearly has <b>no understanding of how restaurants work</b>. She can’t tell the difference between a service error and a kitchen error, gets angry when she hasn’t made a reservation at a peak time and has to wait for a table, or gets upset that the restaurant won’t seat her incomplete party. (Even <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2013/04/02/greatest-hits-italian-classics-served-stylish-noisy-south-end-trattoria/CNuNQvbeYON3tafzDQFbSN/story.html" target="_blank">pros can be guilty of this last one</a>, hard as that may be to believe.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Has <b>no sense of how to optimize the dining experience by speaking up to fix a problem</b>. To do this, it helps to understand which errors can be fixed right away (e.g., the wrong order arriving, an underdone steak) and those that can’t (e.g., the dining room is too loud, there are no halal options). If you don’t bring a fixable problem to your server’s attention, they can’t fix it.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Makes <b>unmerited claims to authority</b>. <i>“I have an Italian surname; I know Italian food.” “I did Spring Break in Cancun; I know Mexican food.” “I’m a foodie; I am very particular about food.”</i> Sorry, but none of that has any bearing on your ability to write an informed restaurant review. Dave Andelman claims to have eaten every single meal of his adult life in restaurants: have you noticed the awful crap his <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2009/04/chowhound-versus-phantom-gourmet.html" target="_blank">Phantom Gourmet TV show</a> heartily endorses? Maybe you just stepped off the boat from China, but favored American-style fast food there, and thus are a lousy judge of actual Chinese cuisine.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Betrays <b>a lack of human empathy</b>, often expressed by a condescending tone toward the staff. The reviewer doesn’t appear to have ever considered what it would be like to have strangers rating him on his annual job performance based on a single 90-minute meeting.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Reveals <b>an undue sense of entitlement</b>: she appears to expect special treatment at the expense of other customers, that the restaurant should bend the rules for her because it’s her birthday, or that no demand is unreasonable because “ the customer is always right” – in general, an attitude that a restaurant is obligated to cater to her every whim.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Has <b>unreasonable expectations on whether the restaurant can accommodate special dietary preferences</b>, allergies, restrictions, taboos, etc., and wrongfully assumed without calling ahead that it can and should be able to deal with every customer's gluten intolerance, veganism, aversion to onions, etc.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Shows <b>a lack of deep contextual knowledge</b> of the kind that informs really useful food writing. The reviewer has no experience working in restaurants, a shallow grasp of the local restaurant scene, limited perspective on its history, a poor compass on emerging local and national culinary trends and talent, little direct experience of international cuisines from travel abroad, meager knowledge of beer, wine, spirits, and cocktails, and scant home cooking skills.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Includes <b>a raft of details unrelated to food, service and atmosphere </b>under the mistaken belief that these will be of interest to strangers. I’m glad you were out with your dear Great-Aunt Margie and were wearing your favorite party dress and saw Jacoby Ellsbury at the next table and had a bunch of cocktails and were really lit by the time dinner arrived, but let’s skip all that. Only your closest friends care, and even they are probably bored with that story.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Has <b>an obvious agenda </b>behind an overtly positive or negative review.<b> </b>The reviewer is either a shill (an investor, owner, employee, public relations agent, friend or relative of the restaurant) or an axe-grinder (an investor, owner, or employee of a competitor, an unethical PR person angry the restaurant ditched him for another firm, a disgruntled ex-employee, the owner’s jilted ex-paramour.) Ever wonder why that one reviewer only talks about Seaport restaurants, and defends even the most mediocre ones to the death? Maybe she works in marketing for a developer in the neighborhood, or is trying to boost the value of her Waterfront condo. The problem of phony online reviews is growing, and the fakers are getting better at masking their biases.</li>
</ul>
<b>THE OPACITY OF ANONYMOUS REVIEWS</b><br />
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As I said, <b>I distrust any review from a person about whom I know nothing</b>. At a minimum, I need to feel some confidence that the reviewer and I share the same sensibilities, that we like and dislike the same kinds of places. This makes reviews on sites where reviewers remain anonymous, like Zagat (now part of Google) and OpenTable, quite useless to me. <b>With professional reviewers and bloggers, you can glean their point of view, expertise and trustworthiness by reading their published body of work</b> -- for starters, by looking at places you’ve both been to and seeing if you mostly agree or disagree with their opinions on them.<br />
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<b>With a little effort, you can make similar assessments of amateurs if they review under a consistent identity</b>, as is done on Chowhound, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. By reading a dozen or so of an individual's bylined opinions about places you know, you can begin to gauge their knowledge, contextual depth and tastes. Finding someone you trust in this manner is far more likely to yield solid recommendations than taking advice from an online stranger, which is the equivalent of meeting some random nobody whose favorite restaurant might be Old Country Buffet, or that pizza place you stopped going to after you ate there sober once.<br />
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<b>Aggregate star ratings are utterly suspect for the same reason</b>: you know nothing about the people behind the underlying individual ratings. There are too many opinions from strangers rolled up in there, and many of them might be the sort who thinks waiting an hour for a table at The Cheesecake Factory is totally worth it.<br />
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<b>It’s always useful to find reviewers with special expertise in or passion for certain cuisines</b>, like the slow-smoke barbecue nerd, the oenophile with a Master of Wine qualification, or the woman who was raised on her immigrant mother’s Taiwanese cooking. Food bloggers often fall into these categories, but I count many amateurs, especially on Boston's Chowhound board, as valuable resources on this score, too.<br />
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Anonymity and aggregate star ratings thwart your ability to grasp the point of view behind opinions. Still, <b>skimming a couple of dozen Yelp reviews can help, as long as you understand that at best these provide an approximation of the statistical mean.</b> If you are satisfied with mass market oriented restaurants and national casual dining chains, that perspective might be adequate. If you’re one of those food geeks who considers a merely okay meal to be an avoidable tragedy, you’ve got to dig deeper than the so-called wisdom of crowds, and seek out individual voices that share your ardor for extraordinary food. That takes some work.<br />
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<b>TIPS ON WRITING QUALITY AMATEUR REVIEWS</b><br />
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As an old-media restaurant critic for the last eight years, I've long understood that <b>the value placed on professional opinions is dwindling</b>. Three or four years ago, Boston diners could read two dozen professional restaurant reviews in local print publications every month. Now, there’s maybe half that, and I expect that number will keep shrinking. (My own longtime employer, <a href="http://thephoenix.com/" target="_blank">The Boston Phoenix</a>, the city's leading alt-weekly for nearly fifty years, ceased publication in March, 2013.) Professional critics are dinosaurs in a tar pit; the voice and weight of amateur reviewers is ascendant.<br />
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Given that you have the chance to exercise that voice loudly and often, here are a few pro tips on <b>how to make your amateur reviews more fair, useful, and compelling</b>:<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Don’t review a place you’ve only been to once</b>. I’ve published over 300 professional reviews: many places I reviewed favorably didn’t make a great first impression, and some of the harsher reviews were of places that wowed me initially. In light of <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2011/01/csi-boston-restaurant-edition-who.html">how important consistency is to a restaurant’s success</a>, accumulating a larger sample size is the only way to ensure you’re being fair and accurate.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Get your facts straight.</b> I once <a href="http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/10/19/mc-slim-jb-versus-a-yelper-over-yumewokatare.php" target="_blank">called out a Yelper</a> for slagging a ramen place (Cambridge, MA’s <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/147448-buta-ramen-at-yume-wo-katare/" target="_blank">Yume Wo Katare</a>) because he clearly didn’t understand the very specific style (<i><a href="http://www.ramentokyo.com/2007/06/ramen-jiro.html" target="_blank">jiro ramen</a></i>) they were serving there, and defended his opinion with one erroneous assumption after another. He had some restaurant industry connections, had traveled in Asia, had visited a passel of famous, fancy ramen joints. None of this changed the fact that his comments were as ignorant as complaining that a traditional Northern Italian restaurant didn’t serve spaghetti with red sauce and meatballs. Don’t be that idiot.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>If your restaurant experience was unsatisfactory and your server didn’t fix the fixable problems you brought to their attention, <b>take up your unresolved issues with the manager</b> after your meal, either directly or with a follow-up phone call or email. Give the restaurant an opportunity to make things right before you flay it online.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Skip the outline of your credentials</b>. The fact that you are 100% Irish (meaning your great-great-great-grandparents emigrated 160 years ago in the Famine) doesn’t mean you can tell cottage pie from shepherd’s pie. Even if you did speak fluent Gaelic, you still might be a food ignoramus with lousy taste. Let your knowledge, passion, and discernment speak for itself. You may in fact be an expert on Irish cuisine, but it's not because of your genes.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Consider that your negative review has the power to affect people’s livelihoods, especially when the place is new</b>. One bad review of ten that have been posted hurts far worse than one out of a hundred reviews. Professionals know to give a new place a few weeks to complete a shakedown cruise; consider giving that same benefit of the doubt to fledgling enterprises.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Recognize that the Internet gives an illusion of anonymity that is fleeting at best. <b>Don’t exhibit “e-balls”</b>, the bravado that arises from the imagined distance between your browser and the object of your criticism. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t say in person to the host, bartender, server, chef or owner. Assume that your pen name or alternate online identity will eventually be revealed, because it will. (Do you really think that Google, Verizon, and the NSA don’t already know who you are, Foodie1992?)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Consider whether the restaurant’s failures are systemic or a reflection of an off night.</b> Everyone has bad days and personal distractions to deal with. Most staffers are busting their asses to ensure you have a great meal. Last night’s fumbling server or overtired line cook may bounce back and be awesome the rest of the year, but your one-star pan based on a single anecdotal experience will persist online forever.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Learn to cook and to serve.</b> If you really want to deepen your appreciation of what the pros are able to do at speed and scale every night, pile up some hours in your own kitchen doing some scratch cooking: learn how to shop for fresh, seasonal produce; clean, filet and cook a fish; truss and roast a chicken; make a basic stock and vinaigrette; bake a loaf of bread; grill and roast and braise different cuts of beef; steam a lobster; cook vegetables and grains perfectly. Then try pulling off an eight-person dinner party sometime. It ain’t as easy as it looks, is it, Monsieur Ego?</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Travel, and don’t eat like a damned tourist when you do.</b> Anthony Bourdain’s <a href="http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/anthony-bourdain" target="_blank">“No Reservations!”</a> is one of the few food-TV shows I have any use for because he eats abroad the way I always have done: by checking out the markets, eating the street food, avoiding anything considered the “Best Local X” in mass-market guidebooks, and finding a way to get invited to a local’s house for a home-cooked meal. You will find it mind-boggling (and usefully humbling) to discover how very much you have to learn about your favorite cuisines.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Back at home, <b>seek out restaurants run by immigrant chef/owners</b> whose primary audience is his or her fellow ex-pats. These places don’t dumb down the cuisine for American palates; it’s the next best thing to traveling to their homeland. If everyone in the joint but you is not speaking English, that’s a promising sign.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Make sure you don’t have a reason to recuse yourself. <b>Don’t be a shill or a negative shill</b> by reviewing a place in whose success or failure you have a hidden interest.</li>
</ul>
In short, before you lob an online dart that could hurt a small business, recognize how little you may actually know, do some homework, and act like a decent human being. <b>The Internet has given you great power; try not to be a prick about it.</b><br />
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<b>* </b>Other guests included Jack Yu of <a href="http://reputology.com/">reputology.com</a>, which helps businesses manage their reputations by monitoring amateur reviews, and <a href="http://www.startribune.com/bios/10645521.html" target="_blank">Rick Nelson</a>, a professional restaurant critic for the Minneapolis-St. Paul daily <i>Star-Tribune</i>. You can listen to the MPR segment <a href="http://minnesota.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=minnesota/news/programs/daily_circuit_2/2013/04/09/daily_circuit_130409_food_reviews_20130409_64" target="_blank">here</a>. I don’t show up until minute 26; the whole thing is worth listening to.</div>
MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-73502682861873079322013-03-27T18:52:00.000-04:002013-03-29T14:34:53.500-04:00From the Archives: Five-Drink Minimum at Vinalia<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8DomByy_sy8HGCRgDeyT_v0JoFdx8y1-BP-UpQ6eqpJ-7RUf-Hpmx3Oy8AvxFhu6KWRbu8qTouJNV0X9IFkdDupBCpNbroNtlr1U5LBBhJhY94n-nuxl5K1Ok9Jq9uWl4CcDtrdekpIU/s1600/vinalia+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Courtesy of Boston's Weekly Dig" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8DomByy_sy8HGCRgDeyT_v0JoFdx8y1-BP-UpQ6eqpJ-7RUf-Hpmx3Oy8AvxFhu6KWRbu8qTouJNV0X9IFkdDupBCpNbroNtlr1U5LBBhJhY94n-nuxl5K1Ok9Jq9uWl4CcDtrdekpIU/s1600/vinalia+2.jpg" height="320" title="Photos by Mike Ritter" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.796875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Once again, I'm reprinting an ancient piece of mine from <a href="http://digboston.com/" target="_blank">Boston's Weekly Dig</a> that disappeared when its online archive went kablooey sometime in the summer of 2007. Five-Drink Minimum is an annual Dig feature series that sends local writers to one or more Boston bars to document a brief binge. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.796875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.796875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My assignment in March, 2006 was to bottom-up five drinks </span></span>–<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.796875px;"> one of the bartender's choosing, the rest mine </span>–<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.796875px;"> at Vinalia, a bygone, fairly fancy restaurant and wine bar in Downtown Crossing that sat in the spot currently occupied by </span><a href="http://www.petitrobertcentral.com/" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.796875px;" target="_blank">Petit Robert Central.</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.796875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think this piece demonstrates that our drinks scene has made some progress in seven years: few Boston bartenders in 2013 at this price level would have no idea what American straight rye whiskey is, and the <i>Sex and the City</i>-style oversized cocktail glass is thankfully on the wane.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>FIVE-DRINK MINIMUM: VINALIA RESTAURANT, LOUNGE & WINE BAR</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">By MC Slim JB</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">101 Arch Street, Downtown Crossing, 617.737.1777, www.vinaliaboston.com </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>From the March 15, 2006 issue of Boston's Weekly Dig</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Vinalia is determinedly modern, chicly spare and hard-edged, a polished black-granite bartop reflecting a glowing, cobalt-blue wall. Bartender Christine says, “Vinalia gets insanely packed on weeknights with after-work Financial District types. We pour many specialty cocktails, but we’re a serious wine bar. Weekends are calmer, mostly couples on dates and event groups.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Drink 1</b>, Christine’s choice: dreading the kind of candy-flavored fauxtini they concoct for rookies, I’m relieved instead to get a <b>Sidecar up</b> ($9), a grownup’s drink. Successful Sidecars hinge on fresh lemon juice: fortunately, the centerpiece of Vinalia’s bar is piles of fresh fruit. Yikes, is that a 14-ounce cocktail glass? Five of these will coldcock me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Drink 2</b>, (the rest are my choices): <b>Manhattan up</b> ($9). At most joints, asking for rye – the original Manhattan base, not bourbon (look it up) – creates confusion. “I don’t think we stock rye,” says Christine. “Canadian whisky* comes close,” I offer. “Use Crown Royal.” The result sports just the right Angostura accent: smooooth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Drink 3</b>: Time to switch to wine, or I’ll be stumbling into the path of a Silver Line bus. The by-the-glass list is diverse and sensibly priced for a bar this swanky. Feeling magnanimous after two birdbaths of fancy hooch, I order a <b>2004 Contratto Panta Rei Barbera d’Asti</b> ($11), a complex, hot Piemontese red served in a quality balloon wineglass. Under the eerie blue lighting, it looks like chocolate syrup. Drinking rich sure is easy when the boss is paying.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Drink 4</b>: The bar is full of witty, gorgeous young devotees of Bacchus, or so the knots of friends at the lounge tables appear to my lubricated senses. I’m ready to jet to Tuscany with a <b>2004 Villa Vignamaggio Chianti</b> ($10), from a winery I once visited on a holiday stopover in Greve, the very spot where Mona Lisa sat for Leonardo. Overcome with nostalgia and the realization that I haven’t had a real vacation in years, I decide this wine is both awesome and a little sad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Drink 5</b>: The homestretch calls for something short and sweet, an Austrian dessert wine, a <b>2005 Weinlaubenhof Alois Kracher Beerenauslese Cuvee</b> ($11), which I mistakenly fancy I can actually pronounce. It’s a viscous, flowery, golden little cup of nectar, and I feel ever-so-worldly for knowing about it. Pretty soon it’s done, and so am I. I grip the handrail tightly on the long escalator ride down and out of the bubble of ease and savoir-faire that Vinalia creates, emerging unsteadily into the windblown trash of Downtown Crossing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">* I included this aside to my editor: “Please note the spelling ‘whisky’ (no ‘e’) for Canadian and Scotch, not ‘whiskey’, the spelling used for the American and Irish spirits.” He ignored me.</span>MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-86260138357082679792012-12-30T12:48:00.001-05:002012-12-30T13:29:05.503-05:00Friends of Eater Boston 2012 Year-End Questions: MC Slim JB's Responses<br />
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Anyone who follows Boston’s restaurant scene ought to be reading <a href="http://boston.eater.com/" target="_blank">Eater Boston</a>, the local affiliate of the national <a href="http://eater.com/" target="_blank">Eater</a> network of city-based blogs covering restaurants, bars and nightlife. In multiple postings each weekday, editor Aaron Kagan manages to vacuum up every significant story on our scene – restaurant openings and closings, chef comings and goings, worthwhile upcoming one-off events, happenings in food TV and other media, what the critics (professional and amateur alike) are saying, interviews with food-world personalities – and report them all with a sly, often satirical edge.<br />
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As part of its annual December summing-up of the preceding year, Eater Boston poses a series of questions to the “Friends of Eater Boston”, a group of professional restaurant critics, noted food bloggers, industry insiders, and food-scene personalities. I’m happy and honored to be a part of this group. I’ve collected my answers to the 2012 year-end questions here; click on the questions to go to the original Eater Boston articles to see how other Friends of Eater Boston answered, too.<br />
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<i>Eater Boston: <a href="http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/12/26/friends-of-eater-on-top-restaurant-standbys-of-2012.php" target="_blank">Name your top restaurant standbys of 2012</a> -- the restaurants you returned to most.</i><br />
MC Slim JB: <b><a href="http://stuffboston.com/2012/02/13/roasted-apple-salad-at-strip-ts" target="_blank">Strip-T’s</a>, <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2010/01/25/salumi-at-coppa.aspx" target="_blank">Coppa</a>, Dumpling Café, <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/11/14/paella-mixta-at-estragon-tapas-bar.aspx" target="_blank">Estragon</a>, Island Creek Oyster Bar, jm Curley’s.</b><br />
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<i>EB: <a href="http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/12/26/friends-of-eater-on-top-restaurant-newcomers-of-2012.php" target="_blank">What are the top restaurant newcomers of 2012?</a></i><br />
MC: <b>Gustazo Cuban Restaurant & Cafe, <a href="http://stuffboston.com/2012/05/08/nam-prik-ong-at-thai-north" target="_blank">Thai North</a>, <a href="http://stuffboston.com/2012/07/03/egg-in-a-jar-at-west-bridge" target="_blank">West Bridge</a>, <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/139363-on-the-cheap-china-king/" target="_blank">China King</a>, Casa B, <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/145902-shrimp-capellini-egg-nest-at-shojo/" target="_blank">Shojo</a>, <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/147448-buta-ramen-at-yume-wo-katare/" target="_blank">Yume Wo Katare</a></b>. For bars, I’d add <b><a href="http://stuffboston.com/2012/03/13/steak-salad-at-the-hawthorne" target="_blank">The Hawthorne</a>, <a href="http://stuffboston.com/2012/01/30/chicken-and-waffle-at-brick-andamp-mortar" target="_blank">Brick & Mortar</a> </b>(though technically speaking, both opened in late ’11), <b>backbar, </b>and <b>First Printer</b> after Brother Cleve was brought in to revamp its cocktail program.<br />
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<i>EB: <a href="http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/12/26/friends-of-eater-on-2012-in-one-word.php" target="_blank">Describe 2012 in one word</a>. </i><br />
MC: <b>Ramenmania!</b><br />
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<i>EB: <a href="http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/12/27/friends-of-eater-on-the-best-dining-neighborhood-of-2012.php" target="_blank">What was the best Boston-area dining neighborhood in 2012?</a></i><br />
MC: <b>Allston</b>. For the nth year running, it presents the highest concentration of worthy budget restaurants in Boston. Particularly enjoyed the new <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/144052-on-the-cheap-kaju-tofu-house/" target="_blank"><b>Kaju Tofu House</b></a>, which specializes in sundubu jigae, a Korean spicy tofu soup that is a great morning-after restorative; <b>JoJo Taipei</b>, an excellent traditional Taiwanese restaurant; and <b>Lone Star Taco Bar</b>, the terrific border-food joint from the Deep Ellum folks.<br />
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<i>EB: <a href="http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/12/27/friends-of-eater-on-the-biggest-dining-surprise-of-2012.php" target="_blank">What was the biggest dining surprise of 2012?</a></i><br />
MC: <b>Seeing Mad Men’s Jon Hamm at <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2010/04/05/codorniz-al-xocolat-at-taberna-de-haro.aspx" target="_blank">Taberna de Haro</a></b>, along with Tom Werner, Larry David, Michael Keaton, and Patrick Lyons. I try to be cool around any celebrities I see around town, so I didn’t look at them as I walked by on my way out. But I’m a huge Mad Men fan, and so I had to steal a glance at Hamm through the front window from the sidewalk. He caught me, gave me a big, bug-eyed, goofy grin, as if to say, “Yeah, I know you’re gawking.” Love that man: as an actor, a style icon, and off-camera, a very funny guy who seems genuinely humbled by his fame and success. For me, <b>the real, ongoing surprise is that most celebrities that visit Boston are seen dining in stupid tourist-trap restaurants, not great local places like Taberna de Haro.</b><br />
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<i>EB: <a href="http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/12/27/friends-of-eater-on-their-best-meals-of-2012.php" target="_blank">What and where was your single best meal in 2012?</a></i><br />
MC: Always hard to pick one, but I had a memorable multi-course dinner at <a href="http://stuffboston.com/2012/05/08/nam-prik-ong-at-thai-north" target="_blank"><b>Thai North</b></a>, which features the rare-in-Boston cuisine of Thailand’s Chiang Mai province, though you’ll only taste it if you order off the specials board. I went with a bunch of my food-geek friends, and we went to town, though the check didn’t crack $20 a head with a nice tip. Highlights included <b>dressing fish, duck larb, khao soi, and mango sticky rice</b>. A criminally overlooked place.<br />
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<i>EB: <a href="http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/12/28/friends-of-eater-on-their-2012-restaurant-breakups.php" target="_blank">Were there any restaurants that you broke up with in 2012, i.e., places you stopped going to?</a></i><br />
MC: I guess it’s hard to have a breakup when you never really got past the flirting stage, but <b>I’ve been singularly unimpressed with most Seaport restaurants and bars</b> outside of standbys like <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2011/05/drink-bostons-single-most-essential.html" target="_blank">Drink</a> and Sportello. In my book, the <b>lovely harbor views don’t compensate for mostly underwhelming food and drinks</b>. I’m hopeful something there will wow me in 2013, but for now I’d rather give my affection to non-chain, independent restaurants in less touristy neighborhoods.<br />
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<i>EB: <a href="http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/12/28/friends-of-eater-on-headline-predictions-for-2013.php" target="_blank">Dining world headline predictions for 2013?</a></i><br />
MC: <b>Humanity’s heavy footprint on the planet will continue to adversely affect how we eat</b>: drought, floods and violent storms will contribute to famine and higher food prices. We’ll see more big outbreaks of food-borne illness due to our over-reliance on antibiotics and factory farming. I expect we’ll see more and more seafood species disappearing from overfishing. The swelling ranks of the newly-prosperous middle class in places like India and China will drive up oil prices, in turn driving up food prices, and their accompanying rise in the consumption of meat, wine, and luxury foods will make those things more expensive, too. <b>I hope this will serve as a wakeup call for us to get more serious about sustainable energy, fishing, and agriculture, as well as global warming</b>, but I’m not optimistic on that score. Okay, I need to go eat a locally-grown turnip now. <b>Happy New Year!</b><br />
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MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-41894071024317561102012-04-16T15:12:00.038-04:002012-04-18T08:57:42.299-04:00Who Is Kyle Melrose and Why Is He Trying to Poison Professional Critics Against Your Restaurant?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; float: left; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5hCgNgtdd5tRc8IRa1_h8TSfAqeTdfOl0kp3LgtXwUo_FElQFz5MgEoJSnee8Icp6JYpqi1npVDVxpk8YhOOPVNsBBlDkhCMRepxyW1xzfghq1MjNMxA0RHAlQrUy5B2Ftypg24L21g/s1600/poison+in+the+ear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5hCgNgtdd5tRc8IRa1_h8TSfAqeTdfOl0kp3LgtXwUo_FElQFz5MgEoJSnee8Icp6JYpqi1npVDVxpk8YhOOPVNsBBlDkhCMRepxyW1xzfghq1MjNMxA0RHAlQrUy5B2Ftypg24L21g/s400/poison+in+the+ear.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">As documented in a <a href="http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/04/16/mc-slim-jb-on-the.php" target="_blank">recent post on Eater Boston</a>, some local character going by the name of Kyle Melrose has been emailing local professional restaurant critics and editors to talk trash about certain restaurateurs around Boston, and apparently has been doing so for years. I got my first email from Mr. Melrose a couple of months ago:</div><br />
<i>"From: Kyle Melrose, bostonwriter2010@gmail.com</i><br />
<i>Only becuase [sic] I like you and what you are doing, you should know I overheard Joe Casanelli [sic], the owner of Posto and Painted Burro really bashing you BIG TIME and very publically [sic]. Was not cool. KM"</i><br />
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I quickly replied: <i>"Kyle -- Thanks for the tip! Seems kind of ungrateful, as I've said very nice things about Posto. But it's to be expected: not everyone is going to love you when your job is trying to paint an unbiased picture of restaurants on behalf of consumers."</i><br />
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At first, I took the message at face value, having initially confused “Kyle Melrose” with another Kyle I know casually. Also, it’s easy to believe a restaurateur might be cursing a professional restaurant critic: maybe I had reviewed their place harshly, or hadn’t reviewed it yet (which is the case with <a href="http://pizzeriaposto.com/" target="_blank">Pizzeria Posto</a> and <a href="http://www.thepaintedburro.com/" target="_blank">The Painted Burro</a>), or perhaps dissed a previous employer. (For instance, Cassinelli once worked at Stella and Mistral, two venues I’ve occasionally criticized.) As a reviewer, you strive to be fair, honest, thorough and accurate. Earning the enmity of some industry folks is just part of the job.<br />
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Then I had an email exchange with Cassinelli’s public relations people at <a href="http://www.451marketing.com/" target="_blank">451 Marketing</a> in which I recounted the Melrose story, which they protested wasn’t true. That got my antennae up, and when <a href="http://boston.eater.com/tags/aaron-kagan" target="_blank">Aaron Kagan at Eater Boston</a> mentioned getting a similar email, I decided to poll a few other professional critics and food website editors in Boston. Sure enough, one prominent local reviewer also got a <i>“Joe bad-mouthed you”</i> email from Melrose. Another responded, <i>“That guy? Haven’t heard from him since 2010 -- he was bad-mouthing MET Back Bay then -- but he’s supposedly a local PR guy who trashes competitors and their clients.”</i> The jig was up: I was actually late to the party in recognizing this Kyle Melrose as a fraud.<br />
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Most of the time, I have fairly sensitive radar for this kind of “negative shilling”, a slam from a bogus source. It's inevitably someone with an ax to grind: a competitor (like the Harvard Square pub owner who is notorious for posting one-star Yelp reviews against his neighbors), a disgruntled former employee, an ex-paramour. And as I said to The Painted Burro's PR people, I wouldn't let a hostile owner affect my impartial assessment of the restaurant; his or her opinion of me is irrelevant to whether my readers might enjoy the place. But until this incident, I hadn’t considered that such a story might be the invention of a rogue PR person trying to prejudice my perceptions. I routinely work with PR professionals in my day job outside of the restaurant industry, and have never seen this shady tactic used there.<br />
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Judging from Melrose's targets, I have a pretty good idea of who he is, though I haven't any proof. Further, many of the industry folks I've talked to about Melrose, both on the restaurant and PR side, suspect the same culprit, though nobody will go on the record about it. Any way you slice it, it's sleazy, unethical, possibly criminal behavior. At the very least, it would be extremely damaging to the reputation and business of any PR firm proven to be engaging in it. What restaurant would ever hire an agency that was known to slander its former clients?<br />
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To be fair, some anonymous sources turn out to be reliable: a self-described insider's predictions that <a href="http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/03/05/changes-at-namaskar-trouble-for-kingfish-hall.php" target="_blank">Kingfish Hall was closing imminently</a> proved to be true, despite the adamant denials of Todd English’s PR team. But thanks to Mr. Melrose, I’ll be a bit warier of anonymous tipsters with bad news from now on, wondering if in fact the source might be an ethically-challenged PR agency that is bitter about being dumped and not above some lowdown backstabbing. When it comes to anonymous bile, whether spewed on Yelp or poured into your Gmail inbox, <i>caveat emptor.</i>MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-34615775135556494942012-02-22T09:05:00.016-05:002012-02-22T13:56:47.365-05:00Boston Goes Berserk for a Bowl of Noodles: Thoughts on the Recent Ramen Craze<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIJ7M9Sz-2o7dMYA4Rb9NUeianaInlcRhvpogA1lNv1DQ1ac2HrOnIq_NyeM0Dv4SgH9lQaZGM5sWv1Tq7jzneNlHy78zjIfOYek5MFNkvNuV4PK5D2r4Tv9fKRSBVrm9jcDZlRi_Iwlw/s1600/tampopo+ramen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIJ7M9Sz-2o7dMYA4Rb9NUeianaInlcRhvpogA1lNv1DQ1ac2HrOnIq_NyeM0Dv4SgH9lQaZGM5sWv1Tq7jzneNlHy78zjIfOYek5MFNkvNuV4PK5D2r4Tv9fKRSBVrm9jcDZlRi_Iwlw/s400/tampopo+ramen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b>Boston has been buzzing lately about ramen</b>, thanks to a couple of chefs from famed modern Japanese restaurant <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2010/03/08/food-coma.aspx" target="_blank">O Ya</a> who recently decided to start a pop-up called <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/guchiramennight" target="_blank">Guchi's Midnight Ramen</a>. Their bright idea? Serve a beautiful bowl of ramen late at night every couple of weeks to a small group of aficionados, using the idle kitchens and dining rooms of friendly local restaurants. The concept took off, so much so that its first event open to the general public sold out online in literally 30 seconds. In the wake of this frenzy, Ken Oringer's <a href="http://www.unisashimibar.com/" target="_blank">Uni Sashimi Bar</a> announced it would start serving <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/02/uni-clio-late-night-ramen-sashimi-bar-boston-ken-oringer.html" target="_blank">late-night ramen on Thursday through Saturday</a>, and <a href="http://www.myersandchang.com/" target="_blank">Myers + Chang</a> started serving <a href="http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/chowder/2012/02/21/myers-chang-is-the-latest-spot-to-serve-ramen/" target="_blank">ramen at lunchtime</a>.<br />
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In the runup to Guchi's premier event (by invitation only, held for friends and media types at <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/06/13/mallard-duck-breast-at-bondir.aspx" target="_blank">Bondir</a>), its second night (the fast-sellout one, held at <a href="http://www.sportelloboston.com/" target="_blank">Sportello</a>), and afterward, the local food press <a href="https://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=%22guchi's+midnight+ramen%22" target="_blank">had a field day</a>. Would-be attendees who got shut out of the Sportello event vented their frustration at length on <a href="http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/833402" target="_blank">Chowhound</a>. The <a href="http://bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2012/02/22/pop-ramen-nights-are-wildly-popular/r9lK9oOR1DAsXhDj29NoFO/story.html" target="_blank">Boston Globe ran a follow-up story today</a>, and their reporter interviewed me at length for it. As my comments didn't end up in the story, I'm running them here.<br />
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PEGGY HERNANDEZ, BOSTON GLOBE REPORTER: The area has restaurants which serve ramen, including Sapporo, Myers & Chang, Blue Ginger, but, looking at Chowhound, blogs, etc. it seems many believe Boston is in need of "real ramen". You say on Chowhound: "<i>Bostonians are dying for good ramen: it's clearly a hole in the scene.</i>" What isn't real about what's been out there? Why do Bostonians want it so much? Is it a Momofuku thing?<br />
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MC Slim JB: <i>I think it's fair to say that the core of regular Boston Chowhounds is a bit worldlier, better traveled, more adventurous than many online amateur reviewers. They’re also value-conscious (which is not the same thing as cheap), and suspicious of media hype. When I say there's a hole in the scene, I'm speaking to that audience, which I think is pining for what is essentially high-quality Japanese fast food at a low price point without much concern for ambiance. Think </i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_476292717">Tampopo </a><i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WrkdTrrwew" target="_blank">(the movie)</a> more than <a href="http://www.momofuku.com/restaurants/noodle-bar/" target="_blank">Momofuku</a>. They’re not hostile to Joanne Chang doing a $12 bowl of ramen, but I think the craving is less for upmarket interpretations, more for a traditional ramen experience.</i><br />
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PH: I ask that because, wow, there is so much excitement/hype on social media about Guchi’s Midnight Ramen. What was behind that? The upscale chefs? Also, is interest still strong after so many people were unable to get tickets to the second GMR at Sportello?<br />
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MC: <i>I think the GMR folks did a great marketing job there, starting with their invite-only, press-oriented debut event at Bondir, which netted them a lot of food blog and lifestyle magazine coverage. With clever use of Facebook and Twitter, they skillfully built buzz and demand. The O Ya pedigree didn’t hurt, but I think the excitement was pure food-nerd curiosity combined with the mystique and fun of doing an event at midnight in a pop-up setting. And Chowhounds aren’t above I-got-there-first bragging rights, though few would publicly cop to it.</i><br />
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<i>There will definitely be some backlash, folks who will stay miffed that they got shut out of an unexpectedly tiny event. GMR might do the events more frequently, or do them at larger scale, but that strikes me as unlikely given that this is a labor of love, a side project for already-busy chefs. I think the way to address the issue is simply to be more upfront about the number of seats to be made available to the general public. Then prospective diners can better gauge whether it’s worth the effort to hawk a Twitter feed for hours waiting for the ticket-buying starting gun. *</i><br />
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* N.B. Based on an announcement today for Guchi's next event, it appears they have opted to take this exact advice, not only specifying the total number of available tickets, but also announcing exactly when the tickets will go on sale <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/GuchiRamenNight/status/172182108310212608" target="_blank">well ahead of time</a>.<br />
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PH: I think you're correct, that GMR is a "quixotic" effort. Do you think GMR and Uni are creating a new kind of energy around a particular food? These two efforts certainly attract younger crowds.<br />
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MC: <i>I think in the case of Uni, you’ve got Ken Oringer’s hard-earned reputation for delivering quality dining experiences across a spectrum of cuisines, as well as curiosity about the Clio/Uni physical makeover and growing awareness of <a href="http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/02/bar-review-bar-at-clio-todd-maul-boston.html" target="_blank">Todd Maul’s superb cocktail program</a>. And the cost is sure to be in reach for more diners than Uni’s traditional menu, which ranks among the most expensive in town. </i><br />
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<i>By contrast, GMR doesn’t have comparable brand loyalty yet, so they will have to work harder to avoid the perception of being another overhyped shallow-foodie trend with the durability of a mayfly. But I think that anything that gets a conversation and some excitement going about an underserved cuisine is a good thing. And getting something delicious in the wee hours remains a tough task in Boston, so there’s big pent-up demand there, too. It’s just a little odd that something so inherently humble in its original form has created such a frenzy here. I imagine it would be like diners in Tokyo suddenly going crazy over diner-style American pancakes and sitting down to eat them in a swank venue at $30 a throw. (Okay, that probably has already happened in Japan.)</i><br />
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PH: Any comment on the price points ($25 for pork bun, ramen and cookie at GMR; $8 for pork bun, $10 for ramen, $3 for dessert at Uni)?<br />
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MC: <i>Yeah, that’s not exactly your subway-station bowl of ramen, is it? Then again, there’s a reasonable expectation that the chefs involved are going to be doing a luxury version, with loving attention to broths, tares, and noodles. Me, I want a range of ramen options, in the same way I sometimes want a Craigie burger, sometimes a Gallows burger, sometimes a Flat Patties burger.</i><br />
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<i>There’s nothing wrong with chefs taking a humble street food and elevating it with gourmet ingredients and technique, a topic I expounded on at length <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2010/11/thats-not-poutine-observations-on.html" target="_blank">here</a>. But I think it’s easier to appreciate the gourmet version when you’ve experienced a great iteration of the truck-stop version first. So by all means, let a thousand bowls of ramen bloom, including ones with slices of pork from <a href="http://www.securityfoods.com/images/pork1.jpg" target="_blank">Kagoshima Kurobuta</a> that lived their lives reclining on unicorn-down pillows. But please, let’s include a fabulous $8 one in there somewhere, too.</i>MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534323396381749964.post-18773858999163061952011-12-12T12:48:00.105-05:002014-07-25T09:39:45.888-04:00The 2011 Devil's Dining Awards<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6wiOcJkx-WA2nEgzWFyY9T7MIQu8ieSvAtr8hOMNUM3rDJdrMGIUSsv3DX28zcR4oMMIi3WXUjfZtb5BR0dHFm7EBDSE6Ma51NjOnCvBaxVFsR6o8NS05KjCjrEVH6uATqx4OlhiWX_o/s1600/natalaie+dee+devil%2527s+dining+awards+2011+illustration+final.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6wiOcJkx-WA2nEgzWFyY9T7MIQu8ieSvAtr8hOMNUM3rDJdrMGIUSsv3DX28zcR4oMMIi3WXUjfZtb5BR0dHFm7EBDSE6Ma51NjOnCvBaxVFsR6o8NS05KjCjrEVH6uATqx4OlhiWX_o/" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685400661625982914" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 509px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 700px;" /></a><br />
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Illustration by Natalie Dee</div>
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It’s time once again for my annual mapping of the peaks and valleys of Boston’s dining and drinking scene. Here, I summarize the research I’ve accumulated in the past twelve months writing <a href="http://stuffboston.com/FoodComa/">my fine-dining restaurant review column for Stuff Magazine</a> (as well as its annual <a href="http://stuffboston.com/dining2011/">Dining Awards</a>), <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Authors/MC-SLIM-JB/">budget restaurant reviews for the Boston Phoenix</a> (including my retrospective <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/131575-2011-the-year-in-cheap-eats/">"2011: The Year in Cheap Eats"</a>), and <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/user/profile/MCslimJB">bar reviews for Serious Eats</a> -- not to mention my own devoted, non-paying pursuit of good food and drink.</div>
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As another extraordinary year for Boston’s industry scene wanes, I come not only to praise the worthy individuals, dishes, trends, and venues, but also to highlight the lowlights: the frauds and the hucksters, the follies and fiascoes. Inspired by <a href="http://www.thedevilsdictionary.com/">Ambrose Bierce</a> and the bygone <a href="http://www.esquire.com/features/dubious-achievements-2008">Esquire Dubious Achievement Awards</a>, I present for the <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2010/12/2010-devils-dining-awards.html">third</a> <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2009/12/2009-devils-dining-awards.html">year</a> running <b>my personal take on the awe-inspiring and the awful in Boston’s dining and drinking scene: the <i>2011 Devil's Dining Awards!</i></b><br />
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<b>CELEBRITIES, MOGULS, AND MEDIA PERSONALITIES</b></div>
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<li><b>Well-Scuffed Media Punching Bag Award: </b><i>to Todd English.</i> English’s travails with Olives Charlestown (which nearly lost its liquor license for English’s dithering on a post-fire rehab), Kingfish Hall (where he was $40K in arrears on his rent), the Sal DiMasi corruption trial (in which he was subpoenaed as a defense witness), the New York Post’s Page Six (for his telenovela-worthy love life) made him a tabloid staple this year. Even Boston Magazine, long a shrieking fangirl, tore down her Todd poster this year, writing <a href="http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/dear_todd_english_its_not_us_its_you/">an acidic “Dear Todd” breakup letter</a>. Can’t a handsome, globetrotting, millionaire celebrity chef get a break? That would be a <i>no</i>: we’ll be back slinging the snarky cheap shots as soon as English, who once shilled for the execrable Michelob, proceeds with bruited plans to turn Kingfish Hall into a beer-geek bar.</li>
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<li><b>Purple Heart on a Paper Napkin Medal:</b> <i>to Heidi Watney, NESN’s intrepid on-field reporter during Red Sox broadcasts</i>, for her series on concession-stand specialties at ballparks around the country. Watney earned her combat pay during <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qDjOamp9P0">one standup segment at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field</a>, where a bite of a disgusting-looking fried chicken and waffle sandwich caused her to painfully, visibly gag. “Not my first choice,” she diplomatically opined after regaining her composure, “But I got it down.” Just barely, it seemed. That’s taking a bullet for the squad. We hope NESN bought her a big shot of Fernet-Branca afterward. (Best of luck <a href="http://lakers.ocregister.com/2011/11/16/lakers-2012-13-sideline-reporter-heidi-watney/65573/">with the Lakers</a>, Heidi!)</li>
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<li><b>Yogi Berra Award for Fractured Food English:</b> <i>to Billy Costa, host of NECN’s weekly restaurant-review show <a href="http://www.necn.com/pages/tv_diner">TV Diner</a></i>, for consistently mangling common food words. We’ll give him a pass on <i>künefe</i>, but how does a kid from East Cambridge mispronounce the Portuguese sausage <i>chouriço </i>as "chew-ree-ko"?</li>
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<li><b>Charles Bukowski Award for Entertaining Literary Drunkenness:</b> <i>to Anthony Bourdain</i>, whose <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VROx3FMTbjc">late-winter</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8vR1xJUt-Y">No Reservations</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x62hSMTkWU">visit to Boston</a> blended a three-day Southie dive-bar bender with a loving pastiche on overlooked Boston-lowlife crime novel and 1973 Robert Mitchum vehicle <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Friends-Eddie-Coyle-Robert-Mitchum/dp/B001TIQT6G">The Friends of Eddie Coyle</a></i>. To the chagrin of local Chowhounds, Bourdain barely talked about our food, though visits to East Cambridge Azorean spot <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Food/92115-Snack-Bar-and-O-Senhor-Ramos/">O Senhor Ramos</a> and Eastie’s <a href="http://thephoenix.com/boston/food/716-belle-isle-seafood/">Belle Isle Seafood</a> were appreciated. But by the abysmal standards of most food-TV programming, this episode was funny and original, a wide-lapelled, bleary-eyed travelogue of a grittier Boston that few tourists ever see.</li>
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<li><b>Grand Mulligan Award:</b> <i>to Dave Andelman</i> for his advocacy work on behalf of Massachusetts restaurants. Andelman owns <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2009/04/chowhound-versus-phantom-gourmet.html">The Phantom Gourmet</a>, a local restaurant-review TV show whose ethos might best be summarized as <i>The Deep-Fried, the Honey-Glazed, and the Ugly</i>, one which suspiciously gives endless rave reviews to its advertisers. But we want to give Boston's Pay-For-Play High Priest of Lowbrow Foods a bit of a pass. After all, Andelman successfully campaigned this year for the <a href="http://rranow.phantomgourmet.com/home.aspx">Restaurant Rejuvenation Act</a>, which legalized pre-noon alcohol service hours for weekend brunch, a profit booster for Massachusetts restaurants in a stricken economy, and is now advocating for a restaurant tax holiday. We believe it was Mary Poppins who sang, <i>"A spoonful of good deeds helps the smarmy pimpin’ go down."</i></li>
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<li><b>“Mariah Carey in ‘Glitter’” Award for Most Unintentionally Hilarious Vanity Project:</b> <i>to “The Strega Life with Nick Varano”</i>, Nick Varano’s video love letter to all things Nick Varano, starring, you guessed it, Nick Varano. A monthly episode of Dirty Water TV, a phenomenally cheesy-looking NESN show that covers Boston nightlife, <a href="http://vimeo.com/22470200">“The Strega Life” debuted</a> with Varano narrating a mawkish tribute to his humble upbringing that segued into a wannabe Rat Pack-style look at the ring-a-ding swingingness that is his <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2010/11/29/risotto-all-aragosta-at-strega-waterfront.aspx">Strega Waterfront</a> restaurant. The show devotes plenty of screen time to <a href="http://vimeo.com/25792188">the sundry sports celebs that bob in Varano’s considerable wake</a> (see the Anything for a Comp Award below). Along for the ride is gushing sidekick Christina DelGallo, a crossed-eyed, cantilevered, <i>Real Housewives of Revere</i> styled blond with a smoker’s rasp and a thick Chicago accent. Must be seen to be believed.</li>
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<li><b>Anything for a Comp Award:</b> <i>to Red Sox captain Jason Varitek</i>, who proposed to his new bride-to-be over dinner at the kitschy, Vegas-ish <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2010/11/29/risotto-all-aragosta-at-strega-waterfront.aspx">Strega Waterfront</a>, which cultivates the custom of local sports celebrities with copious freebies. We hope the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIi_Ae_xPok">horse head scene</a> or the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fXAO1MyPJs">various bloody assassination scenes</a> (like Moe Green’s bullet through the eyeball) from The Godfather Saga, a DVD of which runs on a continuous loop on Strega's many TVs, didn’t spoil the romance of the moment.</li>
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<li><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son">Cronus Award for Devouring One’s Own Children</a>:</b> <i>to Charlie Sarkis</i>, for firing his sons and daughters prior to the sale of his Back Bay Restaurant Group after they’d spent decades working for him, as outlined in a July <a href="http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/07/24/sale_creates_a_bitter_feast_for_the_house_of_sarkis/?page=1">Boston Globe feature.</a></li>
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<li><b>Tobacco Institute Award for Dubious Science:</b> <i>to Roger Berkowitz of Boston-based megachain Legal Sea Foods</i>, who jumped into the local fishery sustainability fray with a <a href="http://www.slashfood.com/2011/01/04/a-blacklisted-fish-dinner/">deliberately provocative “Blacklisted” press dinner in January that served many species currently considered overfished</a>. Berkowitz used the event to evangelize Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing, a new technology for assessing at-risk seafood populations that is promising but hardly proven, leaving critics to wonder whether his attack on long-established sustainability science was driven by altruism or profit.</li>
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<li><b>Most Anticipated Episode of <i>Law & Order: Boston</i>:</b> <i>the pending legal actions against highly-profitable gourmet pizza chain The Upper Crust</i>, which was convicted in 2009 of <a href="http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/12/05/harmony_gives_way_to_exploitation_charge_against_upper_crust/">ruthlessly exploiting its Brazilian ex-pat kitchen crews</a>, resulting in a six-figure-settlement for unpaid back wages. This year, UC is the subject of a new US Labor Department suit for not only failing to pay the old settlement, but continuing to abuse its immigrant labor. Further, a separate action accuses owner Jordan Tobins of <a href="http://articles.boston.com/2010-12-22/business/29308441_1_overtime-checks-poor-performance-operations-manager">withholding the wages and threatening the life of a former manager turned whistle-blower</a>. The result will either vindicate Tobins or earn him a first-ballot entry into Boston’s Asshole Restaurateur Hall of Fame. We’ve already set the DVR.</li>
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<b>NOTABLE CHEFS, BARTENDERS, AND RESTAURATEURS</b></div>
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<li><b>How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm? Award:</b> <i>to Tim Maslow, the new chef at tiny family-owned Watertown joint <a href="http://www.stripts.com/">Strip-T’s</a>,</i> taking over from his veteran-chef father. To a solid but dull American menu (most popular entrée: plain grilled salmon), Maslow has added a range of far more innovative fare, like charred baby octopus in smoked-tomato / wasabi sauce, and grilled romaine with oxtail and poached egg. Turns out that Maslow Fils just came off a five-year stint in Manhattan superstar David Chang’s restaurant empire, most recently as chef de cuisine at <a href="http://www.momofuku.com/restaurants/ssam-bar/">Momofuku Ssäm Bar</a>. Who could do just turkey tips, tuna subs, and quesadillas after that experience? Expect this extravagantly talented young man to get offers at bigger, shinier spaces in Boston very soon.</li>
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<li><b>Nice Guys Finish First Award:</b> <i>to chef Jamie Bissonnette of Toro and <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2010/01/25/salumi-at-coppa.aspx">Coppa Enoteca</a></i>, who competed earlier this year on <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU8tfPODHO4">Chopped!</a>,</i> the Food Network's cooking-competition reality show, and refused to let its producers goad him into trash-talking his fellow contestants. (Compare with fellow Boston-area chef <a href="http://www.bostonchefs.com/restaurant/UpStairsOnTheSquare/chef/steven-brand/">Stephen Brand of UpStairs on the Square</a>, who came across in the same episode as kind of a hyper-competitive dick.) Biss won, then used his $10K prize to buy his wife the engagement ring he couldn’t afford when they got married. We were also gratified to see him win <a href="http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/mouthing-off/2011/3/2/the-peoples-best-new-chef-2011-jamie-bissonnette">Food & Wine’s “The People’s Best New Chef” Award</a>. Pretty good year, chef!</li>
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<li><b>Jacoby Ellsbury Award for Most Welcome Comeback:</b> <i>to Michael Leviton of suburban Newton's Lumiere</i>, for returning to the in-town restaurant scene with his new Kendall Square restaurant <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/07/25/pizza-with-fennel-sausage-and-pickled-banana-peppers-at-area-four.aspx">Area Four</a>. (Leviton’s first crack at urban fine dining, the star-crossed Persephone, appeared to be slightly ahead of its time in the Seaport.) Fans are also ecstatic that he has revived the Persephone baked-to-order pretzel – now nugget-sized and served with pimiento cheese – a dish we once called the Bar Snack of the Year.</li>
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<li><b>Light the Pyre of Saugus Wings Award:</b> <i>to the memory of William Wong,</i> founder of unutterably tacky Route 1 eyesore and landmark to gloppy Sixties-vintage American-Chinese food that is <a href="http://kowloonrestaurant.com/">The Kowloon</a>. Wong went to that Great Steam-Table Trough of Moo Goo Gai Pan in the Sky this past summer.</li>
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<li><b>Nice Work If You Can Get It Award:</b> <i>to Will Gilson</i>, who retired from his role as chef of <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2010/10/18/roasted-duck-flatbread-at-garden-at-the-cellar.aspx">Garden at The Cellar</a> to open a summer-long pop-up restaurant at Adrian’s, a waterfront motel restaurant in Truro.</li>
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<li><b>Amen, Chef! Award:</b> <i>to Jasper White</i>, <a href="http://boston.grubstreet.com/2011/01/the_summer_shacks_jasper_white.html">for his loving appreciation of the soupe de poisson, a/k/a fisherman’s soup, at Jody Adam’s Rialto</a>, as reported by Grub Street Boston. Local celeb-chef White is America’s foremost expert on the preparation of <i>Homarus americanus</i> (Maine lobster). Of Adams’s rendition – whose deep flavor she attributes to the use of codfish frames and lobster bodies -- he observes, “She just nails it. It tastes like you're in Marseilles.” We have no pretensions to Chef Jasper’s discriminating taste, but heartily concur, making an annual pilgrimage to Rialto just for this dish.</li>
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<li><b>Bartender of the Year Award:</b> <i>to <a href="http://drinkboston.com/2010/11/09/scott-marshall/">Scott Marshall</a></i>, formerly of <a href="http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/03/drink-cocktail-bar-review-boston-mc-slim-jb.html">Drink</a>, now behind the stick at the Hotel Commonwealth’s brand-new basement bar <a href="http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/chowder/2011/11/21/hawthorne-officially-open-today/">The Hawthorne</a>. Like most of his brethren in the top tier of Boston’s craft bartenders, he has encyclopedic knowledge and amazing technical chops. What separates him from that elite company is a welcome sense of humor and lack of self-seriousness that the best of the best occasionally could use a little more of.</li>
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<li><b>Tavern Proprietor of the Year Award:</b> <i>to Jeremiah Foley of <a href="http://digboston.com/taste/2007/08/466/">J.J. Foley’s Café</a></i>. Grandson of the original J.J., he’s a living repository of the Runyonesque history of the South End, and hard-working owner of its most egalitarian hangout, still a watering hole for cops, Herald and Weekly Dig staffers, Gillette factory workers, and residents of the nearby upmarket condos. If you find yourself being hustled bodily out the tavern’s side door by one of Foley's strong sons, you’ve been 86’d, and had better find somewhere else to drink for a few months. Foley's has served more gangsters, toughs, grifters, and sharpers than you’ll ever know, and Jerry knows how to keep an orderly public house (with surprisingly good food).</li>
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<li>I<b>ggy Pop, Godfather of Punk Award, Cocktail Edition:</b> <i>to master mixologist and musicologist <a href="http://drinkboston.com/2007/03/30/brother-cleve/">Brother Cleve</a></i>, whose pioneering work at the Lizard Lounge and especially the <a href="http://drinkboston.com/2006/06/23/b-side-lounge/">bygone B-Side Lounge</a> spearheaded Boston’s craft cocktail revival. Youngsters who want to drink at the feet of the master should check out the old-school Tiki drinks and classic cocktails he's now slinging at <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/06/27/bento-box-a-at-think-tank.aspx">Think Tank</a>. (He still spins a mean DJ set, too.)</li>
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<li><b>Welcome Diaspora of the Year:</b> <i>the ongoing migration of veteran bartenders from <a href="http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/03/drink-cocktail-bar-review-boston-mc-slim-jb.html">Drink</a></i>, Boston's premiere craft cocktail bar, to new posts around town. For example, bartending stalwart and <a href="http://www.beveragealcoholresource.com/index3.html">B.A.R.</a> graduate <a href="http://drinkboston.com/2009/01/12/a-rhodes-scholar-of-bartending/">Misty Kalkofen</a> just relocated to Central Square’s new Brick & Mortar; Sam Treadway and Bryn Tattan surfaced at Union Square, Somerville's new <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Backbar/246281772080636">Backbar</a>. With his nonpareil training ethos, manager John Gertsen will backfill their ranks with fresh talent. This ongoing cross-fertilization of the city's craft cocktail revival has a happy result: expanding the number of bars where cocktail geeks can enjoy delicious, exactingly-made drinks. Now do your part, and bring an Extra-Dirty Grey Goose "Martini" drinking friend to one of them for a tipple upgrade.</li>
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<b>FOOD WRITING AND INDUSTRY PR (NOT THE SAME THING, AT LEAST FOR NOW)</b></div>
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<li><b>Brillat-Savarin Award for Meritorious Service in Restaurant Criticism:</b> <i>to Mat Schaffer</i>, who took an austerity-minded Boston Herald’s offer of early retirement this summer. We long admired Mat for his honesty, efforts to remain anonymous, obvious pleasure in eating, penchant for the pithy turn of phrase, and aplomb reviewing everything from luxury fine-dining palaces to Chinatown dives. Friday mornings feel strangely empty without a witty Schaffer review to kick them off. The sharp old pro will be much missed. And no, having local industry celebrities contribute to the Herald’s <a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/lifestyle/fork_lift/">Fork Lift food blog</a> doesn’t quite fill the void.</li>
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<li><b>Elvis/Beatles Award for Legendary Meeting We’re Sorry We Missed:</b> <i>to the May evening that Jonathan Gold dined at Craigie on Main</i>, the day after Craigie’s chef/owner <a href="http://www.zagat.com/buzz/craigie-on-mains-tony-maws-wins-james-beard-award">Tony Maws won the prestigious James Beard Award for Best Chef, Northeast</a>. Gold is the <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/authors/jonathan-gold/">brilliant restaurant critic for the LA Weekly</a> and the only food writer in history to win a Pulitzer. (We think every aspiring food writer should be reading his work religiously.) Maws, as he had promised in his acceptance speech in New York the night before, was already back on the line cooking. Our hero dining at one of Boston's best? Wicked.</li>
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<li><b>Umberto Eco Award for Whimsical Restaurant Semiotics:</b> <i>to local food writer Jolyon Helterman</i>, who offered <a href="http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2010/12/a-four-restaurant-town/">a hilarious taxonomy of Boston restaurant menus</a> in a December 2010 Boston Magazine piece. Do Boston restaurants really fall into only four basic types signaled by their menu typography and design: locavorish, Francophilic, gastropubby, and upscale-minimalist? No, but avid restaurant-goers had to chuckle in recognition of how much ground Helterman’s satirical archetypes covered.</li>
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<li><b>Mitt Romney in Overalls Award for Flimsy Blue-Collar Shtick:</b> <i>to Alex Beam for a comically awful anti-foodie rant (<a href="http://articles.boston.com/2011-03-15/lifestyle/29349774_1_corn-pudding-food-network-food-writer">"He's had his fill"</a>) in his Boston Globe column in March</i>. In it, Beam took weird, off-kilter potshots at the sustainability movement, food-TV programming, and general foodie pretentiousness while bragging implausibly about his Panda Express intake. And here we thought Howie Carr owned the prep-school-alum-posing-unconvincingly-as-Joe-Sixpack beat.</li>
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<li><b>Annoying Industry PR Buzzphrase of the Year:</b><i> “farm to table”</i>, essentially another way to mouthe that old hobbyhorse, “seasonal and local”. Our favorite ridiculous variants included “farm to fork” (used by Ken Oringer’s new Kennebunkport restaurant <a href="http://www.hiddenpondmaine.com/earth-en.html">Earth</a>) and “oven to table” (from Area IV’s new restaurant <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/07/25/pizza-with-fennel-sausage-and-pickled-banana-peppers-at-area-four.aspx">Area Four</a>). For PR flacks running out of ideas for 2012, we’re here to help: how about “mud to maw”, “field to pharynx”, or “grange to gullet”?</li>
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<li><b>No Shit, Sherlock Award:</b> <i>to the <a href="http://www.putthatshitonthelist.com/2011/11/embarrassingly-dumb-forbes-article-on.html">embarrassingly brain-dead October article in Forbes.com</a> (“<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2011/10/19/restaurant-foods-that-are-ripping-you-off/">Restaurant Foods That Are The Worst Deals</a>”)</i> on allegedly overpriced restaurant food, which touted ten variations on the premise that restaurants mark up food over retail costs to make a profit. There’s some Upton Sinclair-worthy muckraking for you.</li>
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<li><b>Virgil Award for Hell's Tour Guide of the Year:</b> <i>to Luke O’Neil’s "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bostons-Best-Dive-Bars-Drinking/dp/1935439251">Boston’s Best Dive Bars: Drinking and Diving in Beantown</a>"</i>, an entertainingly written and thoroughly researched crawl through the short hairs of Boston’s fetid underbelly. Thanks to O’Neil’s vivid and harrowing field work, you can experience the brain-numbing existential purgatory and threat to life and limb that is <a href="http://a1.l3-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/21/ea564f6808f145f1901be4ff3b993a55/l.jpg">Parrotta’s Alpine Lounge</a> in Chelsea without hazarding a visit there yourself.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>NOTABLE OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS</b></div>
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</div>
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</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>HGTV Award for Best Repurposing of a Hall Closet:</b> <i>to <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/07/11/the-cheese-collection-at-avery-bar.aspx">Avery Bar</a></i>, a cozy small bar with gorgeous fireplace and comfy lounge seating that the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common installed in a formerly disused corner of the hotel’s main lobby.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>About Effing Time You Showed Up, Godot Award:</b> <i>to <a href="http://islandcreekoysterbar.com/">Island Creek Oyster Bar</a></i>, for providing a long-overdue counterpoint to the argument that -- outside of Neptune Oyster and Chinatown live-tank Hong Kong style joints like <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/10/03/whole-steamed-fish-in-ginger-scallion-sauce-at-peach-farm.aspx">Peach Farm</a> -- Boston has been seriously overrated as city with great seafood restaurants.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Saddest Closing Award (tie):</b> <i>to Ken’s Ramen</i>, whose owner took Boston’s greatest bowl of noodle soup back to Japan; <i>to <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Food/85616-SCUPS-IN-THE-HARBOR/">Scup’s in the Harbor</a></i>, a humble, charming eatery set in an Eastie shipyard, sunk by family medical difficulties; <i>to <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/116163-review-tawakal-halal-cuisine/">Tawakal Halal Cuisine</a></i>, a rare local outpost of Somalian food that only lasted an eyeblink; and <i>to <a href="http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/156992">Don Ricardo's</a></i>, a South End Brazilian / Peruvian / Mexican place that was modest, high-value, run by the sweetest old couple in the neighborhood, and criminally underpatronized by locals. R.I.P, all.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Most Anticipated Opening Award:</b> <i>to <a href="https://twitter.com/GuchiRamenNight">Guchi’s Midnight Ramen</a></i>, the new pop-up venture (location still TBD) recently announced by folks affiliated with downtown luxury avant-Japanese restaurant <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2010/03/08/food-coma.aspx">O Ya</a>. In addition to the obvious (it will serve Japanese noodle soup at odd hours), the owners are promising serious broths, tares, and handmade noodles. Might ease some of the pain from the closing of Ken's Ramen.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Top of the Bandwagon Award:</b> <i>to the South End’s <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/08/22/cochinita-pibil-at-el-centro.aspx">El Centro</a></i>, one of a dozen new restaurants that jumped on <a href="http://stuffboston.com/daily/archive/2011/03/11/like-tequila-and-mexican-food-we-sure-hope-so.aspx">the year’s most overheated restaurant trend</a>, upscale Mexican. El Centro created some separation between itself and the rest of the pack with an actual Mexican-native chef/owner and more traditional cuisine than most.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Amy Winehouse Memorial “Talent Ain’t Enough” Award:</b> <i>to <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2011/01/csi-boston-restaurant-edition-who.html">Rocca Bar & Kitchen</a></i>, the upscale South End Italian restaurant that had all the ingredients to be a long-running success -- a beautiful space, great patio, award-winning chefs, and veteran management -- but shuttered last New Year’s Eve, undone by an inability to deliver a consistent service experience.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Best New Gastropub Award:</b> <i>to <a href="http://www.abbeyrestaurant.com/">The Abbey</a> </i>in Washington Square. Brookline will never have enough neighborhood joints with excellent upscale-tavern fare and good drinks that serve till 1:30am.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Don’t Let the Door Hit Ya Award:</b> <i>to <a href="http://www.planet99.com/pix/14646_1.jpg">Shangri-La</a></i>, the oh-so-seedy Beacon Hill temple of terrible Chinese food, every underage Suffolk and Emerson student’s favorite place for a sure-to-be-regretted-tomorrow Scorpion Bowl. It was also notorious for allegedly hosting a brothel in its basement for years. Its replacement, the forthcoming <a href="http://beaconhill.patch.com/articles/zoning-committee-votes-to-support-tip-tap-room-proposal">Tip Tap Room</a>, cannot help but be less unsavory.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Mobile Restaurateur of the Year Award: </b><i>to <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/120623-review-staff-meal/">Staff Meal Truck</a></i>. In a year where Boston finally got a raft of worthy food trucks, Staff Meal served innovative, delicious, yet budget-priced food like head cheese sandwiches, Chinese sausage and choy in mu-shu wrapper, foie gras baklava, chicken paprikash sub with bacon jam and fried shallots, and trotters and sardo with preserved-lemon vinaigrette and spicy kale on a roll. Consistently original and astonishing. This ain’t your grandfather’s dirty-water-dog cart.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b><b>King’s Chapel Burial Ground Award for Most Interesting Ghosts:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> <i>to <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/116869-wholy-grain/">The Wholy Grain</a></i>, the South End bakery / café that opened this year in the former "social club" where notorious local mobster Philip "Sonny" Baiona held court for decades. With the once-thriving (and now also-defunct) <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2009/04/lesson-in-workforce-management-from.html">Waltham Tavern</a> down the block as his primary retail outlet, Sonny was doing a brisk business in drug dealing, bookmaking, and loan-sharking in 2006 when the DEA and FBI put him in MCI-Walpole on a five-year bid; the 83-year-old wiseguy died there a year later. We’re guessing that few of the yoga moms and other new South Enders who have quickly popularized this now-charming spot have any idea of its sordid history.</span></b></li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Manny Ramirez Award for Least Likely Future Comeback:</b> <i>to <a href="http://stuffboston.com/photos/features/category8791/picture260489.aspx">Anthony’s Pier 4</a></i>, the Waterfront institution that was Boston’s It Place in 1976, but 35 years later has still not gotten the memo that the restaurant world has moved on. Slated for demolition to make way for another glitzy Seaport redevelopment project, it promises to relocate nearby. With its fly-in-amber menu, welter of fresh new Waterfront competitors, and longstanding troubles with the tax man, we’re thinking that ain’t happening.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>THE CITY</b></div>
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</div>
</div>
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<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Franz Kafka Award for Nightmarish Bureaucratic Malevolence:</b> <i>to the City of Boston’s Inspectional Services Division</i>, which has crushed eat-in business at South End Spanish deli/grocer <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/107017-las-ventas-shockingly-good-spanish-sandwiches-in-/">Las Ventas</a> by forcing it to remove its table seating. The reason? An opaque certificate-of-occupancy issue that ISD’s own inspectors apparently cannot explain themselves. Said one regular customer who must now find another place to eat Las Ventas’s excellent bocadilloes, “It sounds like a naked attempt by ISD to solicit some graft.” We suppose the good news is that owners Julio de Haro and Lara Gaffigan, who also own the <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/11/14/paella-mixta-at-estragon-tapas-bar.aspx">popular Spanish restaurant Estragon</a> next door, have not yet awoken to find themselves turned into giant cockroaches.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Cracked & Moldy NKOTB Lunch Box Award:</b> <i>to Helen Mont-Ferguson, longtime director of food and nutrition services for Boston Public Schools</i>, who was <a href="http://articles.boston.com/2011-03-22/news/29352154_1_expiration-dates-food-items-chicken-patties">removed from her post in May </a>after it was discovered that frozen foods with 2008 expiration dates were being served to school children. “Thanks, but Mom wants me to eat healthy, so she brown-bagged me a Fluffernutter, Ritz Handi-Snack, and some Hostess Sno Balls.”</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Better Five Years Behind New York Than Never Award:</b> <i>to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino</i>, for <a href="http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/default.aspx?id=5182">finally getting behind the food truck trend</a>, with very happy results for local eaters-about-town. Next on your to-do list, Your Honor: make that long-promised Boston Public Market, an in-city farmer’s market akin to Manhattan’s Greenmarket, happen next year in Boston.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>NIMBY D-Bags of the Year Award:</b> <i>to the "North End Ten", members of the North End/Waterfront Residents’ Association</i>, for <a href="http://www.northendwaterfront.com/home/2011/6/13/court-rules-in-favor-of-north-end-ten-against-the-bras-plan.html">getting the already BRA-approved Doc’s Restaurant on Long Wharf un-approved</a>, after restaurateur Michael Conlon had spent years and tens of thousands of dollars developing it. Already home to a hulking, hideous Marriott, the tourist-trap-chain Chart House restaurant, a welter of vendor carts, and an otherwise-unused building that hides an emergency egress from the Blue Line (which Doc’s would have supplanted), locals complained the new burgers-and-lobster-rolls joint would have “eliminated prime public space” and “spoiled the view”. Another explanation? The neighbors are just control-freak pricks.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Hipster Jets vs. Sharks Award</b>: <i>to the Jamaica Plain residents who packed Neighborhood Council meetings</i> to conduct <a href="http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/06/09/whole-foods-debate">unruly, rancorous debates on the merits of a Whole Foods</a> replacing longstanding Latino-focused Hyde Square grocer Hi-Lo Foods. Turns out that even as diverse and progressive-seeming a community as JP can struggle unattractively with gentrification issues.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>“Sam Bowie Drafted Ahead of Michael Jordan” Award for Tragically Botched Opportunity:</b> <i>to the City of Boston</i> for awarding the Pink Palace, a long-disused Boston Common structure it offered for use as a restaurant, to dull airport-food-court chain <a href="http://stuffboston.com/daily/archive/2011/04/07/earl-of-sandwich-on-the-boston-common-crap.aspx">Earl of Sandwich</a>. Of all the things we might have done to show off Boston’s culinary uniqueness to tourists, this is the best we could do? As the kids say, <i>Fail</i>. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>DUBIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS</b></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<ul>
<li><b>Cast of <i>Jersey Shore</i> Award for Most Hoped-For Early Death:</b> <i>to Groupon, the coupons-by-email phenomenon</i> that has been the bane of many local restaurateurs. It puts butts in seats, but is a drag on profitability, and few coupon-clippers ever return to pay full price. Our prayers for Groupon to run out of cash before it could get to an IPO went unanswered, but at least its stock price has tanked, so it may yet meet its deserved fate.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Hooters on the Waterfront Award:</b> <i>to Seaport chain steakhouse Del Frisco’s</i>, for its gimmick of maintaining a squad of comely female servers in fishnet stockings and micro-minis. Their primary role appears to be delivering highly profitable side dishes like $11 creamed spinach to tables of lecherous businessmen on expense accounts. Classy!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>“Bite the Wax Tadpole” Award for Brand Blundering:</b> <i>to Back Bay restaurant Mass Ave Tavern.</i> The space formerly known as Match relaunched under new owners in January simply as Mass Ave, which made it impossible to find online, then swiftly changed its name to 94 Mass Ave, then almost as quickly renamed itself as <a href="http://massavetavern.com/">Mass Ave Tavern</a>. As of press time, that last one has stuck, but don’t hold us to it. Pretty sure Restaurant Branding 101 these days opens with, "Think about The Google first".</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Count to Ten Award:</b> <i>to Emma’s Pizza</i> in Cambridge, which generated a mini-firestorm by engaging in a <a href="http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/2011/08/15/emmas-pizza-in-twitter-war-over-dumbass-comment/#axzz1gN9afVi6">real-time Twitter flame war</a> in August with an unhappy jerk of a customer. Probably felt good at the time, but this move earns a failing grade in Fundamentals of Restaurant Social Media.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>PT Barnum Award:</b> <i>to the prankster who punked the Boston Globe’s biweekly online food chat</i> <a href="http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/dishing/2011/08/food_chat_at_11_1.html?comments=all">by posing as Barbara Lynch and promising a free tasting at Menton</a>, one of Boston’s costliest one-percenter hangouts. We love a deal as well as anyone, but our bullshit detector is sensitive enough to recognize that Babs and Free Food are two things that do not go together.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul>
<li><b>Donald Trump Award for Profligate Bad Taste:</b> <i>to David Schuler</i>, a Massachusetts native now living in Mississippi, who drove 1400 miles to spend $1200 on <a href="http://www.enterprisenews.com/business/x27447899/Stoughton-native-bringing-150-Town-Spa-pizzas-back-home-to-Mississippi">150 frozen pizzas from Stoughton’s Town Spa Pizza</a>. Dude, seriously: we get nostalgia, but frozen pizza?</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Silly Bandz Award for Fad That Was Cute for About Three Minutes:</b> <i>to <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/05/30/tacos-de-carnitas-at-temazcal-tequila-cantina.aspx">Temazcal Cantina</a></i>, the Seaport upscale Mex joint, for its iPad-based menus. Presumably these can be praised for making the kitchen live up to high plating standards (so the dish that arrives at your table looks as good as its food-porn menu photograph), but quickly wear out their welcome once you get to the cocktail menu and are forced to Peruse. Only. One. Drink. At. A. Time. Worst application of technology in a restaurant setting since the Keno feed.</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li><b>Charlie Sheen Award for Grandiosity of Self-Delusion:</b> <i>to ancient North End tourist trap Joe Tecce’s Ristorante</i>, which <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2011/06/03/joe-tecces-ristorante-blames-big-dig-for-bankruptcy/">blamed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing last May on the Big Dig</a>, which ended in 2007. It couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with Tecce’s menu of superannuated red-sauce-and-melted-mozzarella clichés, featuring specialties like batter-fried sweet and sour chicken and veal, could it?</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li><b>As If! Award for Restaurant Futility:</b> <i>to Canadian pizza chain Boston Pizza</i>, which temporarily changed its name to Vancouver Pizza as a show of support for the Canucks over the Boston Bruins in the 2011 NHL Finals. It didn’t help: the Bruins took the Stanley Cup in seven games anyway. If only Boston Pizza had changed its name to <i>Somebody Wake Up the Sedin Twins Pizza</i>.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Pu Pu Hot Pot Award for Dubious Restaurant Naming (tie):</b> <i>to <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/09/19/calamari-spaghetti-at-blue-inc.aspx">Blue Inc.</a></i>, which begs the question, “Which marketing genius thought it would be a good idea to ask Herald readers for naming suggestions, and then actually use what they came up with?”; <i>to Sweet Caroline’s</i>, the Fenway-adjacent eatery which unwisely references Neil Diamond’s <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w-_Vtttrfc">numbingly overplayed stadium anthem</a> and creepy adult mash note to an 11-year-old girl; and to <i><a href="http://www.aattime8.com/">A @ Time</a></i> (we’re not making that up), a new Thai joint in Allston that sounds like a pad gaprow-induced case of the hiccups.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Bull & Finch Award for Worst New Tourist Restaurant (tie):</b> <i>to Max Brenner’s</i>, the Israeli chain whose chocolate-overload novelty concept might be more interesting if its food weren’t so uniformly mediocre; and <i>to Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill</i> at Patriot Place, which combines a theme based on a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fulz4ytZ54">schlock-country anthem</a> with a menu worthy of a Ninety-Nine, complete with potato skins and fried mac ‘n cheese. Pro tip: most restaurants with entertainment or sports figures on the marquee suck hard.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Right Idea, Wrong Place Award:</b> <i>to <a href="http://bostonrestaurants.blogspot.com/2011/03/pop-up-restaurant-coming-to-at-mizu.html">pop-up restaurants in hair salons</a></i>. Ew.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>You Can Dress Them Up Award:</b> <i>to Mike Andelman of the Phantom Gourmet</i>, for engaging in an <a href="http://www.servernotservant.com/2011/02/18/all-hostesses-are-good-looking-incompetent-and-cant-do-anything-else-in-life-really/">ugly public spat</a> in January with a Grill 23 hostess who refused to seat him in the dining room before it opened. <a href="http://www.servernotservant.com/2011/02/25/mike-and-dan-andelman-call-for-a-public-apology/">On the Phantom’s weekly radio program</a>, Mike petulantly referred to the “dumb hostess” as a “little monkey” and a “never would talk to me in high school type girl”, then slagged all hostesses as attractive incompetents. When the story drew wider media attention, the restaurant issued a press release expressing dismay at the personal attack and defending their employee. Under pressure from civility advocates like <a href="http://www.servernotservant.com/">Server Not Servant</a>, brother/boss Dave Andelman forced Mike to issue a public apology, which lamely excused his rant as “satire”, not the bitterness of a grown man still smarting over teenage dating humiliations.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Tuxedo-Print T-Shirt Award:</b> <i>to <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2009/11/30/oscar-s-petit-filet-mignon-at-locke-173-ober.aspx">Locke-Ober</a></i>, for <a href="http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2011/04/jackets-required-fine-dining-is-dying.html">dropping its storied dress code</a> and letting shlubbily dressed tourists into its dining room. This marked the inglorious end to an era of civility in Boston fine dining, as L-O was the last room in town to insist that gentlemen don jackets for dinner. Heaven forbid you should ever have to leave the sweatpants at home.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Orange-Stained Underwear Award:</b> <i>to the Boston restaurants that were revealed in a Boston Globe exposé (<a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2011/10/22/menu-but-not-your-plate/NDbXGXdPR6O37mXRSVPGlL/story.html">"On the menu, but not on your plate"</a>) in October to be mislabeling cheaper fish as fancier ones for profit</i>, e.g., selling escolar, known for some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keriorrhea">very unpleasant side-effects</a>, as “white tuna”. Others were caught selling farmed tilapia as wild red snapper and frozen Pacific cod as fresh and locally-caught. Even exurban celeb-chef <a href="http://www.ming.com/">Ming Tsai</a> was red-faced, having to explain that <i>technically </i>it’s okay for him to call the humble sablefish in his signature $41 entrée at Blue Ginger by the loftier “Alaskan butterfish”, even though the FDA considers it misleading and illegal to use vernacular names for fish as market names. (Apparently, the embarrassment stung: Blue Ginger’s menu now reads “Miso-Sake Sablefish a.k.a. Butterfish".)</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away? Award:</b> <i>to Gargoyles on the Square</i>, the beloved Davis Square fine-dining restaurant that <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2011/09/14/davis-squares-gargoyles-to-close.html">announced its closing after 15 years in September</a>, causing a rush of tearful farewell dinners, only to keep reopening each weekend until nearly November.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Sisyphus Finally Crushed By Giant Boulder Award:</b> <i>to Joe Cimino, the would-be operator of Back Bay’s Saratoga Restaurant</i>. “Never heard of it”, you say? It’s the one that <a href="http://www.universalhub.com/2011/state-rep-demands-revocation-liquor-license-back-b">recently was on the verge of losing its liquor license</a> after failing to open in its Fairfield Street space after 12 years – that’s right, 12 years -- of wrestling with building wiring, ADA access requirements, groundwater, and other issues. Sorta makes the food truck thing look pretty sweet, don’t it?</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>NOT-SO-DUBIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS</b></div>
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</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Foie Gras Poutine Award for Culinary Excellence in an Unlikely Setting:</b> <i>to <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/122828-review-victors-italian-restaurant/">Victor’s Italian Restaurant</a></i>, a tiny, family-owned restaurant with the look of a plain-Jane sub shop, tucked away in a residential corner of Saugus, for its scallopine. Pounded, breaded, and sautéed to order (even for subs), they’re a minor epiphany for anyone who has ever ordered a cutlet and been unable to tell what animal it comes from. Veal parm that tastes like veal? Revelatory!</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Fenway Park Award for Most Overdue Facelift:</b> <i>to <a href="http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/02/bar-review-bar-at-clio-todd-maul-boston.html">the bar at Clio and Uni</a></i>, Ken Oringer’s acclaimed fine-dining tandem in the Eliot Hotel, which had long been stuck in a mid-90s, Sex and the City, flavored-vodka rut. Then Oringer hired idiosyncratic, innovative bar manager <a href="http://drinkboston.com/2011/03/03/todd-maul/">Todd Maul</a>, who quickly elevated the bar into the top tier of Boston’s craft cocktail purveyors with a history-hopping, 100-entry, modernist-cuisine-inflected specialty cocktail list. About frickin’ time. (The pending physical-plant makeover is pure gravy.)</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Ephemeral Pleasure of the Year Award:</b> <i>to the lightly-pickled fresh local herring, </i>a rare and extraordinary delicacy, only available for a few days this past spring at <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2010/07/12/the-farmer-s-platter-at-the-gallows.aspx">The Gallows</a> in the South End.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Eagles of Death Metal Award for Misleading Name</b>: <i>to <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/121911-review-thailand-cafe/">Thailand Café</a></i>, a Central Square restaurant long known for sub-mediocre Thai food that got a new owner and concept a few years ago but didn’t bother to change its English-language sign. What’s entirely easy to miss from the curb is the new half of the menu, an array of sensational, very traditional Sichuan dishes. Now slated for eviction (its landlord is redeveloping the building), we hope it finds a new home soon.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<ul>
<li><b>Titans of Industry and Street Food Award:</b> <i>to <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Food/65019-SPEEDS-FAMOUS-HOT-DOG-WAGON/">Boston Speed Dog</a></i>, purveyor of what the Wall Street Journal called the best hot dog in America back in 2008, and which recently so impressed third-richest-man-in-the-world Warren Buffett that he jokingly threatened to buy the company. Not bad for <a href="http://stuffboston.com/photos/features/tags/Street+Food/default.aspx?PageIndex=6#TOPCONTENT">a humble wiener cart</a> usually parked in Roxbury’s dusty, industrial Newmarket Square. (Awesome side note: owner Greg Gale told the <a href="http://articles.boston.com/2011-07-22/ae/29803964_1_warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-ceo-food-truck">Boston Globe</a> that he didn’t recognize Buffett, but that he "love[s] his music.")</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Dish of Year (tie):</b> a simple soup of broth, crouton, poached egg, cheese, and white Alba truffles at <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2009/08/24/pansoti-at-erbaluce.aspx">Erbaluce</a>; handmade burrata with shaved vegetable salad, pistachio vinaigrette, and aniseed tuile at <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2011/06/13/mallard-duck-breast-at-bondir.aspx">Bondir</a>; roasted apple salad with corned beef tongue, horseradish, and beet broth at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150424930984342&set=a.10150424668694342.368154.699129341&type=1&permPage=1">Strip-T’s</a>; crudo of striper collar at <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2010/01/25/salumi-at-coppa.aspx">Coppa Enoteca</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Manny Pacquiao Award for Disputable Championship:</b> <i>to <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2010/06/28/kataifi-wrapped-langoustines-at-menton.aspx">Menton</a></i>, which in eighteen short months may have achieved Barbara Lynch’s goal of unseating <a href="http://stuffboston.com/feed/archive/2009/09/21/milk-chocolate-banana-pudding-at-l-espalier.aspx">L’Espalier</a> as Boston’s best-regarded luxury French restaurant. Menton’s recent accolades include Boston's only five-star restaurant rating in the Forbes Travel Guide, the highest service and décor ratings in the latest Zagat Boston Survey, and inclusion in Gayot’s 10 Best New Restaurants in America. It’s also rumored to be up for a coveted designation as a <a href="http://www.relaischateaux.com/spip.php?page=home&lang=en">Relais & Châteaux property</a>, which would be a first for Boston. We’d rate the contest a draw: both restaurants have deservedly-lauded food and service, and L’Espalier’s superior desserts are matched by Menton’s better cocktails. But both get our booby prize for cold, charmless, colorless dining rooms. (We never got over the old L’Espalier.)</li>
</ul>
My sincere thanks to Boston's many great food journalists who make tracking the local industry scene so easy and entertaining, including: Devra First and the Dishing bloggers of the <a href="http://www.boston.com/ae/restaurants/">Boston Globe</a> (also deserving of special kudos for its crack investigative reporting this year), Kerry Byrne of the Boston Herald's <a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/lifestyle/fork_lift/">Fork Lift</a> food blog, Marc Hurwitz of the indispensable <a href="http://bostonrestaurants.blogspot.com/">Boston Restaurant Talk</a> & <a href="http://www.hiddenboston.com/">Boston's Hidden Restaurants</a>, Kara Baskin of <a href="http://boston.grubstreet.com/">Grub Street Boston</a>, Adam Gaffin at <a href="http://www.universalhub.com/">Universal Hub</a>, Aaron Kagan at <a href="http://boston.eater.com/">Eater Boston</a>, Dan McCarthy at <a href="http://www.urbandaddy.com/home/bos">Urban Daddy Boston</a>, Lauren Clark of the much-missed <a href="http://drinkboston.com/">Drink Boston</a>, Leah Mennies and Donna Garlough at <a href="http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/chowder/">Boston Magazine's Chowder Blog</a>, Jacqueline Church of <a href="http://leatherdistrictgourmet.blogspot.com/">The Leather District Gourmet</a>, the folks at WBUR's <a href="http://publicradiokitchen.wbur.org/">Public Radio Kitchen</a>, Patrick Maguire of <a href="http://www.servernotservant.com/">Server Not Servant</a>, Richard Chudy of <a href="http://www.bostonburgerblog.com/">Boston Burger Blog</a>, Gary of BBQ blog <a href="http://pigtrip.net/">Pig Trip</a>, Penny Cherubino of <a href="http://www.bostonzest.com/">BostonZest</a>, Kitty Amann and the other lovely ladies of <a href="http://lupecboston.com/">LUPEC Boston</a>, the iron-livered <a href="http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/">Cocktail Virgin</a> gang, the brilliant amateurs of the <a href="http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/12">Boston board of Chowhound</a>, and my esteemed colleagues at the <a href="http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Food/Default.aspx">Boston Phoenix</a> (notably the magisterial <a href="http://thephoenix.com/authors/robert-nadeau/">Robert Nadeau</a>), <a href="http://stuffboston.com/FoodDrink/">Stuff Magazine</a>, and <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/">Serious Eats</a>. Extra-special thanks to the great Natalie Dee of the webcomics <a href="http://www.nataliedee.com/">Natalie Dee</a> and <a href="http://www.marriedtothesea.com/">Married to the Sea</a> for her amazing illustration.</div>
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And thanks most of all to the Greater Boston industry folks -- the chefs, line cooks, garde-manger, pâtissières, dishwashers, hosts, servers, backwaiters, busboys, bartenders, barbacks, managers, phone attendants, PR people, as well as the fisherman, farmers, foragers, distillers, winemakers and brewers who supply them -- who made so many nights in 2011 memorable for me.</div>
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Here’s hoping that 2012 finds that everything on your plate and in your glass was locally and sustainably produced, trucked into town in gossamer hybrid vehicles fueled with recycled argan oil, and brought to you by a server willing to pretend to believe in your fictional food allergy, overlook your date's sorry dress sense, and ignore that blob of sage pesto in your teeth. <i>Một hai ba, yo!</i></div>
MC Slim JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10410085368658693000noreply@blogger.com