Lucca South Shore serves up food fit for the gods
WHO’S IN CHARGE Executive chef Anthony Mazzotta of Rockland’s new Lucca South Shore has a tasty bio that’s a good fit for the organically grown careers of the new restaurant’s three owners. Sean Williams, Matthew Williams (they’re brothers), and Ted Kennedy opened the first Lucca in Boston’s North End in 2000. The trio have since[…..]
Warmth, great food make Cohasset’s Corner Stop a must
WHO’S IN CHARGE It’s hard to beat a family-run eatery like Cohasset’s Corner Stop for heart. Over the last seven years, husband and wife Rudy and Ron Vale have created a big welcoming restaurant infused with a sense of community and warmth. Having both worked in the industry for years before taking the plunge and[…..]
Twice as lucky as cafe opens second location
WHO’S IN CHARGE People are drawn to the restaurant business from all different backgrounds and succeed in as many ways. Talk to Mary Ellen Stoddard, owner of the new, second Lucky Finn Café at the equally new Merchants Row in Hanover and you learn her secret: She has her hand in absolutely every part of[…..]
The Daily Press in Cohasset
WHO’S IN CHARGE Once upon a time — in Julia Child’s day, say — people cooked, dined out, and ate whatever the heck they wanted with pure joy and abandon, but not anymore. Today, our heads are filled with thoughts about which foods are good and bad and guilt that we should be eating better.[…..]
Unassuming Thai cafe packs a punch
WHO’S IN CHARGE It took Pookie Akarasereepoowapon 10 years to find her way to owning her own place — the wonderful Eggs & Thai Café in Dedham Center. The Bangkok-born Marlborough resident moved to the United States in 2008 and spent her first year working in the kitchen of her aunt’s restaurant in Nashua. But[…..]
At family-style A3, Italian-American menu is just right
IN THE KITCHEN If you live in the suburbs, you might not have a family-style eatery nearby that’s consistently good enough to frequent often like people do in many cities, especially European ones. But Boston’s suburban dining scene gets better every year, and Kingston took a step in that direction with the opening in 2017[…..]
An iconic oceanfront restaurant is transformed
WHO’S IN CHARGE Chef Brian Houlihan has really topped himself this time. On July 4, the restaurateur slung a banner from the former Red Parrot in Hull unveiling his newest restaurant’s new name, The Parrot, and opening its doors. Never mind that three of the enormous restaurant’s reconfigured dining areas were still under construction: The[…..]
Legacy Place gets family-run Italian restaurant
WHO’S IN CHARGE It’s uplifting that the newest restaurant at Dedham’s Legacy Place is an Italian family-run spot, not a chain. Il Massimo is owned by Esther and Joseph DeQuattro, a husband-and-wife team from Providence. The couple have been in the business since opening their first restaurant, Pane e Vino, on Federal Hill in Providence[…..]
Sipping coffee by the sea in Scituate on a summer day
WHO’S IN CHARGE From the day Mary Ellen Stoddard got the idea to buy the Lucky Finn Café to the day she sealed the deal was exactly three months. That was in June 2017 and since then, Stoddard has expanded to year-round service and added a few menu items, but otherwise hasn’t changed much at[…..]
Salt raw bar in Plymouth
WHO’S IN CHARGE Chef Johnny Sheehan has got himself his first restaurant on the Plymouth waterfront. Sheehan, who worked in Boston at Ken Oringer’s Clio and the remarkable but short-lived Liquid Art House, has partnered with co-owner Dan Casinelli and family to open Salt Raw Bar. Casinelli, a Plymouth native, worked as a restaurant service[…..]
Lap up Mediterranean by the beach
WHO’S IN CHARGE Building a restaurant is never simple. After more than two years under construction, Mambo’s Kitchen & Bar at Nantasket Beach has finally opened. That’s a relief for owner-operator Anthony Ghosn, 33, who had hoped to open last summer. “We had a lot of surprises during construction, down to the smallest thing,” said[…..]
Cohasset’s Olympus Grille
WHO’S IN CHARGE Thank goodness for consistent neighborhood restaurants we can count on to have good food when we want a satisfying meal and don’t have time to shop, cook, or go out. I’m partial to family-run places and the Karavasilis family, who own and operate Cohasset’s Olympus Grille, gives families a great name. Olympus[…..]
The Farmer’s Daughter
IN THE KITCHEN Evidently, there are 720 ways you can reorder six objects in a row. To my way of thinking, that’s about the same number of ways you can love what people do with food. Chandra Gouldrup, chef-owner of The Farmer’s Daughter in Easton, inspires that love through her passion for local foods and[…..]
Passport is renewed
WHO’S IN CHARGE Passport Sips & Tapas is back. The popular restaurant in Weymouth Landing that shut its doors in 2017 due to construction on the block has reopened with new owners. Eric Orozco, who bartended at the old Passport before it closed, and his wife, Inga, bought the restaurant from its former owner. After[…..]
A chef comes full circle at Orta
IN THE KITCHEN Up and coming cooks move around a lot. It’s a way of being in the restaurant world: You work in a kitchen developing skills then migrate from place to place, cooking under different chefs, as you ascend the ranks. As a high school kid, Brett Williams, the now 35-year-old chef-owner of Pembroke’s[…..]
Good takeout that’s not an afterthought
IN THE KITCHEN There’s something so easy about takeout: You don’t have to get dressed, for one thing. But where to get good takeout in the suburbs? It’s usually an afterthought at restaurants and you might want higher quality fare than you can get at a fast-food place. This was Christopher Jeffcote’s thinking when he[…..]
A gathering place to slow down and share a meal
IN THE KITCHEN It’s not unusual to see chef-owner Shelton Perkins wander into the dining room at Gather in Pembroke and talk with guests. The chef and his partner, Nick Wilson, are as intentional about creating a place where people can gather to slow down and share a meal as they are about good food.[…..]
Take a shot with this espresso bar cafe
WHO’S IN CHARGE Big Bear Cafe + Espresso Bar owner Donna Menna is the heart and friendly soul of this cozy eatery in Dedham Square. After spending almost 15 years as the general manager of Todd English’s Figs restaurants (first in Wellesley, then Beacon Hill, then Charlestown), Menna knows the hospitality industry inside and out.[…..]
On silver anniversary, Tosca still shines
IN THE KITCHEN Mention something about a dish on Tosca’s menu and chef Kevin Long takes off. He’ll answer questions at length about every single ingredient and how each comes together on the plate. No food stuff is inconsequential: He could write a paper on sugars and salts alone. Long was the chef at Tosca[…..]
Meet me at the vegan bar hall and cafe
IN THE KITCHEN If you’re tired of having to repeatedly explain to people that no, even (most) pizza is not vegan, then I’ve got a place in Quincy for you. Rewild, billed as a vegan beer hall and café, serves terrific pizza with homemade plant-based cheeses that can happily satisfy even the most committed carnivore.[…..]
Milton’s beautiful Steel & Rye
Steel & Rye chef Brendan Joy’s resume is a who’s who of great kitchens. In Boston alone, it includes Radius, Clio, Toro, No. 9 Park, and Sportello. Joy took the helm at Steel & Rye in 2016, replacing chef Chris Parsons, who opened the restaurant in 2012 with owners Dan Kerrigan and Milton native Bill[…..]
New chef-owner makes Cohasset bistro even better
IN THE KITCHEN You can spot new chef-owner Brian Hennebury at work in the small open kitchen of 5 South Main in Cohasset for breakfast, lunch — and now, dinner, too. Fresh off a nine-year stint as executive chef of Hingham’s upscale Tosca, the Rockland resident bought this gem of an eatery from Jennifer Warshaw[…..]
Oysters set the stage at Duxbury’s gastropub
IN THE KITCHEN As I bite into a fried oyster on my first visit to The Oysterman, my mood lifts. The dish is good and good-looking, too, with yellow, cornmeal-coated oysters set atop pink pickled onions, green lettuce, lime wedges, and dots of an orange aioli. The plate sends a message: Someone cares in the[…..]
More of the good stuff at Nantasket Beach’s HK Too
WHO’S IN CHARGE Jane and Jeff Wicks, owners of our favorite summer shack, Hull’s Kitchen, have stretched out and replicated themselves two doors up the beach in a space three times the size and named HK Too. After working with their son Ben for 12 years at the original place, Jane and Jeff have moved[…..]
At this pub, food and friends go hand in hand
IN THE KITCHEN General manager Mike Tallon’s hosting skill makes Oscar’s feel welcoming, like somebody’s home. And although Tallon doesn’t own this terrific little pub in Dedham Square (it’s owned by an investment group headed by Boston’s John Gibbons), Oscar’s was his idea and he’s its face. His enthusiasm for creating a “third place”[…..]
At Braintree’s El Sarape, top-notch Mexican fare
IN THE KITCHEN I’ve wanted the recipe for El Sarape’s cilantro sauce for ages, but whenever I’ve asked, all I’ve gotten is a smile. Javier Adame, who owns the restaurant with his brother Guillermo, learned it from his mother growing up in Saltillo, Mexico. On Oct. 6, the Braintree restaurant will celebrate 30 years in[…..]
Have phone can’t eat
IN THE KITCHEN Big boiling pots of seasoned water do the bulk of the work in Shaking Crab’s kitchen. A New England-Asian take on the Cajun seafood boil so popular in the South, Shaking Crab’s main offering is steamed shellfish drenched in one of four sauces and served peel-and-eat style. Co-owner Kevin Duong, 28,[…..]
Trident Galley & Raw Bar at the Shipyard
IN THE KITCHEN Chef owner Brian Houlihan opened his first restaurant, Cohasset’s Bia Bistro, 15 years ago. Since then, he’s built a great reputation and a small empire on the South Shore, making it a better place. First he expanded Bia from 45 seats to 80 (and is about to expand it even more).[…..]
Legacy Place: Temazcal Tequila Cantina
IN THE KITCHEN Head chef Donley Liburd runs Temazcal Tequila Cantina’s large Dedham kitchen with help from corporate executive chef Sean McDonald. Liburd is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and joined the cantina after years at Boston’s Cask ‘n Flagon and Legal Harborside. The restaurant is owned by one of the city’s[…..]
Cohasset’s Simply Smith’s
IN THE KITCHEN A big pan of puffy popovers, balanced on the end of a countertop, looks oversized in Simply Smith’s tiny kitchen. Chef Greg Smith serves the tasty quick breads with all dinners – a homey touch that guests seem to love. Never mind its small size, the kitchen has been turning out good,[…..]
What would Tom Brady order at Precinct 10
IN THE KITCHEN A massive, stainless steel smoker that can hold 800 pounds of meat at a time — brisket, pastrami, ribs, sausage — is the centerpiece of Precinct 10’s kitchen. Not that the restaurant is a BBQ place — it’s not. The family-friendly menu offers a large number of regional American favorites. Overseeing a[…..]
At Sorelle Bar & Grill, a confident chef in her prime
IN THE KITCHEN I take it as a sign of a chef’s confidence to offer salt and pepper at the table, and chef Andrea Schnell has it and does. Not that I’ve needed it — everything I’ve eaten on three visits has been perfectly seasoned. The great reputations that Schnell and her general manager, Mark[…..]
A kitchen of her own, in her hometown
IN THE KITCHEN Two black-and-white photographs of chef-owner Jennifer Daley hang on the wall in the back of The Epicurean Kitchen in Hanover. One is of Daley and Julia Child, and one of Daley and Martha Stewart. Child, known for her generosity with young Boston chefs, periodically taught at Boston University’s culinary school when Daley[…..]
Come summer, this place will be hard to get into
IN THE KITCHEN It could be how great the place looks. Or that it’s at the beach. But, really, I think it’s the cusabi taco sauce that’s gotten me so excited about California Underground Tacos & Bar. I’m crazy about it and also like that co-owner and longtime taco-maker Eo Martin uses buttermilk as the[…..]
Big time Boston chef hangs his apron in Cohasset
IN THE KITCHEN It’s nice seeing Blu Mussel chef-owner Anthony Ambrose step into the dining room to visit a table or talk with guests. Ambrose made his name when he opened his first restaurant, Ambrosia on Huntington, in the early ‘90s. Among the many accolades it received, Esquire named it one of the top 25[…..]
At Art’s, Food that matches the view
IN THE KITCHEN To get the picture, you have to understand this: Art’s is owned by the dynamic brother and sister who ran the iconic Arthur and Pat’s in Marshfield for more than 30 years until the weather-beaten beach place simply couldn’t be resurrected after the bruising winter of 2014-15. Art D’Allessandro is the cooking[…..]
Major addition to the food scene in Quincy
IN THE KITCHEN If talent’s in the blood, 16C owner Kerri Lynch Delaney’s got it. A pastry chef who recently sold her wonderful Babycakes cupcake shop in Quincy, Lynch Delaney is a niece of chef Barbara Lynch, the nationally acclaimed, Boston-based restaurateur behind Beacon Hill’s No. 9 Park, the rarified Menton, and Sportello, to name[…..]
Little Carmen’s for breakfast and lunch
IN THE KITCHEN After years of owning Carmen’s Café Nicole on Plymouth Harbor, with its tourist-based, weather-driven seasonal uncertainties, Nicole DiGuisto is thrilled to have landed in Norwell in a year-round, busy location. Her new breakfast-and-lunch place, Little Carmen’s, opened in late March. The restaurant’s namesake is DiGuisto’s father, Carmen DiGuisto, who owned Carmen’s Mexican[…..]
The Foodsmith builds a reputation to go
IN THE KITCHEN If loving food is a cook’s secret weapon, The Foodsmith is in good hands. Three years ago, its co-owner, Laura Raposa, walked away from a coveted job at the Boston Herald to do what she’d always loved. Today, instead of covering social events to get fodder for the Inside Track column she cowrote[…..]
Milton restaurant draws a crowd
IN THE KITCHEN The open, V-shaped, stainless steel kitchen in the rear of Novara looks like the crowded prow of a ship forging the way forward. At the helm, overseeing six to eight cooks, is executive chef Tony DiRienzo, who performs the same role at Abby Park, two doors up the street. A ’94 graduate[…..]
Carefully sourced local foods done well
Cream Etc co-owners husband and wife Craig Perry and Lenora Cushing describe their food as farm-to-table and, indeed, every dish could start a conversation about how its ingredients were sourced. Last year, when the couple decided to open a breakfast-and-lunch place adjacent to their ice-cream shop, Cream, they knew they didn’t want to do it[…..]
Townshend: New urban spot in downtown Quincy
IN THE KITCHEN It’s reassuring to see chef Bobby Sisson in his kitchen whites circle into the dining room to deliver the occasional dish, arriving via the atrium-end door of The Townshend and returning through a passageway next to the bar. Sisson, who was the fish butcher at Boston’s Island Creek Oyster Bar, is dead[…..]
Thai Noodle Bar in Quincy
IN THE KITCHEN Chef-owner Jittipong Rakritikul, 33, began cooking when he was 8 years old with his grandmother in a small village in Phetchabun Province in central Thailand. After middle school, he earned a certificate in nutrition at the nearby Phitsanulok Vocational College, and, at 24, a degree in hospitality and commercial cookery in Sydney. Spending[…..]
Bia Bistro at 12 years old
IN THE KITCHEN It’s been almost 12 years since chef-owner Brian Houlihan opened Bia Bistro — cooking his heart out in what was then a 45-seat restaurant. Houlihan arrived in Cohasset after working in restaurants in his native County Cork, Ireland, and several years as executive chef at the Regal Bostonian’s Seasons and sous-chef at[…..]
The Jetty: Progressive American food
IN THE KITCHEN One bite at The Jetty and you can’t help but wonder who the heck is in the kitchen. Midafternoon at a remote beach on a cloudy summer weekday — and you can’t expect much. Yet, restaurants live or die by their capacity to produce consistently good fare any time of any day. Turns[…..]
Taj Modern
IN THE KITCHEN When Raginder Singh, longtime co-owner of Quick 6 Liquors in Weymouth, heard earlier this year that the restaurant space across the street was becoming available, he knew he wanted to get back into the kitchen. The native of India has cooked in many restaurants since immigrating to the United States in 1992, and[…..]
New owner of Bridgeman’s doing something right
IN THE KITCHEN Things have changed at Bridgeman’s. In January, after 13 years, the Hull restaurant was sold to area resident Harold Paine, who had become attracted to the hospitality industry while doing large-scale construction for restaurants. Although Paine’s a newcomer, the kitchen remains in the hands of veteran chef John Lambiase, who’s been at[…..]
Mother Anna’s: A time-tested Menu
IN THE KITCHEN Mother Anna’s kitchen isn’t about a new Italian cuisine that so many chefs have quested after since the principles of nouvelle cuisine hit this country in the 1970s. Forget about carefully composed, lighter plates, artful streaks of sauce, and local foraging. Mother Anna’s chef-owner, Alan Caparella, is cooking his great-grandmother’s dishes — just[…..]
CP’s Wood-fired Pizza: Italian and Creole on the menu
IN THE KITCHEN You don’t often see pizza and jambalaya on the same menu, but, hey, why shouldn’t a chef cook what he loves? CP’s Wood-Fired Pizza owner Christopher Patrick has been doing exactly that since last August, when he bought the small restaurant from his former boss, chef Jimmy Burke. Patrick, who went to[…..]
Homestyle Moroccan at Cafe Paprika in Norwood
IN THE KITCHEN It doesn’t take a chemist to be a great cook, but it doesn’t hurt either. Or so we have to believe after learning that Café Paprika’s owner left that profession for something he loved– the cuisine of his native Morrocco. “You have to find your calling,” said Lahssen Abaichi, who worked in[…..]
Vico Italiano for eating with family and friends
IN THE KITCHEN A large staff in a small restaurant signals a restaurant wanting to please its guests. On busy nights, Vico Ristorante Italiano’s owner-chef, Vincenzo Loffredo, has two cooks with him in the kitchen while four waiters, a busgirl, and his wife, Maria Loffredo, handle the front of the house. The chef was born[…..]
Four Square Restaurant and Bar
IN THE KITCHEN The kitchen at Four Square Restaurant and Bar is a workman’s space: stainless, solid, and perfectly equipped for turning out the everyday food a neighborhood runs on. Tucked in the rear of the long, narrow pub, the kitchen is co-owner/chef Marko Piro Fani’s realm, and you can see him cooking through a[…..]
Hot and Fast: Coal-fired Pizza
IN THE KITCHEN Twin coal-fired ovens situated like eyes in the face of Angelo’s open kitchen never sleep. For service, from 11 to 11, they’re fully stoked and large piles of glowing coals can be seen pushed to the side of the ovens’ floors. By morning, the fires have burned low, making the hot caves[…..]
Vodka pie crust, shaken not stirred (repost)
So a cold wind blew in last week, and like a dumb blonde turns toward the nearest guy, it made me want to make apple pie. I’m not much of a baker, but I have a few confections in my repertoire, and apple pie is what I make this time of year. I’ve been using[…..]
Revisiting honey bees in Miami
There are some things in life I can’t fathom. For instance, how can honey bees do all they do? I mean, consider the half-pound of honey on my kitchen counter here in my new house in Miami and ponder this: One bee, in her life, contributes a total of only about an eighth of a[…..]
A Monkfish Tale
VENICE, Italy – It’s an early August afternoon at the restaurant Antica Locanda Montin and owner Luca Carrettin is extremely animated as he talks about monkfish. Even if you don’t speak Italian, some of the words he uses are understandable, like brutta (ugly), which he calls the fish, and fantastico, which he uses to describe[…..]
Summer places: clam shacks mix fried fare and memories
As Chef Art D’Allessandro lowers a piece of cod into hot oil at Arthur & Pat’s in Brant Rock, he’s doing the same thing cooks have been doing at this Marshfield institution since his parents opened it almost 40 years ago. Not much changes in the world of the South Shore clam shack and that’s[…..]
Waterside dining in urban spot
To spear a full sliver of garlic from the broth of some good mussels, you have to trust the chef: Undercooked and it’ll ruin your night; cooked well, it’ll half make it. When faced with the choice at 88 Wharf last month, I took the plunge knowing that Josh Ziskin had recently come on board[…..]
For Jacques Pepin cooking is about creating pleasure
As Jacques Pépin made the rounds of the 120 guests attending the celebrity chef dinner at Hingham’s Summer Shack last Monday, guest after guest embraced the legendary chef – metaphorically or literally. “We just love you!’’ said a woman as she held Pépin’s hand in both her own. An exceedingly social creature, Pépin matched this[…..]
Wahlberg brothers open Wahlburgers
News of the recent opening of Hingham’s new burger joint exploded this summer in a Hollywood-powered media blitz that was hard to miss. Even before the TV segments, newspaper, US and People magazine blurbs, there was lots of local talk: a deal for a reality show on the place had been signed; a green initiative,[…..]
Making hot sauce like they have for decades
Once a year, in September, Maria Rodrigues makes enough fantastically delicious hot sauce to last her family a year. It takes a lot of peppers. “I get four bushels – the long red ones,” said Rodrigues, who’s been making the sauce since she was girl in the Azores. Having heard big raves about this hot[…..]
Celtics Ray and wife Shannon Allen debut new Food show
If anyone could get the very private young Celtics star Rajon Rondo to cook for all the world to see, it would be Shannon Allen, the wife of Rondo’s teammate Ray Allen. And Shannon does that – on tape – in an upcoming episode of her new Comcast SportsNet and NECN food show, “The Pre-Game[…..]
Cooking with Chef Kevin Long at Tosca
Wondering what would be special for holiday eats, I called one of my favorite chefs, Kevin Long, to see what he was doing. “I thought oysters with a pomegranate mignonette would be kind of fun,” said Long, when I walked into Tosca in Hingham one afternoon last week. The chef stood all in white behind[…..]
Postcard from New Orleans — with Drago’s oysters
It’s late October and I’m sitting in Drago’s Seafood Restaurant and Oyster Bar in New Orleans on the first night of a five-day family reunion at my brother- and sister-in-law’s house in the French Quarter. Having relatives in great places is sweet and this is my sixth or seventh trip to the city. And, because[…..]
Cool in the kitchen – and the dining room
Tony DeRienzo is one cool guy under pressure. Standing in the middle of his new 200-seat restaurant Littlenecks Bar & Grill in Weymouth — 10 days before its scheduled opening, DeRienzo has the demeanor of somebody hanging with friends at a cookout. Just seeing all the unfinished details in the place makes me anxious: boxes,[…..]
