Where is the Best Celebrity Chef in Boston, Massachusetts?
For the most part, I’m digging the latest addition to Lydia Shire’s empire. Hidden on the ground floor of the fabulous Liberty Hotel, the airy space, marked off by exposed brick walls and arranged around a spotless open kitchen, is a great place to bring out of town guests for a bit of Boston ambiance and history (the Liberty was an old jail). And compared with Locke-Ober, it’s a far less stuffy, masculine and meat-centric place to sample the cuisine of Lydia Shire, who is herself a piece of Boston history. You can catch her here during the week too, flitting from table to kitchen, and her touch is obvious in the adventurous, clever and substantial foods on the menu. However, there are a few parts of the restaurant that aren’t quite worthy of Shire. The cocktail menu appears to be a thrown-together affair, with silly names and awkward drinks. Boston’s currently in the midst of a torrid love affair with old-fashioned cocktails and deft young bartenders, and Scampo’s not cashing in on
East Coast Grill, more than anything, is fun. And not cheesy fun, but awesome foodie fun. From the BBQ-shack meets funky diner meets upscale bar atmosphere to the pint-sized giant margaritas to the $13 “kitchen appreciation special” of 6 PBR tallboys destined for a cheering group of chefs, East Coast Grill delivers.I’ve been here for both regular meals and last night for the infamous Hell Night, and in either case it’s been really fun stuff. Hell night sees the restuarant all decked out with caution tape, the waitstaff clad in leather and bandanas, and the open kitchen filled with chefs wearing surgical masks. And it’s not like you get the sense these people are grudgingly decking themselves out with “flair,” as you might expect, but that everyone on staff there is really just out to have (and to show you) a good time with some great grub.The food isn’t superlative, but it’s pretty damn good – I think the thing that stands out the most for me is the raw bar — fresh, tasty oysters
I don’t mind paying for great food and great service but when I pay high prices for bad food, it really ticks me off. I first visited Sportello for lunch and apparently made the lucky choice of ordering a panzanella salad and pasta bolognese. Their panzanella was a great modern twist on the classic bread salad with perfectly sliced fresh summer vegetables, perfectly toasted croutons, and some delicious kind of pesto off to side to dip into. The bolognese was simply wonderful! On the way out I decided to make a few choices from the bakery but apparently the handsome idiot behind the counter didn’t know the difference between a german chocolate cupcake and a coconut cupcake, nor a macaroon from a meringue because almost everything I ordered in the bag was wrong. When I was in the neighborhood again last evening, a friend and I decided to stop in for dinner…and what a disappointment. The complimentary scali bread with whipped ricotta, olive oil and fig jam needs to be rethought.
I took my girlfriend here to celebrate our anniversary and on the whole I cannot say we were disappointed.I had booked the reservation through opentable and requested that if at all possible, we’d love seating on the patio. We were initially seated in the main dining room but the hostess soon came over (without our prompting her) to offer an outside table that had just opened up. We eagerly took her up on it and were pleased to be seated outdoors where it was romantically lit and very peaceful. Our waitress was excellent in making recommendations from the menu for food and drink. We loved both our pret a manger (warm buttered hummus) as well as our lettuce-wrapped duck appetizer, a special from that night. Both dishes were elegant and extremely flavorful without feeling overwhelming. The meal went a bit awry when we received our entrees – the apps set the bar quite high and the entrees simply didn’t stack up. The trout special I ordered was not bad at all but was somewhat vapid whe
I love Restaurant Week. It’s a smidge of an addiction. I’ll book 3-5 ressies each of the weeks, and more often than not, I’ll go to all of them. I love a bargain, what can I say?Toro is the BEST deal for Restaurant Week.Reasons?1. You order off the real menu. No scraping the bottom of the freezer case, just cuz it’s cheapo week. The ENTIRE menu, too. Not just these 4 options. The whole. Darn. Thing. 2. The more people you go with, the more tapas you order. Go with a group of 3? Choose 1 app, 8 tapas, 1 dessert each. I was with a party of 5, I think we got something insane like 18 choices. Whatever it was, we were rolling out of there. 3. Fanastic wine list. Try something crazy. Also, the waitstaff is really helpful in this regard.4. The food is amazing. Ken Oringer doesn’t mess around. I endorse the “weird stuff”, aka tripe, beef heart, etc. Weird stuff is good, especially in tapas. Give it a try. Short list of faves: Ham-wrapped dates; corazon a la plancha; corn on the cob
