Your Chowder hounds have sniffed out the best culinary events in town. Check back every Friday for your weekly prix fixe of  freebies, dinner deals, wine tastings, and more.

Patrón Promotion
Feb. 27, 9-11 p.m.
Brasserie Jo
Tonight there’s a complimentary Patrón tequila tasting and free Alsacian style pizza at the bar at Brasserie Jo. Mixing French, Mexican, and Italian sounds like a messy night to us, but we’re game!

Lent Menu
Every Friday through April 10, 5-10 p.m. (except during Restaurant Week on Fri., March 20 or Fri., March 27)
Turner Fisheries
There’ll be no Grill 23 or KO Prime for you on Fridays, my friend. Even though you may have to lay off the meat during Lent, you can still have a great night out. Turner Fisheries is offering a prix-fixe menu of fish dishes, including items like Applewood smoked tomato bisque, pan-seared black sole with lobster reduction, and chocolate-dipped macaroon lollipops.

(more…)

We’re sad to report that Marc Orfaly’s Restaurant L, opened only three months before, closed this weekend. There had been rumors that the restaurant was struggling, again (the previous iteration, Pino Maffeo’s Boston Public–pictured–blew up rather spectacularly last summer), and we noticed on a recent visit that a number of entrees weren’t available, which can be a sure sign of trouble (particularly when vendors stop delivering supplies). (more…)

I have a friend (or sister, or aunt, or all of the above…) who never orders dessert herself. Instead, her M.O. is to let the rest of the table order, then capitalize on the inevitable offers to “taste” the sugary, fatty spoils. Like the chronically dieting office mate who tears off but a fraction of one of the home-baked peanut butter cookies left on the “Free Stuff” table near the copier, she’s pinning her hopes (at least psychologically) on the notion that the calories don’t count when you don’t fully commit.

Ridiculous? Of course it is. On the other hand, while I long ago worked through any lingering “commitment issues” when it comes to full portions of food, there’s some psychological finagling that still comes into play when dining up at the bar. (more…)

It’s not often that I have trouble deciding where to eat. Between new restaurant openings and our mag’s own guide to must-try restaurants, I’ve built myself a loooong list of places to dine next.

But all that goes out the window when my parents come to town. What’s the best way to deliver the “Boston” experience my guests are looking for without defaulting to the tourist traps? (more…)

Your Chowder hounds have sniffed down the best culinary events in town. Check back every Friday for your weekly prix-fixe of foodie festivals, cooking classes, wine tastings, and more.

Extreme Beer Fest
Feb. 20, 6-9:30 p.m.; Feb. 21, Two sessions: 1-4:30 p.m. and 6-9:30 p.m.
Boston Center for the Arts
If you loved Beer Summit at the Castle, you’ll flip your cup for Extreme Beer Fest. It’s all about the American brewers this time, featuring more than 100 creative pours. Tickets are $40 and include entrance, a tasting cup, all 2 ounce pours, a fest guide, and an extreme beer education.

Throwback Friday Menu
Every Friday through April 24, 5:30-10 p.m.
Olives
Celebrate 20 successful years at Todd English’s flagship restaurant in Charlestown. In light of the milestone, every Friday night, you’ll be able to order off the original 1989 menu, which features the dishes that made Olives so popular in the first place. And, you’ll also pay 1989 prices! Some of the traditional plates available include: beef carpaccio with Roquefort polenta for $5.50, grilled octopus with chickpeas for $5.95, brick oven roasted half chicken for $12.95, and Olives bouillabaisse for $15.95. We love you Todd. No really.

(more…)

If you want to eat well, make friends with a chef. They like to cook, even when they’re not at work, and their parties are usually legendary.

Now we Chowder types are careful about who we pal around with (we don’t want to be overly chummy with the same folks we also review — gets awkward, etc). But that doesn’t mean we turn down every invitation that comes our way, and who could resist an invitation for a chef potluck at Dante de Magistris’s house?

Especially when there were rumors of chicken-fried bacon.

(more…)

From the ashes of one, two shall arise.

We’re all getting pretty tired of bad economy stories, but the shuttering of one of our favorite chic dining spots, Excelsior, has left a bad taste in our mouth. We can’t be that surprised, however, as recessions tend to call for more frugal dining habits, and $44 entrees aren’t necessarily anyone’s MO at the moment. While we’ll miss the savory fare and glass elevator through the wine tunnel, there is a half-full glass here.

Nicole Barrick, Director of Marketing and PR for Grill 23, Harvest, and Excelsior agreed. “People are dining out differently,” she says. “Looking ahead, we decided it’s time to refocus this business, and this is as good a time as any to open something that’s beneficial to the community.”

And so, Kenneth Himmel, the restaurant’s owner, is doing what any good business owner does in times of crisis: adapt. (more…)

Your Chowder hounds have sniffed down the best culinary events in town. Check back every Friday for your weekly prix-fixe of foodie festivals, cooking classes, wine tastings, and more.

If you still haven’t booked those Valentine’s Day reservations, last minute planning never had such great odds. Click here to book now.

And now for our deals of the week:

$4 Bloody Marys and Mimosas
Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Grafton Street Pub and Grill
They say laughter is the best medicine. We beg to differ. Grafton Street grants you a recession remedy that includes $4 veggie bloody marys and blood orange mimosas with the purchase of each weekend brunch entrée.

(more…)

Here’s a picture I snapped today on my way back from lunch at Toro, where I (predictably) had the (same as ever) pollo-salad-and-half-a-tortilla-sandwich that I’ve come to crave (desperately need) on a weekly (daily?) basis.

Look familiar? It’s called a “plant” and it’s “growing” from the “earth.” I share this not just to remind you that spring will arrive, eventually, even in Boston, but as a metaphorical nod another variety of tender, young life that still issues forth in the midst of bitterest winter: The restaurant. Even now, there are some new places opening, and that’s reason to celebrate.

To wit:

(more…)

The Boston foodie world is in a tizzy over the rumor that Tom Berry, chef of Temple Bar, is on the outs with the bustling Cambridge haunt. Ever-vigilant Chowhounders, scouring restaurant-industry job boards, noticed it first, spotting an ad seeking a new executive chef for the restaurant. (Apply here.)

What was the story? Irreconcilable gastronomical differences? A prep-station blowout gone horribly wrong? An insistence by management that Berry switch to (gasp!) frozen fries?

To find out, we called the man himself.

(more…)