Celebrate the end of ’09 (thank God it’s over!) with our abbreviated collection of restaurant parties around town. Because you should put a little something in your belly before toasting to 2010. And yes, there will be food!

Industry Vets in Limbo

We’re all wondering what’s next for chef William Kovel of the Four Season’s extinct Aujourd Hui. And what of mixologist Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli, formerly of Craigie On Main? Their futures are uncertain, but for one night only, the two will pair up to host a party in the former Great Bay space. They’ll be toasting 2010 over passed appetizers (mushroom strudels with black truffle, duck and almond pisillas), gnocchi and panini food stations, and custom cocktails and sparklers. Hmmm… Dec. 31, 8 p.m., $95 (includes food, champagne toast, one cocktail, and passed cocktail flights-cash bar thereafter), 500 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. For tickets, call Abby Shoolman at 617-532-9100, or email her at abby.shoolman@gmail.com. (more…)

The Hub has seen a rash of new restaurant launches in the last month, headlined by the Back Bay’s Bistro du Midi, Woodward in the Ames hotel, Lord Hobo in the old B-Side space in Cambridge, and the South End’s Coppa, which opened last night (!). Amid all that tasty news, one quiet debut almost went nearly unnoticed: Symphony 8, located right next to the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s home base (and a stone’s throw from Boston magazine HQ). (more…)

The theater district has a new show in town: Market by Jean-Georges, which recently opened inside the new W hotel. We’ll admit that, in the months preceding the restaurant debut, we had our doubts about whether it’d be a deserving new dining destination or just another ho-hum import from a too-busy-to-care celeb chef. But during a warm, lovely chat with the international culinary superstar himself, Jean-Georges Vongerichten shed a little light on what makes Market work for Boston, and why he’s glad to be back in the Hub after a long hiatus. (His first U.S. venture was Boston’s Lafayette restaurant, which opened in 1985 in what is now the Hyatt hotel and was located just blocks from Market’s site.)

Being the types to eat the frosting before the cake, we’ll skip to the good parts: (more…)

It was flattering…at first. Absolut chose Boston as the third city in its Absolut Cities campaign (following New Orleans and L.A.), using it as the inspiration for a new flavored vodka. But then it was unveiled in August, its label paying homage to Fenway’s Green Monster (yawn) and its black tea and elderflower flavor summoning memories of a party thrown in 1773. The reviews of the Boston-inspired booze weren’t great, either. (Said Grub Street’s Leila Cohan: “It’s very strange, and frankly, as we found out when we got our hands on a sample bottle and had a little taste test with some folks around the office, so is the vodka’s flavor.”

But what do the drinkers think? (more…)

Down economy? What down economy? While restaurant openings were scarce in the first half of ‘09, summer’s end is proving a hotbed for casual, affordable spots launching all across the Hub. Here’s our quickie guide on where to get your grub on in the coming months.

OPEN NOW

The Stork Club has settled into the spot where Bob the Chef once reigned (and where Circle existed for precisely one hot second). A soulful South End resto-lounge, it has a menu of comfort-food classics (think meatloaf and buttermilk fried chicken) and live jazz and blues nightly. 604 Columbus Ave., Boston, 617-391-0256, storkclubboston.com.

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From the whisper-thin pies at Pizzeria Regina to the Sicilian-style slices at Galleria Umberto, there’s plenty of cheesy, tomatoey goodness in the North End. What could another pizza joint possibly bring to the neighborhood?

Turns out, plenty. Before its arrival, the area lacked truly casual pizza place. The kind of easy in, easy out, neighborhoody, non-chaotic, and—this is key—minimally touristed joint that serves good beer and well-made food at reasonable prices. Like Cambridge, 1, or maybe Picco. And Ducali, a 58-seat spot which opened just around the corner from North Station about a week ago, seems to be just that. (more…)

Formerly of downtown Boston’s Good Life, Michael Scelfo recently took on the role of executive chef at Cambridge favorite Temple Bar.

You’ve done a lot of work in fine dining, and you’ve also had experience in the American bistro style of cooking that Temple Bar is known for. How’s your new job at Temple Bar unique among the other posts you’ve held?

It’s different in the sense that it’s really a very bustling, busy place, so from a volume perspective, I have the opportunity to showcase my food to a much larger crowd. I’ve worked in much smaller places before, and it’s exciting to have this bigger venue.
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With Restaurant Week filling up tables on otherwise empty weeknights at our favorite neighborhood spots, what are we to do if all we want is a few cocktails and a bite to eat, and not a three-course gorge fest?

We have you covered. Grab a seat at the bar post nine-to-five and take advantage of the many specials we’ve rounded up, many of which include inexpensive drinks and free bar bites, or even $1 oysters, 50-cent tapas, and $2 tacos.

Or you can check in at local spots that aren’t on the Restaurant Week kick instead, to see what kinds of deals they’re offering up. This new web feature will live on Bostonmagazine.com from here on out, and we’ll be constantly updating it with the latest specials at your favorite places.

We’ll have the best after-work dining deals listed all year long. Who needs Restaurant Week?

View the Slide Show.

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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…)

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.

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