Prose Food advertises that they are "food for urban and suburban poets". In reality, the frantic chef, who paces the room after each course, demanding to know how you like your dish, is the true poet, almost an artist who has uniquely woven flavors together that may not sound good but taste quite special. Many moons ago, I had a gorgeous meal at Prose Food. This little spot is tucked into an old corner building on a busy Arlington, MA road. It glows at night and there's a casual, friendly spirit that always draws us in. I was surprised to discover that most people have never heard of Prose Food, but the "mad scientist" owner, who paced the restaurant and kitchen as if she was figuring out a new formula, prefers the good word to spread via friends and friends of friends. My great friend invited me and I quickly fell in love. The menu changes daily - don't you love those sorts of places - based on whatever the chef finds at local markets or from their natural food purveyors. The ingredients are almost always organic and local, and the details behind each dish are well-explained on the 8.5 x 11 white ...

There's nothing I like more than an appetizer or antipasti to linger over while waiting for your main course. On second thought, forget the main course. Just give me little tidbits of unique tastes that weave between each other to tell a story of a cuisine. This mezze platter tells quite the unique story. I tasted fresh tomatoes plucked from an organic farm just west of Boston, oozing their sweet tang. I savored a wood burning fire that had smoked up fresh eggplants into a smooth paste topped with a sprinkle of an even smokier pepper. I remembered really good feta, whipping it up with roasted red peppers in my own food processor, aiming to recreate the tang of Ana Sortun's whipped red pepper feta. This plate carried me back to the many meals I've had at Sortun's now famous Oleana in Cambridge, MA. But while I'm always smacking my lips, ready to dine at that very restaurant when a fancy occasion deems it necessary, I don't have to anymore. Sortun opened Sofra in a lesser known section of Cambridge, just on the Watertown line, a few months ago. Though it's far more casual, Sofra embodies the same spirit that made Oleana ...

In the late nineties, I lived in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, sheets of gorgeous farm land known as the less chic region of the Berkshires. Most are very familiar with the rustic hipness of Lenox and Great Barrington, but I spent a few glorious years enjoying the impeccable beauty of lesser-known Williamstown, a small college town, and the rugged mill town known as North Adams. They were and still are juxtapositions of each other - Williamstown is pretty and perfect while North Adams is edgy, raw and artistic. Boutique restaurants typically sought home in the finer Williamstown, and I was a regular at all of them, including a spot called Mezze. Co-owned by local entertaining guru Nancy Thomas, Mezze was the epitome of  hip with light wood banquets and a sultry deck overlooking a shallow river. It was wildly successful and became the star of Nancy's local empire. She's since opened three other businesses and caters some of the biggest fetes in the region. (If you're ever invited to one of them, go.) I left the area in 2001 and missed out on the opening of Cafe Latino, Nancy's modern Latin cafe that grabbed a choice spot in the mishmash of ...

Today, I visited the new beer garden that opened at Charlie's in Cambridge, Massachusetts over the July 4th holiday. I expected to solely have new, fun times loaded with New England ales, but a few hours there brought me back to my crazy, single days living in downtown New York City. While friends indulged in local ales, all very rich and delicious, I drifted back to good times with my little glass goblet filled with Chimay, a Belgium ale I wet my lips with nearly every night in my early 20s. There was a little lounge, styled after a European spot, just north of Houston Street, that hosted all my technology-geek friends back in the days of Silicon Alley. You remember Silicon Alley? It was New York's downtown region labeled as such to rival Silicon Valley. We worked hard in the Alley, trying to make a name for our little technology companies that could. At night, we'd visit Von. Von was nothing special, just a little room with a DJ booth and long bar that played lounge music and served every sort of Belgium Ale on the market. I was introduced to Chimay there, and drink it every chance I get. The herbed ...

I had a great time in Provincetown a few weeks ago, a visit that always includes a long visit with the goodies on display at Connie's Bakery. This cupcake was loaded with meringue and quite tempting. I'm now kicking myself for keeping my dollars in my pocket. There's always next trip. Related posts:In Honor of ‘Sex and the City: The Movie’Mezze Platter at Sofra Bakery & CafeRichard’s Holiday Visit