restaurants

Homemade Granola

by Karen Covey
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I met Karen at a food writer dinner earlier this year and now, lucky me, we’re friends. When she offered to profile The Wicked Oyster, I jumped on the opportunity to share the Cape Cod gem with all of you. This place is wonderful, kind of like Karen’s site, Gourmet Recipes for One. Karen’s easy

Vermont’s Pane e Salute, La Garagista & Longtrail Brewery

by Maggie Battista
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Good luck to the soul who stands between a California Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel and me. Seriously, get out of my way. I like wine and, especially, red wine. When I’m in northern California, I can drink a fancy red bottle or take my jug to the local vineyard to fill up on solid house

A Community Lunch at Bondir Restaurant in Cambridge

by Maggie Battista
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For me, 2011 is about building offline communities. When the clock struck midnight on December 31 of last year, I made a pledge to  evolve all my online food conversations into real life meetings. It just seemed a bit ridiculous that I had all sorts of friends in the ether, sweet folks who have listened

Boutique Alternatives for Boston Restaurant Week

by Maggie Battista
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A bitterly cold February evening. Seven chatty food writers. A brand new pizza restaurant. Almost 10 wood-fired pizzas. All that just starts to set the stage for a long-awaited dinner I attended with a few fun ladies. We gathered at Pizzeria Posto (Somerville, Massachusetts) to indulge in cheese, red sauce and some rapid-fire conversation, only

Mini-Guide: Eat Boutique Paris

by Maggie Battista
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I spent one-third of 2010 living and eating in Paris. Is there really anything to do in Paris besides eat? I suppose shopping, when I’m not eating. After now 16 weeks there, I found so many tiny food gems that lured me back on more than one occasion. While I can’t go so far as

Risotto at Le Marché des Enfants Rouges, Paris

by Maggie Battista
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Certainly, Paris is synonymous with so many food-oriented words. I can think of hundreds, like wine, bread, croissant, macaron… My favorite one is cheese. Just the mere whisper of the word in a crowded house party, and I will crawl to the appropriate corner of the room to inhale piles of the stuff. While in

Scup’s in the Harbor, Boston

by Shelby Larsson
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When I first started dating my now-fiancé, many of our dates would include epic walks that could span most of a Sunday. We would explore different neighborhoods of Boston, Cambridge and Somerville on foot, with no real plan in place. These walks, happily, often turned into somewhat of a long, drawn out pub crawl, as

The Harrison, Tribeca, NYC

by Maggie Battista
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I’ve worked for too many big companies to know that small companies truly rock. (I’m not sure if I mentioned previously, but I work here now!) Certainly, small companies come with their requisite downsides – like way too much work for far too few people – but the upsides are beyond words, really. It’s fabulous

Casual Eating in Paris’ Haute Marais

by Amy Thomas
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As some of you know, I started working for a little boutique travel business earlier this year called Haven in Paris. I’m so in love with our company and our mission, to help travelers have amazing trips in Paris, Provence and Tuscany by renting one of our chic properties. I’ve also started contributing to the

Marliave Cheese Counter, Boston

by Shelby Larsson
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For those of you who have had the joy of spending time at the Marliave in downtown Boston, you are likely familiar with their fun cocktails, great wine list, cool vintage atmosphere and if you are particularly lucky – their incredible sliders. However, this post does not focus on their spacious upstairs bars and dining

Dinner at Market, Gloucester, MA

by Maggie Battista
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I needed a break. I’m sure you know the drill. You work, work, work 60 hours each week and forget that, wow, the seasons are changing right before your eyes and, wow, you’re so lucky to live in Massachusetts. But I had forgotten all that and desperately needed a mini-vacation, a moment to reconnect with

The Bookmill, Montague, MA

by Shelby Larsson
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Have you ever visited a place, and immediately recognized that it was special?  Your heart may have quickened a bit; you had the urge to explore every nook and cranny; you may have simply wanted to move right in and make yourself at home.  Could this be described as having a crush on a building? 

Paris Foods You Must Eat, Part 2

by Maggie Battista
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I miss Paris – the gorgeous gray buildings, the bridges over that little river, the cranky taxi drivers. Oh, let’s be real for a moment; I miss the food more than anything else. And since my initial post on Paris Foods You Must Eat (part 1) did so well, I thought an encore was in

Paris Restaurant Facades

by Maggie Battista
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Just restaurant facades and nothing else. Enjoy all the bright colors and random medley of Paris foodie spots!

Coppa in Boston’s South End

by Shelby Larsson
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Many say that Boston is not actually a big city, but really a large town.  This is never truer than when a widely-acclaimed new restaurant opens. Especially when it’s from Ken Oringer, of Clio, KO Prime, Toro and La Verdad fame and when the chef is Jamie Bissonette of Toro. Throughout the last year or

Sweet Mint Tea, Grande Mosquée de Paris

by Maggie Battista
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Have you ever had sweet mint tea in a just-blossoming garden filled with bright blue furniture and bright-eyed strangers, all of you just waiting for the minutes to tick, tock, tick, tock away? I have. And the tea was so very sweet. It was honey-hued, the consistency of a sugar syrup. With a taste like

Lunch at Glou in Le Marais, Paris

by Maggie Battista
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Written by Maggie Battista My first week in Paris has been hard. I don’t know the language and my French classes aren’t making me a master anytime soon. I don’t know the city at all, and the Metro system has felt nothing like the subway systems of New York or Boston, probably due to all