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restaurants

T.W. Food Local Dinner

by Maggie Battista
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Locavores everywhere are jealous of anyone with a root cellar. A root cellar is an under-earth method of storing homegrown produce to make it all last through the non-growing season. I don’t have one, but a girl can dream. Without one, my squash, pumpkins and gourds sadly just don’t make it past November. Then again,

Highlands, New York City

by Maggie Battista
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The West Village of New York City is my favorite neighborhood in the entire world. Really. And this new little gastropub solidifies the neighborhood’s standing with me. The Highlands is a Scottish-owned and designed boutique restaurant that has stolen my heart. Now if only I could get me to NYC to give it a try.

Delancey, Seattle, Washington

by Maggie Battista
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With honor and pleasure, I got the chance to eat at Delancey in Seattle, Washington last week. And here’s what I have to say about it: It’s good… darn good… good and special. I was so happy to have satisfying food in such a charming atmosphere. Instead of offering up more words, I offer up

Barncastle, Blue Hill, Maine

by Maggie Battista
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What do you get when you cross a barn with a castle? Apparently, a pretty great pizza joint. While snoring away the hours up in Maine a few weeks ago, we got hungry. We were over lobster, craving a more earthier, starchier menu. Good, local friends, the type of friends who were part of the

Latitude 43, Gloucester, MA

by Maggie Battista
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I hate to say that I lowered my expectations at this newish Gloucester joint, but I did. I really anticipated hating every single item on the menu at Latitude 43. And I had good reason to! First, the outside looks like a Joe’s All American Bar & Grill – ick! Next, the menu is long

Dinner at St. John’s in London

by Maggie Battista
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In the June issue of Men’s Health magazine, Anthony Bourdain lists the “13 Places to Eat Before You Die” (which I discovered via Russ & Daughter’s great blog). Of course, the moment I saw the post, I tweeted it to the world, just like any diligent food blogger would. When I pressed send to share

Favorite Seafood Restaurants in Boston

by Maggie Battista
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The weather is getting warmer, the New England ocean is suddenly more blue and the views from each mountain is more picturesque. Suddenly friends from all over are visiting their friends in New England. (We never hear from ya’ll the rest of the year, but as soon as the snow and rain and cold temps

Bye Bye, Vesuvio Bakery

by Maggie Battista
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An old friend shared this photo on Facebook earlier this morning. Without much fanfare or publicity, Vesuvio is gone. I don’t live in New York City any longer, but I’m still very, very sad. I had a tiny apartment around the corner from this spot in the ’90s. The bread was very good, but the

Truffles & Roots Dinner at T. W. Food

by Maggie Battista

The team at T. W. Food in Cambridge, MA really know their stuff. Tim and Bronwyn Wiechmann also happen to  get some of the best stuff in the world and are sharing it with their customers in two weeks. On January 28, they will feature a five course dinner to showcase winter root vegetables and

Chicken Paillard at Bistro Ralph

by Maggie Battista

We made very few food plans for wine country USA this time around. On our honeymoon three years ago, we hit all the fancy spots like Terra and The French Laundry. On this trip, we wanted to let locals guide us. Sure, we booked tables at a few prime spots in up and down the

Mezze Platter at Sofra Bakery & Cafe

by Maggie Battista

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

Modern Latin Lunch at Cafe Latino

by Maggie Battista

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

Dinner at Venezia Restaurant

by Maggie Battista

Old-fashioned banquet halls aren’t typically my thing. I go a bit more for chic lounge-style and moody dining rooms. So when a friend suggested we eat lunch at Venezia Waterfront Restaurant, I freaked. This friend is about 20 years older than me and remembers Venezia as the place to enjoy high-end cuisine in a family-style

Boutique Restaurant: Toro

by Maggie Battista

After the flower show, I met a friend for dinner at Toro in Boston’s South End. Toro is a Spanish wine bar and tapas joint that caters to the young and fabulous. I’ve got the “young” part down and visited with a “fabulous” creative friend of mine. The wine list was long and substantial. The

Dinner at Angela’s Coal Fire Pizza

by Maggie Battista

Sometimes you just want good pizza. Sometimes you want fancy, gourmet and unique pizza. But sometimes you just want good, reliable pizza. Today was a great day for good pizza. I’ve visited Angela’s Coal Fired Pizza in Saugus, Massachusetts a few times. Each visit has gotten progressively better. Early on, there were too many toppings,

ShoutOut: The Independent

by Maggie Battista

Earlier this week, I had a very fine dinner at a cozy neighborhood joint called The Independent. Somerville’s Union Square has very much swanked up, but this place has been a solid pillar as the new establishments open, get too hip and disappear. I don’t get to hang in the area often, so I jumped

ShoutOut: Tryst in Beverly, Massachusetts

by Maggie Battista

Tryst is a boutique, 30-seat restaurant in the heart of downtown Beverly, Massachusetts – a small town on the North Shore of Boston that caters to a little art college, the Summer beach crowd, local folk and affluent types. This little town has exploded with upscale restaurants on par with those in Boston and better

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