November 29, 2008
Good Looc Charm
Audra
Boyle opened her cool shopping haven, Looc Boutique, on Union Park in
2007. Since she and her now-husband lived a few blocks away in an
apartment above B&G Oysters, she could always count on a quick
commute, making her seven-day work week actually feel pretty cushy. The
couple has since moved to Hanson Street, also a quick walk to work, and
they still take advantage of the many bar and dining options nearby,
sticking close to home on their nights off.
November 18, 2008
Who we spotted. What they were wearing.
<<Click here for the Street Seen slideshow>>
November 17, 2008
>>Click here for The Last Suppers slideshow<<It’s one of the most common questions asked of chefs:
what would you choose to eat for your final meal? We wanted to know
too, so we took the idea a few steps further and rounded up seven of
Boston’s most acclaimed chefs to actually cook — and eat — their
hypothetical last meals.
The long wooden table is set with
simple white dishes and empty wine glasses. The ambience is warm,
inviting, almost regal, with wall shelves stocked with bottles of reds,
whites, and Champagne. The disciples have been replaced by a veritable
who’s who of Boston chefs: Todd English (Olives, Bonfire, Kingfish
Hall, and others); Jamie Bissonnette (Toro); Michael Schlow (Radius,
Via Matta, Great Bay); Jeremy Sewall (Lineage); Chris Douglass (Icarus,
Ashmont Grill, Tavolo); Tony Susi (Sage); and Andy Husbands (Tremont
647). The table is not at Mount Zion, but instead the private dining
room of Bonfire, where chef/owner English has opened up his kitchen to
let some of the city’s most creative epicures prepare and share what
they would create as their last meals on Earth. The food coming from
the kitchen is as eclectic as the men preparing it, ranging from
classic Italian (spaghetti, bruschetta, and arugula salad from Schlow;
potato gnocchi with rabbit and mushroom braise from Susi) to a
decadence-and-comfort combination (Southern-style fried chicken and
waffles, plus caviar on petite egg sandwiches with Dom Perignon to wash
it all down, courtesy of English).
November 17, 2008
Family food doesn’t necessarily lead to family feuds
Many
veterans of the restaurant industry liken working in the kitchen,
serving tables, and spending hours with the same people every day to
being part of a family. But for those who own and operate restaurants
with their brothers and sisters, their restaurants are tru extensions
of their homes and families. Sibling-run restaurants are places where
the ties of brother- and sisterhood can sometimes be tested, and the
line between professional and personal relationships is blurred to
near-invisibility.
When we set out to write a story about these
restaurants, we were expecting to hear salacious tales of sibling
rivalry and middle-child syndrome. But for the restaurateurs we spoke
with, working with a brother or sister (and sometimes both) instead has
brought them closer, made them recognize one another’s strengths and
weaknesses, and ultimately solidified their bonds. For these teams, the
recipe for a successful working relationship is a balance of trust,
creative compatibility, and complete honesty.
November 14, 2008
All in the family
Rodney
Murillo has worked his way through just about every position, from
dishwasher on up, at the original Davio’s, its newer location, and now
at Davio’s sister restaurant, Avila, where he’s currently the executive
chef. His climb makes one thing clear: family is everything to him.
He’s a close friend of owner Steve DiFillippo and the company’s other
executive chefs, and he met his wife, Audrey, when she worked at
Davio’s 10 years ago. These days, Murillo spends his nights off
supporting Boston’s ever-expanding restaurant scene.
November 03, 2008
Makeup for it
As
the boutique director and atelier artist at Shu Uemura, Dani Wagener is
used to helping others primp. Discerning brides and runway organizers
bang down her door for makeup applications, brow-shaping, and lash
extensions because they know to expect a sure hand and coveted
expertise. So it’s no wonder that when the Winthrop resident gathers
some friends for a night out, the party starts at Shu’s Newbury Street
boutique, where Wagener herself applies the group’s finishing touches.
November 03, 2008
A guide to local independent beauty stores
Don’t get
us wrong: we love browsing the seemingly infinite array of products at
our local Sephora emporium (and, during tedious afternoons at the
office, its virtual counterpart. It counts as research, no?). But as we
filled our bathroom shelves with this essential beauty thingy and that
must-have cosmetic doodad, we began to wonder if the love affair wasn’t
blossoming at the expense of the little guy: the locally-owned,
anti-big-business beauty shop. So we set off on a field trip of sorts,
an exploration of the city’s retailers of pretty, from Hanover Street
to Harvard Square.
November 03, 2008
Beauty advice from people who aren't paid to give it to youWhen
it comes to your beauty regimen, there are some things you just
shouldn’t try at home — like mixing your own concoction of bleach to
lighten your jet-black tresses or cutting choppy layers into the back
of your own hair. But then there are those seemingly simple tasks that
you might be too embarrassed to admit you don’t know how to accomplish.
So we called in a few everyday experts to answer some of our most
practical — yet pressing — beauty questions. They might man the salon
chairs or the makeup counters, but they have beauty tips and tricks
that come from their own life experiences.
November 03, 2008
Photos by Mitch Weiss
<<Click here to see the slideshow>>
October 20, 2008
Over-the-top glamour lights up the night
Photographed by Michael Diskin
Produced and styled by Erica Corsano
Models: Evelyn and Genevieve Of Maggie Inc.
Hair: Lisa Proulx of James Joseph Salon
Makeup: Airline
Production Assistants: Kristina Weljkovic and Arianna Ankarcrona
Location: The Intercontinental Boston
>>Click here to see the slideshow<<
October 17, 2008
Model behavior
Modeling
since age 10 and running a fashion-consulting and public-relations
business since she was in college, Polina Raygorodskaya is nothing if
not ambitious. The Newton resident and owner of Polina Fashion produces
fashion shows and handles PR for a number of up-and-coming businesses,
including photographer David Alsdorf. These days, she does more
producing than modeling, though she still embraces the jet-set life and
travels weekly. But when she’s home, she likes to keep things low-key,
palling around with friends over good beers and a game of pool.
October 17, 2008
Unexpected nightlife in unexpected settingsGood
News for those with social ADD: Boston’s nightlife isn’t restricted to
barstools, banquettes, and club corners anymore. Lately, we’ve been
seeing an onslaught of events happening in unexpected places:
bookstores, museums, liquor stores, theater lobbies. Read on for some
refreshing alternatives to your regular dine-drink-dance nights out.
October 17, 2008
Boston's hotel bars are heating things up and packing 'em in
On a recent Friday night, the crowd waiting to get into the Liberty Hotel
(215 Charles Street, Boston, 617.224.4000) was about 30 well-dressed
people deep. Inside, diners, drinkers, revelers, and presumably some
actual hotel guests swarmed the lobby. It was a typical weekend night
at the Liberty, the holding-cell-turned-hotspot that emerged on the
local nightlife map just over a year ago. And the momentum doesn’t
appear to be slowing down.
The idea of hotel bars used to conjure up two
starkly different — yet similarly unsexy — images. Images, on the one
hand, of dark rooms awash in mahogany and filled with a sea of suits
and power politicians drinking $20 martinis; images synonymous with
private men’s clubs, low on fun and high on pretense. And on the other,
images of sparsely filled barstools where traveling businessmen sat
killing time between meetings.
But for Boston, that stereotype has been steadily
shifting as hotel bars shape themselves as destinations — places where
locals go after work and on weekends to take in the scene and a few
well-mixed cocktails.
October 06, 2008
By MC Slim JB and Ruth Tobias
MC SLIM JB:It’s our second tag-team on Stuff@night’s Dining Awards! How many steak frites did you eat this year? I musta had a dozen and only got excited about one.
RUTH TOBIAS:Me, I managed to dodge the steak frites, only to find myself in a minefield of gelée and burrata. Granted, there are worse ways to go. What food trends have blown you to heaven recently?
MC SLIM JB:Sensible portion sizes. i hate “tapas” the size of appetizers, but i’ve seen genuinely small plates at places like Persephone. Give me variety, two bites at a time, like rijsttafel.
RUTH TOBIAS:A fine choice, sir. And what will you have to drink with your sensible portions?
MC SLIM JB:Well-crafted cocktails: quality spirits, fresh juices, proper bitters and garnishes, chilled glasses — hold the candy-flavored vodka. Maybe a nice hoskins. luckily, those are getting easier to find; thanks, B-Side! [sniffle] What’s yours?
RUTH TOBIAS:A shot of bison-grass vodka at the Good Life. Make it a double.
MC SLIM JB:Hey, that’s where i got my one exciting steak frites: the late-night prime skirt, $18! The circle is complete. To the Awards!
>>Click here to view the Dining Awards gallery<<
>>Click here for the complete list of winners<<
Win dinner on us! Text FEED, followed by a space, followed by the name of your favorite restaurant, to 22122.
October 03, 2008
World's an oyster
When the guys from Island Creek Oysters show up at restaurants around town, they’re given the royal treatment. Their oysters are, after all, some of the most coveted in the country (chef Thomas Keller’s acclaimed Per Se restaurant even has its own variety). Shore Gregory heads up business development for the company, a position he took on after spending several summers working on the farm. He’s up ridiculously early just about every day, commuting from his South End apartment to Duxbury, but that doesn’t deter him from hitting the town for tall boys on his nights off.
@ 6:15 p.m.: The best way to end a day is out on the water in Duxbury. There are few things better than oysters and a cold beer on the bay.
@ 7:30 p.m.: I’ll try to race into the city to catch up with our driver, CJ. He’s usually at Toro, so we’ll start over there for a couple of PBR tall boys.
@ 9:45 p.m.: I love seeing what’s out there for restaurants, so we may check out something new, like Hungry Mother in Cambridge. That place is great, and the idea that I can sit at a nice restaurant in town drinking a 40-ounce beer is the ultimate.
@ midnight: Seeing as how my alarm went off at 4:30, I may have to rally, but I like to stop by Eastern Standard. It’s one of the best places to be in Boston at 1 a.m.
@ 2 a.m.: I’ll probably be back at home on my roof deck by now. We’ll throw on some good music and end the night with a glass of water. Or maybe one more beer.
