Set in the shadow of Fenway Park, at the end of the famed Yawkey Way sits the brewery/restaurant Boston Beer Works. The front of the restaurant is masterfully designed, rows of windows flank the bar area to allow the patrons to enjoy a beer and people watch as folks stream in for Red Sox games. The food is fairly traditional brewery food, with a few additions that may surprise. The hummus plate on the appetizer menu is a meal in itself with a mound of hummus surrounded by fresh veggies. If you’re in the area though, your most likely at Boston Beer Works for beer, which they do an excellent job of brewing. Their bar has 16 beers on tap, available for sampling, pint size or for larger groups, in pitcher form. The right side of the restaurant is filled with large tanks, to announce to the world that yes, beer is actually made here. Try to get in a couple of hours before a Red Sox game to get a table, Beer Works is sure to be filled up by the time the first pitch is thrown.
Boston Beer Works
61 Brookline Ave
Boston, MA 02215
PHONE: 617.536.BEER
Picture taken by ckirsten.
Hard Rock has announced the opening of a new flagship cafe and store right on the strip itself. The cafe’s new location will be in the Showcase Mall just north of the MGM Grand. The original location by the Hard Rock hotel will stay put, Hard Rock believes with the new growth on the strip the market will sustain two restaurants. I think this is a great idea for Hard Rock, the restaurant they’ve got over by the hotel (which by the way you should never walk to in the heat of the day from the strip) kind of misses the action of not being closer to the strip. I hope the owners of the Showcase Mall has given it a face lift since the last time I was in Vegas. All I can remember of the place is crappy tourist shops and M&M world.
Scheduled to open in summer 2009, the new Hard Rock Cafe Las Vegas will be one of the city’s premier dining and entertainment destinations, with three floors and more than 41,000-square feet of space, including a 700-seat restaurant, live concert venue and Hard Rock’s largest Rock Shop. In addition to a state-of-the-art facility, the cafe will also feature rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia from Hard Rock’s unmatched collection. The Showcase Mall Phase III is being developed by City Center Retail, LLC, a San Francisco-based development company, and Angelo Gordon & Co., a New York-based investment firm.
VIVA HARD ROCK LAS VEGAS!
Hot Doug’s - Chicago hot dogs, just check out their wild offerings on the specials page!
East Coast Grill and Raw Bar is one of those places in Cambridge that you’d just pass by. My dear friends if you do, you have no idea what your passing up. Entering the restaurant you’d never guess that it’s won best brunch 2006 by Boston magazine, and received a “Fodor’s Choice” from from the Boston version of the guide. Actually before you walk in you should check out the blackboard, just out front, it’s got all the daily specials (if you miss them though your waitress will regale you with them). The food at East Coast is eclectic to say the least, from what I could figure out it was an Asian inspired seafood restaurant that also smoked damn good Memphis style barbecue. It’s a juxtaposition I couldn’t get my head around.
From what we could tell from the diners around us, EC’s portions are enormous, but we wanted to try a variety of things so we ordered a cornucopia of appetizers to get a feel for the food. We ended up ordering the Clam and Corn Chowder (order the corn bread as well and dip into into the chowder, it was amazing), a 1/2 dozen of the freshest Oysters I’ve ever had, and the Sirloin Thai sticks (there weren’t enough of these). The two absolutely standout dishes were the Mussels steamed in Coconut Milk (I may never be able to eat a mussel again lacking in coconut milk) but the pièce de résistance had to be the perfectly cooked plantain crusted scallops (again the only thing lacking was I could have eaten 6 more of these). We figured we needed some sides with all this seafood so we ordered the garlic mashed potatoes (a mountainous flavorful pile of spuds) and the cole slaw (wonderful flavor). EC’s wine menu is decent, but my only complaint was that a majority of the wine were offered only in bottles. Since we were only looking to only have a glass of wine each, our choices although excellent were limited. The service was very good, especially since when the restaurant was really hopping there wasn’t a whole lot of room to get around the tables. I guess they like a very cozy feel at East Coast. Don’t forget to order a 6 pack of Pabst for the kitchen (that’s actually offered on the menu), the chefs will be very vocal in thanking you.
East Coast Grill and Raw Bar
1271 Cambridge St.
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
617-491-6568
My wife, brother and I headed down to the northern part of Ft Lauderdale last weekend for a comic book convention I was attending. Since we know little about the area and had free Wi-Fi at the hotel we were staying at, we poked around Google to find a half-way decent place to find dinner. We were surprised to find that Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine, the Cuban restaurant we so frequented in our youth (my brother and I were born and raised in Hollywood, FL, south of Ft. Lauderdale) had an outpost a few miles nearby on Oakland Park Blvd.
We walked into the restaurant pretty late (the convention exhibition hall closed around 8 at night), and were greeted by a near empty restaurant. Normally in that situation my wife and I would tuck tail and run, because usually an empty restaurant means a crappy restaurant. But since we had prior experience with it’s sister restaurant near our old house, and since there was a brand spanking new Bentley parked out front we approached the host stand expecting a decent meal.
The restaurant itself was nicely furnished, nothing too amazing, with roughly 20 tables. The tables themselves were sort of diner style, with the “Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine” logo prominently lacquered to each table top. After seating, we were quickly approached by a waitress who eerily reminded me of my mother. We ordered drinks and a couple appetizers and while patiently waiting for our drinks we perused the menu.
Continue reading ‘There should be a Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine in every town’
As I grew older, I began to tire of those packed, loud bars me and my friends would hit up late at night. Who hasn’t had this happen to them: fight for the bartender at a bar, order drinks (which is normally way too expensive for the experience), and have to truck back to the hidden alcove where the rest of your group has gathered to enjoy the drinks? Then you have to lather, rinse and repeat.
No I’ve learned to enjoy nice quiet hotel bars, not ghost towns mind you, but places where you can sit down and truly enjoy that $15 martini that goes down way too quickly. The Ritz Carlton Laguna Nigel just opened ENO, which is described at ENO’s official website as “a luxurious alternative to traditional Southern California wine clubs and bars”.
Long after “ritzy” became a synonym for luxury, the hotel chain that inspired the word has come up with a new idea of indulgence. Wine, cheese and chocolate come together on one menu in Eno, a new 36-seat tasting bar just off the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Nigel.
Ritz-Carlton’s Eno serves up indulgence [LA Times]
Moscow welcomes a brand new $350 million dollar Ritz-Carlton, opening July 1st. The hotel will offer a $700 per person breakfast on the menu of it’s restaurant Jeroboam (will you also be able to order the breakfast through room service?).
The hotel includes Jeroboam the restaurant of three star Michelin chef Heinz Winkler. A separate wine room, Petrus, will be available for small groups to choose from the expansive wine and rare spirits collection such as a shot of Macallan Fine and Rare Collection vintage 1969 whisky for $400. The restaurant will serve the Tsar’s Breakfast which costs $700 per person and includes a bottle of Crystal champagne, an omelet with Kobe beef steak, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and truffles, foie gras with caramelized apple and pain brioche, 56 grams of Beluga caviar with blinis, sour cream and quail eggs and more.
Moscow’s Luxurious Ritz-Carlton Offers $700 Breakfast [Luxist]
Todd English (of Olives fame) and Eva Longoria (of banging Tony Parker fame) has announced (is it really an announcement when the non-chef part of the celebrity restaurant tells Martha Stewart about it?) a Tex-Mex restaurant to be opened in Hollywood, California. I truly wish there was more to this “announcement” but that’s all we’ve got.
BREAKING: Eva Longoria and Todd English Together! [Eater LA]
