November 4, 2014 Gilt City: Chef’s Tasting Menu at Ribelle
You may have heard of Ribelle (pronounced rih-BELL-ay), a small restaurant in Washington Square that has been heating up Brookline’s dining scene. You may have even seen that Globe columnist Devra First gave Tim Maslow a rare 4 stars last year. Maslow started his career by working his way up the ranks at the Momofuku resturants in New York, eventually becoming the chef de cuisine of Momofuku Ssam Bar. Maslow left New York to come back to Massachusetts to revamp his father’s sandwich bar, Strip T’s.
I love the decor here, I wish I could take the light fixtures home with me. It’s 6pm on Sunday evening and the restaurant is packed – all the tables are filled and there are people at the bar waiting for a seat at the communal table that runs the length of the restaurant. Those lucky enough to be at the end of the bar get a glimpse into the open kitchen. The noise level is on the louder side, which is surprising based on the age range of the people who are at the restaurant. Gilt City is offering a great deal until Thursday, Nov. 13th. $50 for a sweet and savory brunch for 2 (retail $70), $65 for a 5 course chef’s tasting menu for one or $100 for a 5 course chef’s tasting menu with wine pairings for one. Deal is valid Sunday through Thursday and the entire table must participate in the chef’s tasting menu.
The first course was a halibut crudo.
Second course was stracciatella, pears and mustard frill with nori.
Third course was pasta with duck liver mousse, cranberry and squash puree.
Fourth course was halibut with a squid ink hollandaise, mustard seeds and squash ribbons.
And dessert was a pear cream with gorgonzola honey ice cream and pear spheres.
As an added bonus (not included in the tasting menu) the waiter brought out the espresso semifreddo with cashew, nibs, malt and grapefruit.
About Gilt City
Gilt City (www.giltcity.com) is the innovative online shopping destination offering its members special access to the most coveted experiences in select U.S. cities, all at insider prices. Our curators comb through hundreds of neighborhoods and local business for the most exciting offers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC. A selection of national offers are also available for members across the country. Visit Gilt City for special meals prepared by acclaimed chefs, luxurious massages and beauty offers at top spas and salons, tickets to sold-out plays and concerts, thrilling outdoor adventures, fitness classes, and more
Ribelle
1665 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA
www.ribellebkline.com
Disclaimer: My dinner was provided compliments of Gilt City, all opinions are my own.
Tags: brookline, casual dining, celebrity chef, outdoors seating, restaurant
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
November 3, 2014 Good Ones Halloween Power Hour
Thursday night guests gathered at Marc Hall for a Good Ones Halloween Power Hour.
See my previous post on Marc Hall here.
Guests were treated to Taza chocolate.
Even the Hint water came dressed up in costume!
Everywhere you looked there were fun Halloween surprises!
One of the evenings featured guests was Danny Mazzursky, founder of SoCo Creamery. Danny brought 6 flavors for guests to sample: Vanilla, Dirty Chocolate, Espresso Cookie, Mexicali Chocolate, Burnt Sugar Gelato, and Mango Sorbet. My personal favorite is the Mexicali Chocolate!
Angel’s Envy whiskey was on site mixing up a special cocktail just for the event.
Raymond Tremblay and Sarah Bramhall from Angel’s Envy.
Motto was a sponsor of this evenings event. Haven’t tried it yet? It might be one of my favorite new beverages!
Even “wicked witches” love Motto! Heloisa Fitzgerald as Elphaba.
The lovely ladies of Bee’s Knees Supply Co were serving up gourmet treats and wine throughout the evening.
Jason Owens, owner of Bee’s Knees Supply Co., who supplied all of the food, wine, beer and cider for the evening with Monika Riley.
I loved the enthusiasm for the event, people really put a lot of effort into their costumes!
The staff at Marc Hall all dressed up like mimes. Dave DiCicco, design and sales manager at Marc Hall.
Another featured guest for this evening was Pamela Paquin, owner of Petite Mort ethical fur. (L-R) Danny Canton Jr., Christine Prouty, Pamela Paquin and Chelsey Angers.
(L-R) Christine Prouty in a one of kind tail stole, Lindsey Nico in fox gauntlets, Pamela Paquin in leg warmers and Chelsea Angers in a bear neck muff.
(L-R) Pamela Paquin, Joeimy Gonzalez, Jennifer Brooke, co founder of the Good Ones and Carolyn Kim, co founder of the Good Ones.
Designer Candice Wu of Candice Wu Couture and Noel McKinnon – and yes, Noel made that costume out of cards the night before!!!
Mark Andrus, Stacey Wasserman, Pamela Paquin, Bryan Morell as Thor and Lauren Creedon as Black Widow. If you ask me, Bryan and Lauren killed it with their costumes!
The lovely ladies of Liquid Art House: Ruta Laukien, owner, looking as stunning as ever with her Venetian mask and LAH manager (and owner of Y/A Apparel) Yuna Asriyan as a Bond girl.
Christine Prouty in a one of kind tail stole, Lindsey Nico in fox gauntlets by Petite Mort.
Bryan Morrell and Lauren Creedon.
Ruta Laukien (owner of Liquid Art House), Stacey Wasserman, Iya Khalil (founder of Via Science and GNS Healthcare), Heloisa Fitzgerald (owner of Heloisa Fitzgerald Jewelry), Yuna Asriyan (owner of Y/A Apparel), Carolyn Kim (co-founder of the Good Ones).
Chris Gagnon (center) (Owner of Cross Cycle Fitness) probably took the cake for scariest costume with Olivia McDermott Vanni (right) (Business Development Representative at NetSuite).
Meg Frazier as Holly Golightly and Kristen McGlone as Cruella de Vil.
Wilfred Hirst and Corey Peterson.
The lovely ladies of Liquid Art House: Ruta Laukien, owner, and LAH manager (and owner of Y/A Apparel) Yuna Asriyan with (center) Max Winthorp (Sunlife Financial).
Beccah Stains, Abby Butler, Carolyn Kim, Zeina Ouais, Oula Asa’ad.
For an invitation to future parties, submit your personality snapshot here: http://thegoodones.co/
Who wore it best? Left, Pamela Paquin of Petite Mort and right, Thang Ho, founder of Thang Ho Arts and Entertainment.
Robert Nicol, Director, Technology Labs at Broad Institute (MIT and Harvard).
Kurt Flionis, Vice President of Credit at STAG Industrial and Carolyn Kim, co-founder of the Good Ones.
Thang Ho, founder of Thang Ho Arts and Entertainment.
Heloisa Fitzgerald, founder of Heloisa Fitzgerald Jewelry.
Molly Siegel, owner of Athlete by Design and Jordan Lee Pollard.
Galen Moore, Editor in Chief of BostInno (photo credit: Anastasia Sierra)
(L-R) Julian Jung, Investor at Alden & Harlow, Investor at Drizly and CEO & Founder at Tablelist; Carolyn Kim, co-founder of the Good Ones, Shant Baran, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon; Yuna Asriyan, owner of Y/A Apparel. (photo credit: Anastasia Sierra)
And the party continued on my ride home – my driver picked me up in a SUV that had blue party lights on inside – and couldn’t wait to get his picture taken.
For an invitation to future parties, submit your personality snapshot here: http://thegoodones.co/
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Events
November 3, 2014 Doughnut Plant
We have always hit up the Doughnut Plant at their flagship lower east side location, but since we were staying in Soho this time around, we decided to pay a visit to the Hotel Chelsea location just a few blocks away from our hotel.
The walls are festively decorated with “doughnuts” and there are a few tables if you just can’t wait to get home to eat your doughnut!
The blackberry jam filled square doughnut was delicious. Just the right amount of filling in every bite and a light sweet glaze to sweeten the deal. Did you know that the doughnut plant makes all of their own jams and fillings in house?
The coffee cake “cake” doughnut was also delicious (and filled!). It was a little sweet for my taste, but certainly a nice change of pace…I mean, we were on vacation after all, right?!
Background: Mark started the Doughnut Plant with his grandfather’s recipe in 1994. For 5 years he made doughnuts at night, in the basement of a lower east side tenement building that was converted into a bakery, and delivered them the following morning on his bike. In 2000, with the help of his father, Mark moved from the basement bakery into their flagship location on Grand Street. In 2004, Mark developed the signature jelly filled square doughnut and in 2005 the Doughnut Plant sold its first cake doughnut. In 2006 the tres leches doughnut appeared (one of my all time favorites) and in 2011 Mark opened the Chelsea Hotel location.
Doughnut Plant
Chelsea Hotel, 220 W 23rd Street (bet. 7th and 8th), New York, NY
Tags: casual dining, dessert, doughnuts, new york, restaurant
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants, Trips
October 31, 2014 NOLA’s Salsa
Nola’s salsa is made right here in Boston by Sherie Grillon, a New Orleans native. The name Nola’s pays tribute to her hometown. Her traditional Mexican salsa is made with the freshest ingredients resulting in a salsa that is bold and flavorful. There are no preservatives, no oils, no sugars and no artificial colors. The product appeals to a variety of people because it is also vegan and gluten free.
I loved the Fire Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa, it is a very rich, full-flavored, smoky salsa that combines roasted corn, roasted tomatoes and fresh cooked black beans. The website has some great recipes that you can add the salsa to, but I loved it plain with chips!
The salsa fresca is a traditional tomato-based raw blended salsa that most people associate with Mexican food. Once you try this, you can never go back to salsa in a jar!
NOLA’s Fresh Foods
Check out their website for where to buy.
http://www.nolasfreshfoods.com
Disclaimer: Nola’s provided me with two complimentary samples. All opinions are my own.
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Products
October 30, 2014 Ina Garten Giveaway Winner
Congratulations Frederick W! You are the winner of 2 tickets to see Ina Garten on 11/5. Your tickets will be available at will call.
*Winner was chosen by Random.org
Tags: giveaway
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Events
October 29, 2014 Scoopsies
Scoopsies is a brand new ice cream company in Boston. They deliver premium ice cream right to your door. The company started in 2013 as an ice cream challenge to make 100 flavors in 365 days. Chloe delivered twice to my office – on the second visit she came with the smoked sea salted caramel (above) and the pumpkin pie (below). *Disclaimer: Scoopsies provided me with two complimentary pints of ice cream. All opinions are my own.
The pumpkin pie is made with hand-baked pumpkin with clove, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, and a pinch of turmeric. The pumpkin has a wonderful smell – so spicy! I loved that the consistency was smooth and creamy!
My first delivery from Chloe a few weeks ago was the S’moreo flavor – which is my favorite of the three I tried. There are larges pieces of Oreos mixed in, way more than what you would get if you bought Oreo ice cream at the store. Prices range from $8-$13 per pint. There is a $20 minimum for all delivery orders and Chloe offers a discount for orders over 8 pints.
Scoopsies
Order at: http://grabascoopsies.bigcartel.com/
Follow Chloe’s blog at http://100scoopsies.blogspot.com/
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Products, Services
October 28, 2014 Bogie’s Place
I had the pleasure of working with Reserve, a new dining system that is coming soon, taking some photos for their app. I headed over to Bogie’s Place, which is located inside jm Curley. After passing through a door marked “adults only” and a red velvet curtain, you enter this exclusive, dimly lit private back room.
The room is made complete with a picture of Humphrey Bogart hanging above the bar.
The menu has four steaks, a half chicken and a vegetarian filet. The steak frites, $25, (above) are IPA marinated and served with a side of fries. The hanger steak was flavorful and I love mine rare/medium rare. The fries were salty and crispy, the perfect side for this dish.
That is, until the chef spoils you with some bone marrow ($4). Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! It was SO delicious!
And check out this lovely burrata salad ($15) served with proscuitto and cranberries with a balsamic glaze. This dish screams fall to me!
Bogie’s Place
25 Temple Place, Boston, MA
http://www.bogiesplace.com/adultsonly/
Tags: downtown crossing, restaurant, steak
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
October 27, 2014 The Good Ones: Manhattan Power Hour
Guests of the Good Ones Power Hour came out to Bistro du Midi on Tuesday evening and definitely gave New York and run for their money, dressed up in their best Manhattan style.
Blogger Bianca Garcia (left) and Ben Uyeda, co-founder and design director at freegreen.com and co-founder of ZeroEnergy Design (ZED) (right). Photo credit Anastasia Sierra.
Bistro du Midi might be one of my favorite restaurants, their modern French cuisine is crave worthy. They have a great bistro area downstairs, along with patio seating when the weather allows. Upstairs houses a larger dining space with a lovely private room.
Mark Andrus, co-founder of Stacy’s Pita Chips. Photo credit Anastasia Sierra.
Featured guests included Kurt Flionis, Vice President of credit at STAG Industrial. Flionis is also an avid golfer, a scratch player and five time club champion at Lexington GC; Dennis Franczak, founder of Fuseideas, one of New England’s largest and fastest growing advertising agencies; Dr. Iya Khalil, a technology entrepreneur and physicist who co-founded two big data companies, Via Science and GNS Healthcare, and is the co-inventor of the proprietary computational engine that underpins both entities; Oliver Day, an information security professional with a pedigree that includes tenure at companies such as eEye Digital Security, @stake, Symantec, Rapid7, StopBadware and Akamai; and Bret Cohen, a member of Mintz Levin, a full service, multi-disciplinary law firm based in Boston.
Michael Glickman, co-founder of LIQS. Photo credit Anastasia Sierra.
Memberships for the Good Ones will be selectively extended. Please submit your personality snapshot here: http://thegoodones.co/membership/
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Events, Restaurants
October 26, 2014 Giveaway: Ina Garten Tickets
I’m giving away TWO FREE tickets to this event!
Calling all Ina Garten fans! The best-selling cookbook author and star of Food Network’s “Barefoot Contessa” is coming to Symphony Hall in Boston on November 5, 2014 at 7:30pm! Ina will share behind the scenes stories and will be joined on stage by a local moderator, Faith Middleton from WNPR. There will be an audience Q&A following the interview. Tickets went on sale to the general public on Friday, May 16th.
For more information, please go to: www.bso.org/ina Limited tickets are available for purchase at the box office.
You can pre order Ina’s ninth cookbook, Make is Ahead: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook from Williams Sonoma and pick up your autographed copy at the event. Use the following link: www.williams-sonoma.com/inagartentour as limited copies will be for sale the night of the event.
There will NOT be a book signing at the event. Pre-signed copies will be available for purchase while supplies last.
Leave a comment below of why you are the biggest Ina fan and be entered to win TWO FREE TICKETS. Winner will be chosen at then end of the day on 10/29.
- 3 comments
- Posted under Events
October 24, 2014 Temazcal
It was an unusually warm evening, so we decided to walk to Temazcal from our office. The space is beautiful, with great water views. It was a little too chilly for eating outside, but they have a lovely patio.
The restaurant has two locations, one in the Seaport and the other in Lynnfield. Both restaurants feature an upscale atmosphere and over 200 types of tequila! What is fun about Temazcals’ website is that you can look at the menu and see recipes of all the dishes and prepare them for yourself at home!
The meal starts with chips and salsa.
And of course we started with the lobster guacamole ($16): lobster, avocado, tomato, onion, cilantro, serrano chilies. Huge pieces of fresh lobster meat! I love guacamole, I could have eaten just this for dinner.
I had the short rib barbacoa fajitas ($22) with shredded braised short rib, pickled jalapenos, and agave glazed onions.
The fajitas come with refried beans, corn salsa and a cole slaw.
We also tried the grilled skirt steak tacos ($19) that came with marinated grilled skirt steak, roasted onion salsa, napa cabbage, picked serrano and radish and avocado, served on soft corn tortillas. A little messy to eat, but it came in a cute presentation and the flavors were really fresh.
The churros ($8) for dessert were light and delicious – they have a touch of sweetness and they are served warm.
And an odd choice, but we also went with the Key Lime Pie ($8) that was light as air and lip puckering tart (just the way I like it!).
Where is your favorite Mexican restaurant?
Temazcal
250 Northern Ave., Boston, MA
http://www.temazcalcantina.com/
Tags: casual dining, fort point, mexican, outdoor seating, restaurant
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
