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The Old and the New

Fan Pier.  Years in development, us skeptial Bostonians never thought it would happen.  But it did, it’s spectacular and a great place to be on a summer night in Boston with the skyline as a backdrop.  Take a walk along Fan Pier, go to the ICA, have dinner at any number of restaurants ranging from mexican to Legal Seafood, Del Friscos, Strega, Jerry Remy’s and Anthony’s Pier Four.  Yes, remember that one?  That’s where we started our July 3rd celebration. Continue reading “The Old and the New”

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I’m speechless…

Coppa.  Just a sliver of a restaurant on Shawmut Avenue in the South End of Boston.  It has a pedigree. Ken Oringer and Jaime Bissonnette own the restaurant and also own Toro together.  Hailed by every food critic far and wide I can see why.  It’s serious not fussy.  Just really great ingredients put together in inventive ways.  The people that work at Coppa are artists, committed and proud of what they do and it shows, from the bartender to the sous chef making the Tuna Crudo.

We were on our way to another restaurant but when I mentioned Coppa to Roy on the street, someone passing by said, “you have to go there , it’s the best”.  And, so that’s where we ended up.  Since it was only 5P we knew we’d get 2 at the bar.

And we did  Already, a buzz at 5 o’clock we grabbed a couple of seats and ordered 2 Prosecco to toast the beginning of summer.  And then, what to order.  Hard to choose, we started with ostriches  (2 oysters) with hint of rhubarb verjus, set on a mound of salt, incredible.  Then, we ordered the Pizza Pepe Blanco named after Pepe’s in New Haven.  We’ve had the pizza blanco at Pepe’s, but Coppa’s is probably the best pizza we’ever had.  A white clam pizza with bacon and baby leeks.  The crust perfect with not a hint of oil.  Made in a wood burning oven.  And, an order of arancini with fontina cheese.

I was watching as one of the chefs was preparing the tuna crudo.  He did it with such intense attention to detail and it looked so good, I had to order it.  A thick slice of the pinkest tuna, radish, sriracha and sweet sicily.  Who thinks these concoctions up? That’s why Coppa is what it is!

I had a delicious sparkling Rose which the bartender who looked like Rosaria Dawson recommended, and Roy had a good, old Narragansett beer!

A special shout out to Nicole who was sitting next us.  She’s an open water swimmer and going to Istanbul next week to participate in a swim across the Bosporus along with 4,000 other swimmers.  Cool right???

It was such a beautiful night we decided to go elsewhere for dessert and ended up at Beehive, at the bar of course, and had a fantastic rhubarb and berry bread pudding with vanilla ice cream.

A good way to start the summer, don’t you think?

See you at the bar….

Coppa on Urbanspoon

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Double Bill: Jesse Malin and Alejandro Escovedo

 

It was a regular Friday afternoon at the office with everyone asking “what are you doing this weekend?”  “I’m going to hear some music”, I said.  Oh?  Who?  “You probably have never heard of them – Jesse Malin and Alejandro Escovedo”, I said.  “No, what kind of music?”  And that’s where I was stumped.  What kind of music?  Alt, Alt-Country, Americana, Rock, hard to put these two musicians in a box. Continue reading “Double Bill: Jesse Malin and Alejandro Escovedo”

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A Good Eating Weekend…and more!

I’m a little late in blogging this week.  That doesn’t mean we didn’t eat well last weekend.  Quite the opposite!  Two nights of eating out and two good restaurants.

Meeting friends on Friday night, West on Centre in West Roxbury was the perfect midway point.  One side of the restaurant is a large open dining space, with a freestanding bar in front of the kitchen which is enclosed in glass so you can see what’s going on.  The other side of the restaurant is a busy bar scene! And, Centre Street itself has become a restaurant row.   Continue reading “A Good Eating Weekend…and more!”

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Squeezing Out Sparks with Graham Parker

It would have to be pretty special to drive to Shirley, MA on Sunday night in the pouring rain to see some music and that’s what we did recently. Graham Parker, the angry young man, now a more mellow older man of 61 was at The Bull Run with the Figgs.  How could we miss him.  He of the late ’70’s punk scene.  His voice and music is iconic – Squeezing Out Sparks, Local Girls, Heat Treatment, Fools Gold and on and on.  And, he sang them all along with some new material. Continue reading “Squeezing Out Sparks with Graham Parker”

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A Movie and Abigail’s

Yesterday afternoon we saw Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a documentary about Jiro Ono the owner of  Sukiyabashi a sushi only restaurant universally regarded as the best sushi restaurant in the world.  The restaurant, inconspicuously located in a Tokyo subway station, has only 10 seats and a dinner there costs a minimum of $350 per person.  People come from around the globe and call months in advance for reservations.  Jiro who is 85 years old has no signs of slowing down.  It was a fascinating movie and we will never look at sushi in the same way. Continue reading “A Movie and Abigail’s”

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Bruce Springsteen-Boston Garden-March 26, 2012

Me and 18,000 other Springsteen fanatics had our heads blown off last night in the temple of Bruce Springsteen.  It was a flat-out religious experience.  2 hours and 45 minutes of pure joy.

I’ve seen Springsteen in concert too many times to count.  My first show was back in 1978 when Roy and I waited for hours outside the Music Hall for tickets.  His shows go from great to transcendent.  Last night was the later.   He kicked things off with “We Take Care of our Own” from Wrecking Ball.  He paid homage to the Apollo Theatre and his heroes with an a capella rendition of Smoky Robinson and the Miracles “The Way You Do The Things You Do” and “634-5789” by the Marvelettes.  I’m not going to give you the details of the set list but let me say that the Boss did not disappoint, not even remotely. If you’ve been to a Springsteen concert you know what I mean.  No one puts it out like him, no one.  He knee slid, body surfed and ran continuously from side to side.  He brought the music down and built it up.

Continue reading “Bruce Springsteen-Boston Garden-March 26, 2012”

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Mare

We went to the North End last night for dinner at Mare.  They’ve changed things and have added an oyster bar.

The restaurant is small.  When we entered we were seated at a table for two practically breathing on the couple next to us.  On the other side of us was an extremely loud table of six. Not good.  Being that we are “2 at the bar” we noticed two seats had opened up at the bar; not just two seats but the best, two corner seats.  Lucky us! Continue reading “Mare”