It's been a bloody week for Boston-area food purveyors. Since Monday, we've received word of two closed restaurants and two shuttered food shops. So you don't schlep all the way out to Somerville (or Brookline or Newton) only to get burned, here's whats closed this week and where you might try instead:

•The Garden City reports that the Newton Corner Applebees is no more. Do try to dry your tears. In case you're hankering for some riblets, try the Applebees in Chestnut Hill or at the Pru.
•In much more depressing news, Cantabridgia lets us know that Somerville's Kirkland Cafe is no more. The cafe's booking agent is moving to The Cantab, so head over there for the music you know and love.
•Kosher shopping in the area just got even worse, as The Kosher Blog is reporting that Beacon Kosher has closed. Guess it's all on the Butcherie now.
•Finally, in the saddest news of the week, Escar-go-go says Davis Square's La Contessa is no more. There are plenty of North End bakeries where one can buy similar goodies, but we'll miss La Contessa nonetheless.

Beautiful O Ya:
exquisite small sushi plates.
So why so empty?

Bill's Pizzeria:
so much more than just pizza.
Try the "Carnivore."

While browsing Craigslist the other day, we came across this listing for a "new South End bar and restaurant." The location? 329 Columbus Ave, the former home of the much-missed Tim's. The listing speaks of "immediate employment", and yet, when we made a valiant attempt to google the address, we found nothing except out-of-date listings for Tim's and links to a somewhat hilariously-named modeling agency. Chowhound scouring reveals that something called Coda is slated to open in the former Tim's spot (with the recipe for Tim's dearly-beloved burger!). Googling of Coda resulted only in a a website with no contact information and no working links. So what is Coda, aside from opening soon? Rest assured, we will be waiting with bated breath to find out.

New South End bar & restaurant bartenders, servers, sous chef needed [Craigslist]
Any info on Coda? [Chowhound]
Best burger in Boston ????? any successors to Tim's on Columbus Ave [Chowhound]
Coda Kitchen & Bar [Official Site]

[Photo: ENTCO International]

Oh, Sauciety!
Nadeau deconstructs for us:
ultimately meh.

Joseph's: good pizza
for hungry Wentworthians.
Subs are also great.

One of our favorite food trends of the past few years has been the re-glorification of the humble cupcake. Who doesn't love cupcakes? They combine the best aspects of cake (covered in frosting!) and muffins (hand held!) to produce a tiny piece of near-perfection. We've always preferred our cupcakes to be yellow in cake and chocolate in frosting, although every so often, we'll walk on the wild side and try lemon cake with vanilla frosting. Crazy!

Or so we thought. Recently, we've seen a few things on Slashfood that blew apart our narrow conception of the cupcake. First, there was this maple bacon cupcake with maple frosting. We don't know if you noticed what just happened there, but we said bacon. In reference to a cupcake ingredient. Bacon! Inside a cupcake! Previously, we had not known that such glorious things could happen on earth.

Then! A mere day later, those wiley Slashfoodies posted another crazy concoction: the mojito cupcake. Whoa. We are in awe at the sick genius who came up with combining our favorite bakery treat and our favorite summer drink into five or so bites. This even improves on the dinner we had last night: cupcakes and beer. (Oh! So classy!)

All these new desserts got us hankering to try some fanciful cupcakes of our own. Alas, after consulting the Find-a-Food Search, we realized that Boston is not much on newfangled cupcakes. While it's certainly not difficult to get a good cupcake (we're partial to those from the South End Buttery and Sweet Christopher's Dessert Cafe), the most adventurous cupcakes in the city seem to be the ice-cream-injected guys from Trani. Sigh. Looks like we'll have to make our own.

Maple Bacon Cupcakes with Maple Frosting [Slashfood]
Eat Your Mojitos as Dessert [Slashfood]
South End Buttery [MenuPages]
Sweet Christopher's Dessert Cafe [MenuPages]
Trani [Official Site]

[Photo: Londonist]

Blogston Proper is your thrice-weekly roundup of Hub-related food writing from all over the Internet. We read the blogs so you don't have to. But you should anyway, just to be nice.

•A successful restaurant with no plans to expand! [Newton TAB Blog]
•A burrito so good, it doesn't last long enough to be weighed for posterity! [Burrito Blog]
•A frumpy restaurant! [On Common Ground]

[Photo: Flickr: AntyDiluvian]

Boston gelato:
cold Italian treats delight
in summer's great heat.

What's up with the Dig?
Is it a double issue?
Big sigh. We guess so.

Diner's Agenda is going hog wild!

Wednesday, May 30
•Tonight looks like it's going to be a humid one. Stay out of your rapidly overheating apartment and head down to the Cava Cocktail Lounge at The Ivy for some cool jazz and a nice drink or two. Need another incentive? We have three words for you: complimentary hors d'oeuvres. [The Ivy]

Thursday, May 31
•So, we don't want to get you too excited, but we think you should know that The Blue Room will be roasting an ENTIRE PIG and serving up three other courses (with wine pairings!) besides. The madness begins at 7:00 and costs $80 (may we remind you that there will be a WHOLE PIG involved). You may reserve your spot online. [The Blue Room: Events]

We read this weekend's Globe Magazine with great interest, since there's nothing we love more than wild speculation about the future. As you might imagine, we were particularly drawn to Alison Arnett's piece about Hub dining in 2017. While we agree with many of her suggestions (Fort Point and the Seaport will become huge, Harrison Avenue is totally the new Washington Street, Filipino cuisine is on its way in), we thought of a few more trends that seem to be forthcoming.

Local Menus: Bostonians, like their counterparts in the rest of the nation, have recently begun clamoring for more local foodstuffs (see: the increasing demand for farmers' markets). We suspect it won't be long before we start seeing menus in Boston that resemble ones we've observed in New York with the source of each ingredient listed like an appendix on the bottom of the menu.

Untraditional Restaurant Rows: We agree with those Arnett mentioned, but we think there are even more restaurant rows waiting to spring up. Look for the South End-esque clusters of restaurants that have been developing in untraditional neighborhoods, such as Roslindale Square, West Roxbury's Center Street, Dorchester's Lower Mills, and Somerville's Union Square) to become dining destinations.

Mega-Chefs: We've already discussed the empire-building aspirations of Ken Oringer, Barbara Lynch, and Frank McClelland. We suspect that over the next several years, chefs that have a success with one restaurant will have increasing opportunities to build their own empires. Our bets for Boston's Next Top Chefs? Felino Samson of Pops and Copia's Anthony Caturano.

What do you think? What and where will we be eating in 2017?

Magazine [Boston Globe]
Dining (Way) Out [Boston Globe]
Pops [Official Site]
Copia [Official Site]

[Photo: Animation Art Gallery]

Here is an embarrassing story: last night, we dreamed about work. More accurately, we dreamed about blogging. In our dream, we wrote a post about onions and, ever-so-wittily titled it after a Shins song (oh, how 2002 of our subconscious!). When we woke up, we were astounded to realize that it actually wasn't a bad idea for a post after all, so, in a moment that would undoubtedly make our elementary school teachers proud, we are, quite literally, making our dreams reality.

So anyway. Onions. We recently figured out how to caramelize onions and, ever since, we've been obsessed. Tarte flambe? Delightful! Turnovers stuffed with mushrooms, goat cheese and caramelized onions? Don't mind if we do! Hell yeah, we'll take an awesome blossom! Midway through our onion obsession, however, we came to the troubling realization that, while we know there are different kinds of onions, we don't really know the differences between said varieties and, to be perfectly honest, most of the time, we guessed which type we might need for a given recipe. As you might imagine, the results were not always satisfactory. We set out to learn about the different types of onions and (insert 10:00 News voice) what we found out may surprise you.

We started reading the "Onion" entry in the truly excellent Penguin Companion to Food and, frankly, we were a bit confused. We know to use sweet onions for caramelizing and Spanish onions for sofrito, but we were at a loss for a recipe involving Bermuda onions, so we went Googling. And that's when we found it. The Cook's Thesaurus, perhaps the most useful food-related website of all time. TCT (oh yeah, we're already on an abbreviation basis) lets you look up almost any ingredient and find a reasonable substitution. Where else can you learn that if you're out of allspice, you can instead use equal parts cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and black pepper? Or that if you're running low on sour cream, you can substitute "one cup cottage cheese plus two tablespoons lemon juice plus two tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise plus one-fourth cup nonfat buttermilk"? We're all about things that make you feel like a culinary MacGyver, so go! Check out The Cook's Thesaurus! Better yet, check it out and then leave a comment letting us know your favorite substitution.

Oh, and in case you're still curious, it turns out you can use Bermuda onions in the same manner as sweet onions.

Tarte Flambe (Onion Tart) from The James Beard House [Leite's Culinaria]
Penguin Companion to Food [Amazon]
The Cook's Thesaurus [Official Site]

Reading a Chowhound thread about the opening dates of local farmers' markets got us rather excited to start shopping in a more seasonal and local manner than supermarkets allow. According to the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets, the Dewey Square, Northern Ave Bridge, Union Square and Kendall Square markets will open within the next two weeks, while the Boston City Hall, Copley Square, Central Square and Davis Square markets are all already open. Reports from Chowhound indicate that there's lettuce, spinach, arugula and rhubarb a-plenty in addition to meats and cheeses. So what are you waiting for? Run down to your local market and pick up the makings for a spinach salad (we like to use baby spinach, warmed mozzarella cheese and a mustard vinaigrette), the easiest pasta dish you'll ever make (toss linguine with pancetta, garlic, olive oil and baby arugula and top with pecorino) and rhubarb crisp. Make up for your lack of a Memorial Day barbeque by inviting your friends over for a celebration of spring's bounty (sorry, farmers markets always put us in kind of a Delicious Dish place) this weekend.

Farmers' Market Opening Date? [Chowhound]
Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets [Official Site]
Rhubarb Crisp with Buttermilk Ice Cream [Epicurious]

In "The $20 Challenge," we face the daunting task of eating three square meals in Boston's most expensive areas for a mere Jackson. As always, we recommend drinking water and getting your meal to go to avoid the expense of a tip.

Oh, Charles Street. Where else can you find a picturesque 7 Eleven, enough antique stores to furnish a small mansion and an epicenter of the abolitionist movement, all within a few blocks? Although a "Make Way for Ducklings"-esque walk down Charles Street can feel like a trip back in time, the prices, sadly, are firmly rooted in the present. Is it possible to spend a day antiquing and eating for a mere $20? Sure! Behold, three very fine meals on Boston's toniest street for a mere $18.00.

Breakfast: The Paramount strays from its cheap-eatin' roots after breakfast, but in the morning it offers the kind of great breakfast deal we didn't think was available outside of suburban diners anymore: two eggs, toast, homefries and coffee for $4.95. Perfect fuel for a morning spent looking at antiques and dreaming of the day you'll be able to afford such niceties.

Lunch: Don't get us wrong: we enjoy the haute pizza at The Upper Crust and Figs, but for value, nothing beats the humble cheese slice at Nino's Pizza. Enjoy a slice of cheese ($1.60) and Moretti ($3.50) in an atmosphere that may not be bright and cheery but is one of the better reminders of a homier Charles Street past. After lunch, take off for a walk around Beacon Hill to check out the gorgeous Federal rowhouses.

Dinner: With almost ten dollars left, indulge in a cheap treat: Tom Yam noodles ($7.95) from King & I. Get the spicy dish to go and wander to the nearby Esplanade to people watch. Thai food, the sun setting over Cambridge and two extra dollars in your pocket: sounds like a pretty perfect Charles Street day to us.

The Paramount [Official Site]
The Upper Crust [Official Site]
Figs [Official Site]
Nino's Pizza [Official Site]
King & I [Official Site]

[Photo: Celebrate Boston]

Diner's Agenda thinks Tuesday is the new Monday...at least this week.

Tuesday, May 29
•Did you spend this past weekend on the Cape? Did you enjoy it? Would you like it to stay the same? Put your money where your mouth is and head on down to the Cape Sea Grille in Harwich Port for tonight's dinner to benefit the Harwich Conservation Trust. The $125 ticket price includes a $65 donation to the trust and a pleasantly extravagant five-course meal. Things get underway at 6:00 and you may save your spot by calling (508) 432-4745. [Zagat]
•Let's face it: it's hard out there for a vegan foodie, mainly because that term may be an oxymoron. Tonight, however, Om helps a restricted diet brother/sister out with their vegan wine dinner at 6:30 tonight. For a mere $49, you can partake of a four course animal-product-free meal with delightful wine pairings. After all, vegans like to booze up just as much as the rest of us. Call (617) 576-2800 for reservations. [Om: Events]

•MP: Chicago was very excited about a Chi-town foodie webcast and even experimented with liveblogging.
•Back on the East Coast, MP: Philadelphia waxed rhapsodic about burgers before sharing a very special song.
•MP: San Francisco covered a food fight that rivaled NachoGate 2007 as slow-food pioneer Carlo Petrini took on the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in a surprisingly fast-moving feud.

Although nothing can truly beat the pleasure of sitting down to an expertly prepared meal, reading about such a meal can be a close second. Here at MenuPages Boston, we're very much into food writing. A good piece of food writing, like any great book, can transport you to a place you've never been, teach you about a subject previously unknown, or inspire you to try something new. Because we are truly evangelical about great food writing, we're offering up a series of recommendations for great food books. Today, we're focusing on one of our favorite food writers, Michael Ruhlman.

As we frequently mention, we're a little obsessed with/easily influenced by food luminary Anthony Bourdain. When he mentions something or someone that we aren't familiar with in one of his books, we investigate ASAP. So when we read Bourdain's essay about traveling to Las Vegas with author Michael Ruhlman, naturally, we looked him up. We found out that not only is Ruhlman the author of our favorite persnickety cookbook, but he's also written several books about chefs. It was summer and we didn't have much to do, so we moseyed on down to the bookstore and picked up The Making of a Chef, figuring it would liven up our commute. Reader, we finished it in under three hours. For the book, Ruhlman entered the Culinary Institute of America (inarguably our country's top cooking school) and spent two years there as a student. The resulting book is well-written enough that long descriptions of making consomme are fascinating and inspiring enough that it will make you log on to the CIA's website and look at admissions requirements, even if you've never thought about being a chef before. Guaranteed.

Three years later, Ruhlman released a sequel of sorts, The Soul of a Chef. The book's first half follows ten professional chefs taking the exam to become Certified Master Chefs. The second half profiles three chefs at different stages of their careers: Brian Polcyn of Five Lakes Grill, Michael Symon of Lola Bistro & Wine Bar, and Thomas Keller owner of the French Laundry and arguably America's top chef. Once again, the book reads faster than a mystery novel and inspires you to think seriously about entering the restaurant business...or at least make something really exciting at home. Ruhlman's third book in his chef trilogy, last year's The Reach of a Chef takes on the ever-growing roles of American chefs and the concept of the celebrity chef (most helpful for those of us who can't figure out what, exactly, makes Cat Cora an Iron Chef).

Ruhlman hasn't formally announced what his next book-length project will be, but, fortunately, he has a blog to satisfy anxious readers in the meantime. So go! Run out to the bookstore on your lunch break! Start reading The Making of a Chef. We promise it will lead to a better dinner tonight!

Alfredo's Margherita Pizza [Flickr: tinymuffins]
Alfredo's [MenuPages]
Alfredo's [Official Site]

Blogston Proper is your thrice-weekly roundup of Hub-related food writing from all over the Internet. We read the blogs so you don't have to. But you should anyway, just to be nice.

•Senator Kennedy enlivens the minimum wage debate. [Bostonist]
•Local restaurateurs probably shouldn't worry that students are getting pickier...Boston's not much of a college town. [Restaurant Business Magazine Online]
•We'll say it right now: Tim Hortons is not nearly as welcome of a Canadian import as Degrassi: The Next Generation. [Metaboston]

[Photo: Flickr: fuffer2005]

Biltmore gets a B:
food is mostly quite tasty,
prices look good, too!

Schaffer lets us in
on the secret of Fleming's:
it's not that pricey.

A kind remembrance
of Gus Saunders, food critic.
He was "a nice guy."

Not only is it about to be Memorial Day weekend, but the predicted high for today is in the mid 90s! The mid 90s! It may not be summer on the calendar for three more weeks, but it's definitely already summer in our hearts and that means that we want summer food and we want it now. Our own personal definition of summer food is anything fresh, light and cool. In the summer, we crave tomato and feta salads with a metric ton of fresh basil, gazpacho by the boatload and ceviche. Especially ceviche. If you've never been lucky enough to try it, let us fill you in: ceviche is a Latin American dish (it's particularly prevalent in Ecuador, Mexico and Peru). It's composed of fish, a citrus element (most often lime juice), and (usually) some sliced onion. The citric element "cooks" the fish and the whole thing is tangy and entirely obsession-worthy. If you're as obsessed as we are, here are some of the best places in the hub to sate your ceviche longings.

•Rincon Limeno Restaurant is widely considered to be one of Boston's best spots for Peruvian food. Their ceviche comes stuffed with well-marinated shrimp and goes nicely with a side of fried yuca.
•Ceviche gets a Beyonce-esque upgrade at Great Bay, where scallops and lobster are served with champagne grapes (the champagne of grapes) and fresh mint.
•The ceviche at the ever-popular East Coast Grill & Raw Bar offers a fresh take with a fluke ceviche served with watermelon, corn nuts and tostones. What could be more summery than ceviche and watermelon, together at last? Nothing, that's what.
•Victor's offers the best ceviche mixto in town: fish, calamari and shrimp in perfect lemony harmony, served with corn and potatoes. Summer: it's on.

Rincon Limeno Restaurant [Official Site]
Great Bay [Official Site]
East Coast Grill & Raw Bar [Official Site]
Victor's [MenuPages]

In general, we try to keep this blog focused on restaurants rather than home cooking, but we would be remiss if we didn't mention that, in addition to road trip season, Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of the grilling time of year. If, like us, you are too much of a poor schmuck to jet off to any of the towns we profiled this week, may we suggest having some friends over for a good old-fashioned Memorial Day barbeque? Keep it local with a keg of Sam Adams or Harpoon, check out this article from yesterday's New York Times about making the perfect burger from scratch (or if you're feeling less ambitious, this Chowhound discussion about where to buy pre-made burgers), and fire up the grill. We're even going to share our new favorite grill recipe with you!

As you may have figured out by now, we're unapologetic carnivores. We recently ate a hot dog wrapped in bacon, and we liked it. Lately, though, we've been on a huge veggie burger kick and we MUST tell you about the miracle of miracles we've discovered: a veggie burger that's actually satisfying. Crazy, right? Here's what you do: grill up your favorite brand of veggie burger (we're partial to the ones that don't pretend to be meat). Hell, put the bun on the grill for a second too. Rough chop some grape tomatoes (it's still too early in the season for the big guys to be good) and kalamata olives. Spread the bun with hummus, plop the burger in the middle, spread the burger with more hummus, add your tomatoes and olives plus a healthy sprinkling of crumbled feta and voila! A dinner that's totally satisfying, but feels healthy enough that you can totally down an extra scoop (or ten) of ice cream. Sweet.

For the Love of a Good Burger [New York Times]
Stores with Great Burgers [Chowhound]

Postmodern O Ya:
The Hub's "New York-iest" spot
not for faint of heart.

At Hot Tomatoes,
the name is no misnomer.
Cozy North End pie.

Memorial Day weekend (and, accordingly, summer) are right around the corner. In the spirit of the season, we'll be featuring reports on the restaurants of popular weekend getaways all week.

Three awesome things about Newport, Rhode Island:

•Its nicknames include "Queen of Summer Resorts" (like it won a damn pageant) and "America's Society Capital."
•According to the town's Wikipedia entry: "So many pirates used Newport as their base of operations that the London Board of Trade made an official complaint to the English government. The most famous pirate who made Newport his base was Thomas Tew. Tew was very popular with the locals, after one of his pirating voyages, it was reported that almost the whole town came out to greet him." (In related news: have you heard about the new pirate movie? It's rated AARR!)
•Until 1900, Newport was the capital of Rhode Island half the time, sharing the distinction with Providence. File that one under "things that can only be done in tiny states."

Not only does Newport have a bizarre and excellent history, but, between the beaches and The Breakers, its one of the most beautiful towns in New England. The food isn't half bad either. Below, a selection of some of Newport's finest dining destinations.

•Tucker's Bistro (150 Broadway, (401) 846-3449): The website for Tucker's Bistro promises that upon entering, you will be transported to a 1930s Paris bistro. Not too shabby for a trip of less than two hours from the Hub.
•Black Pearl (30 Bannister's Wharf, (401) 846-5264): The prices are a little extravagant, but the Black Pearl does have the best chowder in a chowder-crazy town.
•The White Horse Tavern (25 Marlborough St, (401) 849-3600): Want some history with your lobster roll? Head on down to The White Horse Tavern which has been continuously operating for well over three hundred years. Word to the wise: the pub menu is significantly cheaper than that of the main dining room.
•22 Bowen's (22 Bowen's Wharf, (401) 841-8884): 22 Bowen's may call itself a steakhouse, but the real attraction is its lobster rolls, which come packed to the brim with the good stuff.
•Salvation Cafe (140 Broadway, (401) 847-2620): Probably the least stuffy restaurant in Newport, Salvation Cafe is worth a trip for the manchego and bacon burger alone. We would like to meet the evil genius who came up with such a concoction, and we would like to shake his or her hand.

Needham's Sweet Basil:
Not perfect, but very good.
Portions are crazy!

Pfeiffer tries YoMa:
Burmese food is mostly great
but service is slow.

What is La Verdad?
Taqueria or a bar?
Eh, tacos are great.

Food from Summer Shack:
Jasper White grills with high heat.
It's hard not to drool.

We admit it. We're total groupies of Melissa Clark, author of both The New York Times' A Good Appetite column and the only diet cookbook for which we have any use (seriously? try the recipe for roasted chicken breast with rosemary apples. It's AMAZING). We look forward to her column in the Times every Wednesday and yesterday, as we started to read her ruminations on spinach dip, we had several thoughts in rapid succession:

1) Why did she use mayonnaise? (We have a near-pathological hatred/fear of mayonnaise.)
2) We should make spinach dip. We bet we could totally use our new favorite toy, our immersion blender.
3) Nah, too much trouble. Let's just go somewhere and order spinach dip.

If you're thinking what we're thinking, here are Boston's best places to indulge your desire for the dip.

•Elephant & Castle provides what is perhaps the area's most basic spinach dip: spinach, artichoke, and cream cheese. Intensely sticky and quite appealingly creamy.
•The dip at the Cottonwood Cafe comes with a much better than average spread of accoutrements for dipping: in addition to the inevitable tortilla chips, there are also bagel chips and fresh veggies, which lets you fool yourself into thinking you're eating a healthy snack.
•At Stephanie's on Newbury, spinach dip gets gussied up with sauteed onions, gouda, and lavash chips, making it quite the international treat.
•After reading so many menus that feel the need to inform you of the provenance of each and every item, it's a bit refreshing to read the description for the spinach dip at the Sports Depot: "Chopped spinach mixed with selected cheeses and spices." Yeah. That's right. Selected cheeses.

Summery, Smoky and Spicy: Nudging Spinach Dip Upward [New York Times]
Elephant & Castle [Official Site]
Cottonwood Cafe [Official Site]
Stephanie's on Newbury [Official Site]
Sports Depot [Official Site]

[Photo: Exclusively Food]

Blogston Proper is your thrice-weekly roundup of Hub-related food writing from all over the Internet. We read the blogs so you don't have to. But you should anyway, just to be nice.

•Urban legend or not, all we're gonna say is that there are only four Thai restaurants in Allston. [Allston Brighton Community Blog]
•Crack rhymes with snack for a reason. [Jenn Martinelli Blogging in Boston]
•Your ma might like YoMa [The Food Monkey]

[Photo: Flickr: dke72]

Learn to love vermouth!
"It doesn't have to be bad!
Really!" swears the Dig.

Witbier for Ahlströms:
Owl Creek's White Sail: quite good,
but don't garnish it.

Diner's Agenda loves Barbara Kingsolver.

Wednesday, May 23
•Hotshot restaurateur Jeffrey Fournier of 51 Lincoln hosts a dinner honoring "the noble wines of Italy", an image that for whatever reason makes us picture bottles of wine in chain armor atop horses. No such hijinx will occur at tonight's dinner (well, probably), but there will be a truly intense multicourse meal experience. Things get underway at 6:30 and tickets are $150 a pop. Call (617) 965-3100 to save your place. [51 Lincoln]

Thursday, May 24
•The description for Barbara Kingsolver's new book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle indicates that a portion of the tome deals with "the lost art of turkey sex". You heard us. See what she's on about in Cambridge tonight, where $85 gets you reserved seating at her talk at the First Parish Church in Cambridge at 6:00 and a locally-sourced dinner at UpStairs on the Square afterwards. Call (617) 661-1515 to reserve. [UpStairs on the Square: Happenings]

Memorial Day weekend (and, accordingly, summer) are right around the corner. In the spirit of the season, we'll be featuring reports on the restaurants of popular weekend getaways all week.

One last spot and then we'll get out of the Cape, we promise. But come on! Did you really think we'd let our week of summer destinations go by without mentioning Provincetown? Of course not. We love P-Town. Between the lovely scenery (of both the ocean view and the good looking gay men varieties), the pleasant beaches and the cuisine, which takes influence from both traditional New England and Portuguese food, Provincetown is easily one of our favorite local destinations. Come for local traditions like Bear Week, stay for the excellent dining, especially from the four places below.

•Ciro and Sal's (4 Kiley Ct, (508) 487-6444): Serving simple, classic Northern Italian dishes excellently prepared, Ciro and Sal's is the best kind of red sauce joint. Like many P-Town eateries, it gets jampacked during the season, but fans say its worth the wait.
•The Lobster Pot (321 Commercial St, (508) 487-0842): Touristy? Sure. Overpriced? Kind of. Awesome? Yes. Listen, you're down the Cape! Don't be too snotty to eat an old-fashioned boiled lobster with drawn butter.
•Mojo's (5 Ryder St Ext, (508) 487-3140): We have a weakness for beachside seafood shacks. We have an even bigger weakness for superb fish and chips. Thus, we have the biggest weakness for Mojo, where you can order up what some call the best fish and chips in our great state, douse them in malt vinegar and eat them by the sea. Very British, but without the terrible weather.
•Chach (73 Shankpainter Rd, (508) 487-1530): Laugh all you want at the name, but Chach (hee) serves up some of the best diner food on the entire diner-obsessed Cape. The traditional diner food is fantastic, but those who are adventurous enough to try the Mexican specialties won't be disappointed.

Although we suspect that nowadays many people probably think that "baked Alaska" is some sort of global warming watch-phrase, those two words used to immediately bring to mind a dessert thought to be the height of sophistication. A baked Alaska is a sort of cake in which a good deal of really cold ice cream is placed on a layer of sponge cake and topped with uncooked meringue. The dish is popped into the oven for just long enough that the meringue hardens, creating a dessert that is, miraculously, hot on the outside and cold in the middle. Take that molecular gastronomists! Although it has been remarked that Thomas Jefferson was rather fond of a remarkably similar dish, the dessert didn't truly catch on until the late nineteenth century when it appeared in a cookbook as "Alaska, Florida." It remained a popular dinner party dish for some time, but has fallen out of fashion in the past thirty or so years, which is a pity, since it's really quite good. Much like Indian pudding, it takes a little bit of detective work to track it down, but believe us, it's worth it. Below, baked Alaska four ways.

•Anthony's Pier 4 makes the Boston area's most traditional version of the dessert: nothing but sponge cake, ice cream, meringue, and a little bit of strawberry sauce. For maximum atmosphere, go on a slightly misty day and watch the water.
•Many speculate that an early version of baked Alaska (where the ice cream was covered by pastry rather than meringue) was invented in China, so it's only fitting that the dish gets a Chinese spin at Peking Tom's. The cake is flavored with cardamom and the ice cream features ginger and five spices. Mmm. Five spices.
•The Federalist, located in the future workplace of Buddy Cianci ups the baked Alaska ante by including not one, not two, but three kinds of ice cream (vanilla, chocolate and pistachio) and salted caramel sauce. If you've never tried salted caramel, we must encourage you to do so right this second. Yeah, we know it's 9:00 in the morning. Just do it. It's a revelation, right?
•At Oleana, the baked Alaska gets a tropical makeover with coconut ice cream and passion fruit caramel. Passion fruit caramel: even better than salted caramel? Discuss.

Anthony's Pier 4 [Official Site]
Peking Tom's [Official Site]
The Federalist [Official Site]
Oleana [Official Site]

We've always thought that Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of summer but lately, we've been wondering if that's just a lie we're telling ourself to get through the less than idyllic current weather. Summer is coming and the more we say it, the sooner it will get here, right? RIGHT? Right. Regardless of whether our odd pseudo-superstitions have any effect or not, summer will theoretically be here soon enough and with it, a flock of exciting Boston restaurant openings. Aside from the previously mentioned Gaslight Brasserie Du Coin, here are three of the big openings for the next few weeks.

•A bit of a cheat: Sushi Teq opened in the Intercontinental Boston about a month ago, but the hype just now started pouring in. Although the name might sound like either a futuristic robot chef that prepares sushi or the gastronomical equivalent of a discotheque, the lounge-y spot takes the "teq" in its name from tequila, of which they serve an astonishing array. For those who think that raw fish and tequila sounds like a recipe for a date with the toilet, there is also a beer list.
•The BCA's new eatery The Beehive bills itself as a "neighborhood cafe des artistes". In addition to food and drink, the space will feature regular jazz, cabaret and burlesque performances. Ooh la la. Early Chowhound buzz indicates that many of the Hub's favorite bartenders have migrated to the 'Hive. Verrry promising.
•The website for Vlora has exactly nothing to say, but there's an intriguing piece in this week's Improper Bostonian (which thinks its just a little too cool to put its content online) that seems to indicate that the menu will be comprised of simple dishes inspired by chef Aldo Velaj's birthplace of Albania. The pictures accompanying the article, including one of a good-sized block of herbed feta balanced on top of a truly dreamy salad, look crazy amazing.

[Photo: Flickr: new hobby]

Let us just make one thing clear: Chipotle is no Anna's Taqueria. It's a lot more expensive, for one, and their grilled vegetables can't hold a candle to Anna's. That being said, when we're outside of Boston we eat the odd Chipotle burrito and, we must admit, we enjoy it. It's got some pleasant heat and, although it's owned by McDonald's (turns out McDonald's divested in 2006. Thanks to the eagle-eyed reader who brought this to our attention!), the meat is all naturally raised and the produce is grown in a sustainable matter. Although it probably wouldn't be in our top three places to go for a quick Mexican fix, we certainly wouldn't be sad if one opened in the Hub, especially in a neighborhood that is not currently well-served by Boston's burrito blitz, like, say Downtown Crossing.

Well, looky here! Today's Globe reports that not only is Target looking at four sites in Boston (which, incidentally, is AMAZING news), but Chipotle, which recently opened its first Massachusetts outpost in Medford, is looking to set up a branch in the D.C. Currently, Downtown Crossing's has but one major burrito option: Qdoba Mexican Grill, which, as any worker in the area can attest, is always packed to the gills. A Chipotle would go a long way towards easing the congestion. In general, we'd prefer to see a locally owned business set up shop rather than a chain, but if it's going to be a chain, we (and our tummy) is glad it's Chipotle.

Menino: Target Looking at 4 Sites [Boston Globe]
Chipotle [Official Site]
Anna's Taqueria [MenuPages]
Qdoba Mexican Grill [Official Site]

United States Representative Jim McGovern (of Massachusetts' 3rd District) and his wife Lisa spent the past week living on a food budget of $21 a week to call attention to the woeful insufficiency of food stamp allotments across the United States. They've been keeping a really interesting and thoughtful blog about their experiences and have quickly come to the conclusion that anyone who has had to live on that type of a budget is familiar with: $3 a day is simply not enough money to eat sufficiently. Admirably, McGovern refused free food at receptions and fundraisers (one of his better anecdotes is about scarfing down a tiny egg and cheese sandwich his wife brought to a fundraiser and being looked at incredulously) and instead subsisted on a diet composed of tiny meals that seem more like snacks. Although the McGoverns freely admit that this is something of a publicity stunt and that, since they knew their food stamp experiment was finite, their experience was not at all representative of what a truly hungry person goes through every day, their realizations were fascinating and affecting. Not only were they permanently hungry, if not starving, but they also found that it was impossible to eat in the healthy manner to which they were accustomed.

Perhaps more interesting than the blog itself, however, are the comments left by readers. While some are extremely critical of the project (either from people critical of the project's short duration or from folks wildly ignorant about the purpose of food stamps), most were supportive and offered tips from their own experiences with poverty. It's fascinating reading and completely infuriating. There is no earthly reason why we as a country can't make sure that everyone has enough to eat. None. Rep. McGovern, along with fellow Food Stamp Challenge participant Republican JoAnn Emerson of Missouri, is pushing to expand food stamp benefits which are tied up with, wait for it, the Farm Bill. We realize that we spend most of our time on this blog encouraging you to eat outrageously delicious and expensive things like sweetbreads, but we recognize that part of having the privilege of being able to afford such goodies is helping out those who can't. Political activism is even better than offal. Contact your legislators and let them know how you feel.

Congressman Jim McGovern [Official Site]
Congressional Food Stamp Challenge [Official Site]
Project Vote Smart [Official Site]

Memorial Day weekend (and, accordingly, summer) are right around the corner. In the spirit of the season, we'll be featuring reports on the restaurants of popular weekend getaways all week.

Fact: In 1977, Nantucket (along with Martha's Vineyard) tried to secede from Massachusetts. Civil war did not follow. Fact: Almost 85% of Nantucket County is covered by water. Fact: Nantucket is widely considered to have one of the best restaurant scenes in New England. Conclusion: Nantucket is awesome. Eating in Nantucket isn't cheap (the island has far fewer good affordable options than the Vineyard), but it can provide many rewarding dining experiences. Below, five of your best bets.

•The Club Car (1 Main St, (508) 228-1101): The Club Car (so named because its lounge area is, in fact, in a railroad car) is a local favorite. The menu features an ever-rotating array of French-inspired food, including a positively legendary crabcake.
•The Galley on Cliffside Beach (54 Jefferson Ave, (508) 228-9641): The Galley on Cliffside Beach features both Nantucket's best location (it's the island's only restaurant actually on the beach) and the best traditional New England food. All the dishes are made with screamingly fresh seafood and local produce (much of which is grown in the restaurant's own garden). Lobster and ocean views: what could be more perfect?
•Sfoglia (130 Pleasant St, (508) 325-4500): Sfoglia has won rave reviews in both the original Nantucket location and their offshoot in New York City. The restaurant serves up simple Italian dishes done immaculately. Bonus: they offer half-portions of all their exemplary pastas, thereby enabling diners to enjoy a traditional Italian multicourse meal without feeling disgustingly full.
•Company of the Cauldron (5 E. India St, (508) 228-4016): Company of the Cauldron (named for a Renaissance-era cooking academy) provides a truly unique dining experience. Each night the restaurant offers one multicourse menu for all diners. Though the menu may change entirely from night to night, the dishes remain classic, fresh and locally inspired. Best of all, at an average price of a little under $60, the dinners are a steal.
•The Downyflake (18 Sparks Ave, (508) 228-5433): Head to The Downyflake for Nantucket's best breakfast. The donuts are homemade and have achieved cult status. Really, what more do you need to know?

Every once in a while, a perfect storm of YouTube goodness comes our way and we simply must pass it along. This is one such clip. Witness, o dear reader, Harvard students. Dressed like Le Tigre. Rapping. About Felipe's Taqueria. You're welcome.

Felipe's Taqueria [MenuPages]
Harvard Students Like to Rap Apparently [Cantabridgia]
Felipe's Is Over There by The Low Res [YouTube: jeffbro779]

Blogston Proper is your thrice-weekly roundup of Hub-related food writing from all over the Internet. We read the blogs so you don't have to. But you should anyway, just to be nice.

•What, like you've never accidentally stolen upwards of fifty tortillas? [Everyone Loves a Boston Girl]
•Suspicious dim sum in Watertown. [dim sum times]
•A day of good eating in Nantucket. [Minty Choco Chip]

[Photo: Flickr: Fuffer2005]

Memorial Day weekend (and, accordingly, summer) are right around the corner. In the spirit of the season, we'll be featuring reports on the restaurants of popular weekend getaways all week.

Martha's Vineyard has the rare distinction of totally living up to its hype. It's gorgeous, there's enough to do that you're never bored, and it's mellow enough that you don't feel as though you need a vacation from your vacation. Although laying out on the beach, hitchhiking, riding on the Flying Horses, and snickering every time someone says "Gay Head" are entertaining diversions in and of themselves, no trip to the Vineyard would be complete without sampling some of the island's excellent food offerings. Below, five of the best bets for a wide range of prices.

•L'Etoile (22 N. Water St, Edgartown, (508) 627-5187): L'Etoile is widely considered to be the Vineyard's top destination for haute cuisine. Chef Michael Brisson (formerly of L'Espalier) turns out consistently excellent French-inspired dishes. They don't come cheap, but devotees swear they're worth every penny.
•The Sweet Life Cafe (63 Circuit Ave, Oak Bluffs, (508) 696-0200): The Sweet Life Cafe is the Vineyard's answer to Chez Panisse. Head down to the gorgeous Victorian house that houses the restaurant and munch on an ever-evolving menu of gourmet classics made from impeccably sourced local ingredients. As you might imagine, the seafood entrees are especially excellent.
•Art Cliff Diner (39 Beach Rd, Vineyard Haven, (508) 693-1224): This tiny breakfast and lunch joint manages to feel like home the first time you walk through the doors. The atmosphere is perfect, the servers are great, and we're still salivating over the goat cheese and fig concoction we had there two years ago. The food is just that good.
•Lattanzi's Pizzeria (Old Post Office Sq, Edgartown, (508) 627-9084): Fine dining is all well and good, but sometimes you just want a good old-fashioned pie, you know? Fortunately, Lattanzi's is around to satisfy all your pizza yearnings.
•The Bite (29 Basin Rd, Menemsha, (508) 645-9239): You didn't think a list of great dining in Martha's Vineyard could be complete without a seafood shack, did you? The Bite boasts the best fried clams on the island. Get an order of fried clams or fish and chips and walk it over to the beach. On a summer evening, things can't get much better than that.

Diner's Agenda is resting up tonight in order to be ready for tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 22
•Peace Games is an organization that helps children develop their peacemaking skills. Peace Rocks is an event to benefit Peace Games. Here's why you care (aside from the simple fact that everyone likes a peaceful child): you can help the organization while listening to great bands and tasting plates from local luminaries like Aquitaine Bis, Copia and Osushi. The party gets underway at 6:00 and tickets, which cost $150, may be purchased online. [Boston Chefs]
•Could there be anything cuter than a husband-and-wife winemaking team? We strongly suspect that it doesn't get much dearer than that, but you can see for yourself when UpStairs on the Square hosts Sandra Bell who, along with her husband Anthony, owns Bell Wine Cellars. Her presentation will be accompanied by a four-course dinner (with wine pairings, naturally), which includes such delicacies as a walnut tart with blue cheese cream. $65 gets you access to the whole thing, but you'd better hurry up and call (617) 864-1933 because the dinner is thisclose to sold out. [UpStairs on the Square: Happenings]

Chowhound is all agog over the news that L'Espalier is planning to trade its signature townhouse on Gloucestor Street for a flash new place in the Mandarin Oriental Boston. The announcement comes hot on the heels of L'Espalier chef Frank McClelland's Best Chef: Northeast win at the Beard awards and many 'Hounders speculate that the move is part of a larger bid by McClelland to become a food celebrity a la Todd English. This rumor is further fueled by the sudden and vast expansion of the McClelland-owned Sel De La Terre, which has two new branches slated to open in the next year: one alongside L'Espalier in the Mandarin Oriental and one in the "Natick Collection" (by the way: is that really what we're calling the Natick Mall these days?).

Predictably, opinion about L'Espalier's move is decidedly mixed. While many lament the loss of the Back Bay townhouse and the singular dining experience it provided, others are excited to see what happens when McClelland and company spread their culinary wings in a larger space. While L'Espalier's food has always been near-perfect, it's certainly no secret that seating in the current spot is tight and kitchen space is cramped to say the least. Aside from their obscenely well-priced lunch, L'Espalier has always been more than a little bit our of our price range, so we're mostly just curious about what will take its spot on Gloucester Street. No rumors are flying yet, but we're willing to bet that we'll start hearing some within the next month or so. In the meantime, if you want to enjoy one last McClelland meal in the townhouse, you have approximately a year. L'Espalier moves to Boylston next summer.

L'Espalier [Chowhound]
L'Espalier Set For Entree on Boylston [Boston Globe]
L'Espalier [Official Site]
Sel De La Terre [Official Site]

This weekend's awful weather notwithstanding, we've been getting prepared for summer. We've spent endless unproductive hours debating whether to buy a new bathing suit even though we hate swimming, used our immersion blender to make pesto (our ultimate summer food) and begun dreading the return of ice cream trucks. Don't get us wrong. We adore ice cream, most especially ice cream sandwiches and most especially ice cream sandwiches from ice cream trucks. What kills us about said trucks is their terrible, terrible music. Although the ice cream truck near us plays some sort of truncated version of "Turkey in the Straw" and will probably be responsible for the eventual loss of our damn mind, really, nothing beats the Somerville ice cream truck that plays "Send In The Clowns".

It's quite the pity that neither our neighborhood truck nor the Somerville one seem to have heard about Songs For Ice Cream Trucks. This solo album from Michael Hearst of adorkable band One Ring Zero is, as its title implies, composed exclusively of songs for ice cream trucks to play in lieu of their current jangly jingles. The idea sounds a mite precious, and, truthfully, the output is a touch twee, but it's also inordinately charming. It sounds like summer, but like a more idyllic summer than any we've experienced. We're especially fond of the opening track "Ice Cream", which is now stuck in our head every time we open a pint of Phish Food. We dare you to watch this video of Hearst getting ready to wheel an ice cream cart to a show and not get childishly excited.

We'd like to make an official petition to our friendly local ice cream truck operator: please please please buy this album. We just don't know if we can handle another season of "Turkey in the Straw."

We All Scream For Ice Cream [ReadyMade Blog]
Songs For Ice Cream Trucks [Official Site]
One Ring Zero [Official Site]
Michael Hearst: Songs For Ice Cream Trucks: Ice Cream Truck [YouTube: oneringzero]

Blogston Proper is your thrice-weekly roundup of Hub-related food writing from all over the Internet. We read the blogs so you don't have to. But you should anyway, just to be nice.

•Gridskipper revives our post on the state foods of Massachusetts with a guide on where to buy them. [