Got Olympic Fever? Play Wii Olympics Tomorrow!

Poe’s Kitchen at the Rattlesnake is bringing the Olympic Games to Boston – Wii Style.

Tomorrow from 6:00pm-9:00pm join fellow miis and play wii. Try to win medals, enjoy $5 Olympic inspired cocktails and complimentary, globally inspired fare. Folks at the Rattlesnake are even going to have an ice luge on the roof!!
Best part of the event? A portion of the $10 cover charge will go to the Special Olympics Massachusetts. Poe's Kitchen at the Rattlesnake is located at 384 Boylston Street, Boston. Get there early if you want to play - signs up for the Wii games start at 6:00pm.

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Tonight: Nerd Nite at Middlesex Lounge!

Head over to the Middlesex Lounge in Central Square tonight for Nerd Nite, a gathering of nerds, their ideas, drinking and those who love all of the above.

So what is Nerdnite? It's a monthly event (last Monday's of the month) where nerds get together and drink beer and give power point presentations to other nerds on subjects that are ostensibly of great interest to nerds. Tonight's talks are:

Talk 1: Cross-Cultural Revolution: Contemporary Chinese Music in Exile
by Danny Liss

Talk 2: The Neurobiology of Zombies
by Jeremy Kay

Talks begin at 8:00pm. Middlesex Lounge is located at 315 Mass Ave. $5 cover after 8:00pm. For more on Nerdnite, click here.

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New UBURGER Coming Soon!

Folks in the downtown area can rejoice that UBURGER will add a location at 140 Tremont St ... near the Park St T stop, in the Stearns building, next to the Lambert's market there.

If you're wondering why we're giving such specific information on the location it's because a good and reasonable burger is hard to come by in the downtown area.


Burger options in the area come down to fast food, bars, and high-end restaurants so to get something like UBURGER or Four Burgers is pretty sweet, though the lines are bound to be pretty insane. Now if we can get an Anna's Taqueria/Boca Grande and a good Indian restaurant downtown, we'll be in good shape.

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Roadhouse BBQ is changing into American Craft

Roadhouse BBQ in Brookline near Washington Square is turning into American Craft, a new bbq and bar venue.

The menu still touts beer and beef and beer with menu items such as stout braised short rib plated w/ wilted spinach and whipped potatoes and the "craft your own" burger menu section that features burger meets of beef, spice trail turkey and veggie with up to 27 toppings. Sounds like a cardiac arrest worth taking! In fashion to sibling venues Publick House, American Craft will offer hard-to-find beers - over 40 to be exact. American Craft will be located at 1700 Beacon Street in Brookline. Click here for updates.

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Restaurant Week - Spring 2010

It's become a spring and fall tradition in Boston to have Restaurant Week, where many local restaurants participate by offering three-course lunch menus for $20.10 and dinner menus $33.10. Dates are March 14-19 and March 21-26.

For a list of participating restaurants and their menus (most) visit this site.


Reservations are encouraged - availability at some of the most popular locations are certainly already booked. And be sure to check the menus - some restaurants will frequently produce a mediocre menu hoping to make their normal profit margins. But for the most part, thankfully, restaurants use this as an opportunity to attract new clients and to showcase their wonderful menus.

Bon appetit. Enjoy!

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Grass Roots on Devonshire closing

Sadly Grass Roots Deli will be closing their 183 Devonshire St location on February 26th. The owner mentioned not being able to reach an agreement with the landlord as a reason for closing. This is truly unfortunate as their lunchtime options were always great - oven roasted turkey for sandwiches or plates (where you always ended up wishing there was more delicious turkey) and specials of pork loin, fried chicken, pulled bbq pork, chicken pot pie, and bourbon chicken.

Grass Roots opened another location inside 101 Arch St over a year ago, but that location appears to be smaller and seems not to have the space to offer as many fresh, home-cooked options as they currently do.

Next to the Devonshire location remains signs for a Roly Poly wrap franchise opening soon and supposedly an Indian restaurant that will serve food prepared at their Somerville location will be moving into 185 Devonshire St.

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Sing-a-long Weekend!

If you don't want to spend the day watching Ashton Kutcher in Valentine's Day coming out tomorrow, may I recommend a weekend of singing to Moulin Rouge and 80s hits?

Coolidge Corner Theater is hosting a double whammy of sing-a-long this weekend with Moulin Rouge on Friday night and 80s Love Songs on Saturday. Can it get any better?! For more info, click here. Members of Coolidge pay $8, non member it's $10. All shows start at midnight.

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Valentine's Day Weekend Picks

I have to admit, I am not a big V-day person...perhaps it's because I've never gotten flowers...awww...no, just kidding. But I will admit this year I'm happy to say there is a lot going on for lovahs, and those who are looking for one. Here are my picks.

Friday-
For those of you who follow the Love Letters blog on Boston.com, you may want to check out their party at Noir on Friday night - 8:00pm-10:00pm, passed snacks, cash bar. Maybe it's a bunch of people looking for love? Go find out and report back to us.

ICA Experiment - Hand down, my favorite thing the ICA does. Bar, DJs, art. $25 GA, $20 for ICA members and students. Click here for ticket info.

Saturday-
Saturday's Local Artist Market @ the Burren in Davis Sq - hmm, good lunch with the chance of grabbing some local jewelry or art? Check. Fellas, kill two birds with one stone - grab a pint with your friends and get something special for the lady. Starts at noon. Click here for more.

Franklin Park's Snow Day - After today's blizzard, this event is sure to be fun. Come sled the hills of the golf course, try out a pair of snow shoes, or join a search for animal tracks in the snow. If you have your own cross country skis, there will be a park tour at 1:30 led by the Franklin Park ski club. Warm up with hot chocolate and board games indoors. Starts at 1:00pm. Click here for more.

Coolidge Corner's 80s Love Song Sing-a-long - I always have a totally eclipse of the heart. And I'm planning to go sing my heart out at midnight on Saturday at Coolidge Corner's Singalong. See our upcoming post for more. $10 GA, $8 for members.

Sunday-
I would recommend grabbing your loved one, skating at the Charles Hotel and warming up at LA Burdicks. If you don't have dinner reservations or just don't care, check these events out:

Alibi's One Night Stand Against Valentine' Day - Celebrate being single, set aside the bitterness of Hallmark's official day of love and do some good for humanity. Alibi is hosting a "Gold Diggers" party to raise money for the Esplanade Association. The $10 ticket gets you in, along with an allotted amount of funny money to spend on the guy/gal that catches your eye. At the end of the night, the guy or gal with the most funny money wins a cash prize. Party starts at 8 p.m. Click here for tickets.

Savant Project's Love It or F*&k It, 3rd annual Valentines Dinner - Whether you desire the classy dining experience of champagne, fillet and chocolate dipped strawberries, or you would prefer to drown your mired status in stuffed burgers, PBR and fried twinkies, we have the solution for you. They will even have a dart board for your exes. Ha! They had me at friend twinkie. Click here for all the details.


Happy Valentine's Day readers! We love you all. :)

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The Evolving Downtown Sandwich Scene

Yesterday Pressed Sandwiches announced that they are temporarily closing their doors - signs to lease their Oliver St location are already in the window. No specific reason has been mentioned yet for their closing.

In the meantime, a new sandwich place, Theo's Sandwich Shop, opened a couple doors down a few weeks ago. Theo's is in a very small location (takeout) and focuses on cheap and large portions.

In contrast is Aristo Cafe, which we blogged about back in December. Aristo Cafe's sandwiches are priced higher for smaller portions than Theo's, but the quality of the ingredients seem better and the sandwiches are light and delicious.

For more thoughts on these restaurants ....


A photo of the menu from Theo's:


I've only had the chicken parm there, which was pretty good. On the plus side, they use breaded chicken cutlets as opposed to a lot of delis in the area that just used grilled chicken. The portion size for a large was ... quite large and at a low price. The downside is that the sauce was fairly plain. Definitely worth a trip back to try out some other options.

I've been to Aristo Cafe three times now - once shortly after they opened and a couple times since then. Aristo has definitely succeeded in creating a European-style dining option. The contents of the cold sandwiches are displayed in a case, and upon ordering the tray of ingredients is taken out and transfered onto fresh baked bread.


The Di Parma is highly recommended, with the subtle addition of melon complementing the prosciutto nicely. The Egg Salad is good with the egg not being overwhelmed by the mayonnaise. The hot sandwich Croque Monsieur is a bit disappointing - the taste of gruyere is lost somewhere along the way. So while Aristo is higher priced, the sandwiches are light and refreshing and are quite fulfilling.


One last personal note on Pressed Sandwiches, I would frequently go there for breakfast sandwiches until about a year ago due to several reasons:
- they stopped doing breakfast specials - this would help lure you in hoping for the prosciutto, fontina, and egg sandwich, and even when it wasn't that special, you would usually get a breakfast sandwich anyway. For me, the Bagel Press.
- for a rather basic breakfast sandwich, the price was a bit high.
- there was a lot of staff turnover

I tried lunches there too but never became a fan.

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Video Sneak Peek at Stoddards

So we hit up the sneak peek party at Stoddards Fine Food and Ale last week and looks like Boston has another VIP club in the works. See our video at Stoddards' event after the jump.

Stoddards in located in Downtown Crossing in an old historic building, once the home of a cutlerly shop with the same name. The owners, which own Ivy Restaurant across the street, have been working hard stripping the venue to its original late 18th century roots. Steel beams, beautiful brick work now shows at the bar area.

Unfortunately, the speakeasy downtown stairs was not ready yet, but we were told (check out Sand Lad's video) that the speakeasy will be a members only venue, featuring a private entrance from the back alley and will have a "males only night." Now, I'm sure there are a bunch of you out there thinking that sounds awesome, but I got a bit turned off, especially when I heard that the club was aimed towards elite clients and athletes. So us normal folk, we stay upstairs at the pub and just pine away at who comes up those stairs...(let's hope for Brady and Rondo).

Stoddards' drinks are great old throwbacks, like Moscow Mules, Stoddard's punch and a variety of local ales. Menu you will offer deviled eggs, a pot of pickles (starters) and a variety of meat, such as oxtail, rabbit and quail. One of the more interesting items on the menu is an aged gouda and cask ale pudding - an English style cheese pudding made with pretzel bites and chestnut bread pudding.

Stoddards is still in the making, and is planning for their soft opening in about two weeks. Stoddard's Fine Food and Ale is located at 48 Temple Street. Click here for more information.

Enjoy the video!

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Superbowl BBQ at Formaggio Kitchen

So tha Pats are not in the Superbowl, but who cares. New Orleans could use some good news like a Superbowl Champ so I'm going to be eating wings and cheering for the Saints. But before Sunday, I'm going to get my BBQ-on at the Formaggio Kitchen Superbowl BBQ.

This Saturday and Sunday (February 6-7) at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, join the team as they hold two special wintertime sessions of their popular sidewalk barbecue, and welcome a slew of Formaggio Kitchen's favorite beer brewers and other producers for free tastings. Grillmaster Eric will be outside manning the grill both days starting around 11 a.m. Formaggio will have their usual summertime BBQ menu, as well as a few specials. People can also call up till 5:00pm on Friday at advance order specials. Click here for more and the menu.

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