BOND sizzles this summer with their patio and brunch

Michelle Levine - Boston Food Examiner

BOND Restaurant & Lounge, located at The Langham, is a modern spot in the Financial District in Boston, with plenty going on this summer. Whether you want something to snack on and a refreshing drink on the patio, a satisfying brunch on Sunday, a late lunch or afternoon tea, or dinner, there are a few menus to satisfy your hunger. If you are looking for a night out, the bar boasts a sophisticated setting, along with music and drinks.

The BOND terrace, which opens at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (weather permitting), is the perfect place to spend summer nights and weekends. Beyond just specialty cocktails and delicious cuisine, you can enjoy the fresh air and have an excellent view of the park at Post Office Square and the Boston skyline. BOND’s outdoor snacking menu includes items such as their Smoked Sea Salt Potato Chips, Mediterranean Olive Misto, House Roasted Maple and Chili Almonds, and Spanish Bocado Mix of Toasted Nuts and Beans.

To accompany the snacks, the mixologists have created five signature drinks exclusively for patio guests only. Try something different such as The Reserve, which includes Bombay Sapphire, lemon peel syrup, with a champagne float and lavender dust or The Fed, which features Bacardi Superior, white peach puree, and lime juice.

As of July, Brunch is served Saturdays and Sundays, 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., both inside BOND and on the terrace. Guests can dine on elaborate selections including Sugar Dusted Brioche French Toast, Huevos Rancheros, or Blueberry Crumb muffins, amongst other breakfast favorites. ‘‘Staying true to BOND’s menu of global cuisine, brunch offerings are created with an international flair using both locally produced artisan products,’’ said Executive Chef Mark Sapienza.

Seating on the terrace is on a first-come basis, but reservations for bottle service and food are available inside. For reservations and more information about BOND, please call (617) 956-8765.

BOND Restaurant & Lounge
250 Franklin St (at Oliver St)
Boston, MA 02110
(617) 451-1900

Restaurant Week Boston August 9-14 & 16-21, 2009

From August 9-14 and 16-21, 2009 diners can choose from more than 200 of the region’s best restaurants to enjoy three-course prix fixe lunches for $20.09  (£ 11.90 )   and three-course dinners for $33.09  (£ 19.43)  – excluding beverage, tax and gratuity. With the favorable exchange it is the perfect last minute USA CityBreak option this summer!

* New this summer is a two-course gourmet lunch priced at a very affordable $15.09 ( £ 8.86); diners can select an entrée and then enjoy either an appetizer or dessert as the second course (so visitor has three options)

* Many restaurants are offering the Restaurant Week Menu on Saturday, August 15, a night usually excluded from the promotion. www.BostonUSA.com/RestaurantWeek has all the details on which restaurants are offering the discounted menus on Saturday, August 15.

* Restaurant Week Boston®  has achieved a record number of 215 restaurants this summer, a 23% increase over summer 2008

* Restaurant Week Boston® has grown in size this summer – the participating restaurants are located in 14 different Boston neighborhoods and 18 cities and towns beyond Boston. Cambridge has grown from 18 to 21 participating restaurants.

* The official site for Restaurant Week Boston®  is www.BostonUSA.com/RestaurantWeek. With expanded menus, direct links to the restaurants, and an opportunity to win an $100.00 restaurant certificate, the website has grown as well.

* The newest restaurants – Sensing at the new Fairmont Battery Wharf Hotel, Asana at the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bina Osteria and Sportello – are participating. The oldest restaurant in America, The Union Oyster House of Boston, is participating for the ninth year in a row.

* This summer a record breaking selection of nationally-recognized chefs (and cookbook authors) are participating in Restaurant Week: L’Espalier Frank McClelland, Rialto’s Jody Adams, Sportello-B&G Oyster-Butcher Shop-No. 9 Park Barbara Lynch, Radius-Via Matta–606 Congress Michael Schlow, East Coast Grill Chris Schlesinger, Olives-Bonfire Todd English, Henrietta’s Table Peter Davis, Lumiere Michael Leviton, Toro-Clio Uni Sashimi Bar Ken Oringer, Locke-Ober, Lydia Shire, Meritage Daniel Bruce, and Summer Shack Jasper White are participating.

* Both large and popular restaurants such as Legal Sea Foods as well as smaller ‘discovery’ restaurants such as Amelia’s Trattoria in Kendall Square and Mare in Boston’s North End participate.

* Restaurant Week Boston® chefs have spent months designing menu options for diners many of whom are visiting their restaurants for the first time. The Restaurant Week Boston®  website www.BostonUSA.com/restaurantweek contains the menus for each of the restaurants. A peek at three restaurants: Brasserie Jo, Aura & Upstairs On The Square menus for example feature appetizers ranging  from cold Vichyssoise soup; Heirloom Tomato, Eggplant, Pistour Vinaigrette, Roasted tomato, grilled Halloumi cheese, chick peas & basil pesto and Chilled Yellow Tomato Soup with a Hint of Scotch Bonnet to Picked Purslane, Pistachio & Pickled Peach Salad. Entrees range from Pork Tenderloin with Braised Swiss Chard, Polenta Crème & Glaze Baby Onion; Grilled Swordfish with Lobster Succotash, Squash Tian & Mushroom Emulsion; Georges Bank Scallop with corn chowder, bacon, chives, tarragon, & heirloom tomato; Roasted Salmon with parsnip puree, grapefruit, chamomile beurre blanc & radish; Grilled Quail Salad of Wild Greens & Roasted Fig Vinaigrette to Rosa Bianca Eggplant Canelloni. Desserts offered range from Apricot Bar-Crème fraiche ice cream & honey coulis to Crema Catalana -Orange, Cinnamon & Honey Pirouettes.

* New this year for Restaurant Week Boston is Twitter & Facebook: follow Restaurant Week Boston on  http://twitter.com/RWboston and Restaurant Week Boston® on Facebook.

Also new this year is the expanded  special hotel packages and bargains during the two week Restaurant Week Boston.  Visitors will find on the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors website www.BostonUSA.com/greatdeals “Restaurant Week promotion” offers such as the bargain rate of $109.00  (£ 64.02 ) the Holiday Inn at Beacon Hill, or indulge at the new Liberty Hotel Boston with a Restaurant Week Dinner for two at Clink, valet parking and stay in one of their luxurious guestrooms  facing the Charles River or Beacon Hill for $375.00 (£ 220.19). Or stay on Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay at the Eliot Hotel (just selected ‘Number 1 Small Hotel in USA & Canada ‘ by the readers  of Travel & Leisure magazine) in one of their one-bedroom suites with dinner for two at the award-winning Ken Oringer Uni Sashimi Bar and buffet breakfast for two at the Bake Shop at Clio Restaurant, for $325.00(£ 190.83)

* Restaurant Week Boston hotel packages in Cambridge, where the number of restaurants has jumped to 21 restaurants this summer, the Royal Sonesta is offering luxurious room and a three-course dinner at ArtBar overlooking the Charles River for $245.00. Art Bar is one of only two riverfront outdoor patios in Cambridge. At The Charles Hotel in Harvard Square they are celebrating Restaurant Week with a new “Taste of The Charles” package: deluxe overnight guestroom for two, a copy of Chef Peter Davis’ cookbook “Fresh & Honest” and  special spa & fitness program at the hotel.

* Restaurant Week Boston hotel packages beyond Boston: Stonehedge Inn & Spa is offering a $209.00 (£ 122.73 )one-night stay that includes Dinner for two at the gourmet Left Bank, full use of the spa facilities, swimming pool & steam room. For $339.00  (£ 199.06) visitors can upgrade with two private spa treatments with a choice of different facials and massage options. Or head to the Concord Inn  for their special $229  (£ 134.47 ) package that includes room & dinner for two.

* It’s the ultimate close-to-home vacation-on-a-budget this year. For a total of $53.18  (£ 31.23) you could savor the best lunch of the year, go for a beautiful walk through the Public Garden, over to the Esplanade , take in the new Greenway – and have the greatest dinner of the year. (It has been remarked it could be called a  “steakcation.”)

* Restaurant Week Boston between meals: Festival, exhibition, shopping, sports, & sightseeing events during Restaurant Week Boston: It’s all on www.BostonUSA.com . During the August 9-21, 2009 period Boston & Cambridge offer visitors plenty of wonderful events between meals! Celebrations include The August Moon Festival in Boston’s Chinatown, India Day on the Charles River, the Dominican Festival Parade in Roxbury, & the Italian 99th Fisherman’s Feast in Boston’s North End (Madonna del Soccorso) . Visitors can select more than five museum exhibitions “Titian” “Viva Mexico Edward Weston”  “ Arts & Crafts of Greene & Greene at the Museum of Fine Arts, the “Crittercam”  or “Black Holes”  at Museum of Science, see the new Marine Mammal Center at the New England Aquarium, view the last week of the Shepard Fairey exhibition at the ICA or see the JFK & Space exhibition at the John F. Kennedy Library Museum. Performances of free Shakespeare on the Boston Common, Blue Man Group, Shear Madness or Jersey Boys in downtown Boston; at the waterfront Bank of America Pavilion concerts during Restaurant Week include ten concerts including Blondie, The Pretenders, O.A.R., Bonnie Raitt & Taj Mahal , Tori Amos & Jamie Foxx. Red Sox home games include the Tigers & the Yankees.

* Restaurant Week Boston Special Charity: When diners use any American Express® Card at participating restaurants, American Express and the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau will donate* $.25 per transaction, up to $5000, to Community Servings, an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to provide free home-delivered meals throughout eastern Massachusetts to homebound and critically ill people with HIV/AIDS and other acute life-threatening illnesses. Diners can further support Community Servings by bidding on Restaurant Gift Certificates at www.RWBauction.com .

Restaurant Week Boston® Sponsors & Founders: Restaurant Week Boston® is sponsored and presented by founding partners, Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau and American Express®. Additional sponsors include Greater Media, Inc. radio stations: MAGIC 106.7 (WMJX), Radio 92.9, 105.7 (WROR), Country 102.5 (WKLB),Talk 96.9 (WTKK), and Metro Boston and TV DINER. The official site of Restaurant Week Boston®  is www.BostonUSA.com/restaurantweek ]]> http://sophisticatednightlife.com/boston-restaurant-week.html/feed 1 http://sophisticatednightlife.com/stephis-on-tremont.html http://sophisticatednightlife.com/stephis-on-tremont.html#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:19:17 +0000 nightlife http://sophisticatednightlife.com/?p=25 Little sister steps out, stumbles

Food doesn’t match billing at Stephi’s on Tremont

By Devra First, Globe Staff

This is a tale of two restaurants. One, Stephanie’s on Newbury, a see-and-be-seen spot popular with tourists and shopping gal pals. The other, Garden of Eden, a neighborhood cafe for South End residents in search of brunch, sandwiches, and socializing. They had a few things in common – stellar patios, average food. But they felt very different, by virtue of their locations. Stephanie’s felt like shiny Newbury Street, Garden of Eden like the more alternative South End.

Then Garden of Eden closed, the victim of a dwindling customer base (and the pesky little matter of unpaid meal taxes). And who should take over the space but Stephanie Sokolove, owner of the namesake Newbury spot, and now also Stephi’s on Tremont, the little sister restaurant with the cutesy nickname.

There were doubters. The South End doesn’t have the kind of tourists and shoppers that make up the crowd at Stephanie’s, they said. Or, the South End just isn’t the right place for a Stephanie’s clone.

But Stephi’s isn’t a clone. Just like real siblings, the two places have different personalities. To the doubters’ surprise, Stephi’s on Tremont looks like a pretty big hit. For one thing, it’s more of a neighborhood hangout than one might have expected, with a lively bar scene. For another, that neighborhood has changed since Garden of Eden’s heyday. “More alternative’’ becomes less alternative each year. And so the people at Stephi’s are an interesting mix: preppies, families, business people, tattoo obsessives, rich kids, older couples, women in going-out outfits, neighborhood types, and one night a guy who looks like a younger Hulk Hogan.

Stephi’s catches plenty of its barflies with sugar: The cocktail menu is replete with flavored vodkas. The wine list is fairly mass-market and reasonably priced. When a customer tells a server she wants sangria but not if it’s sweet, he recommends the pink version over the red. The first sip is a high-fructose pow right in the kisser. Offer up a prayer for the teeth of the person who favors the red.

The food is more palatable. It’s the equivalent of Juicy sweats, a tad more dressed up than your average comfort fare. Meatloaf gets stuffed with cheddar cheese, shepherd’s pie spiffed up with lobster, and macaroni and cheese fancified with prosciutto and truffle oil. These dishes aren’t fooling anyone: They’re still sweatpants.

There’s a certain amount of overlap with the food at Stephanie’s on Newbury; executive chef Corey Comeau comes from that kitchen. On the menu, adjectives abound. In a section marked “comfort food classics,’’ the meatloaf is billed as “our famous meatloaf.’’ In the whole entire world, how many restaurant dishes actually qualify as famous? And how many of these are described as being famous on the menu? Fame means never having to say you’re famous. But if the claim must be made, at least be better than OK. Stephi’s meatloaf is OK. The texture is good. The cheddar doesn’t add much flavor. The mushroom gravy tastes salty and . . . brown. The mashed potatoes are bland and airy.

The macaroni and cheese is “legendary.’’ I would describe it as “creamy,’’ which doesn’t have the same ring. It’s very mild, topped with bread crumbs, and served in a cute little skillet. It tastes very similar to an appetizer of prosciutto and Parmesan fritters, also creamy with a crunchy crust, if nearly devoid of anything resembling prosciutto. (One bite contains a little pink fleck.)

The burger, too, gets the “classic’’ billing, and it’s accurate. This is what you think of when you think of a burger. Served on a brioche roll, it’s ground sirloin topped with cheddar, caramelized onions, bacon, and mushrooms. It’s a good burger, if a little overdone. The fries are good, too, just thick enough to achieve the perfect crunchy-outside-to-smushy-inside ratio. The onion rings, however, are terrible. They come as a side, stacked in a tempting tower, but their appeal is solely visual. When you bite them, the batter comes right off of the onion. You’re left with a mouth of crunchy dough, a tough and intact circle of onion still in your hand or on your plate. A side of tater tots is just as bad – bland, thin mashed potatoes held together by a fried crust.

It would be more exciting to eat the signature lobster shepherd’s pie if a full quarter of the menu didn’t come under the rubric: Another section of the menu is titled “Stephi’s signature salads.’’ Still, this particular signature has flourish. Lobster is actually a main ingredient in the mashed potato-topped pie, rather than the accent it sometimes is in lobster dishes. The meat is tender and sweet. The corn pudding it’s layered with is sweet too, a bit too much so; there are also spinach and peas in the mix.

As for the salads, there are hits and misses, but it’s really nice to be able to get an entree-size salad, something that’s often oddly hard to come by. The Newbury Street chunky chicken salad (“a classic since 1994’’) is very ladies-who-lunch, something you’d expect to be served in a department store restaurant. The chicken salad is about the blandest thing ever, there are large pieces of hard and tasteless bread lying across the plate; the tomatoes are equally hard and tasteless. Something with so little flavor should at least be low in calories, but the amount of mayonnaise in the chicken makes that unlikely.

A Caesar salad with little slices of steak is a better choice. There could be more dressing – it’s nearly naked – but this is a nice salad of romaine hearts, roasted tomatoes, and croutons. The steak is blackened on the edges and rare in the middle. A little more salt would go a long way. So would a little more steak, considering the salad is $18.

An Asian yellowfin tuna salad with chilled udon noodles harks back to the gourmet creations of the ’80s. The noodles are just one ingredient in the salad, everything tossed together, rather than a costar with the tuna. It looks a hot mess, though it tastes pretty good. Thankfully, there are no mandarin oranges included, despite the lump-sum “Asian.’’ We know enough now to name names – is it a Thai salad? Japanese? Not really. It owes its allegiance to the land of fusion.

It’s visually similar to an appetizer of crispy fried rock shrimp, which are thrown together with all kinds of vegetables to make a colorful medley. The shrimp are fresh-tasting and appealing in a fried, General Gau kind of way; corn and avocado lend good texture to the mix.

Corn pops up again in the sweet, intensely bacony chowder served with pan-roasted cod and potatoes. (The fish is topped with onion strings that are much better than the onion rings.) With less bacon and less sweetness, this would be a very good dish.

It should take a lesson from the smoked trout, which is served hot over roasted potatoes with a three-bean hash. It’s simple, but the fish is delicious, with just the right amount of smoke, and the vegetables are golden and garlicky. It’s one of the best entrees at Stephi’s.

Dessert is mostly skippable. Sticky toffee pudding is certainly sticky on the outside but nearly uncooked on the inside. Orange-flavored blueberry cobbler is too heavy on the orange. Cheesecake, however, is a good New York-style version with a chocolate crust, served with raspberries and a stiff blob of lime whipped cream. The flavors work well together.

The restaurant looks very different than it did as Garden of Eden, styled out in browns and creams and marble. On one occasion, as we head across the room and down the stairs to the bathroom, we hear waiters grousing about specific patrons – not too classy. It’s just possible said patrons are cranky because they have to ask for glasses of water, ketchup for burger and fries, wine lists. Or because their server has left the detritus from each course on the table and they’re tired of looking at that gross piece of macaroni. Many of the servers here are friendly and capable, and the ones who aren’t make them all look bad.

But service isn’t what you come to Stephi’s for. Stephi’s on Tremont splits the difference between Stephanie’s on Newbury and Garden of Eden. It’s a neighborhood hangout where you come to see and be seen, South End style.

Devra First can be reached at dfirst@globe.com.

The Stork Club Boston

The Stork Club Boston is drawing its inspiration from speakeasies and its name from the former Stork Club that operated in New York City from 1929 to 1965 and drew the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Ernest Hemingway, J. Edgar Hoover and the Kennedys.

It’s taking the place of Circle Plates and Lounge, an upscale French restaurant that opened last October in the former Bob’s Southern Bistro space and closed six weeks later.

Managing partner Ziad Chamoun, previously director of operations for the Barking Crab restaurants in Boston and Newport, is buying out the current owner.

“The goal is to bring back a place where there’s conversation and music, and artists and people from different groups within Boston can come in and enjoy,” spokesman Marc Deley said. “There will be weekly live jazz music, but it will be more atmospheric jazz.”

The 88-seat Stork Club Boston is slated to open Aug. 11.