BOSTON FINALE

After that scrumptious dinner at Erbaluce I went to see a performance of HAIR at the Colonial Theatre. The troupe is part of Broadway Across America. I had a seat near the front and on an aisle. What that meant was having contact with the actors. They come out to the audience quite often running up and down the aisles and in many instances doing stuff like ruffling an audience member's hair or sitting on the lap while singing. This troupe did no less of a great performance than the one I saw on Broadway in Manhattan. In fact I just heard that HAIR is returning to New York at the end of June as part of Broadway Across America. I'm looking forward to seeing this cast again. I love the music!

Getting back to my tour of Boston. I chose orange juice and quiche for breakfast at the Charles Street Inn. I didn't want to eat too much as lunch was scheduled for 1 p.m.

Since it wasn't raining I took a short walk on Charles Street. There was this shop called Isabelle's Curly Cakes that's all about cupcakes. They make their basic cupcake, scoop out a part of the top and put in the frosting and then add more frosting. I sampled a small cupcake just to taste the quality. Moist cupcake and delicious frosting.

I decided to do a Pedicab tour with Boston Pedicab. The tour took me from the Charles Street Inn to the Quincy Market area dropping me off at Union Oyster House for lunch. The Union Oyster House is the oldest restaurant in the US.

When in Rome...I had a cup of a very creamy clam chowder, a combo of Welfleet and Bluepoint Oyster, a sample of their lobster ravioli, and a 2-pound lobster. I skipped dessert.

I was later picked up at this location and taken back to the Charles Street Inn so that I could pack my bags and Jetblue back to New York.

BOSTON DAY 2

After enjoying a fabulous breakfast of fresh fruit, milk, and orange/cranberry scone with cream cheese, I went back onto the Upper Deck bus. This time I got off in Cambridge and switched to another Upper Deck bus for that tour. Harvard Square, MIT and Harvard. I could have departed the bus and walked about but just wanted to relax.

It was the second Italian restaurant, Erbaluce, located on Church Street in the theatre district. The bar had a variety of bitters. I only tasted one that was "citrusy". I met co-owner Joan Johnson and her husband Charles Draghi, the Executive Chef. Rather than do a tasting of items from the menu, I asked the chef if he would do a 7-course tasting of his choice.

If it weren't for how much food I would be eating, I would have indulged on more of the bread and dip. Chef makes his own bread and the dip is made from white beans.

Here is a description of what I so enjoyed eating.

Fish Antipasti
Whole roe scallop marinated in Meyer lemon and olive oil, with a parsley and caper pesto.

Scungilli (local whelks) marinated with mustard, mint, tarragon, and garlic oil.
Duxbury razor clams, steamed Trieste-style with a green peppercorn, fennel, and white wine broth.

Meat Antipasti
Lamb and beef herbed meatballs with a spicy roasted tomato and leek sauce.

Speck with native apples, sesame and mint. Speck is a lightly smoked proscutti.

House-cured Tamworth pork lardo on grilled bruschetta, with house-cured green olives.

Soup
Roasted organic Winter vegetable and beet vellutata with black trumpet mushrooms and fresh marjoram.

Pasta
Roasted potato gnocchi with a ragu of wild boar, rabbit, and lamb braised with red vermouth and pungent herbs.

Fish
Nasello filet, roasted in red Swiss chard, with an organic carrot and anise hyssop sauce.

Meat
Rack of wild boar, slow-roasted over wine corks, with a wild Concord grape and lavender mosto.

Dessert
Giandjua (a chocolate and hazelnut truffle) with a sauce of native apples and mace, and Piemontese hazelnuts.

Herb blossom honey panna cotta, with an Italian tart cherry sauce seasoned with cassia.

Truffles
Dark chocolate truffles flavored with aged balsamico and rose geranium.

Dried fruit and marzipan truffles with sesame and orange flower water.


The photos and video will relate further! It was as if I were actually in Italy eating the local fare from a classy restaurant.

ONE OF TWO ITALIAN RESTAURANTS

Since I'm writing for Giornale Italo Americano, I thought I'd hit two Italian restaurants that are not in the Italian North End district to see if you have to go to Boston's "Little Italy" for the best. The first of the two was in the Beacon Hill area just down the street from the Charles Street Inn. It's called Bin26 and appears to focus on being a wine bar.

It is actually one of three restaurants owned by Azita Bina and her brother Babak Bina. One other is an upscale Italian restaurant called BiNa Osteria and the other a Persian restaurant called Lala Rokh. She is also the Executive Chef of all three.

I wanted to do a tasting of various items on the menu. First course choices were: Baked Eggplant Parmigiano (would have been a great tasting entree); Zucchini Carpaccio (thin slices of zucchini with olive oil, lemon and pine nuts that totally enhanced the vegetable); Marinated Olives (they marinate the olives using garlic and chili flakes ); and Speck del Tirolo. I wanted to try Speck, a smoked version of Proscuitto di Parma. Seemed a bit less salty than the proscuitto.

Appetizers: Roasted Golden and Red Beet Salad with Endive and a house-made balsamic vinaigrette. The bowl of the soup of the day was Cannellini Bean Soup with roasted tomatoes and shrimp atop (loved the soup).

Pasta was next. CocaTagliatelle with Porcini Mushrooms ragout scented with Nepitella, a minty herb from the Tuscany region of Italy that resembles oregano. The pasta has a bit of cocoa in it for the color rather than the flavor. It didn't taste like a chocolate pasta. Those porcini mushrooms were sooooo good.

Noticing that I basically had a meatless meal, I went for a seafood entree of a whole fresh roasted Mediterranean Branzino, with lemon, thyme and asparagus.

Had to save just a bit of room for one of the signature desserts, ThreeRamiso. It's a trio of tiramisu desserts. One is the tiramisu cake itself and the others are a tiramisu flavored eggnog and a scoop of tiramisu gelato. The cake itself is not very sweet compared to the other two parts. I was told that some people pour the drink over the cake.

I'm stuffed and so are Esther and Eunice who seemed to be more interested in the wines.

JETBLUEING TO BOSTON

Jetblueing to Boston due to cheap fare of $39 each way from JFK. Plus taxes, of course. Rainy weather caused a delay but still managed to get here at original time.

I could have taken a $20 cab ride or $24 share ride (which doesn't make sense) to my hotel if it weren't for the option of public transportation option of paying $2 for the Silver T bus, taking me directly to South Street Station and taking the Red Line subway to Charles Street Station, 3 blocks from the Charles Street Inn. It took about 45 minutes and personally would have not done if heavier baggage. Let's add that it was raining.

Upper Deck bus tour just down the block from the inn. Great way to see Boston and Cambridge with this new Upper Deck sort of double decker bus. Not only can you see the sights from a higher position but the $39 fare for two days includes an extra tour of Cambridge as well as being able to chose another tour for free, such as a Boston Harbor Cruise.

I had the Louise May Alcott room on the 5th floor (they have an elevator) with a great view of Charles Street. Each of the 9 rooms are named for an historic female regarding Boston. The room had a king size bed, desk, coffee table, Bose radio, one of those flat screen tvs, a fireplace and bathroom with a jacuzzi. No charge for either local or long distance calls and free wifi as well.

The bathroom also had a robe, slippers and fridge with water and soda inside and snacks on the shelf above. Cabinet above had wine and drinking glasses as well as utensils for breakfast. You order breakfast from a small menu and fork it over to the front desk the night before. The breakfast gets delivered to your room.

Lobby also has snacks, books, magazines and a small library of DVD's in case you want to simply watch a movie as the fireplace is aglow.

I wanted to test out the bed by just relaxing while watching the tv. Two hours later...in other words, the bed is more than comfortable!

KATIALLO

On a different day, my friend Nancy and I took in lunch at a Greek restaurant in Queens called Katiallo. Small and home style Greek cuisine located at 29-06 172nd Street off of Francis Lewis Blvd., just blocks from M&S Italian grocery. It’s an open kitchen. You can watch them cook behind the counter.

We shared (It’s easier that way) starting with a cold appetizer, Pikilia. It was a combination of Taramosalata (carp roe spread), Melitzanosalata (eggplant spread), Tzatziki (yogurt sauce with cucumber and garlic) and Skordalia (whipped potato dip with garlic). For some reason, the Melitzanosalata was substituted for Hummus (whipped chickpeas with sesame tahini, lemon and garlic). Nothing was said and I couldn’t figure out why the texture of the eggplant was so different until I asked about it. Oh well.

We then chose two entrees. Doner was a marinated rotisserie pork loin with herbs and served with Tzatziki, pita bread and lemon potatoes (you could opt for French fries). Loukaniko was a Greek style pork and lamb sausage spiced with oregano, orange, and wine and served with the same as the Doner.

We both agreed that the marinated pork was better than the sausage due to the sausage being quite dry. The sausage was served sliced up and lacked any juice. On the positive side, you could see those gyros rather than some places that buy frozen slices and heat them up.

I’m told that all food is made on the premises and from scratch, except for the desserts which are brought in. With the usual Baklava, I opted for one called Galactobouriko, a custard filled phyllo topped with a light honey syrup. Loved it. FYI. They have a backyard area for whenever Spring actually arrives.

There was a table of people that appeared to be celebrating. It was Lena Goren’s 81st birthday. She is a Greek Holocaust survivor, a former Miss Senior America contestant and a Rego Park resident. I understand that she also has a bit of show biz in her blood.

LOMBARDI

Coach Vince Lombari. If the name does not tweet your brain, then “sports” does not serve your interest. The Broadway show, entitled Lombardi, may still perk your attention as the biographic plot, based on David Maraniss’ 1999 book “When Pride Still Mattered,” would apply to anyone who teaches or simply wants to take in an enjoyable Broadway performance.

The play is mostly set around November of 1965, just before the Green Bay Packers began their NFL championship winning streak and mainly revolves around Lombardi’s (Dan Lauria) exchanges with a magazine reporter (Keith Nobbs) writing a feature story about him.

As the reporter moves into the Lombari home, it creates the opportunity to interact with this volatile coach and his ever so loyal wife Marie (Judith Light). Lombardi is frustrated by his team’s failure over the prior two seasons with the Green Bay Packers coming in second. In the meantime, hard-drinking Marie offers some humorously stabbing comments about life in Wisconsin.

Much of the action also takes places in the locker room where Lombardi interacts with three of his players. There’s the black linebacker Dave Robinson (Robert Christopher Riley), partying halfback Paul Hornung (Bill Dawes) and a fullback Jim Taylor (Chris Sullivan) who has a brain for finance.

So now that you have gist of what the show is about…this hour and a half performance, with no intermission, is staged at the Circle In The Square theatre on W. 50th between Broadway and 8th Avenue. There is no bad seat in the house! There are also a few high screens that bring in some of that football flavor.
The lobby is done well to suite the show. You will find a replica of Lombardi’s trophy on a glass enclosed stand, a set up seats from the game (I believe that they are replicas as well) and a cut out of Vince Lombardi with his arm around a player…however, the face is cut out so that you can place yours and have someone take a photo.

Back to the performance or rather the performers. Did Dan Lauria capture Vince Lombardi? I am one to admit that sports, other than having worked with the New York Sharks women’s pro football team, has little interest to me. That means that I am not familiar enough with Lombardi’s character, or any of the others. With that I did feel that all of the actors gave an outstanding performance.

I have to applaud both the producers and marketing staff for their website. They have not only set up a fan zone, facebook, and twitter but also a partnership page. I understand that the New York Sharks should be up on there by the time this article is viewed where you can get discounted tickets to their upcoming season home games. And… if you go to www.nysharksfootball.com and click onto the Lombardi banner, you will be able to get discount tickets for the show.

Let’s add one extra to this. You can download a study guide that’s perfect for teachers or parents bringing kids. I’m also getting that if you bring your ticket stub across the street to Palm restaurant, you can get a free drink at their bar until the middle of June…I’m sure that they will card the kids if you bring them.

DR. KRACKER, NATURE'S PATH, LINDA EDER AND ELVIS PRESLEY

It has been awhile since I've blogged. I got a new computer which has Windows 7 on it. Okay, you're probably saying, "Oy, what went wrong with yours or what doesn't work with Windows 7". What doesn't work with Windows 7 is the program for my digital camera which was purchase a few years ago. I called Fujifilm and they tell me that there is no updated version. This computer has this Fish thing. Yes, I can upload the photos but then I have to go to some other thing so I can resize or whatever to send them out or get on my blog, etc. I have a netbook that has the Window thing before Vista so the program will work, but then I have to correct the photos, put it on a memory stick and then put them on my PC. Good grief!!! I decided to blog and will later add photos and video.

Dr. Kracker Crisps. Dr. Kracker is a great flatbread treat. Very healthy with seeds and made with other than wheat. Different types with different seeds. Haven't tried them in soup as yet but best part is that I can make scrambled eggs without any salt or seasoning and the flatbread serves that purpose. They also have Crisps...small flatbreads with things like apple, cherries, hummus, and a spicy one. Great idea!

Have you ever had the pleasure if eating Nature's Path cereals? I'm hooked on them. To begin with, it's all organic. I know that just because the cereal is organic doesn't mean that they taste good but these rock! I'm not one for dry cereal in the morning. The assortment is enormous! Lots of them are gluten free. Aside from cereals they have cereal bars, so to speak. Either rice or granola. Great for a snack. Many of the bars and cereals even have fruit. I find that when I want something to nosh, I go for a small bowl with milk. I love milk and am willing to go for the 2 percent. Lots of fiber....really...no shit! Not a cheap cereal but worth the price for what you get.

I saw Linda Eder in concert at Colden Auditorium on the campus of Queens College in Flushing, New York. She certainly gives a great concert. I think she was supposed to have an opening act, but he canceled and it was all her. Eder came out with a new CD entitled, "Now", featuring the music of her former husband Frank Wildhorn. They got together to create the CD.

Elvis Presley. Or rather Gregg Peters. I was about to enter the doors of a neighborhood diner and saw a flier about Gregg Peters making an appearance. Gee. I remember Gregg Peters from at least 20 years ago when, as a comedian, I opened two shows for him. "He's still doing Elvis Presley?", I said to a friend. She looked at the flier and said, "Yes, as a matter of fact, he's here tonight". I walked over to him and he was so surprised to see me. My first impression was, "Gee, he got so old". Then the second thought was, "Gee, I got so old".

Not only was he doing his Elvis thing but now he has his two sons involved, one of which is doing a young Elvis. A show in a diner...oh well.