Popovers on the Square

Lou and I got married a little over two years ago in New Castle, NH at Wentworth by the Sea.

The Wentworth is worthy of it's own blog entry, but if you have never heard of it, it is considered a Grand Hotel, from the late 1800's.

In the early 90's the hotel was left in disrepair and the word on the street from the local fire department was, if it was on fire, let it burn!

Thanks to a group of determined citizens who wanted to bring the hotel back to its original splendor, Wentworth by the Sea was remodeled and reopened. It is now a 4 Diamond hotel managed by Marriot, and it is an amazing venue for a wedding.

New Castle, NH where the Wentworth is located, is next to Portsmouth, NH. When we were planning our wedding, it required several trips to the area, and we often found ourselves wandering the streets of Portsmouth. Portsmouth is a historical town, with many shops and restaurants.

Our absolute favorite place for lunch in Portsmouth is Popovers on the Square. The Square is what I consider the center of Portsmouth. It's where several streets meet and a large church with a beautiful white steeple is located.

Popovers has built their entire menu around, what else... The popover! A Popover is an egg based muffin which has a crispy exterior and porous interior.

If you order just a popover in this establishment, you will get a side of maple butter to go with it. It is pure deliciousness.

The perfect popover may have been the inspiration for this place, but it is not the only thing which screams perfection. There is an array of lunch items available as well as a large selections of pastries. One of our favorite things to get in the winter is a hearty bowl of clam chowder which is accompanied by a mini herbed popover. Since the mini popover hardly satisfies our need for a popover, Lou and I each get a large popover on the side as well.

If you are in the Portsmouth area, stop in and tell them Lou and Kris sent you. They won't know who the heck we are, but if enough people say it, they will start to wonder!

The Shaker Cafe Mueve Todo lo que tu Madre te Dio

The Shaker Cafe

31 Main Street

Flemington, NJ 08822

908-782-6610

Menu: Lunch and breakfast sandwiches, salads, typical
Atmosphere: Eclectic, laid back

Kid Friendly: Sure

Prices: Fair

Shake what your mama gave you! The Shaker Cafe in Flemington sits in the spot the Bagelsmith occupied for years. What happened to the Bagelsmith? I have no idea. I don't even know if there was anything that occupied this space between the two. Hey what can I say I moved out of the area years ago, but I do come back to visit, and over Thanksgiving my parents took me to the Shaker Cafe.

When I walked into the cafe the first thing I thought was, "This lady looks like she collected stuff for years and instead of succumbing to being cast on the show hoarders she opened a restaurant to stick it all her junk in." The decor is extremely eclectic. All the best items you could find at a garage sale. This place is my husband's knick knack nightmare, but it does give the place some character, and makes the atmosphere a little more interesting.

The Shaker Cafe serves Breakfast and Lunch Monday thru Friday, and just breakfast Sundays. Their menu is basic, hot and cold sandwiches and salads with daily specials. I am not saying this is a bad thing, just is what the menu is, and basic food done well, makes for a good place.

This visit I got the Tuna Melt. It was a normal portion and came with chips and a pickle. It was good, but I could have made it better at home.

When we ordered our food a unique twist is the counter gave us an animal to put on our table. We got a giraffe. When our order was ready they delivered our food to us. They also cleared our plates as they saw we were done, so I guess this makes it semi-full service. We had to pick our own table.

An interesting thing about the Shaker Cafe, is the name. My parents told me the woman who owns the cafe, collected salt and pepper shakers for years. If you know my parents, they could have made this story up, but the shakers on the tables were all unique which makes me believe they were probably telling me the truth this time.

So my impression of the Shaker Cafe? Well if I worked in the area, I would probably hit it up for lunch once in a while. The food was decent, prices aren't too bad, and there is a lot to look at in there, but I am not so sure about the service. The woman at the counter was nice enough but the woman who cleared our table got competely bent out of shape when my mother said she wasn't done with the napkin she cleared. When I say bent, she was noticeably irritated, it was a bit ridiculous. I also think the collection of shakers may dwindle the longer the place is opened. People used to steal the crappy shakers we had in Fuddruckers. I can't imagine them resisting the little elf heads, Amish couple or frogs!

My last bit of advice for the Shaker Cafe? Update your website! There is a link for events and the last one listed is from March 14th? The "About Us" link has a plug for personal chef services under the title Our History. It is all very confusing. Honestly this place makes me want to call my friends the Grieshabers and ask them why they are waiting to open their own place? Hopefully they read this, What are you guys waiting for????

Picco South End Something for Everyone

Picco Restaurant
513 Tremont Street
Boston, Ma 02116
617-927-0066

Menu: Pizza, Pasta, Salads, Sandwiches with a twist, full bar, and ICECREAM!
Kid Friendly: Absolutely
Atmosphere: Lively bright, laid back
Prices: Small Pizza and a cup of chili cost us $20 may seem like a lot but typical for Boston

Lou and I hit up Picco today for a little light lunch. Picco is in the South End of Boston towards the end of Tremont Street right before you drive over the Mass Pike. I had been to Picco before, but knowing I would write about it on my site, I took my surroundings in a bit more on this visit. What I decided was whoever is running/owns Picco is a genius.

I have only been to Picco during the day for lunch like today, so I always thought of it as pizza's, calzones, sandwiches, salads, and icecream, but what I paid a little more attention to today, was the bar.

During the day when Lou and I have been there, there is always an eclectic bunch. Families, couples, friends grabbing a bite, but what I realized was at night, this place must be a completely different crowd. Sure there were a couple people at the bar during the day, but there were a lot more people in the dining area having pizza and icecream.

The things I observed that make this place genius:


1. Two top tables which can be configured in any pattern to accomodate any size group.
2. Ice cream on the menu, making this place immediately kid friendly during the day


3. The menu items are typical but not plain. Pizza crust is light and toppings are original


4. This place can easily morph into a great place to hang at the bar at night


5. The dining area and bar are strategically separated by a long banquette with glass on top, giving the perception of complete separation.


6. There are those great curtains around the door for the winter to keep the cold out when people open the door.


7. The kitchen is wide open so you can see what the cooks are doing.

On this visit, Lou and I were greated at the door and sat within a couple minutes. There were a lot of kids in the dining room with their moms and most looked like they had just come from a ballet class. Lots of little girls with buns in their hair. A lot of the kids were coloring on plain white paper.

We stopped in to have just a small bite to tide us over until dinner, so we had decided to have pizza before we sat down, but once I looked at the menu, I had to get a cup of chili as well. In the end we ordered a small mushroom and sausage pizza and a cup of chili.

The chili was delivered first and it was a pleasant surprise. Instead of ground beef, the meat in the chili was tender pieces of steak. There were black beans and it came with a side of cornbread. The chili was great with a good hot spicy flavor. The cornbread was light and flakey. When the pizza came it was a perfect portion. 4 pieces in about an 8 inch round pie. The mushrooms were portabello and the cheese was ricotto. The toppings were perfectly balanced. The pizza crust was thin and crispy, and reminded me of a pita. When the pizza was served to us, it was placed on top of a large can instead of a fancy pizza platform. It was resourceful, and looked interesting. Picco gets green points for that one.

We didn't get desert this visit but a lot of kids were enjoying icecream. One of the more interesting flavors was honey. There isn't a huge selection, about 12-15 flavors, but definitely something for everyone.

I also noticed a great selection of beer behind the bar. Any bar which carries Lindeman's Framboise, definitely has an eclectic selection and knows their beer. Another interesting point about the bar is later in the evening we mentioned our visit to Picco to a friend. His reply was I love that place! They always have a great selection of beers! Proving my point.

If you want a light bite, afternoon snack, after work drink, or nightcap. Picco's got something for everyone.

Flour

My first post.

Flour URL: http://www.flourbakery.com/
Menu: Pastries, Sandwiches, Soups Salads
Kid Friendly: Yes High chairs and Kid's menu
Price: Average for the city and neighborhood, dinner is a bit pricey for premade items.
Atmosphere: Hip, artsy, friendly staff, trendy

This is not a new restaurant for me. I have been going there for about a year or so with Lou. My biggest regret about the restaurant is I didn't find it myself, and it is so close! I pride myself in finding good places to eat, but somehow this one slipped by. Flour has two locations one in South Boston on Farnsworth St. and one in the South End on Washington Street. It is owned by Joanne Chang who also owns Myers and Chang, another great place I will have to write about. Flour is first and foremost a bakery. From homemade oreos, to a variety of brioche, to breakfast pizza, to mini tartelettes, to the best stickie buns outside of Philly, their pastries selection is without peer, at least to my knowledge, feel free to prove me wrong. All pastries are made on premises. You can often see the bakers in the back creating new sensations. Flour also bakes their own bread for sandwiches on premise. When I think of Flour I usually think breakfast or lunch. They have a delicious breakfast sandwich which includes a fresh cooked egg, your choice of ham or bacon, greens, a roasted tomato, and some special sauce on a fresh cooked bun. They also offer a daily quiche, the breakfast pizza, which I mentioned earlier, and of course their delicious pastries! For lunch their is a large selection of sandwiches available, daily soups and salads. The Sandwiches are always on fresh baked bread, with unique ingredients like the Roasted Lamb, tomato chutney, and goat cheese, or the curried tuna with apples, golden raisins and carrots, and my husband's favorite, the smoked turkey with Vermont cheddar and cranberry chutney. Every item we've had at Flour is delicious and made with quality ingredients. Flour does offer dinner items as well. The items differ by week and are sent out via a mailing list for those interested. Lou and I have tried their dinners a few times. The food is tasty and comes in good portions, but I find their dinner items to be a bit overpriced for take out items. You can choose to have them heat dinner items up and eat on premise, but for self service, again, they are a bit overpriced. Both Flour locations are usually packed at breakfast and at lunch. The Farnsworth location is larger and has more available seating inside and out while the Washington street location is smaller. Seating is very limited. To be fair, I have only been to Washington street in the winter so do not know if they have outside seating available in the warmer months. The staff at Flour is always friendly and helpful. My impression is they are hip, creative, and concerned with the environment, Flour was just officially green certified. They also seem to be tight knit team, and updates on family and accomplishments are often posted in e-mails and on their website. Flour is definitely a trendy restaurant in many aspects, starting with the name, the creativity in the food they serve, their support of the arts, and their green rating. If Flour falls short in any place it is their operations. The line is managed unconventionally. When it is busy, it is hard to view the pastries before having to order, and they are probably doing themselves a disservice by not by not examining their order flow and making it more efficient and upsell friendly. I don't want to end my first blog entry on a negative. I chose Flour to write about first because it is a favorite of mine, it is close by, I love to bring friends their, I am never dissappointed with what I order, and the staff is really friendly. Come back often for more recommendations!