Sunday, May 29, 2016

ENJOY THE START OF SUMMER!

JOE Sunday, May 29, 2016
It's Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. All weekend, Stew Leonard's in Connecticut is celebrating with red, white and blue bagels. With season high temps, today their Newington location is selling a lot of soft ice cream. 

Enjoy the summer and don't forget what the weekend is all about. If your in Boston, stop by Boston Common for their annual display of flags. There are 37,000 of them. One for every Massachusetts service member killed in action. 

Sunday, May 22, 2016

PASCOLO BRINGS DELIGHTFUL ITALIAN FOOD TO CHRUCH STREET IN BURLINGTON, VERMONT

JOE Sunday, May 22, 2016
Enjoy dinner with a view of Pascola's busy kitchen.
Fried mozzarella
Rigatoni bolognese
Wine flight
Pascolo in Burlington, Vermont has quickly become one of my favorite dinnertime spots on Church Street. This Italian restaurant specializes in homemade pastas and Neapolitan style pizza that's made in their wood fired oven. 

Start off dinner with one of their wine flights. Customers can sample three wines for just $10. Their full bar is packed with Vermont beers, like Fiddlehead, Burlington Beer Company and Lost Nation Rustic Ale. There are also plenty of bottles and cans to choose from like the Citizen Cider and Alchemist's Heady Topper and Focal Banger. They also have a maple breakfast stout, which sounds delicious. 

Start of dinner with one of their apps including Caesar salad, tomato cream soup, mussels, and calamari. Eat Up NE highly recommends their fried mozzarella. It's served with tomato sauce and is soooo good.

For dinner, pick your pasta! Choose from gnocchi, spaghetti, rigatoni, pappardelle and tortellini. I love their rigatoni bolognese. Other entrees include grilled salmon, grilled scallops, along with chicken and eggplant parms. Pascolo also has a bunch of pizzas on their menu like wood fried mushroom and wood fried shrimp. Diners can also make their own pizzas with a choice of toppings.

Pascolo offers typical Italian desserts like tiramisu, cannoli and homemade biscotti.  They also have house made gelato (chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, espresso) and gelato sundaes.

 www.pascolovt.com ,

Saturday, May 21, 2016

IT'S LOBSTER ROLL SEASON!

JOE Saturday, May 21, 2016
Summer is coming, so that means it's time for lobster! I enjoyed my first lobster roll of the season today at Solas in Boston. Solas is an Irish pub, but they make a delicious lobster roll that's served with a pile of french fries. BTW, I kept it Irish with a Guinness to wash it down. Happy summer and welcome to lobster season! , , ,

Friday, May 13, 2016

SWEET TOMATOES IN NEWTON TO RE-OPEN THIS SUMMER

JOE Friday, May 13, 2016
Tragedy struck at Sweet Tomatoes in West Newton, Massachusetts this past March when someone drove right into the store during the dinner rush. Two customers were killed. Several others were seriously hurt. Right now, the building is still boarded up. The inside is gutted. Owners are promising to rebuild and they plan to re-open in July. 

For now, customers can still enjoy their pizza. On Wednesdays and Fridays, they've been parking their food truck in front of their West Newton shop. Their limited menu offers their huge slices, sandwiches and salads. I stopped by today and enjoyed two slices of their BBQ chicken pizza. If you'd like to dine in, Sweet Tomatoes' other locations are in Newton Center, Needham and Northeastern University. 

www.sweettomatoespizza.com , , ,

Thursday, May 12, 2016

JACK'S ABBY IS MORE THAN CRAFT BEER: INSIDE THEIR BEER HALL & KITCHEN

JOE Thursday, May 12, 2016
Local Cheese & Charcuterie
House Lager Pretzel
Top: potato & bacon pizza. Bottom: margherita pizza
Jack's Abby is known for brewing their own lagers. They are on tap at restaurants and available in stores throughout Massachusetts. Now, they have opened up their own beer hall and kitchen in Framingham, where comfort food is king.

 This place is massive, with countless places to sit. There's a big bar with 24 Jack's Abby beers on tap at a time. Impossible to miss is their large oven where they bake all of their amazing pizzas. I loved their potato and bacon pizza. It's topped with garlic cream, cheddar and onions. This was one of the best pizzas I've ever had. Other pies include clam & bacon, BBQ pork, meatball and wild mushroom. Customers can also make their own custom pizzas. Entrees include sea scallops, mac & cheese, pork shank, wood roasted chicken, salmon and pasta. Eat Up New England highly recommends their "House Lager Pretzel." This soft pretzel comes with beer cheese and horseradish mustard for dunking. For dessert, there's apple crisp and dark chocolate banana breading pudding. 

All of their food pairs well with their beer. If you like trying different beers, this is the place for you. The beers are always rotating, with seasonal beers like Cranberry Berliner in the summer and pumpkin in the fall.

Jack's Abby Beer Hall and Kitchen is open for dinner Tuesdays-Sundays. They serve lunch Tuesdays-Fridays, offering sandwiches like grilled bacon & cheddar, chicken salad and a grilled salmon BLT.

jacksabby.com , , , ,

Thursday, May 05, 2016

CINCO DE MAYO AT MARGARITAS

JOE Thursday, May 05, 2016
It's been a long time since I've been out on Cinco de Mayo. I've worked nights for years, but I am finally on a day shift, so it was time to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in style. We went to Margaritas in Framingham, Massachusetts. The whole state was there. At one point, the wait was two hours long! 

I enjoyed a couple of their house maragaritas. The Mexican street corn was an amazing appetizer. For dinner, I enjoyed Tio's Mexican Combo - a chicken burrito, chicken enchilada and two baby chimis. Maragarita's really does Cinco de Mayo right. They had tons of free swag including sombreros, beads and Cinco de Mayo 2016 take home cups for margaritas. They even had a Cinco de Mayo filter on Instagram. Needless to say, it was all worth the wait. Happy Cinco de Mayo! , ,

Sunday, May 01, 2016

READY FOR SUMMER! EAT UP NEW ENGLAND VISITS THE CAPE

JOE Sunday, May 01, 2016
As always, it was a long and cold New England winter. Now that the sun is out and it's warmer, we're all getting itchy for the summer. Yesterday, the weather was perfect. Sunny and in the 60's. So, I took a trip down to the Cape. I grabbed a blueberry crumble iced coffee at Mary Lou's and took a stroll along Scusset Beach. (It's free this time of year!) For lunch, I went to Eat Up NE favorite, the Lobster Pot, in East Wareham. It was surprisingly busy, filled with people, who like me, probably wanted an early taste of summer. I got my usual: a cup of clam chowder and the clam strips plate. Now, it's starting to feel like summer. , , ,
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