Spectacle on Spectacle Brings Gourmet Eats and Drinks to Boston Harbor Islands on June 21, 2018

The ultimate Boston summer food festival might be Spectacle on Spectacle, which brings guests to Spectacle Island, part of the Boston Harbor Islands, for a food and drink extravaganza complete with a ferry ride to and from the island.

Since last year, the Boston Harbor Now has signed on Barbara Lynch to be in charge of their culinary programs, so you can bet her restaurants will be participating at the event as they did last year. This year's Spectacle on Spectacle will take place on June 21, 2018 and there will also be a fireworks display.

The evening starts with a ferry ride to Spectacle Island, and there were appetizer stations and beer/wine served on the boat. It actually did rain that evening during the event, but they were ready with tents and the rain didn't stop any of us from having a blast.

There were other great Boston restaurants participating last year in addition to the Barbara Lynch Gruppo. Some of my favorite dishes included this sea trout crudo from SRV.

There's of course, the iconic butter soup (with mussels and caviar) from Barbara Lynch's Menton.

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Omakase at the Hidden Sushi | Bar (Encino, CA)

I heard about a sushi bar in Encino with a name pretty impossible to google: Sushi | Bar. This is Phillip Frankland Lee's hidden omakase-only sushi bar behind Woodley Proper in Encino. Sushi | Bar has two seatings per night and only seats eight people at a time. Reservations for the night opens at 10 am that morning on their website (EDIT: Sushi|Bar now takes reservations up to 2 weeks in advance!)

Sushi | Bar is hidden inside Woodley Proper. You check in at Woodley Proper and wait at the bar with a welcome cocktail before the party is escorted to the secret room. Sushi | Bar is not a traditional Japanese sushi restaurant. Phillip Frankland Lee and his team serves up a creative 17-course omakase of sushi with unusual garnishes and preparations.

We chatted with the sushi chefs and other diners and the 17 courses and their drink pairings come and go in rapid succession. I wasn't able to take detailed notes of every single preparations and photos of all the dishes, unfortunately, but here are what you might expect out of this wonderful and unique omakase experience.

We started with a West Coast oyster with whipped nigorizake and caviar, among other ingredients. I opted for the drink pairing which mixed in sake, beer, and cocktails - starting with sake to pair with the oysters.

There's the Purple Peruvian scallop with noc chuom and leche de tigre


Oo-toro, pineapple, brown sugar, wasabi, soy


White prawn from the Gulf of Mexico marinated for 3 days in chermoula. The prawn was oasted, then topped with dehydrated matcha, kelp, wasabi, and soy

The prawn was paired with a cocktail made with Japanese whisky, port, lemon, matcha, kelp, soy - the three ingredients matched the garnish on the prawn sushi itself.

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Where to Drink Cocktails in Boston: Fenway / Kenmore

If you were to do a cocktail crawl in Boston, the Fenway Kenmore neighborhood is actually a great place to do it, due to the concentration of good cocktail spots in close vicinity to each other. Drink at one of these spots next time you're in the neighborhood - or just go to all of them!

The Hawthorne

Owned by Jackson Cannon and currently managed by Jared Sadoian, The Hawthorne is the cocktail lounge to go to in Boston when you want to feel fancy in a quieter spot with excellent drinks. Their oft-changing cocktail menu features well thought out classic variations. For a more casual vibe, visit them on Swizzle Sundays on the patio.

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Spring Cocktails, Crab Toast, and More at OAK Long Bar + Kitchen at The Fairmont Copley Plaza (Boston, MA)

A month or so ago, I finally visited OAK Long Bar + Kitchen for a proper cocktail tasting. I often neglect hotel bars, but I've heard good things about this particular one so I decided to try it.
I was given a special sneak peek of their spring cocktails, which at the time didn't even have names yet! I was waiting until "spring" to post about them, and I think it's finally here, right?

I started with one that really invokes spring, a cocktail that's now been named Home Grown. It's made with Gunpowder Irish gin, English pea syrup, lemon, honey.

The vegetal notes of the pea worked really well with the botanicals in the gin. But don't worry, this refreshing drink is not overly vegetal, it was tempered nicely with the honey.

The restaurant manager Will Caines did a great job pairing up the cocktails with some bites from Oak's food menu. Will was previously a bartender at Doretta Taverna.
The first drink was served alongside Avocado and crab toast (peekytoe crab, burrata, pickled jalapeno, cilantro, $18)

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Fish by José Andrés at The Cove at Atlantis (Bahamas)

The day I headed out to The Bahamas, I found out that Fish, a seafood restaurant by José Andrés, had just opened at The Cove at Atlantis the day before (on April 12, 2018). I love José Andrés and have generally had great meals at his restaurants including Bazaar Steak in Las Vegas, so I really wanted to try Fish while I was in the area. I couldn't get a reservation online but I was told that they take walk-ins.

The restaurant wasn't full when I got there, and I managed to get seated in the lounge area for dinner.

I started with probably the one healthy dish I had all weekend: Brussels sprouts, lemon pith puree, apricot, grapes ($12)

The brussels sprouts was tender and delicate and I loved the unusual combination with sweet grapes.

For me, the must order here is the conch, the Bahamian treasured mollusk! FISH offers a few preparations of the mollusk, and I ordered the grilled conch with chimichurri sauce ($24)

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A Tasting Menu of Mind Fish Co's Tuna from the Maldives

by Bryan Tsunoda @discovering_LA

If you haven’t experienced a collaboration before, it is an opportunity to see what is possible when two artists combine their efforts. The effort could involve many creative efforts such as a motion picture, a song, or even a breakthrough in science. I was invited to see a menu collaboration between two entrepreneurs: Mind Fish Co and chef Teresa Montaño.

“Pole-and-line fishing is a centuries-old technique and continues to employ the fishing communities of the Maldives, where their only natural renewable resource is the wild skipjack tuna,” said Mind Fish Co-Founder Jerry Lin. “All our skipjack tuna are pole-and-line caught and processed/packed in the Maldives.”

Lin obtained his masters in Aquatic Biology and wrote his thesis on the Maldives fishing industry. His interest and passion for sustainable seafood grew, which led him to starting Mind Fish, a company that exports canned tuna from the Maldives. Teresa Montaño was previously the executive chef of Ración which was on Jonathan Gold’s top 101 Best Restaurants. There she prepared beautifully plated Basque and Spanish tapas. She created a Spanish-inspired menu emphasizing sustainability, local ingredients and dishes to share with Iberian wines and beers.

The first was a crostini topped with a whipped goat butter, anchovy and tuna and topped with roasted radishes and fresh herbs.

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Support Community Servings with LifeSavor on April 26, 2018

Community Servings is one of the nonprofits in Boston I love supporting .They prepare nutritious meals for the homebound and critically ill, each meal catered to each patient's condition.
Each year, they fold a big fundraising event called LifeSavor, which starts with a festive gala reception at The Langham Hotel.

Guests can sign up either for the reception alone or for a multi-course dinner. After the reception, they will be transported to one of the participating restaurants for dinner and after the dinner they'll be transported back to The Langham for a dessert after party.
This year's participating restaurants include Bondir, Craigie on Main, Bar Mezzana, Toro, Oleana, Mistral, and many more. See here for a full list.

There's plenty of food at the reception itself, provided by The Langham ...

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LA: Taste of the Eastside, April 29, 2018 + Giveaway!

You know it's spring in LA when it's time for Taste of the Eastside! The food festival is coming back for another run on April 29, 2018 to the Los Angeles River and Gardens. The festival showcases restaurants in the Eastside neighborhoods including Eagle Rock, Silverlake, Highland Park, Los Feliz and beyond.

This year's participating restaurants include Melody, Oki Poki, Malo Restaurant, Daw Yee Myanmar Corner, Cliff's Edge, Momed, Cento Pasta Bar, and more. There will be ice creams from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, Pazzo Gelato, and McConnell's Fine Ice Creams. Drinks will be served by Frogtown Brewery, Green Bar Distillery, Silverlake Wine, Eagle Rock Brewery, and others.

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Thirst Boston Returns April 27-29, 2018

Thirst Boston is Boston's cocktail festival. The afternoons are filled with various workshops meant for bartender and cocktail enthusiasts. They cover molecular mixology approaches, ice carving techniques, as well as tasting seminars about cognac and other spirits. There are also seminar on woman in cocktail history and a hands-on make-your-own gin workshop that I wrote about here.

Now, why should you care about Thirst Boston? If you're not a big enough enthusiast to attend the seminars and workshops, there are still other Thirst events that will interest you! Namely, their fun cocktail-filled evening events.

One is Blender Bender, which this year will take place on Sunday, April 29 at Whiskey Saigon. The event is pits teams of local bartenders in a blended drink competition. There's always a theme to this event and the bartenders are known to go all out in costumes and garnishes! It's a big dance party with great blended drinks all night.

Last year's theme was the Gender Bender Blender Bender, and this year will be a Mad Max theme.

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