Fiorella’s Will Replace Bondir in Concord
A farm-to-table restaurant in Concord will close down, and an Italian restaurant with a handful of regional locations will take its place. Chef Jason Bond is shutting down one of his two Bondir locations, keeping the original Cambridge restaurant open, Boston Restaurant Talk reported. Bondir Concord first opened in 2013, three years after Bond open...
Da Vinci Bistro makes it debut in Sudbury
Chris Bates grew up going to Friendly's on Rte. 20 to celebrate after soccer games and other family occasions. "Driving by for the first time and seeing it wasn't Friendly's was sad," he said. The Friendly's closed in July 2015 after being in town for 50 years. Now, he's a waiter in the building, but with a completely different vibe. The owners beh...
Luigi & Giovanni Italian Food Market and Catering sponsors upcoming Rockin’ with the Troops concert
“There’s no question in my mind, as a veteran, that we need to always support our troops and our veterans. It’s because of them, and only because of them, that we enjoy all of the freedoms that we do,” Luigi (Louis) Lemme explained matter-of-factly. Lemme and his business partner, Giovanni (John) D’Alessandro, owners of Luigi & Giovanni Italian Spe...
Phantom Gourmet: Avvio Ristorante In Cranston, RI
The fire is burning, the pans are sizzling, the kitchen is cranking, and customers are flocking to Avvio Ristorante. Located in the Garden City Center in Cranston, Rhode Island, Avvio is lot nicer than most neighborhood Italian restaurants and pizzerias, but a lot less expensive than you’d expect, considering the consistently fresh and authentic fo...
Eataly Boston's new restaurant, 'Terra' to bring cooking by fire to Prudential Center
Eataly Boston is opening the doors to its highly anticipated Prudential Center restaurant, "Terra" to customers on Tuesday, April 4. Terra, which means "earth" in Italian will be a full-service restaurant featuring a wood-burning Italian grill while bringing elements of earth and fire in a variety of sharable plates, wine and herb-infused cocktails...
DOP Riviera Ligure extra virgin olive oil: from the heart of Europe to US East Coast
Two great appointments for DOP Riviera Ligure extra virgin olive oil: from the heart of Europe to the US East Coast. The DOP Riviera Ligure olive oil is participating at the International Tourism Exchange in Berlin (ITB Berlin), scheduled March 8th to 12th. Liguria region is already scheduled on March 7th, within the "I love Italia” initiative, the...
Dining review: Pat’s Italian Restaurant in Johnston gets a splendid reboot
If you haven't been to Pat's Italian Restaurant in a while, you haven't been to Pat's. Before a visit last month, I hadn't been to Pat's since the Boston Red Sox were down three games to the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series. I was there the Saturday night the Sox lost, 19-8. For that dinner at Pat's, I dined by a fau...
New pizzeria opens in Topsfield
Topsfield has a new pizzeria. Osteria Peppino Pizza had its grand opening last Saturday at 414 Boston Street. The family friendly restaurant is brightly lit and has bistro seating near the kitchen to complement the dining room tables. When the Transcript stopped by around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, almost all the tables were full. Owner Giuseppe Giugl...
Review: New Haven's Olives and Oil Offers Italian, in Technicolor
A 1904 New York Tribune article about Italian immigration to New Haven carried the fevered headline “ITALIANS ARE FLOODING CONNECTICUT.” The article quotes the Rev. Joel Ives of the Missionary Society of Connecticut, who worries that the Italians coming into the state are “poor, superstitious, ignorant, and indifferent.” Well, the Rev. Ives has dep...
Venture north for a true Italian treat
Portofino Italian Restaurant in Merrimack, N.H., is a true family ristorante. Patriarch Giuliano Mastantuono handles the cooking while his wife, Maria, and his brother in-law, Helder “Pepper” Pimenta, are among the family members who help out. Giuliano is a native of Italy and worked in his family’s restaurant as a young man. When he was in his tee...
Port City Tuscan Kitchen opens for business
The doors at Tuscan Kitchen on Lafayette Road opened for the first time at 3 p.m. Wednesday, and by 3:20, there were only a few spots left at the spacious bar. Tommy Mattie of Nottingham has been anxiously awaiting the new Italian restaurant. Mattie said he has been trying to get to the Salem location after seeing it featured on the Food Network, b...
It's no act -- Italy's La Spinetta makes fine wines
A quick glance across the room and it looks as if Al Pacino is standing in front of a map of Italy's Piedmont region, pointing to the unique hillside vineyards where some of the world's most majestic and monolithic wines are made. The Italian's hair is longish, tousled, salt-and-pepper, the same as his scraggly beard. His face is warm, inviting and...