Sign up for The Dish
Stay up to date on the latest food and drink news from Boston.com.
Food News
Dine Out Boston, formerly known as Restaurant Week Boston, is back this month, serving up deals on prix fixe menus at some of the city’s best restaurants.
Held from March 10-23, this is the first of two Dine Out programs that Meet Boston, the tourism organization, puts on each year. And though those in the restaurant industry will agree that dining out at local eateries is important year-round, it’s especially important to a business during the slower winter months.
“From the bartenders to dishwashers, every guest that comes in to dine with us allows us to support our team who makes the day-to-day functions possible,” said Shore Gregory, co-owner of Row 34. “Dine Out Boston provides a great excuse to do that during the winter months.”
Whether it’s a restaurant you frequent often, or one you’ve always considered trying, there are lunch and dinner deals to explore for the next two weeks. Lunch deals can cost $22, $27, $32, and $36, while dinner menus run at $36, $41, $46, and $55.
Meet Boston said over 175 restaurants are taking part in Dine Out, more are still signing up, and around a dozen restaurants — Josephine’s, Waypoint, DW French, STK, and Umbria, for example — are participating for the first time.
You can find out all the featured restaurant menus and reservations at Meet Boston’s website. Boston.com put together a list of a few deals to consider below:
Of the deals available the next two weeks, the lunch and dinner menus at Smoke Shop’s Seaport location have the most options to choose from, pairing several starters, sandwiches, plates, baskets, or bowls. A $22 lunch — one of the cheapest options featured in Dine Out — gets you a starter and a sandwich, or you can swap the starter with butter cake. A three-course dinner is $36 and includes additional choices from the plates, baskets, and bowls menu. Owner and pitmaster Andy Husbands, pitmaster and owner, also recommends their whiskey deal, which will feature six whiskeys for $10 a pour. Available: Daily for both lunch and dinner.
Jeremy Sewall’s seafood restaurant is offering a $55 three-course menu at their Burlington location, featuring seafood, of course, with shrimp ceviche and herb-crusted haddock making the menu. But there are also options for those looking for something other than fish, like the 8-ounce flat iron steak, roasted half chicken, and two dessert options for the third course. Co-owner Shore Gregory recommends ordering their newest specialty cocktail “Cloud 9” — with vodka, creme de violette, lavender, and lemon — to go with any combination of the prix fixe menu. Available: Dinner Sunday-Friday.
This Chinatown hot pot eatery will also have lunch and dinner deals that owner Billy Gu said are a selection of their most popular dishes. “It’s what we’re most proud of.” For lunch, grab a golden bun or crab rangoon starter with either a hot pot sampler or assorted sashimi at $32. For a little bit more at $46, dinner comes with a different selection of starters — Gu recommends cold rice noodles as the most authentic option — along with hot pot sampler and sashimi entrees. Go there from 4 to 6 p.m. or 9 p.m. to close for an appetizer happy hour: one alcoholic beverage gets you two apps half off. Available: Lunch on Monday-Friday; Dinner on Sunday-Friday.
Most of the restaurants participating in Dine Out do not offer their prix fixe menus on Saturday. But if Saturday is the only day you can go out for a bite, you’re in luck with Chef Douglass Williams’s award-winning MIDA restaurants. And you’re getting a good value at $46 for a three-course meal of starters like the comforting white bean and kale soup, Williams’s personal favorite pork loin marsala as an entree option, and for dessert, something refreshing like the pear sorbetto. “No shortcuts are taken” with this menu, Williams said. Every MIDA location is participating, with the Newton location also serving lunch. And for those interested in Williams’s newest restaurant, DW French, the french brasserie also has a Dine Out menu. Available: Dinner daily; lunch daily in Newton.
Go all out with a side of oysters Rockefeller to start, a pasta dish, and a dessert for $55 at Tuscan Kitchen in Burlington or $46 in the Seaport. Culinary director Nimesh Maharjan recommends diners take advantage of the $10 filet add-on as well. “Also, I encourage guests to try our Short rib Ragu with Linguine pasta — a great hearty dish to warm your belly.” Available: Dinner Sunday-Friday in Burlington; dinner daily in the Seaport.
This $55 three-course menu at Mediterranean restaurant Trade is centered around the wine pairing, which of course, is additional, but comes highly recommended from its general manager Voula Koutsoubarisi to bring out the “true Greek flavors” in diners’s meals. Each course — starter, entree, and dessert — offers at least one wine pairing option at an additional price of $21 for 3-ounce standard wine pours or $35 for 3-ounce premium wine pours. Available: Dinner on Tuesday-Friday.
Planning a power lunch in the next couple of weeks? For $32, you can do it at Abe & Louie’s with their two-course lunch menu, featuring a starter choice between a cauliflower leek soup or spinach salad. Next, pick between the marinated steak tips or a miso baked cod as your entree. Other Tavistock Restaurant Collection restaurants — Atlantic Fish Co., Coach Grill, Joe’s on Newbury, and Joe’s Waterfront — are also participating in Dine Out, though menus and days available differ. Available: Lunch on Monday-Friday.
Stay up to date on the latest food and drink news from Boston.com.
The snow showers come from a weakening system approaching from the Great Lakes that tapped into some of the moisture from a strong storm passing south of New England.
The region was spared the worst precipitation of the storm thanks to persistent sub-freezing temperatures earlier this week, which pushed it south toward its current location off the coast of North Carolina, Nocera said. New England’s light snowfall is on the northern fringes of the storm.
Nocera added that this weekend’s “decorative snow” will not significantly impact ground travel.
The Massachusetts Port Authority issued a travel advisory for flight delays at Boston Logan International Airport. According to the flight tracking website Flight Aware, as of around 1:00 p.m. 212 flights were delayed at Boston Logan and another 15 were cancelled.
Margo Griffin, a teaching associate at the University of Cambridge in England, was initially worried about driving through the snow on her way to get coffee in Cambridge, but said the view from the Charles River was worth the trek.
“I thought it might be a problem, but I just decided to go ahead with the plan, and I’m enjoying walking through the snow,” Griffin said.
Other Boston-area residents who spoke to the Globe Saturday morning were happy to wake up to the winter scene on Saturday.
“I am feeling wonderful about the snow. I haven’t seen it in a long time,” said Barbara Delollis, a communications lead at Harvard Business School.
Delollis already made snow day plans.
“We want to go out and have some fun in the snow, and take a lot of pictures and just remember this moment, because we don’t know how much more snowfall we’re going to see in the Boston area anymore with climate change,” Delollis said.
Talia, a Cambridge resident, said that the snow had no effect on her plans to attend synagogue with her two-year-old son Saturday morning.
“It feels nice and seasonal, which is cool because climate change is terrifying,” she said.
Snowstorms can still occur, despite warming temperatures from climate change, Nocera said. Although Saturday’s snowfall cannot guarantee heavy snow this winter, there is a slightly higher chance of snow towards the end of the month as cold temperatures ease.
Materials from previous Globe stories were used in this report.
The second-ranked Boston College men’s hockey team suffered its first home loss of the season, falling to Merrimack by a score of 5-2 in Hockey East action on Friday night at Kelley Rink. The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second, but the Warriors scored the next five. BC falls to 12-4-1 overall and 6-3-1 in Hockey East, while Merrimack improves to 8-10-1 overall and 4-5-1 in league play. The Eagles opened the scoring midway through the first period when Oskar Jellvik one-timed the rebound off an Aram Minnetian shot that was saved by the Merrimack goaltender. Minnetian’s shot fell right into the path of Jellvik for the quick shot into the open net to put the Eagles in front. BC added to its lead shortly into the second period when Brady Berard scored a short-handed goal. Merrimack responded 32 seconds later with a power-play goal to get on the board, before scoring the game-tying goal less than one minute after that. The Warriors took the lead nearly three minutes later when Merrimack scored its third goal of the period. The Warriors scored twice in the third period to push their lead to three. Jacob Fowler made 23 saves while Nils Wallstrom had 27 stops for Merrimack.
The Syracuse Orange (7-8, 1-3) are back on the road tomorrow to face the Boston College Eagles (9-6, 1-3). The game tips off at 3:00 ET on The CW and here’s what we’re predicting in this #OrangeEagle battle:
Kevin: Syracuse 82, Boston College 80
I’m thinking this is higher scoring than the metrics suggest because neither team defends well. I also have a feeling that Elijah Moore hits double-figures in this one. Moore didn’t make a shot against Georgia Tech, but he didn’t commit a turnover and I’m looking for him to get an early 3 to drop and for him to find space as the Eagles try and contain JJ Starling and Eddie Lampkin. It’s not going to be pretty, but I’m taking Syracuse to get their 1st road win of the year.
Max: Syracuse 72, Boston College 65
The Orange finally have some momentum going into this one and a lowly Eagles team is just what the doctor ordered for another win. Believe it or not, Syracuse’s offense shoots better from the field and commits fewer turnovers than BC (and most of those numbers are without Starling). We’ll see if Donnie Freeman suits up, but hopefully, it doesn’t matter against a Boston College defense that allows its opponents to shoot over 57% in conference play (worst rate in ACC).
Dom: Syracuse 79, Boston College 73
BC’s offense over the course of the year is very much hot or cold, but I don’t expect a repeat performance of the Orange’s defense compared to how things turned out against Georgia Tech. That being said, if both defenses are going to be suspect, Syracuse will have the best scorer on the floor and I think this is the game we see J.J. Starling have a pre-injury-like performance that propels Syracuse to the win column once again.
Szuba: Syracuse 78, Boston College 71
Syracuse has certainly struggled and has been shorthanded this year, but it still hasn’t fallen to the Boston College threshold. BC doesn’t do much of anything well — it rebounds decently, it shoots from three at a fair clip but overall the offense is poor and its defense is worse. I would think Syracuse should be able to score the ball more effectively in this game as opposed to last. Starling leads the way once more with solid contributions from Lampkin and the supporting cast as the Orange win its second straight conference game.
Sam: Boston College 72, Syracuse 70
This prediction hinges on Donnie Freeman not playing, if he does, I’d probably lean towards Syracuse by a point or two. Without him, I’m just not confident enough to pick the Orange on the road – a building they lost in last year – even against a bad Boston College team. There’s undoubtedly a path to a win, specifically, if the Orange can force about 15 or more turnovers, and convert off of them. A true toss-up game for me.
Mike: Syracuse 78, Boston College 70
Two really bad defenses should make these not-so-great offenses look better for one afternoon. Like Sam said this is the definition of a toss-up and I really think it’ll be close all the way through. This should be a time where Lampkin can use his size in the paint and be the one to break the stalemate.
*************************************************************************************************
Now it’s your turn
(3 votes)
(3 votes)
6 votes total
Vote Now
New Orleans attacker had 'remote detonator' for explosives in French Quarter, Biden says
Carter's judicial picks reshaped the federal bench across the country
Who Are the Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
Ozempic ‘microdosing’ is the new weight-loss trend: Should you try it?
South Korea extends Boeing 737-800 inspections as Jeju Air wreckage lifted
Meta is highlighting a splintering global approach to online speech
Weather warnings as freezing temperatures hit United Kingdom
Seeking to heal the country, Jimmy Carter pardoned men who evaded the Vietnam War draft