Boston, MA
Jasper White, inventive chef who helped put Boston on the culinary map, has died – The Boston Globe
“My grandmother was Italian, and she would sit and talk to me for hours about food,” Mr. White recalled. “She had a huge garden, and everything was always fresh. When I was going to spend the weekend with my granny, I would usually talk to her on Wednesday or Thursday, and we’d plan the menu for the weekend. She was my inspiration.”
Mr. White, whose Restaurant Jasper expanded Boston’s idea of elegant dining in the 1980s, and whose Summer Shack was just as memorable, if much more casual, in the past quarter century, has died.
Two of his close friends — Lydia Shire and Gordon Hamersley, both well-known chefs themselves — confirmed his death to the Globe. Additional information, including the age of Mr. White, who was born in 1954, was not immediately available.
“My real love for food is eating,” he told the Globe in 1997.
Generations of diners, meanwhile, loved going to his signature restaurants.
“I was part of a group of chefs that, in the early ‘80s, nationwide, started the American cuisine movement,” he said in 1997. “Prior to that, American chefs received very little respect from the American press.”
Restaurant critics praised his work and organizations conferred honors, including the James Beard Foundation, which named him the best chef in the Northeast region in 1991, when he was running his namesake Boston restaurant that became known simply as Jasper’s.
He also was a Beard Award nominee for best chef in 1994, and in 2001, the foundation named Summer Shack a best new restaurant nominee.
Writing in The New York Times that year, Nina Simonds noted that Mr. White was “considered the dean of American fish cookery by many.”
Before opening Restaurant Jasper in autumn 1983, Mr. White made the rounds of banks and lenders to secure financing. Then he renovated a space on Commercial Street in the North End.
With room for some 75 patrons, Jasper’s became so popular so quickly that weekends were soon booked a month in advance.
“If Jasper White, owner-chef of this restaurant, isn’t careful, Restaurant Jasper could end up among the best New England restaurants serving American haute cuisine,” Globe food critic Anthony Spinazzola wrote in a four-star review not long after opening night. “He’s certainly started out on the right foot.”
A decade later, Boston magazine anointed Jasper’s Boston’s best seafood restaurant in 1993, saying that “the quality is unbeatable and no one prepares it better than Jasper White.”
“Until Jasper’s, it was hard to find an elegant, fish-centric restaurant in town,” Hamersley told the Globe in 2018. “Jasper White’s food was very simple and very elegant, and I tried to cook this way when I opened my restaurant.”
In the 1989 Globe interview, Mr. White said he had broadened New England cooking “by not sticking to strictly Yankee cooking.”
“It’s certainly a part of New England, but besides the Yankees, there are the Portuguese, Greeks, Italians, Irish, Chinese, and Eastern Europeans,” he added, interviewed inside his North End dining room. “In addition, there are the migrations of people from Southeast Asia and Central America who are now bringing their native products into local markets.”
A son of Irish and Italian parents, Mr. White had little problem mixing cultures and cuisines.
He passed along his knowledge in the books he wrote, which include “Jasper White’s Cooking from New England,” “Lobster at Home,” “Fifty Chowders,” and “The Summer Shack Cookbook — The Complete Guide to Shore Food.”
In the late 1990s, he took a hiatus from running restaurants and was a consultant to Legal Sea Foods.
“He certainly enhanced our culinary operation — without a doubt,” Roger Berkowitz, former chief executive of Legal Sea Foods, said Saturday night. Mr. White encouraged Berkowitz to place chefs in every one of the chain’s restaurants, “as opposed to kitchen managers.”
Opening Summer Shack at the beginning of the 2000s, Mr. White created a different dining experience than his North End restaurant — launching first at a Cambridge location, a short walk from the MBTA’s Alewife Red Line Station. It was a hit that lent itself to expansion.
“Jasper White opened Summer Shack at Alewife in 2000 and expanded to the Back Bay and Mohegan Sun. Now there’s a Shack pop-up in Harvard Square outside the Charles Hotel,” Sheryl Julian, the Globe’s former food editor, wrote in 2021.
Summer Shack, the Globe’s Kara Baskin wrote in 2019, was a “family-friendly cavern, and his culinary celebrity helped to lure curious urbanites, older locals, and relieved suburban parents, delighted that there was finally a place — in Cambridge! Run by a real chef! — where children could romp among the lobster tanks and picnic tables while they ate a better-than-decent meal with their hands.”
Such a setting wasn’t entirely surprising, coming from a chef who developed his tastes in family settings.
“I wouldn’t call myself a traditional cook,” he said in 1989, “but I find myself going back to classic dishes and classic food combinations.”
Mr. White grew up in New Jersey, where en route to becoming a rock star restaurateur he crossed paths with a more straightforward rock star. He and Bruce Springsteen, a few years apart in age, both attended Freehold High School.
After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., Mr. White set off on a restaurant odyssey, telling the Globe that he cooked in nine states over the course 11 years.
In the roughly 48 months between his arrival in Boston and when he opened Restaurant Jasper, his chef duties included Cafe Plaza in the Copley Plaza Hotel, the Parker House, and Seasons in the Bostonian hotel, and his colleagues included Shire.
“Chefs such as Todd English, Gordon Hamersley, Barbara Lynch, Lydia Shire, and Jasper White created plenty of Boston buzz as they rose to renown,” Globe restaurant critic and food writer Devra First noted in 2018.
While he was at the Bostonian, he met Julia Child through Shire, and they became friends. “I was pleasantly surprised at the way she received us and how supportive she was,” he wrote in a 2011 essay posted on WickedLocal. And when he opened Jasper’s, “Julia and her husband, Paul, became regular customers, when they were staying in town.”
Jasper’s put him on the map locally, regionally, and nationally.
“Restaurateur Jasper White’s cuisine is daring in its simplicity,” Julian wrote in 1989 as she praised “Jasper White’s Cooking from New England,” which he published that year.
“Thankfully, White never suffered from the young chefs’ syndrome of having to prove all they know in each dish by presenting too many flavors,” she added. “Rather, he always understates his point, allowing the quality of each ingredient to shine, not interfering too much with foods that are splendid on their own.”
Mr. White closed Jasper’s in 1995, knowing that his restaurant would be trying to attract customers in the shadow of Big Dig construction. He also stepped away to spend more time with his family — his children in particular.
“I had overheard my 4-year-old daughter refer to me as ‘that guy’ as I was leaving the house one morning,” he said in 1997. “It was a slap in the face I think I needed.”
A complete list of Mr. White’s survivors and information about a memorial gathering were not available.
After closing Jasper’s, writing cookbooks, and serving as a consultant, Mr. White conceived of Summer Shack, which like so much else in his life harkened back to his own beginnings.
“I did fine dining for 25 years, appealing to a really limited audience,” he told the Globe in 1997, a few years before launching Summer Shack. “There’s a part of me, because I’m from a working-class family, that wanted to start cooking for other types of people and for children.”
Bryan Marquard can be reached at bryan.marquard@globe.com.
BOSTON – Before the lights went out at Matthews Arena for the last time, they shined brightly on Boston University center Brandon Svoboda.
The sophomore from Pittsburgh scored two goals including the game-winner at 18:21 of the third to lift the Terriers to a 4-3 victory over Northeastern, on Saturday night. Svoboda’s fourth of the season was the final goal scored at Northeastern’s historic Matthews Arena.
The Terriers’ victory over the Huskies was the last sporting event played inside Matthews Arena, which officially opened its doors as Boston Arena in April of 1910.
“I got a lucky bounce and I capitalized on it and put it in the back of the net,” said Svoboda. “Playing the last game ever in this building is pretty special and what was it, 1910 this place was built so it was pretty special being the last team playing in this building.
“We are a young group and we are figuring it out so it was obviously a big deal to get a W in the last game in this arena.”
BU improved to 9-8-1 and 6-3-0 in Hockey East going into the semester break while the No. 11 Huskies fell to 10-6-0 and 5-4-0 in the conference.
“It was just a big win for us going into the semester break,” said BU coach Jay Pandolfo. “The first half has not been ideal for us so to finish it that way, to come back in the third period to win a hockey game in this environment, where this is their last home game here and they wanted to win and we found a way to pull it off.”
Northeastern purchased the structure in 1979 and renamed it Matthews Arena three years later. The demolition of the old barn nestled between Mass. Ave and Gainsborough Street will begin in January and the new arena is scheduled to go online in September of 2028.
“Having a new facility is definitely a big selling point,” said NU coach Jerry Keefe. “It is going to have all the amenities you need to develop players and I think this generation of recruits like the shiny and the new.”
The first Beanpot Tournament was played at Boston Arena in 1952, so it seemed appropriate that Northeastern would play its final game against a neighboring Beanpot opponent. BU played its home games at Boston Arena from 1918 to 1971 before moving into its new facility on Babcock Street.
Pandolfo enjoyed many Matthews moments both on the ice and behind the bench. Pandolfo also played in the final Beanpot game at the old Boston Garden.
“I always enjoyed playing here that’s for sure,” Pandolfo said. “It was a fun place to play and I always enjoyed it and I enjoyed coaching there. It is a great environment and a special old building.
“That’s the biggest attachment for me and that I just enjoyed it. My grandfather played at Northeastern, my mom’s dad and that makes it special as well. It was also Boston University’s home rink as well for a long time and that is a big reason we are here closing it out with Northeastern.”
The Huskies had some extra zip in their blades that created several scoring opportunities, all of which deftly handled by BU netminder Mikhail Yegorov.
NU went up 1-0 on a power play goal by freshman center Jacob Mathieu at 11:28 of the first. Mathieu found an opening outside the BU crease and redirected Giacomo Martino’s wrister from the left circle for his fifth of the season.
NU went up 2-0 at 14:36 when junior center Tyler Fukakusa finished a two-on-one break with his second goal of the season. BU got on the board when Svoboda netted a power play goal at 17:40, his third of the season.
“We were playing fine but we just made some mistakes so to get out of that first period 2-1 was important no question about that,” said Pandolfo.
BU tied the game 2-2 on sophomore center Sacha Boisvert’s second of the season at 13:38 of the second. NU went up 3-2 when sophomore left wing Joe Connor beat the buzzer at 19:59 with his sixth of the season. NU tied the game 3-3 on Kamil Bednarik tally at 18:02 of the third. Svoboda would score 19 seconds later to complete the comeback.
“You give up a late goal at the end of the second period after a power play, that can really hurt you,” said Pandolfo. “But our guys were determined to come back.”
Boston, MA
Boston city councilor pushes for state audit of federal grant funds after misuse by city program
Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn requested that the state auditor’s office conduct a formal audit of the nearly $560 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds the city received from the federal government, in light of misspending by a city program.
Flynn sent a letter to State Auditor Diana DiZoglio on Friday requesting an audit of the federal grant funds the city received through the ARPA legislation of 2021 that was issued as a COVID-19 pandemic-relief measure.
The councilor said Boston received nearly $560 million in federal funds for pandemic recovery. The money was committed by the end of 2024, and must be spent by the end of next year, he said.
“In May of this year, it was reported that the City of Boston’s Three Squares Main Streets program allegedly misspent ARPA funds in the amount of $32,000,” Flynn wrote in the letter. “Irresponsible funding and spending leads to inflated costs and missed opportunities to improve our communities.
“It is critical that the City of Boston spends taxpayer dollars responsibly to regain our credibility and show respect to the residents,” he added.
Flynn wrote that he chose to pursue a state audit due to the City Council’s failure to hold oversight hearings, and ensure that “Boston is in compliance with spending regulations.”
Auditor DiZoglio’s office said Friday that it had received Flynn’s letter and that the councilor’s request requires a majority vote from the City Council and approval from the mayor to permit the auditor’s office to conduct a municipal audit.
“Our General Counsel will be sending Councilor Flynn the legal process required, under the law, to engage the Office of State Auditor with respect to a municipal audit,” DiZoglio spokesperson Andrew Carden said in a statement.
“Unlike the Office of Inspector General, which has the full legal authority to audit and investigate municipal government entities without a request or permission from a city or town, the Office of State Auditor, while mandated to audit state government entities, is actually legally required to obtain permission from a municipality, via both a majority vote from the City Council and approval by the Mayor, to be permitted to conduct a municipal audit,” Carden added.
Flynn told the Herald he wouldn’t hold his breath for approval from his colleagues on the City Council, which is largely allied with Mayor Michelle Wu.
“Since the City Council failed to hold the necessary oversight hearings to determine how we spend federal funds, an outside audit is essential to ensure appropriate spending, demonstrate transparency and accountability,” Flynn said. “The Boston City Council will not support an independent audit of our financial records to ensure we are complying with federal spending laws.”
Mayor Wu’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment on whether the Wu administration would support Flynn’s request for a state audit.
Wu’s office launched an internal audit last May after the city main streets’ program’s alleged misuse of federal ARPA funds was flagged by the Boston Finance Commission, a City Hall watchdog.
“We’re grateful for city staff who have been working to ensure oversight of every dollar of federal funds spent on pandemic recovery, including grants to nonprofit organizations,” Wu spokesperson Emma Pettit said in a statement at the time. “Through their diligence, these financial irregularities were identified and reported to the appropriate agencies to take action.
“The city will continue to support any further investigation, and is undertaking a further audit to ensure full accountability.”
Boston, MA
Skip the chaos and crowds with unique holiday markets are worth the detour – The Boston Globe
The holiday season is in full swing: The puffer jackets have been broken out of storage, carols and festive pop classics play throughout every store, and the annual struggle of what gifts to get your loved ones (and that one office White Elephant) is back. If you are looking to skip the long lines (and stinky cheese) at more social media-famous markets, but still want some one-of-a-kind holiday shopping from small businesses, here are some smaller holiday markets to visit this winter.
A CLASSIC CHRISTMAS Reading Memorial High School’s Drama Club (and supporting organizations) will host a Dickens Holiday Marketplace and Craft Fair once again this holiday season. The market, which has run for over 20 years, hosts 55 New England-based vendors selling artisan goods, including wooden cutting boards and goods from Magnus Woodsmith, pottery from Nancy Littlehale, and more. There will also be hands-on crafting opportunities, including coloring and cookie decorating. The Saturday marketplace — including an on-site warm beverage sale — is also a fund-raiser for RMHS’s drama department, raising money to support production equipment, scholarships for graduating students, and other needs. RMHS drama club members dressed in Victorian costumes will roam the fair and perform short skits and sing carols. There will also be tap, jazz, and contemporary dance performances by local troupes in the school’s performing arts center.
Dickens Holiday Marketplace and Craft Fair. Reading Memorial High School, 62 Oakland Road, Reading. Dec. 13, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Entry is free. rmhsdrama.org
SUPPORTING WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES Boston Women’s Market hosts its holiday market at Night Shift Brewing in Everett on Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. New England-based, women-owned vendors will be selling gift-able goods, including handmade jewelry from ADK Jewelry, natural skincare products from Beauté Noir, and cat toys and playhouses from Cat in the Box. The market will also be host to a family holiday celebration, including free ornament painting and an ugly sweater contest. There will be giveaways throughout the market of Night Shift Brewing gift cards and merchandise. If you’re hungry, Daddy’s Bonetown Burgers has you covered, and specialty holiday cocktails, yet to be announced, make the perfect holiday treat.
Boston Women’s Holiday Market. Night Shift Brewing, 87 Santilli Highway, Everett. Dec. 13, noon to 5 p.m. Entry is free. bostonwomensmarket.com
CULTURAL COLLECTIVE In celebration of the season, the Cultural Survival Bazaar will hold a Winter Solstice Indigenous Art Holiday Market on Dec. 13 and Dec. 14 at The Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama. The market will highlight Indigenous art and artists from around the world, including North and South America, Palestine, East Africa, and more. There will be over 50 vendors, such as Chinampa Temachtiani, which sells jewelry, clothing, and axolotl plushies, Hebron Glass, which sells blown glass goods, and Afri-Root Collective, which sells handmade African art from women artists. The market will also feature live musical performances from Lyla June, Yarina, and more. Looking for a new book to cozy up with this winter? Attendees can also participate in a book swap.
Winter Solstice Indigenous Art Holiday Market. Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St. Dec. 13 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Dec. 14 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets are $10. Free for children under 18. bazaar.culturalsurvival.org/boston
SHOPPING SMALL Returning for its fourth year, Small Mart Market is hosting the second of two holiday vintage shopping events in Greater Boston. The holiday market will take place at the Crystal Ballroom with over 50 vendors, including vintage clothing resellers and upcycled fashion designers. Vendors include the market’s organizers, High Energy Vintage, a Somerville-based secondhand clothing and record shop, and Existential Thread, a Rhode Island-based vintage clothing store, as well as others, such as Jessamy Shay, who designs clothing by repurposing garments and fabrics. There will also be artisan goods and artists selling prints, posters, and pottery. The market will also feature a full bar, complete with festive beverages such as a cranberry Moscow Mule and Irish Coffee for purchase.
Small Mart Market Holiday Market, Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville. Dec. 20, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Entry is free. smallmartmarket.com
FRIENDLY SHOPPING (AND COMPETITION) The Charles River Speedway and the Brighton Bazaar are partnering for the Bazaar’s 100th event, The Holiday Stroll, on Dec. 20 and 21. The Speedway hosts over 60 local vendors, featuring a variety of artisan goods, including metal art, kitchenware, and decor from Eli West, handmade pottery from Sugalski Ceramics, and more. At the upper courtyard of the Speedway, there will be a gingerbread house building competition on each day of the market. With a $5 buy-in, which can be purchased ahead of time or on site, the competition will last from noon to 3 p.m. Winners will be announced within the week after the market for prizes such as a $75 gift card to a Speedway vendor of their choice or two tickets to a show at The Roadrunner of the winner’s choice. For a less high-stakes activity, there will be card-making stations where attendees can craft personal holiday greetings for loved ones.
The Holiday Stroll. The Charles River Speedway, 525 Western Ave., Brighton. Dec. 20-21, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Entry is free. charlesriverspeedway.com
SECONDHAND STOCKING STUFFERS The Somerville Flea — usually known for holding court in Davis Square in summer and fall — hosts its annual holiday market on Dec. 21 for last-minute shoppers looking for one-of-a-kind secondhand goods. The extensive shopping event will feature around 40 vendors and their curated collections of vintage goods, such as clothes from Dandelion District, books from Hiding in Books, and home decor from Unpredictable Finds. A DJ will play holiday mixes to set the festive mood while you shop. Snacks and beverages will be available at Arts at the Armory’s ROOTED Café.
The Somerville Flea Holiday Markets. Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, #1C, Somerville. Dec. 21, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Entry is free. thesomervilleflea.com
Isabella Bernstein can be reached at isabella.bernstein@globe.com.
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