Address Newsletter
Our weekly digest on buying, selling, and design, with expert advice and insider neighborhood knowledge.
Boston-born, 94-year-old non-fiction film wizard Frederick Wiseman turns his gaze to one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world in “Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros,” and I hesitate to say that the results are delicious. Even at a feast-worthy length of 240 minutes, I remained fully engrossed in this unflinchingly exhaustive examination of the way a French restaurant that has had three Michelin stars for over 50 years operates. Anyone wondering if Wiseman made the film in order to get to eat at Le Bois sans Feiulles in France’s Loire Valley for as long as it took to make the film is not alone.
Over the course of the drama, we spend time with restaurateur-patriarch Michel Troisgros, a master of the history of the culinary arts in France and the Far East, and learn about his very high standards as he passes the baton to his son Cesar, while his younger son Leo runs another family restaurant La Colline. We also hear about a third Troisgros restaurant. Guests at these establishments, especially Les Troisgros, often stay at a hotel also operated by the Troisgros family.
At first, we see how greens and vegetables are chosen. But soon enough the conversation shifts to fish: trout, pike and perch. Have you had a quenelle? Could you master a mousseline? In addition to the produce market, we visit a fromagerie, where cheeses are made and aged, a vineyard and a cattle ranch, where we learn about the latest techniques for raising plants and animals in organic, renewable and humane ways. Throughout the film, Wiseman will divide his time between the restaurant and its grounds and the nearby farms and markets where the food is examined and procured.
In the kitchen, a young chef steps away to read a recipe out of Escoffier’s “Le Guide Culinaire.” We watch as artichokes and asparagus are trimmed, cockles sorted, crayfish corralled. We hear about Cesar’s design for a completely open kitchen, divided between hot and cold, where everything from meat and fish to breads, cakes and pastries can be made. Brains and other sweetbreads are on the menu as are humble hams and pigs’ feet. Efficiency, order and cleanliness reign supreme. No one is screaming or having a meltdown. Gordon Ramsay would not feel at home here.
Bottles of La Tache and Puligny-Montrachet might be had for a breathtaking 10,000 euros or more. Assistants and servers are sent to nearby woods to collect flowers to decorate the plates. A farmer explains how his cattle are directed in the field using movable fences to feed evenly on the grass. Hams are smoked, bread baked. The entire, precision operation suggests something military. Menus are discussed and written. A cheesemonger rattles off the names of 30 varieties on his tray.
For all of his career, Wiseman has been pulling aside the curtain on different institutions: a public hospital (“Titicut Follies”), library (“Ex Libris”), park (“Central Park”), racetrack “Racetrack”), zoo (“Zoo”) and ballet troupe (“La Danse”). Here, he gives us a restaurant surpassing in exclusivity the one in the recent (and not very good) foodie satire “The Menu” with Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy. Le Bois sans Feiulles (The Forest Without Leaves) is a restaurant for the 1%. It is a family restaurant, if your family’s name is Bezos, a subject Wiseman strangely does not address.
Toward the end, we visit a humble shepherd-farmer who supplies the restaurant with goat cheese and identifies his goats by name. A vineyard owner speaks passionately about plants that do not “compete” with the vines. Beekeepers proffer honey. Back at the restaurant, tablecloths are ironed; vases placed on tables, a helicopter lands on a patch of grass outside. We visit a wine cellar full of treasures. Cesar mingles with his guests. How many more helicopters can be expected?
(“Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros” contains obscenely expensive food and drink)
Not Rated. In French with subtitles. At the Coolidge Corner Theater
Grade: A-
Surprise: Another weekend and there’s more rain on the way. It’s bad enough we’ve had to post a First Alert.
For now, we’ll watch as clouds thicken today. We’ll squeeze out some drops later this afternoon and evening.
A weather maker is winding up in Canada, wrapping in cold air. All of that is going to dive down to New England.
We’re in the thick of it tomorrow. Rain will be coming at us in bursts with some dry time in between. Winds will likely push past 50 mph in Boston.

Those winds will eat away at temperatures; with wind chills barely above freezing. And no – not just in the morning – but the afternoon, too!
It’s so cold there’s the threat of snow as that rain bumps into colder air over the Berkshires, Worcester Hills and southern New Hampshire right up to Mount Washington.
The snow isn’t going to pile up but just know there could be some flakes flying over our highest hills.
The blue on our Futurecast map marks the spots where snow could mix with rain.
Rain spins out by Saturday evening but not before dumping about half an inch over Boston.
We’ll try to salvage the rest of the weekend with temperatures in the upper 60s by Sunday. Still, there’s the threat of bits and pieces of rain.
By the way, this isn’t any weekend, it’s the last weekend of spring. Meteorological summer starts on June 1.
The first day of summer remains drab and dreary with more rain chances and temperatures in the low 60 on Monday.
Federal immigration demands are once again centered on Massachusetts.
The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday sent three letters to Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins and Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden demanding, among other things, information on how many ICE detainers BPD has received and declined to honor from 2022 to 2026 and any communication between the three departments related to immigration.
House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in a statement that “releasing repeat criminals back to the streets solely because of their immigration status is crazy, and that’s exactly what Boston is doing.”
But Democrats push back on that framing.
“You’re familiar with Jim Jordan and his antics,” said Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey. “This is more circus, it’s more theater and it’s not making our community safe.”
A spokesperson for the City of Boston wrote, “the city has provided this information many times…” going on to say “…these policies are part of keeping Boston the safest major city in America.”
The letters call for the documents to be sent to the House Judiciary Committee by June 10th at 5:00 pm. District Attorney Hayden’s office told NBC 10 they are reviewing the letter, neither Commissioner Cox or Sheriff Tompkins responded to requests for comment.
On the Market
At first glance, Joan Bennett Kennedy’s Back Bay home may not appear all that unusual, but the endless stories held within its walls illustrate how a sacred space became one woman’s shelter from the storm.
After divorcing Ted Kennedy in 1982, Bennett Kennedy returned to Boston and moved into 250 Beacon St. #10, and remained there for more than four decades until her death at age 89 in October. Now, her three-bedroom, three-bathroom home, which measures 2,075 square feet, is on the market at $2.59 million.
“Her home really played an important part in the transformation of her life,” her son, Ted Kennedy Jr., told the Globe. “She was a newly divorced woman coming back, trying to reestablish her roots in Boston, and she had her music, which was part of her unique identity, apart from being married to my father. She was seeking to reinvent herself and live on her own terms.”
It was there at 250 Beacon where Bennett Kennedy restarted her life. She earned a master’s degree in music education at 44, and became a staple on the Boston classical music scene, thanks to her lifelong dedication to the piano. But it was also where she faced significant struggles, ranging from depression to alcoholism. She didn’t hide her battles at a time when they weren’t commonly discussed.
“She paved the way for many other women who were suffering in silence,” said Kennedy Jr. “The Boston community just took her in and provided her with friendship and support.”
The circa-1925 building features an elegant lobby that leads to the elevators. Inside the fifth-floor unit, a foyer flows into a hallway and into the spacious living room, where hardwood floors run throughout and a wood-burning fireplace sits under a unique carved mantel surrounded by marble. But it’s the windows that capture the eyes, with views of the treetops and the Charles River in the distance.
“She would sit at her piano in the condo every afternoon for hours,” said Kennedy, who noted that the home later served as the spot where his mother penned “The Joy of Classical Music,” a guide for introducing classical music to families. Prominent musical figures, including John Williams, Seiji Ozawa, and Arthur Fiedler, were frequent guests.
The open floor plan continues in the dining area and library, filled with built-in bookcases and oversized windows.
The living room fireplace is two-sided; on its opposite side is the primary bedroom suite, with built-in bookshelves and a massive bay window with beautiful views. The primary suite features an en-suite bathroom with a pink vanity.
“These front rooms, all three of them, the amount of glass and the size of these windows are just magnificent,” said Linda Barrett of Douglas Elliman, who has the listing and knew Kennedy for years. “Being on the fifth floor, she sat right at the tree line, looking at the Charles River.”
A second of three full bathrooms has elegant marble tiles and a step-in shower. Across the hallway are two closets for storage and the galley kitchen with green/blue cabinetry and stainless steel appliances.


There are three bedrooms, one with teal carpeting and ample built-in storage.
The home has central air, and the building has a live-in superintendent. The fee is $1,725.39 per month. The piano is not included as part of the sale.
Our weekly digest on buying, selling, and design, with expert advice and insider neighborhood knowledge.
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