Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to Food for Thought with Billy and Jenny,
brought to you by the Box Center. For more than
fifteen years, this dining duo has been eating their way
through New England, mixing it up with top chefs, jumping
behind the line of the hottest restalawns, and giving you
the inside scoop on where to wine, dine, and spend
your time. So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving
you something to chew on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, everybody, welcome into Food for Thought, brought to you
by the Fox Center. I always love to be able
to meet and be introduced to folks who are doing
new things in areas in Massachusetts and hospitality, and we've
heard a lot about chef owner Mark Shean of Northern
Spy and Canton from some mutual friends. So Mark, welcome
to the program.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Awesome. So, I know you opened in twenty twenty during COVID,
so it's not totally new, but still a little bit
new comparatively speaking, and we're going to spend some time
talking about your new England style restaurant down in Canton
and some of the special things that you're doing down there.
But we usually like to start with getting kind of
a genesis story, the background of sort of who you
are and how you came to be creating such a
(01:05):
special and delicious place. So, you know, where are you from?
Give us a little background.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
So I grew up in Milton, so one town over
from Canton, And I can't say I necessarily ever thought
I'd actually be down here cooking, But I grew up
in a family where you know, food was pretty much
the way that things were celebrated. It was the way
(01:31):
that you know, you grieved or you mourned something. It
was always sort of at like the center of our household.
And that very much kind of led me into falling
in love with restaurants. Like the sort of excitement of
picking a restaurant or you know, taking a vacation and
where we were going to eat, looking at menus kind
(01:53):
of like pre social media, and you know, fantasizing over
what forwards on a page might plate on a plate
was something that at a young age, really started to
get me, you know, excited about these spaces and the
people who were behind them and ultimately, you know how
the food ended up on your plate, and you know
(02:16):
that resulted in.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, yeah, well take me back a little bit, like
to your families had, you know, centered the food centered
around the family was always very important. So what did
that look like?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
You know, I would say I grew up eating very good,
but very you know, standard nineteen eighties, nineteen nineties suburban
dinners that I never knew. My grandfather on my father's side,
but he had grown up in the industry sort of
(02:49):
back in the nineteen twenties nineteen thirties. His my great
grandfather had owned a series of bakeries in Boston, and
he had grown up working in them. You know, my
father is a picture of my grandfather when he was
about six years old wearing you know, a flower covered
white undershirt and an apron, leaning up against the bakery
(03:12):
with his dad, who's in his chef coat with a
floppy white hat that I we thinks from like nineteen fifteen,
And that really informed our hosthold that my grandfather, once
he sort of got out of it, he would wake
up in the mornings on the weekends and bake all
(03:32):
of these sort of you know, apple pies or turnovers
or cakes, because clearly, despite no longer being in the
industry years later, he missed it and he kind of
still had the itch, and that ended up being something
that my father took over. That he never worked in
the restaurant industry, but he loved to cook. He loved
(03:53):
to sort of on the weekends, playing a meal. You know,
that that was something that he was going to, you know,
work his normal you know, seventy eighty hour work week,
and then on the weekends. You know, the way he
relaxed was he cooked dinner. You know, my mother cooked
Monday through Friday. Both were very talented cooks, but it
(04:15):
was I didn't see my father a lot during the
week and so the way that I was able to
kind of hang out with him, particularly as I entered
high school, was to start to hang out and watch
what was going on in the kitchen, and that, you know,
I started to get the bugs there that asking questions,
sitting in as he watched Food Network to get ideas,
(04:37):
and that you know, resulted in me, eventually, you know,
as somebody who loved to eat but didn't yet love
to cook, starting to try to figure out how to.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Hear it on my own.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I love the idea of your remembering that because I
think that you know, so often we kind of just
find ourselves into a place that becomes our career and
don't necessarily have that sort of background story. So the
idea of being and feeling the enjoyment and having some
of that history within your family is really special.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
So okay, so.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Then kind of continue on you went to school or
what happened next, that's sort of fortified this is your future.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, And I think that's a great point that like
there's there's the aspect of really remembering and having this
nostalgic love for like what food meant in my family
that resulted in really enjoy like this this emotional connection
to it, and you know, this emotional connection to the
table and to eating and you know, we only this
one special thing on Christmas, but then there you know,
(05:36):
and looking forward to that. But then there was also
how that translated to restaurants that like, those are very
different animals that anyone, like you can love to cook
at home, but to love you know, a dinner rush
coming at you, or to love existing in you know,
in a prep kitchen with no windows for hours and
hours and hours is a different thing. And so around
(05:57):
the same time as I really started to see that
there could maybe be careers in food or that. You know,
there was this whole other side to it that was
more professional than just you know what I was experiencing
at the time, which was loving the consumption of food
and maybe starting to love you know, making it on
my own that I started to think about it as
(06:19):
a career. So, I mean, I was in high school.
I was looking at colleges. I wanted a real college experience,
but at that time I started to consider going to
culinary school. I staged at a couple restaurants to see
if it was something where I was you know, I
(06:39):
actually had an interest in the food industry and ended
up deciding to go to college. I went to Holy
Cross aut in Worcester. But I got my first job
in a restaurant when I was eighteen. So it was
the summer between high school and college, and I worked
(07:00):
at a todd English restaurant in Fanuel Hall called Kingfish Hall.
I was essentially like an unofficial intern. I worked at
the rob Lone and then when it would get busy
for brunch, I would just get, you know, a Sioux
chef running downstairs and telling me to go upstairs to
the fry station or go upstairs to the salad station,
or go start doing French toast, or go back and
(07:23):
do prep amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
We'll talk more about that experience than where you went. Next.
We'll be back with more Food for Thought in just
a minute.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and Sweet Mark.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Sheian is our guest and you can see him at
Northern Spy in Canton, Massachusetts. But we're getting more of
your background chef, which is really fun. So there you
were post school at Blue Hill at Stone Barns with
the you know, acclaim chef Dan Barber. Tell me a
little bit about what that process was of sort of
honing your skills and being in that you know, beautiful
(07:58):
but intense probably space.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Yeah, I think intense is the right word. That you're
you're on a farm, so you're seeing, you know, the
full process of how the food was grown to how
it comes into the restaurant after getting picked or processed,
to how it ends up on your plate. And I
started as an intern, and I worked every station in
the kitchen over close to three years. And you know,
(08:21):
it was almost like being in the military that you
kind of just ate and slept and cooked and not
much more. And it was you know, pretty eye opening.
As you said, it was intense that there were really
high standards. But I think for it being right out
of school, there's no better environment than just being able
(08:41):
to go and really immerse yourself in it. And that,
you know, as somebody who's interested in food from New
England and food from the Northeast, seen the product that
has grown near how it's grown. Understanding the season was
really foundational.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
I love that, okay. And so in New York you
mentioned lend and sort of all those seasonal things. Was
there always a big draw for you to get back here?
Speaker 3 (09:07):
There was, you know, in college I studied history, and
it was something where I thought I was going to
go disappear to Italy and France and you know, learn
how to make pasta and come back and open the
type of restaurant that is what I had been seeing
or you know, you know, fawning over in Boston that
I you know, I'd worked at Number nine Park in college.
(09:30):
I loved that restaurant. That was a style of food
I was interested in.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
But eventually, you know, I started studying American history and
realizing there are all these interesting connections between these historical
points that I'd always known about in the movement of
food and commerce in society that I'd never understood, And
the more I read about it, the more I realized
that there was a very you know, interesting, extensive New
(09:56):
England cuisine that seemed foreign, foreign to me and my
whole life here. And so after New York, those the
traveling europe plants kind of went on hold, and I
had always intended to come back to Boston and sort
of try to tell the story of New England food.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Okay, so you come back to New England and then
where where do you end up?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
So because of my connection at Number nine and really
loving my time there, I joined Montane and the Seaport
pretty much right after they had opened, a couple months
after they opened, and then worked there for a number
of years. At the time, I started doing a like
(10:43):
supper club pop up that was kind of a way
of modeling some of the food that I was thinking about,
but I didn't really have an opportunity to cook it
for anyone other than maybe my parents. And that was
called brass Tacks, so that something where we would take
over someone's apartment in cook a chasing venue for sixteen people,
(11:06):
and over the course of two years had eventually turned
into a real you know pop up with taking over
restaurants or we you know, did events with for Magito Kitchen,
and that was sort of the first steps towards trying
to open a restaurant. I was the chefs cuisine at
(11:26):
bonber in Cambridge for a while and then while I
was there, we started working on opening our first restaurant
in Cambridge in twenty fifteen, which was called loyle Mine.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yes, and loyle Mine got you know, well, was very acclaimed,
you guys, opened and there was a lot of great
press surrounding Oyal nine. What was sort of the culinary
background there for those who weren't able to visit.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
So loyl Mine we were a small plates restaurant, so
you know, it kind of gave you that same format
of being able to come in and experience, you know,
a number of dishes the way you would at a
top of this restaurant. But the goal was that the
food was very much founded in New England. So we're
going to Farmers Market every day, We're going to the
(12:20):
fish pier, We're cooking very seasonally, and we were trying
to tell the story of New England food, not only
through you know the history behind each dish, but also
you know how we were choosing products. So tell me.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
And so then you move on. And in that place,
I should say you had a lot of national recognition.
You got to James Beard, semi finalist nominations for Rising
Star and Best Chef. It was you know, the place
to watch, and I think you've got a Late Magazine Award,
which was also awesome. And then in twenty twenty, which
(12:57):
I can only imagine was a very interesting time to
open a rest restaurant, you opened Northern Spy. So bring
us there and obviously this is kind of a homecoming
for you, back to sort of where everything began, and
bring us up to speed with Northern Spy.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Yeah, so twenty twenty obviously not not one's dream time
to open anything. But we've been working on Northern Spy
for a number of years. We've been approached by the
town that was redeveloping what was Paul Revere's coppermill. So
I didn't know that this piece of land existed. I
(13:36):
never even knew Paul Revere had a you know, a
post revolution career down in Canton. But when we saw
the site it was pretty much just barn swallows flying through,
you know, this big brick building with dirt floors, and
so it took a number of years to develop it,
and you know, for a number of reasons, twenty twenty
was was the time when we were ready to go,
(13:59):
and we opened just doing takeout than we were doing
just you know, dining on our patio and eventually sort
of worked our way up into doing you know, the
full service operation that we always planned. But feel very
much rooted in New England, you know, in the food
of this area. But really this restaurant, as you mentioned,
(14:20):
it's kind of a homecoming that it's a lot more
about those initial feelings of what a restaurant was like
and how special a place it could be. And you know,
what were those dishes that you saw on menus or
that you know you you missed seeing on menus and
that really forms, you know, what we try to do
at Northern Spy as well as you know, right in
(14:43):
the center of the restaurant we have a big wood
fired grill. You know, for a number of reasons, but
in part just as an homage to you know, the
original use of the space, that it was hot, it
was sweaty, that people were working hard, and you know
this is this is how they were cooking their food.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I love that and I and obviously you can hear
the same of all of the places and all of
the experience that you've had and sort of this deep
root connection to not only the history of New England,
but the history of of of those local flavors and
I can imagine those come out in all of your dishes.
So tell us a little bit more specifically about the menu.
(15:21):
What kind of things are on the menu that that
can never leave and what things evolved.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
You know, it's interest. It's been interesting what I thought
could never leave versus what our guests have sort of
told us can never leave. There's been a bit of
a learning curve. But there are a few things that
have been on the menu since we opened. You know,
this is steak tips territory, and so we felt like
(15:47):
with having to grill, we really had to have a
great steak tips and you know, we marinate them and
works to share sauces. Traditionally grill them to order, but
then we take like a little less flourish and then
when they come off the grill, we throw them into
essentially like a Worcestershire gravy, so they're getting almost this
like Worcester shere demigloss that they get bathed in right
(16:10):
before they hit the plate. And those are served pretty
traditionally now with like peppers onions that I'll get cooked
over the fire that tossed in a little bit of
be sat pickled cherry peppers, and then fries. So it's
sort of like a New England steak Freez. We have
amazing Yeah, it's we have people who've been coming here
(16:35):
for four years and like they'll complain that they've never
tried anything else on the menu because they they don't
want to miss those. I think, you know, one time
that hurts you and maybe maybe order some scallops, but.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
We uh no, now give me, give me one more
distant that and then we're going to take a break.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Great and then uh I think one of our best
fishes all along has been our burger. It's a sash
smash Daddy burger, but we're getting beef locally, you know,
where it's ground in house, and it's something that we're
very proud of that if you want to come in
on a Tuesday night for a quick meal, We've got
(17:14):
you covered.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
God, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I want to hear more about the menu, more about
some of the specifics that are happening in the restaurant,
because I know, because this is such a local favorite,
you are creating some opportunities for people to come into
the restaurant and learn alongside you with some other talented,
wonderful chef. So this is Mark she and who we're
talking to, incredible chef owner of a restaurant Northern Spy
(17:40):
that's in Canton, Massachusetts, that is doing this farm to
table movement in a very unique and delicious way and
definitely worth checking out. We'll take a break and move
back in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Sale in Waterfront Hotel in Sweet.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
So Chef, we've got a little bit of the background
from the culinary talk about how you kind of combine
the bar with the with the food in some unique ways.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
In the same way that we try to really let
like the smoke from the wood fire permeate the menu,
the food menu. You know, we'll throw whole squash in
it and cook them whole directly in the embers, and
then portion that to serve a squash steak, which is
a dish I'm really excited about.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Right now.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
We do the same thing with parts of our cocktail
menu that we you know, will take whole pineapples, We
char them, we smoke them. They then get turned into
this really delicious syrup and then it gets turned into
you know, multiple different cocktails. Right now, it's coming with tequila,
so it's the sort of sweet, smoky, savory drink and
it's something where you really can taste the fire across
(18:48):
the whole menu.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
God amazing. Okay, and I want to talk about some
specifics that you have coming up right now. Opportunity for
people to come into the restaurant and learn.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Yeah, Northern Spy, you know, we're right in the center
of town. Our goal is to be this community space,
and with the holidays coming up, we really wanted to
be able to like let people come in and see
how we do things and maybe take it back home
as opposed to disorder you take out. So on November eighteenth,
We've got a pie making class with our pacer chef
(19:23):
Marissa ROSSI that's going on at the restaurant and come in,
have one of those smoky cocktails or a glass of wine,
eat some snacks, and some hands on experience making pies,
and then on December sixteenth, similar experience going on to
learn how to make and decorate your own cookies. So
it should be a way that people can take the
experience of Northern Spy home without having to just eat it,
(19:47):
that they're actually coming in and learning how to do it.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I love that so much. And tell us a little
bit more about when people can come visit or you
open every night, what are your hours and where can
people find you specifically.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
So we're at four Rolling Mill Way and Canton in
the Revere Copper Mill If you're driving by, it's the
big brick building right in the middle of it. We
are open Tuesday through Sunday. I think having one day
where we're closed to rest and you know, turn your
brain off is really important. But we do lunch Thursday Friday,
(20:22):
and we do a brunch Saturday Sunday.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
It's also such a convenient place to meet folks. So
if you're traveling this holiday trying to find a great
place to dine, but you don't want to have to
come into the city. This is a great alternative because
it'll feel like you're eating at one of the great
restaurants of the city for sure. Chef, thank you so
much for joining us on the show this week. I
look forward to getting in myself soon.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Thanks Jenny.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
All right, and we got more Food for Thought coming
up in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel and.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Sweet Welcome back into Food for Thought brought to you
by the Box Center. I'm excited for this guy, so
I'm definitely going to have back on the show so
you can talk to in more detail. Baky is a
space in Boston, a Boston bakery that so many people
are talking about. It's a Danish is Raeli bakery and
they're opening more locations and there's a lot of exciting
(21:16):
things to talk about. Right now, we have the CEO,
Graham Theodore, as our guest. Graham, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
Yeah, thanks so much for having me. Glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Awesome. So you guys have three locations, why don't you
tell folks where you're at?
Speaker 7 (21:30):
Yeah, So our main location is right on the Boston
Common in the heart of the city. If you can
find the embraced statue, you can find us. We're at
one fifty one Premont Street, and that's really where all
the magic happens. We've got a team of artisans that
every day work hands on building all of our pastries
from scratch, so that's where you can see the dough
(21:51):
being mixed and rolled out and filled. And I would
say that's definitely our biggest location and the one with
the most excitement, But i's two other looks where we
bake on site, and that's one of the things that
makes Bake You really unique is that we have oven
rooms in all of our locations and we bake all
day throughout the day, So unlike a lot of other
bakeries where they're baking sometimes overnight, we're baking throughout the day.
(22:15):
And you can find fresh, hot pastries not only on
Tremont Street, but also at our Brookline location, which is
on Harvard Street and Coolidge Corner. And then we have
our newest location that just opened this year, which is
located in Newton Center on Beacons.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Awesome, awesome, And I know there's another one coming down
the pipeline. Am I right?
Speaker 6 (22:37):
You are?
Speaker 7 (22:38):
Yeah, we're getting We're under construction in Kendall Square and
so we will open right in the heart of the
mit Slow Business School campus on Main Street in Kendall Square,
and that opening will be probably sometime in February, but
that will depend on the construction.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Okay, Well, in the meantime, there's a plenty of other
locations to enjoy some of your tree. So talk about
what some of the signature items are and what people
can experience when they walk into your location.
Speaker 6 (23:07):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 7 (23:08):
So I think the one that everybody really comes for
is our chocolate Bobka Bobka. I think for a lot
of Americans is only a reference that they get from
the Seinfeld episode where they talk about the cinnamon or
the chocolate, but it's, you know, obviously a fantastic and
delicious pastry. We build ours a little differently, and I
(23:30):
think that we, you know, really say that we're the
originators of the laminated Bobka. And so this is taking
a sort of a European tradition of laminating the dough
where you fold layers of butter into the dough as
you're as you're pushing it through a lamination machine and
makes it flaky and crusty. So, you know, the chocolate
(23:51):
Bobka has all sorts of textures. It's got crunchy on
the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, and
it's you know, threaded with this really rich hazelnut chocolate filling.
Speaker 6 (24:03):
So I think that's that's.
Speaker 7 (24:04):
That's sort of the one that everybody comes for. But
we've got a whole line of pastries, and we also
have salads and sandwiches as well, but the bakery and
is really the heart as well as our coffee. And
we've got a fantastic coffee program with really spectacular espresso
based beverages from Umbryo, which is a third generation coffee
(24:24):
roaster out of Seattle.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
So people come for the coffee and the pastries.
Speaker 7 (24:29):
But then they often fall in love with our sandwiches and.
Speaker 6 (24:31):
Salads as well.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Amazing and and and so there's something else that's coming
up in December where people can actually come join you
in the bakery. Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 6 (24:40):
Yeah, So we have these workshops.
Speaker 7 (24:41):
We found that there's a lot of folks looking for experiences,
ways to you know, have an event on their calendar
that's more than just you know, a regular night out
at a restaurant or you know, or a concert or
a venue, and they're looking for something to do with
friends and family where they can you know, learn and
experience something new and different.
Speaker 6 (25:01):
And so we do actually.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
Host both bobka and halla making workshops. We've got a
couple coming up in December, and we haven't built out
our calendar for twenty twenty five yet, but we'll have
lots more opportunities to come in.
Speaker 6 (25:15):
And this happens after hours where you come.
Speaker 7 (25:18):
Into the bakery and we have our espresso machine open
and a barista there making drinks, and all of this
is included.
Speaker 6 (25:25):
In the price to sort of be on site. We
have a bunch of patries.
Speaker 7 (25:29):
That people get to try and eat, but then you
actually get behind the line and you work hands on
with the dough. One of our head bakers will lead
the entire group through an experience of learning how to
produce the hala and the bobka that we sell in
the bakery. So it's kind of a fun way to
get together, you know. We think it's a great team
building opportunity for larger groups or even just a couple
(25:52):
or you know, two individuals that want.
Speaker 6 (25:55):
To come together.
Speaker 7 (25:55):
You know, the classes we can accommodate up to twenty
people and they tend to sell out pretty quick, but
they are great opportunities either for a team, and we
do also offer private so although the classes that are
on the calendar public, if anyone's interested, they can reach
out through our website and we can coordinate private class
for a larger group of up to twenty.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
I love that, and I'm thinking of my kids. Do
you ever bring kids in or is it mainly just adults?
Speaker 6 (26:20):
You know, it's I definitely we're open to kids.
Speaker 7 (26:23):
You know, because of the way in which the event works,
it tends to be in the evenings, So for little kids,
I would say it might be get on the late
side because we have to do it after the bakery
has shut down operations for the day to give the
space to the participants. But for sure, I would say
kids are welcome. You know, they tend to start at
around six thirty and go until about eight thirty or
(26:45):
nine at night.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Got it well? Well? At some point I know my
kids would love to get in there. So this is
so awesome We're so excited for so much of your success.
I want to hear a lot more about your background
and how Uri really became an international renowned baker. But
for now, this is a great little glimpse and a
nice opportunity for folks to get connected. So thank you
so much for joining us, and we'll definitely have you
(27:07):
back on again soon.
Speaker 6 (27:08):
Gram Yessa, have a great day.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Thank you so much. You can check out any of
the Baky locations. You can go to Baky Bobka that's
b a k e y b a bka dot com.
And we'll be back with more Food for Thought.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel, and sweet.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Welcome back to Feed for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center. We're talking to a dear dear, dear
friends of Billy and myself, Dan Donahue, who is the
president of the Saunders Group, who oversees hotels in our area,
but predominantly the Lenox Hotel, which is a very special
hotel for me personally. I have two daughters and my
three year olds is named Lenox, and yes, it is
(27:49):
very much has to do with this very special place
that is the Lenox Hotel that has been around for
a very long time but remains one of the more relevant,
sort of centrally located heart pieces of this awesome city
where I think hospitality is so clearly defined in everything
they do. So Dan, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
Oh great to be here. Jenny, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Okay, so we know that there's so much history about
the Lenox, but I think what's so exciting that we
get through to talk to about today is there's going
to be so much change coming from inside the space.
So can you tell folks what you just launched earlier
this week or maybe late last week.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Sure, So as a next rying November first we have
we are the hotel is assuming what was then before
leased out spaces. So all of our outlets before we're
leased out now we're going to bring them in house.
So if you talk about tradition in the history of
the Lenox, let me start with what is now a
(28:57):
city bar. It's going to be called the er Sons.
There is our patriarch. The family started back in early
early gosh, probably early nineteen hundreds, nineteen thirties, and we
really this you know, we're changing up the seating a
little bit, you know, redid the floors and put in
(29:19):
a couple more lives and open up the bar just
a little bit better than that the same. You know.
One of the best things about transition of one hundred
and thirty five people that worked in our food and beverage,
you know, we're retaining one hundred and twenty four of them.
So it really is it's going to be our opportunity
to put our own sense of hospitality into our outlets,
(29:39):
right so and then sorry and then Soulis becomes Sweeney's
on Boilston. Our chef Daniel Kenny, very very talented Irish guy,
has family in Ireland and really wants to put his
(29:59):
spin and on this authentic Irish pub. So he's taking
you know, will certainly have the old classicsville excusely the
neighborhood favorites, if you will, of you know, buffalo wings
and you know, murders, smash burghers and potato skins and
that those kinds of things. But then he's really taken
(30:19):
a great New England sense to Irish food. So it's
exciting to be able to introduce this. We've been tasting
this for months. We went to Ireland a couple of
months months after to kind of look and feel and
get a sense of what Irish pubs are generally, you know,
feel like. So we think that we're going to be
(30:41):
able to bring that very successfully to Wolston Street.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
I think something that people don't necessarily always understand is that, yes,
when you walk into the Lenox, you walked outside the
lobby into a restaurant, and maybe the perception was that
the folks who oversaw the hotel also oversaw owned the restaurants,
and so the idea that that was not the case
then and is the case now, brings about something really
(31:09):
wonderful because I think if you've ever stayed at the Lenox,
if you've ever connected with anyone that works at the Lenox,
you know that hospitality and and sort of connectedness and
this idea of working so hard and delivering whatever the
guest may need is something that's always been at the
heart of what you do. And now you're going to
be able to take that ethos and translate it into
(31:32):
the restaurant. So for some it's like, Okay, well that's
that may not mean anything, but I assure you it's
going to mean so much. And like you said, you're
able to retain the staff and sort of bring in
the touch that is the Lenox and makes it so special.
So the Irving you you kind of you kind of said, yeah,
there's a you know, some new seeding and some new
I mean, it is going to knock your socks off.
(31:53):
Because I've been so close to Dan and and the
group over at the Lenox for so long, I've had
the privilege of being part of some of these conversations
to watch some of this transformation. I mean, you're working
with some of the best people. You're putting together a
very sexy and sleek and yet very comfortable vibe of
a restaurant that will now be off the lobby. You
(32:14):
mentioned chef who uh is very talented and has some history,
you know, obviously international history, but also history here in Boston,
and you guys are doing some fun things, and so
tell us about what some of the things are that
you're excited. On the menu at the Irving, you know
what he's.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
He's he has these these minute, miniature little podstickers that
are absolutely positive to die for. He is After the
first week we're installing the pizza of and and then
he's making nice fresh sottle you know, mini pizzas. It's
gonna be there will be really be catered to sharing. Right.
(32:55):
It's a it's a very comfortable bar. There's no TV.
It's it's it's it's like you can liken it to
a Marchini lounge if you will, back in the day.
But it's very intimate, very you know, it's it's like
a it's like you're like a little You're enveloped and
nice like warmth, you know, some nice, nice, nice, nice lighting,
and just you feel taken care of, not just by
(33:16):
the staff, but by the obvious of the room. You know,
the most exciting part about this is taking our sense
of hospitality the Lenoxes and putting it into the outlets. Right,
So you know, it is it is, it is. I
can't tie you, Jenny, how excited the team is and
what we're going to you know, do for the back Bay.
(33:38):
And you know, we we love the back Bay, we
love everything in it. We support it. We're community focused
and we can't wait to bring it to our neighbors
and our guests.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
God, you are so community focused. One of the things
that you can experience when you walk into the Lenox
lobby is your mercantile area where you showcase a number
of different local purveyors, and it's one of the things
I love most is you're constantly evolving, if there's constantly
new businesses popping up, and it really does make you
feel connected to your city, to your region, to the
(34:10):
area that you're in. It doesn't. I think one of
the things you do so well is it's such a
unique experience. You know, you can travel any major cities
and stay in hotels where every hotel kind of feels
the same in a lot of ways, and I think
there's something about the Lenox that feels so unbelievably unique,
and I think it's one of the reasons Billy and
(34:30):
I have felt so connected to it for so long.
We referenced our book, which is coming is now finally out,
and there's two there's a handful of places that aren't
restaurants and chefs, and the hotel that is included in
there is the Lenox, and Dan you, I don't even
know if you've seen it yet, but you have a
lovely photo with Billy and myself in there, and we
(34:51):
talk about how much we love it, so all right,
So Dan, what's the holiday looking like? I mean, you
guys have these unbelievable fireplace rooms that are a great
way to spend your weekend winter holiday get away. What
else is coming down the pipeline that you want folks
to know about? And how quickly are people going to
be able to experience the new restaurants.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
Well, so we're going to keep the restaurant up until
just back before Christmas, so City Table will be closed
to Summary sixteenth, opening back up February seventeenth, and we
are dramatically changing the restaurant as a whole. And I
think that I'm most excited about. We're going to have
(35:34):
an eighteen foot tree in the middle of the restaurant.
It really is going to take advantage of all the
light that comes in out, so you're going to be
feel activation outside and you're going to feel it inside.
So it really is just an exciting time for us.
We're in the final stages of naming it and coming
up with its branding, but it really will be the
(35:56):
Shawnee Star of the hotel. So we're very excited about it.
And you know, as we're going to winter, right obviously
the best part is decorating for the holidays, and you
know we kind of always pushed emble a little bit,
but we're going to have the hotel decorated the second
week in November because it really does just create. Again
(36:18):
talk about being enveloped, and you know the family flung
talks about you know what is the lotes with secret
sauce and I think you know this, Jimmy, it is
by far our people, right. It is the people that
make this place from from the dorman right to the
valets and fronts every housekeeping. I mean, we've been very
blessed to have a lot of guests return for many,
(36:41):
many years, some decades, right, and we have very good
following with you know, obviously the Davis family. New Bounces
is very supportive us of us and you know those partnerships.
I mean, we fly a New Bounced flag outside on
Bolster because we want people to know how proud we
are to be a sod with you know, a company
(37:01):
like that, especially. You know you talked about local before, Jenny.
You know we're family owned, right, so being local is
very important. So when you look at you know, the
bercantile for example, we want local, local items, right, our
chef is singularly focused on local, local, local, So you're
going to see it. You're going to see it when
it comes to all of our outlets.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Well, you definitely do. And you bring in such warmth
and it's such a special place and we're so excited
for you. Thank you for taking time out of this
busy time for you to come join us. We're going
to have you on longer, but thanks for joining us,
and we'll talk soon.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
Okay, thank you here, Jenny, Bye bye.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
We got more Food for Thought coming up in just
a minute.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and sweet Hey.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Everybody, welcome back into Food for Thought brought to you
by the Box Center. Okay, so it is the last
break of the show. We'll do a nice little recap
here because I want to make sure that you add
some of these places to your dining playbook, which is
why we named the TV show that. But these are
these are good spots to make sure you add in
(38:07):
certainly this holiday season. So we just talked to the
CEO of Daiki. Oh my gosh, are these bait goods
so delicious and they're definitely worth checking out. Of course,
the Lenox Hotel Dan Donah, he was on in there,
so much change that's happening there, definitely worth going into
their new spaces. And then coming later on this winter
is going to be a brand new space attached to
(38:30):
the Lenox, which is their main restaurant, which is going
to look completely different than it did before, and we're
so excited about that concept. It's a beautiful hotel if
you haven't been there in a while, and definitely one
that is worth checking out. And then earlier in the show,
we were able to talk to Northern Spy and chef
Shean and you know the wonderful things that he's doing
(38:51):
down there in Canton. So hopefully these are a few
good examples of places that you'll check out this holiday season.
We urge people to eat out often, trying places, connect
with your servers, connect with your chefs, and restaurant tours
because it makes for an even more special experience. And
then we referenced our book, our cookbook which has just
come out A Taste at Boston. I want to tell
(39:13):
you a little bit more about it in some of
the specifics. So Lydia Shire is I don't know, kind
of the mother of culinary at this stage here in Boston.
She's been around for a very long time with a
dear friend of Julia Child. She's actually the first recipe
that's in the book, and she made category which is
not something that you probably have made before. And it's
(39:35):
really nice to be able. This is a breakfast dish,
and it's really nice to be able to choose something
that you don't know anything about. This juncture likely for breakfast.
So this is a lot of eggs. It's an aromatic rice.
It has originally South Indian influences but then ultimately landed
(39:57):
in Britain where it is a very popular So that's
something that you can check out, which includes haddock or stablefish,
so it's fish for breakfast. This is something different. So
that really kicks off the book, which is broken up
into breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'll tell you one of
the lunch items that I'm most excited about. Okay, so
this isn't itself. It's full lunch for Brendan Pile, which
(40:19):
is a partner of bar Laha, which is a Greek
restaurant that is fairly new in Brookline with basically just
named number one restaurant by Boston Magazine, which is pretty awesome.
And so he teaches you how to make sour dough
bread if you've ever had a desire to make your
own bread, which I think has become really popular and
(40:41):
Instagram lately. He gives you an incredible recipe. Okay, I'll
move on to dinner. I'll tell you about Kristin Canty
and Charlie Foster. We've had them on the show A
lot Wood till here for a great restaurant. They also
have a couple of conquered but chef did something with
Christy lamb Ribs, and they actually use a lamb rack
in the recipe. And so I remember calling him and saying,
(41:04):
I don't know how hard it's going to be for
people to get a lamb rack, and he said, well,
that's the point. I want people to connect with their
local butcher. And I loved that response, and so we
didn't change a single thing about the recipe because I
think it is, like we talk about all the time,
so important to connect with your local folks, whether it
be your local fishermen, your local butcher. I mean, that's
(41:26):
the way that you can really feel connected to your food,
which is a big thing for woods Hill. And lastly,
our dessert. I will talk about Joe Anne Chang, probably
one of the most celebrated pastry chefs, certainly in New England,
maybe even beyond. And she makes the good Old but
not so good Old because it's with her spin Boston
cream pie. Can't believe you have the recipe to be
(41:46):
able to recreate.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
That at home.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Anyway, you can buy it on Amazon it is a
Taste of Boston cookbook, or you can buy it on
Meat Boston dot com, slash Cookbook. Great show this week
and we will talk to you next week.