September 21, 2024 • 27 mins
The heat of the summer is starting to fade, and now that autumn has arrived, we're getting into a season full of foliage, apple picking, and hiking - complete with tasty warm meals to keep you going throughout the day! Marc Hurwitz of Boston Restaurant Talk leads hikes around New England for the Appalachian Mountain Club, and he returns to the show this week to talk about his recent trips, recommendations, the state of the restaurant industry, and bar pizza.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together and talk about all the
topics important to you and the place where you live.
It is so good to be back with you again
this week. I'm Nicole Davis. You know, it has been
so nice to turn off the air conditioner and open
up the windows and let that cooler, crisper air into
the house. It's also been really nice to spend time
(00:29):
outside and not feel like I'm sweating. The seasons are changing.
You don't even have to look at the forecast. Just
go to the supermarket and you'll notice pumpkin stuff and
actually eggnog too for some reason. Regardless, if you want
to get outside but you need some ideas on where
to go to explore this fall, we have got you covered.
My buddy Mark Hurwitz back on the show with us
again to talk about all things restaurants, hiking and food. Mark,
(00:52):
welcome back to the show. And you know I want
to start with that hiking because lately I have noticed
you have been all over the place. So what's up
with you when it comes to hiking these days.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Well, I've been leading a lot of hikes in the
Boston area in eastern Massachusetts, and we have found some
incredible places lately, like Rafae's Chasm and Gloucester really close
to Magnolia. It's basically, you walk two miles in the woods,
do you turn a corner and it looks like Akaitian
National Park and Maine with the rocky shore and the
waves and just that's all you. You don't see anything like,
(01:24):
there's no civilization. It's just it's just ocean and rocks
and just crashing waves and it's you know, got a big,
big rocky area where you can just kind of sit
there and you don't have to do anything. You just
kind of let it happen, you know. So that's that's
a great place. Maybe not for foliage, but it's just
a great place in general. Now that the summer's mostly
(01:44):
over and you know, it's not quite as busy in Gloucester.
So that's been one of my favorites. Also south of Boston,
been hitting a few of my favorites lately. The Blue Hills,
of course, Great Blue Hill is a great place for
foliage and the observatory it reopen a while back. They
were renovating it and you can go to the top
(02:06):
of the observatory and they have a roof deck where
you have a three hundred and sixty degree view of everything,
you know, the mountains in the distance, the ocean, Boston,
you name it. And you can go up there for
you know, a short time, fifteen to twenty minutes to
pay five bucks. It's definitely worth it. So that's one
of my favorite hikes actually right now. And that again
(02:28):
it's perfect foliage.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
And this time of year, with the weather getting cooler,
the rattle snakes might go back into hiding too.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah. Well, you know, once it turns fifty degrees and below,
it's kind of like the bees. Bees disappear around fifty degrees,
and the snakes you don't see as many when it
goes under fifty. So, I mean, lately it's been really warm,
but still you're not going to see as many snakes these,
you know, in September it does start to it gets
it's this time of year it gets a little better
(02:55):
to hike in the Blue Hills because I'm not a
big fan of hiking in the heat of the summer,
mainly because of the rattlesnakes.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, and the fact that it's also really hot and
really humid. It's kind of one thing that keeps me
from getting out there and enjoying it. If I'm going
to go and be in nature and enjoy myself, I
do not want to be sweating buckets in the process
of doing that.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
This is true, And you know, there's a lot of
easy hikes out there, not too far away. Recently we
did one the Nashua River Trail. And you think Nashville,
you think pretty big city. It's probably, you know, in
the middle of a neighborhood. It's not. It's remote. It's
just west of Route three, just west of downtown Nashua.
(03:36):
But it feels so quiet, so remote. It's all these
little canals and like a river and these nice graded
trails that are flat. And first time I went there
a few weeks ago. And that's another one for foliage
because there's so many of the red maples and a
(03:56):
lot of the you know, there's sugar maples, so a
lot of different colors. And I think by the end
of probably end of September, early October, it's going to
start to get really nice there. And that's only a
half hour from the Boston area.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, I think that people sometimes when you hear of
southern New Hampshire or central Massachusetts or even Connecticut Rhode Island,
we automatically assume that it's going to be a two
hour trek in the car. But it's really not that far.
It's surprisingly easy to get from Boston to Nashaua. People
just don't always recognize that.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I think it is. It's you know, southern New Hampshire
and northern Rhode Island are so close to Boston and
people do overlook that. And Nashville is an interesting place.
I mean, it's really the downtown starting to get really
nice now, and like I say, places like the Nashville
River Trail. It's just a beautiful place. You're in New Hampshire.
You're not too far from Boston, but it kind of
(04:47):
has that New Hampshire feel to it with the peaceful
river and just nice trails, little waterfalls here and there.
But then again, you know, if you want to do
the real New Hampshire hikes, you go. You do do
the two hour drives up north, and that's where some
of the greatest folio is going to be. I mean,
I've been doing a lot of hikes up there over
the summer, but I want to head back this fall
because I found some great places up there that should
(05:11):
be perfect for foliage.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, let's talk about that, because I really enjoy the
fact that you post all these pictures of your mountain hikes.
The views are just insane in places that you wouldn't expect.
So what are some of the newer spots that you've discovered.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, we've been doing something called fifty two of the View.
So fifty two of the View is fifty two summits
in the New Hampshire that are generally fairly simple but
have incredible views. So it's not like the four thousand footers,
where you might be doing a really tough hike and
it might have good views, it might have no views.
These are kind of the bang for the buck hikes.
(05:46):
And two that we've done lately, I want to in
Face imp Face. It's in Pinkham, notch across from Mount Washington.
It's about four miles four and a half miles round
trip off of it's tough, but overall it's not a
bad hike. But when you get to these ledges, you're
(06:06):
looking straight at the whole Presidential Range and it's just
jaw dropping. One of the best views I've seen in
New Hampshire and a place that no one goes to.
I mean, who's heard of Infhase.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I cannot say I have, and I've been to New
Hampshire quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah it's me too. I mean I've been to Jackson
a million times and I never heard of this place
until a couple of months ago. Another one that I
didn't know much about was on the Kangamegas Highway, which
is again that's a perfect perfect road for foliage, the
eastern part, which is there's a cover bridge kind of
near Conway. There's a parking lot where you can hike
(06:43):
up Podash Mountain or Hedgehog. And I went up Hedgehog
a while back, and I didn't have many expectations because
I haven't read much about it. We got to the
ledges and I kid you not, that might have been
the best view I've seen in the White Mountains five
or six years. It was spectacular. And that's another one.
(07:04):
Nobody knows Hedgehog.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
No, I mean I had a Hedgehog. I do not
know where Hedgehog is. I've got to say this is
news to me, and I feel for you because if
you want to go back to Hedgehog. Now we're telling
everybody about it, but this is a good PSA.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
It is I think it's good to get people out
and especially, you know, instead of doing Mount Washington or
Lonesome Lake or all these really popular places. It is
nice to get to these unknown spots. I mean. Another
one we did was Black Mountain, which is in Benson,
which is just west of north Woodstock. If you know
where that is, right at Route Nights, you know Franconia Notch.
(07:40):
But if you go west heading toward Vermont, there's this
mountain that's an easy hike, and it's another fifty two
of the view. You get to the top, and even
though it's an easy hike, the whole way up you
feel like you're right in the middle of the huge mountains.
Everywhere you can see Vermont, you can see Mountain Moose Luck,
which is five thousand foot are almost and no one's there.
(08:01):
No one even knows it's another one. Of course, the
road's a little bumpy toward the end of the parking lot,
so you don't want a bout them out, but it's
it's really nice. All three of those are definitely worth doing,
especially for foliage.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Now for somebody who might not be the most avid hiker,
or someone who is a little bit out of shape.
I mean, you say easy hike, but how easy are
we talking here?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Well, in the case of Black Mountain, that's the easiest
of the three. It's it's a moderate grade for maybe
two miles up and then two miles back, so we're
talking four miles total. It never gets very steep, but
you know, if you're looking for something easier with nice foliage,
I did mention Lonesome Lake, and that's in Franconia, Notch.
(08:44):
It's maybe maybe one and a quarter miles up from
the parking lot, relatively steep, but nothing bad. And it's
again only a one and a quarter miles, and you
get to this lake that it's kind of halfway up
in the mountains, and then you see the bigger mountains
that frame it. So you're in this pristine pond area
(09:05):
with one of the huts, one of the Appalachian Mountain
Club huts, and you see five thousand foot mountains everywhere,
and yet it's a hike that pretty much anyone could do.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I think I was actually up in northern New Hampshire
recently and drove by one of those AMC huts, and
I thought of you because I know you lead the
hikes with the AMC, and you know those are important
to look out for if you find yourself on these
hiking trails. Talk about what kind of a resource the
AMC has in those huts.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, they're really special places and for through hikers, for
people who are going to be staying overnight, it's great
to have them because if you're doing a long hike
and you don't want to set up a camp a tent,
you can stay in these huts. You know, they generally
have the bunk beds and they have a kitchen, aera
and dining room and a porch, so it kind of
feels like someone's house and people are friendly there, and
(09:53):
it's just it's a special feeling doing it, because if
you're in the middle of the woods, if you're hiking
up and down side and you're a little tired, all
of a sudden, it's like in oasis where you can
go in and have some stoop and maybe read a book.
And some of them are easy to get to, like
against Lonesome Light's pretty easy. Zealand Hut is even easier.
It's almost totally flat from the parking lot to the hut.
(10:17):
But because you start so high up, when you get
to the hut, you have these incredible views. So that's
one that anyone can do. And it's you know, that
one's up by Crawford Notch, so one of the most
beautiful parts Annoy, England.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Oh. I love driving through that neck of the woods,
literally through that neck of the woods because no matter
what season it is, I always kind of find my
jaw kind of dropping a little bit because it's such stark.
It's such a stark I don't know visual I'm kind
of at a loss for words, but you know, you
kind of get a little distracted. I find myself almost
driving off the road from time to time because I'm like,
(10:52):
I just want to look at all of this. But
it's just it's powerful in so many different ways.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
It is. It's kind of like Franconia Notch where it
feels like you're out west. I mean, the mountains are
a little more pointed, a little higher. But the thing is,
Franconian Notch is always busy. Crawford Notch as well, further up,
not always busy. And you know, for my money, I
know people love the Kangamengus Highway and I like it too.
I think I'd rather take Route three to ZHO two
(11:18):
through Crawford Notch. I just feel like it's a little
more Phoenic.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, it is, and there's really I mean when I
was there, you've got the Saco River nearby. There's not
too many people. It was a beautiful drive no matter
what the weather.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
It is, and it it feels like true wilderness. You know,
you're going through little towns like Bartlett and Glenn and
Jackson's just east of Crawford Notch and it just it's
another world up there. I mean it does feel like
the Great North Well, it is a great Northwoods.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I guess one thing I have to say though, people
got to slow down. I had so many people tailing
me going like fifty sixty miles an hour. These are
not roads to be speeding on. People just saying.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
No, they're not. They're twisty. They'retturney. There's atturney. I guess
that's the word. Yeah, and three oh two is incredibly steep.
I know someone I was talking to someone who was
on a bike and he went down from Crawford Notch
through three out two. He was going seventy miles an
hour by the time he got to the bottom. Oof.
So it's yeah, and that's crazy too. But I when
I'm driving on three ouho two, I'm a little I'm
(12:18):
definitely careful. Same with the kang of magguts.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
A lot of twish and turns that is definitely not
a road speed on and all those sheer drops on
the side, No thank you, I am all same.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Now, if you're going to be heading up to the
Great north Woods or the National Force, wherever you're going
to go, and you want to go explore a little bit,
what is some advice you might have for people who
might be kind of new to hiking like this, or
even just exploring in the mountain areas.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
You have to be careful. It's not like hiking in
this area. If you go into Blue Hills and you
get lost, eventually you'll come out to a road. But
you know there's a Pemmy wilderness you can hike for
thirty or forty miles and not cross the road. So
you have to take this stuff seriously. And you know,
I am a hike leader for that a place, monk,
and we always stress don't hike alone. Definitely make sure
(13:04):
you have everything you need in your backpack. You want
to have good boots and poles and just enough food
and drink and first aid kit. And you know, if
you if you're a novice, don't do a tough hike,
don't do Mount Washington. Do something like like Zealand, you know,
do or do Diana's Bats in the North Conway area
where it's you know, a quarter of a mile. There's
(13:25):
no shame in doing a quarter mile hike. It's it's
a beautiful place. So there's a lot of very very
easy hikes just off the road if you're just starting out.
It's I mean, that is true wilderness up there. It is.
There's no civilization. You will not find a town in
the middle of my White mountains. So you gotta respect
if you're going into it, you gotta respect it a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Make sure you bring out your trash, make sure pack in,
pack out, and store your trash properly. We do not
need a bear tearing apart.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Your car, right and you don't. You don't want to bear.
You don't want a most I mean, moods are really cute.
But talk Kenny Hiker and you'll hear that a moose
might be more dangerous than a bear because A their
eyesight's not very good and B they're huge, so they
might run toward you for no reason at all, not
knowing you're there. So they might look cute. They're cute
(14:16):
until they're not cute. Let me put it that way.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
That is true. They are beautiful and also a little
bit scary when they're right in front of you in
the road and you go, oh gosh, and you're kind
of in that standoff. I remember learning to drive up
there and there was a moose in the road once
and I was looking at it and it was looking
at me. It's like, who is going to move first?
And I'm like, you know what, I will give you clearance.
You can go right ahead.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
That is fine, exactly. Yeah. I mean I think some
moose probably way more than the car.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, probably, And they can be actually pretty dangerous too
if you're driving up there, especially at night, you got
to watch the sides of the road for the deer
who loved to jump out, and the moose and the
who knows what it is. Definitely not going to the
south shore and taking a schlip on the beach.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
No, No, definitely not at all, although you know, I.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Have to say that's lovely too. You've had some great
hikes along the south Shore.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, we have some favorites down there. There's one down
there called birds Pod and Hanson, which I mean it's
an abandoned cranberry bog. It's just miles and miles of
cranberry bogs and walkways all over the place. You can
just walk there all day and it's solely flat. It's
just endless bogs and it's otherworldly. And that's the thing
about the South Shore. There's so many cranberry bogs everywhere,
(15:27):
Like Hanson, there are bogs all over the place. There's
bogs and Plymouth and Pembroke and everywhere. And what we
like to do, of course, is we like to hike
the bogs, and then we like to find our favorite
bar pizza place because it is a south Shore.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Well, yeah, of course. And let's kind of move over
to restaurants really quick, because you are not just a
hiking guy. You are a restaurant tour You're a restaurant connoisseur,
and you do a lot of restaurant riding. Before we
started chatting, we were talking a little bit about bar pizza.
And I know that bar pizza is a very it's
(16:04):
a very particular thing on the South Shore. You know
where you know, and you go where you go. So
tell me where you would suggest for people to go
get a good bar pizza.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Well, no matter what I say, people are going to
be upset because they are so passionate about bar pizza.
If I say this place, they'll say, oh, no, you're wrong.
And if I say, okay, that place, you know. So
I'm just going to give my personal favorite. And it's
a lot of people's personal favorite. So the Linwood Cafe
and Randolph it is the best to me. Their crust
(16:34):
is almost like shortbread, And I know that might not
sound palatable, but shortbread crust with nice sauce and a
lot of cheddar and mozzarella cheese and good and good
amount of grease, it is kind of the perfect pizza
to have with a beer or two. And the Linwood
does that better than anyone, I'd say, Although you know
(16:56):
there's a couple of sleepers out there. One of them
is called the Next Next Page Cafe in Weymouth, Okay,
and their pizza is pretty similar to Linwood, But no
one's really heard of it. It's kind of on a
it's a road that people don't really take. It goes
toward Hingham and it's it's definitely a dive bar, but
it's friendly enough. And another one is Smitty's. I love
(17:20):
the name Smitty's. Smitty's is in Taunton and it's in
a neighborhood. You'll never find it unless you know exactly
where it is. And Smitty's Pub has what some people
think might be the best bar pizza in the South Shore.
And Taunton has a million great restaurants too, but Smitty's
is a place I absolutely love. And because it's a
Portuguese area, they do have a chopped linguisa bar pizza,
(17:45):
which you know, yeah, chopped linguisa. That's another thing. Some
people say, oh, it shouldn't be chopped, that's wrong, but no,
chop linguisa tastes a lot like pepperoni.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yet, oh my gosh, I am a sucker for a
good linguisa anything, So you can find that with a
solid pizza. Chef's kiss yep incredible.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
What are some of the restaurants you've been hitting up
and that you recommend for people to go out to?
And check out this fall.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Well, one place I like is in an area that
a lot of people go out in the area for
apple pick rather, it's west of Boston. It's in Marlborough.
It's called The Fix. It's a burger place, burgers and
really good craft beers. And it's not Lake Williams in Marlborough,
which is random Route twenty. Interesting side note, Lake Williams
(18:33):
now has a hiking trail that goes over the lake.
It's actually a floating boardwalk where you can walk across
the lake and when you're done, you can go to
the Fix and get a really good burger and a
really good beer. And then if you're not ready to
take a nap, you can just drive a few miles
to any number of apple orchards because it is that
time of year and.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
They're everywhere out there. I mean, there are so many options. Honestly,
if you're not too stuffed full of apple cider donuts.
I know that's what I would be doing if I
was out there. Forget all the rest of it, not
the healthy fruit, I just want the donuts. Where else
would you recommend?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
In Metro West, I like, there's you know, there's a
brewery out in West Acton that's really good. It's called
True West and West Acts are really nice looking. It
looks like typical New England village. And True West they
have a lot of good European style beers and they
have a lot of They have some good food there actually,
(19:27):
like their chicken egg rolls or fantastic go really well
with beer. And it's one of those places if you're
driving alone, you can sit at the bar. The bar
is very mellow, very friendly. No one's going to hassle you.
I mean it's a brewery. I mean, people don't hassle
you a brewery. So and the great thing about that
is that you are right in the heart of out
(19:48):
Portard country, so you can maybe maybe finish the day
at True West. I don't think you want to have
a few beers and then pick apples, because I.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Mean, do I or do I not? I'm not sure
at this point that sounds like fun.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Actually that's true, that's true, But it's that that area
has just so great out this time of year. You know,
going to act in a Marlborough or Bolton, you know,
or Harvard. Harvard has Westward orchards where you can get
some of the best apple sied donuts anywhere, and you
can also get pies, and you can they have sandwiches,
(20:23):
I'm pretty sure they do. And they have a little
porch out front, and it's one of those places like
during the peak apple picking season they're never that busy.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Well now they might be actually, And to help matters frankly,
we did a report here on Beezy the other day
about how this is supposed to be like a banner
apple season after last year's kind of disappointment, this year's
apples are supposed to be pristine, so you got to
get out there and get the good stuff while it lasts.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, I think the reason for that too is the
same reason it's going to be good foliages this year,
because there was a lot of rain for almost a
year and now it's been really dry and mild to
the apples are growing nicely and leaves are going to
turn very nicely, So it's going to be a great
fall I think for this area.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I think so too. Now, before we kind of wrap
things up, I did want to touch on quickly. You
are kind of our expert here on the show as
well when it comes to essentially the state of the
restaurant industry, and especially the impacts post COVID. Food costs
are still really high. What are you seeing out there?
What are you hearing from owners?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
At this point, There's still a little frustration. There's still
a problem with not being able to find enough workers,
although I think that's a little better, but still I've
been to places where there's just been not enough help,
so I think that is still an issue. Inflation seems
to be peaking or maybe even starting to drop a
little bit, so inflation is still a bit of an issue.
(21:45):
But I think maybe the bigger issue with inflation as
far as food is prices at grocery stores are still
really high, so that might be cutting into people's budgets,
so they aren't going out to eat as much. Because lately,
I've been going to a lot of restaurants that have
been almost completely empty, even on weekends. So that's a
little worrisome, and that includes places in the suburbs. And
(22:08):
the suburbs seem to do well during the pandemic, but
all of a sudden, I'm going to places in the
suburbs that are really quiet, too quiet, so I'm a
little nervous about that. And there have been a lot
of closing s lately, but there's also been a lot
of openings too, so I don't know, maybe there's still
some hope that things are okay.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, anything especially notable that people might know sar as openings.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
There's been some interesting ones. Mister H just opened a
great name. Mister H is a modern Chinese restaurant that
just opened in the Seaport district. And it's the group
that is behind places like Yvonne's and Lalita Kachina, so
kind of high end restaurants, and this is it sounds
like maybe casual, upscale Chinese restaurant right by the water.
(22:55):
So that just opened up. Also, Crush Pizza, which closed
in downtown Boston a while back. They're known for really
good Italians Neapolitan style pizza. They just opened in East Boston.
East Boston is so hot that so many restaurants come
to the East.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Bot obviously, Yes, it seems like every other week something
new is opening there.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, it's great to see. I mean, it's always felt
like a place that could have a lot of restaurants,
and finally it seems like there's a ton moving in
and a lot of Latin American Mexican restaurants continue to
move in there, which is terrific. There's so many options
in East Boston, so yeah, you know, there's been a
lot of lesser known places, although one place that everyone
(23:39):
knows of Providence called Jahunger. It's an Asian restaurant. I know,
it's interesting name, Jahunger. They're in the Fox Point part
of Providence and they just opened in Cambridge, so second location.
And I went to the one in Providence and I
was blown away by the place. I mean, it's food
from the Northwest part of China and stuff like lamb
(24:02):
dumplings and hand pulled noodles. Handpulled noodles are amazing, yeh Yeah,
and chicken chicken stew, lamb skewer. So kind of a
slight almost Middle Eastern fields in some of the dishes.
But yeah, Je Hunger just opened in Cambridge Port, so
kind of kind of close to the around Central Square.
(24:23):
So yeah, there's been some good openings. Unfortunately, there's been
a bunch of closings too. But oh, one other opening
to mention this is a big one. Danny's Queer Bar
just opened in the Back Bay.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yes, I had heard about that. That's been a long
time coming, hasn't it.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah. I think that they've been trying to open for
I don't know, maybe a year and a half or more.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, and they took over the old Poorhouse. Poorhouse was
a place I used to go to all the time,
but Danny's Queer Bar's. Basically, they wanted a place where
the LGBTQ community would feel kind of comfortable, I guess
you could say, especially in such a busy part of Boston,
where they can just go there and you know, feel
(25:07):
kind of at home. And of course it's open everybody,
so anyone can go there. And I saw some pictures
of it. Looks really interesting, So I'm definitely looking forward
to trying that place.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah. That's down there on Boylston Street, right for those
who are okay.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yeah, Boylston kind of near the PREW somewhere around.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
There, Okay, and that whole block that unfortunately COVID kind
of wiped out. But it's nice to see things opening
up there again.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah. Of course, the downside is that the Lenox Hotel,
which is also in Boylston, they're closing all three restaurants
in there. In the place they say they're going to
reopen restaurants I think under their management, But we don't
know what's going to open there. But within that place,
that hotel was sold US and so US was just
(25:52):
it was such a great Irish pub and I'm so
upset that's not going to be there. So we'll see
what happens. They're going to open something in the space,
but I don't know if you can replace a place
like Solus.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Well you probably can't, but we have to move forward.
We don't really have a choice, unfortunately. We just have
to kind of ebb and flow and see what shows up.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
I guess, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yeah. All right, Well, where can people find out more
about the work you're doing? Because we talked about just
a few of these openings and closings, but you are
on top of all of this stuff, your fingers right
on the pulse of everything in the local industry. How
can people find the work you're doing, the writing you're doing,
and how can they connect with you?
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Well, they can go to the Boston Restaurant Talk blog
and it's also syndicated, so you can read about the
openings and closings on the NBC site. And also I
have a friends, you know, the friends of bostonton restaurant
Facebook group which is up to maybe forty five thousand
people now, and a lot of people there at chefs
(26:52):
and restaurant owners and restaurant critics, and if you ask questions,
people are generally really nice there, so you can ask
any questions you want and people will help you out there.
As far as where you find me on social media
other than the group, also Twitter or x or whatever
it's called now, I'm at Mark Herr Boston on Twitter
(27:13):
slash x and I post all the openings and closings
there as well.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
All right, beautiful, well, Mark Hurwitz, my friend. It's always
great to have you here on the show. Thank you
for doing all the scouting out for us, and enjoy
your fall hikes and apple cider donuts.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Thanks Nicoll, you too, have a safe.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
And healthy weekend, and please join me again next week
for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from
WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together and talk about all the
topics important to you and the place where you live.
It is so good to be back with you again
this week. I'm Nicole Davis. You know, it has been
so nice to turn off the air conditioner and open
up the windows and let that cooler, crisper air into
the house. It's also been really nice to spend time
(00:29):
outside and not feel like I'm sweating. The seasons are changing.
You don't even have to look at the forecast. Just
go to the supermarket and you'll notice pumpkin stuff and
actually eggnog too for some reason. Regardless, if you want
to get outside but you need some ideas on where
to go to explore this fall, we have got you covered.
My buddy Mark Hurwitz back on the show with us
again to talk about all things restaurants, hiking and food. Mark,
(00:52):
welcome back to the show. And you know I want
to start with that hiking because lately I have noticed
you have been all over the place. So what's up
with you when it comes to hiking these days.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Well, I've been leading a lot of hikes in the
Boston area in eastern Massachusetts, and we have found some
incredible places lately, like Rafae's Chasm and Gloucester really close
to Magnolia. It's basically, you walk two miles in the woods,
do you turn a corner and it looks like Akaitian
National Park and Maine with the rocky shore and the
waves and just that's all you. You don't see anything like,
(01:24):
there's no civilization. It's just it's just ocean and rocks
and just crashing waves and it's you know, got a big,
big rocky area where you can just kind of sit
there and you don't have to do anything. You just
kind of let it happen, you know. So that's that's
a great place. Maybe not for foliage, but it's just
a great place in general. Now that the summer's mostly
(01:44):
over and you know, it's not quite as busy in Gloucester.
So that's been one of my favorites. Also south of Boston,
been hitting a few of my favorites lately. The Blue Hills,
of course, Great Blue Hill is a great place for
foliage and the observatory it reopen a while back. They
were renovating it and you can go to the top
(02:06):
of the observatory and they have a roof deck where
you have a three hundred and sixty degree view of everything,
you know, the mountains in the distance, the ocean, Boston,
you name it. And you can go up there for
you know, a short time, fifteen to twenty minutes to
pay five bucks. It's definitely worth it. So that's one
of my favorite hikes actually right now. And that again
(02:28):
it's perfect foliage.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
And this time of year, with the weather getting cooler,
the rattle snakes might go back into hiding too.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah. Well, you know, once it turns fifty degrees and below,
it's kind of like the bees. Bees disappear around fifty degrees,
and the snakes you don't see as many when it
goes under fifty. So, I mean, lately it's been really warm,
but still you're not going to see as many snakes these,
you know, in September it does start to it gets
it's this time of year it gets a little better
(02:55):
to hike in the Blue Hills because I'm not a
big fan of hiking in the heat of the summer,
mainly because of the rattlesnakes.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, and the fact that it's also really hot and
really humid. It's kind of one thing that keeps me
from getting out there and enjoying it. If I'm going
to go and be in nature and enjoy myself, I
do not want to be sweating buckets in the process
of doing that.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
This is true, And you know, there's a lot of
easy hikes out there, not too far away. Recently we
did one the Nashua River Trail. And you think Nashville,
you think pretty big city. It's probably, you know, in
the middle of a neighborhood. It's not. It's remote. It's
just west of Route three, just west of downtown Nashua.
(03:36):
But it feels so quiet, so remote. It's all these
little canals and like a river and these nice graded
trails that are flat. And first time I went there
a few weeks ago. And that's another one for foliage
because there's so many of the red maples and a
(03:56):
lot of the you know, there's sugar maples, so a
lot of different colors. And I think by the end
of probably end of September, early October, it's going to
start to get really nice there. And that's only a
half hour from the Boston area.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, I think that people sometimes when you hear of
southern New Hampshire or central Massachusetts or even Connecticut Rhode Island,
we automatically assume that it's going to be a two
hour trek in the car. But it's really not that far.
It's surprisingly easy to get from Boston to Nashaua. People
just don't always recognize that.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I think it is. It's you know, southern New Hampshire
and northern Rhode Island are so close to Boston and
people do overlook that. And Nashville is an interesting place.
I mean, it's really the downtown starting to get really
nice now, and like I say, places like the Nashville
River Trail. It's just a beautiful place. You're in New Hampshire.
You're not too far from Boston, but it kind of
(04:47):
has that New Hampshire feel to it with the peaceful
river and just nice trails, little waterfalls here and there.
But then again, you know, if you want to do
the real New Hampshire hikes, you go. You do do
the two hour drives up north, and that's where some
of the greatest folio is going to be. I mean,
I've been doing a lot of hikes up there over
the summer, but I want to head back this fall
because I found some great places up there that should
(05:11):
be perfect for foliage.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, let's talk about that, because I really enjoy the
fact that you post all these pictures of your mountain hikes.
The views are just insane in places that you wouldn't expect.
So what are some of the newer spots that you've discovered.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, we've been doing something called fifty two of the View.
So fifty two of the View is fifty two summits
in the New Hampshire that are generally fairly simple but
have incredible views. So it's not like the four thousand footers,
where you might be doing a really tough hike and
it might have good views, it might have no views.
These are kind of the bang for the buck hikes.
(05:46):
And two that we've done lately, I want to in
Face imp Face. It's in Pinkham, notch across from Mount Washington.
It's about four miles four and a half miles round
trip off of it's tough, but overall it's not a
bad hike. But when you get to these ledges, you're
(06:06):
looking straight at the whole Presidential Range and it's just
jaw dropping. One of the best views I've seen in
New Hampshire and a place that no one goes to.
I mean, who's heard of Infhase.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I cannot say I have, and I've been to New
Hampshire quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah it's me too. I mean I've been to Jackson
a million times and I never heard of this place
until a couple of months ago. Another one that I
didn't know much about was on the Kangamegas Highway, which
is again that's a perfect perfect road for foliage, the
eastern part, which is there's a cover bridge kind of
near Conway. There's a parking lot where you can hike
(06:43):
up Podash Mountain or Hedgehog. And I went up Hedgehog
a while back, and I didn't have many expectations because
I haven't read much about it. We got to the
ledges and I kid you not, that might have been
the best view I've seen in the White Mountains five
or six years. It was spectacular. And that's another one.
(07:04):
Nobody knows Hedgehog.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
No, I mean I had a Hedgehog. I do not
know where Hedgehog is. I've got to say this is
news to me, and I feel for you because if
you want to go back to Hedgehog. Now we're telling
everybody about it, but this is a good PSA.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
It is I think it's good to get people out
and especially, you know, instead of doing Mount Washington or
Lonesome Lake or all these really popular places. It is
nice to get to these unknown spots. I mean. Another
one we did was Black Mountain, which is in Benson,
which is just west of north Woodstock. If you know
where that is, right at Route Nights, you know Franconia Notch.
(07:40):
But if you go west heading toward Vermont, there's this
mountain that's an easy hike, and it's another fifty two
of the view. You get to the top, and even
though it's an easy hike, the whole way up you
feel like you're right in the middle of the huge mountains.
Everywhere you can see Vermont, you can see Mountain Moose Luck,
which is five thousand foot are almost and no one's there.
(08:01):
No one even knows it's another one. Of course, the
road's a little bumpy toward the end of the parking lot,
so you don't want a bout them out, but it's
it's really nice. All three of those are definitely worth doing,
especially for foliage.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Now for somebody who might not be the most avid hiker,
or someone who is a little bit out of shape.
I mean, you say easy hike, but how easy are
we talking here?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Well, in the case of Black Mountain, that's the easiest
of the three. It's it's a moderate grade for maybe
two miles up and then two miles back, so we're
talking four miles total. It never gets very steep, but
you know, if you're looking for something easier with nice foliage,
I did mention Lonesome Lake, and that's in Franconia, Notch.
(08:44):
It's maybe maybe one and a quarter miles up from
the parking lot, relatively steep, but nothing bad. And it's
again only a one and a quarter miles, and you
get to this lake that it's kind of halfway up
in the mountains, and then you see the bigger mountains
that frame it. So you're in this pristine pond area
(09:05):
with one of the huts, one of the Appalachian Mountain
Club huts, and you see five thousand foot mountains everywhere,
and yet it's a hike that pretty much anyone could do.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I think I was actually up in northern New Hampshire
recently and drove by one of those AMC huts, and
I thought of you because I know you lead the
hikes with the AMC, and you know those are important
to look out for if you find yourself on these
hiking trails. Talk about what kind of a resource the
AMC has in those huts.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, they're really special places and for through hikers, for
people who are going to be staying overnight, it's great
to have them because if you're doing a long hike
and you don't want to set up a camp a tent,
you can stay in these huts. You know, they generally
have the bunk beds and they have a kitchen, aera
and dining room and a porch, so it kind of
feels like someone's house and people are friendly there, and
(09:53):
it's just it's a special feeling doing it, because if
you're in the middle of the woods, if you're hiking
up and down side and you're a little tired, all
of a sudden, it's like in oasis where you can
go in and have some stoop and maybe read a book.
And some of them are easy to get to, like
against Lonesome Light's pretty easy. Zealand Hut is even easier.
It's almost totally flat from the parking lot to the hut.
(10:17):
But because you start so high up, when you get
to the hut, you have these incredible views. So that's
one that anyone can do. And it's you know, that
one's up by Crawford Notch, so one of the most
beautiful parts Annoy, England.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Oh. I love driving through that neck of the woods,
literally through that neck of the woods because no matter
what season it is, I always kind of find my
jaw kind of dropping a little bit because it's such stark.
It's such a stark I don't know visual I'm kind
of at a loss for words, but you know, you
kind of get a little distracted. I find myself almost
driving off the road from time to time because I'm like,
(10:52):
I just want to look at all of this. But
it's just it's powerful in so many different ways.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
It is. It's kind of like Franconia Notch where it
feels like you're out west. I mean, the mountains are
a little more pointed, a little higher. But the thing is,
Franconian Notch is always busy. Crawford Notch as well, further up,
not always busy. And you know, for my money, I
know people love the Kangamengus Highway and I like it too.
I think I'd rather take Route three to ZHO two
(11:18):
through Crawford Notch. I just feel like it's a little
more Phoenic.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, it is, and there's really I mean when I
was there, you've got the Saco River nearby. There's not
too many people. It was a beautiful drive no matter
what the weather.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
It is, and it it feels like true wilderness. You know,
you're going through little towns like Bartlett and Glenn and
Jackson's just east of Crawford Notch and it just it's
another world up there. I mean it does feel like
the Great North Well, it is a great Northwoods.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I guess one thing I have to say though, people
got to slow down. I had so many people tailing
me going like fifty sixty miles an hour. These are
not roads to be speeding on. People just saying.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
No, they're not. They're twisty. They'retturney. There's atturney. I guess
that's the word. Yeah, and three oh two is incredibly steep.
I know someone I was talking to someone who was
on a bike and he went down from Crawford Notch
through three out two. He was going seventy miles an
hour by the time he got to the bottom. Oof.
So it's yeah, and that's crazy too. But I when
I'm driving on three ouho two, I'm a little I'm
(12:18):
definitely careful. Same with the kang of magguts.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
A lot of twish and turns that is definitely not
a road speed on and all those sheer drops on
the side, No thank you, I am all same.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Now, if you're going to be heading up to the
Great north Woods or the National Force, wherever you're going
to go, and you want to go explore a little bit,
what is some advice you might have for people who
might be kind of new to hiking like this, or
even just exploring in the mountain areas.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
You have to be careful. It's not like hiking in
this area. If you go into Blue Hills and you
get lost, eventually you'll come out to a road. But
you know there's a Pemmy wilderness you can hike for
thirty or forty miles and not cross the road. So
you have to take this stuff seriously. And you know,
I am a hike leader for that a place, monk,
and we always stress don't hike alone. Definitely make sure
(13:04):
you have everything you need in your backpack. You want
to have good boots and poles and just enough food
and drink and first aid kit. And you know, if
you if you're a novice, don't do a tough hike,
don't do Mount Washington. Do something like like Zealand, you know,
do or do Diana's Bats in the North Conway area
where it's you know, a quarter of a mile. There's
(13:25):
no shame in doing a quarter mile hike. It's it's
a beautiful place. So there's a lot of very very
easy hikes just off the road if you're just starting out.
It's I mean, that is true wilderness up there. It is.
There's no civilization. You will not find a town in
the middle of my White mountains. So you gotta respect
if you're going into it, you gotta respect it a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Make sure you bring out your trash, make sure pack in,
pack out, and store your trash properly. We do not
need a bear tearing apart.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Your car, right and you don't. You don't want to bear.
You don't want a most I mean, moods are really cute.
But talk Kenny Hiker and you'll hear that a moose
might be more dangerous than a bear because A their
eyesight's not very good and B they're huge, so they
might run toward you for no reason at all, not
knowing you're there. So they might look cute. They're cute
(14:16):
until they're not cute. Let me put it that way.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
That is true. They are beautiful and also a little
bit scary when they're right in front of you in
the road and you go, oh gosh, and you're kind
of in that standoff. I remember learning to drive up
there and there was a moose in the road once
and I was looking at it and it was looking
at me. It's like, who is going to move first?
And I'm like, you know what, I will give you clearance.
You can go right ahead.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
That is fine, exactly. Yeah. I mean I think some
moose probably way more than the car.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, probably, And they can be actually pretty dangerous too
if you're driving up there, especially at night, you got
to watch the sides of the road for the deer
who loved to jump out, and the moose and the
who knows what it is. Definitely not going to the
south shore and taking a schlip on the beach.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
No, No, definitely not at all, although you know, I.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Have to say that's lovely too. You've had some great
hikes along the south Shore.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, we have some favorites down there. There's one down
there called birds Pod and Hanson, which I mean it's
an abandoned cranberry bog. It's just miles and miles of
cranberry bogs and walkways all over the place. You can
just walk there all day and it's solely flat. It's
just endless bogs and it's otherworldly. And that's the thing
about the South Shore. There's so many cranberry bogs everywhere,
(15:27):
Like Hanson, there are bogs all over the place. There's
bogs and Plymouth and Pembroke and everywhere. And what we
like to do, of course, is we like to hike
the bogs, and then we like to find our favorite
bar pizza place because it is a south Shore.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Well, yeah, of course. And let's kind of move over
to restaurants really quick, because you are not just a
hiking guy. You are a restaurant tour You're a restaurant connoisseur,
and you do a lot of restaurant riding. Before we
started chatting, we were talking a little bit about bar pizza.
And I know that bar pizza is a very it's
(16:04):
a very particular thing on the South Shore. You know
where you know, and you go where you go. So
tell me where you would suggest for people to go
get a good bar pizza.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Well, no matter what I say, people are going to
be upset because they are so passionate about bar pizza.
If I say this place, they'll say, oh, no, you're wrong.
And if I say, okay, that place, you know. So
I'm just going to give my personal favorite. And it's
a lot of people's personal favorite. So the Linwood Cafe
and Randolph it is the best to me. Their crust
(16:34):
is almost like shortbread, And I know that might not
sound palatable, but shortbread crust with nice sauce and a
lot of cheddar and mozzarella cheese and good and good
amount of grease, it is kind of the perfect pizza
to have with a beer or two. And the Linwood
does that better than anyone, I'd say, Although you know
(16:56):
there's a couple of sleepers out there. One of them
is called the Next Next Page Cafe in Weymouth, Okay,
and their pizza is pretty similar to Linwood, But no
one's really heard of it. It's kind of on a
it's a road that people don't really take. It goes
toward Hingham and it's it's definitely a dive bar, but
it's friendly enough. And another one is Smitty's. I love
(17:20):
the name Smitty's. Smitty's is in Taunton and it's in
a neighborhood. You'll never find it unless you know exactly
where it is. And Smitty's Pub has what some people
think might be the best bar pizza in the South Shore.
And Taunton has a million great restaurants too, but Smitty's
is a place I absolutely love. And because it's a
Portuguese area, they do have a chopped linguisa bar pizza,
(17:45):
which you know, yeah, chopped linguisa. That's another thing. Some
people say, oh, it shouldn't be chopped, that's wrong, but no,
chop linguisa tastes a lot like pepperoni.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yet, oh my gosh, I am a sucker for a
good linguisa anything, So you can find that with a
solid pizza. Chef's kiss yep incredible.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
What are some of the restaurants you've been hitting up
and that you recommend for people to go out to?
And check out this fall.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Well, one place I like is in an area that
a lot of people go out in the area for
apple pick rather, it's west of Boston. It's in Marlborough.
It's called The Fix. It's a burger place, burgers and
really good craft beers. And it's not Lake Williams in Marlborough,
which is random Route twenty. Interesting side note, Lake Williams
(18:33):
now has a hiking trail that goes over the lake.
It's actually a floating boardwalk where you can walk across
the lake and when you're done, you can go to
the Fix and get a really good burger and a
really good beer. And then if you're not ready to
take a nap, you can just drive a few miles
to any number of apple orchards because it is that
time of year and.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
They're everywhere out there. I mean, there are so many options. Honestly,
if you're not too stuffed full of apple cider donuts.
I know that's what I would be doing if I
was out there. Forget all the rest of it, not
the healthy fruit, I just want the donuts. Where else
would you recommend?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
In Metro West, I like, there's you know, there's a
brewery out in West Acton that's really good. It's called
True West and West Acts are really nice looking. It
looks like typical New England village. And True West they
have a lot of good European style beers and they
have a lot of They have some good food there actually,
(19:27):
like their chicken egg rolls or fantastic go really well
with beer. And it's one of those places if you're
driving alone, you can sit at the bar. The bar
is very mellow, very friendly. No one's going to hassle you.
I mean it's a brewery. I mean, people don't hassle
you a brewery. So and the great thing about that
is that you are right in the heart of out
(19:48):
Portard country, so you can maybe maybe finish the day
at True West. I don't think you want to have
a few beers and then pick apples, because I.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Mean, do I or do I not? I'm not sure
at this point that sounds like fun.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Actually that's true, that's true, But it's that that area
has just so great out this time of year. You know,
going to act in a Marlborough or Bolton, you know,
or Harvard. Harvard has Westward orchards where you can get
some of the best apple sied donuts anywhere, and you
can also get pies, and you can they have sandwiches,
(20:23):
I'm pretty sure they do. And they have a little
porch out front, and it's one of those places like
during the peak apple picking season they're never that busy.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Well now they might be actually, And to help matters frankly,
we did a report here on Beezy the other day
about how this is supposed to be like a banner
apple season after last year's kind of disappointment, this year's
apples are supposed to be pristine, so you got to
get out there and get the good stuff while it lasts.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, I think the reason for that too is the
same reason it's going to be good foliages this year,
because there was a lot of rain for almost a
year and now it's been really dry and mild to
the apples are growing nicely and leaves are going to
turn very nicely, So it's going to be a great
fall I think for this area.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I think so too. Now, before we kind of wrap
things up, I did want to touch on quickly. You
are kind of our expert here on the show as
well when it comes to essentially the state of the
restaurant industry, and especially the impacts post COVID. Food costs
are still really high. What are you seeing out there?
What are you hearing from owners?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
At this point, There's still a little frustration. There's still
a problem with not being able to find enough workers,
although I think that's a little better, but still I've
been to places where there's just been not enough help,
so I think that is still an issue. Inflation seems
to be peaking or maybe even starting to drop a
little bit, so inflation is still a bit of an issue.
(21:45):
But I think maybe the bigger issue with inflation as
far as food is prices at grocery stores are still
really high, so that might be cutting into people's budgets,
so they aren't going out to eat as much. Because lately,
I've been going to a lot of restaurants that have
been almost completely empty, even on weekends. So that's a
little worrisome, and that includes places in the suburbs. And
(22:08):
the suburbs seem to do well during the pandemic, but
all of a sudden, I'm going to places in the
suburbs that are really quiet, too quiet, so I'm a
little nervous about that. And there have been a lot
of closing s lately, but there's also been a lot
of openings too, so I don't know, maybe there's still
some hope that things are okay.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, anything especially notable that people might know sar as openings.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
There's been some interesting ones. Mister H just opened a
great name. Mister H is a modern Chinese restaurant that
just opened in the Seaport district. And it's the group
that is behind places like Yvonne's and Lalita Kachina, so
kind of high end restaurants, and this is it sounds
like maybe casual, upscale Chinese restaurant right by the water.
(22:55):
So that just opened up. Also, Crush Pizza, which closed
in downtown Boston a while back. They're known for really
good Italians Neapolitan style pizza. They just opened in East Boston.
East Boston is so hot that so many restaurants come
to the East.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Bot obviously, Yes, it seems like every other week something
new is opening there.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, it's great to see. I mean, it's always felt
like a place that could have a lot of restaurants,
and finally it seems like there's a ton moving in
and a lot of Latin American Mexican restaurants continue to
move in there, which is terrific. There's so many options
in East Boston, so yeah, you know, there's been a
lot of lesser known places, although one place that everyone
(23:39):
knows of Providence called Jahunger. It's an Asian restaurant. I know,
it's interesting name, Jahunger. They're in the Fox Point part
of Providence and they just opened in Cambridge, so second location.
And I went to the one in Providence and I
was blown away by the place. I mean, it's food
from the Northwest part of China and stuff like lamb
(24:02):
dumplings and hand pulled noodles. Handpulled noodles are amazing, yeh Yeah,
and chicken chicken stew, lamb skewer. So kind of a
slight almost Middle Eastern fields in some of the dishes.
But yeah, Je Hunger just opened in Cambridge Port, so
kind of kind of close to the around Central Square.
(24:23):
So yeah, there's been some good openings. Unfortunately, there's been
a bunch of closings too. But oh, one other opening
to mention this is a big one. Danny's Queer Bar
just opened in the Back Bay.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yes, I had heard about that. That's been a long
time coming, hasn't it.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah. I think that they've been trying to open for
I don't know, maybe a year and a half or more.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, and they took over the old Poorhouse. Poorhouse was
a place I used to go to all the time,
but Danny's Queer Bar's. Basically, they wanted a place where
the LGBTQ community would feel kind of comfortable, I guess
you could say, especially in such a busy part of Boston,
where they can just go there and you know, feel
(25:07):
kind of at home. And of course it's open everybody,
so anyone can go there. And I saw some pictures
of it. Looks really interesting, So I'm definitely looking forward
to trying that place.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah. That's down there on Boylston Street, right for those
who are okay.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yeah, Boylston kind of near the PREW somewhere around.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
There, Okay, and that whole block that unfortunately COVID kind
of wiped out. But it's nice to see things opening
up there again.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah. Of course, the downside is that the Lenox Hotel,
which is also in Boylston, they're closing all three restaurants
in there. In the place they say they're going to
reopen restaurants I think under their management, But we don't
know what's going to open there. But within that place,
that hotel was sold US and so US was just
(25:52):
it was such a great Irish pub and I'm so
upset that's not going to be there. So we'll see
what happens. They're going to open something in the space,
but I don't know if you can replace a place
like Solus.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Well you probably can't, but we have to move forward.
We don't really have a choice, unfortunately. We just have
to kind of ebb and flow and see what shows up.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
I guess, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yeah. All right, Well, where can people find out more
about the work you're doing? Because we talked about just
a few of these openings and closings, but you are
on top of all of this stuff, your fingers right
on the pulse of everything in the local industry. How
can people find the work you're doing, the writing you're doing,
and how can they connect with you?
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Well, they can go to the Boston Restaurant Talk blog
and it's also syndicated, so you can read about the
openings and closings on the NBC site. And also I
have a friends, you know, the friends of bostonton restaurant
Facebook group which is up to maybe forty five thousand
people now, and a lot of people there at chefs
(26:52):
and restaurant owners and restaurant critics, and if you ask questions,
people are generally really nice there, so you can ask
any questions you want and people will help you out there.
As far as where you find me on social media
other than the group, also Twitter or x or whatever
it's called now, I'm at Mark Herr Boston on Twitter
(27:13):
slash x and I post all the openings and closings
there as well.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
All right, beautiful, well, Mark Hurwitz, my friend. It's always
great to have you here on the show. Thank you
for doing all the scouting out for us, and enjoy
your fall hikes and apple cider donuts.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Thanks Nicoll, you too, have a safe.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
And healthy weekend, and please join me again next week
for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from
WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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