The Beantown Bloggery

Congratulations to Ned Devine's for winning yesterday's Chowderfest 2009 (here)! Sadly I didn't make it back from NH in time, but I did get a call from my friend Carl saying that he and a group of folks were heading over to check it out. I'll have to ask him what he thought of the Ned Devine's chowder when I see him next.

Ned Devine's Irish Pub has won a New England clam chowder contest called Chowderfest for the third time and has been elected to the event's Hall of Fame.

Manager Greg Springer says it's fantastic New York City chef Sean Ryan's 20-year-old recipe did so well.

The 28th annual Chowderfest was held Sunday as part of Boston Harborfest, a Fourth of July festival showcasing the city's heritage.

My friend Michelle is visiting in a few weeks from Arkansas. I wonder if I should take her to Ned Devine's instead of Legal's. What do you think?

I got word a few days ago that there's a group of residents & businesses in the South Station area that are trying to force the South Street Diner to eliminate its "Always Open" policy and close at 2am. Their hearing is tomorrow 7/7 - and they're looking for folks to come out and show support. See below for the email.

South Street diner is looking for your support.

We have a hearing July 7th Tuesday, 10am at Boston city hall room 809a . Please attend to save our diner.

We have a few new neighbors that want to roll back the hours of the diner and force us to close at 2 A.M. This would put us out of business.

We have been supportive of this neighborhood and our city. We have become a landmark that attracts students, workers, and the affluent.

We have tried to communicate with our few detractors. Unfortunately, they have chosen to ignore our efforts to meet and our attempts to address the issues irritating them. We have supplied a doggie refuse door, We have supplied security every night, We have changed our garbage pickup times.

This appears to be a case of a few neighbors who bought their properties at peak prices and now want to blame our a little business for their misfortune and declining property values.

Our diner has been in business since 1947. The residents that have an issue have been here for only 2 years.

Boston is a vibrant city. We enjoy being part of it we need your attendance to continue to serve you. Thank you for your patronage and your support.

Did these new neighbors not research their neighborhood before they bought? Also, there's definitely a handful of restaurants in Chinatown that are open past 2am serving food. I used to go all the time to grab food after a night of clubbing. Why should the South Street Diner have to close by 2? I'm open to hearing arguments from both sides.

Whenever I have friends from out of town visit, one part of my Boston tour is to take them to Legal's for some clam chowder. I love that stuff. And most visitors do too. I honestly haven't done a sampling of chowders from different area restaurants, I usually just go to Legal's. So the Chowderfest this Sunday, July 5th might be a good opportunity for me to broaden my chowder horizons.

This year's Chowderfest is Sunday July 5th, 2009 from 11am to 6pm, and it attracts restaurants from all around metro-Boston to compete for the title of "Boston's Best Chowder." More than 2000 gallons of New England's signature dish will be ladled out to a crowd of over 11,000 enthusiastic chowder-samplers in this fun-filled Boston tradition. Admission: $10 adults/$7 children under 12.

The 2009 competitors are:

Yankee Lobster Fish Market
Ned Devine's Irish Pub
Algonquin Club
Boston Beer Works
Farmer Brown's
House of Blues
Parker's Restaurant

Click (here) for more info.

I've got my fingers crossed that it doesn't rain on July 4th. I won't be here this year, I'm going to head up to my buddy's lake house in NH - but July 4th in Boston is definitely way up there on my list of favorite things about Boston.

Due to constrained budgets and what not this year, a lot of cities have had to cancel/rework their usual Independence Day festivities. There's a state site that has compiled all the info for what I'm guessing are most of the cities in the state so you can double check what's going on in your town.

My recommendation (as usual) - befriend someone with a roofdeck that lives on Beacon Street. They have the BEST unobstructed view of the Charles River & fireworks show that I've ever seen. If you know of a better spot (and you're willing to share) leave a comment. I'm sure we'd all love to check it out.

Click (here) to get July 4th info on your town.

I'm borrowing this pic from Perez because I couldn't find another source. Ben Barnes - from those Narnia movies - is in Boston as part of Eliza Dushku's movie Valediction (here).


Click (here) for a link to Perez's post.

I'm a fan of Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg, but it's always infinitely more awesome when a hot actress joins the cast of a movie filming in Boston. That way I can always harbor the glimmer of hope that I might be able to meet them. That being said, Amy Adams is joining the cast of "The Fighter"

Amy Adams is in final negotiations to star opposite Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg in "The Fighter," which David O. Russell is directing for Relativity Media. Paramount is distributing the drama domestically.

Adams will play Charlene, a tough, gritty bartender and former college high-jumper from Massachusetts who ends up dating Mickey.

There's been a fair number of casting calls lately for this movie, and from what I've been reading it should start shooting this month. Shooting is going to be predominately done in Lowell. Oh and if you want to be a spectator in one of the scenes check out this post (here). I'm definitely going to try to make it down there for one of the days.

Click (here) for the Hollywood Reporter article.

Red Sox player David Ortiz has invested in a restaurant out in Framingham. If I remember correctly, I think ito's on Route 9 a little past the Natick Mall. From everything I've read, restaurants have been hurting due to the recession and and that's partly why we've been getting all these great deals at restaurants. But on the otherhand, maybe it's a good time to buy in cheap as an investment.

The Red Sox slugger has taken a financial stake in Metro 9 Steak House in Framingham, which will be renamed Big Papi’s, the restaurant’s owner confirmed with the MetroWest Daily News late Tuesday.

Peter Sarmanian, president of Classic Restaurant Concepts LLC, which owns Metro 9 along with The Kinsale in Boston, The Asgard in Cambridge and Desmond O’Malley’s in Framingham, told MetroWest the revamped eatery will complete its transition by the end of July, but remain open in the interim weeks.

This one's probably going to be a pass for me. I'm big on celebrity chef owned restaurants. Not celebrity owned restaurants. If Thomas Keller or Nobu Matsuhisa opened up a place, I'd be there in a heartbeat. Sorry, Big Papi, but good luck with the restaurant venture.

Click (here) for the BBJ article.

I was out for drinks on Monday at Minibar to celebrate a friend visiting from out of town, and I threw up a little in my mouth when I saw the wine list. The prices didn't look too bad until I looked at the heading and realized that those were prices for a half a bottle. So to get the real cost of a bottle of wine, I'd need to double what I was looking at. Hence, the vomiting in my mouth.

Luckily for all of us, starting today, STIX is doing the exact opposite. They're cutting the price in half, not the amount of wine you get.

Starting July 1, STIX Restaurant & Lounge will slash its bottled wine prices in half, offering every bottle of wine on the menu at 50%, Tuesdays through Saturdays from 5-11pm. STIX will rewrite its wine list to compete with recent reports that more people are buying bottles of wine and drinking at home in order to save money. With almost 40 different wines to choose from, STIX boasts an impressive wine list that now even those on a budget can enjoy.

“We’ve seen great success with our $1 Raw Bar at STIX. “We don’t want people to continue to stay at home, we want to encourage them to come out and enjoy themselves, and in the process help nurse the economy back to health.”

I invited myself over to my friend DanDan's place when 33 first started their $3 bar menu (here). Looks like I just got another reason to do it again.

Click (here) to visit the STIX website.