What to Eat (and Drink) in Boston This Weekend
Tagliatelle alla bolognese at Benedetto. / Photo by Erik Jacobs / JacobsPhotographic
Italian food!
It’s an absolute banner year for this ultimate comfort cuisine. We’ve barely made it through the house-made pasta and crudo menus at 2016 standouts like SRV and Bar Mezzana, and this week, Benedetto blessed Harvard Square with its debut at the Charles Hotel. The very next day, the three-tiered mecca that is Eataly Boston bounded onto the scene, and then chef Douglass Williams brought us his personal touch with Mida. Baby, it’s cold outside—time to put on your carb coat.
Photo by Tony Scarpetta provided
Kane’s Farmer Willie’s Ginger Beer doughnut
For those times you just can’t choose between a doughnut, or a zesty, boozy libation, behold: the Saugus and Boston doughnut shop’s December special. Kane’s Farmer Willie’s Ginger Beer doughnut is a gingerbread round dunked in a glaze made with the locally produced, spicy sparkler. Like with Kane’s fall releases, made with Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale and Angry Orchard Hard Cider, all the booze cooks off, so the glaze won’t give you a buzz, but it’s the thought that counts.
Kane’s Donuts, 120 Lincoln Ave., Saugus, 781-233-8499, 90 Oliver St., Boston, 857-317-2654, kanesdonuts.com.
Lamplighter beer—in cans
Have you been over to try Cambridge’s new brewery yet? Well, after taking flight there this weekend, you can take home cans of some of the new brews. Iron Heart Canning, which roams the Eastern Seaboard helping small- and mid-sized breweries package their liquid gold, was on site earlier this week. Fresh vessels of Metric Systems gose and a double IPA called So Much for Subtlety are chilling on the retail side of Lamplighter, just waiting to be picked up and enjoyed wherever you may take them—on a nice hike, perhaps?
Lamplighter Brewing Company, 284 Broadway, Cambridge, 617-945-0450, lamplighterbrewing.com.
Little Donkey Toad-in-the-Hole photo by David Ma provided
Brunch at Little Donkey
Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette’s culinary dream has had miso-banana bread toad-in-the-hole with habanero sausage; chilaquiles (a.k.a. breakfast nachos); and more morning fuel on weekdays for some time now. But this weekend, the chefs debut Sunday brunch, too, with raw bar and weekday breakfast favorites, brunch cocktails, and new, droolworthy dishes, like Corn Flake-crusted, fried brioche French toast with maple syrup and blueberries. See you there.
Sundays beginning December 4, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Little Donkey, 505 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge, 617-945-1008, littledonkeybos.com.
Photo by Jared Kuzia for “Best Wine Bar in Boston 2016“
Dinner at Spoke Wine Bar, while you still can.
Apologies for ending on a sad note, but there are only 15 dining days left at the Davis Square jewelbox that is Spoke Wine Bar. Get your reservation on the books for a bittersweet bottle of bubbly and a board of cured country ham and accoutrements, chef John daSilva’s duck meatballs, smoked chestnut farro risotto—or the whole, quirky menu. You won’t regret it. Spoke is slated to shutter after service on December 22.
89 Holland St., Somerville, 617-718-9463, spokewinebar.com.
