Category Archives: Back Bay

Last week I was invited to join my friend at 40-something life blog for a dinner with Opus One winemaker Michael Silacci and France Posener, the winery’s East Coast Sales representative at one of Boston’s premiere restaurants, L’Espalier. I loved the Summer Degustation which we ordered. It included 4 savory courses, followed by their grand fromage, signature sorbet and dessert. All told the 6 plates each accompanied by a different wine took us approximately 5 hours to eat – if you’d like to read in more detail what we ate, please link to my friend Tracey’s blog, here.However, I would like to write a bit about the dining experience, starting with the exceptional service and attention we received due to Michael Silacci’s presence. The chef and proprietor of L’Espalier, Frank McClelland came over to meet us personally and chatted briefly with France and Michael. After seeing so many raging chefs on these quasi-reality cooking shows, chef McClelland’s calm, polite demeanor was a welcome dose of reality. We were also well tended by the sommelier, Erich Schliebe, who poured a new wine with each course and freely joined in our ongoing dinner repartee. Lastly, the restaurant’s Captain, Daniel Floyd, provided us with the most attentive service I can recall in recent memory. I know this was all for the benefit of the well respected winemaker to my right, but I enjoyed being privy to the opportunity.

One of the reasons Michael Silacci and France Posener were in Boston was to premier the Opus One 2008 vintage. It was pretty cool to be among the first to try this new vintage. They brought a bottle of the award winning 2007 and the new 2008 and poured both for us to try side-by-side. The picture to the left is of last year’s vintage. Between courses and wine, conversation flowed easily from start to finish. Michael is quite interesting and is equally comfortable talking about subject matter completely unrelated to his areas of interest or expertise. He is an attentive listener and has a dry wit. One of the things I really enjoyed learning about my dinner companion is that he’s allergic to chocolate – it causes him to sneeze. He joked the better the chocolate the more he sneezes. I was able to witness the reaction first hand when dessert was served and it caused all of us to laugh (again).

Dinner was filled with both personal stories from each of us as well as some interesting insights into the Opus One winery. I started my dinner not knowing the two guests who were treating my friend and me to this decadent dinner but left with a deeper appreciation for the work and attention they bring to their wines as well as some interesting insights into what makes them tick.

Should you be interested in visiting the beautiful Opus One estate and winery, make a reservation today here.

Max Brenner opened his first shop in Boston earlier this week. In lieu of his logo which any chocoholic worth their while would recognize, I opted to include a photo of Lee, one of the friendly bartenders at Max Brenner Boston. I figure Lee’s resemblance to the corporate logo and winning smile was reason enough, but truth be told I’ve known Lee quite a while and was pleasantly surprised to see him working there and happier still to have an excuse to post his handsome picture. I believe this is the first (perhaps only) Max Brenner location in North America that has a bar. Although it may be an anomaly for Max Brenner shops, this will probably guarantee a late night crowd will keep the store full and busy and help it remain profitable. There are approximately a half dozen other chocolate shops within blocks of this store, but none offer such a large menu or remain open quite so late.

Included below are a few photographs of the new location. Click on the image to enlarge. Apparently I’m not the only chocoholic, as this table of handsome guys from the South End shows. They appeared to be enjoying their afternoon meal and were good sports to smile pretty for the camera so I couldn’t resist including the photo.