Declining participation from both Boston restaurants and diners has forced the organizers of Boston Restaurant Week to do some soul searching to help breathe new life into the ailing biannual foodie event.

This year it has been rebranded as Dine Out Boston the new two week event that will run from March 16-21 and 23-28 is hoping to lure both restaurants and diners back with a tiered pricing structure that offers lunches for  $15/$20/$25 and dinners for  $28/$33/$38.

FYI – American Express will apparently offer a $5 credit on cardholder statements when they spend $21 or more on an enrolled American Express card at a participating restaurant, during Dine Out Boston. I couldn’t figure out how to enroll my card; neither Dine Out Boston nor American Express had any information.  If you figure it out, let me know.

Boston and many of the surrounding towns have no shortage of fantastic Italian pastry shops with extremely loyal customers who all swear by their favorite.  While the most famous Italian pastry shop in the area is Mikes on Hanover Street, I’ve always been partial to the Modern Pastry at 257 Hanover Street.

Last week I made a visit to the Modern and noticed that their neighbor Piccolo Venezia had closed and the Modern is expanding into the space, hooray.  Modern Pastry has operated out of the same, tiny location for more than 80 years so I can hardly wait to see how their expansion will help accommodate them and their many loyal patrons of which I am a proud member.

My recent purchase of 18 mini cannolis filled with ricotta and two lobster tails