Tag Archives: South End

After a brief second attempt Merrill & Co. has closed (again), leaving the space probably best known as the home of 28 Degrees empty. But this space in the South End will not remain vacant for long, according to the blog, Boston Restaurant Talk, Boston Nightlife Ventures (BNV) will open a new restaurant there named Akinto.

BNV is better known for their bars than cuisine in my opinion so it will be interesting to see if they can create a successful restaurant in the South End. Akinto is currently the Southeast Asian-influenced pop-up operating within BNV’s restaurant and bar, Wink & Nod, located next door so you can check out the food to get a glimpse of what may come when it opens. According to the post, Akinto is hoping for an early summer 2016 opening.

Las Ventas, a Spanish deli located at 700 Harrison Avenue, and Stella Cafe, a breakfast and luncheon cafe located next to Stella Restaurant & Bar at 1525 Washington Street have both closed.  Las Ventas closed earlier this month and according to their website the space will be remodeled for private dining and function space for Estragon. Stella Cafe closed last week but there has been no word on what will become of the space.

Last week my post New Greek restaurant coming to South End caught a lot of readers by surprise.  The restaurant’s over sized windows overlooking Shawmut Avenue in the South End now proudly proclaim that the name of the restaurant, targeting an early 2016 opening will be called, Kava Neo-Taverna.

According to my friend Michael C who grew up in Greece, Kava means ‘wine cellar’, which sounds wonderful to my ear. The more I learn about this space the happier and more excited I am that this previously empty restaurant will be opening soon to serve the South End.

The Aquitaine Group’s fifth restaurant in Boston’s South End, La Motta’s, will open to the public on Tuesday, October 27th in the space formerly occupied by Union Bar and Grille at 1357 Washington Street.

La Motta’s is described as a “Bronx-style” Italian-American restaurant, and their menu will focus on classic red sauce staples like baked clams, mozzarella sticks, meatballs, chicken parm, lasagna, shrimp scampi, and thin crust pizza.

The former home of Union is so completely redesigned you would never know it was the same space. The entrance on Washington Street was moved about 15 feet to the right and the restaurant includes a cozy 12-seat bar, 70-seat dining room and eventually a 30-seat outdoor back alley patio, which conjures images for yours truly from the Walt Disney cartoon, Lady and the Tramp.

1357 Washington St
Boston, Ma 02118
617.338.5300
www.lamottaboston.com

Photo Credit: Frenchie and The Yankee

This past weekend I arranged for a blind croissant tasting to identify which coffee shop in the South End serves the very best.  To help me, I enlisted three friends from France who now live here in the US to sample and critique croissants from five South End cafes.

Photo Credit: Frenchie and The Yankee

Cafe Madeleine (above) wins in blind tasting for best croissant in South End

Photo Credit: Frenchie and The Yankee

Croissants were judged on three criteria: size, texture and taste.  Each category was weighted differently with taste being the most important. While none of the selected cafes achieved a perfect score; Cafe Madeleine was the clear winner – consistently achieving the highest scores from everyone.

Flour in the South End finished with a respectable second place but the remaining three cafes; Wholy Grain, South End Buttery and Appleton Cafe scored very low, suggesting there is a lot of opportunity to improve.

Thank you to Sergio, David, Mark, Frederic and Olivier for all your help.

SRV (Serene Republic of Venice) is a soon to open South End, Italian restaurant. To build interest SRV will host two Pop Ups this week to offer you a “sip and a taste” of what is to come.

SRV Chefs will host the first Pop Up at the Central Square restaurant Brick and Mortar on Wednesday, September 30th from 10 pm until Midnight.  Guests may sample: nervetti fritti-beef tenderloin, black pepper and parmesan; scallop crudo; baby octopus; cippolini; and baccala montecato-black bread, herbs and garlic. The second Pop Up will take place at the South End restaurant, Toro on Thursday, October 1 from 10 pm until Midnight where guests may sample polpette-pork and veal meatballs; soft boiled quail eggs; and baccala montecato- black bread, herbs and garlic.

The small bites at both Pop Ups are complimentary and will include a cash bar, featuring signature cocktails from SRV.

SRV is now targeting a November opening at 569 Columbus Ave in the South End.

Kitchen is a cute little restaurant in the South End. When it first opened a few years back, chef and owner, Scott Herritt created a menu that paid tribute to mid-20th century cuisine (think Lobster Thermidor). While I salute Herritt’s creativity, I never found the menu appealing and only visited a couple of times.

Last week Boston Restaurant Talk reported that Kitchen has rebranded itself as a local seafood restaurant; focusing on New England seafood. The menu includes items like Portuguese fisherman stew, fried haddock sandwich, lobster casserole, etc… as well as a few non-seafood items like their double bacon cheeseburger and short ribs). You can check out their new menu here.

The South End could use a few more seafood restaurants; right now B&G is really the only option. Bravo Chef Herrit. I will definitely check out your new menu.