FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 23, 2010
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Harbingers of Spring,
BostonChefs.com-Style
Easter at Boston Restaurants, Lamb Lovers
United, Restaurant Week Continues
Spring officially arrived on Saturday, and from the looks of
it, Boston's chefs and diners are more than ready for it.
BostonChefs.com is
now featuring Easter events and menus from more than twenty of the area's best eateries. There are breakfast and brunch buffets galore, prix fixe menus for
Easter dinner, and live music to accompany the festivities. One local establishment is even offering its
own Easter egg hunt and a photographer to capture the moment.
The special Easter menus--most of which can be viewed on
BostonChefs.com--feature the diversity of the local chef community. At his
restaurant in the Royal Sonesta, Dante de Magistris will be serving Italian dishes
handed down to him through the generations including a quiche of ricotta,
fontina, prosciutto, and sopressata. At
Davio's, Eric Swartz and Stephen Brown have designed a menu that incorporates the
first culinary signs of spring: pea ricotta ravioli with grape tomato, garlic,
lemon zest, and pea tendrils, for example. And, for those thinking more about
Easter sweets than savories, there is a honey ricotta cheesecake at Rialto, with honey-rose
strawberries, and rose meringue, among several other offerings.
Best in Show Winner
Jim Solomon with
NECN's Billy Costa  | But Boston's avid diners weren't waiting for the official
arrival of Spring to come out of hibernation. February in Boston was dedicated to
lamb, one of the season's most beloved harbingers. In collaboration with the
American Lamb Board, BostonChefs.com organized and co-sponsored the American Lamb Jam at the Charles Hotel. Seventeen chefs presented their variations on
different cuts while ten local brewers poured beers selected to pair perfectly
with a variety of lamb dishes. According to Megan Wortman, Executive Director of the American Lamb Board, "This unique collaboration with BostonChefs.com gave us the opportunity
to celebrate American lamb with New England's top culinary talent and
showcase its extraordinary versatility."
Chef Toby T. Hill of Pain D'Avignon in Hyannis, who won the
prize for best dish made with lamb shoulder, was thrilled to be a part of the
event: "I went through 450 of my lamb burgers-Royale with Cheese-in just two
hours! I hope I'm invited back next year to defend my title or hopefully win
with one of the other cuts. Kudos to BostonChefs.com and the American Lamb
Board for producing such a quality event."
One of Toby T. Hill's 450 lamb burgers with a side of crispy onions  | Liz Melby of Harpoon Brewery expressed the sentiment of many
of the local breweries when she described how pleased she and her colleagues
were "to be pouring alongside of some of New England's finest chefs. Local
craft beer," she added, "and American lamb make a great pair."
For those who favor "the other red meat," Restaurant
Week in Boston means that the lamb love continues. Twelve area
restaurants are featuring American lamb prominently in their Restaurant Week
menus with inventive offerings like lamb sausage with pommes purée and
eggplant-beet boulangere from
Geoff Gardner at Sel de la Terre and lamb Kafta, with eggplant caviar,
tzatziki yogurt, and pomegranate glaze from Camillo Diaz at
Casablanca. For a limited time only, visitors to RestaurantWeekBoston.com can
vote in the contest "Which Dish Would Ewe Choose?"
Restaurant week
formally ends on March 26 but, according to Honor Lydon, Managing Editor of
Restaurant News on BostonChefs.com, many of the area's dining establishments
will continue to offer attractive prix fixe menus beyond restaurant week. "We'll continue to point local foodies in the direction of some great dining deals.
And before long, we'll be featuring some of the options for Mother's Day and outdoor dining." Springtime indeed!
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