Greetings!

Here's our monthly update for our colleagues in the food press. We're especially excited about our Easter dining section this year. Feel free to call me for more information on this or any other BostonChefs.com features.

Best,
Honor M. Lydon

BostonChefs.com - Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 23, 2010
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
Jim Solomon Receives A Check in the Name of His Charity
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
Toby T Hill's Award-Winning Lamb Burger
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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For more information
Honor Lydon 
honor@bostonchefs.com
p: 617-441-8600