Our tour of Quincy had a luxurious pit stop at one of my favorite haunts, Alba Restaurant!  In a nutshell, Owner Leo Keka knows how to do everything right when if comes to gourmet greatness!  Alba is located at 1486 Hancock Street- with free valet parking every night.  If the weather is nice, be sure to go upstairs to the rooftop deck- you’ll be back!

As the Self Proclaimed Queen of calimari, I have decided I know a thing or two about my favorite app.  Alba’s calimari is to die for! The menu describes it as Crispy Calamari with pickled jalepenos, chipotle aioli, and smoked paprika. For the record, I describe it as Heavenly!  You’ll see it’s not too heavy, made with just enough batter, the rings and tentacles are just chewy enough..and the spices, super wow! Try it and you’ll agree!

Last Saturday the SSL entourage headed to Italy, I mean Scituate to dine at Riva’s on Front Street [aka my hometown]. Although it had been a little while, I’d definately eaten there before and always enjoyed it. But this time something was different. The bartender Jay, is now the owner and the Executive Chef Brett is now leading the flavors and the waitress Cara is marrying Brett and Danielle the veteran server who has been there since the start [she came from The North End with the original owner] is the mom of not one, but two, of the delightful waitresses — Gabby and Bianca. So in addition to exceptional flavors, the place feels like everyone knows your name. And I’m pretty sure it boasts the only [not closed in] sidewalk cafe in Scituate. TK Omalley’s a few door’s down has a patio, but that doesn’t cast the same sidewalk eatery feel. (more…)

The SSL entourage also visited Phins Restaurant on Saturday night, while we were sampling the tastes of the Irish Riviera [aka Scituate]. Phins was named in honor of Phineas Pratt —one of the first colonists in Massachusetts who arrived in the Scituate Harbor in 1622. So 387 years later, his great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great……great relative is the proud owner and chef — Aaron Pratt. Aaron opened the restaurant with a superb Front Street location in 2007.

There to meet and greet us as we entered Saturday night was the hostess who is also his fiance — Christine. Love must be in the air in Scituate as it was our second chef engagement that night. Christine tells us the wedding is on for September! (more…)

Last week Tina called in and asked “What’s the name of that new restaurant coming to Milton?”

Well Tina – we looked and we found 2 new ones:

#1 a restaurant called 88 Wharf is coming to Milton Landing this month [July]. Looks like it might be an upscale bistro with Mediterranean and American cuisine, overlooking the Neponset River

#2 Across town, is a restaurant called Abby Park also opening this month [July]. It’s at 550 Adams Street in the former Videos to Go spot in East Milton Square near the Southeast Expressway. The website says to expect American cuisine and it looks yummy from the photos. http://www.abbypark.com/

Thanks for calling in Tina!

The Entourage hit Caffe Tosca in Hingham and a fun time was had by all! It was a gorgeous night on the south shore and we got an early start to our evening – because we knew we had a lot of eating ahead of us! We met Chef Tony for a quick hello before we sat by the window for our meal. With tasty libations from the bar in hand we were treated to our first course: a chilled strawberry soup with basil. This dish is from the lunch menu but Chef Tony knew we’d love it – and it was amazing. With a silky texture, the fresh strawberry soup was so delicious and light. The shredded basil was the most surprising but most perfect compliment!
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