Sean P.'s Profile

I was so dazzled by the house porter, and smitten with the Lager BBQ wings, that I will now have to return to try every other variety of wings in their stable. Oh, and the beer too. I was well fed, well drunk and well taken care of by barkeep Maria.

This might be my new favorite breakfast place of all time. Bring your appetite. In fact, fast an entire 24 hours before eating here. The portions deserve every ounce of space in your stomach that you can muster!

The egg, cheese and meat (I chose sausage... it's just the kind of guy I am) bagel sandwich on a focaccia bagel is well worth whatever it takes to schedule a breakfast meeting in downtown Lowell.

The shop is tiny, but comfortable. It's just the remedy to a life lived on the road at Starbucks or Panera. There is nothing wrong with either of the latter, but it is nice to find a locally owned shop with just the right touches and good coffee to boot.

It had been a long time since we had dined in the theater district in Boston. The last time I had done so I think Rock Bottom Brewery was a Horsefeathers or a Bennigans or some such chain. I much prefer the Rock Bottom chain.

The beer alone is enough to keep me coming back for more, but the food was perfectly fine, too -- a notch above standard chain restaurant offerings. And given the number of times I've eaten in chain restaurants over the last three years in my business travels, I've learned to appreciate the extra touches.

For the guacamole and chips, I had not read the menu item carefully, so it was a nice surprise to see some of their homemade kettle potato chips mixed in with the blue corn chips in the chip basket. The basket struck me as a little small at first, but in the end it was the perfect amount for the three of us.

There was one snafu with the beer order. Apparently they were having trouble at the bar with the IPA tap, so it took a good 15 minutes or so for a couple of those to arrive. Once they arrived, though, all was forgiven. The beer was very good.

I ordered the half rack of ribs with the stout-based sauce -- and a stout to go with it, of course. I also asked for a Caesar salad in lieu of fries. I received both. This will seem odd, but I was disappointed with the bounty. I had no intention of eating the fries, and had purposefully substituted so I would not be tempted to overeat. C'est la vie. I kept my will power in gear.

My wife had the chicken Caesar salad, while our friend ordered the steak tips. All was well with both.

After dinner we wandered across the street to the Wilbur Theatre for the Grace Potter and the Nocturnals show. More on that on my blog:
http://www.spolay.com/...

Bottom line: Minor service issues aside, we enjoyed good food, very good beer, and a perfect locale to kick off a night on the town in Boston.

Our mission: A place not too far from Grand Central Station where three friends could meet in New York City to chat and nosh. Needed to be reasonably affordable, easy to get to, and have tasty food.

Ding, ding, and ding. We had a winner.

First, it was very easy to reach by New York standards. I emerged from the 6 subway train at the 28th Street/Park Ave. stop, and was practically already there -- just cross the street from the Ziff Davis building.

The host was accommodating and friendly. When my friend, Geoff, called for the reservation, he was asked if he spelled his name with a J or a G. Geoff never gets asked that, and immediate points were won there. Then, when Geoff and I arrived a half hour before our reservation, we were immediately offered a seat, even though our third in the party of three had not yet arrived. Who has ever heard of that in New York?

The food was very good. We took some people up on their Yelp recommendation of the bacon-wrapped dates in addition to the shrimp and chorizo skewers and cheese fritters (a.k.a. bunuelos), and split their version of a paella (Arroz de Mariscos) three ways. I will knock the dates for being more gelatenous than a version I make at home (http://www.spolay.com/...) derived from an http://Epicurious.com recipe, but they were tasty enough. The other two tapas were great.

Two of us later indulged in some churros for dessert (really the equivalent of fancy French toast sticks with the added bonus of a very delicious chocolate dipping sauce). The other had a peach tart that was a little overdone, but the accompanying ice cream made up for it.

Throw in a bottle of wine and two coffees, and the three of us escaped with a bill around $100, which we all felt was a very good deal. I see now on their Web site that they are offering half-priced bottles of wine from their entire list on Mondays and Tuesdays. I don't think we actually received that benefit on the Tuesday we were there, but that would obviously have made it that much more affordable.

Best of all? The place was not too large and not too loud, allowing three old friends to catch up with each other with relative ease and comfort.

That, truly, is was all we could ask for.

I lost track of how many times we stopped in here on our Maine vacation, given its proximity to our hotel, but every time was just-right. Whether it was the midafternoon coffee break to perk up my wife and I after a day of entertaining the children, or the outstanding granola that provided me with the perfect alternative to a vacation spent eating primarily bagels for breakfast (not that there is anything wrong with that!), there was a just enough to keep us coming back to the Portland Coffee Roasting Co.

If you read through the reviews that result from our Maine vacation, you'll notice I give a lot of credit to places who exhibited patience with our three boys, ages 10, 7 and 3.

Mister Bagel was the best in that very department. When three boys are hungry for breakfast, there's very little a parent can do to calm them down other than feed them. So the speedy service on the particular morning we stopped into this bagel shop was they best thing they could have done for us.

Add to that the immensely satisfying, giant chocolate chip muffins the boys craved, and the outstanding bacon-and-scallion cream cheese for the adults, and you have a perfect recipe for a satisfying vacation breakfast. Mister Bagel is definitely all that!

This turned into the perfect lunch spot after spending the morning at the nearby Portland Children's Museum. The Pizzata -- a tomato and basil bruschetta -- was as fresh as could be, while the chicken Casear salad was just right. Our boys enjoyed their kids' meals, too.

The hostess and the wait staff was tremendously helpful, friendly and patient, considering how amped up -- and hungry -- our children were after the museum experience. We couldn't thank them enough for their attentiveness and speed.

Atmospherically, this place was just fine for a family of 5 to stop in for lunch as we meandered down Route 1 on the way back from our Downeast vacation.

The food, though, was perfectly bland, and the menu was an odd mix of Mexican, seafood and pub fare. The chef seemed to be trying too hard to be too many things to too many people.

If we ever find ourselves in Belfast again, we'll seek other options.

The "Tselikis" Pizza was aces, though I still couldn't tell you how to pronounce the name. Luckily, the bartender/waitress was very helpful -- and very patient with our rambunctious children. The pizza was great that night, and the half I brought back to the hotel room was even better for lunch the next day.

On a Friday night, this was the only place along Commercial Street that did not have a wait, which met our hungry children's needs perfectly. It seemed as if Andy's had been recently renovated and/or reinvented, so perhaps it's not on the tourist radar yet.

The other highlight was the side order of fresh-made kettle chips, enjoyed voraciously by everyone in the family. I'd return just for another order of those.

The lowlight? The local vagrant who camped near our table with the worst case of body odor you've ever laid a nose on. Worse was the fact that we were seated near the door, and the breeze was perfectly aligned to send the scent our way. The good news was he only stopped by our table occasionally for a sip of beer, before returning to the stoop to chain smoke. One can only hope he was only passing through, and is not a regular customer.