Travel Tales

Our own island in the sun

  Mexico and Anguilla lie six miles off our shore

The Wesley House is a Victorian gem with the best "porch view" in New England, see aerial as bottom.

  An historic, Victorian Hotel, Caribbean Grilled Snapper and Viva Zapotec

By Walter & Pat Brooks

A '59 Morris  looked right at home in front of the Wesley House during last weekend's Boston Roadsters rally.

You'll be amazed at the quality, quantity and low prices at Zapotec opposite the Flying Horses on Kennebec Ave.

A bar is a bar is a bar, but the Zapotec's is a charmer.

The best mussels from Maine to Mazatlan.

You may not be able to finish the huge fish tacos, green rice and beans.

You won't recognize the former Pomodoro, now Deon's, Restaurant at the end of Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs.

Chef Deon Thomas has turned it into a crisp, cutting edge eatery with Caribbean tastes muted for Yankees.

This may best the best fish dish in the Bay State.

And all thie art isn't on Deon's walls - here's how his Key Lime Pie is presented.

Price meets pleasure this season in Oak Bluffs.

While nabobs and literati from around the world consider Martha's Vineyard nonpareil, many Cape Codders never venture the six miles across Nantucket Sound to visit this priceless gem of an island.

Martha's Vineyard is the 57th largest island in the United States and third largest on the eastern seaboard.

The rich and famous visit during its summer months including the likes of Bill and Hilary Clinton, and many refer to the island as "Hollywood East."

Cuttyhunk in the nearby Elizabeth Islands originally got named Martha's Vineyard by the discoverer of Cape Cod, Bartholomew Gosnold, who sailed to that island in 1602, but the name was soon transferred to the larger island across Vineyard Sound, and it is the eighth oldest surviving English place-name in the U.S.

A frugal Vineyard visit

A study by the Martha's Vineyard Commission found that the cost of living on the island is 60 percent higher than the national average and housing prices are 96 percent higher, yet staying there and dining well does not have to be a costly experience if you follow our suggestions.

Wesley House, 70 Lake Avenue, Oak Bluffs

If we had a billion to blow, we would still always stay at the Wesley House. It is quite simply The Vineyard personified, and the rooms go for as low as $140 in Spring and Fall rising to $230 in "the season" which is June 19-September 12.

And this is for a hotel which looms over Oak Bluffs' fascinating and busy harbor with Cape Cod across Nantucket Sound beyond. The Brooks' Rule of Travel # 8 is "all hotel rooms look the same when the lights are out", so we prefer saving a hundred or more each night and spending it on a good dinner or entertainment.

The only drawback is my reluctance to leave the Wesley's spacious porch with it's rocking chairs and free coffee 24/7. See the aerial photo below.

The incredible Vineyard Transportation Authority buses stop for you in front of the hotel, and the bike path to Edgartown starts behind the hotel and the old Methodist Campground.

The island is served by four boat lines; the Steamship Authority, the Island Queen and Patriots Boats from Famouth, and the HyLine Boats from Hyannis as well as Cape Air from Barnstable Airport and Boston.

Zapotec, an authentic bargain

I love spicy food, but almost always find myself disappointed after eating Mexican. That was not the case at the Zapotec last weekend.

The new owner, Cybele Sprague, has bounced around Hispanic kitchens in L.A. and Mexico long enough to figure out the right way to please palates without sacrificing authentic Mexican tastes.

My wife, for instance, dotes on mussels, and she's savored them across the globe from Haiti to Hanoi, and she insists the Cybelle's Zapotec Mussels steamed in garlic, cilantro and sweet chioptle cream served with big hunks of crusty French bread, were the best ever.

At $11.99 you may not have room for more food.

If you do, try the Fish Tacos served with green rice and beans for $13.99 or the Poblano Chili Rellenos stuffed with her signature corn and cheese filling served on a bed of roasted, red pepper sauce, $11.99.

This cafe serves lunch and dinner in a casual atmosphere. It has typical southwestern decor including walls colored in shades of orange, purple and red. Cactus plants, strings of chili peppers and pieces by southwestern artisans complete the room which seats 40. It's at 14 Kennebec Avenue, Oak Bluffs, (508) 693-6800.

Deon's, Caribbean elegance

It took a fire at his restaurant in West Tisbury combined with the worst pizzas this side of Galway to get Chef Deon Thomas his new restaurant at the upper end of Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs.

After nine years up island and many more in his restaurant in Anguilla, Deon has turned the former Pomodoro Pizzeria (where I had the worse pizza in my life last September) into an elegant bistro with his unique treatment of Caribbean dishes rearranged for New England tastes.

We're talking a whole Garlic Crusted Red Snapper, $28, and Goat Shoulder Curry, $25, plus Jerk Pork, $14, Conch Fritters, $14, and Conch Chowder, $10.

Deon's has only been open since Memorial Weekend, but not only is everything prepared superbly,  the wait staff is attentive and helpful as if they had been there a decade.

Deon's Restaurant is at 53 Circuit Avenue, Oak Bluffs, (508) 696-0001.

As Jacqueline Sexton reported in her Chilmark column in the Vineyard Times, "Islanders frequently vacation on other islands, and Anguilla, a British colony in the Caribbean, is the latest popular destination, according to Bill and Betty Haynes, who recently visited there. Deon Thomas, chef at The Cornerway in West Tisbury who has a restaurant, The Overlook, there, keeping in touch with his Caribbean cuisine. Menemsha summer visitor Jimmy Buffet was there last month giving a concert "for 1,000 people in enough space for about 100." A number of other families from around the Island were also spotted. If you're seeking the unspoiled quality of the Island, hurry to get there soon before the condos and other ephemera of resort life eclipse all vestiges of the simple life."

Deon was also extolled in One Paper  thus, "Perched on a cliff high above the bustling harbor of Sandy Ground, Chef Deon Thomas' popular and friendly eatery showcases flavorful dishes that combine local and continental cuisine with a sure hand and a distinct flair. This cheerful, casual joint, painted in orange and blue, is decorated in island art. Soups stand out: try the carrot and apple or pumpkin to start, or perhaps a refreshingly brash gazpacho topped with a basil-worcestershire granit.

"At dinner, main courses like roasted grouper curry with coconut-mango chutney or braised goat with fragrant rice and peas reflect local flavors, while international touches yield such dishes as oven-crisp duck with chambord sauce or roasted rack of lamb with rosemary and eggplant tomato ragout. Closed in summer, when Thomas cooks for lucky fans on Martha's Vineyard."

Final food note

The only other food suggestion we have is the Brazilian restaurant Tropical in Vineyard Haven where we had an egg and cheese sandwich on toasted French bread including coffee for $2.99.

That's frugal.

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Boston, beef, baseball and breakfast

  Capital Grill is a steak lover paradise

 In case you've heard that beef is passe, you will discover how untrue that is when you visit the Capital Grille in Boston where the sight of a Kona Steak like this will set your digestive juice churning.

 Especially when you add the Red Sox and the Lansdowne Pub

By Walter and Pat Brooks

Looking out our window of the Howard Johnson hotel on Boylston Street we could almost touch Fenway Park.

The Landsdowne Pub is in the shadow of Fenway's serves and authenic Irish Breakfast $13.

And the Sliders were absolutely indescribably marvelous and all three for $9.

Lansdowne's entrees are great, the top on is Sherald's Pie $12 and below the Fish Pot Pie $14.

Dinner at Capital Grill included a dynamite Porterhouse Steak of Herculean proportions.

The Capital Grille is at 359 Newbury Street.

I'm sure that there is a recession somewhere, but there were no signs of one evident in Boston last weekend when we dined at The Capital Grille on Newbury Street, in Boston and stayed at a sold-out and very affordable hotel on Boylston Street literally a few feet from Fenway Park.

After two Red Sox games and another dinner and breakfast at a great new restaurant named the Landsdowne Pub in the shadow of "the Green Monster" in left field, we were sure that the economy is on the up-swing because everyone of these places was teeming with customers.

The best beef this side of Texas

The Capital Grille may be relatively new to Boston, but not to steak lovers. My wife and I both had excellent steaks shown above and on right below, and we especially liked the Pan Sautéed Calamari with Cherry Peppers.

The calamari is sautéed in garlic butter until golden crisp, then tossed with a house blend of peppers and scallions for a fiery finish.

It's always a special treat when you run into a favorite food prepared this differently. We fought over the last morsals.

The grille is at the head of Newbury Street a few feet from Massachusetts Avenue.

From July 13 to August 23, The Capital Grille is launching an exclusive Master Wine Tasting Event, offering guests the rare opportunity to enjoy generous pours of extraordinary wines with their meals. Hand-selected by The Capital Grille's Master Sommelier George Miliotes, the sampling ($10 at lunch and $25 at dinner) features four of the world's most renowned wine regions: Argentina, South Africa, Spain and the Napa Valley.

Patrons will also have the rare opportunity to win one of two week-long voyages to world-class wineries, personally guided by Miliotes.

See The Capital Grille menu.

See Fenway from your hotel room

Can you believe there is a very affordable hotel literally steps away from Fenway Park?

The Howard Johnson Boston on Boylston Street behind Fenway Park offers rates at just $129 a night, and it is so close to Fenway that guests can watch the Red Sox players as they enter the field for batting practice.

It's perfect for out of town fans, who can celebrate a Red Sox victory with out breaking the bank or having to worry about traveling home.

And with parking costing $40 near the park, you save that much off your hotel bill, and when night games end around 10 pm you can be in bed before the rest of the fans has gotten to their cars for that hour and a half drive back to the Cape around midnight.

15 minute stroll to Newbury Street

The hotel is opposite the Fenway public gardens  and its beautiful flowers. It took us fifteen minutes to stroll from the hotel to the Capital Grille on Newbury Street for dinner before the game.

The Fenway gardens are Boston's equivalent to our "Victory Gardens" full of vegetables, but here the gardens are exclusively floral and there must be a hundred separate private plots across from the hotel.

Pat and I have stayed at 5-star hotels in over 200 countries, and we no longer need the posh and expensive surroundings inherent in a $00 a night bedroom.

We have discovered a new truism; all hotels rooms are the same when you are asleep.

Dinner and breakfast in the shadow of the "Green Monster"

We discovered a new restaurant on the other side of Fenway Park on Lansdowne Street called the Landsdowne Pub.

Until our visit to this new bistro we always had dinner when we went to Sox games over in Kendall Square, but this place is several times better.

The menu at The Lansdowne Pub offers something for every taste, with an emphasis on authentic Irish fare.

Starters include Potato Skins, Oysters, Irish Sliders, and Salmon Cakes, while salad and sandwich options range from Greens and Bacon to Ploughman's Lunch to a Portobello Burger.

Entrees include Fish & Chips, Shepard's Pie, Irish Stew, and Gaelic Steak. Ireland enthusiasts will certainly appreciate the venue's list of traditional side dishes, such as Mushy Peas, Irish Bacon, and Boxty Potato Cakes, along with nightly specials like Traditional Irish Roast, Bangers & Mash, Baked Irish Ham, and Oyster Dinner with Guinness Sausage.

The Lansdowne's signature menu items are its selection of Pot Pies, which come in Chicken, Fish, and Beef Guinness varieties, as well as Deep Fried Mars Bars, a dessert not for the faint of heart.

Along with a full bar, there are 35 bottled and 11 draft beers - including a perfectly poured Guinness - with which to wash down all that Irish goodness.

See the complete Landsdowne menu here.

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What Recession? Boston's better bistros are booming

  Stephanie's on Newbury is still five stars and climbing

The scene on this warm, Friday evening on Newbury Street in Boston fairly describes what this classy city and its best dining is all about. Stephanie's had a half hour wait both inside and out.

By Walter and Patricia Brooks

And the new Stephi's on Tremont is on a par with her older sibling

The corner of Newbury and Exeter Streets in Boston's Bay Bay has been an oasis for that gastronomic impossibility "Sophisticated Comfort Food" ever since Stephanie Sokolove opened her first Stephanie's there fifteen years ago.

The simply "WOW" pan roasted native cod over corn chowder and herb roasted potatoes, topped with buttermilk onion strings.

And the crispy half duck Asian barbeque sauce, fried noodle pillow and sautéed baby bok choy.

And now she has a second equally charming restaurant in the South End at 571 Tremont Street which we write about towards the bottom of this review.

Dining in Boston used to force a choice between posh and peasant, gourmet or "gosh that's good", but not at bistros like Stephanie's where she combined the rich with the rustic for a marvelous new dining experience.

Stephanie's is not about nouveau haute cuisine, not exotic fare, but carefully constructed comfort food for the casual dinner who wants is all.

Over the years the menu has only improved as she discovered new ways to satisfy a longing for grandma's table with an entire 21st. century menu made from scratch using only the best seasonal ingredients.

I began with the very hot and spicy jumbo Asian chicken wings in a honey sesame glaze served with napa cabbage slaw, $12.95.

My wife surcumbed to the enormous red beet and Vermont goat cheese salad with poached asparagus, chick peas, toasted walnuts, pickled onions, chopped tomatoes, sourdough croutons and baby spinach. tossed with orange mustard vinaigrette, $16.95.

She couldn't begin to finish it, but it made a great lunch for us both the next day.

On to the entrées

I really wanted to have the Cuban sandwich of roasted pork, sliced ham, pickles and Swiss cheese on griddled French bread with roasted garlic mayonnaise and spicy homemade ketchup, served with French fries and coleslaw, $16.95, but since we were here for dinner, I passed and instead ordered as good a fish dish as I ever had, the pan roasted native cod over corn chowder and herb roasted potatoes, topped with buttermilk onion strings, $25.95.

The server suggested Pat try the simply "WOW" crispy half duck in an Asian barbeque sauce, fried noodle pillow and sautéed baby bok choy which was enough for two people, $28.95.

And now, another Stephanie called Stephi's on Tremont

The amazing Arepa Con Chorizo Columbian style.

Salty Pretzel Crusted Crab Cake Benedict.

A five minute drive west from the Boston Common on Tremont Street brings you to the South End and Stephanie's new bistro.

The scene above was on Sunday around 1pm when the sidewalk was crowded with locals waiting to get into this six weeks old restaurant.

Luckily we had reservations, and after a Bayou Bloody Mary absolut pepper, tomato juice, spices, tom olives, garnished with a jumbo shrimp and old baby rim, 16.00, I plowed into an amazing Arepa Con Chorizo Columbian style corn cake and grilled chorizo sausage, topped with 2 eggs sunny side up and roasted pico de gallo, $12.

Patricia really loved the Salty Pretzel Crusted Crab Cake Benedict jumbo lump crab cakes with crushed pretzel crust topped with poached eggs and whole grain mustard hollandaise, $15.

It was very tempting to go nuts and try the Stephi's Meatloaf Hash made of their famous meatloaf sauteed with onions, mushrooms and peppers, topped with 2 fried eggs, served with gravy and hollandaise, 15.

Here's the rest of the brunch menu

Brunch Specialties
New England Clam Chowder, 7.00
Chef's Choice Soup, 7.00
Ahi Tuna Tartare sashimi grade tuna served with sesame poached tomatoes, whipped avocado,
chipotle chili soy sauce and lime vinaigrette, 13.00
Turkey Reuben Panini thinly sliced house roasted turkey on marble rye with melted swiss
cheese, coleslaw and russian dressing, served with french fries, 13.00
Thai Chicken Roll - Up pan seared thai spiced chicken breast wrapped in toasted lavash
with shredded carrots, cucumbers, romaine lettuce, bean sprouts and coconut peanut
sauce, served with asian slaw, 12.00
Corey's French Onion Panini shaved prime rib, melted swiss cheese and sherry braised
onions on sour dough, served with onion soup dip and french fries, 14.00
Croque Senora baked open faced sandwich of serrano ham, manchego cheese, fried egg
and creamy bechamel sauce on buttered brioche, 14.00
Fresh Fruit Salad seasonal melons, pineapple, watermelon and berries, topped with yogurt
and homemade granola, 14.00
Crunchy Vegetable Salad a healthy and fresh mix of thin sliced carrots, sweet cucumbers,
celery, shaved cauliflower, red peppers tossed with baby arugula and lemon feta vinaigrette, 14.00
add 3 grilled shrimp, 10.00
add grilled chicken, 6.00
Newbury Street Chunky Chicken Salad a classic since 1994. roasted chicken, mayonnaise,
toasted almonds and capers on a bed of field greens with sliced tomatoes and irish
soda bread, 14.00
Pecan Goat Cheese Fritter Salad served over field greens with spiced pecans, sliced
pears, brioche croutons and balsamic vinaigrette, 15.00
Roast Turkey Club Goes Salad house roasted turkey, aged cheddar cheese, smoky bacon,
thick sliced tomato, ripe avocado and brioche croutons served with romaine and iceberg
lettuces and whole grain mustard vinaigrette, 15.00
Classic Stephi Burger ground sirloin topped with cheddar cheese, caramelized onions,
thick bacon and sauteed mushrooms on brioche bun, served with french fries, 14.00
Buttermilk Pancakes served with real maple syrup and cinnamon honey butter, 12.00
with choice of : blueberry, banana brown sugar, cranberry granola, chocolate chip, cinnamon
rum raisin, 14.00
Arepa Con Chorizo columbian style corn cake and grilled chorizo sausage, topped with 2
eggs sunny side up and roasted pico de gallo., 12.00
Meatloaf Hash our famous meatloaf sauteed with onions, mushrooms and peppers,
topped with 2 fried eggs, served with gravy and hollandaise, 15.00
Cheddar, Ham And Biscuit Sandwich shaved black forest ham, melted cheddar cheese
and fig jam, served on a buttermilk biscuit with hot southern grits, 12.00
Really Good French Toast thick cut brioche dipped in traditional egg batter wit vanilla,
cinnamon and sugar served with real maple syrup,. 12.00
Belgian Waffle with fresh berries, whipped cream and real maple syrup, 12.00
Tower Of A Bagel With Smoked Salmon thinly sliced smoked salmon, whipped cream
cheese, red onion, capers and salmon roe sandwiched in a toasted everything bagel, 14.00
Classic Egg Benedict shaved black forest ham, poached egg, and hollandaise served atop
baked english muffins,  14.00
Salty Pretzel Crusted Crab Cake Benedict jumbo lump crab cakes with crushed pretzel
crust topped with poached eggs and whole grain mustard hollandaise, 15.00
3 Egg Omelet 3 large farm fresh egg with your choice of: black forest ham, and aged chedda, 10.00
spinach, tomato and feta, 10.00
braised short rib and parmesan, 12.00
smoked salmon, fried capers and chive cream cheese, 12.00

Brunch Cocktails
Stephi's Mimosa champagne and fresh squeezed orange juice, 10.00
The Executive Mimosa champagne, stoli orange vodka, cointreau and fresh squeezed
orange juice served on the rocks, 13.00
Stephi's Famous Bloody Mary vodka, tomato juice, secret spice mix, celery and old day
rim, 11.00
Bayou Bloody Mary absolut pepper, tomato juice, spices, tom olives, garnished with a
jumbo shrimp and old baby rim, 16.00

Sides: $4
Home Fries
Ruby Red Grapefruit Brulee
Apple Wood Smoked Bacon
Breakfast Sausage

Breads
Toast, 3.00
Pecan Sticky Bun, 5.00
Toasted Bagel with cream cheese, 4.00
Buttermilk Biscuits, 4.00
Fresh Baked Muffin, 5.00
Baguette with house made jams and whipped cream cheese, 6.00

• Stephanie's on Newbury, 190 Newbury Street, Boston, (617) 236-0990
  
• Stephi's on Tremont, 571 Tremont Street, Boston, (617)
  
• On the Phantom Gourmet video on Stephanie's.
  

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A weekend in the heart of the Faneuil Hall area

Location, location, location, plus incredible food and free entertainment

From the patio on our floor we look down on the weekly Haymarket Square outdoor food tents with the new Rose Kennedy Greenway built atop the Big Dig and Boston's famous North End beyond.

The new Millennium Bostonian boutique hotel has it all

By Walter & Patricia Brooks

The view from our seventh floor window at night...

...looks out on a teeming Faneuil Hall & Quincy  Marketplace scene bustling with activiteis including...

..free enterainment outside the historic market building like this stand-up comic in front of Quincy Market.

The rooms also offer views of Faniuel Hall.

Our table at 26 North looked out on the Faneuil Hall scene with horse drawn carriages & the Quincy Market.

The food at North 26 was spectacular and original. Above is the Shellfish Stew and Cod Maedallions.

The Rose Kennedy Greenway separate the hotel in the backgound right with the North End.

...where you can sample an Italian espresso and pastry at Maria's, one of dozens of old world eateries here.

The Haymarket stalls crowd up against the hotel,

The scene on Saturday from our balciny.

It's difficult to believe that after a hundred weekend visits to Boston hotels, we have discovered something really new and different.

Overlooking Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, the new Millennium Bostonian is the ideal location for discovering all that the historic and unique city of Boston has to offer.

In addition to being brand-new with stylish with spacious guestrooms and suites - the rooms all feature high-quality details such as pillow-top beds, Frette linens and 40-inch high-definition televisions - the property is smack dab in the middle of more exitement than perhaps any other New England hotel or resort.

$24 million renovation

The new Millennium Bostonian has just completed a $24 million renovation including the guestrooms, lobby, restaurant and courtyard driveway entrance.

The hotel's exciting new dining venue, North 26 Restaurant and Bar, features contemporary New England cuisine, and the entire property's design was inspired by the pulse of the marketplace outside offering a contemporary look in a comfortable, 21st. century atmosphere.

The North 26 restaurant looks out directly at all the bustling activities at Quncy Market and Faneuil Hall.

Our dinner at North 26

The dinner menu at North 26 is eclectic with prices below average for a Boston hotel.

Chef Brian Flagg worked for years with Jasper White and Todd English, arguably two of New England's most esteemed food innovators, and his experience tells in his completely original menu here. Every item is a creation of Flagg's, and the execution matches the taste and the service.

Manger Ruben Estrada is a great host, and our server Fernando was witty as well as helpful.

We started with Boston Bean & Pancetta Soup with house cured pancetta, navy beans, leeks and thyme with Swiss chard-pinenut raft, $7, and a Mixed baby greens salad with roasted beets, oranges, pecan-crusted croutons and citrus vinaigrette, $8.

We shared two appetizers, Cornmeal-crusted Oysters, crisp fried with creamed corn and a BBQ ldrizzle, $10 and Pork & Cape Cod littlenecks pan-braised with Black Beans, Cilantro and Chilies, $11. Both were excellent.

For entrees I thoroughly enjoyed North 26's Herb-crusted North Atlantic Cod medallions served over Crab Scallion Cream with Red Beet Risotto & shredded kale, $23.

My wife loved the New England Shellfish Stew with included Lobster, Clams, Mussels, Scallops, Squid & Chourizo in a Saffron Tomato Broth, $27.

The desserts were too outrageous to describe, but here's the menu if you want to guess which excess defeated our resolves to stop eating.

Lunch is a window on this lively world with prices from $11 for sandwiches and $15 for entrees.

After dinner or lunch you can unwind in front of a gas-burning fireplace set before original art installations and a quiet reading area, or walk across the street to explore over 125 shops and restaurants. The property is minutes away from Logan Airport, Boston Harbor, the New England Aquarium, North End restaurants and the Freedom Trail.

Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall

Renovated in 1976, this shopping area has been used as a model in other cities for urban renewal projects.

The original historic Quincy Market building was completed in 1826.

It's a beautiful old granite structure that is 535 feet long, and the style is Grecian-Doric with huge columns at each end. The building was built during Mayor Josiah Quincy's term of 1823-1828, and was named after him.

Samuel Adams Drake quotes Quincy as saying the market: "invested the sluggish town with new life, and brought into practical use a new watchword, Progress." Those words were true in 1826 as the are today.

The central building now houses restaurants, bars, and push-cart vendors with greenhouse style enclosures on both sides. There are boutiques and shops in buildings surrounding the granite centerpiece. Faneuil Hall Marketplace (Quincy Market) is a great location to dine, shop, and people-watch.

There are free events in the area between the market and Faneuil Hall, with artists and entertainers often at the Faneuil Hall end of the building. It's a bustling place, and a very popular tourist attraction.

Faneuil Hall and is bordered by the financial district, the waterfront, the North End, Government Center and Haymarket. It is a well-traveled part of Boston's "Freedom Trail." The Marketplace is a five-minute walk to the New England Aquarium, The Children's Museum, The Old State House, and Paul Revere's House.

Rose Kennedy Greenway & North End

The Rose Kennedy Greenway is a mile and a half long series of parks and public spaces being created atop the Big Dig in which begins near the Millennium hotel and extends to the Aquarium and Children's Museum.

The greenway was named in honor of Kennedy family matriarch Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and officially dedicated on July 26, 2004,

Two minutes away on the other side of the Kennedy Greenway (which was created above the Big Dig) is the North End, Boston's oldest neighborhood which still retains its 1630's web of narrow streets and is itself next to Boston's harbor wharves where European immigrants arrived in ever-increasing numbers up to the early 20th century.

The North End, in fact, brings to mind the New World phenomenon of an ethnic melting pot. Covering one square mile and always densely populated, it has been home to successive influxes of English, Polish, Russian, Jewish, Portuguese, Irish and ultimately Italian families.

Today it remains an authentic Italian neighborhood with hundreds of great restaurants and coffee houses.

We walked over both days to shop in these unique Italian markets, and had superb espresso and gelato at Maria's Pastry Shop overlooking the Greenway.

 Haymarket Square

Haymarket Square is a busy open-air produce market held each Friday afternoon and Saturday from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. rain or shine, all year long and begins alonside the Millennium Bostonian.

The Haymarket produce market is a real-world contrast to the more upscale offerings of the food shops, restaurants and boutiques of adjoining Faneuil Hall Marketplace next to it.

The market is centered on short, narrow Blackstone Street, and most of the costermongers (vendors) are oldtimers from the North End's Italian community. Some have been working the market for decades, and some families have done it for generations.

Prices are much lower than in supermarkets. Haggling is almost always possible, especially late in the day when prices fall as the sellers would rather sell than pack up, carry away and store what's left on the carts.

It's a colorful scene, and authentic. Most shoppers are not here to take photos but to shop for food for big families and to save money.

The Millennium Boston.

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Make-over of a 118 year old Boston Grand Dame

The Copley Square Hotel is Boston latest boutique reinvention
17 Million make-over restores it beyond its original glory

By Walter and Patricia Brooks

The Copley Square Hotel faces Copley Place.

The bedrooms are very snappy, Art Deco with...

...the fastest Wi-Fi access I've ever found in any hotel

The breakfast area is as smart as the rest of the hotel.

Directly a across Huntington Avenue from the best shopping in Boston at Copley Place  and a block from the shops at Prudential, the sparkling new Copley Square Hotel is truly a re-polished,  historic gem located in the heart of Boston's Back at the corner of Exeter Street.

It has the distinction of being the city’s second-oldest hotel in continuous operation.

opened on July 4, 1891 at a total cost of  $300,000, or less than 2% of the cost to renovate today.

After its $17 million renovation and reinvention which turned the C2 into a delightful boutique hotel, guests
will have luxurious accommodations at an undeniably attractive rate at Boston's hottest contemporary boutique hotel.

Copley is also a block from Boylston Street and two blocks from Newbury Street shops and easy walking distance to many of the city's most popular restaurants, nightspots, and attractions,

Perhaps best of all in these recessionary times, the Copley Square Hotel offers visitors these unique opportunities while
enjoying ome of the most competitive hotel rates Boston has to offer.

The newly redecorated room rates start at $225, and a Deluxe King room shown on right is only $249.

Take a Spring Break

Take a spring break without breaking the bank at this sparkling new urban oasis.

Leave the tropical oils and bathing suits behind, and get ready to relax and party at the Copley Square Hotel.

Hook up with a friend for some clubbing followed by some do-not-disturb late night action and get in 2 it without worrying about your friends barging in.

Package includes a King Deluxe room (on right), breakfast for 2 at Xhale, 2 cocktails and an appetizer at the miniBar, VIP access to Saint, one of Boston's most exclusive nightclubs, and 2 passes to FitCorp to work off your excesses from the night before.

Each additional night will be 20% off the best available rate. The package is available through April 16, 2009.

The latest word in hospitality

I have developed a "Brooks' Hotel Rule #1" which postulates that the higher priced the hotel room rates, the fewer the free amenities and the higher the price for online access.

Copley Square however follows the 21st Century trend of offering fast wired access everywhere and at no cost.

And every evening from 5 to 6, the hotel hosts a "Wine Down" time offering guests a glass of wine in the lobby.

My pet peeve at every the five star hotel is the time when coffee is available for guests.

That's not a problem here since the Copley Square has a Keurig coffee maker in the handsome lobby which makes freshly brewed one-cup-at-a-time coffee of your choice and is available 24/7.

Past is present

In its hayday the hotel was the election headquarters for President William McKinley, and has hosted many celebrities including sports legend Babe Ruth and jazz artists Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington,  so the new Art Deco decor is a happy aura for their ghosts.

On January 24, 2008, the Copley Square Hotel closed for a multi-million dollar property-wide renovation - emerging in January 2009 as a contemporary, luxury boutique hotel. The extensive project included thorough remodeling of all accommodations, as well as the lobby, restaurant, and miniBar (formerly Domani and the Original Sports Saloon).

Copley Square is one of five Massachuetts hotels owned by International Hotel and Resorts.

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Beef bonanza at {B}urtons

Boston Boylston St. bistro is a four-bagger

The atmosphere is near perfect at Burtons Grill, two blocks from Fenway Park. The bar on left encourages social networking, and the over 200 seat dining areas are broken up into bite-sized nooks and crannies.

Fenway's newest watering hole is a Big League winner

By Walter and Patricia Brooks

For starters we shared the Thai Shrimp Lettuce Wraps -
shrimp, baby corn, water chestnuts, carrots, celery, snap peas, red onion and cilantro, in a sweet and spicy sauce and nestled in lettuce cups, topped with crispy rice noodles, $10.95, and the Philly Spring Rolls - tender diced sirloin, onions, provolone, American cheese, hand wrapped and fried, served with onion rings and a zesty dipping sauce, $9.95.

And then we split a Wedge Salad - iceberg lettuce & beefsteak tomatoes topped with roquefort dressing, red onions, applewood bacon & blue cheese. That's a half portion above.

But it was until we got to the Filet Mignon,- 9 oz. aged angus beef, seasoned and grilled, served with worcestershire herb butter {medium well & well done filets are served as two medallions} that we were in carnivore paradise, $32.95.

Burtons version of the florida classic Key Lime Pie, two creamy layers surrounded by a granola crust and topped with fresh whipped cream and the best Passion Fruit Sorbet ever.

We came back for Sunday Brunch for the succulent Burton Burger, $12.95, with applewood smoked bacon, sauteed mushrooms, onions and cheese and the Chicken over Risotto.

On a corner of Boylston Street, an infield fly distance from Fenway Park, the latest addition to the Burtons Grill group scores runs for atmosphere, food and beverages.

The wine list is deep, the menu a hit and the prices Little League in a town of Big League priced eateries.

Last weekend we reviewed {B}urtons Grill twice, for dinner and Sunday Brunch.

{D}inner

When we do restaurant reviews it's always a double play - my wife and I "double-team" and we each order different dishes for every course and share each one to be able to report on twice as many selections in half the time.

Since my Cape Codder wife is a fish fancier, I usually get the lion's share of the carnivore half of each menu.

But not at {B}urtons.

After I offered her the required one bite of my Filet Mignon, she insisted we change plates saying "this is the best filet I've ever tasted."

I mean, this women never eats beef, but she said Burtons' steak and the Half-Pound Bacon, Cheeseburger she had at brunch on our next visit, were "melt in your mouth" great.

But vying for our attention was the biggest roasted Sweet Potato we ever saw, and it  was swimming with buttery, brown sugar. The photo on the right will give you an idea of its size as it snuggles next to a 9 ounce Filet Mignon.

The Encrusted Haddock she ordered (but I ate) was excellent as well, but General Manager Bridget Kelly explained that not only was the filet cut the best available, the secret was Worcester Butter melted atop as it was broiled.

{A}ppie attitude

Forgive the entrée enthusiasm - the starters were equally exciting and the perfect starting line-up for the hungry Fenway fanatic in season or off.

Read these eclectic options like the
Thai Shrimp Lettace Wrap and the Philly Spring Rolls on right plus Grilled Stuffed Zucchini with herb cheese, baked together with zesty tomato sauce and reggiano parmesan, Fried Calamari in a buttermilk batter and served with Burtons tartar sauce, Pan Seared Scallops over fresh creamed corn with applewood smoked bacon, red peppers and a touch of jalapeno and Risotto Fritters of mild Italian sausage & imported Provolone cheese covered with panko-crusted risotto and deep fried, served with a zesty tomato sauce just to name a few.

{S}alad days

Because the portions are large, we shared the Wedge Salad swimming in an excellent Roquefort dressing with red onions, applewood bacon and blue cheese over Iceberg lettuce & beefsteak tomatoes.

{E}ntreés

The beef dishes were great, but so was the seafood like the bronzed Scarlett Snapper of gulf water snapper seared with a moderate amount of Cajun-style seasonings, served over Jasmine rice with shrimp and a red pepper-bourbon cream sauce and the Haddock Imperial of local day boat haddock topped with lump crabmeat stuffing and finished with a lemon thyme butter.

Just {D}esserts

And we are embarrassed to admit we found room for the house special, Key Lime Pie - Burtons version of the florida classic made of two creamy layers surrounded by a granola crust and topped with fresh whipped cream and a half dozen others sweet endings including a Passion Fruit Sorbet of regal quality.

There are two other {B}urtons Grills in Massachusetts in Hingham and in North Andover.

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The 21st Century rebirth of a great restaurant

The Langham's Bond is as good as its word

The redecorated room stuns the visitor with its vaulted ceiling and enormous reproductions of US Treasury notes. The one shown features Alexander Hamilton, America's first treasury secretary for George Washington and founder of the New York Post in 1801, the longest continuously published daily newspaper in America.

What Recession? Bond was standing room only

My wife began with the Foie Gras "au Torchon" with Black Cypress Salt, Candy Apple and Cracked Pepper Brioche - $16.

I started with a wonderful House Smoked Applewood Salmon and American Caviar with White Corn Meal Blini, Sour Cream and Chive - $12.

My second starter was Chicken Empanadas Chilean Style with Salsa and Cumin Cream - $12, while Pat's second was...

Crispy Asian Lobster, Crab and Shrimp Rolls with a Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce - $16.

By Walter and Patricia Brooks

We have to admit that it was with some trepidation that we returned to what was until a month ago the Julien at the Langham hotel in Boston's financial district, but which has morphed into Bond.

For a generation, the Julien was once considered one of the fifty best restaurants in America, and we, like throngs of other New Englanders, had fond memories of its cuisine, its famous Sunday Brunch and its breathtaking architecture.

My wife listes Julien's foie gras as one of the courses on her last meal list should she ever be on death row, so it was a relief to see it still offered at Bond, and for less money, $16.

But we'll keep you in suspense no longer - The room, now renamed Bond for the US Treasury notes once traded on this spot when it was the site of America's first Federal Reserve Bank, make the cut, and does so with 21st century panache.

Recession-proof dining in Boston

This is Boston  where couples are used to spending well over $150 for dinner in the best restaurants, yet Bond's prices are recession sensible with appetizers from $8 and entrees from $14.

Minus the drinks, you could easily have dinner here for around $30, and the ambiance is regal and ecletic.

Because of this the menu incourages you to have two appetizers and one of the small entrees.

We sampled four of the former, and all were palate pleasing and provocative.

The flavors were Asian, South American, and uniformly well-prepared and sharply served.

Like the cusine, the wait staff is elegant and attentive.

Single bar? So what.

Bond has in one month become one of the hottest after-work watering holes in Boston.

Luckily its location in the financial district ensures that the clientele includes an ample smattering of more mature types, so happily married and mature dinners will feel at home while surrounded by the "beautiful people."

Director of Food and Beverages Niels Vuijsters and the Langham's architects have transformed this historic room into a very attractive bistro and bar.

Executive Chef Mark Sapienza has managed to transform a five-star French restaurant menu into an equally mouth-watering bistro without a hitch.

The Langham Hotel Boston itself blends the legendary hospitality of the original Langham grand hotels with the classic architectural elegance of Boston's former Federal Reserve Bank building.

As reported in Hotels magazine a month ago, "Created by the world-renowned team at Jeffrey Beers International, the design capitalizes on the grandeur of the room's historic pedigree and introduces modern elements and clever interpretations of Bond's financial heritage.

"Owned and operated by The Langham, Boston, Bond is located within the former Federal Reserve Bank, constructed in 1922 in the heart of Boston's Financial District.

"The historical significance and richness of the original space, the former bank's Member's Court, will allow guests to experience a unique sense of glamour and mystique in an exclusive dining and nightlife setting that will be new to Boston."

So swing by Bond on your next Boston visit, and let us know if you agree with our impressions.

Below: Our entrees were Hook and Line Cod Loin a la Plancha, Espelette Pepper, Potato Piperade and Romesco - $16, and Patricia tried the Slow Cooked Short Rib of Beef, Great Hill Blue Cheese and Chive Polenta - $16 (not shown). On right: Enrobed Chocolate Cheesecake Lollipops on stick ready to dip into Salty Caramel Cashews and Pop Rocks plus Valrhona Chocolate and Raspberry Sauces - $9. and the Vietnamese Chocolate and Coffee Tart with Condensed Milk Chantilly, Van Gogh Double Espresso Vodka - $8.

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Winter Camp for Kids

 Every tweenager should know how to make mozzarella from scratch

The lobby of The Charles Hotel in Cambridge is wired and wonderful with its mammoth murals and bookcases. Two budding chefs pose by in front of Joel Babb's mixed media piece titled “Mass Ave Study.”

The Charles Hotel in Cambridge caters to kids and their companions

By Walter and Patricia Brooks 

Executive Sous Chef Jared Desroches has a way with tweens. Here he gets them deeply into making mozzarella.

Henrietta herself welcomes guests to her "Tables".

You can just imagine Marina's excitement when she  discovered her bathroom mirror was a TV screen.

Part of the Kid's Camp package induces skating on The Charles own rink.

If you are a wracked with "Cape Cod Cabin Fever" as we were last week, you'll jump at this chance to send your kids - in our case, grand kids - away to camp in February.

It can be for one day or the weekend, and you can tag along since the redoubtable Charles Hotel in Harvard Square has conceived a Winter Kid's Camp which includes learning to cook from a grand master. A description of this package is below, but first let us tell you about this property.

It's a block off Harvard Square next to some of the greatest shopping and dining in Great Boston. The property is elegant to the max and a stay includes; wireless internet in the lobby, restaurants and public areas, free local phone calls, 24-hour concierge and in-room dining, library in lobby with The Harvard Coop's autographed bestsellers, books on call- a personal delivery of novels to hotel guests, "Kid's Kits" presented to children upon arrival, Complimentary cribs outfitted with bumpers, fitted sheets and blankets and it's Pet-friendly.

Here's the package offered by The Charles

24-Hour Winter camp for Kids

Saturday
11 a.m. early check-in

12:30 - 2 p.m. / Lunch at Henrietta's Table, recently named one of America's Best Farm-to-Table restaurants in America by Gourmet.

Kids will get a demo on cooking different meals from the chef, learn about a New England farm and will help prepare lunch for themselves.

3 - 5 p.m. / Located just outside the hotel, kids (and adults if they choose) will enjoy the hotel's Ice Skating Rink, along with lessons and hot Chocolate.

Dinnertime / Guests will be on their own and are encouraged to enjoy the tastes of Harvard Square and Downtown Boston only ten minutes distant.

After dinner / Watch unlimited movies in your room and snack on popcorn.

Sunday
7 - 10 a.m. / Breakfast at Henrietta's Table
10 a.m. - Noon / Swimming at Wellbridge, including lessons, swim toys, floaties, etc. -OR- Tour of Harvard Square in the Charles' own London Cab.
1 p.m. Late check-out.

Package includes room, ice skating, swimming, breakfast, lunch, parking, and unlimited free movies with popcorn in the room. There is a limit of 2 kids per room.

Package Prices: Package starts at $379 + tax

Package Date: Saturdays through February 28, 2009 (includes 2/7, 2/14, 2/21, & 2/28)
Extend Your Stay: Room rates start at $199

The Charles Hotel / One Bennett Street / Cambridge, MA / (617) 864-1200.

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An bee-zy Boston bistro where you won't get stung

The Beehive is a gastronomic sanctuary from mauve & pearl gray napery

The neither regions of The Beehive offer as phantasmagoric a landscape as any Gothic fairy tale

Be prepared to have you taste buds energized and astonished

By Walter & Patricia Brooks

We started with these spicy Crouquetas de Pollo.

General Manager Bertil Jean-Chronberg served me my Beef Stoganoff.

My wife had the Double-boned Pork Chop with Frites.

And grandson Will was in awe of his mountainous Prime Burger with bacon and Frites.

Luckily for us last Friday evening we stopped at The Beehive for dinner early on our way to our hotel in Cambridge with our two grandchildren.

Otherwise we would have had to wait a while for a table during this rumored restaurant recession.

We say rumored because The Beehive was swarming with bee-utiful people, and the air was thick with mouthwatering smells.

It's a testament to a really original menu offered at modest price in an urban setting, and it reminds us that even in the worst of times, entrepreneurs and busy bees prosper.

The menu changes often, but we started with the Mexican Chicken Croquettes on the right plus a stunning squash soup and the Moroccan Cigars which were lamb-filled phyllo dough Spring Rolls.

Gourmet grandson Will proclaimed them the best things he had ever tasted.

My wife's Double-boned Pork Chop was huge, and full of new flavors. She could not begin to finish it, but it was a great lunch treat back on Cape Cod a day later.

I had the best Beef Stroganoff served on perfect egg noodles I've had in decades. It's a classic dish of meat sautéed with onion and cooked in a sauce of sour cream, seasonings, mushrooms using a trencherman's portion of Paprika.

It's a jazzy beehive

So on you next visit to Boston you had better jump on the bandwagon and head to the Beehive at 541 Tremont Street which has become the hottest bohemian watering hole in town.

It's in the heart of the South End cobbled together out of three separate buildings, one of which was an old boiler room.

Last Friday the music was a duo of piano and drum, and the drummer sang hauntingly reminiscent of a young and healthy Billy Holiday.

You will feel as though you have stepped into an artist's studio in Paris or SoHo where the food is every bit as exciting and nouveau as the decor.

The Beehive is also the newest addition to the Boston jazz circuit and takes its name from La Ruche ("the beehive" in French) which was an early 20th-century artists' colony in Paris much favored by Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall.

That weighty reference should make it clear that the designers (and they designed it themselves) clearly envisioned something different than either the dive bars or the sleek, hotel-run operations where jazz in Boston tends to be performed.

General Manager Bertil Jean-Chronberg is a presence here, and cuts a mean figure with Gallic charm and great attention to detail as well as every guest.

The man knows how to run a restaurant.

The Beehive in Boston's South End is a hip new downtown hangout that serves up cold drinks and hot dinner and jazz seven nights a week until 2am. What's cool about the Beehive is that it's something totally new to the Boston or New England scene.

In a neighborhood rife with $30 plates of comfort food tarted up with organic ramps and pomegranate purée, the Beehive's original and quirky cuisine and sexy subterranean setting is a respite from all those mauve and pearl gray tables where it's the same old choices at inflated prices.

The The Beehive the Plates average about $10 and the Entreés $22.

If the scads of day-trippers in L.L. Bean and locals with strollers give you pause, relax. but  the sophisticated menu offers no amnesty, so rev up your taste buds and have an adventure.

The Beehive, In the Boston Center for the Arts, 541 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116. (617) 423-0069, email.

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The island time forgot

Exuma, the undiscovered Eden fifty miles north of Cuba

  A fleet of Bahama boats with their incredibly long booms, fresh from a race around Elizabeth Harbor, are towed past our hotel room in George Town, Greater Exuma.

By Walter & Patricia Brooks

I shouldn't be telling you about Exuma. You might be wise enough to recognize it for the forgotten tropic paradise this isolated Bahamian Island has remained even into the 21st century.

Rolle Town is typical of the ruined beauty here.

The Straw Market is across from the library which you  can join for $3 and take a handful of books away.

The Fish Shacks noth of George Town offer Bahamian delights at very low cost. This is Charlie's.

Contrast that with J.P.'s Bistro at February Point.

Or the view from the deck of the restaurant at St. Francis Resort on Stocking Island across the harbor.

But our favorites are Santana's beach shack in Williams Town where these fishermen prepare our lunch, and

The Original Three Sisters in Mount Thompson north  of the airport is perhaps the best deal.
And be sure to rent a Boston Whaler and go looking for starfish on Stocking Island.

But my compulsive nature and big mouth will undo me every time, and here I am abetting the befouling of this unspoilt, almost empty isle by writing about it once again.

This will only encourage the few of you who have the desire to seek the peace and quiet, friendliness and warmth which Exuma exudes instead of the fevered excitement and posh amenities of the usual modern and sophisticated winter destinations.

So, if you require five star hotels and Zagat recommended restaurants, turn the page right now, because you're in the wrong place.

Same old, same old, thank heavens

Exuma is different because it's the same.  The same as it's been for the nearly three decades we have visited to escape the madding crowd and gilded opulence of today's modern resort scene.

God knows there are a thousand other Caribbean resorts which will allow you to feel like you've never left home - places which will give you the comfort you had when you last visited Orlando, Hilton Head or Palm Springs and their ilk.

If this sounds like reverse snobbery, I plead guilty.

My inestimable wife Patricia and I have now traveled to and written about over one-hundred countries, and usually as the guest of the government which houses us in their proudest properties like the recently terror-bombed Taj Palace & Towers in Mumbai, India.

But whenever we find a third-world country safe enough for a visit, or an untamed wilderness, we hurry off into the unknown, witness our two trips to Haiti (the last one included our being high jacked by a Haitian air port guard sticking an Uzi machine-gun in our bellies on the way out) and the Marquesas in the middle of the Pacific where Herman Melville jumped ship.

So why do we expose Exuma to your eyes?

The simple (and true) answer is pride. Pride in my wife's photography which I would otherwise not have an excuse to publish.

Now having warned the wary traveler away, Patricia's art will lure them back, so here's what you will find when you arrive at George Town on Great Exuma in the southern Bahamas about 50 miles north of Cuba in the Tropic of Cancer.

George Town is a hot, slightly dusty town about the size of one New York City block.

There is nothing to do here.

Although crime is virtually unknown, and the locals are very friendly, it isn't safe to walk the streets (there are two in town) because there are no lines in the middle of the roads and the Bahamian police stay inside the air conditioned comfort of their building next to the Straw Market where you can buy many typically tacky trinkets made in Asia.

The biggest excitement is a stroll to the town dock to watch the ferry or freighter from Nassau which arrive every few days.

So you must rent a car and drive to either end of this thirty-seven mile long, half mile wide island.

To the south of George Town

Almost at the southeastern tip you will come to Santana's beach bar in Williams Town on Little Exuma which is connected to Greater Exuma by a hundred yard long, one lane bridge.

The food is wonderful and inexpensive - Pat had a whole snapper (including the head) and I had Grouper covered with a delicious tomato, pepper and onion sauce, both with tasty peas and rice, corn and Cole slaw, total cost $27.

There are persistent rumors that a Ritz resort may be built just south of here.

Since you brought your bathing suit, on your way back take the third dirt road on your right north of Santana's (the telephone pole at this road is covered with blue reflectors) to Tropic of Cancer beach, the best strand on Exuma.

Two miles before you get back into George Town look for February Point on your right, and drive in to be amazed at the million dollar homes this Canadian family-owned company has built.

After a few days of Snapper and Grouper, you will be dying for a brief return to haute cuisine, and there isn't any much more haute than at the new restaurant here at the marina.

J.P.'s Bamboo Bistro is run by chief Jean-Pierre who is French by way of Zaire.

For an hour or two you will be swept away to St. Tropez or St. Bart's right here in this tiny, almost primitive Caribbean island.

We had the best Conch Cake and Lobster Bisque ever, followed by a Ginger & Curry Lobster and Grouper and a hot chocolate Lava Cake with ice cream.

Across Elizabeth Harbor

If you rent a boat ($120 a day for a 15-foot Boston Whaler) you can ply lovely Elizabeth Harbor which lies east of George Town and is sheltered by a series of barrier islands.

The largest one, Stocking Island, is the site of the very attractive, new St Francis Resort. It's nearly four acres stretches from harbor to the ocean with eight rooms on the bluff overlooking both. The interiors looks like a high-end US resort's rooms with a kitchenette, and bath, $285 a night.

The restaurant has the best view on Exuma, and the food matches it in quality at modest (by Caribbean standards) prices.

The fish sandwich came with excellent fries on toast, and was spiced slightly with curry and pickle.

Northwest to Barraterre

The northwest is much the same as the southeast. The final town, Barraterre, is a bone fisherman's paradise.

On the way stop for lunch in Mount Thompson at the Original Three Sisters on the right.  It's a simple, local bar and bistro, but the food is really good and the prices for lunch the lowest on the island.

On our last visit Pat had Fried Chicken and I had the Pork Ribs. Both came with three sides, Macaroni & Cheese, Harvard Beets and Lettuce and tomato, $10 each.

            Ode to Exuma

We lounged in languor on the strand,
(That's a fancy word for a stretch of sand.)
Arabs may call this site just dandy,
Pragmatist would demur, "It's awefully sandy."

We ate greasy grouper without bibs,
While pitying the unfortunate Caribs,

And now bid farewell to Great Exumer,
'Cause home is where we'd rather be sooner.                                                -wb

Dinner at the Fish Fry

For dinner most nights we drive a mile north of George Town to the "Fish Fry" shacks, about a dozen small restaurants clustered together on the beach.

The usual snapper, grouper, chicken and ribs are standards, but try the Chicken Souse at Charlie's for a real Bahamian treat.

Imagine the best Greek, lemon soup you ever had, had chicken wings, legs, potato, celery, onion, red Louisiana peppers in a spicy soup you will long remember, $8 with a big hunk of Johnny Cake. We added eight, large conch fritters for $3. and a bottle of strawberry soda for a buck - $20 total for dinner for two.

If you must have a touch of Hilton Head, drive 18 miles north to the Four Seasons Resort at Emerald Bay in Farmers Hill. The resort has nearly 300 units and was less than 20% filled this week. Built for over $1 billion four years ago, it has been in bankrupcy for two years and is  said to be available for $130 million today.

So why build a swank resort on Exuma? It's the weather - it's dependable and wonderful 95% of the high season days.  Four Seasons looks like the scene below.

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