A fireplace weekend at The Ritz-Carlton, Boston

From our Ritz-Carlton, Boston suite we saw four faces of a Boston that weekend:
top row, Friday afternoon and that same evening,
bottom row, Saturday morning and Sunday morning. Click image to enlarge.

With a Fireplace Butler at your service

By Walter & Patricia Brooks

When I opened by home heating bill this past month, I felt that I only had two choices: one, I could cry in my beer, or two, I could smile start using a fireplace.

The Fireplace Butler will prepare your fire as often as you wish, 24 hours a day.

The fireplace I chose was on a 15th floor corner suite at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston which offered calm relief from headlines by fueling their fireplace with news of higher prices for heating fuel, low oil supplies, raising natural gas and electric prices.

A corner suite overlooking the Boston Garden is always a delight, but this one had an innovative difference: a Fireplace Butler.
 
This legendary 1927 luxury hotel is the first to offer the services of a Fireplace Butler and a Firewood Menu. The hotel has the distinction of having suites, bedrooms and meeting salons with wood-burning fireplaces. Guests may choose the type of fire they prefer, and your Fireplace Butler will offer a selection including cherry wood that will scent the room or birch for a quick burning fire for cocktails before going down to dinner or before bedtime.

Opened 79 years ago as a luxury hotel with the atmosphere of a private club, suites began at $15.  When Ethel Barrymore, a devoted patron of the hotel arrived on a blustery day, she would find logs blazing in a fireplace in her suite. Today that feeling continues with classic suites that have the ambiance of a Boston town house.

The Fireplace Butler Package, a romantic treat, makes luxury even more affordable. It offers an executive or garden view suite with wood-burning fireplace serviced by The Fireplace Butler, a welcome amenity, American breakfast for two and overnight valet parking. From November 21, 2005 to April 10, 2006 an executive suite is $525 and a luxury garden view suite is $750.
 
It’s a gentleman’s dream of luxury, no collecting of firewood, the angst of preparing a perfect fire and cleaning up. The Fireplace Butler is a call away. The guest orders the complimentary service and The Fireplace Butler explains the different types of woods listed on the Firewood Menu in the guest room.

After holiday shopping or skating on the ice rink in the Boston Common, a glowing fire is perfect for sipping hot chocolate or cognac. On a wintry evening a romantic champagne dinner can be arranged through In-Room Dining to enjoy beside the fireplace.

THE FIREWOOD MENU
Your choice of four woods:

Birch Wood After skating on Frog Pond in the Boston Common, return to your room and thaw in front of the glowing fire. Birch produces a strong heat and burns quickly. A warm and cozy interlude before an evening’s entertainment on the town.
Cherry Wood Here in historic Boston, George Washington certainly couldn’t tell a lie about this firewood. Fragrant and slow burning, the glowing colors from this fire will enhance your In-Room dining experience.
Oak Wood In the early evening, retire to your room and enjoy this lightly scented wood. It produces a comforting, cozy warmth and ambiance for a long winter’s night.
Maple Wood The sweet aroma of maple will fill the room with the ambiance of a country inn. It evokes the essence of a New England winter in the heart of Boston.

The ultimate romantic weekend---a country inn respite in the heart of the city---can include a luxurious bubble bath with the services of a Bath Butler, a professional massage in the room, Afternoon Tea in The Lounge, a visit to The Fitness Center and In-Room Dining before a glowing fire.

Now there are two styles of luxury in Boston, one classic, the other contemporary. The classic Ritz-Carlton, Boston and the sleek and contemporary Ritz-Carlton, Boston Common, opened in 2001, face each other across the historic Public Garden and the picturesque Boston Common.

A new chef and a new menu in the Ritz Café

For 55 years The Café at The Ritz-Carlton, Boston has been noted for power breakfasts, lively luncheons and dining before or after the theatre. Now the new chef, Rex Gonsalves, begins the next chapter for this storied restaurant with his first menus.

Chef Rex came to Boston from the fine dining restaurant, Georgia’s, at The Ritz-Carlton Lodge at Reynolds Plantation in Georgia. Prior to that, he was at The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai for three years working with outstanding Michelin Star chefs. Chef Rex was born in India where he studied culinary arts and worked at the Taj Group of hotels in Bombay, thought my many as the world's finest.

The constant that Chef Rex stresses is the importance of the freshest local ingredients. “I rely on the taste, purity and quality of the components of my dishes to impress. The elements are choreographed into artistic, flavorful presentations, but the natural herbs, vegetables, local seafood and meats are the focus. We take pride in making even the pesto, mozzarella and marmalades in our kitchen.”

"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch" - James Beard

Neither my wife nor I worn our watch to dinner. She started with Cajun Seared Tuna served with on a sweet carrot and apple salad, drizzled with grape confit in Marsala which was a memorable start to any meal. She followed this with the Slow Grilled Rack of Lamb with Black Winter Truffle Risotto, "Gremolata", An Aromatic Lamb Jus with Fresh Garlic, Lemon and Parsley. Now, my wife is Irish, and she may be the world's best expert on lamb. She said this was the best he had ever tasted.

The rack of lamb was Pat's all-time favorite, and she's a lamb expert.

The Beef Wellington rocked.

I had the Smoked Salmon served on a spinach salad with soft poached quail eggs finished with a warm shallot and bacon vinaigrette, and then tried the evening's special a Beef Wellington which was as perfect as any we'd ever eaten.

The new dinner menu still has all The Café’ classics like pan fried local scrod, herb-roasted chicken with succotash, butter poached lobster and slow-roasted duck breast. The surprises that Chef Rex adds are drawn from his rich culinary repertoire. Even the accompaniments he chooses highlight local flavors and international influences…Dauphinoise potatoes, spaetzle, wild cépes and garlic polenta croquette, sauce perigourdine with fois gras.

Chef Rex enhances The Café’s signature crab cake making it a surprisingly overly-generous portion with succulent local lump crab and paired with avocado, mango and papaya salad with a tangy black bean rémoulade. The autumn classic beef consommé is complemented with oxtail tortellini braised in wine, Madeira and black truffles for at least four hours.

Time is Chef Rex’s secret ingredient as seen in the braised veal he simmers in Madeira and port for seven hours and the triple-cut rack of lamb cooked slowly on a grill and finished in a slow oven. Nature’s best quality is his guarantee from The Berkshires Kurobuta pure pork chop with marbling that ensures it to be sweet and juicy to the fresh water wild walleye from the lakes of Minnesota.

For reservations for The Fireplace Butler Package or other specially designed packages, please call toll free 800-241-3333, The Ritz-Carlton, Boston, 15 Arlington Street, 617-536-5700 or your travel professional. Room rates are per room, per night. All rates are subject to availability and are exclusive of tax and gratuity. For information please visit the Boston Ritz website here.  Gift certificates are available at The Gift Shops in the hotel lobby, or call 800-371-GIFT.

Walter and Patricia Brooks are the founders of Best Read Guides, eCape.com and this online newspaper. They started these companies in 1988 after extensive careers in the newspaper business beginning at The Village Voice and New York Post and culminating at MPG Communications and The Cape Codder before launching their own companies. They live in East Harwich overlooking Pleasant Bay. Pat is a native Cape Codder, and they have lived on the cape since 1965. They have two sons, two grand children and two cats: Todd, Jay, Will, Marina, Rama and Shiva.