photo from Jedi Foodi

Last night I had dinner with my friend Nicole at Hotel Griffou,  the newest little anti-hotspot hotspot started by a group whose resumes include names like Freeman’s, Pastis, and Waverly Inn.  It’s styled like a turn-of-the-century (20th) supper club, set below 9th st with no signage to suggest a restaurant lives just below the sidewalk.  The interconnected rooms are richly decorated (your slightly cool-even-though-she’s-batty great-grandmother would love it) and the food is equally as rich (and outdated).   The menu needs the translation of the server only in that while you may have heard of Steak Diane or Lobster Thermidor, you’ve never actually SEEN it.  The cocktail list is creative, and the one I had, with cucumber vodka, muddle grapes and St. Germain (and elderflower liquer) was incredibly refreshing and delicious.  Overall, it’s a great place to enjoy some nefariousness, or take a hot date.  It’s also going to be a great place to go once the cold weather comes, when it’s actually appealing to hide away in these cozy little rooms and eat pork cutlets and surf and turf.

Grilled Romaine Salad with Parmesan, Anchovy and Lemon Dressing

Grilled Romaine Salad (bottom) and Lobster Fondue (top)

Daurade (top) and Pork Cutlets with Mushrooms and Peas (bottom)

Hotel Griffou: 21 W. 9th St bet 5th and 6th Sts in the West Village.  Read reviews here, and here.

chilled out people take their dogs for a ride in Scituate Harbor

Why should you go?  Because the little beach towns along the coast are so freaking charming you forget you HATE saltwater taffy and steamers.  I grew up in one of these towns on a five-mile stretch of beach called Nantasket, which pokes out halfway between Boston and Cape Cod.  Visiting home recently, I forgot how beautiful it is on a dry sunny day, when the sky has only a few wispy clouds, the ocean is a hundred shades of blue, the sun is pleasantly warm so you think you won’t get burned.  You get burned.

We started at noon with beers at TK O'Malleys, one of the only places I know that you can sit outside, at a bar, and directly face water.

And the food… oh I love it.  It’s so simple and traditional. Lucy and I had lunch on the second floor of Mill Wharf in Scituate (the town down the way), overlooking the harbor.  Mill Wharf is a run-of-the-mill place (ahem) where you stick to what was caught that and what’s fresh. We ate Duxbury oysters, clams and shared a lobster roll.  She had a summer ale and I had some crappy California white whose name I don’t remember, but it didn’t matter because it was cold, and the food was good, and the view was spectacular.  

Moved onto Mill Wharf, and had oysters and wine

Lobster Roll, with cole slaw

The South Shore is completely overshadowed by the Cape, and that’s fine by me.  If you’re visiting Boston, I highly recommend taking a day trip to my old stomping grounds- it’s an hour drive and it’s got all the charm of the Cape without the ridiculous traffic.  

Information about Hull, click here.

Information about Scituate, click here.

Information about Cohasset (a gorgeous town, home to the organic farm I talked about), click here.

And if you want an incredible meal, go to Tosca, in Hingham MA (another gorgeous town in an area full of ‘em).  It’s hands down my favorite restaurant.