After a brief break in service for renovations, the popular Linden Store, a breakfast and lunch institution in town, reopened earlier this week. Check out our review here.
Dorset Cafe is another place in town that, like the Linden Store, is owned and operated by siblings, sisters in this case. Sally and Sue Khudairi serve breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea service in a calm, cozy restaurant where you order your meal, make yourselves comfortable, and they bring it over and clear it away when you’re done. I tried the salad special with a bowl of mushroom soup, which was earthy but not heavy.
Dorset Cafe serves breakfast and lunch Monday – Saturday, 8am – 5pm
Afternoon tea service Monday – Saturday, 2pm – 4pm
Breakfast service only on Sundays, 8am – noon
Bonapita Mediterranean Bakery and Grille, Boston, Downtown Crossing, 49 Franklin St. Recently, I sneaked out of Wellesley and went downtown for lunch at Bonapita. With all the snow and transportation issues that city is having right now, I figured it was my duty to jump the Wellesley border, if only for a few hours, to help out the city I love. The crossing was painless. I hopped on the MBTA Green line D train out of Waban, got off at Downtown Crossing and there I was, in the big city. Fabulous.
Less fabulous is the fact that Boston has been pounded by 78.5 inches of snow as of this writing. Normal snowfall by this time of year is 27.4. That amount of fluffy white makes a city that prides itself on its broadmindedness as the Athens of America into a very narrow place. The streets are narrow, the sidewalks are narrow, and your chances of getting parking are narrow to nonexistent.
Despite the inconveniences of so much snow, Bonapita is doing its best to remind us that out there in the world is a warm Mediterranean, and they are serving up the flavors that can take us there, if only for a meal. The lunch spot, open Monday – Friday, 11:30am – 4pm, offers four main dish choices: Chicken a la Plancha (chicken marinated in spices, roasted on a hot plancha grill); meatballs cooked with lemon and herbs; black bean and beets patties; and mushrooms, lentils, and thyme.
Decide on one of the four and have them fill it, plate it, or toss it, meaning you either get your meal in a homemade soft pita, on a platter, or as a salad. I tried the chicken a la Plancha, tossed ($7.99) and was served a filling, healthy meal. The hot sauce they serve on the side added even more flavor to a crisp salad that was already packed with sunshiny flavor.
In addition, they offer a few soups. Red lentil, chick pea, and sweet green pea were on the menu the day I was there.