Author: John Fladd

Taco party downtown

Manchester’s Taco Tour returns

Manchester’s annual Taco Tour will take place Thursday, May 28, from 4 to 8 p.m.

For one afternoon each year, the city closes downtown to traffic and invites the world to dive deeply into dozens of interpretations of tacos.

According to the event’s website, tacotourmanchester.com, “Taco Tour Manchester is the one day of the year where downtown Manchester restaurants and venues all serve delicious tacos! Elm Street will be shut down for locals and visitors alike to have a terrific time sampling all the tacos that they can possibly eat during the four hour long festival. Taco Tour Manchester is most importantly a chance to visit our wonderful downtown and discover something new from our amazing restaurants.”

Restaurants and civic organizations from around Manchester will present their versions of tacos to an estimated 20,000 taco enthusiasts for $3 per taco. According to its organizers, more than 100 area restaurants will participate in this year’s event.

One of those restaurants will be Slightly Crooked Pies (1209 Elm St., Manchester, 661-4575, slightlycrookedpies.com). Lauren Cline is the owner. She is excited about seeing Taco Tour “from the other side of the table.”

“My family and I have done it a number of years in a row, even in the rain,” Cline said, “and it is amazing to see the energy downtown with all of those people. I can’t wait to watch it from that perspective.”

Cline and her staff are preparing two taco-inspired pies for Taco Tour, she said.

“We’re doing our mini hand pies, which are basically the same as an empanada. And we are going to do a peach mango one dusted in Tajin [spice mix] and apple cinnamon churro. They look like a crimped taco,” Cline said.

Dakota Jones is a New Hampshire-based food influencer, who publishes content under the name Food With Heart [instagram.com/foodwith_heart]. She is a big fan of the Taco Tour. It is the way many people discover Manchester, she said.

“It is the world’s largest taco tour. … It combines local community and tourism, but with a kind of community feeling,” Jones said.

Jones’ advice for going to Taco Tour is to go with friends. “It’s great to go alone,” she said, “but it’s also great to go with more people. I like to have someone else with me, so we can get in different lines. … If you go with a group, you get to actually experience more because you can all share a taco.”

Restaurants will be competing for the title of Best Taco and Most Creative Taco, the website said. Last year’s winners were Thai Food Connection for Best Taco and Stashbox for Most Creative Taco, the website said.

There will be two contests for die-hard Taco Tour fans this year, the website said.

“For the first time ever, Taco Tour Manchester is opening the Grand Marshal selection to the community. One lucky attendee will be randomly selected to eat the inaugural taco and officially open Taco Tour Manchester 2026 in front of thousands of fellow taco lovers at the all-new Inaugural Ceremony at Veterans Park. One winner will be selected at random during the Taco Tour Manchester Inaugural Ceremony at Veterans Park on May 28, 2026. Entrants must be present at Veterans Park by 3:30 p.m. on May 28, 2026 to be eligible to win,” the website said.

Additionally, Taco Tour fans can register on the Taco Tour website to win “an ultimate Taco Tour Manchester 2026 experience”: “This year, Taco Tour Manchester is giving away two VIP experiences, with each winner receiving access for themselves and one guest to join the exclusive VIP Tour through Downtown Manchester … VIP guests will skip the lines, enjoy tacos included at participating Greater Manchester Chamber member restaurants, meet local restaurateurs, and sample beverages along the way — all while experiencing Taco Tour like never before.”

The evening will also feature music. There will be a stage on Hanover Street featuringDave Corson (4 to 5 p.m.), Alli Beaudry (5:20 to 6:20 p.m.) and Brother Seamus (6:45 to 7:45 p.m.), the website said. A band stage will be at the Brady Sullivan Plaza on Elm Street will feature Joe Deleault and Cody James (4:15 to 5:30 p.m.) and The Jonathan Sarty Band (6 to 7:30 p.m.), according to tacotourmanchester.com/concert.

Saint Philip Greek Food Festival
When: Friday, May 15, and Saturday, May 16, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: St. Philip Greek Orthodox Church, 500 W. Hollis St., Nashua, 889-4000, stphilipnashua.com.
More: There will be free parking, a shuttle bus, Greek dancing and live music. Visit nashuagreekfestival.com.

Featured photo: Taco Tour 2025. Photo by Vinny Marino. Courtesy Greater Manchester Chamber.

The Weekly Dish 26/5/21

• A new Aroma Joe’s: There is a new location of the coffee joint Aroma Joe’s at 700 Mast Road, Manchester, between Manchester and Goffstown. It is open from 5:15 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Tuesday. Contact Aroma Joe’s #222 at 628-5099 or aromajoes.com.

• Cigars and bourbon: The 7-20-4 Lounge ( in Twins Smoke Shop, 80 Perkins Road, Londonderry, 421-0242, facebook.com/7204Lounge) will host a “perfect pairing” Friday, May 22, at 6 p.m. Pair a $20 Rocky Patel Sixty Toro — a hand-rolled Nicaraguan cigar — with your choice of a single pour or Old-Fashioned made with Eagle Rare 10-year-old bourbon. Reservations are not required.

• The roof is open: Rooftop Social (20 S. Main St., Concord, 406-5666, artsalleyconcordnh.com/portfolio/rooftop-social), the third-floor bar at Arts Alley, will open for the season Friday, May 22. The bar’s website describes it as “Elevated but unpretentious — the perfect setting for crafted cocktails, shareable small plates and unforgettable moments under the city sky.”

• Dungeons and Drafts: To Share Brewing (720 Union St., Manchester, 836-6947, tosharebrewing.com) will host Dungeons and Drafts on Sunday, May 24, from 1 to 4 p.m. Bring your own Level 5 character or choose from one of theirs. Whether you’re brand new to D&D or a seasoned player, everyone is welcome at the table. Arrive by 1 p.m. sharp to secure your spot. Seating is limited based on the number of DMs available.

• Cocktail clarification workshop: CodeX B.A.R. (29 Main St., Nashua) will host Clarified Clover Club: The Art of Clarification on May 24 at 4 p.m. Discover the magic of milk washing, the classic technique for transforming cloudy cocktails into crystal-clear, silky-smooth drinks. Learn the full milk-washing process while enjoying a beautifully balanced Clarified Clover Club cocktail, made with gin, raspberry and citrus. The cost is $24.99.

• Knife skills: Tuscan Market (Tuscan Village, 9 Via Toscana, Salem, 912-5467, tuscanbrands.com) will host a class for home cooks in knife skills Tuesday, May 26, from 3 to 5 p.m. Learn proper knife safety, grip and positioning to improve your skills at home. Guests will participate in the preparation of a tasting, while the Chef demonstrates techniques at the end of the class. The cost is $49.31 per person, through tuscanbrands.com/cooking-classes.

• Making gnocchi: Tuscan Market will also host a cooking class Wednesday, May 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. to teach home cooks to make fresh ricotta gnocchi and pair it with a vibrant Sicilian caponata. The cost is $64.74 per person, through tuscanbrands.com/cooking-classes.

Duckie race

Buy a six-quack and watch

On Saturday, May 23, the Downtown Nashua Association will launch what it hopes will become a yearly tradition, a Rubber Duck Regatta on the Nashua River. Participants will be able to purchase rubber ducks from Downtown Nashua. At 3 p.m. the ducks will be set loose in the river. The owners of the first three ducks to cross the finish line downriver will win prizes.

Alyssa O’Mara is the executive director of the Downtown Nashua Association. She said that while this will be the first year there has been a Regatta, rubber duck races have happened in Nashua for many years.

“We were gifted this event from Nashua Rotary West,” she said. “They had been doing this event for many years, but in the last couple of years they stopped doing it. When I took this position, our nonprofit community really stepped up and wanted to support us. [The Rotary Club] was one of the first organizations to do so and said if we wanted this event we could take it over. It’s a long-term community event that people love, and I absolutely jumped on it.”

Rubber Duck Regatta
When: Saturday, May 23, starting at 3 p.m.
Ducks can be purchased on the Downtown Nashua Association’s website at downtownnashua.org/rubber-duck-regatta. Ducks will also be available on site on the day of the event. Single ducks can be purchased for $5 each, six for $25, and 12 for $50. A “flock” of 25 ducks is $100.

So is this just a matter of dropping a few thousand rubber ducks in the river and watching them float downstream? Essentially, yes, O’Mara said.

“The ducks will be released near the area of the footbridge between Cotton Mill and Clocktower Apartments right on the edge of the river. Right now we’re still coordinating with a couple of people on the logistics of whether we’ll use a truck or a crane, but there will be 5,000 ducks launched from that area and they will race down to the bridge over Main Street to the finish line, where we will have catchers there to stop the ducks. The first three that go through will win prizes. First prize is $1,500, second prize is $750 and third prize is $500.”

The ducks will all be tagged with numbers, O’Mara said,

“When you purchase ducks, you will have numbers assigned to those ducks and that’s how we’ll do it. The winner doesn’t have to be there. If your duck is a winner, you win, whether you’re here or even in another state. This first year, we’ve started small with 5,000 ducks, but we’re hoping [this race] will grow and we can do up to 50,000 ducks at some point. Ducks are available for purchase through our website. People can purchase single ducks. They also can purchase a ‘six-quack,’ a ‘quacker’s dozen’ or a whole flock. We’re really pushing teams this year, so if [a group] has a nonprofit locally that they really want to support, they can create a team with that nonprofit name or their group’s name. In addition to our first-, second- and third-place prizes, the team that sells the most ducks will have $2,500 donated to the nonprofit of their choice, local to the Nashua area.”

Given that this is the Regatta’s first year, O’Mara said, sales have been strong. “Sales of ducks for Bridges: Domestic & Sexual Violence Support is definitely in the lead. We’re hoping people will jump on the bandwagon and make some more purchases. But no matter what, we knew that at a max we were probably going to be making the same amount as the nonprofit that we were donating to for this year. So if we can do anything, as long as we can get the prize money for the winners and for the nonprofit that has the highest team sales, we’ll be happy.”

Renaissance on the Riverwalk
Nashua will celebrate the newly renovated Renaissance Park on Water Street and Memorial Day weekend with a four-day event featuring music, kids’ events, food trucks, vendors and more, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.
When: Friday, May 22, with events from 5 to 9 p.m.; Saturday, May 23, from 2:30 to 9 p.m.; Sunday, May 24, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and Monday, May 25, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Event highlights: On Friday, performances by El Grupo Chevere (5:30 p.m.) and 4R Souls (7:30 p.m.) and a Positive Street Art kids’ art activity. On Saturday, the regatta, Renaissance Park Mural dedication (3:30 p.m.); performances by BailOut (4:30 p.m.), Lisa Love (6 p.m.), 4Play: The Boston Tribute Band (7:30 p.m.) and a drone show and lighted kayak parade on the river (9 a.m.). On Sunday, Nashua Farmers Market (10 a.m.), music, a petting zoo (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and a Nashua Area Artists Association activity. On Monday, a performance by Gary Lopez (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.), ballons from Dan’s Balloons (10 a.m to noon) and the Memorial Day Parade down Main Street (10:30 a.m.).
More info: See the mayor’s “Enjoy Nashua” Facebook page.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo

Superman Cocktail

This drink is all about appearances. It is over-the-top to the point where it feels like it’s missing its sparklers, three paper umbrellas and a peacock feather. This might be the most visually impressive drink you’ll ever make. Our hero — or superhero in this case — flirts with being just a little too much — too sweet, too boozy, too good-looking — but ultimately looks too good not to drink.

  • 1 ounce kirsch, a high-octane Dutch cherry brandy
  • 1 ounce coconut rum
  • ¾ ounce grenadine
  • ¾ ounce blue curacao
  • 2 ounces plain seltzer or club soda
  • Regular ice cubes
  • Crushed ice or pebble ice

Tajin powder for the rim – this is a spicy spice flavored with chili and lime. It will help cut through what might otherwise be a very sweet drink.

Rim a rocks glass. Run a wedge of lemon or lime around the rim of the glass, then turn it upside-down and swirl it around Tajin that you have sprinkled on a plate. The spice will cling to the citrus juice and give you a rim of flavor when you sip your drink.

Carefully fill the glass about halfway with crushed or pebble ice, making sure not to knock any of the spiced rim loose.

In a cocktail shaker, combine regular ice, the brandy, the rum, and the grenadine. Shake thoroughly, then pour over the ice in your rocks glass, keeping straight to the middle — again, so you don’t mess with that pretty rim.

In a mixing glass — this could be an actual mixing glass or a largish measuring cup — stir the blue curacao, seltzer, and more regular ice. This will combine them without the seltzer losing its zip. Gently pour the blue mixture down the center of the drink, straining out the ice in the mixing glass. Because of the gas bubbles in the blue mixture, it is not as dense as the red mixture, and will rest on top of it in a separate layer, if the superhero bartender gods are with you.

If you’ve ever eaten chunks of mango or pineapple on a skewer that have had Tajin or chili powder sprinkled on it, you’ll notice a similar vibe to this spicy/sweet cocktail. The drink itself might have been too sweet, but lightening it up with club soda and replacing the sugared rim with Tajin has brought the operation back within operating tolerances.

Featured photo: The Superman. Photo by John Fladd.

Enthusiast & professional

Northeast Coffee Festival spans the coffee spectrum

Karen Bassett is the owner of Wayfarer Coffee Roasters in Laconia. She is also the director of this weekend’s Northeast Coffee Festival in Concord.

“This is actually Year 5 [of the Festival],” she said, “but it is the third year in Concord. The Northeast Coffee Festival is a hybrid-type event which brings both coffee professionals and coffee consumers together. It’s a two-day festival in Concord. There are two parts of the festival. One of them is the outdoor Community Market, and that is free and open to the public. It includes over 30 vendors, so coffee, tea, some pottery, some community vendors. We also have a massive main stage right on Main Street for a live music series; there will be live music and DJs all weekend. We have food trucks. We have a beer garden. We have an outdoor demo stage for coffee demonstrations, which is really cool. So that’s all outside and free and open to the public.”

The other half of the Festival, Bassett said, is designed around the interests of coffee professionals and avid amateurs.

“On both Friday and Saturday,” she said, “the other part of the festival is our educational programming. We have brought in 55 speakers from all over, really all over, lots of New England coffee and tea professionals, and have curated an educational series of workshops, panels, small group discussions, demonstrations, hands-on learning across seven different workshop tracks. We have workshop tracks about roasting, cupping (which is coffee tasting), sensory, espresso and tea. We have a panel track and then we have a ‘Beyond the Cup,’ small kind of casual conversations on a specific topic. It’s all pretty incredible.”

Bassett said the Coffee Festival’s organizers have made it a priority to be inclusive.

“There’s some high-level education,” she said, “but there is something for everyone, no matter where you’re at in your coffee journey or tea journey. Each workshop is indicated if it’s for beginners, intermediate, or advanced coffee drinkers. So you can curate a choose-your-own-adventure-style workshop.” It’s set up for professionals who are producing coffee, she said, but also for enthusiasts who are drinking it, and some people just like the concept of coffee.

“That’s what makes this festival really unique and special. Many industries have their own trade show, you can go and you can be in a convention center with thousands of vendors, And while that certainly has a place, this festival’s mission is to bring coffee and community together. And so we’re really trying to form real connections and provide opportunities to network between coffee producers, coffee importers, coffee roasters, and tea as well, of course. And baristas and people who just love coffee. So it’s kind of spanning that whole supply chain all the way like from the seed to cup.”

Some of the most popular sessions each year, Bassett said, are advanced latte workshops. “That’s always super well attended,” she said. “That’s the fun — you see on social media, people pouring these beautiful designs in their lattes. That just kind of brings people from all across. the industry. That’s a lot of fun, especially for baristas and consumers and people who visit local coffee shops. We also have sessions on how to brew better coffee at home. I think that one’s a great one for someone kind of entering this and maybe like, ‘oh, I don’t know what ones are for me.’ That one’s a great one for people to come to. The list could go on and on. If you’re a cafe owner, there’s a lot of ones about how to just run a better business, how to kind of lead from your heart, how to build a good culture, how to build a training program.”

The Northeast Coffee Festival
When: Friday, May 15, and Saturday, May 16
Where: Main Street in Concord
More: Many of the event’s activities are free and open to the public. Tickets to attend sessions and workshops are $99 each, through the Festival’s website. Visit northeastcoffeefestival.com/passes.

Featured photo: Coffee Festival. Courtesy photo.

Set your PoutineFest alarm

Tickets sell out fast for this big food event

“I call it the Poutine Super Bowl,” Tim Beaulieu said, “especially in New Hampshire. This is where it all started.” Beaulieu is the founder and organizer of New Hampshire’s PoutineFest, an annual celebration of everything poutine. Poutine, a French Canadian dish made from french fries, gravy and cheese curds, is a staple of New Hampshire’s Franco-American community. “It was my grandfather who inspired me to get involved in [Franco-American] culture, and after seeing what they did with poutine in Montreal I realized, ‘Oh, my god, we have to do that here.”

“So we took some of those pieces from Montreal up in Quebec,” Beaulieu said, “and made them a little bit more New England-y. Essentially, [PoutineFest] is a big poutine sampling event that is family-friendly. We have entertainment. But mostly we have local restaurants, pretty much all from New Hampshire, to see how their poutine compares to each other. We have a couple that come up from Mass and a couple that come over from Maine, but the New Hampshire event is primarily New Hampshire-based. We do have sister events in other states now … in Vermont, Maine, and this year for the first time the city of Boston. So we’re calling this event the Granite State PoutineFest now, and it’s kind of the flagship of all of them.”

For many years, Beaulieu said, PoutineFest was held at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Merrimack, but since the brewery’s closing last year the festival has changed its location and its schedule.

“So Aug. 29 is when it’s going to be this year,” he said. “We used to do it in October for probably four or five years after Covid, but when Anheuser-Busch closed we did a bit of a scramble to find a good, suitable location. And most of them had late summer offerings, so we moved it to August. We’re going to be at 603 Brewery. The thing I like about them is that they’re so close to the town of Londonderry and they have experience doing events and they’ve kind of seen what we’ve done in the past. There will be slightly different beer offerings, which is great, because that works for me. But it will still be family-friendly, which I like. And it’s something that we both share as values.”

Beaulieu sees PoutineFest as an opportunity for independent restaurants to showcase their interpretations of poutine as they compete, whether they present traditional takes on it or more interpretive ones.

“We have a people’s choice award,” he said, “and we also have an overall champion from our chef judges. So we get a little bit of both. We create custom kitchens for all the restaurants outside. The hardest part [of coming here] is most of these poutine vendors are small businesses that don’t have the infrastructure to leave their restaurants. We give them as much product and infrastructure as we possibly can, so they can’t say no, unless they have a scheduling conflict. We also pay them to come; they’re getting paid to do this. It’s not a ton of money, but we’re making sure we cover as many of their expenses as possible.”

The tricky part of attending PoutineFest is getting tickets.

“They are gone in hours,” Beaulieu said. “Everyone remembers our first year back from Covid when we sold out in one hour. It was nuts. But since that time it’s usually a few hours. Our poutiniacs, they set their alarm for 10 o ‘clock on the day of ticket sales. If you’re there at 10, you’ll get tickets. If you wait till the afternoon, there’s no guarantee.”

Granite State PoutineFest
When: Saturday, Aug. 29
Where: 603 Brewery, 42 Main St., Londonderry, 404-6123, 603brewery.com
Tickets: Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 16, at poutinefest.com/newhampshire and will sell out quickly. General admission tickets are $54.99.

Featured photo: PoutineFest. Courtesy photo.

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