The first album from this Portland, Oregon-based husband-and-wife synthpop duo was 2017’s FM-2030, named after the famous transhumanist (a barmy, pseudoscientific discipline that focuses on artificial intelligence, longevity by becoming part-robot or whatnot, etc.). So by now, if you’re normal, you’ve got warning bells going off all over the place, as you’ve seen words like “transhumanism” and “Portland,” so you know there’s plenty of kooky nonsense going on here, and you should probably avoid it, and you’d be right, at least in my book. Anyway, that first LP was dreamy but not dream-pop, more like Au Revoir Simone-meets-Postal Service-style rubbish that didn’t make it onto an episode of Portlandia. Cut to now, when Covid has prevented Mr. and Mrs. from jamming with their wine-gulping band, so it’s just the two of them, with less synth in their synthpop, just guitars and boring drums, still sporting the New Order fetish they had before. These harmless, ’60s-radio-tinged little tunes aren’t really bad, but, as on their first two albums, the muse begins to tire of them, as does the listener, and by the time album-closer “Jump” rolls around, you’re like “Wow, that’s 40-odd minutes I’ll never get back.” Don’t get me wrong, a couple of tracks would fit well on your wombat-indie mixtape, be my guest. B
Engelbert Humperdinck, Regards (OK Good Records)
I really don’t remember if we’ve gone over this former 1960s/1970s megastar before, but this five-song EP does present an excuse to remind everyone within eye-shot that this British India-born tenor was the Pepsi to Tom Jones’ Coke during the Nixon years. He was, um, I mean is, a crooner who never had the unhinged bombast (or the hips) of Jones, but he definitely was the second banana. A bonus here is that I also get to touch on a holiday tune, a super-long-overdue version of Elvis’s “Blue Christmas” in fact, not that there’s any time left for your grandmother to enjoy it unless she’s hip to the Downloadin’ Stuff scene. It’s all covers, of course; market-made spectacles like this guy probably wouldn’t know the first thing about writing a song, but it’s all good. “What a Wonderful World” is here in all its chintzy glory, and of course a tearjerker, “Smile” this time, packing a full orchestra to deliver its hilariously maudlin message. Nothing unexpected. (What else am I supposed to say? “It’s dumb”?).
PLAYLIST
• Happy New Year, folks. My favorite “2022 is coming” internet meme so far right now is the one with a picture of two tidal waves, representing 2020 and 2021, and a Godzilla standing behind them that’s supposed to represent 2022. What sheer lunacy is left to happen in 2022? I suppose we’ll find out soon enough, but we have one final week of awful albums to cover for 2021, some of which are actually being released on New Year’s Eve, which is dumb, because who buys albums when they’re drunk? But whatever, who cares, some metal band called Oathean is releasing their new album, cheerfully titled The Endless Pain and Darkness, on Dec. 30, a Thursday! Or at least that’s what the Album Of The Year webzine is saying; some other sources are saying it was released on Nov, 30, which is even stupider, since it’s a Tuesday, but at this point I need rock ’n’ roll albums to write about, because otherwise I’m going to talk about politics or something, because it’s that time of year when no band in their right mind is releasing an album, except for Oathean, whoever they are. So anyway, let’s see what this Oathean band even is, shall we? Ha ha, they use that funny font in their band logo, the type all the “extreme-metal” bands use so that their fans don’t really know which album they’re buying, they just know that the devil is involved somehow, and what else should someone care about? I’ll bet you it sounds like Deafheaven, I’ll just bet you. Huh, look at that, they’re from Korea. I thought they were from Finland or whatever, that’s weird. The whole album is up on YouTube right now. It starts out with some “symphonic metal” elements (in other words it sounds kind of snobby, like Evanescence but with no singing) and then, ah, there we are, they want to sound like Bathory/Deafheaven. That singing cracks me up so bad, like the guy sounds like a giant rat who’s demanding your cheese right this minute or he’ll — why, he’ll — he’ll screech like a giant rat at you, that’s what! Beware the wrath of the King Of The Cheese Rats, fam, that’s my only warning!
• And that brings us to the music albums that are literally being released on New Year’s Eve, the day before New Year’s Day, which is easily the worst holiday of the year. Why, you ask? Come on, you know why. All the good holidays are gone, and you know you have to go back to work or school or your court-directed community service thingie in a day or two, and from there it’s the usual wintertime activities: trying to keep from getting frostbite on your feet or going completely insane from sun deprivation while reading tweets about the Kardashians vacationing in Maui, or however you usually torture yourself. Again, there’s nothing to talk about here other than metal bands, so come on, get out the barf bags and let’s try to find something from Vanda’s new Covenant of Death album! They’re from Sweden, and they look kind of normal, like regular Judas Priest stans. Nothing on YouTube at all, but their Facebook has a snippet from some tune that’s pretty basic thrash from 1989. Yours in metal, guys!
• We’ll wrap up this rotten year with something that isn’t metal, a compilation album called Stars Rock Kill, composed of cover tunes from indie bands on the Kill Rock Stars record label, including Chateau Chateau, Amber Sweeney and Lucy Lowis, whose cover of Elliot Smith’s “Say Yes” is folk-grungy manna for ironic, badly dressed 40-somethings. Fifty-two songs here, which is pretty generous, man!
If you’re in a local band, now’s a great time to let me know about your EP, your single, whatever’s on your mind. Let me know how you’re holding yourself together without being able to play shows or jam with your homies. Send a recipe for keema matar. Message me on Twitter (@esaeger) or Facebook (eric.saeger.9).
When someone asks me what kind of beer I like, I usually say something along the lines of, “I drink everything but I primarily gravitate to stouts and IPAs.”
That’s more or less accurate. I love stouts and IPAs and at the same time I’m happy with Pilsners and brown ales and sours and so on and so forth.
Still, it’s easy for me to get stuck on stouts and IPAs — now more than ever — as there has never been a greater variety and quantity of both styles available to us from craft brewers. Plus, they taste really, really good.
But one of my goals for the new year is to find more opportunities to step outside my comfort zone to explore not only a wider variety of styles, but beers that are especially unique.
There’s so much great beer easily accessible and I don’t want to close myself off to anything. I feel like we’re in this together.We might need to hold each other’s feet to the fire. Sure, we’re not going to like everything we try, and that’s OK, but you must be at least somewhat bored with trying yet another variation on the IPA featuring the newest, most exciting hop strain? Don’t worry, IPAs aren’t going anywhere.
Let’s keep an open mind and let’s dive in. Here are five unique New Hampshire brews I’m looking to seek out in 2022.
Razzmatazz Raspberry Wheat Ale by Throwback Brewery (North Hampton)
The description says “spicy and fruity,” and it features “aromas of raspberry sugar cookies,” and honestly, it scares me a little. But I like that it’s got a little zip with an ABV of 7.4 percent and that the brewer notes flavors of “bitter berry, currants and sweet caramel malt.” You start mulling this over, and how is this not an intriguing brew? (The brewery has a Raspberry IPA that fascinates me as well.)
Cranberry Wit by Great North Aleworks (Manchester)
The brewery says this slightly tart Belgian-style witbier is brewed with orange, coriander and cranberry. This sounds refreshing, exciting, not at all over-the-top and perfectly seasonally appropriate.
Spit Fire Joy Juice: Maple Smoked Peach Sour Collaboration by 603 Brewery (Londonderry) and Able Ebenezer Brewing Co. (Merrimack)
What a fascinating beer! This is just so interesting bringing together sweet maple smokiness and the tang of peaches. I feel like the smoke would add some balance and provide some depth to what sounds like a very sweet brew. This screams complex.
Bubblewrap by Loaded Question Brewing (Portsmouth)
This Belgian “singel” is brewed with “bitter orange peel,” Willamette hops and Belgian ale yeast. What I’m expecting is a light, refreshing Pilsner-like brew featuring some acidity and some fruitiness from the orange peel. I can’t wait to try this.
Monadbock by Granite Roots Brewing (Troy)
OK, this isn’t a brew that I would classify as especially unique or innovative. Based on the description, it sounds like this is about as traditional as it gets. Beyond looking for unique beers, I also want to revisit more traditional styles. The brewery says this amber bock “boasts rich malty caramel and fresh baked bread,” and honestly, how could that not be good? Sometimes, we get so excited about all the experimenting brewers are doing these days, that we, or at least I, forget what made us enjoy beer in the first place. I’m thinking this brew might be a good, delicious reminder.
What’s in My Fridge
On the Gogh by Breakaway Beerworks (Manchester) Yes, I’m trying to step away from IPAs, but before I do, I enjoyed this unfiltered, dry-hopped IPA that boasts big tropical fruit flavor and a little spiciness. This was quite nice and one I would recommend tracking down. Don’t let the spice scare you; it’s not overpowering and instead helps balance out the bold citrus flavors. Cheers!
Featured photo: Razzmatazz Raspberry Wheat Ale by Throwback Brewery in North Hampton. Courtesy photo.
For a variety of complicated, therapy-inducing reasons, we spent Christmas in 1974 with my mother’s twin sister and her family in southern California. I was 10 years old and my cousins were all teenagers, so everything that they did filled me with wonder and awe.
Like, when my cousin’s boyfriend showed me how to use my new magenta gas-powered airplane — not a remote-controlled one, but one of the ones that was controlled by nylon strings connected to the fuselage. He got the engine started and I watched in wide-eyed amazement as he got it airborne, circled it around us twice, then plowed it, nose first, into a parking lot. Clearly, the guy knew what he was doing, so I dutifully packed up all the pieces, brought them back home with me, and checked in on them dutifully every month or so for years.
Or when another cousin elbowed me firmly in the stomach and I found that I couldn’t breathe.
“It’s OK,” he said to me, “you’ve just got the wind knocked out of you.” His use of the passive voice terrified me, because it implied that this was something that just happened randomly – that you could be walking around, living your life, and suddenly discovering that you couldn’t breathe. My uncle confirmed that yes, I had indeed just had the wind knocked out of me, and that I’d be fine. After 25 minutes or so (OK, it was probably more like 15 seconds) I discovered that I could take tiny breaths, then slightly bigger ones, and could finally look a little less like a blobfish in a Shaun Cassidy haircut, gasping on a pier.
But for me, the best memory of the holidays that year was New Year’s Eve.
The adults all dressed up and went out to some unimaginably sophisticated grown-up party, leaving me in the care of the teenagers. My youngest cousin, who must have been around 16, watched old movies on TV with me all night; then, at midnight, we went outside and honked the car horn to ring in the new year. Afterward we came in and ate buttered noodles.
It was far and away the best New Year’s Eve of my life.
Grown-up New Year’s Eves have been less magical.
Take Champagne, for example. I realize that I have the taste buds of a rhinoceros, but cheap and moderately priced Champagne can best be summed up in a quote from Fozzie Bear in 1981’s The Great Muppet Caper: “You know, if you put enough sugar in this stuff, it tastes just like ginger ale!”
So, here’s the thing: I get it. New Year’s is largely an adult holiday, where adults gather with other adults and celebrate how adult they are, talking about adult things — dental plans and conspiracy theories, mostly — and drink the most adulty drink they can think of, Champagne. But unless you are a supermodel or a guy with a yacht, most of us never really develop a taste for the stuff.
Is there an alternative?
Yes. Yes, there is.
The Manhattan
Ingredients
1½ ounces rye or bourbon. This week I’m using Bulleit Rye. (I’ve recently discovered that I like rye. Who knew?)
1½ ounces sweet vermouth — the red kind
10 drops cardamom bitters
10 drops orange bitters
1 cocktail cherry, the fanciest you can find. I like Luxardo.
Add all ingredients to ice in a mixing glass. Stir gently. This is one of those martini-like situations, where you probably wouldn’t like the result if you shook it in a cocktail shaker. This will have a cleaner, more vibrant flavor if it isn’t aerated.
Pour into a rocks glass. Sip gently. A Manhattan is not a drink that lends itself to drinking quickly. You’ll want to — actually, who am I to say what you want? You will probably be happier with your Manhattan experience if you drink it a little at a time, trying to identify the different elements that you can taste.
Grown-up/shmown-up; the best part is finishing this drink and eating the cherry. Don’t let anyone try to tell you different.
So, are there drinks out there that are more adult? Probably. At this moment, there’s almost certainly some guy working his way through a bottle of scotch, while the bar owner says, “Hey Mr. A-Bailey, why you so a-sad? Go a-home to you wife, huh?” Or maybe that’s It’s a Wonderful Life; at this time of year it’s hard to tell the difference between melodrama and real life.
Anyway, there are probably other drinks as adult as a properly constructed Manhattan, but very few that are as enjoyable. It is sweet, but not too sweet — that’s what the bitters are there for — and boozy enough to let you know it means business. There is a mixture of flavors that will distract from any boring adult conversation you find yourself in.
We are nearing the very end of the holiday season. After New Year’s Eve, there may be thoughts (and actions) of healthier eating to compensate for the seasonal indulgence. However, before we tiptoe into the land of less sugar, fat, carbs, etc., I want to share one simple and delicious treat: chocolate peanut butter crunchies.
I don’t know if there is a recipe that is more aptly named. These crunchies are made of three ingredients, two of which are announced in its name. As simple as they are, they also provide a great amount of flavor, texture and balance. They are creamy yet crunchy, as well as sweet with a hint of saltiness.
When you look at the recipe, you might note that it only makes 12 crunchies, which may seem small when you compare it to a cookie recipe. However, these crunchies are fairly dense. You won’t be eating three or four of them. Of course, you also could easily double this recipe, especially since chocolate chips usually are sold in two-cup packages.
There are two key notes for this recipe. First, on the ingredient front, you want to use regular creamy peanut butter, not the all-natural, need-to-stir-it variety. You could use crunchy peanut butter, but you may need an extra tablespoon or two to get the correct consistency. Second, these are messy treats. Be sure to keep a napkin handy while enjoying them.
Whether you use this recipe now for a New Year’s gathering or store it in a file for some time in 2022, it is the perfect last-minute dessert recipe. From gathering the ingredients to popping one into your mouth, this recipe can be ready in 20 or so minutes.
Chocolate peanut butter crunchies Makes 12
1 cup milk chocolate chips ½ cup creamy peanut butter 2½ cups corn flakes
Line a rimmed baking tray with parchment paper. Combine chocolate chips and peanut butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 30-second increments, stirring after each. (It should take 2 or 3 rounds to melt completely.) Add corn flakes to chocolate mixture; stir well. Using a serving spoon, scoop approximately 1/4-cup portions of the mixture onto the prepared tray. Repeat until all mixture has been scooped into individual portions. Refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes or until firm. Store in a sealed container.
Michele Pesula Kuegler has been thinking about food her entire life. Since 2007, the New Hampshire native has been sharing these food thoughts and recipes at her blog, Think Tasty. Visit thinktasty.com to find more of her recipes.
Photo: Chocolate peanut butter crunchies. Photo by Michele Pesula Kuegler
Josie Lemay is the owner of Wildflour Cakes (wildflourcake.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @wildflour_cake), specializing in custom wedding cakes made from scratch in addition to morning pastries and other baked goods. A native of Deerfield, Lemay studied at the Culinary Institute of America in New York before going on to work in restaurants and bakeries in Boston and on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. She returned to New Hampshire about two years ago and now works out of a rented commercial kitchen, offering wedding cakes to clients all over New England. You can also find her freshly baked pastries regularly stocked at Revelstoke Coffee (100 N. Main St., Concord), which include an often rotating selection of scones, muffins and seasonal galettes.
What is your must-have kitchen item?
I think it would be a bench knife, which I use for cutting, for chopping and for shaping pastries. I probably have about 10 different bench knives and they are always within arm’s reach.
What would you have for your last meal?
Some kind of homemade ravioli or heavy pasta dish, and a glass of red wine.
What is your favorite local restaurant?
The Franklin in Portsmouth. They have this awesome Brussels sprout side dish with fresh mint and honey that is delicious. … I tried to recreate it at home but it wasn’t the same.
What is your personal favorite thing that you’ve ever baked for a client?
When I was living on Nantucket, I had one couple I worked with who were really good friends with a farmer there, and so we [incorporated] a bunch of his vegetables and herbs into the dessert menu for their wedding. It was a lot of fun designing it with them.
What celebrity would you like to bake a cake for?
David Chang. I’ve been listening to his podcast. I think he’s just so brutally honest that it would just be hilarious to bake a cake and then eat it with him.
What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
I feel like doughnuts are definitely big right now. There was kind of a wave, and I think the wave is coming back around again, which is cool to see.
What is your favorite thing to make at home?
I love baking pies. I grew up baking pies with my mom for every holiday. It’s just such a very comforting, nostalgic thing to bake.
Vanilla bean shortbread cookies From the kitchen of Josie Lemay of Wildflour Cakes
12 ounces butter 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste 3½ cups flour ½ teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in vanilla bean paste. Add in flour and salt and mix until it comes together. Roll out dough between two sheets of parchment paper, using a cookie cutter of your choice. Chill the dough for 15 minutes in the refrigerator if it’s too soft. Bake for 15 minutes.
A look back at the local food scene in 2021, plus trends and predictions for 2022
Local restaurateurs continued to feel the lingering effects of the pandemic throughout what was a very up-and-down year for the hospitality industry in 2021.
“This year certainly wasn’t quite as bad as 2020, but I think it was challenging in somewhat different ways,” said Mike Somers, president of the New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Association. “At the start of the year, consumer confidence was at an all-time low, and businesses were really struggling to keep their numbers up. … Over the course of the summer months, it was extremely busy. Then obviously it tapered off very quickly once we got past Columbus Day, or thereabouts. … Clearly, we’re going to be having these ups and downs as we go forward.”
New Hampshire-specific results from an operator survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association in mid-September showed that 44 percent of local business owners believe it will take at least another year before the industry normalizes. Profitability is down and food costs are up, with 93 percent of those surveyed saying they’re paying more than ever for product and 85 percent reporting their labor costs have increased. The lack of adequate staffing also remains a major problem — 91 percent of business owners reported being understaffed.
“Back in the spring, we really thought we’d be in a whole different place by now. That hasn’t come to pass,” Somers said. “It really remains to be seen what the next three, four, five months looks like, and I think we’re going to start to see business owners make some key decisions.”
With 2022 on our doorstep and amid concerns about the omicron Covid-19 variant, here’s a look back on how the previous year unfolded and the current obstacles the industry is facing.
Highs and lows
New Hampshire began the year still under a statewide mask mandate for all indoor and outdoor public spaces, including restaurants. That emergency order would expire in mid-April following a sharp decline in Covid-19 cases, thanks to the rollout of vaccines throughout the early spring.
By early May, individual guidelines and restrictions at restaurants, in place since the start of the pandemic, transitioned into what Gov. Chris Sununu called “universal best practices,” consolidating guidelines for all business sectors across the Granite State. The state of emergency came to an end on June 11 as cases continued to drop.
“When you talk about 2021, I mean, there were just amazing highs and lows throughout the year,” said Tom Boucher, CEO of Great New Hampshire Restaurants, the Bedford-based group that includes each T-Bones, Cactus Jack’s and Copper Door location in the Granite State. “Most of our stores were up through the summer, over 2019 sales. … As soon as the fall hit, though, we did see revenues drop a little bit. Not a lot, but it was noticeable.”
As was the case in 2020, rented tents were set up in the parking lot of each restaurant to accommodate more outdoor dining opportunities. For a brief period from about mid-July to mid-September each location was also closed on Mondays as a way to give its staff a break.
Takeout is still not available from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday or Saturday evenings, a move that has been in place since late March to allow each eatery to prioritize in-house dining. But Boucher said that there have been talks to end this temporary suspension at T-Bones and Cactus Jack’s.
Firefly American Bistro & Bar has similarly continued to experience a greater interest in outdoor dining, according to manager Rachael Jones. In addition to putting up tents, the restaurant now keeps its outdoor patio open year-round with propane heaters in the winter months.
“We’ve had the patio maybe eight years or so, but it was always something that was strictly seasonal,” Jones said. “There just wasn’t a call for it once it got cold, but now people are happy to bundle up and have a cocktail outside. It’s just become something that we do.”
At KC’s Rib Shack, owner and co-founder Kevin Cornish made several operational changes, the most significant of them being that he’s now permanently closed for lunch on weekdays. As of about a month ago, he’s also now open an hour later each evening.
“For 20 years I kind of considered whether or not lunch was worth it for us,” he said. “We would do a good lunch, no question about that. But I think closing for lunch has helped us immensely in a lot of different areas as far as keeping the quality of our food up.”
Cornish introduced KC’s Boneyard late in the spring, a new private function and event room housed in the former Souper Melt building directly in front of the Rib Shack.
In mid-March, Tim Baines of Mint Bistro and Bob Scribner of The Wild Rover Pub joined forces to open Elm House of Pizza, a neighborhood pizzeria in the former Theo’s space on Elm Street. It was also a big year for LaBelle Winery, which introduced a new restaurant concept, a retail market, performances and event spaces and a nine-hole golf course across a 45-acre property in Derry. Each of those properties opened in phases over the course of the spring and summer.
The struggle to staff
As restaurants have continued to recover, finding and retaining qualified employees to meet the growing demand became a defining issue in 2021, and it will carry over into 2022 for many.
The Flight Center opened a second location in Manchester in late June and has only recently become able to operate for lunch during the week. Its sister restaurant, the 1750 Taphouse in Bedford, as well as The Flight Center’s downtown Nashua spot, have also been only open for limited hours, managing partner Seth Simonian said.
The Flight Center opened a second location in south Manchester in late June 2021. Courtesy photo.
“As 2020 came to an end and then going into 2021, we saw a pretty significant decline in applicant flow, while business didn’t really change,” Simonian said. “You have people who expect you to be open for lunch and dinner, and to be open seven days a week … Downtown Nashua has been our hardest to staff by far.”
None of LaBelle Winery’s three properties in Amherst, Derry and Portsmouth is operating full-time for similar reasons. Americus Restaurant, which opened in mid-May, currently offers dinner five nights a week and brunch and lunch on the weekends, but owner Amy LaBelle said the goal was to also have it be open during the week.
“Given the fact that there’s a golf course and many other daytime activities here on the property, it’s just staggering that we haven’t been able to get that accomplished. We just don’t have the staff,” LaBelle said. “The kitchen is definitely the hardest-hit, but even if I had a fully staffed kitchen I still couldn’t open full-time because I don’t have enough servers.”
Great New Hampshire Restaurants, Boucher said, remains slightly below its normal number of about 800 employees across the company’s 10 locations.
“Staffing has definitely improved for us, but I think the labor shortage is going to continue to be an issue in 2022,” he said. “It’s not exclusive to the restaurant industry either, that’s for sure.”
Beginning in 2022, in addition to Thanksgiving and Christmas, the company will be closing its restaurants on five additional holidays — President’s Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day and Columbus Day — and offering paid time off to its managers for those days.
“I think it’s going to be a really disruptive decision that we’re making to put us in a competitive place to attract employees and managers,” Boucher said. “It’s also a big win for our staff because they’ll be able to make plans to do something with their families or friends.”
Paying the price
Increasing food costs and ongoing supply chain issues have forced local restaurateurs to make critical choices about what to buy, problems they say aren’t likely to go away anytime soon.
“Inflation has really been the challenge,” Somers said. “It’s not about being able to get product. You could get it. It’s just whether or not you could afford to actually put it on the menu.”
LaBelle said she has especially felt these impacts since right around when Americus opened.
“When we are writing a menu now, we look at the prices first and we might say, OK, we can’t put this rib-eye on the menu right now. I’m not going to charge $70 for it,” she said. “So we’ve definitely tailored our menu to be able to reflect really good-quality food, but also things that we can get to people at a reasonable price without compromising our quality.”
Not being able to get the products right away, she added, only makes it more difficult.
“I used to be able to place a food order and get it the next day from our major food suppliers,” she said. “Now there’s a twice-a-week delivery schedule, because they don’t have people to deliver. So if I need something or if we run out of something, I can’t get that quick delivery that I used to be able to get. I have to wait until my designated delivery day. … So we’re not used to that, and it makes the chefs have to be super careful about what they’re ordering.”
At Firefly, Jones said she has already heard from purveyors warning that certain items may be hard to come by for anywhere from the next three to 12 months.
“You’re just so used to having everything at your fingertips,” she said, “but this year, it was just like all the rules go out the window. People have been very understanding, so that’s been great.”
Baines said he has experienced higher costs as well, particularly within the last six months or so.
“We did have to shrink the Mint [Bistro] menu a little bit and were reluctant to do so. Some of it is due to availability and some of it was just that the cost to put it on a plate just didn’t feel right to charge what we would have to to make it work,” he said. “I think you’ve seen that industry-wide. You’ve seen hours shrink and you’ve seen menu selections shrink.”
A taste of events to come
Here are a few foodie happenings to look forward to as we begin 2022. Be sure to visit the event’s website or contact the venue directly for the most up-to-date information.
• The Taste of Bedford is due to return on Tuesday, Jan. 11, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Bedford High School (47B Nashua Road), according to the event’s website. Bedford-area eateries will congregate for a night of food sampling, with proceeds benefiting the school’s Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) chapter, one of the largest in the state. Tickets are $10 per person, or $30 per family of four and $40 per family of five. Visit tasteofbedford.org.
• LaBelle Lights at LaBelle Winery Derry (14 Route 111) continues with a special Fire and Ice Weekend on Friday, Jan. 14, and Saturday, Jan. 15, featuring live performances like fire dancers and ice stilt walkers, in addition to bonfires, themed food and cocktail specials and more. Tickets are $15 to LaBelle Lights, which is being held from 4:30 to 9 p.m. on select days now through Feb. 26. Valentine’s Day and Mardi Gras celebrations are also planned before LaBelle Lights closes for the season. Visit labellewinery.com/lights to view the full calendar schedule.
• New Hampshire Wine Week is right around the corner, and tickets are available now to the 18th annual Easterseals Winter Wine Spectacular on Thursday, Jan. 27, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St.). This will be the first in-person Winter Wine Spectacular since January 2020 — the pandemic forced its transition into a series of virtual tastings last year. Tickets are $65 for access to the grand tasting, or $135 for access to the Bellman Cellar VIP tasting room (limited availability), with proceeds benefiting Easterseals New Hampshire. For the most up-to-date details on New Hampshire Wine Week, which also includes bottle signings and wine tastings across the state, visit nhwineweek.com.
A cautious optimism
Despite a looming uncertainty about the future, most of the local restaurateurs we spoke with say they’re optimistic overall heading into 2022 — just as long as there isn’t another shutdown.
“We’re seeing the dining public out and about, and almost every restaurant I see is filling seats,” Baines said. “However people are feeling about it, they’re going out again.”
Nearly a year after opening Elm House of Pizza, Baines and Scribner are introducing another new concept in the Queen City. City Hall Pub, he said, is due to open in the former Cheddar & Rye space on the corner of Hanover and Elm streets by the third week of January.
“We have The Wild Rover, Mint Bistro, Elm House of Pizza and then City Hall Pub all under Southern New Hampshire Hospitality Group,” he said. “We’re going to offer a loyalty program within those four, so you can generate points and use them throughout each of the locations.”
LaBelle Winery, meanwhile, is due to finish construction on a new sparkling wine production facility and tasting room in Derry by late May 2022. LaBelle said plans are already underway to also bring back the highly successful LaBelle Lights holiday celebration next winter.
“We thought we would have 20,000 visitors throughout the three months of LaBelle Lights, but as it turns out, we’ve already had that many in the first month,” she said.
Boucher also said he’s noticed customers are coming back, making him hopeful for the future.
“Restaurants are obviously in the business to serve food, but they’re much more than that. They’re a gathering place,” he said. “It’s not just the food; it’s the warm hospitality that defines restaurants, and I think people really figured that out [by] staying at home through the pandemic. … I think restaurants will always thrive because eating at home just isn’t the same.”
A Year in the Kitchen: 2021 edition
The Hippo’s In the Kitchen Q&A series continued throughout 2021, with a different New Hampshire restaurant chef, baker or homestead business owner profiled each week.
Regular readers know that we like to turn to the experts for their thoughts on the biggest food trends currently sweeping the Granite State, and as the industry continues to experience the effects of the pandemic, the answers we received seemed to be all over the map. Farm-to-table dining, comfort items and vegan menus, and the ways we get our food beyond visiting a traditional brick-and-mortar restaurant — think ghost kitchens, food trucks or third-party delivery apps — were some of the most common threads.
“I think restaurateurs in New Hampshire have done such an amazing job pivoting their operations over the last year and a half, regardless of what their business model is,” Lisa Kingsbury of Lush Confections in Derry told the Hippo in July. “I think they are more open to different possibilities than they would have otherwise been.”
It’s always fun to see what people come up with as an answer to another question we ask, “What celebrity would you like to see eating at your restaurant?” or “What celebrity would you like to have a meal with?” For the second consecutive year, the No. 1 answer was chef Gordon Ramsay of, among many other shows, Hell’s Kitchen. Actor and New Hampshire native Adam Sandler once again received a fair number of mentions — and, even though he’s no longer with us, the late chef and author Anthony Bourdain also continued to be a common answer.
“In culinary school, [Bourdain] was who we looked up to and somebody we aspired to be,” Jenn Martins of Brickoven Catering in Hudson told the Hippo in August.
We also like to give our interviewees the opportunity to give a shout out to their favorite local eateries. The answers to this question could not have been more diverse — almost everyone called a different restaurant their favorite. But there were a few recurring names, including MT’s Local Kitchen & Wine Bar in Nashua, The Black Trumpet Bistro in Portsmouth, the East Derry Tavern, and several of the La Carreta Mexican Restaurant locations.
Featured photo: Americus Restaurant opened in mid-May 2021 in Derry. Photo courtesy of LaBelle Winery.
