Tag: 230525

In the kitchen with Adam Donnelly

Adam Donnelly of New Boston is the executive chef of the Riverside Grille (737 River Road, New Boston, 384-2149, riversidegrillenh.com), which opened in January. Known for its eclectic modern-American menu, served alongside a full bar in a family-friendly casual setting, Riverside Grille offers items like burgers, wraps, sandwiches and flatbread pizzas in addition to plated steak and seafood dishes. Donnelly is originally from Goffstown and has several years of local restaurant experience, mostly specializing in classic French and Italian cooking.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

The easy answer is to say a French knife, but it’s because it’s true. You can use it for almost anything.

What would you have for your last meal?

Mac and cheese. Always has been and always will be. … You can always mess with it a little bit and do it how you want.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

It’s Firefly [American Bistro & Bar] in Manchester. They are old friends of mine and great owners. I learned more from Chef David [Becker] when I was younger than anyone else and I attribute a lot of what I’ve done to those relationships.

What celebrity would you like to see eating at the Riverside Grille?

To be honest, I would much rather see the members of my community enjoying themselves. We have been missing a gathering point for our communities and I love that people can do that here. Especially in a small town like this, I think it’s really important.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

I would love to say it’s the new app sampler or the Mixed Grille, but it is definitely the grilled stuffed chicken. [It has] fresh spinach and feta cheese, topped with roasted tomatoes and a garlic cream sauce. It’s got everything you want in a dish.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

I have really enjoyed that people are getting back to basic homestyle dishes — classic Americana. The culinary world got pretty pretentious for a while and I think it’s kind of returning to its roots now.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I really like to cook breakfast for my kids [ages 9, 8 and 7] in the morning. They have been picky up until now, but they’re really opening up to new things. Cheese omelets are their newest favorite.

Tasha’s pan sauce
From the kitchen of Adam Donnelly of the Riverside Grille in New Boston

Any cut of steak to your liking
Red wine
Pinch of garlic
Pinch of rosemary
Pinch of thyme
1 cup beef stock
1 to 2 Tablespoons butter

Sear the steak in a cast iron pan and finish it in the oven. Remove the steak and deglaze the pan with red wine. Add the garlic, rosemary and thyme and simmer for a minute. Add the beef stock and reduce by half. Take off the heat and add a couple of tablespoons of butter. Swirl until melted. Stir it up and serve.


Featured photo: Adam Donnelly, executive chef of the Riverside Grille in New Boston. Courtesy photo.

Bacon it happen

New Hampshire Bacon & Beer Festival returns

By Maya Puma
[email protected]

Unique flavors of savory bacon and smooth cold beer take center stage at the New Hampshire Bacon & Beer Festival, returning to Anheuser-Busch Brewery in Merrimackon Saturday, June 3.

The festival is a fundraiser for the High Hopes Foundation, which has raised more than $600,000 in the last seven years. It will feature 60 craft brewers — the greatest number in the event’s history, up 20 from last year — and each is expected to serve at least two to three varieties, including beers, ciders, meads and a few cocktails.

“Quite a few have been with us since Day 1,” festival organizer Jeremy Garrett said of the participating drink vendors. “We’ll have 150-plus different craft brews to pull from.”

North Country Smokehouse of Claremont, a longtime partner, provides the bacon to each of the event’s participating samplers, from food trucks to competitive barbecue teams. Samplers are then given creative freedom to craft any dish they want with the bacon. Attendees can expect to discover everything from maple bacon cupcakes and ice cream to bacon pizza, bacon macaroni and cheese, bacon-wrapped Italian sausages, fried dough with bacon and all kinds of other goodies.

Garrett said the Pulled Pork People’s Choice contest, a new feature to last year’s event that proved to be super popular, is also returning.

“These are competition barbecue teams from throughout the Northeast and Canada, so 25 of them will be doing pulled pork samples,” he said, “and again, they are going to be creative with it. It may just be samples of pulled pork with some barbecue sauce on it. I know some folks are doing things like mac and cheese with some pulled pork on top.”

New this year is a Bacon People’s Choice contest, in which attendees choose their favorite bacon samples.

“Between the bacon and pulled pork samples, everyone should leave with at least a pound of food in their bellies,” Garrett said.

Attendees receive a sampling cup and tickets they will use to vote for their favorite bacon and barbecue samplers as part of the contests. There are special perks available to VIP attendees, including a new cocktail hour from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. that will feature exclusive appetizers and drinks. According to Garrett, VIP attendees can also enter the festival an hour early, at 12:30 p.m. Live music by The Slakas will be featured.

The High Hopes Foundation, according to general board director Lisa D. Rourke, is now in its 40th year of providing life-enhancing experiences and adaptive equipment to terminally and chronically ill children in New Hampshire. As a New Hampshire-based nonprofit, Rourke said, the Foundation receives no government grants or state funding and therefore runs solely on volunteers.

Garrett said all proceeds from the festival go directly to the High Hopes Foundation, which is aiming to surpass its threshold of $110,000 in ticket sales from last year.

Seventh annual New Hampshire Bacon & Beer Festival
When: Saturday, June 3, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. (VIP cocktail hour begins at 11:30 a.m., VIP admittance begins at 12:30 p.m.)
Where: Anheuser-Busch Brewery, 221 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack
Cost: General admission is $60 online and $80 onsite if available; VIP admission is $100 online and $125 onsite if available. Designated driver admission is $35 online and $50 onsite if available (food samples only)
Visit: nhbaconbeer.com
Event is 21+ only. No children, pets or outside alcohol allowed.

Participating bacon samplers

The Alamo Texas Barbecue and Tequila Bar (Brookline, alamobarbecue.com)
All Real Meal (Manchester, allrealmeal.com)
Bone Daddy’s Competition BBQ Team (find them on Facebook)
Celebrations Catering (Manchester, celebrationsmenu.com)
Clyde’s Cupcakes (Exeter, clydescupcakes.com)
Dandido Sauce (Manchester, dandiosauce.com)
Donali’s Land and Sea (Nashua, donalifoodtruck.com)
Heavenly Dogs and Catering (find them on Facebook)
Hill’s Food Service (hillshomemarket.com)
Jeannette’s Fried Dough (find them on Facebook)
New England’s Tap House Grille (Hooksett, taphousenh.com)
North Country Smokehouse (Claremont, ncsmokehouse.com)
Phily’s Good Eats (Candia, find them on Facebook)
Piggy Sue’s Steakin’ Bacon (steakinbacon.com)
Rambling House Food & Gathering (Nashua, ramblingtale.com)
R & J Texas Style BBQ on Wheels (rjtexasbbqonwheels.com)
Saucehound BBQ (saucehoundbbq.com)
Stark Brewing Co. (Manchester, starkbrewingcompany.com)
The Traveling Foodie (jrmcateringllc.com)
Uno Pizzeria & Grill (unos.com)
Welbilt (welbilt.com)

Featured photo: Scenes from the New Hampshire Bacon & Beer Festival. Photos by Celia Gatsas.

The Weekly Dish 23/05/25

News from the local food scene

• Eats by the slopes: McIntyre Ski Area (50 Chalet Way, Manchester) is due to reopen its seasonal onsite restaurant, The Hill Bar & Grille, for a fourth season on Tuesday, May 30, marketing director Aly Coakley confirmed. Since 2020, the eatery has been open during the spring, summer and fall months, offering a menu of burgers, sandwiches, plated entrees, salads and appetizers, with an outdoor patio and lawn seating areas in addition to indoor dining. Coakley said a number of weekly events and happenings are scheduled throughout the summer before the restaurant closes for ski season around the end of October — beer, bourbon and boards nights on Tuesdays, ladies’ nights on Wednesdays, trivia nights on Thursdays and live music and prime rib specials on Fridays and Saturdays are among those that are planned. Visit mcintyreskiarea.com/the-hill-bar-and-grille to view the eatery’s full menu.

• Third time’s a charm? Postponed twice due to inclement weather, Gibson’s Bookstore’s (45 S. Main St., Concord) author event featuring longtime New Hampshire radio personality Mike Morin is now scheduled for Thursday, June 1, at 6:30 p.m. Morin will present his newest book, If These Walls Could Talk: Celebrating 100 Years of the Red Arrow, America’s Most Beloved Diner, which details various stories and anecdotes that contribute to the original Red Arrow’s lasting legacy in Manchester’s culinary scene, from connections to celebrities like Adam Sandler and Kevin Costner to its reputation as a spot for presidential hopefuls over the past four decades. No admission to the event is required, and for those who can’t make it, signed copies of If These Walls Could Talk may be ordered online at gibsonsbookstore.com. For additional details on the Red Arrow’s 100th anniversary, check out our cover story that appeared in the Sept. 29, 2022, issue — go to issuu.com/hippopress.com to find the e-edition. The story starts on page 10.

• Green Mountain spirits: Vermont’s Village Garage, a craft distillery and tasting room that opened last year in the town of Bennington, recently launched three bottles of its products in New Hampshire, according to a press release. The distillery’s Village bourbon, Village rye and Village Bonfire — the latter a campfire-inspired smoked maple whiskey — are all being rolled out across the Granite State through Republic National Distributing, according to the release. “We brought Village Garage to Massachusetts, and New Hampshire is the logical next step in our New England expansion,” distillery co-founder and Vermont native Matt Cushman said in a statement. “We think Bonfire will do really well here, especially around these summer campfires.” See villagegarage.com.

On The Job – Brian Callnan

Power coalition CEO

Brian Callnan is the newly appointed CEO of The Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire, based in Concord, which empowers local communities to choose their energy sources, collaborate with utilities to upgrade energy infrastructure and provide inclusive electricity supply rates and services to all program participants.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I’m lucky enough to help spread nonprofit power opportunities for communities throughout New Hampshire.

How long have you had this job?

I just started and couldn’t be more thrilled with everyone I’ve met at CPCNH so far. It’s a great organization.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

I’ve been dedicated to the public, nonprofit model of delivering electricity for 20 years. I started out in Vermont with a focus on energy efficiency and quickly found myself working on securing renewable power options for municipal utilities and cooperatives.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I focused on resource economics in college and found that it really helped with my choice of work. Continuous training has kept me energized in this ever-changing industry. Training has helped me learn about the many different ways to meet the needs of distributed energy resources like solar PV and electric vehicles as more and more folks adopt these technologies.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

I should probably wear a tie more often, but somehow they went missing.

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?  

We have so many opportunities to provide great service to our communities, and finding that we need to focus on the ones with the greatest benefits first has become a challenge.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

Try to find the smartest people you can to work with, even if they don’t have the exact skill set you need.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That you get to work with some really great people. We have some excellent minds in the industry that are working hard to make long-lasting change that focuses on the clean, efficient use of electricity. It’s a lot of fun to work with them.

What was the first job you ever had?

I started working at 13 for a sawmill right across our road. I moved a lot of lumber with my best friend that summer.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

Always include an idea you at first don’t like; it may end up being the best for everyone.

Five favorites

Favorite book: I love the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov
Favorite movie: Polar Express around Christmas
Favorite music: The In Sound from Way Out! Beastie Boys album is often playing.
Favorite food: My wife’s chicken paprikash
Favorite thing about NH: Our skiing in the winter and our lakes in the summer

Featured photo: Brian Callnan. Courtesy photo.

Treasure Hunt 23/05/25

Donna,

I have these five salt dishes with stamps from Prussia. No chips, perfect condition. Can you give me the value for these?

Gail

Dear Gail,

Your salt dishes by CS Prussia were produced in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. That is what the blue mark on the bottom shows.

Salt dishes were always an add-on to a larger dish set. Imagine using them in the day! Being in perfect condition should put them in the range of $50 to a collector.

It would be fun to use them today, right? Thanks for sharing, Gail, and I hope this was helpful.

Donna

Kiddie Pool 23/05/25

Family fun for the weekend

Showtime!

•​ Manchester’s Dimensions in Dance will present Wonderland, its 28th annual production, at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester) on Saturday, May 27, with two showtimes, at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The production is inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic novels Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass and is told through dance, featuring original choreography in ballet, jazz, modern, tap, hip-hop, acro, pointe and lyrical. Tickets are $25 per person for either orchestra or balcony seats and can be purchased online at palacetheatre.org.

•​ Join the Kids Coop Theatre as they present Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway, Derry) from Friday, May 26, through Sunday, May 28 — showtimes are at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The classic story follows Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, a young prince who is trapped under the spell of an enchantress but will be transformed into his former self if he can learn to love and be loved. Regular tickets to each show are $15 per person and can be purchased online at kids-coop-theatre.org.

• Chunky’s Cinema Pub will hold a special sensory-friendly showing of the new live-action version of Disney’s The Little Mermaid on Friday, May 26, at 4 p.m., at each of its three theater locations (707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Drive, Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham). Audience members are allowed to walk around, dance, shout or sing during these special monthly screenings, which feature the lights on and the sound of the film turned down. Matinee ticket rates apply to the showing, ranging from $5.99 to $6.49 per person depending on the theater location. See chunkys.com.

Fun with animals

•​ Kids of all ages are welcome to an outdoor animal storytime at Griffin Park (101 Range Road, Windham) on Friday, May 26, at 10:30 a.m. presented by the Nesmith Library. Enjoy songs, dancing and stories centered around animals with the library’s youth services program. Admission is free and no pre-registration is necessary, but attendees must provide their own transportation to meet at the park. In the case of inclement weather, updated information on the status of the event will be posted to the website and social media. Visit nesmithlibrary.org.

•​ The Squam Lakes Natural Science Center (23 Science Center Road, Holderness) recently reopened its live animal exhibit trail and hiking trails — daily hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last trail admission at 3:30 p.m. According to the Center’s website, the live animal exhibit trail meanders through open meadows, mature forests and marsh boardwalks along a packed gravel path. Tickets are $24 for adults, $22 for seniors ages 65 and up, $18 for kids and teens ages 3 to 15 and free for kids ages 2 and under. Tickets grant attendees check-in access anytime between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Plan about two and a half hours to walk through the trail. See nhnature.org for more details.

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