Something to Mooo.... About

While the name still reminds me of a song from the musical Rent, the Boston restaurant Mooo.... (formally the better named The Federalist), remains a go-to place to find the best drinks, the best apps and some of the best steaks in the city.

The bar, run by the kind, capable and beautiful Melissa, and the just as kind (but unfortunately a Giants fan) Brad serve a diverse population of hotel guests, regulars and those looking for the next hot place. If you want the best Margarita you have ever had- Mooo is the place to go. If you want a Beef Carpaccio that is truly inspired- Moo is the place to go. If you want an ice cream sundae so good you will dream about it for weeks- Moo is the place to go.

While I have eaten in the restaurant numerous time, a reservation is recommended for dinner, I prefer the bar area where you are able to order off the full dinner menu or a smaller bar menu. The real hidden gem about Mooo however is the breakfast (and the weekend brunch). The dining room is almost always empty and the menu offers traditional breakfast and brunch fare prepared with high quality ingredients and an attention to detail that is second to none.

It's tough to find a bar stool on a Friday or Saturday night, but if you can, in between sightings of TV personalities and the occasional celebrity you will find some of the best food, the best wine, the best scotch and the best service Boston has to offer. While I miss the dark paneling of The Fed, Mooo has not disappointed.

Time to Embrace Boston's Students

A Boston Globe editorial from November 16, 2007 does an exceptional job describing how important the educational and medical community is to Boston. "The area's eight major research universities boast an annual economic impact of more than $7 billion. Universities and their affiliated hospitals include more than one third of the state's 25 largest employers. They compete fiercely for prestigious faculty members, research grants, and the most talented students from around the nation. They are, without a doubt, one of Boston's world-class assets, both economically and culturally."

However this "economic and cultural" importance is often ignored by Boston residents, sure the student populations will destroy the very fabric of their neighborhoods. While Mumbles the Mayor has pushed colleges to build more dorms, he has also reversed himself when it become clear that position is not a popular one.

By the next month the Mayor had done an "about face" his original pro-dorm position and came out against a newly proposed Suffolk University dorm. According to the December 27, 2006 article: "We have been hearing loud and clear that dormitory use is inappropriate for that location. The mayor has heard that," Boston Redevelopment Authority director Mark Maloney said yesterday. "By and large, we do want students to be in dormitories," he added. But, "hearing from so many neighbors about the difficulties of living in a community with Suffolk students, we concluded it was not good for town-and-gown relations."

Local schools including Suffolk University, Emerson College, Boston College and Harvard University all have plans for expansion into the neighborhoods they call home. Perhaps the most troublesome of the Mayor's office and the Boston Redevelopment Authority is there inability to stand up to the neighborhood associations. When Emerson College began the Paramount Center Project and renovations to the Colonial Building there was no protest by the neighborhood, as the location, the former Combat Zone is still an "up and coming area" and the city is happy to have Emerson College fund its resurgence.

For Suffolk University and Boston College however, expansion has been met with great resistance. As recently as yesterday The Boston Globe was reporting that the Boston Redevelopment Authority was asking BC to contain the building of new dorms to the existing campus.

If Boston wants to continue to grow as a city, we need to embrace our student populations. The best way for us to do this is to commit to making the students feel like a part of our neighborhoods, rather then a blight on them. The students of Boston is what makes our city so strong, diverse and unique. It's time the city stands up to the overly vocal few in the neighborhood civic associations and do what's right for Boston.

Winter isn't all bad

Boston got hit with another snow storm today. I don't have to worry about commuting so I think I see the good side of snow in Boston. The city looks like a postcard right now, and even though tomorrow everything will turn gray and brown, this afternoon, and tonight it is an amazing place to be.

Stumbling and Tumbling onto Happiness

With the exception of the few people I know who, in general, take little notice of the world around them no one is happy. This is not after work drink or dinner table conversation however, and so we all seem to cling to our own unhappiness, wrap ourselves in it like a childhood safety blanket and let it define us.

When I saw the cover of Stumbling on Happiness out of the corner of my eye in Borders on Newbury Street, I wasn't looking for a book on how to be happy, in fact I was just killing time until the Guess Store opened next door. But the picture of an overturned bowl of cherries spilling onto the white cover attracted my somewhat short attention span and I quickly became engrossed in the book.

I am not one for self-help books, or even attempting self-help. But I could not put Daniel Gilbert's book down. A link to his site with information about the book and his blog is below. I am still unhappy. But after reading his book I have a better understanding why, and this is all the book ever promises.