Besides dazzling fall foliage and Revolutionary War history, New England evokes a cornucopia of taste sensations unique to the region. For starters, there’s the aromatic sweetness of maple syrup, the succulence of steamed North Atlantic lobster and the soul-warming creaminess of New England-style clam chowder—keep the tomatoes in Manhattan, please.
Increasingly, the flavors of New England are growing more complex, including an abundance of award-winning local wines and acclaimed restaurants, both new and traditional. For meetings, it means a diverse and ever-evolving choice of food-related events that run the gamut from elegant dinners with a smashing Boston Harbor view to an old-fashioned seaside clambake complete with seaweed and sand castles.
Restaurant Renaissance
Among those who marvel at the evolution of local culinary options is Pat Moscaritolo, president and CEO of the Greater Boston CVB, who remembers the days when “lobster, chowder and fried clams” pretty much defined Boston’s food reputation.
“There were also the heavy red-sauce experiences of the North End neighborhood, which reflected the fact that many of the chef-owners there were from Naples,” he adds.
While locally sourced seafood and robust Southern Italian cuisine are still among the prime pleasures of dining in Boston, the restaurant scene has grown in both sophistication and variety, Moscaritolo notes.
“Twenty-five years ago we were not a fine-dining mecca, but that has changed dramatically, with the influx of chefs like Todd English and Jasper White who have national reputations,” he says.
What Moscaritolo finds especially gratifying is the fact that some of the most exciting restaurant news is happening right near the city’s two major meetings facilities: the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center. New restaurants with copious amounts of private dining space are cropping up within a few steps of both facilities.
Just opened in the Boston Convention Center’s burgeoning Seaport District is Liberty Wharf, a waterfront dining complex where the anchor tenant is Legal Harborside, part of the local Legal Sea Foods restaurant group. The largest restaurant in Boston, the three-story Harborside includes a rooftop bar and a second-floor dining area designed in the sleek style of a classic ocean liner. It offers private event spaces and a menu already winning accolades for its 14 varieties of fresh oysters, rich lobster bisque, soft-shell crab tempura and other seafood specialties.
Also catering to groups and affording expansive harbor views, Liberty Wharf’s other offerings include Del Frisco’s Double Edge Eagle Steak House; Temazcal Mexican Tequila Cantina, presided over by James Beard award-winning chef Todd Hall and featuring over 300 varieties of tequila; and Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar & Grill, named for its owner, the former sports announcer and Red Sox second baseman.
Another new dining option nearby is Strega Waterfront, an elegant offshoot of Strega, a landmark restaurant in Boston’s North End.
“An area that was once bereft of restaurants has become a must-see dining destination in just the past few months,” Moscaritolo says. “The choices for dine-arounds and off-site events just keeps getting better.”
In Boston’s historic Back Bay neighborhood, two of the city’s most acclaimed restaurants, Capital Grille of Boston and Towne Stove and Spirits, are actually part of the Hynes Convention Center (each has its own street entrance). Capital Grille, which recently moved into its expanded quarters from nearby Newbury St., boasts five private dining rooms with audiovisual equipment and flat-panel televisions. Known for its dry-aged steaks and seafood, the restaurant has won accolades from Wine Spectator and the American Culinary Federation.
Also anchoring the center, Towne Stove and Spirits opened last year by noted local restaurateurs Lydia Shire, Jasper White and Patrick Lyons. The restaurant, known for signature dishes such as lobster popovers and smoked Peking chicken, features a two-level dining room with event space for up to 100 people.
While much is new in the city’s restaurant scene, tradition is never out of style in Boston, particularly at the 185-year-old Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in Boston and the oldest in continuous service in the U.S. Among its many famous regular patrons were Daniel Webster and John F. Kennedy, whose favorite booth in the upstairs dining room is dedicated to his memory. Accommodating up to 250 people for a banquet, the landmark building offers a warren of private dining rooms, each with a distinctive personality, such as Webster’s Den and the Freedom Trail Room.
“It’s got an impeccable reputation and such great history—it’s never lost its luster or appeal to new generations,” Moscaritolo says.
Providence, R.I., home to the acclaimed Johnson & Wales culinary academy, is also gaining momentum as a fine-dining destination, according to Kristin McGrath, senior vice president of the Providence Warwick CVB, who describes the local culinary scene as “extraordinary—we’re certainly not a chain restaurant town.”
Known for its abundant seafood offerings and prime location on the Providence River, Hemenway’s Seafood Grill & Oyster Bar is a favorite event spot. Customized dinners, where dazzling multi-layered towers of fresh shellfish take center stage, can be arranged in the 48-seat Regatta Room overlooking the river.
With one of New England’s largest Italian immigrant populations, Providence serves up some of the region’s best Sicilian and Neapolitan dishes, particularly in the Federal Hill neighborhood where options for small groups include Venda Ravioli and Zooma Trattoria.
Not all of New England’s fine dining experiences are in urban areas. Many of the region’s charming country inns have also won culinary accolades, among them Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where Chef Peter Stiles uses local seafood, local produce and herbs from the inn’s own garden for both individual dining and group events. Lobster bakes on the inn’s deck overlooking the coast are among the most popular offerings.
Shore Things
While New England is justifiably famous for its restaurants, sometimes what groups really crave is a little more direct contact with the source of all that great seafood. That’s when an old-fashioned clambake is in order, an event that embraces the salt air and showcase the spectacular coastal scenery.
“Clambakes are a big hit with groups and are a cherished tradition,” says Tim Walsh, vice president-sales for the Newport & Bristol County CVB. “There are many variations, including doing them Indian-style with layers of seaweed and hot stones.”
Clambakes can even have an elegant twist, as they do at The Regatta Place, a tented waterfront venue with chandeliers on Newport’s Goat Island. Guests enjoy fragrant bowls of steamed clams, lobster, garlicky potatoes and corn on the cob before embarking on a harbor sail aboard the Aurora, a graceful masted schooner.
For true clambake tradition, it’s hard to top Fosters Downeast Clambakes, a fixture in York Harbor, Maine, since 1951. The company provides both catering for clambakes in other New England locations as well as event space in an on-site pavilion with stone fireplaces and seating for up to 480 people. Guests can watch the steam cooking process or take a break outside on the expansive grounds for a game of volley ball, shuffleboard or horseshoes.
On the Wine Trail
Increasingly, enjoying a fine meal in New England can also mean accompanying it with an award-winning local wine. Among the region’s greatest concentrations of wineries with tasting rooms and event space are those along the Connecticut Wine Trail, a collection of 24 wineries that are mostly family owned and located in lush rural settings.
Among the most scenic is Saltwater Farm Vineyard, set on 100 acres of vineyards, woods and tidal marshes with views of Long Island Sound. The centerpiece of the property, located outside Stonington, is a 1930s airplane hangar that owners Merrily and Michael Connery converted into a winery with a tasting area and event spaces, including an adjoining terrace. The former hangar offers a wood-beam interior, a granite fireplace and picture windows framing views of the vineyard and coast.
“We have become the ‘it’ place to get married, but we also do a lot of corporate events,” Merrily Connery says. “We do everything from small wine-pairing dinners to banquets for up to 250 in the hangar. We can also do outdoor receptions for groups somewhat larger than that.”
Set on 40 acres in the Connecticut Highlands area in the northwestern part of the state, Sunset Meadow Vineyards in Goshen hosts small to mid-size groups for dinners and tastings complemented by chocolates and cheeses from local artisans. Opened to the public in 2008 by George and Judy Motell, the award-winning winery offers over 13 varieties of wine, including an ice wine.
“We’ve hosted corporate events and fund-raising functions for small to mid-size groups,” Judy Motell says. “We have two different options—our Vista Room holds about 25 people for a dinner or tasting party, and groups of up to 100 can buy out the entire winery, which includes the tasting room and an adjoining patio.”
Maple Madness
The lore and traditions surrounding maple sugar and syrup, perhaps New England’s best-known food product, can be enjoyed at various venues in the region.
Located in Pittsford in Vermont’s Green Mountains, the Maple Museum offers visitors a trip through maple sugaring history, starting with the discovery by Native Americans that maple sap cooked over an open fire produces a sweet syrup. The museum offers the world’s largest collection of sugaring artifacts, historic photographs and live demonstrations of maple candy making and wooden sap bucket construction. A tasting room enables visitors to taste and compare the different grades of syrup.
For a more hands-on approach, the Warren Farm & Sugarhouse in North Brookfield, Mass., which creates maple confections as well as 70 other specialty food products produced from the gardens and greenhouses on the farm. The farm offers groups the chance to experience the maple sugaring process during the early spring sugaring season. Visitors tour both the sugarhouse and take short hike into the woodlands where the trees are tapped.
“The tour, which takes about 80 minutes, takes you on a guided and narrated walk through the history of maple sugaring,” says Owner Janice Wentworth, explaining that visitors learn how sap is boiled down into syrup and see the equipment and gauges needed for the process.
In Mason, N.H., Parkers Maple Barn offers tours of the maple sugaring process and also has a variety of event spaces, including a banquet hall set in a converted 19th century dairy barn adorned with antique farm implements. The barn and adjoining porch area accommodates groups of up to 150 people.
