Food

Watertown Company’s Birch Lemonade Dazzles on Debut

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Watertown-based Botanical Springs got off to a good start with their products featuring birch sap before they even put their products on the market. The company’s birch sap lemonade won first place at a birch sap and syrup conference. 

The company, started in December 2014 by friends and business partners Francesco Capaldi and Mikal McCalmont. They use maple and birch sap which they harvest from trees in Maine. Along with the first place birch lemonade, Botanical Springs got second place in the birch water category at the first International Birch Sap and Syrup Conference held at Paul Smith’s College in New York, and co-sponsored by the Cornell University Cooperative Extension School. The winning lemonade was a mixture of infused birch sap, cucumber, watermelon, fresh wild mint grown in Capaldi’s mother’s garden and local honey.

Around Town

Watertown Resident Competing in Fenway Frank Recipe Competition

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A Watertown man’s recipe for the “Next Fenway Frank” has been chosen as a finalist in a contest where the winner’s creation will be on the menu at Red Sox games the rest of the season. Chelsea-based Kayem, maker of Fenway Franks, hosts a contest every year calling for the “Next Fenway Frank,” in which entrants create an original Fenway Frank recipe. The winner gets their recipe on the menu at Fenway Park for the rest of the season. New for this year, the recipe will also be served at participating 99 Restaurants, according to the announcement from Kayem. Kayem has narrowed down all the entries to five finalists and the public in now voting to pick the winner.

Food

Committee Trying to Iron Out Details to Allow BYOB in Watertown

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Watertown restaurants may be allowed to have bring-your-own alcohol, but first the details must be settled by a joint group of Town Council subcommittees. At a joint meeting of the Rules & Ordinances, Public Safety, and Planning subcommittees on Thursday, steps were taken toward crafting the new ordinance which would allow BYOB. The town has a limited number of liquor licenses – 34 – and it has requested 15 more from the state through a special home rule petition to the State Legislature. Some of these licenses have been earmarked for approved projects, and others have been limited to the business districts in town. Those restaurants falling outside those areas cannot apply for one of the new licenses.

Food

National Magazine Includes Watertown Chef as One of Its Best New Chefs

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A national food magazine has discovered what fans of Watertown’s Strip T’s restaurant have known for many years – the talent of chef Tim Maslow. The chef behind the new Strip T’s, 93 School St. in Watertown, and Ribelle in Brookline was named one of Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chefs of 2015. Maslow trained at the French Culinary Institute in New York City and worked with celebrity chef David Chan at Momofuku Noodle Bar and Momofuku Ssäm Bar, also in the Big Apple. He got his start in the restaurant business, however, working in his father Paul’s sandwich shop.

Business

Boston Restauranteur Bringing New Eatery to Arsenal on the Charles

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The man behind Kenmore Square’s Eastern Standard will be opening a new restaurant in Watertown’s Arsenal on the Charles this fall. The spot in the rear of the building which is home to the Arsenal Center for the Arts will be the new location of Garrett Harker’s new eatery, which will be called Branch Line. It will have an “urban rotisserie with a focused wine and beer program,” BostonInno reported. The restaurant will feature an outdoor seating area. Watertown native Andrew Holden, Eastern Standard’s general manager, will also be a partner in the new restaurant, according to Larry Beals, an architect working with Arsenal on the Charles-owner athenahealth’s redevelopment of the complex.

Food

Food Truck Safety a Priority for Council, Asks About Food Safety Grading

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Town Councilors want to make sure the food trucks coming to serve hungry residents and workers in town are up to the safety standards of all eateries in town. 

The Council made the request to Director of Public Health Deborah Rosati during the budget hearing for the Health Department. Trucks visit the Commanders Mansion in the Arsenal on the Charles each weekday and the Arsenal Project every Wednesday during the warmer months. Councilor Angeline Kounelis said she worries because people are not sure where the food comes from and where it was prepared. Food trucks can be fun, said Councilor Cecilia Lenk, but she too had concerns. “I think safety is a huge issue,” Lenk said.

Food

Watertown’s Newest Food Truck Fuses the Foods of the Far East and Middle East

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The Arsenal Project welcomes a new food truck to it’s Wednesday lineup. This one features a fusion of Turkish and Chinese cuisines! Uyghur Kitchen features food from China’s Northwest province known as Xinjiang. The Uyghur (pronounced wee-geer) are Turkic people who live in Central Asia, and their food includes influences from neighboring areas of Turkey, Tibet and China. The food truck is run by Pie Polat, who plays in a jazz-rock band called Background Orcs by night and runs the food truck by day.

Food

Find Out When the Watertown Farmers Market Will Open

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Get ready to purchase farm fresh vegetables and fruits, meat and seafood, flowers, preserves and cider, and many other products as the Watertown Farmers Market returns for its second season. The season opens on June 4, and the market will be held weekly on Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. according to an announcement from the Farmers Market. The market showcases a wide variety of Massachusetts grown produce, greens, fruits, eggs and meat, as well as local seafood and specialty foods. Last year, the market made its debut, with the help of athenahealth, the owner of the Arsenal on the Charles complex. “We’re excited to welcome back the Watertown Farmers Market for another great season at Arsenal on the Charles.