A New Watering Hole for The Lake (aka Nontantum, MA)

One of the West Street's New Owners, Jessica Roche (Boston.com Photo)

The West Street Grille & Tap was a neighborhood staple for over a dozen years in the Newton, MA village of Nonantum. Last fall, the West Street closed for business. With the great food, good prices, and the fact that it was soooo close to our apartment, Dan and I were disappointed (and surprised) when it closed.

But last week the tables turned, and the West Street was re-born. Newton-local, Jessica Roche, and her Ireland-native husband Karl, bought the restaurant and re-launched the popular watering hole as the West Street Tavern & Restaurant.

We stopped by on Friday night and the place was bopping! The inside has been totally re-vamped, but the menu is, pretty much, the same (the bacon cheeseburger was scrumptious!). I was blown away by the size of the ladies room (it is double the size as it used to be). They also added a huge new bar and three flat screen TVs (the Red Sox were playing the Yankees on Friday night, so a lot of attention was paid to these new TVs!) Not to mention, they pour a good Guinness!

I can tell that frequent walks over to West Street are in the cards for us!

Read Full Post »

Wacky Week – Our House Didn’t Burn Down

This week might just be my wackiest yet of 2008.

So, to kick things off on Monday night I attended the Publicity Club of New England’s annual Bell Ringers – the Oscars of the New England PR world. I enjoyed myself – food was good and I loved the steel drum band. The award show usually runs about 4 hours, so I didn’t get home until after 11pm. After getting only about 3 hours of sleep, Dan and I were then ripped from our slumber by the pungent smell of burning house.

I guess some old wires short circuited behind one of the walls in the hallway that leads up to the apartment above us (we live in a two-family). We stood out on the curb for 2 hours while about 20 Newton firemen gathered around the house, geared up and then entered the “danger zone.” Our apartment didn’t suffer any damage – as the fire stayed within the walls – but the whole house was filled to the brim with smoke. The couple that lives upstairs, however, haven’t really been home since the fire because they can’t use their bathroom (the firemen had to rip up the walls to extinguish the fire in the wall on the floor below.)

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On top of all this, work has been hectic. We made a HUGE announcement for one of my clients, so we’ve been busy, to say the least. In addition, Dan and I went to go see Eric Clapton last night at Great Woods (aka The Comcast Center, formerly the Tweeter Center). The concert was a blast. The second we walked through the gates I said to Dan’s mom “so, what are the chances we’re going to run into someone we know?” Out of the thousands of people at the venue, within minutes of us being there, we ran into a whole family that we knew from Hopkinton. I called it.

Because of the fire, we’ve also had workers in and out of our apartment – insurance adjusters, cleaning crews, electricians, and the like. Luckily I’ve got a couple days off – and I need them. My sister’s bridal shower is this weekend and I’ve got to wrap up the planning. Can you say “go, go, go?”

Despite all the craziness, we were really lucky that the fire wasn’t worse. There was no damage to our “stuff”, and, more importantly, no one got hurt!

Read Full Post »

Super Tuesday

Massachusetts residents across the state are casting their ballots today. Dan and I were (I assume) one of the first to stop by our voting station in Nonantum (the “Little Italy” of Newton, MA) at 7:15 am this morning. We’re morning people – Dan even more so than myself.

Our voting station, the gym at Pellegrini Park in Nonantum, always seems empty during elections, but I hope traffic is spread throughout the day. I work in Boston, so I’m guessing there will be a lot more traffic at voting stations in the city compared to out in the burbs.

I’m no political junkie, but you can’t help feel the excitement around elections no matter your level of interest in the issues. I’m looking forward to hearing the results!

Read Full Post »