For Dinner 20, we left the cooking to a professional (you can see the complete menu here), letting us concentrate on assembling a beautiful summer table setting at our friend Marshall’s craftsman bungalow. We went tableclothless, exposing the veneered mahogany grain of Marhsall’s table, on which chamomile Chilewich Bamboo placemats set off the rich color of the wood with a bright pop of summery exuberance. Continue Reading

The Dinner Series is back! After a recent and uncanny streak of warm weather here in boston we threw our first dinner in a while, returning to one of our favorite venues–the beautiful Cambridge home of our friends Jim & Page. (We’ve been there before for Dinner 11: French Garden Dinner and Dinner 8.) Their beautifully decorated oak paneled dining room opens up onto their manicured garden patio, making it the perfect setting for a casual dinner party that anticipates the fairer weather of late spring and summer. Continue Reading

Hands down, the best pizza in Boston comes from the ovens of Stone Hearth Pizza. As something of a pizza connoisseur, I’ve yet to find a match for their delicious thin crusts and locally sourced toppings. My first meal at their Cambridge location started my partial boycott of Boston pizza standby Upper Crust, even before their labor scandal.

Stone Hearth Executive Chef Michael Ehlenfeldt

And even better than their creatively topped house originals? The salads. At Stone Hearth you won’t find your standard pizza parlor Greek and Caesars. Every month Stone Hearth features a wonderfully fresh (and creative) salad of seasonal vegetables and fruits.

We stopped into Stone Hearth’s Belmont restaurant (57 Leonard St.) to meet their Executive Chef Michael Ehlenfeldt and watch him prepare one of Stone Hearth’s most beautiful pizzas, the Farm Fresh. Garlic oil, cherry tomatoes, charred red & yellow peppers, Yukon gold potatoes, artichoke hearts, green olives, fresh mozzarella, arugula, red onion, and a slice of prosciutto all come together in what’s a perfect example of Stone Hearth’s attention to their quality, locally-sourced ingredients. Their take-out boxes are even printed with a map of their sources.

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When we put together a table setting, especially one for a holiday, we like it to be seasonal, but veer far from kitsch. We like simplicity and utility, a setting that doesn’t require getting out the silver polish or digging around in the attic for the plates with Christmas trees on them. And we like elegance that doesn’t come from formality, but from unique pieces of dinnerware that are marked by craftsmanship, quality, and good design.

This year’s holiday table setting was inspired by the blankets of fresh snow most of us start to hope for this time of year. We veiled the table in white linen from Libeco Home. Libeco’s tablecloths have a natural earthiness to them. They’re heavy and textured–not the kind of white tablecloth you’d eat on in a restaurant–so they were perfect for a setting that tried to pull the outdoors in.

iittala Kivi votives and tall Aalto vases ran down the center of the table

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