Author: Shelley A. Sackett

More Than Just Pizza and Spaghetti

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Anyone who has traveled to Italy and had the great fortune to eat even one dinner in Lucca knows that not only is the town a draw in its own right, with its enclosed walls and lovely broad parks, but that its food is also among Italy’s most compelling.

 

If Lucca is not on your 2017 agenda (or within your budget), Salem can dish up the next best thing: Vittorio Ambrogi, Lucca native and executive chef at Trattoria Orsini, located in the previous Grapevine space at 26 Congress Street.

 

The former chef of the Grapevine (where his wife Stacy was one of the owners), Ambrogi has created a modern Italian menu that features dishes ranging from chopped salads to grilled octopus to his special “Orsini Meatballs” (veal, beef and pork meatballs braised in Chianti tomato sauce with Cavatelli pasta).

 

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Ambrogi’s famous pasta Bolognese

 

Ambrogi’s accent is as deliciously Tuscan as his cuisine, and he peppers the conversation with “pero” (Italian for “but”) and other Italian phrases. When asked what are some of his favorite dishes to cook, he lets loose with a belly laugh and says, “Risotto and sauce. You can’t go too far from the sauce in Italian.”

 

According to Michael Gajewski, a Trattoria Orsini General Manager (“I’m really just a glorified busboy,” he joked), although the chef and space are the same as the Grapevine’s, the new restaurant differs in significant ways. Major renovations included adding expanded patio space and creation of a different “look” with new furniture, a sleek bar, and two rooms with cozy tables where diners can enjoy quiet and intimate conversations as well as terrific food.

 

However, what has remained the same is what makes Trattoria Orsini as special as the Grapevine was. “Having Vittorio and a lot of the old staff back, and of course Vittorio’s food and his nightly specials” are what patrons are happiest about. And of course, everyone is looking forward to spring and summer on our beautiful new patio,” he said.

 

The new restaurant opened last summer with over 4,000 square feet of interior dining and a 2,000+ square foot patio. Completing renovations, equipment procurement, permitting, staffing and menu production were among the biggest challenges, according to Gajewski.

 

Among the menu’s most popular items are the meatballs, risotto, arancini (rice balls), shrimp scampi, octopus, cod and, of course, Ambrogi’s famous Bolognese sauce. The chef added the Grilled Octopus appetizer (accompanied by fried black polenta, olives, capers and fresh tomato sauce) as an item unique to the new restaurant. The dish was not on the Grapevine menu, and has been a huge crowd pleaser.

 

His Pan Roasted Cod dish, while among the most popular entrees, is not really an Italian dish as far as Ambrogi is concerned, because Italians don’t have access to the same kind of fish Americans do. “Cod is not a very popular fish in Italy. It’s not as meaty and juicy as it is here. It’s also a smaller fish,” he said.

 

While Ambrogi loves cooking and creating inventive and delicious nightly specials, he also likes his days off. Last Monday and Tuesday he took advantage of the recent snowfalls and decided to go skiing at his favorite place, Sunapee, which is “always fun”.

 

The Tuscan chef has been cooking for over 27 years, including almost 20 at the Grapevine where he developed quite a loyal following. He reflected on his long career and devoted patrons, and added modestly, “We’ve been putting out pretty decent food for many years and we are still doing that.”

 

Trattoria Orsini is located at 26 Congress Street and is open from 4 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. For reservations, call (978) 594-8048 or visit trattoriaorsini.com.

 

 

Salem Epiphany bonfire lets Christmas trees delight twice

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Matthew Williams had a ringside seat last Friday night. He was settled in his beach chair, gazing out onto Dead Horse Beach under a clear, starry night sky. The 15-year-old Salem resident took a sip from his paper cup and starting playing a video game on his phone, anxious for the festivities to begin.

 

Fourth of July fireworks? Not quite. Matthew, like many other hearty souls, was bundled up in scarf, hat and mittens as he sipped hot chocolate and waited for the Salem firemen to torch the heap of Christmas trees whose enormous silhouette brought to mind Monet’s haystacks in Giverney.

 

The last time Matthew attended the Salem Christmas Tree Bonfire he was seven years old. “This is a lot bigger. It’s a cool sight to see!” he said. His mom, Suzi Williams, added that this year the bonfire was even more meaningful for her family. “We had a real tree to put in,” she said, and laughed as she and Matthew tried to find it in the pile.

 

Hundreds of people braved the cold to be part of the experience. Many dragged trees and wreaths behind them, and the firemen were happy to add them to the growing pile.

 

Started in 2004 by then Mayor Stanley J. Usovicz, Jr., the Park and Recreation Commission, and Fire Marshall Captain William Hudson, the Christmas Tree Bonfire is a long-standing Salem happening.

 

Ellen Talkowsky, City of Salem Special Events Coordinator, remembers that first bonfire. “They just wanted to start a new Salem tradition — to go down to the beach, see your neighbors and friends, and wish them a Happy New Year,” she recalled.

 

The Gathering, a local church, provided and served free hot chocolate for all. The group also runs the five weekends of live music at the Fountain Stage every October and paints children’s faces every July 4th.

 

“I look forward to it every year and I know many other residents do as well,” said Mayor Kim Driscoll.

 

New this year was the Cookie Monster food truck, and there was a line outside its door as revelers happily devoured the warm cookies on such a cold night, anxiously awaiting the moment when the pile of trees would go up in flames.

 

Finally the countdown began, and the frigid air turned several degrees warmer with the electricity of anticipation. Mayor Driscoll announced the countdown from ten to zero, and the Salem firemen torched the pile. Within seconds, flames shot up over the sky. Luckily, the ocean breeze cooperated, blowing the smoke over the crowd’s heads instead of into their eyes.

“The Fire Department is expert at putting out fires, but they do a really good job of starting one too,” said Talkowsky.

Back to Basics: Cookies and Milk

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“Goodnight Fatty” satisfies those late night munchies

Above:  Erik Sayce and Jen Pullen, proud owners and creators of “Goodnight Fatties”.

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Fatties on parade from left: Blueberry Lemon Cream, Peanut Butter S’more, and the Cowgirl Fatty, made of oatmeal, Ghirardelli dark chocolate, cinnamon, coconut and crushed pecans

Late last Friday night, a small storefront on Derby Street was abuzz with conversation, music and camaraderie. Couples canoodled at the bar, small groups huddled, drinks in hand, talking and laughing, and the duo behind the counter could barely keep up with the food orders.

The latest trendy theme bar or craft brew pub? Not quite. These millennials (and a couple of baby boomers) were savoring the nostalgic comfort and shockingly fabulous taste of homemade, small batch cookies and bottomless glasses of milk.

“I like chocolate inside chocolate,” said Anthony Schepsis, pointing to the puddle of melted chocolate that had oozed onto his plate from inside the warm double chocolate cookie he had just demolished with a cold glass of milk. “Who doesn’t like a cookie at 10 p.m. on a Friday?”

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Soniya Tejwani and Anthony Schepsis on a Friday night date night at their favorite new bar.

That was exactly the question Goodnight Fatty creators and owners, Jennifer Pullen and Erik Sayce, asked themselves after a date night in Salem not too long ago. “We were walking home from Turner’s Seafood and were both talking about how great it would be to have a quick place to get a warm cookie late at night,” Pullen said. The pair brainstormed the whole walk home, and came up with the “Goodnight Fatty” popup concept before they reached their front steps.

“We made a pact to keep it a secret – even from our own family!” Pullen added. “We were nervous our idea wouldn’t come to fruition.”

Once they had a plan, the couple, who both work at Salem Academy Charter School – Pullen in the food program and Sayce in the office of Communications and Development – needed a venue.

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Fatties ‘N Cream – the most popular cookie – is vegan with a pudding base and Oreo’s and Taza Dark Chocolate from Somerville MA.

The day before Derby Joe’s, the breakfast, lunch and coffee shop at 142 Derby Street, opened its doors for the first time, Sayce “barged in”, in need of a cup of coffee. “They still served me!” Sayce exclaimed, even though they weren’t officially open. Sayce and Pullen became friends with Dan Crowther, Derby Joe’s’ owner, and brought him their first cookie, the “Cowboy Fatty”, to try.

As they drove away, Sayce remembers looking in the window and seeing Crowther dancing by himself as he finished eating it. “That’s how you know it’s good!” Pullen chimed in.

The young couple pitched the idea to Crowther that they commandeer his Derby Joe’s space after he closed and “sling cookies on weekends.” Crowther loved the idea, and the Goodnight Fatty popup was born.
Each weekend, from 7 p.m. until midnight, the two serve up a new variety of “Fatties” (the official name for their cookies) made in small batches, with ethical and quality ingredients, and most importantly served warm so they perfectly complement the ice-cold milk that is their patrons’ beverage of choice.

Sayce and Pullen met when they were in college, he at Salem State University and she at Keene State College. They had been friends for years before they started dating and last year, Sayce asked Pullen to marry him. Once they found out how expensive weddings were, they decided they could either go into “massive credit card debt or start a cookie business on weekends,” Sayce said.

Both are floored by the support they’ve received. They want to keep growing the business as long as it stays fun and something Salem residents want. By next month, they hope to add home delivery service of warm fatties.

For Pullen, who grew up on a large horse farm in New Hampshire her family still runs today, starting Goodnight Fatty has helped make Salem, which to her feels like a “huge city”, feel more like home. “It’s exciting to meet more locals and see them come back week-to-week smiling,” she said.

With Pullen’s background and skillset helping on the kitchen side of creating breathtakingly decadent flavors and adhering to the technicalities of food safety, and Sayce’s marketing tools, the two vegans could be poised for expansion. Instead, they are savoring their current accomplishment and the thrill of keeping their product fresh each week. “For now, we’re just excited to have some success under our belt and are totally focused on just pulling off next weekend,” Sayce said.

Goodnight Fatty is located at 142 Derby Street, in the Derby Joe’s location and is open Friday and Saturday from 7p.m. until midnight.

Shedding a Special Light on Hanukkah at the MFA

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It was beginning to feel a lot like Hanukkah at the Museum of Fine Arts last Wednesday when the Shapiro Family Courtyard was transformed into a large-scale celebration for the senses. The oversized interactive menorah cast its magic light over the crowd as some swayed to Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band, some created their own menorahs at the nearby crafts table, and some checked their official program guide, trying to fit as many of the evening’s overlapping art, music and storytelling offerings into their time schedule as possible.

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Young and old gather in the Shapiro Family Courtyard to create one-of-a-kind menorahs.

 

Harriet and Jeff Brand of Marblehead were among the more than 1,000 attendees. At the third annual event “It’s just so festive and wonderful to see all the families here,” said Harriet, as a group of toddlers scrambled past. “It’s exciting the MFA is recognizing the joy of Hanukkah,” added Jeff.

 

“Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights” was presented by the MFA in partnership with the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston (CJP) and the newly formed Jewish Arts Collaborative (JArts), with support from the Consulate General of Israel to New England.

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The large-scale, interactive menorah changes whose flames change color as visitors approach.

 

This year’s celebration featured “Inworlds”, a cutting-edge mixed reality short performance created by Secret Portal in association with Dudley Square Studios that was as experiential as experimental. A live actor and a volunteer who wore a virtual reality headset interacted on a stage bathed in projected visuals that mirrored what the volunteer was seeing. The first-of-its-kind exploration told a story of loss, miracles, friendships and discovery, meant to reflect the miracle of Hanukkah itself.

 

For Laura Mandel, JArts Executive Director, this was the highlight of the 2016 event, and not just because her husband is part of the creative team behind it. “I have loved watching the evolution of our virtual reality endeavor. The end result is a beautiful look into the most current technology out there,” she said. “It excites me that we can inspire artists to push these boundaries in innovative ways, all tying us back to the miracle and illumination of Hanukkah.”

 

JArts was launched last December when the Boston Jewish Music Festival and New Center for Arts & Culture joined forces to create a bold new initiative to share the history, artistry and universality of Jewish Culture. Joey Baron, who co-created the Boston Jewish Music Festival with Jim Ball, is JArts Creative Director.

 

Baron’s selection of the evening’s musical events included a Hanukkah sing-a-long with cantor and klezmer clarinetist Becky Khitrik, the klezmer band Ezekial’s Wheels, a group Boston Jewish Music Festival helped introduce to Boston audiences, and the award-winning Nigun Chamber Ensemble.

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The award-winning Nigun Chamber Ensemble perform Jewish songs from pre-war Eastern Europe.

 

Baron was most enthusiastic about Wendy Jehlen’s performance. Jehlen is founder and artistic director of Anikaya Dance, which weaves together music, dance and storytelling from disparate traditions and different ways of understanding.

 

“I’m not all that much of a dance fan, but there’s nothing like experiencing a dancer performing to live music in such an inspiring setting as a museum gallery setting. I think it could be magical,” he said.

 

Throughout the evening, “Spotlight Talks: Judaica” explored works of Judaica in four galleries with 15-minute talks that featured exploration of one or two specific pieces. A panel of curators, artists, Rabbis and educators discussed Judaica and Judaism at the MFA, in Bosoton and beyond.

 

No Hanukkah festivity would be complete without gifts, and the MFA celebration was no exception. The crowd eagerly awaited the unveiling of the just released 2016 Hanukkah stamp, its official party favor of the evening. The United States Postal Service’s official representative did the honors with great flourish to the sounds of snapping cameras and cell phones and robust claps and cheers.

 

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A United State Postal Service representative officially unveils the 2016 Hanukkah stamp.

But it was the installation of the giant menorah that really stole the show. The unique art menorah installation, “Step To Hanukkah Lights”, uses advanced technology to enable visitors to “light” a menorah by stepping on a platform with nine, free standing 8-foot candles. When they approach each candle, their proximity changes the menorah’s colors. The number of people close to the menorah and to each other alters the intensity and the color of the “flames.” It is quite something to behold and even more amazing to experience.

 

The menorah will remain on display at the MFA for two weeks and was created by a team of three local artists: Saul Baizman, Fish McGill and Andrew Ringler.

 

Neil Wallack, chair of CJP Board of Directors, was one of eight who offered remarks prior to the candle lighting. He referred to the evening as illustrative of “our combined efforts to repair the world. The light in our community gets brighter when we are together.”

 

After the menorah was lit, everyone joined in singing the Hanukkah prayers. “I get goose bumps every time I see 1,000-plus people singing Hanukkah blessings in the courtyard. That moment is the definition of community to me,” said Mandel, holding her squirming 18-month old.

Pleasure and Pain: Not All Shoes Are Meant for Walking

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If, as Mark Twain said, “Clothes makes the man”, then the Peabody Essex Museum’s newest exhibit is full throttle support for a complementary adage: “Shoes make the woman”.

“Shoes: Pleasure and Pain” showcases 300 pairs of shoes by more than 130 designers and artists that range from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the comfortable to the downright punishing. Although men’s shoes are represented with bling and panache, over 70% of the exhibit is devoted to women’s shoes.

With its recent acquisition of 20th– and 21st-century fashion, PEM has the largest shoe collection in the country. Over 100 are included in the exhibit, many of which have never been displayed before.

“We are in the process of building a fashion presence at PEM,” said Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, PEM’s James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes Deputy Director and coordinating curator for the exhibition. “There is a growing appetite for compelling exhibitions about fashion.”

Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the PEM show marks its U.S. debut and will run through March 12, 2017.

Curated by themes, the five-section show (Transformation, Status, Seduction, Creation and Obsession) features shoes worn by high profile celebrities such as David Beckham, Elton John, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana. Among the artists and designers represented are Manolo Blahnik (of “Sex and the City” notoriety), Christian Louboutin (with his signature red soles), Christian Dior, Jimmy Choo and Prada. Combat boots and sneakers share center stage with stilettos and seductive boudoir mules.

 

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Beaded evening shoes by Roger Vivier for Christian Dior, 1958-1960.

 

It is the pairing of designer and consumer that is at the heart of the exhibit. “Shoes are about the personal creativity of the designer and the person who wears that shoe. It’s a partnership between two people who likely never meet. Creation is about communication,” Hartigan said.

The shoes on display aren’t just meant to protect feet and promote locomotion. They are also projections of the mood, identity and status of the wearer. “Shoes are extensions of ourselves,” she added.

Blahnik’s Mondrian-inspired red and yellow “Tendona” shoes would be conversation-stoppers at any gathering as would Louboutin’s impossibly high-heeled “Anemone” design, with its red satin bursts and feathers. The shoes seem molded to fit a Barbie doll’s nonhuman foot, and in fact, Barbie does have her very own accessory line of three Louboutin designs.

 

Manolo Blahnik , 'Tendona' shoe, 2015. Leather. Courtesy of Manolo Blahnik

“Tedona” by Manolo Blahnik, 2015, made of leather and on loan from the designer..

 

These shoes aren’t meant for the average consumer (even Barbie’s version retails for $35). With starting prices of $700, they are associated with more than female sexuality and power. “High heels have always been worn by rich people of high society,” said Hartigan, noting that the Egyptians first developed platform shoes in 3500 B.C. so the wealthy could be seen as walking high off the ground.

Historians looking for more than the dazzle of sequins and crystals (yes, there is even a Swarovski Cinderella glass slipper) can linger among the lotus shoes made for bound feet, 16th century chopines and men’s shoes with noisy slap-soles that were worn in Europe in the 17th century.

 

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Chopines by an artist in Venice, Italy, about 1600 made of punched leather and pine.

 

Fashionistas will delight in the chance to see Vivienne Westwood’s dramatically exaggerated lace-up blue platform heels that famously caused model Naomi Campbell to stumble on a Paris runway in 1993. A picture of Campbell good-naturedly laughing after her very public tumble is part of the display.

 

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The Vivienne Westwood blue, platform-heeled “Super Elevated Gillie” shoes that caused Naomi Campbell’s infamous 1993 Paris catwalk show tumble.

 

The exhibit also has a distinctive local flavor, acknowledging New England’s importance as a shoe manufacturing center and featuring selections from the late Boston style maven Marilyn Riseman and noted North Shore collectors Jimmy Raye and Lillian Montalto Bohlen.

Turning momentarily serious, the section “Seduction” shines a spotlight on the often-blurred lines between objectification and celebration of women’s sexuality. Inspired by bondage and 18th century prostitution, mules and high heels have always represented both passion and exploitation.

Perhaps the most extreme example of this is “Fetish”, an unwearable pair of stilettos created by Louboutin in collaboration with film director David Lynch, whose signature style (“Blue Velvet”, “Twin Peaks”) is darkly twisted sensuality. The only way one can wear these shoes is by crawling. A picture of a woman doing just that is part of the exhibit.

 

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“Fetish” by Louboutin in collaboration with David Lynch.

 

Walking through the galleries, it’s evident that while the lion’s share of shoes is designed for women, the designers are predominantly men. Although high heels may empower and literally elevate women, they can do so at a cost of permanent back and foot problems.

Asked whether he has sympathy for women who wear his designer high heels, Louboutin was unambiguous in a 2012 interview with “Grazia” magazine. “High heels are pleasure with pain. If you can’t walk in them, don’t wear them,” he scoffed.

Or, as a shoe designer in ancient Roman times (when high heels were popular with both men and women) might have put it, “caveat emptor”.

Shoes: Pleasure and Pain runs through March 12, 2017 at the Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem. For more information, visit pem.org.

Christine Barr Sullivan Remembered

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When she passed away suddenly on October 25 at age 72, Christine Barr Sullivan left a large footprint and even larger shoes to fill.

 

“She was always on the move. If she hadn’t just started something new, she was thinking about what to do next,” said John Neely, her husband of many decades.

 

Her commitment to public service and her love affair with Salem are common threads in a multifaceted career. She started in Washington, D.C. as North Shore Congressman Michael Harrington’s Chief of Staff and then moved on to state government as Secretary of Consumer Affairs under Governor Michael Dukakis after earning a graduate degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

 

Although familiar with Salem from her work with then Councilman Harrington, Sullivan had never lived there. After graduate school, she bought a house there, quickly becoming part of the fabric of the city, commuting to Boston for her job in state government.

 

Her first meeting with Neely was when he was working in the MA State Energy Office and she was asked to find someone to speak to a group of business people at a breakfast Councilman Harrington was hosting. “Christine introduced herself and said those fabulous words, ‘The Danish is over there,’” Neely said, adding with a chuckle that for some reason, nothing clicked between them with that first meeting.

 

The second time, however, Sullivan was in her state government position and needed help getting a new energy-related agency off the ground. She called Neely, who was then living in Colorado, did a phone interview and hired him. This time, a romance developed and the two married and Neely moved to Salem.

 

As their family grew, Sullivan’s focus shifted to a path that afforded her more flexibility and the ability to be a working mother. After starting Best of Salem magazine and launching a successful marketing and public relations firm, she found her niche with the Enterprise Center, the Salem State University (SSU) business incubator. (@EnterpriseCtr and facebook.com/EnterpriseCtr).

 

In 2002, soon after becoming CEO of the Enterprise Center, Sullivan invited Patricia Zaido, who had recently lost her husband, to lunch. Zaido had also just retired from the SSU faculty after a 37-year career where she served as Chair of the Theater Department and as the founding Executive Director of the Center for Creative and Performing Arts.

 

“She was telling me all the things she was doing with the Enterprise Center and I was enthused about it, ” Zaido recalled. “I was trying to decide what to do with the rest of my life.” Zaido became executive director of the Salem Partnership a short time after that lunch with Sullivan.

 

The Salem Partnership is a non-profit whose goal is to revitalize economic development in Salem with a close focus on the downtown district.

 

The two became fast friends and colleagues, working closely on many joint projects. “We went to five or six meetings a month together,” Zaido said. “We really got to know each other well.”

 

Eventually, they both became interested in Creative Economy, a new concept that recognizes the contribution people in the creative domain make to the economic development of a region. Both women got the reluctant agreement of their respective boards to explore the concept for Salem and the North Shore.

 

“I guess we were both doing a good enough job that they were willing to go along with us if we wanted to do this,” Zaido said with a laugh.

 

The two women brought their idea to the North Shore, co-founding the Creative Economy Association of the North Shore. (@ceanstweet and facebook.com/creative.economy) Not satisfied with just the North Shore, they decided to expand their reach and to have Salem host the first statewide Creative Economy conference.

 

Out of that conference, they eventually succeeded in getting legislation passed to create the Creative Economy Council. Although it was an uphill battle, the two were tenacious and persistent. “Christine would not take no for an answer,” Zaido said.

 

Sullivan served on many local boards, including the Salem YMCA, Northeast Arc, the Bentley Academy Charter School and the North Shore and Salem Chambers of Commerce.

 

“Christine was smart, funny and always motivated. She showed me the way in Salem and the North Shore, providing thought-provoking insights,” said Rinus Oosthoek, Executive Director of the Salem Chamber of Commerce. “She would never settle for the ordinary.”

 

When Sullivan retired in 2014, SSU and the Salem Chamber of Commerce established the Sullivan Education Fund to “continue and grow the extensive educational programs at the Enterprise Center, and to help entrepreneurs learn the skills to start and grow their businesses.”

 

“Christine was a unique and remarkable woman,” said Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll. “It is truly difficult to imagine Salem without her positive, enthusiastic presence. Her commitment to this community and to our Commonwealth was deep and powerful, and her work changed so many lives for the better.”

 

Never ones to rest on their laurels, Sullivan and Zaido were in the midst of launching their latest project based on the concept of an “Age Friendly City” that was developed by the World Health Organization in 2010. They applied to the WHO network and Salem was accepted, the first city on the North Shore and only the third in MA to achieve that status.

 

After “a lot of hard work”, they developed a 72-page strategic plan that is scheduled to go to the WHO for certification next week. The plan identifies areas where Salem is strong now and areas where it needs improvement.

 

“We now have to implement it,” Zaido said and paused before adding, “But we have to do it without Christine.”

Adea’s is a vegetarian Middle Eastern delight

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David Winer, the 32-year-old owner, chef, manager and server at the recently opened restaurant, Adea’s Mediterranean Kitchen, has been up since before dawn, preparing the day’s homemade menu. At an hour when most people are enjoying their first cup of coffee, he is already busy stirring an enormous pot of Jerusalem Bean Soup that has been bubbling away for four hours.

 

“It’s a very simple recipe with very simple ingredients,” he said, describing the Israeli staple that is made of two kinds of beans, tomato paste, onions, salt pepper, oil and water. “That’s it. Then cook it for eight hours.” He checked to make sure the soup wasn’t burning.

 

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Jerusalem Bean Soup bubbles away.

 

The secret that separates Adea’s’ bean soup from its peers? “We cook it with a lot of love,” he said with a wide grin.

 

Adea’s, located at 90 Lafayette Street in the space previously occupied by Salem Theatre Company, is Salem’s first kosher vegetarian eatery. The 41-seat restaurant is open from 10 a.m. Sunday through Friday, closing at 3 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. the rest of the week.

 

Winer chose Salem for business and lifestyle reasons. He and his family live in an apartment around the corner from the restaurant and he loves how local Salem is. “It’s a city with a small town feel,” he said.

 

It also is a city known for its varied restaurants and excellent food. “They have the basics here, but there is nothing like ours. In Boston, there are hummus places all over the place. In Salem, there is no kosher or falafel restaurant,” he said.

 

Adea’s is under the kosher supervision of Chabad of the North Shore.

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Having a kosher restaurant is important to Winer because he and his family eat only kosher food. However, he points out that being kosher is an add-on value for Adea’s. For him, the larger issue is that he serves only vegetarian food. “It’s an environmentally friendly thing,” he said proudly.

 

The menu is small, featuring a handful of staples, including a hot hummus platter, stuffed grape leaves, Israeli salad, babaghanoush, and the crowd-pleasing bean soup. There are also two or three daily specials, such as roasted Tuscan vegetables with Tuscan beans and black bean and veggie soup with rice. “What we like about our menu is that it’s very small. We have a lot of leeway,” he said, emphasizing that everything is cooked fresh every day.

 

For Winer, returning to the North Shore is returning to his roots. He grew up in Swampscott, where he graduated from Swampscott High School in 2002. After earning a degree from University of Massachusetts in hospitality management, he worked in Florida and New York City. At age 24, he decided to go to Israel, intending to visit for six months. Instead, he stayed for six years, becoming co-partner of Tel Aviv’s Café Kaymak, a coffee shop.

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Adea’s famous hummus with tahini and chickpeas.

 

In Israel, Winer explained, there is a real “coffee shop culture”, which draws people for conversation and camaraderie. “Coffee shops are the real gathering places whereas in America, it’s usually bars and restaurants,” he said.

 

“It was a great learning experience for me,” he said of the “cool, funky, bohemian” place where he fine-tuned his recipes for hummus, falafel, bean soup and other Middle Eastern fare. “There is a lot of influence from there,” he said of Adea’s’ menu. “I wanted to create a place with an Israeli feel.”

 

His Israeli coffee shop provided more than just schooling in authentic Israeli cuisine. It also provided him the opportunity to meet Adena, his Ethopian-born Israeli wife.

 

“Cliché as it is, it was love at first sight,” he said. Adena came to an event at his Café Kaymak shop and one year later, they were married. The couple has two young children and do everything themselves.

 

Word of mouth about the new restaurant is nothing short of raves. Elana Gerson, of Salem, lived in Israel for five years. “The food is fantastic,” she said as she lunched on the Adea’s sampler platter. “I feel like I’m in Israel.”

 

Susan Steigman of Marblehead agreed. “The food is delicious and the service hospitable. The hummus is outstanding,” she said

 

On a recent Monday, the restaurant was nearly full as a steady flow of people ordered lunch. David and Adena were behind the counter, she taking customers’ orders and he wielding a giant spatula.

 

“It’s a real Mom and Pop restaurant. It’s just the two of us. We have no employees. It’s early mornings and late nights,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but we wanted it, we asked for it and we got it.”

 

Although Winer admits there were many unforeseen challenges to taking on an empty space and creating a restaurant from scratch, the man who “loves serving people” has no regrets.

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“The feedback has been unbelievable. My first loves are my daughters and my wife and my family. But when people say, ‘Wow, I love your food’, it makes me feel so good. I really couldn’t see myself doing anything else. I guess this was my calling.”

 

Judging from their cleaned plates and satisfied smiles, his customers couldn’t agree more.

 

For more information, visit http://adeasmk.com.

 

Scottsboro: Where Boys Will Be Good Ole Boys

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“Scottsboro Boys” at the SpeakEasy Theatre: a Review

By Shelley A. Sackett

 

 

There is a tipping point moment about an hour into the SpeakEasy Stage Company’s sparkling and disturbing vaudeville-style musical, “The Scottsboro Boys”.

 

Wade Wright, attorney for the Prosecution, gives his summation at the second trial of the Scottsboro Nine, as the nine African-American boys and men falsely accused of raping two white women on an Alabama train in 1931 became known. Their accuser has just recanted her entire testimony in open court. Samuel Leibowitz, a white Jewish New York criminal lawyer, is their defense attorney.

 

Wright decides to tap into another form of bigotry to win his now baseless case. “Is justice in this case going to be bought and sold in Alabama with Jew money from New York?” he sings to the all white jury in a song based on actual court transcripts.

 

The white jurors find the nine guilty and it takes two decades of re-trials and appeals (including two to the U.S. Supreme Court which resulted in landmark civil rights rulings) to reverse that injustice. Those cases exposed the dark underbelly of this nation’s racism and the continuing challenge of reeling in the deep South and its ingrained ways, even half a century after the end of the Civil War.

 

Most songwriters wouldn’t look to Jim Crow-era Alabama and this shocking incident for the subject matter of a musical. But John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, whose resume includes the prickly blockbusters “Cabaret”, “Kiss of the Spiderwoman” and “Chicago”, have never looked to the usual suspects for inspiration. They have relished the edgy and subversive, and the opportunity to expose one of American history’s most shameful episodes of racial injustice was just their cup of tea.

 

Creating an entertaining show from such weighty raw material was a challenge. In an unconventional and daring move, they decided to tell the story of the Scottsboro Boys as a play within a play. The audience is to pretend they are attending an old-time minstrel show. The subject of that show is the Scottsboro nine.

 

The conceit miraculously works. The play’s characters appear as Stepin Fetchit archetypes, cartoonish characters that are arm’s length enough to give the audience moral breathing room to laugh at the blustering sheriffs, duplicitous damsels and singing and dancing inmates. Simultaneously, discomfort hits, and the same audience cringes at the racist caricatures and demeaning blackface meant to debase blacks and sentimentalize slavery. It takes a little while, but eventually the message sinks in: the same people who made black anguish and white injustice the heart and soul of America’s most popular form of entertainment also created a world with the kind of unwritten law that the Scottsboro jury upheld.

 

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Members of “The Scottsboro Boys” cast in “Shout”.

 

At slightly under two intermission-less hours, the production showcases a zesty score of dark, barbed lyrics and ragtime-infused music. The opening number, “Hey, Hey, Hey”, introduces us to the characters and acts as a primer about how minstrel shows work (which is a good thing, since most 21st century theatergoers are unfamiliar with the 150-year-old format). The audience is told to expect song, dance and comic sketches, and that’s exactly what they get, complete with tambourines and white-gloved open palmed hand flapping. The musical numbers pay homage to Dixie Depression-era style with a perfect blend of reeds, trombone, guitar and drums. Somewhere, Al Jolson’s spirit is smiling.

 

Director Paul Daigneault and choreographer Ilyse Robbins make the most of the compact stage, using the aisles and minimal set to creative advantage. Several numbers (especially “Electric Chair” and “Make Friends with the Truth”) are real showstoppers and Isaiah Reynolds is nothing short of flawless as Ruby Bates in “Never Too Late”.

 

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Brandon G. Green (left) and Maurice Emmanuel Parent as Tambo and Bones.

 

While mostly faithful to the minstrel form, “The Scottsboro Boys” departs from it in ways significant to the storytelling. The recognizable stock minstrel characters of Mr. Bones and Mr. Tambo (usually white men in black face playing black stereotypes) are black men playing cartoonish racist white law enforcement officers and lawyers. Most importantly, the Scottsboro nine are never reduced to shtick or buffoonery. Their story is serious and their words are honest, raising the specter of lynching, fear and despair.

 

While each of the Scottsboro boys has his story and chance to shine, it is Haywood Patterson (played with grace and authority by De’lon Grant) who is the moral center of the show. He refuses to tell a lie, even when his false admission to a crime could mean his freedom. His part (and Grant’s delivery) is the show’s most lifelike, his dilemma the most universal. “Everyone believes me when I’m telling a lie, but nobody believes me when I’m telling the truth,” he laments.

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De’Lon Grant in “Shadow Play”.

 

Despite a catchy score that combines jazz, gospel and vaudeville and entertaining musical numbers that mix the comic and the monstrous, the show manages to make its critical and timely point. “You’re guilty because of the way you look,” a character is told, and the murmur in the audience brought to mind contemporary refrains of “Build A Wall!” “Black Lives Matter” and “Bad Hombre”. Perhaps things haven’t changed as much since the 1930’s as we would like to think they have.

 

The Scottsboro Boys is presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company through November 26 at the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavillion, Boston Center for the Arts at 527 Tremont Street. For more information, call 617-933-8600 or visit SpeakEasyStage.com.

For Salem Haunted Happenings, the carnival returns to Derby Street

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By Shelley A. Sackett, correspondent

Haunted Happenings, the annual month-long festival that crowns Salem the world capital of all things Halloween, will kick off its third weekend with the beloved Fiesta Shows Carnival on Derby Street. Famed for having the most thrilling Midway, Fiesta Shows owns and operates over 100 amusement rides ranging in excitement from the most popular Kiddie rides to the ultimate thrill seekers.

The Carnival runs from 1:00 p.m. (12 noon on Sunday) until 10:00 p.m. on weekends and from 3:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. on weekdays from Friday, October 14 through Monday, October 31.

“There is something special happening every weekend,” said Kate Fox, Executive Director of Destination Salem, the city’s Office of Tourism & Cultural Affairs. Salem Haunted Happenings typically draws over 250,000 visitors to Salem during October.

In addition to the outdoor fun and frolic of the Carnival, there are plenty of opportunities for lovers of theater, film, séances, tours and much more.

CinemaSalem at Museum Place Mall screens the terrific “The History of Halloween”, a short film shot in 3D that will entertain any age, and “The True 1692”, a 3D film that tells the story of the Salem witchcraft hysteria of 1692. (Visit CinemaSalem.com for the full schedule).

For a more up close and personal 1692 experience, History Alive, Inc. presents the 25th season of “Cry Innocent: The People vs. Bridget Bishop” at Old Town Hall at 32 Derby Square. The live, interactive event allows participants to play the part of the Puritan jury, hearing testimony, cross examining witnesses and deciding the outcome of the famous witchcraft trial. (Visit CryInnocentSalem.com for more information).

If dinner and theater is your treat of choice, then head to the Hawthorne Hotel on Friday, October 14 or Finz on Saturday, October 15 at 7:00 p.m. for “Ghostbusted!”, the family friendly whodunit where the actors perform tableside and diners help solve the mystery while enjoying a buffet dinner. (For more information and to make reservations, go to HauntedDinnerTheater.com ).

If magic is more your cup of tea, then head to St. Peter’s Church at 24 St. Peter Street for the Salem Haunted Magic Show, a live 75-minute show filled with a unique blend of inconceivable stunts, bizarre demonstrations, dark comedy and — of course — audience participation. (Visit TheSalemMagicShow.com for more information).

If your Halloween experience isn’t complete without a séance (or two), then Festival of the Dead’s authentic nightly séances at The Omen at 184 Essex Street should fit the bill. For a complete listing of all events, including the Official Witches’ Ball and the Annual Psychic Fair and Witches’ Expo, visit festivalofthedead.com.

New to Haunted Happenings this year, The Salem Waterfront Hotel at 225 Derby Street will host Chowderfest, a Breast Cancer Benefit, on Saturday, October 15 from 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. For a $10 “spoon fee”, visitors can sample chowder from restaurants in the North Shore and vote for the Best Chowder. All proceeds will be donated to NSMC/MassGeneral/NS Cancer Services.

Trolley tours and harbor boat cruises let revelers enjoy more of Salem by land and by sea. For landlubbers, Salem Trolley offers two options: a one-hour narrated historical tours, and “Tales & Tombstones” a special evening tour that visits scenes of Salem’s haunted past and forgotten secrets. (For reservations, visit SalemTrolley.com ). Gallows Hill’s “Ghosts & Legends Trolley” is a sinister and comical guided look at Salem’s history. (For more information, visit GallowsHillSalem.com )

Mahi Mahi Cruises has three tours to choose from: a “Haunted Happenings” tour, complete with face painting and Tarot card readings; a 90-minute lighthouse and foliage cruise; and a 21+ “Halloween Boo!s Cruise” with DJ, costumes, prizes and — of course — booze. For more details, visit MahiCruises.com.

If it seems like an impossible task to keep all the schedules and events straight, you’re in luck. Destination Salem has published “The Guide to Salem Haunted Happenings”, the zombie-themed essential handbook for getting the most out of Haunted Happenings. It includes calendars, articles, Haunted Happenings “Dos and Don’ts” and information about Salem’s tours, attractions, entertainment, parking and transportation. The guide is available at the National Park Service Salem Visitors Center at 2 New Liberty St. or at hauntedhappenings.org/.

Justice Is Not Denied in “Denial”

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By Shelley A. Sackett

 

When historian Deborah E. Lipstadt walked onto the stage on September 22 for a Q&A after a preview of the film “Denial”, she was asked what it felt like to be portrayed by the Academy Award-winning actress Rachel Weisz. “It was surreal,” she said with a laugh, noting that the most remarkable part was hearing her own Queens accent perfectly mimed by the English film and theater star.

 

But with that, any light-heartedness faded as discussion turned to her real life role as defendant in a British lawsuit brought by Hitler admirer and “historian” David Irving. After Lipstadt labeled him a Holocaust denier in her 1993 book, “Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory”, Irving sued her and her publisher, Penguin books, for libel, claiming her false statements had harmed his reputation.

 

Her subsequent ten-week legal battle in 2000 to defend herself and establish the “historical truth” that the Holocaust did indeed occur formed the basis of her “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier” (2005), the book on which playwright David Hare’s script for “Denial” is based.

 

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Rachel Weisz as Deborah Lipstadt in the true story, “Denial”.

 

As Irving knew, in Britain libel laws favor the plaintiff. The defendant must prove that statements the plaintiff considered libelous, or false, are indeed true. In this case, Lipstadt had to prove that the Holocaust really happened, and that, therefore, Irving intentionally lied when he insisted there were never any gas chambers at Auschwitz and that the Nazis had never murdered any Jews.

 

As if this isn’t complicated (and heart wrenching) enough, Lipstadt and her team had two additional stumbling blocks. The first was a lack of physical evidence. The team had to amass their case despite the facts that the Nazis never allowed photographs of prisoners being gassed in Auschwitz and further covered their tracks by destroying the gas chambers.

 

The second was defense counsel’s decision not to allow Lipstadt or any Holocaust survivors to testify for fear that Irving, who was acting as his own attorney, would humiliate and exploit them. For Lipstadt, this was worse.

 

“A trial is not therapy,” Lipstadt’s British solicitor, Anthony Julius (Andrew Scott, known to TV’s “Sherlock” fans as Moriarty), tells her. Furious, she tries to make him understand that it is not their own catharsis the survivors seek. “You think they want to testify for themselves? It’s not for themselves. They want to give voice to the ones who didn’t make it.” Unmoved, Julius replies, “It’s the price you pay for winning.”

 

The bulk of the film centers on the trial and all the testimony comes directly from the actual trial transcripts. “This was a film about truth and it had to be truthful,” Lipstadt said during the Q&A. Although some of the film’s detailed court procedures may be confusing (and boring to a non-attorney), the exchanges between Irving (Timothy Spall) and the defense’s Scottish barrister Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson) crackle, due in large part to the stellar acting of both.

 

Spall, who recently starred in “Mr. Turner”, has a rubber face perfectly suited to playing the duplicitous and self-impressed Irving. One minute, he is all smarmy self-justification, buttering up the judge and showboating for the spectators. The next, he is at his most infuriating, spewing diabolical anti-Semitic racist invectives and then playing the victim, accusing Lipstadt of tarnishing his reputation with a “verbal yellow star”.

 

The always-terrific Wilkinson brings weight and nuance to a cool-headed performance that hints at the roiling emotion lurking just below the surface. The film’s most satisfying moments are when his Rampton slyly lures Irving in during cross examination, then ferociously pounces, drawing and quartering his squirming prey.

 

Its most moving scene is during the legal team’s visit to Auschwitz. When Rampton steps on a barbed wire shard on his way to the gas chamber entrance, he suddenly understands the enormity of the atrocity perpetrated by the Nazis. To imagine a barefooted Jew stepping on a piece of barbed wire on his way to his imminent murder is unspeakably unjust — and real.

 

Given the extraordinary pre-release press “Denial” has engendered, it can hardly be a spoiler to reveal that Lipstadt won her case. The Holocaust scholar, however, hopes the biggest takeaway of the film is not her victory, but a recognition that not all opinions merit defending.

 

“There are not two sides to every story. The Holocaust happened. Slavery happened. There are some things you cannot debate,” she said. “I will debate you on the facts. I will not debate liars.”

 

Noting that earlier in the day, the New York Time used “lie” to describe some of the things Donald Trump has said, Lipstadt is worried about what lies ahead. “We are living in a time when lying has become mainstream. The needle has moved so far,” she said. “There is an anti-intellectual, anti-factual attitude which is frightening.”

 

She paused for a moment and then directed the Q&A session towards the audience. “Where does that put us? As academics and people interested in social justice, what do we do?” she asked.