Massachusetts - Editor’s Favorites

As Educational as It Is Tasty

The spirit of supporting and celebrating local food is alive at Vela, a Wellesley restaurant. Chef Frank Santonastaso combs local fish markets and farmer’s markets to bring local products to the table at Vela. In his monthly program, To Market, To Market, Santonastaso invites his suppliers into the restaurant and he prepares a multi-course meal that incorporates his guests' products. During dinner, suppliers describe their products and their work. Upcoming dates and featured foods: April 1 topic is seafood, featuring Captain Mardin's; May 6 topic is cheese, featuring Wasik's; June 3 topic is ice cream, spices and specialty foods, featuring Christina's; July 2 topic is produce, featuring Lowell Bros. Dinners are 6 to 8 p.m. and the cost is $50. Information and reservations: 781-235-4449.

Atmosphere Is Warm and Relaxed; Food Is Authentic German

Atmosphere is warm and relaxed; food is authentic German The Student Prince Café -- also known as The Fort – in Springfield is an authentic German restaurant open since 1935 (and named after the lighthearted operetta of Heidelberg student life). Most of the woodwork in the bar area is original; about 20 steins adorned the bar when it opened and the collection has grown. The month of May is May Fest, when the dining rooms are decorated with spring flowers and grapes and an old-fashioned May Pole. Guests enjoy Mai Bock Beer, May wine, homemade bratwurst, and other specialties. Also in May and June, the restaurant combs local farms to serve fresh new asparagus, fiddlehead ferns, and shad. A staple on the menu is homemade Indian pudding. The atmosphere is always relaxed, warm, and welcoming. Phone: 413-788-6628.

Bring Your Appetite for Old-Fashioned Elegance

Bring Your Appetite for Old-Fashioned Elegance Cape Cod Central Railroad’s Elegant Dinner Train invites guests to recapture the romance of a bygone era while enjoying a five-course gourmet meal served on crisp white linen aboard vintage dining cars. The three-hour trip departs from the Hyannis station, crosses the historic Cape Cod Canal railroad bridge, and enters the Cape Cod village of Buzzards Bay. The dinner train was featured among the top three dinner trains nationwide by TV Food Network's “Dining on the Train.” The Dinner Train operates Saturdays in May; Thursdays and Saturdays in June, and Thursdays through Saturdays from July to October. This fine dining experience is for adults only. For a similar but less formal excursion, the railroad offers Cape Codder Gourmet Luncheon Train, Sunday Brunch Train, and a Family Supper Train. Phone: 888-797-RAIL.

Brookline Tour Unveils a Tasty History of Jewish Food

So you think you know Jewish food? You might be surprised by the treasures of this cuisine that await in Brookline. Join the Brookline Food Tour for a three-hour walking tour of Brookline's Harvard Street and Coolidge Corner, and for a chance to visit many of the town's treasured Jewish food stores and restaurants - including Zaftig's, Kupel's Bagels, and the Butcherie. Along the way, you taste samples of gefelte fish, matzo ball soup, latkes, falafel, and kosher wines, and you will discover traditions behind the food. You will learn about kosher rules, holidays, and the influence of different cultures on Jewish cuisine. You will feel the rich history of Jewish Brookline and hear anecdotes about the owners of the various establishments. Tour is held Sundays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., rain or shine. Participants meet in the intersection of Harvard Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue. Phone: 617-821-7667.

Fruit Jams Take Center Stage at this Historic Kitchen

Vacation is not a time you want to find yourself in a jam, with one exception. The Green Briar Jam Kitchen in East Sandwich is a place to watch fruit jam being made as it was done in the early 20th century. The kitchen was founded by Ida Putnam in 1903 and today it is a living history museum. The kitchen still operates using Ida’s recipes; workers prepare the jams, jellies, relishes, and pickles the old-fashioned way, cooked in the oldest commercial solar-cooking operation in the country. You can even sign up for a jam-making workshop. The kitchen shares this property with the Green Briar Nature Center, which has natural history exhibits and nature trails through the Briar Patch conservation area, and the Thornton W. Burgess Museum, dedicated to Burgess, a Sandwich native and children’s book author. Open year-round; call for hours. Phone: 508-888-6870.

Portuguese Food Is a Spicy, Seafood-Rich Exploration

Fall River is the native stomping grounds of celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, so this town had better know something about good cooking. This city also is home of a longstanding Portuguese community, so a visit to Fall River is the best way to discover (or re-discover) this spicy, fish-and-vegetable-rich Mediterranean cuisine. Start at Estoril, a five-star, European-style restaurant known for its unique, unpretentious comfort and great food. Named after a cosmopolitan beach resort town west of Lisbon, Estoril (esh"too-rēl') has a menu that makes it painful to have to make only one dinner choice. Examples from the menu: Shrimp Mozambique sautéed in spicy saffron seasonings with fresh garlic and wine; Portuguese soup with beans, carrots, kale, cabbage, chourico (a Portuguese sausage), beef, and potatoes; and the awesome paella, with littlenecks, scallops, squid, crab, shrimp, chicken, pork, and chourico in a mild yellow rice. Phone: 508-677-1200.

Red Lion Inn Preserves a Tavern Offering Hospitality Since 1773

For an authentic, high-New England experience, one of the top destinations is the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge. Among the dining options here is the cozy Widow Bingham's Tavern, named for Anna Bingham, who, with her husband, Silas, established a general store in Stockbridge in 1773 on the road from Boston to Albany. The store soon evolved into a stagecoach stop, tavern, and inn under the sign of the red lion. Wayfarers who step into the Widow Bingham’s Tavern today will enter a cheerful room of wide-plank floors and dark paneling adorned with authentic historic signs, railroad lamps, and hunting prints. For the thirsty, the selection of beers is impressive. The menu brims with local highlights such as New England clam chowder, butternut squash bisque, local cider, and Equinox Farm field greens with maple vinaigrette from Ioka Farm in nearby Hancock. Phone: 413-298-5545.

Stir Welcomes Cookbook Browsers and Students of Food

There are those who love to eat; there are those who love to cook; and there is a hard-core group that loves to simply browse through cookbooks. For all three, there is Stir, a demonstration kitchen and cookbook library in South Boston that is part of the No.9 Group of restaurants and food establishments, under the leadership of Chef Barbara Lynch. Stir offers two major thrills for foodies: the cookbook library, loaded with hard-to-find books, is open to the public. Also, three nights a week, the public can sign up for classes in which 10 to 12 guests sit around a center island in Stir’s kitchen and watch a professional chef prepare and serve a full meal and answer questions from onlookers. Check the website well in advance for class dates and for daytime operating hours. Also available for private events. Phone: 617-423-STIR.

Stowaway Sweets Offers Awesome Views Along With Terrific Chocolates

It is hard to replicate the breathless joy that customers bring to the subject when they describe their love affair with the confections produced (since 1929) by Stowaway Sweets in Marblehead. The smallish candy shop, attached to the cozy Stowaway Suites Bed and Breakfast, is located on a beautiful property boasting a goldfish pond and a wonderful view of the Atlantic. The central topic, though, is the chocolate. Various reviewers have their own favorites, but highlights include the dark chocolate, the Milk Chocolate Meltaway, the almond bark, and the chocolate-covered cherries. And if you really, really can’t bear to leave, the attached bed-and-breakfast in an old English country cottage offers suites, a comfortable sun room, a flower-lined patio, and other luxuries. And you might find a chocolate or two near at hand. Phone: 781-631-0303.

Talented Chefs Show and Serve the Best Seafood Choices

Seafood dinners at an aquarium? Do they hang curtains in front of the tanks to ease anxiety by the gill-breathing residents? Seriously, though, the New England Aquarium in Boston offers this year a Celebrate Seafood Dinner Series, offering seafood choices that are good for both the palate and the ocean. This evening combines the talents of some of Boston’s best chefs with the aquarium’s experts on sustainable seafood for a unique dining experience and an introduction to making smart seafood choices. New celebrity chefs will be featured at each of the dinners. The dates are April 1, June 3, October 7 and November 18. Each dinner includes introductions, cooking demonstration, discussion, wine pairing, question-and-answer. These unique dining experiences are a great gift for the foodie, aspiring chef, or seafood lover in your life. The series is part of the aquarium’s effort to ensure that future generations will have plenty of fish. Space is limited and reservations are required. Cost is $75. Phone: 617-973-5200.

With All These Great Soups, Who Needs a Fork?

Healthy, delicious and filling comfort food with room for lots of creative variations. One short syllable satisfies all these requirements: soup. Six days a week, the Marblehead Chowder Company serves from 8 to 10 different soups, all of them handmade on the property. With the possible exception of the creamy chowders, all the soups are made with a goal of healthiness: no excessive fat, sugars, or salt. Owner Mitch Wondolowski writes, “Living and cooking here in Marblehead, we are fascinated by the rich heritage of our local and regional chowders. These simple one-pot meals were staples for those who first lived here. They were easily prepared at sea as well, using ship’s provisions. Clams were at first only considered a ‘tolerably good’ substitute for fish. It was later on that this tasty surf clam gained the popularity it enjoys today.” Soup is sold in quart-size take-out containers, so if you must have more, more can travel with you. Phone: 781-631-6300.