Mid-Summer Garden Report
Well, “Flavor of the Week” has slowed down quite a bit over the last several weeks — busy with all that cooking, gardening and other good summer activities.  The rooftop herb garden here at the restaurant has been going just great this year.  Like everybody else, we’ve survived the dry spell in June [...]

Central Square Farmers’ Market
Every Monday afternoon from Memorial Day to Thanksgiving week, the Central Square Farmers’ Market operates in the parking lot on the corner of Norfolk Street and Bishop Allen Drive directly behind the Blockbuster Video on Mass Ave.  The market is open from noon until 6pm, and is a regular part of my [...]

Rooftop Garden Report — Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend marks the beginning of summer in the garden; tonight’s full moon is an important milestone on the planting calendar.  15 more crates of herbs have been added in the last month, among them dandelion greens, sylvetta arugula, cutting celery, purslane, french breakfast radishes . . .   All [...]

Asparagus 4 different ways
Spring is now in full swing around here, and with it now we are loving the arrival of the early green vegetables: peas, pea tips, spinach, fava beans, asparagus . . .
During this month of May we try to offer several different preparations of asparagus each week:  on our regular menu, a [...]

Spring Garden Report                                                                                   
A fantastic month of April weather here has helped things move [...]

Salt Cod
The first time I visited la Boquería, Barcelona’s famous covered market, I was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning.  All the hams hanging overhead, the amazing fish and shellfish counters, the fresh mushrooms, those beautiful figs, . . . !!!  But you might be surprised when I say that the display that [...]

Garbure
Garbure is the name of the cabbage, bean and vegetable stew from Gascony region in Southwest France.  The version that we make here at Rendezvous features lots of savoy cabbage, some smoked bacon, cannellini beans, white wine, chicken stock and a few other vegetables: onion, garlic, carrot and potato.  For those of you who are [...]

Rooftop Garden — Spring Equinox Report
This year, the onset of Daylight Savings Time coincided with 5 days of warm, spring-like weather around here, causing crocuses to pop up and sunny optimism all around. Although in reality we’ve got a long way to go yet, the ground is starting to thaw and the earthworms will [...]

Grilled pizza + crispy flatbread
Originally modeled after a focaccia recipe, this versatile dough can be used for the traditional olive oil bread of Italy, for our grilled pizzas, or for the crispy flatbread that we serve at the bar. Depending upon how it is handled and cooked, this same basic dough can produce a [...]

Bottled water vs tap water
About the time that we opened Rendezvous in late 2005, there was quite a bit of discussion among the dining public and the food media about the issue of bottled water versus tap water in restaurants.  The boom-times in the restaurant business during the late 90’s coincided with the  gaining popularity [...]