It’s funny, in a Joe Pesci way, how the restaurants I like in Boston close and the restaurants I like in NYC open.  In Boston, I enjoyed Ginger Park, OM, Yakitori Zai, Rocca, New Shanghai (in Chinatown before Wellesley), NEBO (North End before “financial district”), and Real Pizza, to name a few casualties.  In NYC I enjoy Esca, Alimentari il Buco, DBGB, Locanda Verde, Le Bernadin, Second Avenue Deli, and so on and so on and so on and on.

The new places opening this fall in Boston are bar focused and sell lots of pizza, offal, burgers, and concoctions.  Do you really want oxtail pierogi?  Pork belly sliders?  Jeez, why not be honest and call the menu: Cheap cuts of meat that increase profit.  Toscano, the exception to the new openings, is a good version of an Italian restaurant, nice before another event, but not an event in itself.

And shouldn’t a restaurant be an event in itself?  Isn’t that the point?  Whether it’s Sully’s on Castle Island–which I love and not closed yet–or…or…um, another place, the reason why people drop the bucks to eat out is because the eating out is the show.

The common feature to all the places I liked that closed or moved is their focused menus that emphasize ingredients and don’t push the booze.

So, yeah, I eat at home mostly.  Last night it was fried tofu squares and the best sesame noodles I’ve ever made.

And you tell me: Is Brody a triple agent or what?