We all live in Flavortown now
Virtual restaurants affiliated with Guy Fieri and other celebrities deliver to our doors. Is that a good thing?
By Devra First Globe Staff,Updated February 16, 2021, 10:00 a.m.
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I live in Flavortown now. So do you. Flavortown may be an understatement. This is Flavornation.
In recent days, a restaurant called Guy Fieriâs Flavortown Kitchen has appeared on takeout apps around the country. Itâs part of the portfolio of a company called Virtual Dining Concepts, cofounded by Robert Earl and son Robbie. Earl the Elder is the former chief executive of Hard Rock Cafe and the founder and chairman of Planet Hollywood and Earl Enterprises, which oversees concepts including Bertucciâs, Buca di Beppo, and Earl of Sandwich.
3 restaurants we supported this week
Want to order from local, independent restaurants? Here are some suggestions from Globe staff.
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FAMILY MEAL
If another week of pandemic life has left you too tired to cook, youâre in luck. Family Meal, a pop-up takeout restaurant in Jamaica Plain, is offering convenient, delicious meals that probably taste better than anything you would have cooked, anyway.
This operation is a one-woman show, run by Eliza Purvis-Lemasters, an out-of-work chef who was looking for a way to bring in income and help busy families during the winter. The result is a once-a-week meal service operated out of Little Dipper, a local restaurant that is hibernating for the winter and supporting several local pop-ups in the meantime.
Aberration or apparition? Ghost kitchens could replace your favorite haunt
These virtual restaurants offer chefs a lifeline during a pandemic, and beyond.
By Kara Baskin Globe Correspondent,Updated January 26, 2021, 12:00 p.m.
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Back in the old days of 2019, youâd visit a restaurant to chat with the bartender, see a familiar waiter, and enjoy a favorite dish. Now that restaurant might actually be a ghost kitchen â no bartender, no waiter, and maybe a completely new dish, too.
Many top restaurateurs are trying out ghost concepts to weather the pandemic, and some are considering keeping on even after it ends. Ghost kitchens lack the typical infrastructure of servers, table service, and so on. Instead, this is a virtual restaurant restricted to mere takeout and delivery and restrained primarily by budget and imagination, and frequently a departure from a chefâs typical repertoire. Itâs ideal for the low-touch COVID-19 age, when customers are leer
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As more and more community fridges are installed in neighborhoods throughout the Boston area, it’s important to remember that in order to keep them stocked, well, we all need to stock them. On Saturday, the Dorchester Community Fridge will partner with the Milton Community Network and China Pearl to host a food drive. Suggested donations include fresh fruit and vegetables, pasta, rice, cereal, milk, eggs, cooking oils, cleaning supplies, and napkins, all of which can be dropped off from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. The Mattapan Community Fridge follows suit on Sunday, accepting donations from 11 a.m. to noon. Volunteers are still needed!