This winter was tough on our old worn out awnings.
Worn and torn.
In 2004, the year we opened for business, we had the original awnings installed, in 2006 a truck backed into the awning on Milton Street, requiring us to replace that awning and to place a planter on the sidewalk to prevent future truck mishaps.
An older photo showing the original awnings
The awning on Milton Street, gets the most sun and wind and had the most damage done to it this winter. It was completely torn apart. The other awnings had various amounts of wear and tear happening, none of them seemed like they would be able to withstand another rough winter, so we decided it was time to replace them all.
After a few unanswered calls and emails to the company that originally manufactured and installed the awnings, I figured the awnings lasted 20 plus years, the company did a good job and deserved my long awaited repeat business. However, their lack of follow up led me to the internet in search of a highly reputed awning company. A very quick search led me to the Google 5 star rated local company Lafuente Sign and Awning. I emailed them and Andrew, the owner called, me back within an hour. He came by later the same day did some measurements and sent me a quote the next day.
We were quickly put on their schedule, his crew came by and removed the old awnings and took them to their shop where they would clean, seal and paint the frames before adding the new fabric and graphics.
Pre-painting.
I took advantage of the awnings being down by painting the exterior walls behind where the awnings would hang, I also rewired and repositioned our outdoor speakers, which hadn’t worked in a couple of years.
Post-painting.
All and all it was a quick seamless process with good communication from Andrew and his crew. A couple of weeks after the awnings were removed the new ones were put in place and are looking better than ever.
At Za we have always made our own desserts. We almost always have some sort of cheesecake on our menu; our most recent version is this salted caramel one. Salted caramel seems to be everywhere these days- candies, cookies, sauce, coffee flavoring, I’ve even seen it as a whiskey flavor; there is a simple reason for that…It’s delicious.
Cheesecake is easy to make, it just takes a bit of time. You have to have the correct pan, a 9 or 10 inch springform pan. And you need to plan ahead, you can’t decide at 4pm that your going to make a cheesecake for that nights dinner party. This cheesecake recipe calls for you to bake it for an hour and a half and then it needs to set, preferably overnight, before it can be cut and enjoyed.
So, if you have a springform pan and the time to prepare this recipe, you wont be disappointed.
At Za we serve this cheesecake with some homemade chocolate sauce, freshly whipped cream and cashew – coconut crunch.
Don’t worry if you don’t have the time, or desire, to make it for yourself, we will be happy to make it for you.
In 2022 the extended McCarthy family took another vacation. This one to Portugal, 18 of us spent a week holed up in a luxurious newly built villa the Algarve followed by 4 days in a large, very hot, air-conditionless, downtown Lisbon townhouse.
In true McCarthy fashion while in the Algarve we had a blast, whether we were hiking on top of cliffs overlooking the Atlantic, riding on some highly powered R.I.B.s (Rigid Inflatable Boats) looking up at and entering caves under those same cliffs, swimming in one of the villas two pools or at the near by beach, it was nonstop fun.
We also ate and drank very well, there were many beachside restaurants serving classic Portuguese favorites like bacalao and sardines. With 2 professional chefs and several aspiring way-better-than-most-home-cooks amongst our ranks we did not suffer when we did our own cooking. As far as drinking, the local Portuguese wine was inexpensive and plentiful, the beer was crisp, cold and also cheap. Several of the teenager McCarthy’s took advantage of the lower and laxer drinking age requirements (hello Shane).
After the week at the beach we headed to Lisbon for a few days. I do love this kind of vacation, chilling at the beach followed by exploring in the city. Lisbon and our day trip to the small, mountainous town of Sentra were great, we jammed so many memories into such a short period of time.
This photo was not one that I had much time to think about, we, some of us, not all 18 of us, were walking near the rented townhouse and I saw the streetcar coming down the street. It stopped a few feet in front of us and I looked up thinking that it would be a good photo. I had just enough time to dig my phone out and take quick photo before the street car stared moving again heading directly towards me. I got lucky, the photo came out great and whenever I see it it conjures up some cool memories, the photo hangs in Za’s women’s restroom. Because of its location I do not see this photo everyday, when I do it always congers up some great memories.
Here’s a few more photos from our family’s 2022 Portuguese adventure.
This recipe is not my best, nor my favorite, it’s not even a recipe that I have ever used at any restaurant that I’ve owned or worked in.
It’s my #1 because it’s the one that I have made and still make the most, almost every week, sometimes twice a week. There is never a long period of time in which I go without making this recipe and I eat at least 80% of it myself. My daughter tells me that I am addicted, I am not denying her.
This recipe is based on a recipe that I got from my good friend and brother-in-law Dan. I have adapted it into my own, trying different variations, liking most of them. However, I have settled on the variation I like best.
Dan found this recipe online about 25 years ago, it is called “Restaurant Style Salsa”. It is very simple to make, as is my version, really just chop a bunch of ingredients in a food processer for less than a minute and your done.
A photo of the “Restaurant Style Salsa” recipe that Dan passed along to me.
I’ve tried substituting canned fire roasted tomatoes for the canned whole peeled tomatoes, which totally changed the salsa, giving it a strong roasted somewhat smoky flavor, which is nice for a change. I’ve even done half fire roasted and half not, also good.
Another time or two I have substituted chipotle pepper (canned in adobo sauce) for the jalapeno; the chipotles added some nice leathery smoke. If used in a batch that also contained the fire roasted tomatoes the chipotles brought the salsa to another level; very good, but still not my favorite variation.
In addition to those substitutions, I have, at times tried adding grilled/roasted peppers, roasted garlic and/or grilled/caramelized onions to this recipe and it’s top-notch. However, the recipe goes from whirling some stuff in a food processor to having to grill, roast and caramelize. Which can be time consuming endeavors. However, if I were to have one or more of these ingredients ready to go in my fridge, I’d add some, though I probably wouldn’t prep them specifically for this salsa recipe.
The brand of tomatoes also makes a difference, be sure not to use tomatoes packed with basil or San Marzano tomatoes; some brands are packed with heavy puree, don’t use these either, the results are too tomatoey and too thick. One of my favorite brands, especially because it’s local, is Pastene, I don’t use it for my salsa though, it falls under the too tomatoey and too thick category. I do, however, use Pastene for Italian style tomato sauces. I’ve found that the cheap store brands of whole peeled tomatoes, organic or not, are usually best for this recipe.
For me I want to be able to make, and clean up after making this recipe in less than 10 minutes. This is more than doable, I’ve done it in less than 7, and yes I have timed myself.
My “go to” version of this recipe is the recipe that Dan gave me all pumped up. I double the amount of onion and garlic called for in the original recipe. I’ve also at least quadrupled the amounts of all of the spices. And I’ve also added a few ingredients to my version including a very generous amount of freshly ground black pepper, some finely grated carrot, which I love in this recipe, it adds color, texture, sweetness and earthy carrot-ness. On top of that I’ve also added smoked paprika, this adds some deep background smokiness without overpowering the other ingredients.
My pumped-up salsa recipe.
Whether you follow Dan’s “Restaurant Style” or my pumped-up version, the end result will be far superior to any store bought national brand salsa. I find most of them to be too sweet, too cooked, too starchy, too mushy, too cloying and lacking in texture as well as depth of flavor. Overall I think they kind of suck.
Don’t limit your taste enjoyment of this salsa to just a dip for corn chips. It also is great baked with flakey white fish such as cod, haddock, hake or pollack. All you have to do is generously slather the fish with the salsa and bake in a 375 degree oven until the fish is cooked through; depending on the thickness of the fish it could be as quick as 5 minutes or as long as 15 minutes.
It’s also great as a sauce for grilled chicken or pork; I have been known to spoon on top of cooked white rice. It’s a delicious, easy to make addition to anyone’s culinary repertoire.
I’m taking the same approach with the beer we serve as I do with the food we serve. “Keep it Local” this has been one of our mantras since we opened.
It used to be, a restaurant’s beer list had to be exclusively mass marketed beers, not necessarily good beer. Often times these beer lists were written by your beer distributor. These beers typically included mega brands such as Budweiser, Heineken (YUCK!), Miller Lite etc.. If you were really daring you would include such obscure brands such as Corona or even Amstel.
Then it became okay to add a “craft” brew or 2, Sam Adams did start a revolution, but you still had to offer the staples.
About 15 years ago, you could get away with not offering the national mega brands, however, you had to be prepared for the backlash. “WTF no Budweiser, I’ll just have water” was a common response and not the one we wanted, after all we are in the business of selling beer.
Going forward a few more years we were able to get to the point that we were just serving regional craft beers; New England and New York, which was a big step in the right direction. Enough restaurants were doing the same thing, costumers began to expect a good beer list. And with such a great selection of beers to choose from it was an easy transition. The hardest part was just deciding which great regional beers you wanted to try next.
Now, I am trying to make our beer list as local as possible. One of the hurdles for me is that people expect to see several different breweries on a list, not just a couple. My thought is if you go to a brewery, and most of them are busy, you are only offered that breweries beers. No one complains about that. Also traveling in Europe most restaurants offer just one breweries beers; I’m sure that they are receive financial benefits for doing so. That said, I wanted to make our list as local as possible.
Currently our 12 beer list consist of only beer from within greater Boston with the vast majority coming from the Arlington Brewing Co. and the Medford Brewing Co. If I could get all our beer offerings from these 2 breweries I would, I’m working on it.
These are 2 breweries where I have a personal relationship with the them, I know the people and I want to support them.
One of the Arlington Brewing Co. main people is the father of 2 former Za employees, one of which was a schoolmate of my son. One of their delivery people is another one of my son’s former classmates. These are my neighbors, people that are regular Za customers, they support us, we support them.
As for the Medford Brewing Co. it’s less than 2 miles from Za and the it’s place I go to for a beer with friends, it’s my local. When I place my orders it’s with one of the breweries 2 owners, and the other owner makes the deliveries. This is the type of business that I want to support. Also, on Sunday late morning’s the brewery sponsors a run, it’s casual, not a race. You go at your own pace and decide your own distance. Most people chose between 3, 5 or 7 mile, predetermined routes that all start and finish at the brewery. Nick, one of the brewery’s owners is often running along with us.
By limiting the number of breweries, we are not sacrificing quality. Both the selection and quality of the beers these breweries offer are top notch.
So, the next time you dine at Za, have a beer, most likely it will be from one of these 2 breweries.
Drink a beer or 2, and help us support our local business partners.
This photo is another that I took while I was out for a run. I was in Cuba with my dad, I went for a run along Havana’s ocean front walkway and seawall called El Malecón. The image I saw before taking this photo is one of those that I could completely imagine as a great photo. I initially ran right on by before it clicked in that I had to go back, it was only about 20 yards before I turned back to capture this moment. The fisherman in the forefront in complete shadow with the waves breaking onto him, the bright sun and the Havana skyline behind him, I had to have it.
The link below is a blog post that I published soon after returning from Cuba. The post will tell you all about our trip, why and where we went, it also has a number of other photos that you may enjoy.
I showed this photo to my slightly older and immensely wiser brother, Steve, when he referred to the building as Motif #1, I didn’t have a clue as to what he was talking about. I thought what the f*#k is a Motif #1. Now that I am writing this post I thought that it might be prudent to find out the origin of it’s moniker. So I googled it…
This Boston Magazine article has all the information that you will need-
To me this iconic red fishing shack is synonymous with Rockport, it brings back memories of summer visits on my father’s boat(s), as well as on my own sailboat, where we would just tie up to the pier and head into Rockport, usually for ice cream. I have even docked at the pier overnight on a couple of occasions. No one ever said we couldn’t and we never gave it a second thought. Now, I’m sure you would be asked to leave or you would have to pay some outlandish fee to tie up to this or any other pier in Rockport.
I took this photo in June of 2021. It was a hot day and we were still dealing with the effects of COVID 19. Colleen and I were off from work, EVOO was still closed and the kids classes were all online. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and have some quality family time. We headed up to Rockport, do a little sightseeing, a possible plunge into the frigid North Atlantic at Front Beach, followed by local seafood at The Lobster Pool.
Taking the photo wasn’t as easy as it should have been. We parked in a public lot near the Motif, not a hundred yards from where I took the photo. It was a picturesque day, I saw the little red building that I always associated with Rockport and I started directly to the end of an apposing pier, where it looked like I would be able to take advantage of what looked to be great photo opportunity. I didn’t get 10 yards before a professional looking woman holding a clipboard said that I couldn’t go any further along the pier. I shrugged and kept going, I wanted this photo. By the time I got to the end of the pier and quickly took my photos, the woman was right behind with the back-up of a couple more officious looking people, still yapping that I wasn’t supposed be there. She was saying something about having rented the space for the afternoon. I recall saying something about it being a public space and for her to have a nice day. After we backed away we noticed that there was a film crew there. I have no idea what they were filming, however I do know that they didn’t want to film me.
Anyway, I took the photos and they came out great. Now when I see the photo on Za’s wall, with that one shot, I have 3 generations of memories, my childhood with my parents and siblings, being there on my own sailboat, as well as being shooed away by some film people with my kids.
Recently a longtime guest of ours asked if they could buy the photo; they also claim to have some family memories of Rockport. Being a businessman, who am I to say no, we sold them the photo. Don’t worry, I have the original and have already ordered another enlargement to made, it will soon adorn the wall of Za once again.
In April of 2015, Me, Colleen and our kids Shane,10 at the time and Caitlin then 7, did a family vacation during the kids school April break. We first drove to Washington D.C. where we did all the usual touristy things. We visited the Lincoln monument, walked through and discussed the Viet Nam War Memorial. We got up at some ungodly hour for the opportunity to go in and up the Washington Monument. We also went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, as well as the Museum of American History. We strolled by the White House and waved to “Uncle Barry and Auntie Shelly”. It was a great few days, as usual I took many photos, none of which made it to the heralded walls of Za.
From D. C. we drove to NYC, well Hoboken, NJ, where My sister had a condo and was kind enough to let us squat for a few days. The location was great, very convenient. To get into Manhattan, from the condo it was a 3 minute walk, followed by a 15 minute ferry ride and boom there you are right downtown. As with D.C. we did all of the touristy things. Strolled through Time Square, did the Empire State Building thing, walked the Hi-Line, Had dinner at Jonathan Waxman’s (one of my favorite chefs) restaurant, Barbuto, in the Meat Packing District.
The next day the weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze and temps in the low 70’s, we took a ferry out to see the Statue of Liberty. The statue was open and we were able to climb the stairs up to the observation deck in Lady Liberty’s crown. We had a great day, as I mentioned the weather was perfect, I was with my family and I got to go on a boat ride; not much could be better.
With the perfect conditions I was able to get some great shots of the statue, including this one. I had the photo enlarged and placed on the wall when we did our most recent renovations in 2021. This photo gets a lot of comments, including, surprising to me, “what is it”?. Since I took the photo I know exactly what it is and with a quick glance I can almost understand the question. Most people do figure it out quickly though.
I am an avid photo taker, not a photographer. I take lots of photos, some of them have come out pretty good; with the amount of photos I take, I’m bound to get a few good ones. Over the years and throughout our travels I have always made it a point to take photos. Since cellphones have had decent cameras they have been my go to and only camera.
All of the photos on the walls of Za, with the exception of 2 photos of windjammer sailboats hung in the men’s room, are photos that I took with whatever cellphone I had at the time. The 2 windjammer photos were taken from an old 35mil camera of mine, back in the 90’s, before the prevalence of cellphone cameras.
My plan is to share some of these images on this blog, telling you a bit about each photo along the way.
Under the Zakim.
While working at EVOO and Za in Kendall Square I would fit some exercise into my schedule by either going to the gym located upstairs from the restaurants or weather permitting I would go for a run. One of my favorite running routes was to head out from EVOO through east Cambridge, Cambridge Crossing, under the Zakim Bridge, across the Charles River locks, through the North End, Faneuil Hall, City Hall, down Cambridge Street and over the Longfellow Bridge back to EVOO.
It’s a great route, Past an awesome skate park, along the Charles, next to the Gahden, looking out on Boston Harbor, past the old Houlihan’s space, where Colleen and I met in 1984. Past the Bostonian Hotel where I worked from ’87 to 97′. There’s a lot of things to look throughout this route including a bunch of American and personal history.
Taking photos during a run was not a one-off thing, you will see in future blog posts about Za photos. I would often stop mid-run to take a photo, there are several other running photos that have made the cut to be hung on the walls of Za. If I saw something that caught my eye, thinking it was cool or that I thought would make a nice photo, I stopped took a quick photo an moved on.
This photo of the Zakim Bridge was taken in August of 2019 and is one of those that I thought, hey this looks cool, so I stopped and took a picture. This photo has also made the rounds. I first had a canvas enlargement made for Za Arlington. we need something on the wall in the men’s room. I also had a copy made for home, to hang in one of our guest bedrooms. I then had a very large canvas made 30×48 and hung it at Za Cambridge for about 5 years until we closed that location. Now the very large canvas hangs in Za Arlington.
I’m sure by now you know that EVOO has closed. Last June, after 26 years we decided it was time step back and take advantage of our health and good fortunes by spending more time with our friends and family; I hope they feel the same way as we do. With EVOO closed I find myself in a great place with less stress and more time to do the things that I have dreamed about doing.
Colleen and I enjoying a bit of our new found free-time.
EVOO had been a passion for me, I truly loved creating local-seasonal menus, the camaraderie and the rush of working a busy line shift. I am going to miss so many wonderful aspects of EVOO, especially the people, we were blessed with extraordinary co-workers and loyal guests, many of which have become good friends. That said, now several months after closing, I don’t in any way want to go back to long hours, working most nights, weekends and many holidays. Nor do I wish to have the daily stresses of running a chef-driven farm-to-table restaurant back in my life.
Randy and I on EVOO’s last day
Colleen and I still own and operate our pizza place Za in our hometown of Arlington, MA, which recently celebrated 20 years of being in business. Being less than two miles from home it’s a super easy commute, quite often done by bike. The staff, many of whom have been with us for more than a decade, not only do they make my new less stressful, less-hours job easy, they make it a pleasure to be there.
Za Arlington
With some of that extra time I find myself with a desire to continue to write about the things I enjoy. Most of my previous posts have been about EVOO. I now want to branch out and write about some of my other passions, such as the time spent with friends and family, the places I am fortunate enough to visit and sailing adventures may end up being subjects of future posts. I will also continue to write about food and the happenings at Za with an occasional recipe thrown in.
Speaking of sailing adventures, with my next blog I am going to introduce it’s new direction by sharing a multi-part post chronicling a sailing passage across the Atlantic Ocean which I took part in back in 2022. I documented our trip as it unfolded, writing details daily. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to partake in such an ambitious trip again and I wanted to have a keepsake, so I wrote about it. Follow the story and see how we delt with getting to the starting point in the Canary Islands while dealing in a newly post COVID world, provisioning the boat and overcoming a myriad of challenges along the way; ending in Guadeloupe 24 days after we initially set sail.
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