For Rob George, launching the original City Bar at the Lenox Hotel in 2002 was a career high.
“Opening a restaurant is an incredible rush,” said George, general manager of the three establishments that the Briar Group operates at the hotel - City Bar, Azure and Sólás Irish Pub. “It’s non-stop work, and you’re on what seems like unachievable deadlines to open, so it’s the excitement of seeing it succeed that makes it all worth it,” he said.
A native of Leominster in Worcester County and a 1986 graduate of Leominster High School, George landed his first job in the food industry in his hometown at age 14, washing dishes at Mainville’s Restaurant and Bar. He moved to line cook about three years later, but found he was more comfortable at the front of the house, where he could interact with customers. Over the next few years, George bused tables, bar backed and worked as a waiter at various restaurants in the Leominster area before becoming a bartender.
Circa 1994, George joined his best friend from childhood, Allan Cosimi, in opening the Bootlegger, an Italian family-style restaurant in Lunenburg that is still open today. Together, they built the business from the ground up, and George did everything from painting and cleaning equipment to working as a restaurant manager for the first time.
By 2001, George was exhausted and needed a change from the Bootlegger. He relocated to Key West, Fla., and found a job as a waiter at Alice’s, an upscale restaurant with a creative fusion menu.
“I learned a lot about fine dining there,” George said. “It was one of the best restaurants on the island.”
George returned to Massachusetts a year and a half later and took a job as an assistant manager and bartender at Anago, which occupies the same space at the Lenox where Azure is today. When the restaurant closed three weeks later, George had to re-interview for a position as an assistant manger at Azure and got the job.
In 2002, he was named the first general manager of City Bar. “My job was to get it up and running and hire the staff,” said George, who is now a South End resident.
He found this to be a far different experience from opening the Bootlegger eight years earlier.
“We had carte blanche,” George said, adding that he had funds available to stock City Bar with the most expensive single-malt scotches and other high-end liquor. “Before [at the Bootlegger], we were buying a couple of bottles of Absolut at a time,” he said.
With George at the helm, City Bar went on to become one of the most popular martini lounges in Boston. (A second City Bar opened at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel in the Seaport District last year).
“At the time we opened City Bar, we were the first destination bar in a hotel in Boston,” George said. “To help develop that concept was interesting.”
In 2003, the Briar group moved George from City Bar to help launch Anthem, a now-defunct upscale American restaurant located near North Station. By 2005, George had returned to the Lenox and was managing City Bar, Azure and Sólás.
“Now, I have three restaurants with three different concepts and a lot of people to oversee,” George said, adding that his coworkers are one of his favorite aspects of the job.
“I really like the people who work in the industry,” George said. “Most people who work in restaurants, believe it or not, are very interesting. They have different levels of education, come from different backgrounds and bring different life experiences.”
Today, George says he can’t imagine doing anything else for a living.
“I really enjoy what I do. I actually enjoy going to work, which most people can’t say,” he said. “I consider myself lucky. I couldn’t see myself in any other role.”

Area D-4, which includes sections of Back Bay, the South End, Lower Roxbury and the Fenway, has experienced a nearly 14 percent decrease in violent and property crime to date in 2009, instead of during the same time frame last year.
According to Boston Police, Part One crime incidents have dropped to 646 between January 1 and March 1, 2009, compared with 749 during that time last year. “We’ve seen a 9 percent reduction in all crime,” said Captain William Evans of D-4 .
While no murders were reported in 2008, a 38-year-old man was murdered in Roxbury on February 11 this year in what Evens said police believe was a drug-related incident.
The rate of rapes and attempted rapes remained the same, with five incidents reported in 2008 and 2009. Incidents of robbery and attempted robbery and aggravated assault have both seen a 32 percent decrease so far this year.
Vehicle theft and attempted vehicle theft experienced the greatest decrease at approximately 44 percent as the number of incidents in 2009 dropped to 30, from 54 last year. “We’re seeing a decline in that throughout the city and especially in our district,” said Evans, who attributed the reduction in part to improved car alarm systems.
Burglaries and attempted burglaries were down 25 percent, with 64 incidents reported in 2009 and 85 during the same time last year.
Meanwhile, larcenies and attempted larcenies dropped to 474 so far this year, compared with 499 during the same time frame in 2008, but Evans said shoplifting remains a problem in the Newbury Street area.
“Shoplifting is something that always concerns us,” Evans said, adding that the homeless were often responsible for these crimes.
Citywide, Part One crime was down roughly 10 percent in 2009 from the same time last year, with 4,247 incidents in Boston’s 11 reporting districts this year as opposed to 3,818 in 2008.

Millie Heatwole wanted to wean her boyfriend away from some poor eating habits, so for a Valentine’s Day present, she surprised Jason Duplissis with a cooking class in their West Cedar Street kitchen.
“I thought it would be something we could do together,” said Heatwole. “He is a junk food addict. We eat out a lot. I thought it would be a good way to learn how to cook together, and to be more mindful of our budget.”
Local Chef Julia Grimaldi first sent them a questionnaire to figure out what they wanted to eat and their comfort level in the kitchen, and when they asked for help with some main course menus, Grimaldi decided to show them how to roast, sear, and sauté, and set up shop in the tiny kitchen.
It’s not that either of them were novices in the kitchen. But they let Grimaldi feel out the areas they were weakest in, and so the chef started off by showing them a few kitchen techniques, roasted some broccoli, showed them easy recipes for chicken in red curry sauce, rice pilaf, a brown butter sauce for the green beans, and how to marinate Korean flank steak with ingredients they already had in their refrigerator.
“Are your hands clean enough?” Julia reminded Heatwole when they were about to toss the broccoli. Duplissis spent a lot of time doing the cleanup since it was a little crowded around the stove, and since he worked in a kitchen years ago, he was familiar with prep work. He cleaned up around Heatwole as she held the knife and wooden spoon.
For the curry, Grimaldi started by showing how to quickly coat a pan with a thin oil layer. She showed them the value of a Trader Joe’s 21 Season Salute spice jar. They went light on the onions, since Duplissis wasn’t a big fan. By the end, everyone was pleased. The hard work was rewarded with a delicious and healthy meal.
“I think it went really well,” said Grimaldi. “They were actually pretty kitchen savvy. They have a pretty good understanding of basic techniques.”
And while the couple learned about marinades and sauces, Grimaldi tucked away a few tidbits about her clients’ skill level, so when they take a future class, Grimaldi will be prepared to challenge them a little more.
“Their space was not great,” Grimaldi said, referring to the tiny kitchen and small stove. “There couldn’t be two people at the stove,” she said. “I couldn’t even put two pots on that stove, it’s the way the stove is designed. Now that I know that, I can now design a class for the next time.” Thankfully, she said, “She wants to do something on the grill, on the roof deck.”
Everett resident Chef Julia Grimaldi runs Chef Around Town, a personal chef service that teaches cooking. But unlike an adult education class, she personalizes each lesson to a client’s skill level and tastes. Because she teaches in a client’s kitchen, she can also assess their equipment.
Her day job is as a consultant with the state’s Department of Agriculture, where she’s helping to develop interest in local culinary tourism. But Grimaldi loves teaching.
A native of Albuquerque, N.M. who grew up in an Italian kitchen, Grimaldi came to Boston and decided to do what she loved - something with food. She earned a master’s in gastronomy from Boston University, discovered she didn’t like working in a traditional kitchen, and found a prep cook job at Bread and Circus at Symphony. When Whole Foods took over, the food was prepared offsite at its central Everett kitchen, so she started teaching nutrition to children, and did a few adult education classes. It was a natural to pass along her 10 years of experience in the kitchen to clients in their own homes.
She’s fully insured and certified by the National Restaurant Association in food safety and sanitation, and since she doesn’t work in her own kitchen, it’s have pan, will travel.
Last week, she had a client who just moved into the Back Bay who had no pots, pans, or cooking skills, so she lugged everything to his house, including a stainless roasting pan, a skillet to pan-sear meat, and a 12-inch rimmed sauté pan for spinach, along with everything else, including salt and pepper. “I don’t assume anything,” she said.
Grimaldi is also a personal chef who cooks nutritious home-cooked meals for clients for their freezers, and had gained clients with a few mentions in Daily Candy.
The Chef Around Town Personal Chef Service is designed to help families spend less time and money on high calorie take-out food and buying frozen meals, by learning how to easily cook up a few yummy dishes with an emphasis on seasonal produce, wholesome sustainable ingredients, and local and global influences. She even creates kid-friendly menus.
But as the economic downturn created more cautious wallets, she had heard an NPR segment where food analysts told listeners to get back to basics. So Grimaldi shifted her focus to teaching cooking, and found that her client base was turning into would-be chefs who needed kitchen skills.
“It’s the feeling for the whole country -- we got a little overzealous for awhile,” she said. “People are asking, ‘Do we need that extra TV, do we need to eat meals out three-four times a week?’”
“Ultimately it takes business away from me, but it’s a way to show people what I know,” said Grimaldi. “People prefer I cook for them, and maybe in six months to a year they may say, ‘Hey, come cook for me.’”
She also has a mother’s group that had a monthly playdate for themselves – they’d leave the kids with the daddies, and have a nice meal together. Next month, the group of 12 decided to use the money they’d spend on a meal and hired Grimaldi for a tapas lesson in a large Beacon Hill kitchen.
They could have done an adult education class, but Grimaldi said the benefit of an in-home class is customization. “I‘ve done adult ed cooking classes, and you don’t know the level of each student. I guarantee you get someone who says ‘I don’t eat this, I don’t eat that.’ Before I do a lesson, I do a client assessment before I step into their kitchen, and what kind of equipment they don’t have. In 20 seconds, I can assess what they need.”
She also offers a “Kitchen Essentials” course, which offers a customized guide to equipment and stocking the pantry and fridge. “You can Google that, but you get a real assessment from someone who has worked in every kind of kitchen imaginable. I can tell you the four things you need, and tell you not to get caught up in the hype of buying all kinds of kitchen gadgets they try to sell you at Bed Bath and Beyond or Williams- Sonoma.”
Grimaldi teaches what cuts of meat to buy, a few essential spices, oils and vinegars that can make the difference in a recipe, and a few useful kitchen techniques. “Most people have a knife, but they’re usually not good quality,” she said. “I tell them to buy a $100 knife -- forget your pedicures for awhile and buy a refurbished knife from Kitchen Arts on Newbury Street. I use my knives every day -- it makes sense to spend money on a good knife.”
On the other end of the spectrum, she loves visiting kitchens filled with pretty, unused kitchen gear that’s been untouched since the couple got married. While many of her clients in the Back Bay and Beacon Hill have tiny kitchens, good equipment trumps tiny kitchen, said Grimaldi.
She’d offer classes in her own home in Everett, but she’s not licensed for it. She loves to shop in her town, buying prosciutto and fresh mozzarella at Regina’s food store, though. “I like to shop there, and it’s a nice Italian family,” she said. “McKinnons butcher shop has a really good variety -- I can find any cut of meat there. If I can’t find it, they’ll cut it for me. It’s that old-school relationship people use to have.”
She also loves Super 88 in Malden for Asian ingredients, such as sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, and sriracca pepper sauce. “Rice wine vinegar makes for a nice marinade, and the stuff there is much less than at Whole Foods,” she said. “Their curry paste is literally four or five ingredients. The less ingredients in a product, the better.”
She loves finding cheap and flavorful new ingredients to pass along to her clients. While she provides recipes, her goal is to teach people how to cook without following one. “I want people to understand ingredients and to use a technique they can always go to, as well as keeping their pantries stocked. You don’t get that in adult ed.”

While its voice too often goes unheard, Common Art gives the city’s homeless a unique means to express themselves and the opportunity to tap into hidden talent.
“It was an idea that sprung up from the homeless community itself,” said program director, Mary Eaton. “It came from conversations with people on the street who said they wanted a place of creativity. You can imagine if you’re homeless and carrying all your worldly possessions in a backpack, it’s difficult to carry paints, easels and [other art supplies].”
Common Art is a program of the Newbury Street-based Ecclesia Ministries that was launched 10 years ago in conjunction with St. John the Evangelist Church on Bowdoin Street. Established by the Rev. Deborah W. Little in 1994, Ecclesia provides a religious community for the homeless and holds regular Sunday services at the Boston Common fountain.
Every Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Emmanuel Church on Arlington Street donates its parish hall for Common Art, while Ecclesia provides materials, food and support for the roughly 60 participants. “We provide space, tools and a supportive community,” Eaton said, adding that the program also receives financial support from St. Cecilia’s Parish in the Back Bay.
Among the mediums used in the program are acrylic painting, watercolors, pen and ink, knitting, beading and stained glass. Eaton said she has seen some truly unique artists emerge during her two years with Common Art.
One homeless man took an innovative approach to watercolors when he began using postcards depicting Boston cityscapes as his canvases. Not only were the materials small and portable enough to carry easily, but he was also able to work from his shelter bed.
“He was trying to stay sober and put all his energy into his watercolors,” Eaton said. “He became a really amazing artist.”
The Common Art experience has also resulted in forming friendships between participants that might not otherwise be possible on the street.
“There’s a different atmosphere that comes with creativity,” Eaton said. “When you’re sitting at a table painting and someone else is making jewelry, there is a unique connection, regardless of the turmoil happening outside the building.”
At an open house this Saturday, newcomers from all backgrounds will have a chance to meet the Common Artists and to support them by purchasing their work.
“Meeting every Wednesday is convenient for the people of the street, but it’s inconvenient for other curious individuals,” Eaton said. “We’re doing this on a Saturday so more people can see what it’s like.”
Visitors will also be able to give hand-on support by creating their own art that will be sold to benefit the program at a soon-to-be-announced spring fundraiser featuring a performance by Boston band Jim’s Big Ego.
Eaton added the mission of Common Art and Ecclesia is twofold: to provide pastoral services for the homeless community, and to “bridge the gap between the housed and the homeless.”
“Inviting people to the open house fulfills the second part of our mission,” she said.
Common Art presents its open house at the studio in Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St., on Saturday, March 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The church is located one block from the Arlington Street MBTA Stop on the Green Line. This event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served. For more information, call 617-347-8582 or visit www.ecclesia-ministries.org.

It seems there’s always someone going up and down Beacon Hill commercial districts looking for a donation for some worthwhile charity. But the Advent School’s annual fundraiser has a professional working the beat - a Charles Street business owner who understands how to convince local businesses to donate to a good cause even during an economic downturn.
“Raising money for the school is really different this year, with the economic climate,” said Cassandra McIntyre, owner of Rugg Road, who is in her third year of raising money for the school where her daughter, second-grader Lillian, has been going since pre-school. “A lot of businesses get asked over and over again, and I’m one of those businesses.”
McIntyre is co-chair of the March 28 fundraiser with fellow mom Diane Woolf. From McIntyre’s experience, most area businesses in the past would be happy to donate to almost any cause that walked in the door. “We used to have a policy to never say no,” she said. “It just generates some really good will. As a business owner of a small business, I don’t make a huge amount of money, but my business can certainly give gift certificates and products. Usually, it generates repeat business.”
And so McIntyre as a merchant has been using her business relationships to convince others to keep donating gift certificates, auction items, and other items that would help ease the cost of the annual event. This week she just scored Harpoon, which is donating the event’s beer.
“Cassandra is the most organized benefit chair I’ve ever worked with,” said Director of Development and Communications Suzanna Schell. “It’s also great to have someone in retail because she knows what the other side is like when you go to solicit.”
It’s also harder to get parents to volunteer to solicit, because of their empathy with businesses impacted by the economy, but Advent parents are still hoping their enthusiasm for the unique private school’s curriculum is infectious, in time for the Advent’s March 28 upcoming fundraiser at the Hotel Marlowe.
The Advent’s annual spring benefit supports the school's mission and programs, including financial aid, faculty travel, special curricular projects and field trips, and other program enhancements. Organizers are aiming for $125,000 this year, up from last year’s $120,000 gross.
The program will include both silent and live auctions, and features local comedian and Advent parent Tony V as guest host and auctioneer. “He’s absolutely hilarious as an auctioneer,” said McIntyre. “He gets people to bid even higher.”
“I really love the Advent’s curriculum,” said McIntyre, of the school’s Reggio Emilia approach to childhood education. “They sort of trick the kids into learning in an organic way, like when the arts teacher would take them to the Public Garden to study fronds. They didn’t get that they weren’t there to just have fun. I recall asking my daughter, ‘Lily, what did you learn today?’ Lily said, ‘We really don’t learn, we play.’ I like that engaging way of learning through playing.”
The school educates 173 students, 26 percent who are on financial aid. Like in all independent schools, tuition doesn’t cover all the costs for a school, Schell said. “If we have a healthy fundraising program, it keeps tuition from rising too much.”
“The Spring Benefit is a key component of our fund-raising program, and we are deeply grateful for the generosity of the many businesses and individuals who have donated goods and services in support of our school,” said Schell. “We are a small school but we have a small international flavor. It’s an important part of our mission the reason why we do this benefit is to support the school. Parents love this school, and we really want it to thrive.”
Last summer, kindergarten teacher Yvonne Liu-Constant and art teacher George Anastos traveled to Nanjing, China, for the First International Conference on Children's Art Education. Their trip was supported in part by the Spring Benefit. The trip also inspired the China theme for the event, which will feature Chinese food made by the Marlowe chef, who formerly worked for Pho Republique. The event also includes a cocktail hour and live and silent auctions that, in the past, donated auction items have included vacations in Vermont, Disney World, and Colorado, Red Sox tickets, and local gift certificates. One of the more popular auction items are the art projects created by students, said Schell.
The nearly 50-year-old school invites current families and alumni, faculty and staff, and Advent partners, but really, it’s one of the few adult events that parents can enjoy with the school.
McIntyre has loved working the event because, at first, it helped her to get to know other parents pretty quickly, and she enjoys being involved with her child’s school. “It’s a great learning experience to pull off a big event,” she said. “It’s also a lot of work.”
Which is why this is her third and last year as co-chair. “I don’t want to take this experience away from other parents,” she said.

As the owner of DeLuca’s Markets on Newbury and Charles streets, Virgil Aiello had no intention of expanding his already extensive selection of gourmet meats and fish, cheeses, breads and prepared food to include a new line of handmade cookies until he tasted a lemon-orange treat from Connecticut one month ago.
“The frosting had a light lemony flavor, with just enough sugar,” Aiello said. “They were the finest quality I’ve ever had. They were as good as the best cookies I’ve tasted in Italy and reminded me of the ones my grandmother made when I was a boy.”
In February, Aiello received an unexpected package at his Beacon Hill store containing eight biscotti del limone cookies and a note from the chef, Ricki Hellner of Avon, Conn. In the letter, Hellner explained how after raising two sons and working in publishing for more than 24 years, she made an abrupt career change and launched Avon-based Haiku’s Luscious Cookies in the fall of 2008. (Haiku takes its name from Hellner’s 9-year-old mustang, which she rescued at 17 months old). Soon afterwards, Aiello called Hellner to thank her, and she quickly convinced him that Haiku’s cookies would be a worthwhile addition to DeLuca’s.
“The handcrafted quality of my cookies seemed like something that [DeLuca’s customers] would find appealing,” said Hellner, who learned of Aiello’s stores by chance from an online search of gourmet markets in New England. “[My cookies] are meant to be in smaller venues, where people are looking for something different.”
Besides the biscotti del limone, which Hellner describes as her “flagship cookie,” DeLuca’s will likely carry all Haiku’s “bake-to-order” varieties, including cherry almond, Tahitian vanilla bean, orange anise and maple cranberry pecan. “If the fruit ones are anything like the lemon-orange, they must be over the top,” Aiello added.
While these cookies might seem somewhat expensive at roughly $2 apiece, Aiello said their biscuit size and full flavor should justify the price.
“They’re special occasion cookies, but they’re so good that people are going to have a hard time waiting for a special occasion once they try them,” he said. “These are in a class by themselves.”
Ricki Hellner will make an in-store appearance to introduce Haiku’s Luscious Cookies at DeLuca’s Market, 11 Charles St., on Saturday, March 14, at 11 a.m.