Best of the Week: Our Picks for November 30-December 4, 2015
Welcome to Best of the Week, our recommendations for what to check out around town this week. If you’re wondering what to do in Boston this week, check out these events.
No. 9 Park / Courtesy photo by Wayne Chinnock via Facebook
DINING
Monday, November 30
Holiday Lunches at No. 9 Park
Now that we’ve all emerged from our Thanksgiving-dinner turkey comas, it’s time to think about another traditional holiday meal: The annual holiday lunches at beloved Beacon Hill restaurant No. 9 Park. For $52, score a three-course prix-fixe meal, featuring such belly-warming fare as braised-oxtail onion soup, baked stuffed lobster for two, and raspberry baked Alaska for dessert. Feeling even more festive? Go for the $75 five-course tasting menu.
Holiday lunches served weekdays November 30-December 23, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., No. 9 Park, 9 Park St., Boston, 617-742-9991, no9park.com.
O, TANNENBAUM
Monday, November 30
Boston Tree Lightings
The fictional land of Leutonia celebrates Christmas with symbolic eggs, “falutniks,” and the ceremonial exchanging of socks. And yet, somehow, Boston’s holiday traditions manage to be slightly weirder than what the minds of SCTV could dream up: Every year, Nova Scotia sends us a tree, as a way of giving thanks for our assistance in the Halifax Explosion of 1917. Now that it’s December, our annual tree is here and waiting to be lit on Boston Common. But first, there’s the Copley Square tree lighting, which kicks off this festive season on Tuesday, complete with a visit from Rudolph and the Boston Pops. Then, on Thursday, they’re bringing out the big guns for the Boston Common tree lighting ceremony, with national and international figure skaters taking over the Frog Pond for a skating spectacular before Mayor Marty Walsh oversees the main event.
Copley Square Tree Lighting: Free, November 30, 5 p.m., Copley Square, Boston, mayorsholiday.com. Boston Common Tree Lighting: Free, December 3, 6-8 p.m., Boston Common, bostonfrogpond.com.
Scenes from America’s Test Kitchen‘s 100 Recipes / Via YouTube
Q&A
Wednesday, December 2
Cast of America’s Test Kitchen
Long before Alton Brown brought his sock puppets and giant prop tongues to the Food Network, bow-tied Christopher Kimball was applying the scientific method to his quest for good eats. This year, the announcement of Kimball’s departure from America’s Test Kitchen caused quite a ruckus, raising quite a few questions. And fans of the show might just get a chance to have them answered tonight at the Brattle, as a handful of ATK cast members (excluding Kimball) take the stage to preview their new cookbook, 100 Recipes: The Absolute Best Ways to Make the True Essentials. Full of rigorously tested tips and tricks—how to get the perfect pie crust, the best way to brown meat for beef stew—100 Recipes is shaping up to be an essential cooking bible…and a nice stocking stuffer for the home chef in your life.
December 2, 6 p.m., Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, 617-661-1515, harvard.com.
Jim Jefferies / Courtesy photo
COMEDY
Thursday, December 3
Jim Jefferies
Let’s play a fun game. Read this sentence from a recent profile of Australian comedian Jim Jefferies, and try to guess when it was written: “Recently, one of Jefferies’ routines about gun control from his 2014 Netflix special Bare went viral following the most recent depressingly predictable round of tragedies in America.” Answer: Not yesterday, but August 15. Just chew on that for a minute. And then buy a ticket for one of Jefferies’s Wilbur Theatre shows, because we’re all going to need a laugh after the calamitous month we’ve just had.
$39.50, December 3, 8 p.m., December 4, 7:30 and 10 p.m., December 5, 7 and 9:45 p.m., Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St., Boston, 617-248-9700, thewilbur.com.
SoWa in December photo by SoWa Sundays on Flickr
SHOPPING
Friday, December 4
Chrismukkah at SoWa
Prefer your holiday shopping to be a leisurely stroll or a surgical strike? This weekend, Chrismukkah at SoWa offers the best of both worlds, as some 90 artist studios, 60 boutiques and galleries, and 50 local artisans fill up a 6,500-square-foot (heated!) tent for this three-day holiday shopping extravaganza. While Harrison Ave transforms into a winter wonderland for your viewing pleasure, you can cross a whole lotta to-dos off your holiday shopping list by perusing wares from Olives & Grace, December Thieves, and more.
Free to attend, December 4, 5-8 p.m., December 6-7, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 450 Harrison Ave., Boston, chrismukkahatsowa.com.
Looking for more winter arts coverage? Check out:
Your Guide to the Holidays in Boston
