Put this date down, Sept. 30. That's when the sandwich equation in Lowell will rise to a whole new level. I got a sneak peak of Dharma Buns last night and what I saw, trust me on this, was a biz on the verge of success. If design can tell you anything (and it can) they have put some serious time and attention into the Market Street sandwich shop. Owner John and his PR son Alex have given intense consideration into their bread. The steak sandwich (made w/ sliced sirloin) will be served on a bun they went to great lengths to create. "There's a sandwich shop in Hoboken that makes the best rolls. We bought a couple, brought it to our baker and said, 'do this,'" Alex said.
This dedication outta be commended.
Belgian fries, cut and soaked overnight and flash fried, with go down nicely with Belgian beer. "Why carry what everyone has?" said John. Indeed. In keeping w/ the Dharma Bun theme, a mini bookstore selling Jack Kerouac books and the works of his beat buddies Ginsberg and Burroughs will be set up in the corner. Late-night hours, till 2 a.m. on wkends., couches, high-top tables and drop-lighting will be a nice addition to the downtown.

OK, it's official, Guy Fieri of the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives comes to the Lowell Memorial Auditorium Nov. 17. The show, a combination of cooking, rock and gumbo is unusual entertainment for this traditional venue, but we say keep it coming.
"A show for my fans that marries food and rock n' roll with blow-your-mind entertainment is a dream come true," is how Fieri describes his road show.

Australian-based flair bartender Hayden "Woody" Wood, is the opening act. I've never heard of a bartender as an opener, but most mix men are comedians or actors, so it makes perfect sense. Only thing that isn't clear. Will they be sharing the love w/ the crowd? I suspect for a number of reasons, the only thing edible is the material. Best to swing by the Blue Taleh before you go.

Speaking of the Blue Taleh, does anyone know when its next door neighbor jazz club, The Front Page is opening? Looks like Dharma Buns is ready to come out of the oven. I predict by this time next week the Market Street sandwichery opens. Welcome Belgian beer and fries to the international city.

Look at this cute, little innocuous drink, it is the pisco sour. I downed one of these Peruvian cocktails at Moonstones over the wkend and capped my staycation summer w/ perfection. I had heard of the jet-setting drink when a globe-trotting friend raved of its infectious powers after a trip to Argentina. But I've never had the fortune to come face to face w/ the libation. Leave it to the global chill of M-stones in Chelmsford to deliver this multi-culti beverage to the 495 belt. Made w/ grape liquor, egg whites, bitters and perhaps one other ingredient Im forgetting, the pisco sour tastes like the foam on a latte, minus the winey pull of espresso, set on a subtle tropical sea. Bitters, an English cooking sauce, is known to aid digestion. We paired ours w/ the Joe burger and the Asian 5-spice rib sm. plate. This is the first red-blooded meat I've had since an unfortunate incident at U-burger three weeks back. Made us feel excellent. Because it was a quite Saturday night (everyone was jammed in tight spaces at the beach) the bartender gave her full attention to our piscos and it showed.

Centro in Lowell celebrates its two year anniversary w/ a complimentary wine tasting tomorrow night from 7 to 9 p.m. Go for the well wishing, stay for the paella (10 percent off all food).

I don't know about you, but I've had nowhere near enough BBQ this summer, ditto beer. Not even close. Thankfully the good citizens in Lowell's emerging JAM area are firing up the grills next Sat., Sept. 12 to fill us up w/ charred meat from the Village Smokehouse, Garcia Brogans, MSM Ribs of Dorchester and the culinary whiz kids at UTEC. Eclectic, I'll admit, but the remake of Lowell's Rib n' Brews Festival, now called Major JAM'N, intrigues none the less. Since we are officially entering the beer season, Berkshire Brewing Company (big ups), Peak Organic (makers of a dynamite espresso ale), and Lowell Beer Works gives this outdoor taste-off some cred. Get your fill for $25, from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. Jackson Street, next to the Early Garage. Come hungry, or don't come at all.

Last night I had ice cream for dinner. What am I six? I don't even feel guilty. The ginger fruit ice cream at Orchard Hill in Lowell was so pure, organic and farm-fresh it felt like a meal. If it came with a mint leaf, I'd say all the four food groups were present. This was only my second time visiting the stand since it opened in May. I'm sorry I waited till the end of summer to partake. Good news is this place (formerly Gary's on Pawtucket St.) will be open year-round and morph into a coffee shop this fall. Love the combo of coffee and ice cream invented in the gelaterias of Italy. Hot and cold makes for great mouth feel and a tantalizing surprise. Because ice cream can chill you up, hot java melts it on the way down. Good bye brain freeze/frosty throat, hello happiness.
We've really got an excellent scoopery here. The frappes, made with ice cream from Annabelle's and Ricardson's taste about as homemade as you can get. Seriously when ice cream is this sublime, it's not even ice cream, it's nourishment.

Good news coffee fans, a new cafe is opening this month in Western Ave Studios, called The Place at The Space. Located in a new uber plush recording/dance studio (The Space) on the first floor of this sprawling art mill, the cafe will serve espresso drinks, made w/ Lavazza coffee and brewed mud from Worcester's As Good As Gold. There will be sandwiches and, down the road, prepared meals. When it opens in two weeks it will be mostly lattes, tea and WiFi on comfy couches. Oh and .... a deck. Hours are 10a to 12 a.m. Night owls, you've found your hang. Tyngbsoro musician Jon Bell, whose band the Distant Relatives ripped up the local airwaves five years ago, is at the helm. You may have to hop the train tracks to get here, but it will be worth it. This guy is serious about coffee and that's all right by me. I call it a winner.

Does this question that waiters/ waitresses love to ask toward the end of the meal, bother anyone besides me?
Happened again Saturday night at the Rosebud in Somerville. A fine comforting port in the storm on a dark-as-sin evening. Things capsized when the friendly waitress looked over at my half-eaten salmon dinner and said: "Still picking?"
I realized right then and there I have a major bone to pick.
First of all eating is not picking. Picking is something that's done to a nose, a guitar and apples. Eating is the pleasurable enjoyment of food. It's not a task that needs to be completed in one fell swoop and ... take it away. DONE! Almost every time I've refrained from gobbling my meal in seconds, or before my tablemate, I'm accused of picking.
I know this shouldn't bother me w/ all the problems we face, but why can't we replace "picking" with the much more accurate and non-offensive "eating?" A simple, "Are you through?" would do. I think picking undermines what we are doing here. Worse, it feels like a slight. I can just hear my parents telling a 10 year-old me "Don't pick at your food."

Equal Exchange, the hip coffee cooperative in Bridgewater, takes its single origins seriously. Starting Tuesday (September at last) they put their best and brightest beans, 61 new varieties, on a road tour of 10 coffee shops. Brew'd Awakening on Market Street in Lowell is a key stop for this promo called 61 Beans. Stop by for a taste of San Juan del Rio Coco, a Nicaraguan blend w/ interesting tasting notes. Butterscotch, honeysuckle, lime, almond, intensely sweet. In all my years of drinking copious amounts of the black stuff, I've never detected the faintest whiff of honeysuckle -- not entirely sure I would recognize such effeteness. Brew'd owner Andy tells me his Greenwich Village-esque cafe will serve umpteen blends before this is through. That's some serious drugage. Should keep the entire downtown lit for years to come. I'll keep you posted on any and all cuppings.

In other cafe news, Cafe Aiello is now the Second Wind Cafe. This is a good move, considering this place (corner of Gorham and Appleton streets) needed a rebranding strategy and a breath of fresh air. The Gazebo Cafe finally reopened in the American Textile History Museum today. The Greek iced coffee will be the morning eye-opener of choice for Sun reporters. Bottoms up!

It's been a long week. Sickness, death, and now a hurricane is once again headed our way this weekend? It's time to batten down the hatches with a lime rickey. No, Im not talking about the kind we craved at 13, I refer to the sort we must have at 33 (plus). Made with fresh raspberry puree, lime juice, Bombay gin and a splash of soda, the lime rickey at 41 Main in Ayer is my drink of choice this weekend. I keep telling ya'll about this find in the sticks, but I suspect few have heeded my sage advice. Yes Ayer is a can't-get-there-from-here but it's on the commuter rail and the bike path. Can't think of a more central locale. Plus, if you're like me, weekends are all about getting away.

In other bar news, the hits keep coming at Gibbet Hill. I was just visiting the lush 2-acre farm that the restaurant now pulls from and found out this: bartenders at the Groton gourmet pluck herbs from the deck and infuse them into drinks like lemon basil and lavender martinis. This gives new meaning to the words garden party. These drinks will leave you shaken, stirred and smelling like Crabtree & Evelyn.

Starbucks, the king of all caffeine, is lowering the price of its average brew by 5 to 15 cents. I'll drink to that. Lattes too. Only on smalls tho. Drinkers of the Pacific Northwest bean will shell out an average of 10 to 15 cents more for large, "complex" drinks. I never went for the fru-fru brew anyway. But I know many of you don't consider coffee, in its raw, bitter form, drinkable. You gotta add milk, cream and x-tra sugar, right?

Price seesawing went into effect in some markets today, but not in the motherland, Seattle. Have you noticed a change at your backyard bucks?

True Coffee Confession: I've been doing the DIY iced coffee dance all summer long. Figured I've pocketed at least $100. Still there are times when the body craves, natch demands Starbucks. I'm feeling pretty good about the shift, but it seems counter intuitive. Are they trying to get us to buy talls only? At this rate, wouldn't two talls be cheaper than one venti? And what of the long-lost short? You can order this 8 ounce pet (i say pet becuz I'll carry this puppy with me all day long from car, to store to office and finally throw out the cold stuff end of day) off-the-menu, but they don't want you to. Baristas if you're out there, please weigh in.