Barista Stuart Young sold Pruna his first espresso machine, then went to work for him. Photo by Jared Charney Coffee gets us going. Our national dependence upon this dark brew is famous and celebrated in song and film (and meme, like the poster with a holographic Princess Leia, cup in hand, declaring, “Help me, caffeine — you’re my only hope!”). But the stimulating qualities of the coffee bean are not what gets Max Pruna’s brain cells firing. It’s coffee’s softer side that is the inspiration and foundation for his La Mulita Coffee Bar and Roastery on Sagamore Road in Rye. “The uniqueness of ..read more

Pavilion’s duck breast, complete with a dusting of dukkah, sunchoke, leek, apple and jus. March isn’t the flashiest month to visit the Lakes Region. The Lakes — with their glistening freshwater sprawl and quaint, good-time towns set up along the coast — come alive in the winter freeze and summer heat. Thus, the gray, rain-drenched days of early spring don’t exactly line up with that enlivened outdoors reputation.  But I wasn’t entertaining a hike up to Lake Winnipesauke just for kicks. I had a mission: the birth of a new restaurant. Well, it wasn’t exactly a new restaurant. First opene ..read more

Natalee Stimpson serves an Empress gin and tonic. Botanica Gin Bar and Restaurant is special. It’s a French jewel box of a restaurant in Portsmouth’s West End neighborhood where you can steal a special moment for yourself. Get There Botanica Restaurant and Gin Bar 110 Brewery Ln., Portsmouth botanicanh.com (603) 373-0979 Open Tuesday-Saturday 4 p.m.-close Botanica opened this year when a small, street-level space became available in a revitalized mill building on Brewery Lane. Created by local chef and owner Brendan Vesey, the intimate space offers many delights, and is beautifully lit with ..read more

(Left to right) The writer and his wife, Charlene, enjoy the salad course with Ernesto and Aaron while server Patrick spices things up. Sometimes when there is a lot of build-up for an event, you set up expectations in your mind and then the reality ends up being a let down. I was assigned on your behalf, gentle reader, to experience just such an “event” — the opening of Trattoria Fondi, the newest dining destination at the Bedford Village Inn, and this is not one of those occasions.  Discretely tucked into the ground floor of The Grand (the most recent addition to the BVI grounds) is ..read more

Polly’s Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill, NH. Photo by Susan Laughlin. What’s better than enjoying a from-scratch hotcake drizzled and dripping with real New Hampshire maple syrup? Nothing! (Unless, of course, there’s a local slice of bacon on the side.) Here’s our list of favorite pancake houses and restaurants serving up the best pancakes and in-house maple syrup. Polly’s Pancake Parlor 672 Route 117 Sugar Hill (603) 823-5575 Open Thursday through Monday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Polly’s is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Did you know? Once a seasonal operation, Polly’s is now open year round and dine ..read more

Kelly’s Roast Beef’s signature sandwich. Photo by Max Schoenfeld As an editor at New Hampshire Magazine, I get emails. A lot of emails. Those emails range in importance, from company meeting updates to wildly misspelled spam to Granite State businesses hoping for coverage and everything in between. And just a few weeks ago, I got an email that caught my eye like a diamond in the rough — or in this case, a roast beef in the rough, glistening between Adobe Creative Cloud ads and Microsoft Teams updates. It was a personal letter from Kelly’s Roast Beef in Salem, New Hampshire, inviting me to a ..read more

Angela’s Pasta & Cheese Shop in Manchester. Photo by Morgan Karanasios As I walk down Chestnut Street in Manchester, a bright orange awning beckons me toward an otherwise nondescript building holding down the corner of Chestnut and Appleton. If you’re not already in the know, it would be easy to walk right by this neighborhood treasure. That would be a mistake.  Although this spot led many lives during the last century, for the last 40 years it’s been Simply Angela’s (formal name Angela’s Pasta & Cheese Shop), a specialty grocery store that’s really much more. It’s a store that ..read more

Note: As of Monday, March 16, Gov. Sununu ordered that all restaurants shift to takeout and delivery services in an effort to curb the growth and spread of COVID-19. For the time being, Mr Kim’s decided to close entirely. We hope this story inspires you to dine at Mr Kim’s the moment they reopen their doors! In the meantime, don’t miss our list of restaurants, breweries and even some wineries that are offering takeout, curbside pickup and delivery. It also includes a number of gift card specials, a great way to support local businesses in this uncertain time.  With dark, moody jewel ton ..read more

Photo by Jenn Bakos I told my grandfather about Luchador Tacos. As a lifelong New Hampshire resident exposed to grocery store hard-shell taco kits and underwhelming Mexican food, he said, “I don’t know how you’ll write about a taco. What’s so great about a taco?” On the drive over the icy winter backroads up to North Conway to find out, I wondered the same thing. Hungry from the trip up, I turned onto Route 302 and scanned the road in search of Luchador, finally spotting the large yellow sign. Find It Luchador Tacos 1833 White Mountain Hwy. North Conway (603) 730-5429 Co-owners Katherine an ..read more