Hacin + Heard | March 2024
Happy March from #teamhacin! To start the month, we’re sharing our team’s favorite books, restaurants, shops, and podcasts as of late in our #hacinandheard series! This roundup serves to share our recent lunchtime conversations and recommendations with our community – and we’d love to hear from you on current cultural faves, too!
Shop – Located on Tremont Street, Neighborhood Wines is a small business that opened in the last year, carrying a broad selection of natural wines. They offer free tastings and informational wine events that are fun to pop into… and also have very cute merch!
[Sophie Mailhot]
Listen – I’ve enjoyed listening to Good Dirt, a locally-based podcast about the real estate development market in Boston and beyond. A recent conversation with John Fish of Suffolk Construction was particularly fun to listen to!
[Matthew Arnold]
Read – The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker informs the reader about how to plan effective gatherings, whether for work, friends, family, or hobbies. It includes tips on how to choose appropriate venues, why not to be a “chill” host (not a problem for me), and even how to kindly exclude people who aren’t a part of the gathering’s overarching goal. There’s tons of great advice!
[Katie Dayton]
The Right Call by Sally Jenkins delves into the valuable lessons that sports can teach about work and life, on and off the field. It discusses decision-making from a sports psychology perspective, combined with the athletic process and the road to athletes becoming great.
[Jeffrey Brown]
Watch – It’s fun to make an annual tradition of going to the Institute of Contemporary Art every awards season to see the Oscar-nominated live-action, animated, and documentary shorts. These often overlooked short stories are always thought-provoking and compelling. They make for great conversation at a post-film dinner in the Seaport. But hurry – they are only shown for a short time before the Oscars air on March 10th!
[Aimee Epstein Norton]
The Eyes of Orson Welles is a fascinating documentary that reintroduces the legendary director and actor to new audiences by helping explain the context of his genius. It paints an eccentric portrait of Welles and shares facts you might not know about him, such as the influence of his travels to Ireland on his work.
[David Hacin]
Eat – Located in the rear half of Savour Wine and Cheese in Gloucester (a destination in its own right), Sushi Sang Lee is a hidden gem omakase-style sushi restaurant operated by chef Sang Hyun Lee. He serves two seatings per night Thursday through Sunday in a minimalist space featuring a beautifully simple white oak counter. The dinner highlights both “fresh, local fish and beautiful, exotic Japanese fish” prepared in Sang Lee’s unique style.
[Rob Clocker]
Hidden below Faccia a Faccia on Newbury Street, Bar Pallino is a beautiful space with the best selection of natural wines and small bites. It has an amazing atmosphere and is my favorite bar in the city- it’s almost too good to share!
[Sophie Mailhot]
Explore – I recently went to the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University for the Salman Toor exhibit. It’s a beautifully designed free gallery with an incredible collection supporting the main exhibition. There were some Goya etchings, a massive Warhol print, and a Frida Kahlo portrait among many other cool pieces. Brandeis is also a really lovely campus to explore on a sunny winter day!
[Adrian Ramon]
Park-9 Dog Bar is a one-stop shop for canine lovers located just north of the city in Everett. They offer two full-service bars, an indoor dog park, events like live music, puppy training, and breed meetups, and even dog daycare. We recently celebrated my pup Bowie’s birthday there and he and his owners were a big fan of the atmosphere!
[Matthew Arnold]