This Is Framingham

Last night my cousin Amy and I went to check out Papa Razzi on route 9 which has replaced Bennigan’s. Right away you can see they’ve done extensive renovation and now have an open kitchen.

As with any new restaurant, they were out to make a good impression. There was a team of greeters. One that opened the front door, one that opened the inside front door, the person who asked us how many and the person who sat us. All said welcome to Papa Razzi and asked how we were. It was funny to be asked that 4 times before we even sat down. Definitely a cheery group though. We were sat within hearing distance of the host desk and one of the hostesses sounded really excited when people walked in and would say “Hi! How ARE you?” and say things like “You’re getting an AWESOME table, you’ll LOVE it!” We joked that she must be exhausted at the end of the night.

Our server was nice, forgot a few things but as Amy and I have both worked in restaurants since we were in highschool, we know how mistakes can happen. Amy can be a little less forgiving, although she’s done some hard time in the business, from casual to fine dining to catering and has some amazing stories she could probably write a book about.
Before our server came over, one of the managers came over and asked how we were and said our server will be over shortly, which she was. We both ordered a wine flight. I got red and Amy got white. I felt that there might be problem with the order since our server didn’t really seem to know what a flight was. She might have been so overloaded with information from training that she got confused, but we had to explain and point out on the wine menu what we wanted since she didn’t recognize what we ordered by the name of the flight, which is fine but then she asked which wine on that flight we wanted, and that we get to pick one. We nicely explained again that it’s three wines and then she got it, but showed up to the table with two flights of white wine. I felt a little bad that one of the managers was at our table when I said I got one of the red flights, I didn’t want her to look bad in front of the manager but it was easily solved. I got the “Elegant and Fruity” flight which was really good:

The meal started off with bread sticks that our server said are handmade right in the restaurant.

I’m not one for hard, dry breadsticks but I understand that is the style these are supposed to be.
We really liked the focaccia bread though.

We decided to split a salad, they were nice enough to divide the salad into separate bowls and half was a perfect size for both us.
My half-salad:

The runner who brought the salads didn’t bring any dressing (we asked for different dressings on the side) Amy raised her hand for one of the managers who was scanning the dining room and he came right over and had someone bring over dressing.

For dinner, Amy got spinach and ricotta filled ravioli. It comes with a red sauce but she asked if she could just get olive oil and garlic on it instead, to which our server said “absolutely” and it came out just like Amy had asked.

I got the gnocchi. I always feel like it’s a gamble with gnocchi because if it’s too dense it’s like eating playdough but these were perfect. They were light and soft and the creamy-tomato sauce was very good as well:

We were too stuffed for dessert but I would definitely come back because I’d like to try their pizza. I didn’t see any pizza out in the dining room, but I’m curious to see what it’s like.
The pizza oven:

I think aside from a few little bumps like I mentioned (and Amy found cork and foil in one of her wines) I think it’s a pretty good place. The one thing I think they could work on is getting the staff to ask if you’re done with something before they take it away. A few times during the meal, different staff members would come over and quickly take something off the table without asking, like the breadsticks, the salad dressing that we were using to dip the bread in, something else-now I forget what, but things like that.
I know it’s another chain restaurant, I’d love to see a local business owner open up on a place on the strip but I think the reality is that this part of route 9 won’t financially accommodate a lot of small businesses.  So for what it is, I think Papa Razzi is leaps and bounds above Bennigan’s and I’m happy with this replacement.
Here’s their website for more information: http://www.paparazzitrattoria.com

 A couple of weeks ago I noticed new awnings on the old train station and just this week I saw that a sign is up for the new steakhouse that will be here.  I’m looking forward to this opening because it’s been a couple years since anything has been in this building and I haven’t been in there since it was Ebinezer’s probably at least 11 or 12 years ago.

I think it will really be a benefit to downtown since it’s such a visible building and it will finally not be just a large vacant structure people walk by or throw trash behind (the new owners have also cleaned up all the empties and garbage in the space behind the gate).
It’s such a beautiful space inside and one of Framingham’s great historic buildings, so it’s great to see something finally happening with it- and hopefully the food will be good too : )

I doubt Starbucks will fret but, across the street from the Starbucks (by Whole Foods) at the “Ski Market” plaza on Rt. 9 will be an upscale coffee shop.  The “coming soon” sign is up and I know they’ve been putting a lot of work into the interior so I’m excited to have a coffee shop nearby that is neither StarB’s or Dunkins and a small business.  I’ll be sure to post when they open and I make a visit there. vermectin (Stromectol is stromectol over the counter

Thisisframingham.com will stay here and still relate to all things Framingham but I’ve decided to give the Metrowest area a turn to shine as well.  Bear with me as this gets started.  Towns will show up in the category section as I post about them so if a town you’re looking for isn’t there, I just haven’t posted about it yet (but I will!). 
Thanks for the support these past couple of years from all of you who have emailed me and commented on the blog.  A special thanks to Ethan for being such a good sport when I take out my camera at dinner and helping me edit posts.
Feel free to let me know about any of your favorite Metrowest places you think deserve a vist.
Cheers!
Michelle

I was looking through recent permits posted on the town website (yes, I actually do that) and saw that there was a permit issued this week for something called “Old Station Steak House” at the old train station.I really hope (and from the name of the place it sounds like) this will be a business that will embrace the station’s history. I hate seeing this building just sitting around unused.I haven’t been in there since it was Ebenizer’s, never got to it when it was the Indian restaurant. A Brazilian buffet was slated to open up here but somehow never did, I think something else tried too. Anyway, Ethan did a nice guest-post about it if anyone missed it and wants to read a little more about the building.

According to a MWDN article the Italian restaurant Papa Razzi will be taking over ye olde Bennigan’s location (thank you!)

From the article:
“Work on gutting Bennigan’s will start within the next five business days”
“The gutting is taking place because “pretty much everything in there is useless,” said Dalton (VP Back Bay Restaurant Group) “It has a lot of age on it and it’s in poor condition. It’s better to strip everything out.” 
Amen.

I’ve been to the Papa Razzi Wellesley a few years ago and remember it being really good.  I think they’ll do very well here.  They’re going to spend $2.3 million on renovations. I’m glad someone with money is going to renovate the whole place. oms e ivermectina

I don’t know if I have mentioned it before but, once a month there is a meeting of the Framingham Downtown Renaissance committee.  I guess anyone can go since I started attending months before I became a town meeting member.  They are great meetings to go to.  Whenever I feel questionable about downtown and the fact that I live here, I feel so much better after attending these meetings.  It’s great to see there are people working on actual projects to improve downtown and plans are in the works to solve a variety of issues.  Also, it’s a great way to just know what is going on in the area. ??? ????? payeer
We usually meet in the memorial building but today the Dennison Condos invited the group to meet there and give us a tour. There were the usual FDR people (although minus Rev. Bob who introduced me to these meetings) as well as realtors and Susan Brickman from the Metrowest Daily News. I thought it was funny that before the meeting started she made a point to go around with her notebook and ask every single person who they were and what their affiliation was except for me, probably because I was the youngest in the room and wearing my windbreaker and bike pants (because I had to go to work right from there) she didn’t seem to have an interest in what someone looking like I did was doing there.
The hosting realtors were a husband and wife team that were very nice and answered all my questions.  Apparently the condos will take over the building right next to them which currently houses SMOC. ????? ???   Where SMOC is going I don’t know but I thought it was interesting that they’ll be out of that space in a year or so.
Here’s a little of what we saw:

 




I really wish this place the best.  It’s a crummy market right now and I know people have their problems with this place, some which I agree with, but these units look nice and it would be great for downtown if these took off. ????? ???? ?????? 2022   Kudos to the people who invested the money into building these and I hope it will be a part of a downtown revitalization.