Latest news with #ChrisCoombs
CTV News
29-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
How unsold food is making its way to hungry Londoners
A skid of food at Food Basics being loaded onto a London Food Bank refrigerator truck, seen in London, Ont. on July 29, 2025. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London) At a time of unprecedented demand at the London Food Bank, a food recovery program at several local grocery stores is preventing tonnes of nutritious meals from going to waste. 'The One More Bite program, it makes me proud to be a part of it,' explained Chris Coombs, manager of the Food Basics at 1200 Commissioners Road. 'We have a lot of people in the community that are struggling right now.' Nine of the Metro and Food Basics stores in London participate in the food recovery program. As a product's 'best before' date approaches, its price is often discounted by the store. If it hasn't sold by the night of the 'best before' date, the unsold meat, dairy, bakery products, and prepared meals are loaded onto skids and frozen to await collection by the London Food Bank. 'We focus mainly on healthy, nutritious products,' added Coombs. 'And it feels good to be able to give back (and) prevent it from going to waste.' One More Bite London Food Bank contributions Food Basics Manager Chris Coombs explains how food is selected for donation to the London Food Bank, seen in London, Ont. on July 29, 2025. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London) On Tuesday, the store loaded two skids of products onto a refrigerator truck from the London Food Bank. 'When you look at what's come in over those past number of years from One More Bite, it's been hundreds and hundreds of tonnes worth of food,' said Jane Roy of the London Food Bank. Province-wide last year, One More Bite saved 2.6 million kilograms of food, which is equal to about 5.2 million meals provided by food banks. Roy said the London Food Bank has been involved in the program since 2019 and received steady growth in both the volume and variety of food received. It's become a vital part of meeting unprecedented demand. 'We're serving double what we did before the pandemic. It's 5,800 families a month, or about 17,000 individuals a month, getting help from the food bank. So, this food we're going through really quickly,' Roy explained. Coombs described it as a team effort. 'I'm extremely proud of my staff,' he said. 'We're one of the highest contributing stores for Food Basics. My team is very engaged in it!' There are 247 Metro and Food Basics stores participate in the One More Bite program across Ontario.
Boston Globe
29-07-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Fine dining chef Sierra Erickson puts a new spin on her career with Bosse Pickledom
I'm currently the chef de cuisine at Bosse Pickledom here in Natick. It's new for all of us here, being connected to pickleball and having a very health-conscious, health-forward goal — having people enjoy the food after they exercise is definitely a factor and also one that I've never had to really think about before. But everyone these days wants to eat healthy, and it's fun creating a menu that's exactly that. Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up Our space is two floors. We have 21 pickleball courts — 10 downstairs, 11 upstairs — but there's only one kitchen on the ground floor. We have an enoteca, an Italian restaurant on the bottom floor, where we do from-scratch pasta and pizza. We make our own dough. Connected to that, we have our French café. We bake our croissants fresh every morning. From there, you can get a smoothie, salads, grain bowls, and sandwiches. Upstairs, we have our sports lounge. All the food does come out of one kitchen, which can be tricky coordinating sometimes, but we get it done. Advertisement How did you come to work here? Advertisement I was the chef de cuisine at Deuxave, a fine-dining French restaurant in Boston, working under chef Chris Coombs. He had mentioned that he was building this. I wasn't really looking to move jobs at the time. I loved Deuxave. I worked there for three years and worked my way up to becoming chef de cuisine. But I ended up seeing a job posting online where they were looking for an executive chef here. I came in, I toured the space, and it seemed like a good change of pace for me. Since I'd worked at Deuxave for three years, I felt like I had achieved most of what I could learn there. I felt good about leaving at that point. Here, I'm managing three times the amount of people I've ever managed. The space is huge. There are a lot of moving parts. It's a bigger operation, and I was ready to expand myself in that way. What sparked your love of cooking? I've always been artistic. I love to draw. I love to paint. When I was little, I got super into cake-decorating, and I was really intrigued by the show 'Cake Boss.' I just loved that they were creating food that people couldn't even believe was edible. The expression on their faces and how excited or happy it made them made me think: 'I want to be able to do that someday.' When I turned 16, I started working at a bakery a town over from where I grew up in New Hampshire, where I learned production baking. I ended up realizing it was not for me. I thought it was pretty boring, to be honest. But I would do cakes for friends' birthdays and parents' anniversaries, and I thought that was pretty cool: At 16, I was being paid to make cakes for people! Advertisement I knew I wanted to go to culinary school, because I thought I wanted to be a pastry chef. I thought I wanted to be a cake decorator. That was my dream job. What happened? Going through culinary school at Southern New Hampshire University, especially my freshman year, they make you take baking and savory labs. I realized the cooking labs weren't too hard. During my internship in the summer following freshman year, I worked for a higher-end catering company in New Hampshire called The White Apron. I didn't do any baking there whatsoever, and I wanted it to be that way so I could throw myself into something that I didn't know too much about. I did all the savory cooking. That's where I learned how to make an aioli from scratch, how to make a vinaigrette from scratch. Being trusted to make a good one was pretty cool. I could make any vinaigrette, any flavor I wanted. I studied abroad in Florence, Italy, my junior year, and I worked in a student restaurant there. I could have chosen the bakery or the restaurant, but I was falling in love with cooking. I chose the restaurant to further challenge myself. I worked with kids from Turkey, France, Korea, and Vietnam, which was really awesome. I learned how to make pasta from scratch, which is still one of my favorite things to do to this day. I was drawn to savory cooking because of the artistic plating. Advertisement What's your take on the Greater Boston food scene? What's good? Where is there still room for growth? It's definitely harder to find quality workers out here and people who want to do the food that we're doing. A lot of the line cooks we've hired hadn't cooked in a from-scratch kitchen, and I love that we're giving them the opportunity to learn. Some of the flavor combinations or spiciness levels aren't really the same out here that you'd be able to get away with in Boston. People may not be as adventurous. We've slowly tested a few things here and there. With the I feel that, café-wise, a lot of bigger names dominate the market now, like Tatte. It's harder for people to start out and open something of a smaller caliber, just because all these bigger names have taken the reins, which I've noticed even in the suburbs, too. It would be nice to hear of new people coming to the scene, being able to open a place. Honestly, it's very expensive to do that, especially in Boston. It's a goal of mine someday. What's your dream job? There's a time and place for fine dining. I would love to be part of something with a more casual atmosphere but really nice food, almost the same caliber as Deuxave: really pretty, beautiful, yummy food in a more casual setting. Advertisement Where do you eat when you're not working? I live in Wakefield. I lived in Boston for five years but recently moved out into the suburbs. Since I've primarily worked with French or Italian food most of my career, honestly, I crave anything but that when I'm not working. I really love sushi. I really love ramen and anything umami. There's a great American Chinese place right around the corner from my apartment called Wei's Cuisine. There's also a place right across the street called Tonno. If my boyfriend and I ever want a martini or to have some apps or a quick dinner, we love them. We always go there. There's also a really great steakhouse in the suburbs called Is there any food that you can't stand? I'm not really a picky eater, honestly. But these days, there are a lot of places that go viral for kind of overdoing it with certain sandwiches that are 20 layers deep of whatever it is. I don't understand how someone can eat that — a grilled cheese dipped in queso, stuff like that. It's really great content for TikTok or Instagram, but imagine actually eating that? Advertisement Seeing greasy stuff like that really rubs me the wrong way, especially being a chef and knowing that it's just a gimme. There's probably not a lot of thought that went into it. Have to ask: Do you play pickleball? I have played once since I started. It was pretty fun. Our courts are filled all day long. It's a great workout, especially, and it's pretty low-contact, so it's great for everyone of all ages. I'd definitely play again. But most days I'm not working, especially in the summer, I go to the beach. Are there pickles on your menu? We have fried pickles! We also use krinkle-cut dill pickles on our burger. Last but not least: favorite snack? That's a tough one. I'm a big lover of sweet and salty together. Honestly? Chocolate-covered potato chips nail it every time. I like to make my own. Interview has been edited. Kara Baskin can be reached at
Boston Globe
12-02-2025
- Lifestyle
- Boston Globe
It's a pickleball world. We just eat in it.
Diners peruse the menu at Bosse Enoteca, as pickleball players compete on courts visible through floor-to-ceiling windows. Erin Clark/Globe Staff There is something weird about eating while watching people play Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up What isn't weird, what makes perfect sense, is this indoor adult playground, come to save the ailing American mall. We can go online and order pickleball paddles, pickleball outfits, diamond-crusted pickleball charm necklaces, and Pickleball Santa ornaments from Neiman Marcus Dot Com, the physical store of which previously occupied the Bosse space. But we cannot order places to gather. On a Friday afternoon in the middle of a snowy New England winter, the The Bosse Burger — served with fries and topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and special sauce on a sesame seed bun — is a sports lounge specialty. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Every hospitality trend report from the last few years says the same thing: When people go out to eat, they aren't just looking for a meal, they're looking for an experience. And half the reason to play sports as an adult is socializing over drinks and snacks afterward. It makes sense to bring food and games together. (Also in the Natick Mall, Dave & Buster's, Level99, and Puttshack do the same.) Advertisement Bosse features four culinary concepts from Chris Coombs, chef of well-known area restaurants including Deuxave and Boston Chops, and cofounder of this complex with entrepreneur DJ Bosse. There's Bosse Enoteca, an Italian restaurant featuring pasta, pizza, and more. Bosse Cafe brings French pastries, coffee, smoothies, and bowls. The sports lounge offers 'Dinks & Dunks' (this terminology for 'bar snacks' makes sense if you play pickleball), burgers, and more. And if you'd like to enjoy avocado toast or sliders without interrupting the game, there's courtside service for that. Players Michael and Sandy Staiti, left, share a toast with Bill and Eileen Balicki between games at the Bosse pickleball complex. The "eatertainment" venue offers courtside dining and drinks alongside its 21 pickleball courts in the former Neiman Marcus space in the Natick Mall. Erin Clark/Globe Staff I show up at the Natick Mall mid-morning to hit up the Bosse Cafe. The pastry case is filled with an impressive selection: sweet and savory croissants, kouign amann and cookies, lemon blueberry muffins and Danish pastries embedded with fruit. I order a Lean Green smoothie with kale, spinach, apple, and banana. I'm going to need some nutrients to get me through a day at the mall. I take a seat at one of the tables, occupied by people meeting for coffee and taking shopping breaks. After my smoothie, I wander through the Bosse complex. I resist napping in one of the cushy red netted chairs beside a wall that defines pickledom: [pik-uhl-duhm], noun. 'Where play comes in all forms, not just in a 44x20ft rectangle with a net,' it reads in part. 'Where paddles are held, fists bump, elbows rub and glasses clink. Where scores are kept but no one ever really loses.' That's the gestalt here. I contemplate buying a $25 day pass, even though I brought no one to play with and also don't know how. I could use the gym, and take advantage of the hammam and cold plunge. This would be an excuse to purchase one of the tres adorable towels Bosse sells, embroidered with 'apres pickleball' in green script. Advertisement Bosse Cafe serves an impressive array of French pastries, including sweet and savory croissants and fruit-topped Danish pastries. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Instead I order lunch and attend a Zoom meeting. Work distracts me from the Dream Meal Prep bowl I've ordered: brown rice with shredded chicken, roasted sweet potato, charred broccoli, and a spicy vinaigrette. A little distraction might not be the worst thing, as this bowl isn't Bosse's best event. Both rice and chicken are mysteriously crunchy, although the heat from the vinaigrette is nice. I covet the chicken salad sandwich someone at a nearby table is eating, until she glares at me. Time for a postprandial mall walk. I'm a mall walker now, I guess. Some 18,679,300 steps later, I am deeply bored of teenage drama and retail therapy. I miss fresh air and sunshine, although I imagine the sun has set by now. It's a good thing my friend has arrived to join me for dinner at Bosse Enoteca, the crown jewel of the dining concepts here. Margherita, pepperoni, and white mushroom pizzas at Bosse Enoteca. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Some of the diners are in workout wear and toting bags of pickleball gear. But most are in their civvies. This is a Bosse restaurant for the rest of us, mallgoers and local residents alike. In the hands of executive chef Alex Lishchynsky and team, the menu could be that of any stylish Italian restaurant, free of pickleball innuendo and filled with ingredients like yuzu, Calabrian chile, and n'duja. 'Nestled inside the vibrant Bosse complex, Bosse Enoteca is a celebration of rustic Italian cuisine reimagined with a modern New England flair,' it reads. Advertisement We start with tuna tartare, in a citrusy pool strewn with precisely cut cucumbers, crowned with herb salad and caper aioli. It's fresh and bright. A burrata salad comes with roasted beets and cress, sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts, seeds, and spices, the earthiness and crunch offsetting the creamy cheese. Pasta is a specialty here, and we order thick, toothsome strands of pappardelle in wild boar ragu, sprinkled with mint and shaved pecorino. Cod with fettuccine, clams, kale, and leek and spinach soubise at Bosse Enoteca. Erin Clark/Globe Staff It's overkill to order pizza, but pizza we must. It's really good, charred on the bottom and edges, the crust striking a balance between chewy and airy. Ours is topped with pepperoni, drizzled in honey, for that sweet-salty contrast. For dessert, baked Alaska is a solid effort, with amaretto cake wrapped around strawberry, vanilla, and pistachio gelati like a giant dessert sushi roll, its meringue exterior prettily ridged and torched. It's so cold from the icebox, though, we can barely taste the gelato. And The Bosse, a tequila cocktail with pineapple and lime Campari, mostly tastes like slightly bitter juice. Pickle world problems! For a restaurant inside a pickleball complex inside the Natick Mall, Bosse Enoteca hits a dink in the kitchen. That's a pickleball pun. If you know, you know, and I definitely do not know. But I'll still be back to try the squash agnolotti or gnocchi with short rib, maybe the cod with fettuccine vongole or a steak, and most definitely the spicy lobster pizza with vodka sauce. Bosse, Natick Mall, 310 Speen St., Natick, 617-609-1800, . Bosse Cafe: 7 a.m.-5 p.m. daily Pastries and breakfast items $3-$13, sandwiches and bowls $11-$15, smoothies $10-$11. Bosse Enoteca: lunch 11 a.m.-4 p.m. daily, dinner Sun-Thu 4-10 p.m., Fri-Sat 4-11 p.m. Appetizers $14-$23, entrees $22-$69, pizza $19-$39, desserts $15, cocktails $15. Bosse Sports Lounge: Sun-Thu 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri-Sat 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Appetizers $9-$17, pizza $19-$23, entrees $17-$36, desserts $9-$12. Courtside service: 11 a.m.-midnight daily. Appetizers $9-$17, sandwiches $14-$21, pizza $19-$28. Advertisement Patrons socialize at the bar overlooking pickleball courts at the Bosse Sports Lounge in the Natick Mall. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Devra First can be reached at
Boston Globe
05-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
National Pizza Day is Sunday. Here's where you should celebrate.
The Avenue This no-frills Somerville haunt serves niche Detroit-style pizza: thick, rectangular, browned at the edges, heavy on the red sauce stripes, with a fatty smear of caramelized cheese. Avenue has simple versions (plain, pepperoni) but also next-level pies with short ribs or grilled chicken and ranch sauce. 158 Boston Ave., Somerville, Get Winter Soup Club [Coming Soon] A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up Bosse Enoteca Exceptional pizza at a shiny new pickleball complex? Scoff if you must, but Chris Coombs is in charge of the food here (Boston Chops, Deuxave), and people are already raving about his craterous, charred Neapolitan pies. The taleggio and honey is said to travel well. 310 Speen St., Natick, Pizza at the new Bosse in Natick. Andrew Ryan/Andy Ryan Photography, Inc. Ciao Pizza & Pasta Wood-fired, char-riven, and known to impress even the most hardened of New Yorkers. The Neapolitan-style pies can be ordered in simple margherita form or laden with carbs, as in the husky potato, egg, and bacon version. 59 Williams St., Chelsea, Denly Gardens Old World Pizza Denly Gardens opened in 1933, and the wood-paneled ambience is purely grandma's rec room. The pizza, however, spans geographies: Greek (feta and black olive); Hawaiian (ham and pineapple); Roman (capicola and cherry peppers). Look for the blue awnings. 25 Lake St., Weymouth, Florina Pizzeria and Panoteca My New Yorker pals swear by this grab-n-go Beacon Hill pizzeria, and so do the judges at the Boston Pizza Festival, where it's won top honors twice. The parking situation is bad, but the paper-thin, oily, crackly pizza is just so good. Fold up that pie like a kite and dig in; let the oil dribble down your chin. A slice of roni ($4.75), with expertly crisped cups that cradle the oil like a baby, will put a pep in your step on even the dreariest February day. 16 Derne St., Boston, Advertisement Jinny's Pizza A newer entry on the pizza scene, but no less worthy: Cofounder Dave Punch is behind lovable Newton spots like Buttonwood, Little Big Diner, and Sycamore, where he worked with Jinny pizza master Lydia Reichert (her grandma is Jinny). Despite 1231 Centre St., Newton, Sausage pizza with broccoli rabe at Jinny's Pizzeria in Newton Centre. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Joe's A New York City export in the heart of Harvard Square? People were both intrigued and aghast when Joe's came to town, but any territorial pride has clearly vanished, 3 Brattle St., Cambridge, Advertisement New York-style slices at Joe's in Harvard Square. Erin Clark Joanie's Hardcore pizza connoisseurs venture to the Drum Hill Rotary in Chelmsford for Joanie's, launched by pedigreed pizza-maker Dan Rodriguez (Clio, Craigie on Main, Harvest, Uni). As for the style? It's tough to define. He calls their pizza 'New York'-style, though he uses the term strategically. 'That's a gateway word, to draw people in,' Rodriguez 83 Parkhurst Road #5, Chelmsford, Pepperoni pizza from Joanie's in Chelmsford. Jennifer Beaumont Wilfrid Kelley Square Pub Some people stop at Santarpio's before taking off from Logan. But others prefer the down-to-earth Kelley Square Pub in Eastie, where fans praise the 'cheese intensity' and judicious application of oil. Fans hail the $20 shrimp scampi pizza and the breadth of non-pie options, from steak tips to stuffed quahogs and, yes, crab rangoon. 84 Bennington St., Boston, Leone's A Somerville classic, right down to the Eisenhower-era signage (fitting since it opened in 1954). They specialize in trays of Sicilian pie, bready and square, with a crisp undercarriage and a generous blanket of cheese. Good for feeding a crowd. 292 Broadway, Somerville, Lynwood Cafe Sometimes, simple works. This is a beloved destination for bar pie: crisp, buttery crust; caramelized sauce and cheddar cheese that stretches to the end of a round pan; burnt at the edges. No surprises, just satisfaction. Get a glimpse at the 320 Center St., Randolph, 781-963-3100 Advertisement Louie's Pizza If you've been around for 72 years, you're doing something right: People call early for Louie's Pizza in Woburn; dough is made fresh daily, and when they're out, they're out. Grab a seat at a red-checkered tablecloth and dig in. No unusual toppings; no extras; no-frills — and that's how their longtime fans like it. 118 Main St., Woburn, Pizza Lisa This New Hampshire pizzeria (in a gas station!) is a wildly popular newcomer, with fans using words like 'obsessed' and 'no joke' to describe their experiences. People praise the nicely crisped pepperoni cups; the assortment of bases (from barbecue sauce to ranch); and the gluten-free crust options. Perhaps not a pie for purists, but definitely a place to fuel up happily in every sense of the word. 32 Indian Rock Road, Windham, N.H., Real Italian Gusto Matteo Ronzio and his wife, Francesca, came to Medford from Italy dreaming of opening a restaurant. They made it a reality with Real Italian Gusto, serving light, greaseless, sparsely topped Neapolitan pies (a dab of mozzarella here; crisp pepperoni saucers there). On Wednesdays, buy one pizza and get another free. Oh, and there's also a full menu of Italian dishes: The fluffy, cloud-like arancini is not to be missed. 24 High St., Medford, Super Dough Chef Ian Maschal worked at Bar Mezzana, Eventide Fenway, Menton, and Sportello before finding peace in the world of pie. He specializes in slowly fermented sourdough pizza with seasonal ingredients, from hatch chilies to fennel pollen to local squash, asparagus, and sunchokes. Order early: He only makes 50 pies per day. 150 Needham St., Newton, Advertisement The Salty Pig Charcuterie. Pizza. Charcuterie on pizza. This South End spot trades in meat: Get your pie topped with pig parts and ladled with mustard cream, and pair it with a make-your-own charcuterie board rife with terrines, pork pates, and marmalades. Come hungry, and possibly on Lipitor. 130 Dartmouth St., Boston, A Salty Pig pizza in Back Bay. Essdras M Suarez Woody's Grill & Tap Restaurants come and restaurants go in the Fenway area, but Woody's offers a sense of consistency and routine (one fan likens it to 'Cheers'): burbly, wood-fired pies; staffers who know the regulars; and a gouda and jerk-chicken pie made with Guinness that's just the antidote to a snowy winter's day. 58 Hemenway St., Boston, Kara Baskin can be reached at
