Hey, there! Log in / Register
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
So that’s the coda for Coda.
So that’s the coda for Coda.
Fine, actually.
Fine, actually.
Tim’s Tavern
Formerly the legendary Tim‘s Tavern, if memory serves. (Please correct me if wrong.)
From the article:
"Coda first opened in 2007, taking over the space where Tim's Tavern had once been."
Tims
Tims was a dive. And it was awesome. And they had Boston's Best Burgers. (Says me and Boston Magazine or The Phoenix or whatever publication gave them the award). Possibly also the best little tiny fuzzy TV.
oh man I miss Tim's burger
oh man I miss Tim's burger
Tim’s....
Tim’s was the best! Steak tips... burgers and amazing homemade salad dressings. Fun juke box and a eclectic crowd.
Tim's burgers were legendary.
Tim's burgers were legendary.
Rest of the group?
Curious to see what happens to The Salty Pig and Canary Square, as they are under the same ownership group. Canary Square is frequently packed on nice nights here in JP. However, they were closed for weeks before the shutdown due to major damage from a burst pipe, and didn't even reopen for takeout after the shutdown was declared.
The rest of that group is still hanging on, but
the industry as a whole is existentially threatened, and small local restaurant groups and indies are especially at dire risk. I've always called such places the lifeblood of our dining scene, prioritized my reviews to call attention to the extraordinary ones, implored my readers again and again to support them over national chains.
But at this moment, I've never felt so frightened and helpless for the sake of people I love and admire in my whole life. I will never forgive those of our political leaders whose lethal selfishness, cupidity and incompetence have brought us to this terrible pass. Goddamn them all to the lowest, frozen, gnawing circle of Hell.
very sad
I worked there long, long ago. great place. much more neighborhood than other spots in the area.
Add it to the list
I hope everyone is paying attention as the character of the city erodes, livelihoods crumble and we are left with Amazon and Home Depot..but at least we are saving lives...oh wait, maybe we are ruining them.
Coda closing
It's sad to see Coda closing. My friends had their first date there and now they're married. They celebrated their wedding there on leap day earlier this year (February 29th). It was a great time and Coda was such a nice spot for it. I wish the owners the best with the other two restaurants. I strongly hope also that some sort of formal support comes soon for the owners of all of the small independent restaurants in this city, state, and country who have been put in a really tough position through absolutely no fault of their own. Our city, state, and country need small places like Coda to survive and thrive.
Much as I adored Tim's Tavern, one of the last great
old-timey South End bars that gentrification killed -- once home to the great Chef Chandler's BBQ joint in the back, and still serving an outstanding, cheap burger to the very end -- I still thought Coda was a worthy replacement.
I especially appreciated them opening with a wine list curated by Deborah Hansen of Taberna de Haro, full of modestly-priced, good wines without any of the dumb clichés of the day (shitty Cali chards and cabs, awful Italian pinot grigios), giving the staff a chance to say, "We don't have that, but you might like this", an uncommonly generous educational move that delivered much better value and presented new frontiers to open-minded young wine drinkers.
I used that list in an analysis of local restaurant wine-list markups I published on Chowhound as an example of an interesting, fair-priced list in contrast to the egregious price-gouging of Barbara Lynch places like The Butcher Shop. That pissed some people off, including at least one Lynch defender (a sock-puppet in her employ, I suspect) who never managed to poke any holes in my model or data, despite some hollow protestations to being a wine professional.
In the wake of that argument, I always tried in my reviews to recognize places like Coda that essayed inventive, value-priced wine programs. Glad I got there for one more visit late last year. RIP.
The mark-up makes such a
The mark-up makes such a difference. After experiencing the Eastern Standard group's low wine mark-up it became hard to buy a bottle anywhere else.
Lynch group was without question a much higher mark-up.
Seems like a lot of
Seems like a lot of restaurants and nightclubs that are named one word never last too long.
Coda was in business for 13 years, and
probably would have kept going but for the pandemic. That's a great run in the restaurant business, where many places don't last a year, however long their name is.
I will definitely miss Coda.
I will definitely miss Coda. It has been my go-to neighborhood restaurant for many years. The cocktails, beer list, and food were always solid, and the service was always friendly.