New Life Coming to Old Circus Cafe

So I heard today that the long defunct Circus Cafe restaurant on Lincoln Street is going to be a restaurant again.

My sources tell me that R &B's Surf and Turf, a casual seafood type restaurant, is set to open soon in the space. The new owners plan to offer eat in or take out service at the space. I got an advance look at the menu and it looks very similar to the menu at places like Al's Seafood in North Hampton. There's a selection of appetizers like steamers, mussels, shrimp cocktail and chicken fingers. Dinners look to be friend, baked or grilled seafood as well as steamed lobsters.

Stay tuned for full details when I connect with the people behind this new business venture.

The Passing of the Baker's Apron

By Lara Bricker
EXETER__After 15 years of rising before dawn to begin baking bread, muffins and other pastries in the kitchen of the Baker’s Peel, Judson Lovering is hanging up his apron.
Lovering a well-known downtown personality along with his wife Susanne has finalized the sale of the business to his longtime employee Anthony Antosiewicz. Antosiewicz, 31, plans to open St. Anthony’s Bakery in the space early next week.
Lovering, 50, said he always looked forward to going to work, where he typically arrived at 4:30 a.m., to bake and greet his regular customers. But the passion and energy he had for the business when he started 15 years ago was starting to wane. About a year ago, he decided to put the business up for sale.
Antosiewicz, who worked for Lovering for 10 years before taking another job five years ago, thought his longtime boss was kidding when he suggested that Antosiewicz should buy the bakery. When he realized that Lovering was serious, he started to think about the proposition.
“It was something I always wanted to do in the back of my mind,” Antosiewicz said. “But I never thought the opportunity would come up. I knew a lot of the clientele here already, so I thought ‘Well, this would probably be a good place to start.”’
During their time owning the bakery, the Loverings were known for hiring local high school students to work in the shop. Antosiewicz was one of those high school students, who started as a dishwasher, after he moved to Exeter from Brooklyn, New York. After he had been with the bakery for a little while, Jud began teaching him how to bake. He started with the breads, then moved onto rolls and then onto pastries.
“Anthony was a very good mixer,” Lovering said, adding that the mixer is responsible for making sure the exact proportions of ingredients necessary for good baking were ready. “That’s the most important job.”
Antosiewicz stayed at the bakery for 10 years, during which he eventually took over the shop with the Loverings were away on vacation. “He knows the ins and outs of the bakery trade,” Lovering said.
The two men worked many long 12 to 14 hour days baking together over the years during times like holidays. Antosiewicz recalled one very busy year when Lovering seemed to stay at the bakery for days without going home.
Five years ago, Antosiewicz took a new job working in the boiler plant at Phillips Exeter Academy. He jokes that he was hired “because I was small enough to get inside the boilers to clean them.”
He put in his last day at PEA last week and has been busy renovating the inside of the bakery space with the help of his father, also named Anthony, a retired police officer from Brooklyn, New York.
Longtime customers of the bakery can take comfort in knowing that all of the specialty pastries and muffins including the trademark cinnamon buns with orange cream cheese icing will remain.
Antosiewicz is bringing the bakery back to its roots in that he will offer the baked goods and bread, coffee and specialty cakes. He is not offering full breakfast as the bakery has done in recent times. He also plans to offer sandwiches for lunch and is installing a free wireless access point for people who would like to use their laptops at the bakery.
Barber Jim Ryan, who has been a neighbor to the bakery space since 1964, said this is the fourth business he has seen open up in the space, which was previously Ceceila’s European Bread and Bakery before it became the Baker’s Peel. Ryan said he will miss Lovering’s frequent trips to the shop where he always livened up the conversation among patrons with his political views.
“He’s been a great neighbor,” Ryan said. “I am going to miss them all, the two kids, Susanne and him.”
St. Anthony’s Bakery is scheduled to open early next week and will be open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m.
“I’m just looking forward to opening the doors up and having the customers come in,” Antociewicz said. “I’m not looking forward to making a lot of money; I’m really looking forward to serving the community.”

Adam Roberge Walking to Raise Funds for Programs for The Blind

I first met Adam Roberge a number of years back when I taught therapeutic horseback riding in Newfields. Adam was born blind. My first memory of meeting him was his amazing memory. He could recite off the top of his head the type, model and year of every car that the people at the barn drove, as well as the cars of his teachers, friends and family.
Adam has been a top fund-raiser for several events benefitting the blind and visually impaired over the years. At one point he did a blog: http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/support/adamsblog

I just received an email from Adam with news that he is prepapring to walk in the Vision 5K Event on June 5.

Here's the info:
I just recently signed up to participate in the Vision 5K event on June 7 and I want you to join my team! I need you to join my team! This event raises money for four charities right here in Massachusetts whose mission is to raise funds to provide much needed services for blind and visually impaired children and adults. Annually these organizations touch the lives of thousands of men, women and children and help them each achieve literacy and independence.I am asking you to help by supporting my fund-raising efforts with a donation. Your tax-deductible gift will make a difference in the lives of many! You can make your donation online by simply clicking on the link at the bottom of this message. If you would prefer, you can also send your tax-deductible contribution to the address below. Any amount, great or small, helps in the fight. I greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress.Thanks in advance for sharing my Vision!
His page:

http://www.vision5k.org/site/TR/Events/General?px=1002382&pg=personal&fr_id=1050&et=-zmmFYwx_jYL22x6BWrTZw..&s_tafId=1100

A New Brunch Option in Town

Every Sunday that my grandmother, Will and I go to church, we try to have breakfast or brunch. Up until now, there's been no real middle ground. Either regular inexpensive breakfast or enormous, more expensive, brunch at the Exeter Inn (really only for special occasions).

Now, we have another option, that's in the middle, you can also get a mimosa if you'd like, and a nice setting. For the past 2 weeks, we've headed down to 11 Water Street, which is now doing a Sunday brunch. What a great idea.

They've got omelette's that are a bit more dressed up that the usual (such as a lobster one), along with homemade corned beef hash, and homemade muffins. Will requested the banana muffin this week and I had to hold myself back from eating his entire muffin, it was delicious.

You can check out the menu for brunch on their web site:

http://www.11waterstreet.com/brunch.htm

Pimento's Doing Lunch Now

I helped my husband out with a project last week and in turn he took me out to lunch. We checked out Pimento's which just started offering lunch and it was a nice change of pace. A nice place to get a nice lunch, perhaps a cocktail, and enjoy a quiet moment during the day.

These guys have also been pretty creative in this economy (as many restaurants struggle) by offering nightly specials during the week such as burger night and prime rib night.

You can check out the menu here:

http://www.pimentosrestaurantandlounge.com/

Baker's Peel Changing Hands

You may have noticed the sign in the window of the Baker's Peel downtown. It says they are closed for renovations, which is the case, sort of.
But please stay tuned for a full story on this.

I learned last week that the longtime owners of the Baker's Peel downtown, Jud and Susanne Lovering, are finalizing a sale of the bakery. I understand from Jud that the space will remain a bakery under the new owners who plan to call it St. Anthony's Bakery or something to that effect.

UPDATE: I've finished an interview with Jud and the new owner Anthony and it's actually a nice human interest story here. Anthony worked under Jud for 10 years before taking on another job. He started there in high school washing dishes and worked up to baking bread, then pastries, and then even running the place when Jud and Susanne were on vacation.

So the answer to my question about the cinnamon buns has been answered--they will remain. In fact, most of the pastries that we've all grown to love (though my thighs have not) will be there and Anthony has already been making them for years and knows the recipes. He is not going to do the full breakfast that's been there for the past year or so, but is returning to doing the baked goods, cakes, and simple sandwiches for lunch.

Stay tuned for a full story, but here's one tidbit from a longtime friend of Jud and Susanne--their business neighbor, longtime barber Jim Ryan. Ryan, who has seen 4 businesses in the space next door since he's been a barber, was quick to tell me that he and the other men at the shop will miss Jud's visits and his political discussions. (Though somehow I am sure Jud will still be stopping in for those Jim...)

Better Cell Coverage in Town

This just came my way today. I have always complained about reception in my neighborhood off Route 85, so was happy to see this.

From Verizon:

Verizon Wireless has expanded its network with a new cell site in Exeter, New Hampshire. The new cell site provides increased wireless voice and 3G coverage along Route 85, Route 101 and Route 111a in western Exeter, as well as the surrounding areas.

Verizon Wireless, originally the first wireless provider to offer 3G speeds, today has the largest and most reliable 3G network coverage area in the United States, giving customers with notebook computers or smartphones the ability to:
· Browse the web faster with quicker page loading times
· Quickly download and play music
· Watch streaming video
· Send emails with attachments
· Download and play 3D games
· Video conference with your contacts
· Rapidly share files

“Verizon Wireless’ 3G network coverage across New England is unparalleled,” said director for Network System Performance for Verizon Wireless, Richard Enright. “We’ve invested billions of dollars into New England believing that even the most sophisticated cell phone is only as good as the network it runs on. Our continued aggressive network investments provide customers with a 3G network advantage at home and on vacation.”
The company has invested more than $50 billion since its inception to increase the wireless voice and data coverage of its national network and to add new 3G services like Mobile Broadband and V CAST. Regionally the company has invested more than $2.4 billion into its New England network over the past nine years, including $240 million in 2008 alone. As the carrier with America's largest and most reliable wireless network, Verizon Wireless cell sites in New England provide 3G wireless data connectivity.