Category: Meet The Lenox

Balloons Over Boston

Posted on by Lisa Burns

Throw Back Thursday!

In the Spring of 2018, we invited Kelsey Montague and her sister Courtney to the hotel to create the beautiful Marathon mural you can read about below. We were lucky enough to have them back to create another iconic mural in our Exeter Street “nook”! If you happen to be in the neighborhood, stop by and snap a pic with our colorful balloons!

Have you ever heard of the Nashville Wings? I’m guessing that many of you have and if you haven’t, look them up and you will see thousands of photos of people posing with a 20 foot tall street mural! These amazing wings were created by street artist, Kelsey Montague who is well known all over the globe for her beautiful, interactive murals. Kelsey and her sister/business partner, Courtney travel all around the world creating unique pieces on blank canvases that allow communities to be involved in the process.

Kelsey’s work inspired so many of us on the Lenox Team that we decided we wanted her to create a piece for this year’s Boston Marathon, the finish line is right near the hotel. With the Lenox being just steps from the finish line, we felt that one of her #whatliftsyou murals would be perfect to embody the spirit of Boston and the runners! The #whatliftsyou hashtag encourages people to not only take a photo, but to also openly share what is most important to them in their lives.

We were elated when Kelsey and Courtney agreed to travel to Boston and create a unique piece for us! These sisters are such a fun, genuine and inspiring duo (check out their Instagram) and it was a joy having them with us over the last three days! Watching the artistic process on this 13’x13’ black canvas was absolutely incredible. There are so many subtle touches of the city and marathon incorporated into this mural but you really have to look close. The neighborhood watched the progress over the last couple of days and when it was completed yesterday around 5PM, there was an immediate buzz!

“To me this piece is all about the power, strength and the passion of Bostonians. All my pieces invite a person in to become a ‘living work of art’ but I wanted this piece to take it one step further and to honor the strength of the resilient Bostonian spirit.” –Kelsey Montague

Be sure to learn more about The Montague Sisters here and check out the photos below of our Boston Marathon #whatliftsyou mural! Most importantly, if you are in Boston, come by the Lenox on Exeter Street and see it in person – you will not be disappointed!

45 Years Later

Posted on by Lewis Ware

When Maura walked through our doors in April of 1976, she had no clue on how she was about to impact the history of the Lenox Hotel. Just after a move up from the Carolina’s and looking for a job, little did she or we know that Maura would keep at it for the next 45 years. Not hours before she cold-called at The Lenox, the housekeeping manager at the time had just had to let go of two housekeepers. Upon hearing that Maura had previous housekeeping experience, she asked if Maura could start the next day. What luck!

What else was going on in 1976? Gerald Ford was President. The S&P 500 was little over 101. A gallon of gas was 59 cents. And Maura and the other housekeepers started at $2.63/hour. Things have changed just a little since!

After 45 years, Maura decided that it was time to retire. What better time to do it than during Housekeeping Week, the week where we particularly celebrate the incredible team that keeps our hotel sparkling! During her speech at her celebration lunch, Maura joked that she has only been written up twice in 45 years, a pretty good record by any count! A staunch advocate for her fellow employees, Maura was deeply involved in employee relations during her decades at The Lenox. Our hotel won’t be the same without her here daily, but it certainly is changed for the better since she serendipitously walked through our doors 45 years ago.

Thank you, Maura!

City Bar’s
Cool Hand Cuke

Posted on by Maddy Cohen-Shrage

Looking for a little taste of City Bar at home? We’ve got you covered! A true City Bar classic, the Cool Hand Cuke is sure to take you right back to cozy nights in our lobby bar.

Ingredients

  • Ice
  • 2 oz cucumber vodka
  • Several blackberries
  • Lemon
  • Prosecco or champagne

Technique

Muddle the blackberries in a cocktail shaker. Add 2 oz of cucumber vodka and a squeeze of lemon. Add ice and shake to chill. Strain into a martini glass, top with bubbles, and enjoy!

Postcards From The Past

Posted on by Lisa Burns

Built by a man who counted Winston Churchill and the Duke of Windsor among his friends, The Lenox Hotel came on the scene at the turn of the 20th century with great fanfare. The year was 1900. Boston, along with New York, was the financial center of America and had already staked its claim as the nation’s intellectual and medical capital. The ruling class, known as the Boston Brahmins, was facing off politically with the Irish Catholics. A budding startup known as American League was birthing its baseball franchise on Huntington Avenue Grounds. And a ‘rags-to-riches’ hotel impresario known as Lucius Boomer had just erected Boston’s tallest building — a $1.1 million, 11-story Beaux-Arts hotel, which he would name for Lady Sarah Lennox, wife of King George, III.

Explore our storied past through these vintage postcards and images!

All In The Family

Posted on by Lisa Burns

The Saunders family actually points to the year 1940 as the beginning of what has become a continuous involvement in the hospitality industry for well over sixty years. In that year, Irving Saunders, a very successful real estate entrepreneur at the time, purchased a small hotel across from the former Metropolitan Theater (now The Wang Center). That hotel was the Broadway Hotel and for the next twenty-five years, Irving Saunders served as President until it was taken by eminent domain by the City of Boston to make way for Elliot Norton Park in Boston’s Theater District. From these beginnings, a family’s passion for hospitality was born!

 

THE COPLEY SQUARE HOTEL

The success of the Broadway coupled with Irving Saunders’ flair for the hotel business led to the purchase of the Copley Square Hotel in 1948. In fact, the Copley Square Hotel was one of the first hotels in the nation to lease space to a restaurant operator – Café Budapest, a Boston institution. The Saunders family sold the property in 2006.

THE LENOX

In 1963, the Saunders family expanded its hotel interests in Boston with the purchase of a minor interest in The Lenox Hotel, which was operated by the Saunders Hotel Group through 1996 at which time the family acquired full ownership of the property through a friendly buy-out. The Lenox continues to be the flagship property of the Saunders Hotel Group.

THE BOSTON PARK PLAZA HOTEL & TOWERS

In 1976, in an event that would come to shape both SHG and the Boston lodging industry in significant ways, Roger Saunders and his family purchased the abandoned Statler Hilton Hotel and reopened it as The Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers, the first hotel ever to reopen in Boston after having once been shut down.

During the twenty-year period that followed the acquisition and re-opening of the Boston Park Plaza, Roger Saunders’ commitment has come to involve his entire family and has resulted in the emergence of one of the most respected independent hotel management companies in the country, competing in a city full of international hospitality conglomerates. When Roger Saunders stepped back in January of 1990 and passed the responsibilities of President of the Boston Park Plaza Hotel to his son, Gary, the day-to-day control of the company officially passed to the third generation. The Saunders family sold the property in 1996.

House Granola

Posted on by Executive Chef Sean MacAlpine

We’re going to let you in on a little family secret of ours – our house granola recipe! A staff and regular favorite, we have made all our granola in-house for many years now, and want you to be able to enjoy a little piece of our home in yours!

Ingredients

  • 21 oz quick oats
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 almond extract
  • 1/4 cup dried apricots, diced
  • 1/4 cup dried currants

Chef MacAlpine’s Method

  • Preheat oven to 325*F
  • Combine all of the ingredients except for the dried fruits in a large mixer
  • Divide and spread evenly between two greased sheet pans
  • Bake for one hour, stirring granola every 15 or 30 minutes. Less stirring leads to larger chunks.
  • When cool, stir in dried fruits
  • Sprinkle atop your favorite yogurt, or enjoy as-is!

Requiem For A Song

Posted on by Lisa Burns

Diamond Jim’s became a sing-along piano bar in 1961 but it really came into its own in 1969. Gladys Troupin was hired as a pianist that year, she was 72 at the time! Seemingly overnight she turned Diamond Jim’s, then a cramped cocktail lounge next to the popular Delmonico’s restaurant, into a do-it-yourself cabaret.

During the 1970’s, seasoned and aspiring vocalists from all over the East Coast awaited turns to perform for Miss Gladys Troupin at the piano. Renowned for her audacious hats and elegant attire, Miss Troupin was a beloved Boston personality for more than forty years and had been engaged to marry the American composer George Gershwin before his sudden death.

“Lily Tomlin, Yul Brynner, Jay Leno, Ali MacGraw – everybody came to see her,” said Roger Saunders, one of the owners of the Lenox. “Towards the end of her life, her fans used to walk her home to her apartment at the Prudential Center, they cared about her so much.”

Hear the story of Diamond Jim’s and Gladys Troupin at The Lenox Hotel straight from our owner – Roger Saunders.

By 1977 there were 46 singing regulars known as “Troupin’s Troupe”. She passed away in 1987 of cancer, yet played just ten days before her death. Ellen White, who had originated the sing-along format at Diamond Jim’s 20 years earlier, returned in 1981 at the ripe old age of 69! After she retired, Mark Andersen took over from White in 1989, a protégé of Glady’s and credited for reviving Troupin’s Troupe.

Ms. White reigned over the piano bar till 1997 when it closed its doors to become Anago restaurant, as part of a $20 million hotel renovation. Boston’s favorite place to sing-a-long and compare notes held a farewell salute during its final month of operation in June of 1997 featuring past talent such as Mark Anderson, Ellen White, and John O’Neil.

Patrons still inquire about the legendary Diamond Jim’s so it was inevitable that we reprise the keys one more time! In March of 2015 we hosted a Diamond Jim’s reunion weekend and former regular John Mansfield led the festivities.

Stay “tuned”, Diamond Jim’s Piano Bar may resurface again!

The Saltery

Posted on by Christopher Smith

Located inside the Island Creek Oyster campus, the Saltery headquarters looks out over the Duxbury Bay, the very waters that they slowly turn into perfectly crystalized fleur de sel. Fleur de sel is French for flower of salt and is more typically known for its origins in Brittany. SalterieOne takes highly filtered saltwater, reduces it, then sets it into heated pans, allowing a salt crust to slowly form. As this crust forms, it is scraped off by hand and further dried, producing the quintessentially flaky and pyramid shaped salt crystals that is fleur de sel.

Lily, founder of SalterieOne, used to harvest the seawater by hand, carrying buckets up from the shore to then laboriously be filtered before being turned into pure salt. Things have gotten a little fancier since, with a pipe literally connecting their salt production facility to the Duxbury Bay itself so both transport and filtering are automatic.

Unlike almost all salts you’ll find in your local grocery store, the fleur de sel from SalterieOne is simply pure sea salt and minerals, right from the sea, with no additives like anticaking agents or other chemicals you might wish to avoid. That purity of ingredients comes through in the taste as well, with a saltier tasting punch per pinch than regular table salt! SalterieOne also makes delicious salty seasoning blends, with four blends inspired by the seasons.

Next time you’re in our lobby, be sure to check out their salt jars – perfect for gifting to a loved one (or yourself)!

Our Partners

 

A Special Ride

Posted on by Lisa Burns

In 1966 owner and then General Manager, Roger Saunders hired set designers from England to create an exact replica of a British pub, which was then shipped, piece-by-piece, from Liverpool, England and installed in The Lenox at the Olde London Pub & Grille, now Sólás Irish Pub.

For the opening event Mr. Saunders leased a vintage Rolls Royce and parked it on Boylston Street to attract passers by. A frantic hotel guest came out of the hotel in search of a cab to the Symphony of which she was running late to. She approached Mr. Saunders thinking he was a cab driver and demanded he take her immediately to Symphony Hall. Being the gracious host he is, he grabbed the keys and off they went! Want to learn more about The Lenox Hotel History? Check out the restaurant’s history here.

A special ride indeed!

Our Lobby Legend

Posted on by Lisa Burns

On May 8, 2009 The Lenox Hotel, honored its longest running employee –Jimmy Fisher– with a special dedication ceremony. The Saunders’ family patriarch Roger Saunders unveiled the “Jimmy Fisher Suite” as a tribute to the then 84-year-old bellman who was as much a fixture and as recognizable as The Lenox’s iconic, red rooftop sign.

Since February 21, 1949, more than six decades ago, Mr. Fisher has stood curbside greeting guests at the epicenter of historic Copley Square. From quirky encounters (as shared above in his hand-written account) to brushes with fame, Jimmy Fisher has literally witnessed a slice of Beantown history pass through The Lenox’s doors. The Saunders Family was proud to bestow the highest honor of Mr. Fisher for his loyal service The Lenox and the community at large. Read Jimmy’s tribute in the Boston Herald here.

Roger Saunders offered a personal tribute: “Jimmy Fisher after 60 years as a Lenox bellman greeted each day and each guest with a sparkle in his eye and a spring to his step. The Saunders family has operated the hotel for over 50 years and Jimmy’s hospitality and enthusiasm throughout our ownership is memorable to travelers from around the world. Always a class act, he is a Lenox legend.”

Real Weddings: Kim & Chris

Posted on by Alison Majka

After COVID-19 postponed their dream wedding, Kim & Chris searched to find a venue for a much smaller wedding ceremony on their originally planned date. Now that I know a bit more about Chris, I am not surprised at all that he reached out to The Lenox without Kim’s knowledge. You see, when Chris proposed to Kim, he had lined an entire dock with candles and rose petals along with letters that spelled out “MARRY ME”! He had also put together a journal with entries documenting all the adventures they had shared over their first year of dating. So, when I tell you that Chris reached out to The Lenox as a surprise for Kim, it is just another adorable romantic gesture on a very long list.

Honestly, when Chris told me how Kim was a Nurse and all she had gone through, I was a bit emotional and knew that we had to make this work and was excited to make their intimate wedding ceremony a reality! Once we confirmed their date available, he let Kim in on the surprise and she was so happy and even crying tears of joy! They came in a few days later to do a walk through of the space and plan out some logistics. They would invite their immediate families for a small wedding ceremony in our gilded Dome Room venue followed by a dinner in our private dining space in Solas!

July 12th came and while it was a bit on the hot side (89 degrees!) it was a picture-perfect day! The sky was crystal blue with a few clouds making it look like the newlyweds were floating on the city during their rooftop photos. Madison Floral provided stunning arrangements full of lush white roses and eucalyptus to frame the aisle. Candles and rose pedals were positioned along the sides of ivory aisle runner adding that perfect touch of elegance. Their vows were beautifully sweet and shared with only close family.

After they exchanged vows, Kim & Chris exited the Dome Room were followed by their family to celebrate! In the meantime, we moved a few things around in the Dome Room to create a dance floor outlines with the rose pedals and floral arrangements. The Newlyweds and their family were welcomed back into the Dome Room and shared their first dance followed by parent dances. I’ve seen hundreds of weddings, but I must say that there is something very powerful and touching to see the emotion in every single guest during these special moments. There truly is something magical about an intimate wedding.

Family photos followed the parent dances and then everyone was invited to a private dining area in Solas the Irish Pub. While their family enjoyed refreshing libations and appetizers, Kim and Chris walked around the Back Bay to take some photos with their amazing photographer, Heather Chick. Everyone enjoyed a three-course plated dinner in the laid-back atmosphere that Solas is known for. They ended the evening by cutting the adorable two-tiered wedding cake from Montilio’s Bakery! Kim and Chris, you are perfect together and I feel so lucky that I met you and The Lenox was able to be a part of your wedding day!

Sourdough Cookies & Hamburger Buns

Posted on by Christopher Smith

Now that we’re all spending a lot more time inside, these two recipes have been seeing a lot of use in my home. One is an all-purpose hamburger/hot dog bun that I stumbled upon out of necessity with grocery store shortages, but will now forever be our go-to because it’s so easy and tasty! The other is a chocolate chip cookie recipe that has recently become our favorite and makes use of the quarantine sourdough so many people are getting into.

You might think me a little particular, but I have three kitchen scales, and I use one or more of them daily. I just weigh everything from coffee beans to ingredients for baking. It’s easier, more accurate, and cleaner than dealing with multiple bowls, measuring cups and spoons. Anyway, I’ve included volumetric measurements along with weights in case you’re not ready to switch. But really, you should get a scale!

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

It seems with yeast shortages everyone’s getting into making sourdough bread!  If you’re now maintaining a sourdough starter, one painful part is tossing unused starter as you feed it, especially with flour so hard to come by right now.  Instead of throwing unused starter out, start saving it up in a separate bowl in your fridge!  You can use discarded starter that isn’t strong enough to make bread for so many things – from crackers to pancakes to my favorite, sourdough chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe

  • 283g (2.5 sticks) softened butter
  • 283g (1 1/3 cups) brown sugar
  • 227g (1 cup + 2.5 tbsp) white sugar
  • 200g (~ ¾) cup starter
  • 88g (5) egg yolks
  • 8g (2 tsp) vanilla
  • 400g (3 1/3 cups) all-purpose flour
  • 67g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) whole wheat flour
  • 8g (2.5 tsp) baking soda
  • 7g (1.5 tsp) baking powder
  • 11g (1 tsp) Kosher salt
  • 283g (1 ½ cups) chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Cream the butter, sugars, and salt until fluffy and combined
  2. Add sourdough starter & egg yolks and mix until just combined
  3. In a separate bowl, combine flours, baking soda, and baking powder, whisking to combine
  4. Add flour mixture to creamed butter, mix until just combined
  5. Add chocolate chips and mix to distribute
  6. If you have the patience and fortitude, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and rest it in the fridge for 24-48 hours. Your taste buds will thank you for the even tastier cookies, sort of like a stew that rests overnight.  If you can’t wait, I understand.  Either way continue to step 7.
  7. Preheat oven to 375* F
  8. Scoop into 20 large cookie dough balls, fitting 6 on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
  9. Bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. You want the tops of the cookies to be just golden.  Err on the side of under-baked rather than over!
  10. Cool cookies on a rack

All-Purpose Buns

When I stopped by the grocery store a couple weeks ago, the only thing left in the meat department was a 12lb pork shoulder.  Perfect!  We love pulled pork.  The problem was that the store was out of hamburger buns for pulled pork sandwiches.  Luckily, it turns out that hamburger buns are both super easy to make and incredibly delicious when made from scratch – if you’re lucky enough to have yeast and flour on hand.

Recipe

  • 170g – 227g (¾ – 1 cup) warm water (not hot!)
  • 28g (2 tbsp) softened butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 418g (3 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
  • 50g (¼) cup sugar
  • 8g (1 ½ tsp) Kosher salt
  • 9g (2 ½ tsp) instant yeast

Instructions

  1. Mix and knead all ingredients until you form a soft and smooth dough. If your home is humid, hold back on some of the water, if it’s dry, use it all.  The dough should not be sticky when smooth, so add a little flour if it is, or add a little water if it’s not coming together
  2. Cover and let rise until doubled, usually 1-2 hours depending on the room temperature
  3. Turn out the dough onto the counter and shape into 8 round balls. Place on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and flatten to about 3 inches across.  Here you have two options.  Either cover and let them proof at room temperature for about an hour until puffy, or cover and put in the fridge overnight.  Proofed overnight, the buns will be tastier!
  4. Preheat oven to 375* F
  5. Right before baking, brush with melted butter.
  6. Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden brown.
  7. Brush again with melted butter right when the buns come out of the oven.
  8. Immediately cool on a rack.

Golden Rule Honey

Posted on by Lisa Burns

Going green in new ways requires thinking outside outside the box, or in this case the hive! As a part of the community, we constantly strive to find new ways to reduce our impact on the environment. In the spring of 2013, we invited 120,000 new long-term guests to our rooftop – our very own colony of bees – and they’ve come back every year since!

In our 7th year of hosting these guests, we have recently relocated them to our roof from their winter housing and they are getting acclimated and ready to harvest some delicious rooftop honey. “The interface between honey bees and an urban environment (population, infrastructure and flora) is a fascinating lens through which to look at our alteration of natural environments and how powerfully nature pushes back”, says our Beekeeper Dean Stiglitz of Golden Rule Honey in Leominster MA.

The bees that buzz on our rooftop forage at a distance of up to three miles for flower and plant nectar, returning for turndown service each night. They get the royal treatment: Dean travels to the hotel every Monday morning in season to tend to the bees and act as their personal concierge, making sure the bees are happy and thriving.

With our hives doubling the number of bees by summer’s end, we will have an abundance of honey themed items in our hotel restaurants and lounges. Executive Chef Sean MacAlpine uses the honey that we harvest from our hives in a number of dishes at our restaurant, City Table. The cocktail curators at City Bar also shake it up for some of their signature cocktails, the honey-infused Mexican Monk and The Sweet Boy.

Our Lenox Lobby Mercantile also sells the honey so you can try at home in your favorite recipes!

I Love Ribs

Posted on by Colin O'Donnell

I love ribs. Let’s skip over the background about how during self-isolation we all have more time to cook/bake/create and get right to the “meat” of this post! This is by no means the definitive written word on ribs. If there were a Library of Congress on slow cooking meats, this entry would likely not make the cut. I don’t have a ton of outdoor space so I can’t really justify a full-fledged smoker. I’m going to tell you my method for making pretty tasty ribs in an oven and a small Weber grill. So lets call this recipe “Ribs For The Smoker Deficient” and anybody from Texas will probably click away right now.

I went with a rack of St. Louis pork ribs mostly because that is what the store had. I start by making a dry rub to apply to the rack. Nothing too special here, so I’d recommend using whatever you have around the house or even a pre-mixed rub. 

For mine I went with an equal-ish parts combo of the following:

  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Paprika
  • Dark Chili Powder
  • Garlic Powder
  • Cayenne
  • Brown Sugar
  • Mustard Powder

Whenever I do this it tends to change based on my whims and what I have in the cupboard. I mix that up and rub down the rack generously. Then in a bowl I mix up some water, apple cider vinegar and if I have any of the dry rub left throw it in there as well. Place the ribs in a roasting pan with a rack to keep the meat off the bottom of the pan. Pour the vinegar mixture in to get coverage on the pan but not so high that it is touching the ribs. Cover with foil and bake in the oven at 275 degrees. I did this for just over 3 hours but I’m sure if you have the patience for longer, you won’t be disappointed!

About an hour before I was ready to take the ribs out of the oven, I got my Weber grill going. Nothing fancy, just your standard Weber charcoal grill. I started the charcoal in a small pile to one side of the barrel to get some heat going. 

Side note #1: At this point I’m outside and I’ve thus cracked a beer. On this occasion I’m drinking a Sip of Sunshine made by Lawson’s Finest Liquids.  Drink Vermont Beer! 

Using the air vents, I’m trying to get the heat to stay around 300 degrees in the grill. It takes a bit of playing with to get a steady temp which might take some time. Finicking with a grill and drinking beer is part of the reason to endeavor this operation anyway! Once I have the temp correct, I throw a few hickory chips on the flame to get some smoky flavors going. Then I take the ribs from the oven and put them on the grill, on the off-heat side. Try to save the liquid at the bottom of the roasting pan and brush the ribs on the grill with that mixture from time to time. 

I cooked these ribs off heat, mopping occasionally, in the Weber for another 2 and ½ hours. I feel like that is enough time to take in the smoke from the hickory chips. That’s it. Cut them up using a cleaver or heavy knife and serve. I ate this batch with a simple potato salad and some dressed greens. 

Side note #2: The cleaver I have is great and I want to give a shout out to the Wok Shop in San Fran where I ordered it from. This place is awesome and might be worth another post altogether!

And while we are at it, here are a couple of my favorite ribs in the Boston area.  In case you don’t have a full day to make these or you just want the professionals to take over!

Smoke Shop – I like the one in Kendall Square but there are a few other locations. They do it right! Lots of great BBQ options including half and full racks. Plus, the bar area awesome, opening out into a courtyard. Worth a stop for sure.

Redbones – A standby in Somerville’s Davis Square, this place is still cranking out awesome BBQ and boasts one of the area’s best beer lists.  They offer baby back, St. Louis, Memphis, and even Texas style beef ribs.  They have a few bar style seats towards the back of the dining room that look right into the kitchen – my personal favorite spot.

Enjoy!

Share Coffee Roasters

Posted on by Christopher Smith

Nestled in the town of Hadley in the Pioneer Valley and just over 60 miles from our doors lives Share Coffee Roasters, a small, independent coffee roaster who roasts all of the coffee we grind & brew fresh right in our lobby every morning.

Share focuses on importing high quality coffees from around the world, paying between two and four times the cost of even Fairtrade coffee.  In today’s coffee market, the price per pound for commodity green coffee can dip below what it costs to produce.  By sourcing very high quality coffee and being willing to spend upwards of 400% above the market average for that coffee, Share is helping to support farmers who are putting hard work into growing their coffee.

Once that green coffee arrives at Share, it’s up to the skill of Ken & his team to bring out the very best in those beans. All of their coffee is roasted in a restored Probat coffee roaster from the 1950s, updated with today’s technology. Ken tracks and controls every detail he can during the roasting process, from three separate temperatures and airflow to weight loss after roasting. Once the coffee is roasted to perfection, it’s cooled and bagged, ready for cupping, a term for coffee taste-testing.

Each and every batch of coffee roasted, no matter how closely it follows Share’s roasting parameters, is graded on characteristics such as aroma, body, acidity, and sweetness in a process known as cupping before it can leave their roastery. Once that coffee gets to us, it’s ground immediately before each brew and is on our shelves for at most a little over a week from the time of roasting. This ensures that you have the highest quality & freshest coffee possible, rivaling any high end coffee shop around!

So, next time you’re enjoying a cup of our incredible lobby coffee, know you’re also doing your part to support a local business as well as helping hard-working farmers from around the world.

If you ever find yourself out in Amherst or Northampton, be sure to check out one of their cafes or pick up a bag to take home in our Mercantile.

Our Partners

COOP’s MicroCreamery

Posted on by Christopher Smith

An electrical engineer turned hospital administrator, Marc “Coop” Cooper one day decided to learn how to make super premium ice cream, eventually going on to open two popular ice cream shops in the Boston area and winning many awards for his delicious frozen treats along the way. Ice cream, however, is a pretty seasonal business, and Marc wanted to find a way to keep his staff busy and employed in the off-season.

Enter, hot fudge.

COOP’s hot fudge became so popular that Marc spun the hot fudge business off from the ice cream business and went on to innovate from there, creating a salted caramel sauce, cold-brew mocha sauce, and even a vegan hot fudge!

All of COOP’s sauces are made with ingredients you can pronounce, never anything artificial. Fresh cream, cane sugar, butter, chocolate, cocoa powder, and brown sugar are the only ingredients in the Original hot fudge. The secret is in using the highest quality ingredients along with good innovative techniques.

Perhaps even more innovative than the incredible dessert sauces themselves is COOP’s partnership with Project Place’s WOW (Working Opportunities for Women). Project Place is a Boston-based social services agency that promotes a community of hope and opportunity for homeless and low-income individuals by providing the skills, education and resources needed to obtain and sustain employment and housing. Their goal is to end homelessness by providing pathways to attain jobs, housing, & hope. COOP’s became WOW’s first customer back in 2016 and they haven’t looked back since.

Whether it’s the distinctive drip lids or the simple ingredients that first draw you to COOP’s, the absolute deliciousness along with the social good will keep you coming back for more! You can pick up many of COOP’s sauces right in our lobby Mercantile or at many grocery stores throughout New England and beyond. For a wintertime treat, COOP’s also makes a simple & cozy hot cocoa mix that we have available in our Mercantile as well as as part of our Fireside Experience package.

Our Partners

Q’s Nuts

Posted on by Christopher Smith

As with many good stories, the history of Q’s Nuts starts with a love story, this one between Beth & Brian (a.k.a Q) Quinn, a pair of high school sweethearts. Q, who was working in a custom motorcycle shop, started roasting nuts at events and outdoor markets out of a mobile nut roaster. A side business and hobby more than anything at this point, when the motorcycle shop Q was working at shut down, Beth & Q decided to turn their side hustle into their full-time work. They soon became known for their incredibly delicious and wholesome snacks and haven’t stopped growing since, now with two retail locations and found in specialty shops throughout the country, including our very own Mercantile.

Hand-roasted in small batches, Q’s Nuts focuses on wholesome ingredients, extremely locally sourced whenever possible with many of their spices coming from Christina’s Spice in Cambridge and their chocolate coming from Taza in Somerville, both barely a two mile walk from their kitchen.

Unlike many roasters, Q’s savory nuts are slow roasted instead of deep fried to bring out the very best flavor as well as preserve the wholesomeness of their nuts.

Q’s sweet nuts, meanwhile, are hand-roasted at a higher temperature and a bit faster in one of two German-built nut roasters, spinning inside a rotating copper bowl which transforms the simple ingredients of raw nuts, organic sugar, and fresh flavors into perfectly-candied snacks.

Whether it’s sweet or savory, Q’s Nuts has you covered with a wholesome & delicious snack! You can pick some up right in our lobby or our online Mercantile, but they’re certainly worth a visit if you’re headed to the Boston Public Market, or if you’re exploring Somerville & Cambridge, check out their main location where they are always roasting up fresh batches of nuts, as well as serving up other local treats (including ice cream!).

Our Partners

Seacoast Sweets

Posted on by Lisa Burns

Seacoast Sweets is a family-owned and operated small-batch candy maker just south of us in Rhode Island. Originally founded in Newburyport, MA, they moved to Rhode Island in 2018 to expand their delicious candy making operation.

And it really is a family operation at Seacoast! Run by wife & husband team, Danielle & Kevin, their three kids can often be found helping cut ribbons for the chocolate boxes in breaks between weekend Nerf gun fights. Other family members also chip in, especially during the lead up to the busy holiday season, to ensure their delicious candies make their way from Pawtucket to your snack time!

Seacoast Sweets likes to keep it simple. All of their chocolates are handmade in small batches with quality ingredients. From the peanut butter filled patties made with Teddy’s peanut butter, made in Everett, MA, to throwback classics like peppermint patties to the more whimsical S’mores patties made with real Fluff, made in Lynn, MA, and part of our Fireside Experience package.

Available in our Mercantile both online and in the lobby as well as the “s’mores” in our Fireside Experience package, be sure to have an extra-sweet taste of New England with Seacoast Sweets’ beautiful and delicious handmade chocolate patties!

Our Partners

Jack’s Snacks

Posted on by Lisa Burns

We know that while finding a great local something at our Mercantile to bring back to a friend or family member (or for yourself!) might be high on your list, finding something special for your favorite four legged friend might be even more important! And that’s why we partnered with Jack’s Snacks, a local doggie bakery focused on creating high quality, preservative-free dog treats since 2004.

Located just south of The Lenox in Warwick, RI, Jack’s Snacks was founded by Marni MacLean Karro when she saw a lack in the market for dog treats made with real, whole foods. The ingredient list for all of Jack’s Snacks treats reads like a recipe you’d make right in your own kitchen – whole wheat, oats, peanut butter, whole egg, and more. Everything is pronounceable and something you’d want to eat yourself!

All of Marni’s treats are named after special dogs in her and her family’s lives. Jack’s Snacks itself & their signature Jack’s Nuts About Squirrels treats are both named after the dog love of Marni’s life, Jack, a black lab pitbull rescue who, unsurprisingly, loved both peanut butter and chasing squirrels!

Looking for something a little extra special? Check out Jack’s Snacks doggie cakes made with their signature peanut butter-cream cheese frosting and available for delivery to Boston for that special celebration at The Lenox with your pup!

Next time you’re in our lobby, don’t forget to pick up something special for your favorite canine family member or order right from our online Mercantile!

Our Partners

Our Potter

Posted on by Christopher Smith

It’s a bit of a funny thing for us to say as a hotel, that we have a potter, but we’re always looking for local partners to feature in our hotel to connect our guests with the amazing communities and people that surround us. It felt like a perfect match when we stumbled upon Tiffany Hilton Pottery in Florence MA – a six mile drive through the bucolic countryside of the Pioneer Valley from our coffee roasters, Share Coffee in Hadley MA.

Today, the custom mug that Tiffany created for us can be found both in our Mercantile as well as part of our Fireside Experience package where you can enjoy mugs of COOP’s hot cocoa and Seaside Sweets’ S’mores patties besides a roaring wood fire in one of our Executive Fireplace rooms. Forgot to pick up a mug when you were here? Order one today from our online Mercantile!

Tiffany’s light-filled studio inside the historic Florence Brush Factory, makers of the Pro-Brush toothbrush in the 1870s, is where she throws each and every piece of pottery she makes before mixing and applying her own custom glazes and firing in one of her kilns. She even hand-carved the porcelain lion head stamp from our logo that she uses to emboss the base of our custom mugs.

She originally studied fine arts at SUNY New Paltz where she was first exposed to pottery making and eventually started apprenticing for a potter in New Hampshire. Today, she continues that legacy of teaching through both her apprentice, Lucas, as well as 8 week classes she teaches out of her studio.

While her pieces could simply stand unused on a shelf as individual works of art, Tiffany’s intention behind her pottery is for them to be used, shared, and a part of your life, infusing them with deeper meaning each time they are taken out of the cupboard or filled with your morning coffee. So, next time you’re with us, consider picking up one of her beautifully hand-thrown mugs to take a piece of The Lenox & Massachusetts home with you!

You can also view and purchase Tiffany’s work right on her website.

Our Partners

You will FALL in Love!

Posted on by Daniel Donahue

Summer makes me not to want to cook. As our lives move outside for the few precious months of weather that Boston will allow, so does my desire to be in the kitchen. If it were not for the first touch of a chill in the air these past few days, I would still be in outside mode-hoping not to actually have to think of turning on the stove till the leaves start to fall. Truly can’t remember the last time my oven was preheating- my grill has had all my attention these past few months. Well, when not sitting waterside at Teczmecal or Smith and Wolenskys, to be honest.

Today I am back in the kitchen. What to make? It’s mid-September, still Summer like days, but the cooler evenings and mornings are familiar declarations that Fall is about to consume us. I head to Market Basket. What greets me at the entrance? Apples. An orchard of them. Instantly I think, my Mom’s apple cake. Yum!

I have vivid recollections from almost kindergarten (in full disclosure, it might as well have been fourth grade- but that doesn’t sound as dramatic) of my Mom peeling apples at our kitchen table and the smell of cinnamon and foggy kitchen windows as the heat inside from the stove competed with the coldness of fall outside. As I am sitting writing this I can see my Mom’s very manicured hands working above a bowl that I am staring at now. Her hands were always polished, never an indiscretion of a chip, soft and perhaps a titch worn with blue veins that bared witness to how hard she worked. While a peeler would do for most, not for my Mom. A small, well used knife would allow her an almost uninterrupted peel to free the skin from the apple. It seemed that it was almost a single motion that once the skin was separated, the slices were in the bowl of iced water. She was Ginzu certified before such a thing was ever thought of!

Her labor, as you might have surmised, delivered the best Apple Cake that I have ever put into my mouth. Always moist. Always full of fall flavors. And above all, always served with love that could only be conjured up by someone that makes food the way she lived her life, with unconditional love and pure care.

Make it. And resist the temptation to ask those enjoying it why they haven’t called you in a while.

I love my Mom.

Mom’s Apple Cake

  • 4 cups diced apple
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chopped nuts

Combine the diced apples & sugar, let sit for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, & nuts. Whisk together to evenly distribute.

In a separate bowl, combine the macerated apples & sugar, oil, & eggs. Beat to combine.

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and fold to incorporate.

Pour cake batter into a buttered and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

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We are passionate about your experience on our website and the content we provide here. Selecting a hotel can be daunting, and we strive to make that process a little easier by painting a true picture of what we are about. From the pictures of our staff to the blog posts written by them, what you see here is genuinely who we are

If you are shopping around and see a different offer for The Lenox on another site, let us know and we will make it right. We would be honored to be your home in Boston!