SWEET BOUTIQUE Tammaro’s Cucina; Weekly Dish In the Kitchen; Try This At Home; Beer.

News from the local food scene

By Matt Ingersoll

food@hippopress.com

• From vine to glass: Get your tickets now for the next session in the Walks in the Vineyard series at LaBelle Winery’s Amherst location (345 Route 101), scheduled for Sunday, July 11, from 11 a.m. to noon. Wine educator Marie King and vineyard manager Josh Boisvert will lead attendees through a fun and educational walk through the vineyards, focused on the life cycles of the vines. You’ll learn how the wine you enjoy in your glass starts as grapes on vines, and also get a chance to taste four LaBelle wines throughout the session. The event is the second of a four-part series — no previous attendance or prior knowledge of wines are necessary. Tickets are $27.25 general admission per person, including taxes, and reservations are suggested. Visit labellewinery.com. • Taking flight: After about four and a half years in downtown Nashua, The Flight Center Taphouse & Eatery has expanded to a second location in Manchester and added a new speakeasy concept. The new spot, which opened June 23 in the former British Beer Co. at 1071 S. Willow St., features a dining room and bar with brick-oven pizzas, sandwiches, appetizers and dozens of craft beers on tap one one side. The other side, facing away from the main road, is home to a 1920s-inspired speakeasy-style bar called The Lost Luggage that features a craft cocktail menu of its own, according to Flight Center owner and founder Seth Simonian. The starting hours of operation are Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 4 to 11:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, from 4 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., but will likely be adjusted in the near future. Visit flightcenterbc.com or find them on Facebook @flightcentermht. • Powder Keg Beer Festival to return: Following its cancellation in 2020, the 9th Powder Keg Beer Festival will return this fall, with a scheduled date of Saturday, Oct. 2, at Swasey Parkway in Exeter, according to a press release issued on the event’s website and Facebook pages. “Even though it will be modified, we are excited to offer the Powder Keg after taking a year off,” Exeter Parks & Recreation executive director Greg Bisson said in a statement. While chili will not be served as in past years, the festival will welcome a variety of local food trucks alongside the more than 200 local beers, ciders and hard seltzers that will be available to choose from. VIP admission will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by general admission from 2 to 4 p.m. Tickets will go on sale Aug. 1 and will be $35 per person, or $10 for designated drivers. Visit powderkegbeerfest.com.

Sweet Boutique brings fine chocolates, candies and more to Bedford

Treats from Sweet Boutique. Courtesy photos.

By Matt Ingersoll

mingersoll@hippopress.com

A new handcrafted chocolate and confection shop in Bedford is offering everything from specialty barks and all kinds of flavors of truffles to peanut butter cups, honey caramels, fudge and a line of sugar-free products sweetened with monk fruit.

Sweet Boutique, housed in the former Triolo’s Bakery space on Kilton Road, also roasts its own nuts, produces its own caramel corn in several flavors, and will have colder options like fruit smoothies, acai bowls and gelato cookie sandwiches throughout the summer. A two-day grand opening celebration is set for Saturday, July 17, and Sunday, July 18.

The shop is run by Michael Pais and his partner, Lynn Mackenna, a chocolatier with more than three decades of experience working at the former Willey’s Candy Shop on Salisbury Beach.

Pais, who oversees the shop’s sugar-free products, said the pair had discussed opening a shop together over a period of a few years, looking at potential locations in New Hampshire and Massachusetts before eventually coming across the Kilton Road storefront last fall.

With a retail store downstairs and a production area upstairs, Sweet Boutique can craft just about any kind of chocolatey treat imaginable. Some products will start with original recipes that Mackenna has brought from Willey’s Candy Shop, dating back to its opening in 1913, while others come from her experimenting and tinkering with different flavor ideas.

“I’m always trying to come up with something new. My brain just keeps on going and doesn’t stop,” she said. “The honey caramel is something that I completely did myself. A lot of the truffles, the barks and the creams are my own creations.”

Some of the chocolates are prebagged, but you can also create your own customizable boxes.

Spanish peanuts are roasted in house and used in several items, like the peanut caramel corn, multiple flavors of the chocolate peanut butter cups, and the peanut butter fudge.

The idea to introduce smoothies and bowls, Pais said, came about when he and Mackenna tried to think of ways to supplement what might otherwise be a slower summer season.

“We had always thought we were going to do something,” he said. “We were talking about some type of frozen dessert. Then Lynn said why not go with the acai bowls and smoothies, because they are pretty popular right now, especially with the younger crowd.”

They also make other cold items like chia seed pudding parfaits, gelato cookie sandwiches with flavors like vanilla bean and pistachio, and their own take on a healthier type of banana split. “It’s a banana split that I’m making out of superfruits … and then maybe with a yogurt topping, some granola, nuts and whipped cream,” Mackenna said. During holidays like Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter, Sweet Boutique plans to offer all kinds of unique seasonal candies and chocolates. Pais said there are also opportunities for local businesses to order customizable chocolate molds for company events or fundraisers.

I’m always trying to come up with something new. My brain just keeps on going and doesn’t stop. LYNN MACKENNA Sweet Boutique Where: 21 Kilton Road, Bedford Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (hours may be subject to change) More info: Visit visitsweetboutique.com, follow them on Instagram @sweetboutique_chocolates or call 222-1521