JOEL’S FOOD CORNER APRIL, 2020 ~ Great Take-Out While We Stay At Home

JOEL

 

By: Joel Faretra – April, 2020

So dining out as we know it is on hold for the time-being. Local bars and restaurants are the backbone of our community.

They sponsor youth programs, donate food to all types of causes, and add life to our city. It is now our time to support them. Some places like Rae Rocks, Fusion House, Fireside, and Methuen Family Restaurant have decided to close temporarily.

Most have chosen to stay open and have completely reconstructed the way they do business.

Third party companies like Doordash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub have made it easier to order take out, but please call the restaurant first and ask if they are delivering themselves to eliminate the fee that they need to pay for the service.
A couple of restaurants are open for breakfast for take-out.

Al’s Family Diner (500 Merrimack St., 978-683-0920) is open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings from 7:30-11:30. They are still cash-only.

The Country Kitchen (18 Hampshire St., 978-687-9632) is open for breakfast until 11:30am during the week, 5am to noon Saturday and open at 6am on Sundays. They are also open for lunch Monday-Thursday 11:30-1:30 and 11:30- 7pm on Friday for “Fish and Chip Friday!”

The Irish Cottage (17 Branch St., 978 208-4347) has opened on Sunday mornings from 9-noon on top of being open from 4-8pm Thursday-Sunday.
A few places are still open for lunch and dinner and handling their own delivery in addition to take out.

Bada Bing (32 Hampshire St, 978-683-0009) is offering their full menu and still giving back to the community. They donated food to TMF (The Movement Family) for the homeless the other night and are always willing to chip in to help.

A few other local places open for lunch and dinner are:

Chris’ Famous Pizza
(124 Lowell St. 978-687-2333),

Royal Roast Beef
(464 Lowell St. 978-794-4996),

Wah Sang
(42 Hampshire St. 978-686-4118),

Anthony’s Roast Beef
(1111 Riverside Dr. 978-655-1400),

New England Seafoods
(225 Merrimack St. 978-686-7494,

Need dessert? Jay Gees ice cream is delivering! The have a bunch of quarantine specials which you can order on jaygees.com.

Need beer? Local breweries are canning their beer and selling it during certain hours. Check with them before heading over, as times and the selection does change.

Spicket River Brewery in Lawrence (978-655-5784 spicketriverbrewery.net) sells beer from 5-8pm Wednesday-Saturday;

Oak and Iron in Andover (978-475-4077 oakandironbrewing.com) Thursday and Friday 3-5pm and Saturday 1-4pm.

Navigation Brewery in Lowell (navigationbrewing.com) is open from 4-7pm Thursday through Saturday.

Backyard Brewery in Derry, NH (603-623-3545 backyardbrewerynh.com) is open 7 days a week, Monday-Thursday 4-8pm and 12p-8p Friday-Sunday.
I did find a restaurant on Facebook called Your Place and Ours in Groveland (978-374-7409 yourplaceandourspizza.com).

What caught my eye was their french fry tray (pictured above). It is 8 different types of french fries with 6 different sauces. The 8 types of fries were from top left are blue buffalo, shaggy fries, chicken bacon ranch, and cheesy bacon, and on the right side from the top down are honey mustard, sweet chili, chicken parm, and fireside. It is $65 for the large tray, but the amount of food is worth it! My favorites were the sweet chili and blue buffalo.

I give Your Place and Ours four beards.

4 beards

I highly recommend this for a large group as our family of six had plenty left over at the end of the night.

Joel Faretra is The Valley Patriot’s food columnist. He is also an elected member of the Methuen City Council. Join his Facebook page HERE