Dottie Hottie

Maybe you won’t find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but perhaps if you set your eyes a bit higher, you might discover a bit of the luck smiling back at you….

The Dottie Hottie enthusiastically joins forces with fellow Dot bloggers to share all that there is to adore about this here hottest ‘hood of Boston! Yes we can! ADORE-chester!

If you have been reading this blog for any period of time, you know the Dottie Hottie is already convinced. There is MUCH to adore about Dorchester. This site was created with this ambition in mind: To let the world, or at least Greater Boston know there is a real vitality to this neighborhood. There is beauty and authenticity. You can go ahead and read the headlines; they don’t betray a truth that violence and crime spike where poverty pervades. We are not Boston’s richest neighborhood, but we possess our own riches, and the following are the Dottie Hottie’s favorite five:

1.) Neponset Bike Trail: I wish I could bottle the smell of the sooty railroad tracks, the view of the deep blue Neponset River, the glee of babies in strollers and friendly smiles of parents jogging behind them. I feel a palpable blessing riding my bike on this path with my child MID. Every pedal forward is a gift my city gives me on this well-paved path along a beautiful waterway. Brings new meaning to the word recreation.

2.) Flat Black Coffee Company: The tasty coffee is only transcended by the friendly service. The convenient locations (at Ashmont and Lower Mills) are only transcended by their proximity to Wainwright Bank and Dot Park. Their commitment to Dot is only transcended by their commitment to the fair trade coffee industry in the Third World. Flat Black takes much of the money that I should deposit into that ATM at aforementioned Wainwright. And that is fine with me.

3.) The Dorchester Reporter: If you live in Dot, you really should subscribe. It’s a quality community newspaper, family founded and owned, and you get all the neighborhood bulletins and a bit of blarney to boot.

4.) Sunday Brunch on the patio at Ashmont Grill: It’s such a shame this savory experience is only seasonal, but the Dottie Hottie awaits Patio Season at the AG all winter long. The patio is a true oasis, removed from the din of Peabody Square, all one can hear are the clink of bellini glasses and the kind service. Take a leisurely skim of the Sunday paper while you wait for your brunch to arrive. Every egg dish is scrumptious. Every table is privy to a beautiful sight, be it a humming fountain, a floral vine climbing the stone wall. If only you could take a Sunday nap on a sun-drenched chaise lounge, this place might be a thin slice of Paradise.

5.) The Fields Corner Post Office: It might be the most unlikely of places to adore, but the diversity and authenticity of Dorchester seem to be so perfectly captured by this little microcosm of a place. Where else are we all on equal footing? You could be homeless, jobless, or living in tremendous opulence. You can all pick up your mail here. You might enter in a wheelchair, with a stroller, or with a cane. With the new ramp, your entrance is so much the smoother. And chances are good, some good person of Dorchester will open the door for you. Enough cannot be said of the good postal workers here, too. Always patient, always efficient, always good-humored, they are the salt of Dorchester, and for $.41 on the dollar, they deliver every piece of mail I send without fail. Huzzah!

And you? What do you ADORE about Dorchester?

• The Dot Matrix
• Dot Boston
• The Dorchester Think Tank
• Lower Mills
• Local Spice
• Candeliera Silva
• Social Butterfly Experiment
• dotmass
• Greening of Dorchester

It’s a frigid night and you’ve just eaten the last McBudget Nuggets in the freezer. The other rations are low, but eating out simply won’t jive with the wallet. And anyway, eating out with friends is great, but all you end up doing is bellyachin’ about the economy. Which gives you a stomach ache, frankly.

Enter: Mrs. Jones.

The Dottie Hottie recently hosted the out-of-town parents. For under $40, Dottie Hottie and Dottie Biker, as well as the Mid-Western Parents went not hungry. Rather, they all enjoyed finger lickin’ chicken, corn bread, black eyed peas, collard greens, mashed taters, green beans, and some other tasty treats which they all shared — and not to mention the satisfaction of feeding the soul, too, which is what the comfort of soul food tends to do.

And just for the record, Mrs. Jones’ fried chicken definitely kicks the poor colonel to the curb.

Mrs. Jones prepares stick-to-your-ribs fare, and the Dottie Hottie gives Mrs. J & Co. the highest of ratings. A Dottie Hottie Huzzah!

Mrs. Jones
2255 Dorchester Ave.
617-696-0180

The Dottie Hottie is familiar with the Twelve Tribesmen and Tribeswomen who operate the Common Ground Cafe. Familiar in that the Dottie Hottie knows a cult when the Dottie Hottie sees one. Here’s what it looks like: surrendering your entire income to the religious leadership? Is a cult.

But the Dottie Hottie also knows a fresh-looking sandwich when the Dottie Hottie sees one. Here’s what it looks like: the turkey wrap at Common Ground Cafe. With a side of tortilla chips. And a complimentary muffin if it’s your first visit.

The interior of CG is cozy, think if Mother Goose had a house and baked muffins and sold herbal teas in it. The employees are friendly enough, but ask them about their position on race and they’ll likely dish you some canned nebulosity about “getting back to the beginning.” The Dottie Hottie wasn’t too keen on that. But for the occasional sandwich, the Dottie Hottie endorses CG as a rare hotspot for freshness.

Common Ground Cafe
Dorchester Ave.
Lower Mills
(617) 298-1020
www.commonground-cafe.net

Before the Landmark Orchestra performed last night (in its rain location of St. Greg’s auditorium where we all wanted to bust out the Bingo afterward), all the dignitaries took the mike to announce what we Dotties already know:

Dorchester Park is Amazing!

But, wait, there’s more!

The park will now be on the National Register of Historic Places. And Mayor Meninooooooo was there to unveil the fancy plaque to much applause. And to say “Dawchestahh Pahhk” at least fourteen times to the satisfaction of the Dottie Hottie and Dottie Biker.

The Orchestra was fantastic last evening, as was MID who managed not to have a meltdown even after the third movement of the first symphony.

Five best attributes of Flat Black Coffee Shop (the original):

5. The ceiling? Is blue.

4. Everybody enjoys the mod red hightop chairs

3. The Rolls Royce of coffee grinders lives behind this door.

2. You can read the New Yorker whilst caffeinating.

1. The coffee ain’t bad either. (Dottie Hottie’s poison: Iced vanilla decaf latte.)

You may have unintentionally landed on their blog when searching for The Ashmont Grill. Or googling “Dorchester Day.” They are the Lower Dotties and their blog, LowerDot.com is pretty fantastic.

Chris and Erin are their names, those sharp, good-humored, Dot-lovin’ specsters. They love to eat at Dorchester establishments and then blog about ‘em. They are particularly enthusiastic about Lower Mills, and are always encouraging friends to consider buying some real estate in the Dot.

Three other things you may not know about the Lower Dotties:

They’re married
They teach
They’ve done business with the Catholic church. Huzzah!

To the Dottie Hottie, their hot little domain represents a new wave of Dottie pride, that of the transplant.  So maybe they weren’t born with a hockey stick in their hands, nor were they riding the Red Line with their student T pass in high school.  But they’ve got much love for the Dot and they make this neighborhood a better, more diverse, and certainly a hipper ‘hood.