Northshore Magazine (Digital) June/July 2023

The season we have been waiting for is upon us. Warm ocean breezes, lazy beach days, Fourth of July celebrations with family and friends. The North Shore offers the quintessential New England summer experience, and in this issue we hope to inspire you to get out and enjoy our region during the most fleeting season. We shine a spotlight on Gloucester as it celebrates 400 years of its diverse culture this year. Writer and Gloucester native Sarah Shemkus delves into the events surrounding the anniversary that highlight the city’s indigenous history, as well as the Brazilian, Azorean, Sicilian, Afghani, Finnish, and other cultural histories that are woven into contemporary Gloucester life. We stop into the town of Rockport and explore some of the best places to visit in this coastal town, including…

SUZANNE LEE / PAGES 46, 48 / Suzanne Lee is a freelance commercial and editorial photo stylist based in Newburyport. She specializes in styling consumer products and propping tabletop food projects. She has worked with a range of commercial and editorial clients. bostonpropstylist.com VICTORIA ABBOT RICCARDI / PAGE 84 / Victoria Abbott Riccardi is a journalist and book author. She has written food, wine, nutrition, and travel articles for a variety of consumer print and online media including Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and the New York Times. JEANNE O’BRIEN COFFEY / PAGES 14, 20 / Jeanne O’Brien Coffey has been freelancing for more than 10 years, covering everything from hot New York restaurants for the Zagat guide to top luxury travel spots for ForbesLife. She is Northshore magazine’s food editor and travels the region…

EDITOR Nancy E. Berry PUBLISHER Paul J. Reulbach CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ryan Jolley EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Natalie Gale, Lauren Torlone Mahoney, Matt Osgood, Alexandra Pecci, Hannah Selinger, Sarah Shemkus CONTRIBUTING FOOD EDITOR Jeanne O’Brien Coffey ART CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jared Charney, Joel Laino, Doug Levy, Glenn Scott, Anthony Tieuli PRODUCTION PRODUCTION MANAGER Chelsea Watson ADVERTISING SENIOR STRATEGIC MEDIA MANAGER Lauria Strazzero STRATEGIC MEDIA MANAGERS Bill Coughlin, Eileen Stuart Katis, Marlene Pippins, Suzanne Provencher ACCOUNTING CONTROLLER Pamela Sedler ACCOUNTING Shelly Kochanski DIGITAL MARKETING ASSISTANT Faith E. Tabalba MARKETING DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY RELATIONS Melissa Gillespie DIGITAL DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER Paxton Sedler DIGITAL MEDIA SPECIALIST Christina El Khoury SENIOR WEBSITE DESIGNER/DIGITAL COORDINATOR Kurt Hanss CIRCULATION MARKETING & CIRCULATION Kyle Sedler PRESIDENT AND CEO Rick Sedler EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Hugh Malone CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER Paul J. Reulbach CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Mark Brown…

Octopus is challenging. The cephalopod doesn’t have the sexy, meaty appeal of seared tuna or the crispy indulgence of fried calamari—in fact, its suction-cup lined tentacles are like a dare. That’s a challenge we usually accept, and you should too at Il Ponte, the new Italian restaurant nestled in downtown Woburn. The octopus is both firm and tender, with a tasty char that comes from a weighted sear in the restaurant’s wood-fired oven. No surprise that chef Beni Kurti knows his way around octopus: He cooked in Michelin-starred restaurants in his native Umbria, Italy, steeping in the Italian tradition of sourcing the best ingredients and treating them with care. The appetizer is served with small crispy potatoes and two sauces—a gentle garlic aioli anchoring the presentation in place and a bright,…

Do not ask Daphnee Alva-Lafleur what is in the Hurricane cocktail at Rockport’s new Fleur Cuisine Harborside. The luscious fruity drink definitely has some Haitian rum in it, and some fresh-squeezed juice, and it definitely arrives tableside in a beautiful pineapple, with an orchid garnish. But beyond that, it’s proprietary, says Alva-Lafleur, who opened Fleur in Rockport last fall with her husband, Wanddy Lafleur. There are a lot of secrets on the menu—from that Hurricane to what spices are in the clam chowder—but there’s no need to ask too many questions. It’s all fresh and delicious. The North Andover couple have devoted themselves to melding the New England cuisine of their home with childhood roots in Haiti, with stops along the way in New York and Miami. As so many stories…

Located at the tip of Cape Ann, Rockport is literally at the end of the road, the epitome of “can’t get there from here,” with its dramatic, on-all-sides shoreline and incredible ocean views. That special “land’s end” feeling also gives Rockport its unique magic. There’s its worldfamous sunlight, which has attracted plein air artists for decades; the iconic red fishing shack, Motif Number 1, known as the mostpainted building in America; and the compact and walkable Bearskin Neck peninsula that juts into Rockport Harbor and always manages to feel like a quaint fishing and artists village, no matter how busy it gets in the summertime. “It almost feels like a town that you would see in a Norman Rockwell painting,” says Karen Koretsky, executive director of the Rockport Art Association and Museum.…