Dining Room

DENNIS -- Take two Tony winners (Brian Murray and Harriet Harris), two late-night comedy stars (Michael McDonald and Stephnie Weir of "Mad TV"), and two up-and-comers (Jeremy Webb and Prentiss Benjamin, whose name signals her parentage -- Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin), and insert a proven crowd-pleaser, A.R. Gurney's 1982 hit "The Dining Room. " Shouldn't that suffice as a sure-fire formula for success? Unfortunately not, in the case of the current production at the Cape Playhouse.

$279,900 29 WAGGON ROAD / YARMOUTH SQUARE FOOTAGE > 1,500 LOT SIZE > 0.26 acres BEDROOMS > 4 BATHS > 2 full, 1 half LAST SOLD FOR > $142,500 in 1988 Sandra Leroux, LeRoux Realty Group, 508-963-2607, teamleroux.com PROS Located at the end of a dead-end street, the house is good-looking outside, with simple but pretty landscaping. Inside, there are three bedrooms upstairs, one on the main level, and a finished basement with a pellet stove.

WALTHAM - No one wakes as Nicole Sheck tugs open the door of Room 308 and slips into the too-bright hallway - not her boyfriend, nor her two older daughters sharing a bed, not even the baby, who sometimes stirs in the Pack N' Play at this hour. Sheck, 28, follows the floral red carpeting down the hall, past the rows of fake plants in the barren lobby and outside into the dark chill. A white taxi idles beneath a crescent moon. The driver knows her destination: "Joseph's Two?" he asks as Sheck slides into the back seat.

I would like to think people are essentially generous, forgiving, and good-willed. The case of Patricia Yeo supports this. The chef ran the lauded AZ in New York, then went on to less-noteworthy ventures in that city. She arrived in Boston in 2009 to head South End restaurant Ginger Park. When it was at its best, the food was excellent — little plate after little plate of bold tastes from all over Asia. After Ginger Park closed, Yeo moved on to Om, teaming with owner Solmon Chowdhury.

I would like to think people are essentially generous, forgiving, and good-willed. The case of Patricia Yeo supports this. The chef ran the lauded AZ in New York, then went on to less-noteworthy ventures in that city. She arrived in Boston in 2009 to head South End restaurant Ginger Park. When it was at its best, the food was excellent — little plate after little plate of bold tastes from all over Asia. After Ginger Park closed, Yeo moved on to Om, teaming with owner Solmon Chowdhury.

Tucked away in the Berkshires, a world removed from his childhood in Boston, the Rev. Edward M. O'Flaherty quietly impressed the young men with whom he studied in the Jesuit novitiate at Shadowbrook, a large estate once owned by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. He was just a couple of years out of Boston College High School when he stepped to the pulpit in the dining room one night to preach a homily while everyone else ate in silence, as was customary. It was the day of the Feast of St. John Chrysostom, and by tradition he was not allowed to deliver the homily...

RIVERTON - Pauline Telford led us into our room, paused beneath the overhead light fixture, and grabbed the attached chain. "Pull gently to the side," she demonstrated, "never straight down. " Dealing with quirky old lights is one of many things that she and husband, Mark, have mastered in 29 years as innkeepers at the Old Riverton Inn. "Our two sons grew up here," she said, shaking her head over the swift passage of time. "The previous innkeepers were here 35 years. " Located on the post road between Hartford and Albany, the handsome old stagecoach inn first opened its...

$279,900 29 WAGGON ROAD / YARMOUTH SQUARE FOOTAGE > 1,500 LOT SIZE > 0.26 acres BEDROOMS > 4 BATHS > 2 full, 1 half LAST SOLD FOR > $142,500 in 1988 Sandra Leroux, LeRoux Realty Group, 508-963-2607, teamleroux.com PROS Located at the end of a dead-end street, the house is good-looking outside, with simple but pretty landscaping. Inside, there are three bedrooms upstairs, one on the main level, and a finished basement with a pellet stove.

The Metropolitan Club begat Met Bar & Grill, which begat Met Back Bay. The first concept brought cosmopolitan style to a suburban steakhouse. The second did the same for suburban burger joints. Both were successful, not because the food was consistently great, but because they were the kind of places Chestnut Hill, Natick, and Dedham needed. Met Back Bay, which opened in October, attempts a more difficult trick. Right in the heart of the city, it no longer offers a taste of something rare.

Officials say a moose burst through the dining room window of a retirement home in southwestern Sweden, knocking over furniture and flower pots before taking off into the wild again. Police say aside from the moose, who was scratched by the broken window, no one was injured in Thursday’s surprise visit at the Brunnsgarden retirement home in the small town of Alingsas. Helen Gillquist, head of the home, said residents had just finished lunch and left the ground-floor dining room when the moose jumped through the three-paneled glass window.

Trattoria della Nonna 160 North Main St., Mansfield Tuesday to Saturday, dinner 4 to 10 p.m. Reservations only for parties of six or more Major credit cards, except American Express 508-339-5432; trattoriadellanonna.com Trattoria della Nonna is not much to look at from the outside. It's the sort of place you might just drive by and never think to stop in. But if you make your way down the path alongside the building and head inside, you'll find yourself in a dimly lit dining room with brick walls adorned with wine bottles, an atmosphere that just might...

This year, the Eliot Hotel's Clio marks its 15th anniversary, celebrating with a spruce-up of the restaurant's interior and other changes that seem designed to invite a revisit. So here we go. Clio debuted in 1997, elegant and French, a young chef named Ken Oringer at the helm. The economy was strong, and new restaurants were opening in a quantity some felt Boston might not support. Surprise. The restaurant scene remains robust, dining a primary form of entertainment. Clio keeps ticking.

WALTHAM - No one wakes as Nicole Sheck tugs open the door of Room 308 and slips into the too-bright hallway - not her boyfriend, nor her two older daughters sharing a bed, not even the baby, who sometimes stirs in the Pack N' Play at this hour. Sheck, 28, follows the floral red carpeting down the hall, past the rows of fake plants in the barren lobby and outside into the dark chill. A white taxi idles beneath a crescent moon. The driver knows her destination: "Joseph's Two?" he asks as Sheck slides into the back seat.

Franklin Cape Ann 118 Main St., Gloucester 978-283-7888 franklincafe.com/franklin-cape-ann Open for dinner Sunday through Thursday, 5 to 10:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to midnight All major credit cards accepted Ground floor is accessible to the handicapped Intimate, hip, and low-key, the Franklin Cape Ann has become an anchor of Gloucester's lively restaurant row at the west end of Main Street....

3 Hilary St., Charlestown Price: $785,000 Style: Colonial Built: 1875 Square feet: 1,901 Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 2 ½ Sewer: Public Just one block from the granite obelisk of the Bunker Hill Monument, this Colonial with wood floors and exposed brick feels steeped in local history. The attached single-family home sits along a tiny street, and the Tobin Bridge is visible from upstairs windows. The property has a small footprint, just over 1,400 square feet, but the house's space is vertical: three full levels.

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- It's as true of houses as of people that oldtimers often tell the best stories. The Swift House Inn, it so happens, has a tale of entwined destinies. Lawyer, judge, and newspaperman Samuel Swift built the main house in 1814 on a rolling hill overlooking the river-hollow village of Middlebury. On Swift's death in 1875, the property was sold to Governor John Stewart. His daughter Jessica inherited the house and married a grandson of the original owner, making it once again the Swift home.

This house was designed in 1950 by the architect John Quincy Adams, a descendent of both presidents. But don’t think that pedigree makes the house a Colonial. It is built in Bauhaus style, with flat roofs and concrete blocks that were later covered with stucco. In true midcentury modern style, the house opens up to the backyard, where a small pond stocked with fish, a swimming pool, a large patio, and extensive plantings spread over the 9-acre lot. The front door leads into a hallway and then the living room, which...