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Win Restaurant Gift Cards From JP Local First #JPLovesFood Promotion

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Jamaica Plain Local First has launched a social media promotion starting Monday that will award gift cards to three restaurants a week through the duration of the promotion. This week customers can win gift cards to Blue Nile, the Joint, and Brassica Kitchen. Two customers who purchase food from a featured restaurant will win a $50 gift card to be “gifted” to a friend or family member. There will be two winners chosen per restaurant. The #JPLovesFood program will run from January 4 to February 28, with three independent Jamaica Plain restaurants featured each week.

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Restaurants

Blue Nile Owner’s Generosity to Refugees Elates Community

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Blue Nile restaurant owner Yosef Haile is often seen with a smile, and recently he brought big smiles to a group of young Eritrean refugees due his unexpected generosity. Jamaica Plain resident Lexi Klupchak is the clinical director for the Rediscovery House in Waltham. The home is for boys ages 16 to 21 with complex trauma histories, and most have little to no family, said Klupchak. The long term goal of the home is help get the guys to live independently in the community with meaningful vocations. "Most of our guys are from Boston but we also currently have unaccompanied refugee minors from Eritrea which neighbors Ethiopia and shares the same food," said Klupchak to Jamaica Plain News.

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Restaurants

Photos: Food Glorious Food at Taste of Jamaica Plain

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Ethiopian cuisine, delicious baked desserts, corny bread, locally brewed beer and stilt walkers were all part of the 23rd Annual Taste of Jamaica Plain on Thursday night. Held at Annunciation Hall on the VFW Parkway for the first time, the annual event serves as fundraiser for JP nonprofit Ecumenical Social Action Committee (ESAC),  and particularly its senior home programs and youth opportunity collaborative. Along with more than 20 restaurants, personal chefs, food businesses, there was a cash bar with beer and wine, raffle tickets being sold, a silent auction and live music.

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Business

Yum! 23rd Annual Taste of Jamaica Plain on Nov. 15

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Blue Nile, Chilacates, Café Beirut, FoMu, The Frogmore and Tres Gatos are just some of the participating businesses in the 23rd Annual Taste of Jamaica Plain on Nov. 15. This year's Taste of Jamaica Plain has a new location at Our Lady of Annunciation Church on the West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain border. In recent years the Taste of JP has been held at the Franklin Park Zoo. While the event is moving inside this year, it will still benefit a good neighborhood organization, Ecumenical Social Action Committee (ESAC), its senior home programs and youth opportunity collaborative.

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Business

New Restaurant Alert: Ethiopian Cafe Inc. from Blue Nile Owner Coming to Hyde Square

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Ethiopian restaurant Blue Nile is so popular that owner Yosef Haile is opening a second restaurant a few doors down in May called Ethiopian Cafe Inc.

The new restaurant will be located at 377 Centre St., which Aurum Hand Pies occupied until February. And while it isn't opening for at least a few weeks, a sign is already affixed to the exterior. Haile said he wanted to offer breakfast to supplement the morning dining options in the area, so the restaurant will serve American-style breakfast with some Ethiopian additions. The new restaurant will serve Ethiopian fare for lunch and dinner, which he said will differ from the offerings at Blue Nile. The cafe will also feature coffee -- and if you're never heard of Ethiopian coffee, just know that coffee is thought to have originated in Ethiopia, so you know it must be good! Ethiopian-style coffee service will be offered, in a process that involves boiling, brewing and serving coffee in a clay pot called a jebena.

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Business

The 10 Best Restaurants in JP, According to TripAdvisor

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What do you think is the "best" restaurant in Jamaica Plain according to TripAdvisor? Does your favorite restaurant make the Top 10? If you said Doyle's is ranked #1, then you are correct. According to TripAdvisor.com, Doyle's Cafe is the #1 restaurant in Jamaica Plain out of 79 restaurants in JP rated on the site. Out of 402 reviews, Doyle's received 188 "excellent" ratings.

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Ellana and Josef Haile of Blue Nile Restaurant pause for a photo at the JFK School on Tuesday, June 7, 2016.
Business

Blue Nile Changes Hands

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One of JP's most popular vegan and vegetarian restaurants, Blue Nile, is changing ownership. It faces a tricky exchange to keep a beer and wine license, however. But not much else is slated to change about the 389 Centre St. favorite. New owner Yosef Haile, brother of current owner Ellana Haile, has been managing the place for the last three years.

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From the Community

Ten Jamaica Plain Businesses Awarded ‘Best of Boston’ by Boston Magazine

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Boston Magazine’s annual “Best of Boston” issue has hit stands, and 2015 marks the 42nd anniversary of the awards! For the past 12 months, Boston magazine’s team of expert judges ate, drank, and shopped their way across the city, the ‘burbs, and the Cape and the Islands to find the very best the area has to offer. This year, 10 Jamaica Plain businesses won "Best of Boston" awards in the “Arts & Entertainment,” “Dining,” and “Neighborhood Best” categories. Here is a complete list of the winners:

Arts & Entertainment, Record Store: Deep Thoughts JP
Dining, Brunch: Tres Gatos
Dining, Ethiopian: The Blue Nile
Dining, Bread: Blue Frog Bakery
Dining, Pastry: Canto 6 Bakery
Dining, Romantic: Centre Street Café
Neighborhood Best, Eat: Thursdays on the Lawn, Loring-Greenough House
Neighborhood Best, Drink: Canary Square
Neighborhood Best, Shop: Kitchenwitch
Neighborhood Best, Discover: Boating on Jamaica Pond

For a complete list of all “Best of Boston” winners, head over to BostonMagazine.com.

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Photo of the Day

Street Photography — Hyde Square

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A typical Tuesday night in Hyde Square — a dog waits on his owner to come out of the liquor store while a couple enjoys a meal at Blue Nile. Each weekday we post a “Photo of the Day” from around the neighborhood. If you have a photo that screams (or even whispers) "Jamaica Plain," here are four ways to nominate it:

Email me at chris@jamaicaplainnews

Tag a picture on Twitter with @02130News

Put your photo in the Jamaica Plain News photo pool on Flickr

Tag a picture on Instagram with #02130News

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