"How many tables did the Turtle have? Six? Seven tables, tops, plus the row of seats at the counter, because it used to be a diner. It was impossible not to make constant eye contact, impossible not to make conversation. Officially the smoke had cleared, outwardly there was peace in the valley, but nobody had bargained on dinner-for-four."
Tag: Owner Joyce Della Chiesa
True Love with a Purple Neon Glow, by Ron Della Chiesa, 2012
"[It was a] Friday night [at the Turtle Café,] and the place was booming. A bar full of boisterous patrons, a jam-packed dining room, and Dave already off and getting set up to play his set. A cutting edge restaurant (which became the East Coast Grill), the Turtle featured contemporary regional cuisine, changing its menu every three or four days not only for variety but to continually showcase whatever was in season, a relatively new concept for its time. On weekends they'd feature jazz greats: Teddy Wilson, Scott Hamilton, Sammy Price, and Gray Sargent, a guitarist who these days works with Tony Bennett. I quickly learned it was a great place to hang out and meet these legends, since they'd usually come in to eat before their gig."
At Home with Ron and Joyce Della Chiesa, by Brenda Marchand, July 26, 2001
Chef of the Month: Joyce Della Chiesa – Chef / Caterer, by Marge Chryssostomidis and Peter McNamara, November 25, 1992
Kitchen doors closed to women, by Otile McManus, by March 7, 1974
"While Boston has no restaurant with the feminist political implications of New York's Mother Courage, it does have its share of women restaurant owners. There are women who have been in the business for years like Mrs. Ban, Joyce Chen and Felicia Solimine of Felicia's. There are also newcomers like Sally Scoville of Le Bocage, Joyce Scardina and Odette Bery of the Turtle Cafe."