Uma Thurman Gives Babies a Chance at the Room to Grow Gala [Boston]

By: Katherine Brooks

Celebrities, foodies, and beautiful Bostonites took over the Castle at the Park Plaza on Saturday evening for the Room to Grow Fall Gala, a benefit celebrating five years of Room to Grow’s continued success in “enriching the lives of babies born into poverty.” Co-chairs Mary Richardson formerly of WCVB-TV’s Chronicle and Patrick Canning of KPMG led the event that honored five outstanding Room to Grow supporters and featured the radiant Room to Grow board member Uma Thurman who spoke about her involvement with the organization.

The Lovely Uma Thurman (center) with Saskia Epstein and Mary Richardson

The evening kicked off with black fig cocktails and agave margaritas, tantalizing appe-teasers, and milling about the silent auction items. Hot restaurants around the city created the divine passed hors d’oeuvres, so we saw hints of chefs’ styles in each nibble.

The Met Back Bay created gargantuan meatball sliders with red sauce aioli. Supposedly, some arugula was tucked between the meat and the bun but we didn’t notice much else besides tasty beef.

Our favorite bite was the enormous Limoncello marinated scallop with a unique brulée sabayon from Turner Fisheries.

Tostadas with chicken and avocado from Zocalo Cocina Mexicana were among the most popular nibbles.

After the heavy hors d’oeuvres which could have sated one for dinner, the crowd was off to the tables for a seated meal of grilled chicken with curried quinoa and mango relish, teriyaki sea bass on Asian slaw, and eggplant and zucchini wrapped ricotta before the animated program and live auction. Everyone loved the soft serve ice cream from MooBella for dessert, but one can’t go wrong with sweets from L.A. Burdick Handmade Chocolates, which had us leaving on a (sugar) high note. The Gala was a wonderful event with extraordinary people all for an excellent local cause. Keep up the much-needed work in our community, for we have much more Room to Grow!