Junkfood

• The Executive Chef at the Museum of Science in Boston is Donald Burns.
• Previously, Donald Burns was the Executive Chef at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago, also a Wolfgang Puck Catering operation.
• The Museum of Science's brunch menu looks a lot like the MCA's brunch menu. The MCA's "Puck's" restaurant also serves similar dishes like "Rigatoni Bolognese with Peas and Parmesan Cheese" and "Field Green Salad with Goat Cheese Croutons, Tapenade, and Balsamic Vinaigrette".
• I note that "Yukon Gold Potato Puree" also appears on the St. Louis Art Museum's menu (also catered by WPC).
• Prior to working for Wolfgang Puck Catering, Donald Burns worked on the American Orient Express. I also found a reference that indicates that he worked at Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurant.

I ate at the Sunday Brunch buffet at the Museum of Science on October 23, 2005. It's catered by Wolfgang Puck Catering and served in the Skyline Room, on the sixth floor. There are two seatings: 11:00am and 1:00pm. Brunch is $32 and includes exhibit admission, a ticket to a show, and parking (brunch-only is available for $24). http://www.mos.org/

The room itself has floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides, with a panoramic view stretching from the Zakim Bridge, down the Boston riverbank, across the Charles River, up the Cambridge riverbank, all the way to the Royal Sonesta. I chose to sit so I could dine with a view of the Zakim Bridge.

I ate at the 1:00pm seating, and the room wasn't very full (perhaps 30 diners). I believe that the 11:00am seating may have been busier and that it finished late, as the staff was still hurrying to turn the room as the 1:00pm seating began. Wolfgang Puck Catering runs an elegant operation. I was somewhat hoping that Chef Puck himself might make an appearance to check up on things (he was in town the night before, at the gala opening for the Museum's Star Wars exhibit), but no such luck.

The food was good. My favorites were, in order:

1. Almond Crusted French Toast stuffed with Mascarpone-Ricotta Cheese Filling. (I don't usually eat French toast, but this was really good.)
2. Mixed Green Salad with Herb Goat Cheese Crostini and Olive Tapenade and Balsamic Dressing. (I liked the Crostini with goat cheese and tapenade.)
3. Pan Seared Chicken with Sauteed Spinach and Cabernet Butter Sauce

Info and Tips

• Advanced reservations are recommended, and I get the impression that they really want you to purchase tickets in advance. Unfortunately, the only way to purchase tickets is by calling the museum. You can just buy them from the online store.
• You get to the Skyline Room by going into the museum, into the Green Wing, and taking the elevator.
• If you arrive early, you can go up and sit outside the Skyline Room.
• Dress is museum casual. However, given the food, ambiance, and level of service, you may want to dress up a bit more.
• You may want to arrive early to have a better choice of seats.
• There are restrooms there on the sixth floor.
• I get the impression that food-wise, it might be better to eat at the early seating.

Below is the menu from my brunch. There were a few other items available that weren't listed on the menu. One was grilled asparagus. There was also fruit stuffed with a creamy filling. I'm embarrassed to say that I was unfamiliar with this type of fruit, and I still don't know what it was. (Perhaps it was passion fruit?)

The Menu:

• Assorted Breakfast Pastries
• Bagels
• Croissants
• Assorted Tea Breads
• Rosemary Scones
• Assorted Muffins
• Dill Cream Cheese
• Yogurt Parfaits
• Fresh Fruit Platter
• Fritata Station
• Pancetta and Fontina
• Roasted Peppers and Spinach
• Scrambled Eggs
• Breakfast Buffet
• Apple Wood Smoked Bacon
• Maple Glazed Breakfast Ham
• Roasted Potatoes
• Buttermilk Pancakes with Vermont Maple Syrup
• Almond Crusted French Toast stuffed with Mascarpone-Ricotta Cheese Filling
• Brunch Buffet
• Mixed Green Salad with Herb Goat Cheese Crostini and Olive Tapenade and Balsamic Dressing
• Caesar Salad with Lemon Anchovy Dressing and Parmigiano Reggiano
• Yukon Gold Basil Potato Puree
• Sauteed Autumn Vegetable Melange
• Penne Pasta with Wolfgang's Bolognese Sauce
• Pan Seared Chicken with Sauteed Spinach and Cabernet Butter Sauce
• Carving Station
• Citrus Brined Pork Tenderloin
• Soy Glazed Flank Steak
• Sweet Chili Glazed Salmon
• Cranberry Chutney, Chinese Mustard, Dill Cream, Apricot Marmalade
• Assorted Wolfgang Puck Specialty Desserts
• Cheese Cake
• Chocolate Mousse
• Pear wrapped in Phyllo
• Coffee Cake

I visited a preview of the "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination" at the Museum of Science in Boston, on Sunday, October 23, 2005. It was okay. The exhibit was smaller and somewhat disappointing when compared to the previous Lord of the Rings exhibit. There weren't as many movie props to see. On a more positive note, this exhibit contained more science and educational content. http://starwars.mos.org/

Visiting Tips

• The exhibit is on the second floor of the Red Wing. The stairs to the exhibit are just past the food court.
• You need to purchase timed tickets to the exhibit. Entrance times are every 15 minutes. Adult tickets are $20. Exhibit admission includes a separate ticket for entrance to the rest of the museum which can be used anytime within six months of purchase.
• You can go upstairs to wait in line at the exhibit entrance 15 minutes before your entry time.
• It is possible for the entire day's supply of tickets to sell out, so you may want to pre-purchase.
• Once you enter the exhibit, you can stay as long as you want. However, if you leave then you cannot re-enter. I'd plan to stay about two hours.
• Strollers, food and drink, and bags are not allowed inside the exhibit.
• Yes, cameras and photography are allowed in the exhibit!

About the Exhibit

• There is a Robot Theater inside the exhibit. It is a 15-minute video and animatronics show. The show capacity is about 35, making it something you'll need to wait in line to see. My feeling is that this show is worth waiting for, though hopefully you won't have to wait more than 30 minutes.
• Like all museum exhibits, this one exits through a gift shop, this one with various Star Wars merchandise. Except for the companion book, none of the gift shop merchandise is related to the exhibit. (I had been hoping that there might be exhibit t-shirts or posters.)
• Costumes on display: Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padme, assorted Wookies, Tusken Raider, Jawa, C-3PO and R2-D2, Yoda, Storm Trooper, Wampa.
• Models on display: Millennium Falcon, various other spaceships, full-size Landspeeder, Droideka, Battle Droid, Star Destroyer, Tie Fighter, Sebulba's Pod Racer, Blockade Runner, AT-AT and other Empire armored transport vehicles, Wookie tree miniature, Jawa Sandcrawler.
• Props on display: various Lightsabers, various Blasters, Thermonuclear Detonator, Medical Droids, Anakin's prosthetic arm, Luke's prosthetic arm, Darth Vader's mask.
• Science featured in the exhibit: Abiocor heart, Roomba, Robosapien, artificial skin, proposed "real" spacecraft (rambus engines, antimatter rockets, etc.), cold weather clothing, prosthetics and cybernetics, Maglev technology, Braingate cortical implant, C-leg prosthetic leg, Boston Digital Arm, exploring cold climates, exploring the forest canopy, living in desert worlds, robot vision, robot balance.
• Activities inside the exhibit: drive a small hovercraft, Maglev engineering lab, robot vision demonstration, robot design lab, virtual community game with augmented reality, a 2-wheeled robot that could balance itself.

Multimedia Tour

• There's an audiovisual Multimedia Tour that you can purchase. The price for adults is $5.
• The Multimedia Tour is free for visitors with hearing or visual impairments.
• The Multimedia Tour is basically a Toshiba PocketPC device with headphones. The device has a touchscreen which is the way you interact with the device. Certain exhibits have a number, and you can enter the number on the device for an additional audio track.
• The device comes with a lanyard for you to wear around your neck as you walk throughout the exhibit. You pick up the device just outside of the exhibit entrance upstairs, and you return it just in front of the exhibit exit.
• There are only 22 exhibits that have a Multimedia Tour track. Some of these tracks lead to additional sub-tracks.
• Though touted as "multimedia", most of the Multimedia Tour tracks are audio-only. There are only a few video clips and still images. The video clips were difficult to hear-- the volume is softer than the audio tracks.
• There is some sort of bookmarking feature which will allow you to send content via email. I didn't try this feature.
• My overall impression of the Multimedia Tour is that it might not be worth it. There just isn't that much content available for the device.
• If you do get the Multimedia Tour, I advise not using it at the beginning of your visit. There are a lot of other things to see, videos to watch, etc., and your time might be better spent with these before listening to the Multimedia Tour. Where the Multimedia Tour comes in handy is for killing time in line for Robot Theatre.

Millennium Falcon ride

• There's an upcharge Millennium Falcon simulator ride (not a motion ride, I believe-- just audiovisual). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get tickets for this.
• You'll need to buy timed tickets for this ride. Tickets are $5.
• My impression is that the ride has a low capacity and that tickets might sell out quickly.
• The simulator is on the ground floor of the Red Wing, near the stairs to the Star Wars exhibit.
• Apparently, the ride comes with a souvenir pin.