Back to Boston, Part 2

Seven months later I was back in Boston, this time with Dayne on our way to his Andover reunion. Since we've both been multiple times, we were mainly just in to check out some restaurants and bars before heading to Cape Cod for a week. This post should be titled, Booze & Food in Boston.

We decided to stay at the Kimpton Marlowe in Cambridge since we hadn't stayed in that area before. The hotel was very good and had great service, we'd absolutely stay again. They have kayaks and bike you can borrow when the weather is nice, and of course the Kimpton wine hour each evening.

 Our first stop was at the semi new Brick & Mortar to say hi to Misty who had since left Drink, and to have a fantastic cocktail which she is so good at making. The bar also has some very good food including chicken confit wings. Before we left Misty poured us shots of house bottled and chilled Diamondbacks. Now that is a shot I can get behind.

Next stop, Island Creek Oyster Bar. This is the sister restaurant and bar to Eastern Standard and was really fantastic with a great cocktail menu and raw bar. Seasonal, as well as innovative mains, like my fluke with spatzel and favas and Dayne's lobster roe noodles with braised beef and lobster tail were excellent.

We finished the evening with a nightcap at The Hawthorn Bar, connected to both the restaurant and The Commonwealth Hotel. We had been chatting with the restaurant manager and he offered to get us into the bar, past the line, with fantastic seats in the small bar. I'd like to go back and have a few more rounds here as well!



Sunday morning started at Eastern Standard for brunch. We found the drinks as good as when we originally visited 5 years ago but the food itself was just meh.

The rest of the day was spent shopping around Harvard Square as well as grabbing a quick salad and drink at the Russell, after finding the new location of the Brazilian restaurant Orinoco closed between the hours of 3 and 5pm.

We had happy hour at the recommended Green Street, a funky old bar and grill that made me feel like I was drinking at Paul Revere's house (small, low timbered ceilings...)

Our friend Joel happened to be in town on business from Seattle so the 3 of us met up for a wonderful dinner at Craigie on Main (which also has a really stellar cocktail menu). We opted for the 6 course $65 tasting menu which was awesome. This dish of squid ink pasta and clam followed a dish of three amuse, one of them being squid noodles. I loved the natural succession of the courses. 




Before leaving for Cape Cod (and then Andover) in the morning, we had a tip from Woodinville distributor Steve Williams to check out Grand Ten Distilling in South Boston. The tasting room is still under construction but the gin is bottled and ready to be purchased. It's a great American style gin, similar in flavor to our own San Juan's Spy Hop but it includes the local cranberry as the acid note. Additionally they are aging a gin, have their own apple brandy in barrels and are going to be bottling a Medford style rum soon. Check them out the next time you are there!




Heading south to Boston, from the reunion the next week, we checked out a few more places before flying home.

Just north of Cambridge we stopped in Somerville to taste our way through a nice bitters selection at The Boston Shaker. They have loads of fun stuff for drink geeks including bar ware, books and bitters/syrups/garnishes. Highly recommend a stop if you have the chance.

Back in Boston we had one more taste of the Cape at Summer Shack, a casual fun eatery in Back Bay. Oysters on the half shell, lobster rolls, clam rolls and house made chips. All delicious.

Then we spent some time exploring the New England Aquarium, home of Myrtle the 600 pound turtle, shark and ray touch tanks, jellies, penguins and seals before catching our flight back home.




All Boston photos here

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Location:Boston, MA

Back to Boston, Part 1

Last November Forest & I met up in Boston for a girl's weekend, basically a halfway point between Seattle and Paris. Also handy that our friend Prerna was living there at the time, making it an especially fun catch up!

I arrived in the evening and the three of us immediately headed out to Eastern Standard where another girlfriend, Kitty, was hosting a launch party for No. 3 Gin. Girlfriends, gin & well made cocktails; what better way to kick off a weekend.

photo "borrowed" from Forest

On the way home we stopped off at Citizen, a cute place for drinks and food, to say hi to another friend from Seattle who is in Boston for law school (natch).

In the morning we took a beautiful drive out along the coast. The fall colors were still holding on and it was a gorgeous sunny day. Our first stop was Marky's Lobster Pool just across the border in New Hampshire, for lunch of lobster rolls, fried clams & onion rings. Not bad, not the best I've had but a great atmosphere right on the shore and certainly a good stop if you are up in the area.

We then headed to Newburyport which is a very cute New England town, lots of brick and cobblestones. We found a huge antiques shop in a big old barn and spent some time wandering around the boutiques and windows shopping.

Back in town, we headed over to Drink for pre-dinner cocktails. The space and the libations here are excellent. We had a great time and got to see yet another friend, Misty, who was mixing behind the bar.

Dinner that night was at Bondir in Cambridge. Wow! This place is just fantastic! It's a tiny spot so reservations are essential. There is a lovely fireplace, where they were roasting chestnuts to serve as a snack with our wine while we waited for our table.

Kitty had joined us and with the menu being full of easy to share, delicious sounding dishes we had a really hard time deciding what to get. We finally settled on it all, minus the soup and the chicken dish. Restraint you know?

Also "borrowed" from Forrest

The chef, French born and bred, was happy to come out and chat with us. The staff was excellent and the food was really, really good. I'd love to go back and highly recommend it for those heading to Boston. One of the stand out dishes for me was "Hand-Rolled Cavatelli, Tamworth Sow and Venison Ragu, Red Wine, Bitter Cocoa". Gorgeous.

Full on excellent wine and food we headed back to Prerna's for nightcaps and girly chat until the wee hours.

Because we were all a bit worn out from the night before, we opted to hang out around the house, work on our upcoming Costa Rica trip and rent Rom-coms.

But the next morning we walked down to Prerna's neighborhood Venezuelan restaurant and bar, Orinoco,  for some seriously decadent arepas and Brazilian sours. Now that is the way to start a day! They just opened a new location in Cambridge that is mostly restaurant, this one had a cute little bar too, but I hear all the offerings are the same.

After dropping Forest off at the airport, Prerna and I spent the beautiful fall afternoon walking around Harvard Square and shopping. We also had very good drinks & dinner at the Russell House Tavern.

Beantown never disappoints!


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Location: Alaska Air flight to Boston

Boston.........

In June we headed back east for Dayne's 20th year high school reunion- yikes!!! Luckily Dayne went to Phillips Academy which is not your typical school, this makes it more enjoyable! And we also have to fly into Boston to get to Andover.

We spent a night in Boston at the Westin Boston Waterfront as they were having a special which involved tickets to the Institute of Contemporary Arts and free breakfast. We had a very nice dinner at No. 9 Park where we decided to have the Chef's Tasting Menu and wine pairings. The restaurant is quite pretty and obviously very popular as I had made our reservations 1 month in advance and the entire restaurant and bar were packed all evening. After dinner eGullet member Nishla had recommended we check out Eastern Standard for cocktails. We had a fabulous time here! Bartenders Tom & Jackson mixed perfect drinks and the atmosphere was very fun and casual- highly recommended now by us!

We visited the ICA the next morning where my favorite pieces where this "Hanging Fire" by Cornelia Parker

and Space House by Misaki Kawai! So fun!! There was also a very interesting photography exhibit by Philip-Lorca diCorcia.

And of course what is a trip to Boston without shopping on Newbury Street and a Lobster Roll for lunch!

As you can probably guess we didn't take the camera out in Boston- not sure why but sometimes that happens! More of New England coming up....................