Boston Restaurants

City and Sibling Rivalry

Posted on Jul 3, 2011 | 7 comments

Durham has some great little restaurants and I love the emphasis on farm to table food. But, let’s be honest, the restaurant selection here will never rival Boston’s!

So, on our last night in beantown, we got to try one more swanky south end gem: Sibling Rivalry. The dinner was compliments of a giftcard from none other than my sibling:)

Sibling Rivalry is unique because the menu was created by two brothers who each interpreted a certain ingredient to create different appetizers, salads, and entrees. For example, curry was the ingredient that our appetizer was based on.

These Prince Edward Island mussels were prepared with a chili-ginger-coconut milk curry sauce with cilantro and lime. The flavor was incredible, not to mention the mussels were huge!

These were probably the best mussels I’ve had while living in the Northeast. Oh, and there was a breadbasket with french bread and raisin and chive scones! Perfect for soaking up the extra mussel sauce.

Once I decided on a seafood entree, I ordered with a semi-sweet riesling.

The main event was based on chilies – jumbo Cape scallops with an Anaheim chili relleno, chorizo, black beans, and and a tomatillo relish.

Can we just talk about this flavor combination? ALL of the entrees had really unique ingredients and it was tough to choose. I wouldn’t say this was my favorite entree in Boston, but it was up there, and the menu was definitely the most creative menu I’ve seen in Boston.

The scallops were perfect and a nice compliment to the spicy chili. I was expecting more of a flavor punch in the chili and black beans, but I still enjoyed them.

And that, my friends, was my last dinner in Boston:(

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Today is a very special someone’s birthday, so I’m off to make pancakes and celebrate for the rest of the day.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Best of Boston

Posted on Jun 26, 2011 | 7 comments

Boston is truly an amazing city filled with great restaurants, unique bars, and beautiful sights…

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the my Best of Boston! I apologize that I don’t have links to all of the recommendations – I visited some of these places before I started blogging.

Obviously, most of my categories are food related, starting with the best…

Places to Eat Pizza

• The Pizza and Ice Cream Company (PICCO)
• Coppa
• Penguin Pizza

Places for a Cocktail

• The Liberty Hotel
• Top of Hub

Places to Drink Beer

• The Mission
• Meadhall
• Cambridge Common
• Publick House

Upscale Restaurants

• Oleana
• Son-sie
• Post 390
• Masa

Casual Restaurants

• Grafton St. Pub
• The Otherside Cafe (vegan and vegetarian friendly)
• Parish Cafe
• Amrheins (you MUST get the pumpkin risotto in the fall!!!)

Patios

• The Intercontinental Hotel
• Hamersley’s Bistro
• Cambridge Brewing Co.
• The Rattlesnake roof deck
• Tavern on the Water

Mexican Food

• The Border Cafe (get the crawfish quesadillas)
• Lolita

Places to Eat Dessert

• Mike’s Pastry
• Top of Hub (cookie sampler)
• Max Brenner (‘the works’ dessert pizza)

Places for Live Music

• The Beehive – make a late reservation for a seat in “the pit” and you’ll most likely hear a funky jazz band
• The Burren – I’ve only been here once and the live music was great (much more alternative then the typical stuff at the Faneuill Hall bars below)
• Faneuil Hall Bars – a bunch of them actually have fun live/dancing bands, but be prepared for lines. I’ve liked bands at the Bell in Hand, Hennessey’s, and Ned Divine’s

Burger

• Russell House Tavern
• Boston Burger Company (get the caramel sweet potato fries too!)

Ethnic Food

• Mela
• Addis Red Sea
• Myers + Chang
• Toro
• Teranga

Things To Do

  

• Have a picnic on the Esplanade
• Visit the Museum of Fine Arts
• Visit Boston’s breweries (Harpoon and Sam Adams; Harpoon has a more generous tasting)
• Tour an old house in the Back Bay
• Take the MBTA ferry over to Charlestown and see the USS Constitution and grab a beer at Tavern on the Water

The Works

Posted on Jun 25, 2011 | 3 comments

I simply couldn’t leave Boston without visiting the new Max Brenner for the chocolate pizza. If you’re not familiar with the bald man below, he’s created an entire chocolate restaurant.

So, last night we met Lauren and Evan for one last double date:(

We couldn’t resist trying one of the adult beverages, so Matt and I split a drink with peanut and caramel liqueur and chocolate. It tasted like a milkshake, which was a good thing, but I was hoping it would have more of a punch to it.

And here she is: “the works” pizza with banana, hazelnut bits, chocolate, toasted marshmallows, and a peanut butter drizzle.

Words can’t really describe this masterpiece. Let’s just say it tastes just as good as it looks.

I actually had the non-works version of this pizza when I was visiting a friend in NYC back in 2006 and I dug up a picture documenting the occasion.

I think it was even better the second time around:)

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Final packing happens today in preparation for the truck’s arrival tomorrow. We’ll also be bidding farewell to all of our friends with one last trip to the lovely Border Cafe tonight.

I hope you have a restful Saturday.

I Need More Boxes

Posted on Jun 23, 2011 | 3 comments

It’s freezing and rainy today and I can’t get to the window to close it!

But, I’m making a lot of progress! I’d say I’m more than half way packed, but I keep finding piles of stuff hidden away in cabinets and corners…and I’m out of boxes.

I went to the gym for a quick run/stair climber combo and then had to go to city hall to get a moving permit. It was quite the interesting experience, but I left $60 poorer just to get a sign that says I can park the moving truck for 12 hours.

It was worth it though because Matt took me out to lunch! We had to go to b.good one last time and figured it would be a good opportunity since I was in Matt’s neck of the woods. I got a burger with avocado and salsa and we split the wonderful sweet potato fries.

Delish and I love that most of the ingredients are local. I only wish they had locations in NC:(

We’re down to the last three days here, so things are going to get quite busy with goodbyes, dinners, and final packing. I hope to continue with regular blogging and stay tuned for my Best of Boston list.

The Last Day of Spring

Posted on Jun 21, 2011 | 4 comments

Last night was full of more goodbyes:( My wonderful supervisor took us our for dinner and drinks and we were luckily enough to get a patio seat at Dillon’s on a beautiful evening. I had two glasses of one of my go-to rieslings (Saint M) with dinner. I’m picky about white wine, but on a hot day it can be so refreshing.

The table shared some of the biggest sweet potato fries I have ever seen. These were awesome!

I got an amazing pile of raspberries, goat cheese, candied pecans, and mushrooms over spinach and arugula. This salad paired soo perfectly with the wine.

After dinner, we had planned on going bowling with the rest of the group, but two of the others (who are well over-age) were not able to get into the bowling alley! So we went to a local mexican restaurant instead. I enjoyed a few Mexican beers and the atmosphere was actually better for conversation than bowling alley (plus, I was happy to save the money – bowling in the North is pricey!). I’ve been so fortunate to be able to work with a bunch of friends at my internship site and it was fun to have one last night out with everyone.

I’m off to do more packing. I saw the only spider I’ve seen in three whole years of living here, so I’m taking that as a sign that’s it’s time for me to move:)

Must go to Post

Posted on Jun 19, 2011 | 8 comments

WOW. I had one of the most memorable dining experiences last night. I’m so lucky to have had the opportunity to try some incredible Boston restaurants over the past three years and last night was in the top five best meals I’ve ever had (in Boston).

[Disclaimer - one of the themes of my blog is balance, and just so ya know, this next month is NOT going to be balanced since we're hitting all our favorite restaurants before moving, celebrating Matt's b-day, and then taking advantage of the extended time off with a 10 day vacation and a wedding. My life will probably be more more normal when (if?) I get a job:)]

Back to the story! So, we took a big load of donations to the Goodwill in Cambridge and figured we would hit another beer spot while we were in the neighborhood. Meadhall is a brand new beer mecca that Matt read about in Urban Daddy.

This is only HALF of the taps. Heaven.

I had a Rare Vos, a Belgian ale by Ommegang. It was a bit lighter in flavor compared to some of my favorite Belgians, but was very well rounded and still delicious.

Matt and I also split an Allagash Victor because it’s availability is very limited outside the area. It was brewed with red grapes and was thick and somewhat fruity. I loved that it was different and dry like wine.

I mentioned yesterday that we had a giftcard for a Back Bay restaurant called Post 390 that we got for Christmas from Kath’s MIL, Karen. I don’t comment on service very often (because I find it’s usually just average), but I was very impressed last night. I said something about how freezing the restaurant was, and three different people came to tell me that they had made adjustments. We also asked asked if we could be moved to a window and we were moved to an awesome seat right away.

We had a nice view of the city just as the sun was setting.

Matt and I split one of the signature cocktails in an attempt to save money – this was bourbon, muddled orange & mint, orange bitters, and lime juice. DIVINE.

I just had to try the sour cream biscuits with orange and jalapeno marmalade. Umm, fabulous flavor and texture and the marmalade was perfect.

And then I ordered a Maker’s and sour because I wanted more bourbon after the southern biscuits.

But what really knocked my socks off was the giant grilled salmon over baked beans with cole slaw, bbq sauce, and cornbread that I got as my entree. Simple yet brilliant.

The salmon was phenomenal by itself, but when I topped it with the bbq sauce and added a fork full of beans, the earth stopped turning. It was that good. My one and only complaint was that the cornbread was pretty dry and didn’t even compare to the biscuits.

Matt’s coffee rubbed (!!!) pork with blue cheese and strawberry rhubarb compote was equally delicious. What a creation.

Oh yeah, and Mike’s cake from the freezer for dessert. Need I say more?