No better way to end a rather relaxing vacation than with a girls night out in Boston.
Saturday night I headed out with two really great friends to enjoy a night out in the city. Our first stop was Alibi at the Liberty Hotel. In previous posts I detailed my love of this bar. We headed in around 6:45 and struck the jackpot with basically the entire place to ourselves. In my "old age" I have become more and more appreciative of bars and restaurants that aren't ridiculously loud so you can actually have a conversation with friends. Of course if we arrived at 9:00 it would have been much different so I'll just have to file away this good timing for future ventures.
After a delightful stint at Alibi we walked down Charles Street to Toscano's. This was very reminiscent of our summer outing during Restaurant Week last year. I love, love, love Charles Street. It's such a fun street to walk down during any season, but there's something special in the winter when there's snow on the ground.
We got a great table at Toscano's with a view looking out onto Charles Street which just adds to the great atmosphere of this restaurant. It was a great backdrop for a night out with great friends. It reminded me just how lucky I am to live where I live and have had the opportunity to meet such great friends!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
60 in February...You Read That Right!
Last Friday was the day before February vacation, and it was 60 degrees out! After such a miserable winter I couldn't wait for school to get out so I could race into Harvard Square for some much needed shopping and fresh air. It had been so long since I had the chance to wander around the Square and window shop!
I hit up all of my favorite stores including the Coop, Zinnia jewelery, the Harvard Bookstore, Urban Outfitters, Berk's Shoes, EMS, and lots more. I even had time to stop into the Brattle Street Florist to inquire about wedding flowers. Towards the end of my time in the Square I happened to pass Charlie's Kitchen and much to my excitement their Beer Garden was open. I decided to wait for JO and our Inman friends to arrive so I took a walk over to Daedalus and found out the roof deck was open! I was so excited!
Sadly, Mother Nature hates me and a huge, crazy lightning sideways rain storm struck up just as we were deciding whether or not it had gotten too cold to eat outside. Ughh!
We ended up having a lovely evening inside at Trata. Since that beautiful day we've seen more snow and frigid temps! March is just around the corner and I really hope we get an early spring like we had last year.
I hit up all of my favorite stores including the Coop, Zinnia jewelery, the Harvard Bookstore, Urban Outfitters, Berk's Shoes, EMS, and lots more. I even had time to stop into the Brattle Street Florist to inquire about wedding flowers. Towards the end of my time in the Square I happened to pass Charlie's Kitchen and much to my excitement their Beer Garden was open. I decided to wait for JO and our Inman friends to arrive so I took a walk over to Daedalus and found out the roof deck was open! I was so excited!
Sadly, Mother Nature hates me and a huge, crazy lightning sideways rain storm struck up just as we were deciding whether or not it had gotten too cold to eat outside. Ughh!
We ended up having a lovely evening inside at Trata. Since that beautiful day we've seen more snow and frigid temps! March is just around the corner and I really hope we get an early spring like we had last year.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Out and About - Inman Square and Beyond
Surprise, surprise! Since my last post we had yet another huge storm and yet another snow day. If you're keeping track that's 6 snow days in total! To say it's made school challenging is an understatement. This storm came with a big freezing rain/ice storm at the tail end. It's also made enjoying the city a bit tough. With more than 60 inches of snow in one month getting from one place to other around here has been difficult.
(This poor person thought it was a good idea to put the chair out to save her spot. Someone took offense to that and removed the chair and shoveled snow back into the spot.)
(These huge puddles froze offer. Not fun!)
(To steal a quote from a friend of mine, "These snow piles are bigger than me!"
(At one point many of the streets around here had an actual current!)
That being said, last Friday we couldn't take it anymore. Even though walking on the sidewalks was a bit treacherous we headed into Boston to enjoy dinner at one of our new favorite restaurants, Teatro. Read my earlier post to read more about what makes this place so great. I've been craving their mushroom risotto since November. I swear the only reason we were able to get reservations on a Friday night was because of the snow. We really enjoyed the "ensemble waitstaff." Your glass will never be empty for more than 15 seconds in this place, and nor will your small plates be askew. After a delicious dinner we headed over to the Last Hurrah at the Omni Parker. I just absolutely love this place. It's so relaxed, yet you're in a pretty fancy hotel in downtown Boston. We did a little exploring on our way out and found an absolutely amazing table in the other hotel bar overlooking trees all lit up with white Christmas lights. We immediately put that on our to-do list.
This weekend we had a lot to do so we stayed closer to home. Friday night we once again ended up at Trina's Starlite Lounge. This place is fast becoming a frequent stop for us. Saturday night we decided to go to Atwood's Tavern. Although it's not exactly in Inman it's only about a ten minute walk from our apartment. It's been ages since we've been there and we were in the mood for something new so we headed over there. On the way we walked past Bosphorus, a new restaurant in our Square that just opened up last week. It looked really intriguing but we stayed on our original course. Just our luck- Atwoods was closed for a special event so we immediately decided to try out Bosphorus.
I'm so glad we did. The atmosphere is really nice, and unlike any other place in the Square. Bosphorus specializing in Turkish and Mediterranean cuisine and the decor reflects this. They have really soothing, soft lighting and a neat wooden sculpture covering the back wall. The booths have huge lanterns above them. We got one of the last tables available. The drink menu is really interesting with lots of imported options. JO got a meatball stuffed with potato puree in a tomato vegetable mixture. I'm not usually a big tomato sauce fan but it was delicious. I got the pan fried haddock and it was absolutely delicious. It was some of the best fish I have ever had...perfectly seasoned and perfectly cooked. The presentation of both dishes was very nice. I enjoyed every minute of dinner and can't wait to go back for the artichoke salad! It's so nice to have an option like this in our Square.
At dinner we were talking about how many cultures are represented by restaurants in our Square alone. We have Mexican, American, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Portuguese, Indian, and Southern. I love that in a four block radius I can travel the globe in food!
Speaking of Southern food a few weeks ago we tried Tupelo. Tupelo opened up about a year and half ago in the space left empty when Magnolia's closed. Magnolia's was a great Southern restaurant that I was lucky enough to go to twice. Tupelo is constantly being written up in Boston Magazine and we are constantly kicking ourselves for not trying it. I really enjoyed the food, albeit some of it has a pretty strong kick to it. My big complaint is that there isn't enough shellfish on the menu. I was really hoping for a crab dish of some sort. They did have crawfish but I wasn't really intersted in that. I'd love to go back for brunch sometime as the line is usually out the door on the weekends.
It's been a fun few weeks and I'm looking forward to the prospects of temperatures in the high 50s at the end of this week. We'll see if that really happens :-)
(This poor person thought it was a good idea to put the chair out to save her spot. Someone took offense to that and removed the chair and shoveled snow back into the spot.)
(These huge puddles froze offer. Not fun!)
(To steal a quote from a friend of mine, "These snow piles are bigger than me!"
(At one point many of the streets around here had an actual current!)
That being said, last Friday we couldn't take it anymore. Even though walking on the sidewalks was a bit treacherous we headed into Boston to enjoy dinner at one of our new favorite restaurants, Teatro. Read my earlier post to read more about what makes this place so great. I've been craving their mushroom risotto since November. I swear the only reason we were able to get reservations on a Friday night was because of the snow. We really enjoyed the "ensemble waitstaff." Your glass will never be empty for more than 15 seconds in this place, and nor will your small plates be askew. After a delicious dinner we headed over to the Last Hurrah at the Omni Parker. I just absolutely love this place. It's so relaxed, yet you're in a pretty fancy hotel in downtown Boston. We did a little exploring on our way out and found an absolutely amazing table in the other hotel bar overlooking trees all lit up with white Christmas lights. We immediately put that on our to-do list.
This weekend we had a lot to do so we stayed closer to home. Friday night we once again ended up at Trina's Starlite Lounge. This place is fast becoming a frequent stop for us. Saturday night we decided to go to Atwood's Tavern. Although it's not exactly in Inman it's only about a ten minute walk from our apartment. It's been ages since we've been there and we were in the mood for something new so we headed over there. On the way we walked past Bosphorus, a new restaurant in our Square that just opened up last week. It looked really intriguing but we stayed on our original course. Just our luck- Atwoods was closed for a special event so we immediately decided to try out Bosphorus.
I'm so glad we did. The atmosphere is really nice, and unlike any other place in the Square. Bosphorus specializing in Turkish and Mediterranean cuisine and the decor reflects this. They have really soothing, soft lighting and a neat wooden sculpture covering the back wall. The booths have huge lanterns above them. We got one of the last tables available. The drink menu is really interesting with lots of imported options. JO got a meatball stuffed with potato puree in a tomato vegetable mixture. I'm not usually a big tomato sauce fan but it was delicious. I got the pan fried haddock and it was absolutely delicious. It was some of the best fish I have ever had...perfectly seasoned and perfectly cooked. The presentation of both dishes was very nice. I enjoyed every minute of dinner and can't wait to go back for the artichoke salad! It's so nice to have an option like this in our Square.
At dinner we were talking about how many cultures are represented by restaurants in our Square alone. We have Mexican, American, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Portuguese, Indian, and Southern. I love that in a four block radius I can travel the globe in food!
Speaking of Southern food a few weeks ago we tried Tupelo. Tupelo opened up about a year and half ago in the space left empty when Magnolia's closed. Magnolia's was a great Southern restaurant that I was lucky enough to go to twice. Tupelo is constantly being written up in Boston Magazine and we are constantly kicking ourselves for not trying it. I really enjoyed the food, albeit some of it has a pretty strong kick to it. My big complaint is that there isn't enough shellfish on the menu. I was really hoping for a crab dish of some sort. They did have crawfish but I wasn't really intersted in that. I'd love to go back for brunch sometime as the line is usually out the door on the weekends.
It's been a fun few weeks and I'm looking forward to the prospects of temperatures in the high 50s at the end of this week. We'll see if that really happens :-)
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