Boston Fireworks

One of my favorite traditions since moving to the city has been going to the Boston fireworks.  Most years we meet up with friends in Central Square, grab dinner, and walk down Mass Ave. to the river.  This year, we met up with friends in Boston for dinner, before watching the fireworks from the Longfellow Bridge (by the way I miss this bridge horribly, but that's a subject for another blog.)

Since it was 90+ outside we decided to take a cab from Inman to Scampo at the Liberty Hotel at MGH.  I was super excited since the thought of a walk to Central Square in the heat and humidity was not particularly appealing.  We knew a couple of the roads into Boston were shut down but we didn't think it would be virtually impossible to get into Boston.  It was ridiculous.  I totally understand the security reasons for this and am not complaining but we ended up having to walk from the Science Museum down to MGH.  The walk to Central would've been shorter.  Go figure!

Speaking of security- impressive is the word to use.  There was an incredible amount of police and FBI.  We saw an armored vehicle go down Storrow Drive, which was closed to traffic of any kind.  I definitely felt safe and secure.

Once arriving at the restaurant all was better.  It was nicely air conditioned and simply lovely.  I've been here once before, and had really enjoyed it.  If you go here for the first time I highly recommend looking at the menu ahead of time online.  To say it's diverse and complex is an understatement.  I really appreciated that on such a busy dining day our waiter let us take out time before ordering.  He had no intentions on rushing us and that really made the evening so enjoyable.  The fact that he was a dead ringer for Jim Carey (and Jim Carey was in the restaurant once and took a pic with him) made it even better.

I ordered the rock shrimp risotto with monk fish cheek pieces and to be honest I have been dreaming of this dish ever since.  Delicious!  We had a really fun time catching up with our friends who we hadn't seen in quite a while.  They are getting married in October and they had just decided to use our Justice of the Peace so it was fun to talk about how awesome she is!

After dinner we walked down towards the Esplanade, but it was way too crowded (not surprisingly) so we made our way up the Longfellow Bridge (still very sad about this bridge being closed) to watch the fireworks.  It was a good vantage point for watching the fireworks but we definitely missed the music.  Next year I think we need to go back to the Cambridge side.

After the fireworks we walked back to Inman and grabbed a few drinks at Bukowski's.  It was definitely a fun, city way to start the summer!