More Fun in Kendall~ Za and State Park

Another Friday night found us heading over to Kendall for another night out.  This night found us headed over to restaurant row on Third Street.  This little restaurant row houses Za Pizza, Evoo, Kikas Tapas, an Indian restaurant, and Commonwealth Market and Restaurant.  Each restaurant has large patios and ample indoor seating so finding a table, inside or outside, is usually pretty easy.  We opted for Za Pizza, and of course, once again it looked like it would rain, so we took a seat inside.

Za Pizza is a good replacement for our weekly outings to the now closed Emma's Pizza that we had gotten in the habit of back in the fall.  There are a lot of pizza options, funky and standard, and salads too.  The atmosphere is fun inside, super casual but with table service.  We had fun planning our summer road trip.

After dinner, I decided the evening needed to continue so we headed over to State Park (we were going to walk past it anyways).  A few years back I stumbled upon this delicious cocktail called an Old Cuban~ mint, dark rum, lemon and bubbles, and State Park has the best one in the city (even though it's not really on the menu anymore...but go ahead and ask for it, they will make it for you.)  We were fortunate to get two seats at the bar, with the awesome bartender that makes the drink perfectly.  I say it every time I go to State Park, the designer nailed everything about the concept.  I still feel like I've walked into a dive bar out West every time I go through the green screen door.  This place is a perfect escape from some of the more bourgeoisie places cropping up in Cambridge lately.  No, on a run of the mill night out I don't want quail eggs, dipped in uni, and rolled in sea urchin paste!  That stuff has a place, and is usually marvelously done, but I'm all for more traditional, affordable bar options at a neighborhood (although this is Kendall so I use that term loosely, since you can't really live anywhere near State Park) place like State Park.  Anyways, I got two of those Old Cubans and the first was perfection, the second a little heavy on the lemon.  I guess that means, we'll just have to go back.