The End of Summer

JO and I almost always go on a road trip in at the end of August.  As a result, our city summer ends before the official end of the summer.  This year's trip was AMAZING (and I'm hoping to post about it at some point, but school has started so I'm sure it will be delayed.)  Before we left for our trip I squeezed in a few more fun city outings!

Grafton Street

I met up with a good friend, who I hadn't seen since June because of our crazy schedules, for dinner in Harvard Square.  We decided to go Grafton Street.  There are so many great choices in Harvard Square so it's always difficult to decide where to go.  I always forget how good the Grafton is.  I love the atmosphere inside.  The lighting is soft, the dining space is quite large so you're not on top of other patrons.  The bar is great and the food is quite good too.  I ended up getting a pizza and it was delicious!  They also have a great patio but it was pouring rain so we missed out on that.  It was great to catch up with my friend and then we realized our schedules were so crazy we wouldn't see each other again until September.

The Hourly

JO and I went to The Hourly to check it out for drinks one night after a soccer game.  The Hourly opened in the space that used to house First Printer and Kennedy's.  It's kind of a doomed restaurant space.  First Printer and Kennedy's both didn't fare very well.  The space itself is awesome.  It has high ceilings, large windows, and a huge three sided bar in the middle.  I'm not in love with the renovations The Hourly did.  They hung a bunch of old sailing and fishing pictures all over the place but they don't seem to belong.  They kept the bar and the seating pretty much the same as before and I'm happy about that.  I loved that they served their bubbles in coups and the bartenders were very nice.  I'm glad we tried it, and I really wanted to like this place, but it was just kind of ok.  We didn't hate it but we didn't love it.  With so many choices in Harvard Square we barely have time to go back to our favorites so I'm not sure if we'll make it back here.

Bisq

Bisq is in Inman and we visited when it first opened a few years ago.  We loved it but never went back.  On our last Saturday night in the city before our trip I really wanted oysters and bubbles and JO really wanted to go see the Big Sick.  We decided to go to Bisq for their $1.00 oysters before heading over to Kendall for the movie.  We got there right when it opened so we were able to get two seats at the bar.  The bar at Bisq is quite small, maybe six seats and two tables that seat four so getting a spot is tough.  The oysters were delicious and I loved my bubbles!  Bisq does a lot of small plates that are really well crafted, but on the pricey side (not super expensive, I don't want to scare anyone away but more than we tend to spend on dinner.)  But they also do great things like dollar oysters, fried chicken Sundays, and a monthly brunch that's usually created around a theme so there are so very affordable ways to access Bisq outside of special meals.