All Star Pizza

The new Inman Square motto

This post is long overdue!  How have I not blogged about All Star Pizza Bar yet?  It's totally wrong and as both a frequent visitor to All Star and a proud Inman Square resident I should be ashamed of myself.  I offer up this meager post as my apology to the mecca that is All Star Pizza Bar.

It used to be that in Inman if you uttered the phrase "All Star" everyone knew you were referring to the renowned sandwich shop All Star Sandwich Bar.  Additionally, for a rather long stretch of time (beginning with the demise of Aram's #1, not to be associated with Aram's #2, and ending with the jubilant grand opening of All Star Pizza Bar) it used to be that in Inman if you wanted pizza you only had one option.  Don't get me wrong, City Girl Cafe has yummy pizza but not much variety and the lack of pizza in our neighborhood was just downright depressing.

That all changed when it was announced that the people behind All Star Sandwich Bar bought the space previously occupied by Aram's with the promise to do to pizza what they had done to sandwiches.  It took them close to a year to renovate the space but slowly things started happening.  Signs went up, humongous pizza ovens were delivered, and murals were painted.  JO and I were constantly updating each other on the progress in the space.  Did you see the awesome mural?  What do you think about the exposed brick wall?  Oh my god! The menu just went up and it looks amazing!  We spent quite a lot of time discussing the evolution of All Star Pizza.  It helped us get through the winter :-)  

The line for the pizza party

Finally, in April, the moment that everyone in Inman had been waiting for happened.  All Star was ready to open.  A few days before the official opening, All Star decided to throw a free pizza party.  I was giddy with excitement all day at work.  People probably thought I was crazy when I said I had to rush out of school at the end of the day to go to a pizza party.  Apparently I wasn't alone.  I got there about a half hour after it started and waited in line for 40 minutes.  Of course I was sending JO pictures since he was in Portland, OR for work.  I finally made it to the pizza counter and I was hooked from my first bite.  It took a lot of restraint on my part not to get pizza on their Grand Opening night, but I held out for JO to get home from his trip so we could try the pizza together.



Since All Star opened we've had our fair share of pizza.  I'm also so overcome with jubilation from their pizza creations that I often post about our All Star visits on Facebook.  As a result, more than one person has commented that they are concerned that all I eat is pizza.  When I brought a couple left over slices to work for lunch several people asked me if this was indeed "the pizza."

Dessert Pizza

One of the cool things they do is have a Funky, and sometimes Funkier, slice/pizza of the day.  These are crazy creations and you just have to try them.  My two favorites have been the shortrib pizza with braised shortribs, roasted mushrooms, and a creamy onion sauce and the dessert pizza featuring roasted apples, chunks of cheesecake, and a walnut, maple burbon drizzle that was to die for.

Shortrib Pizza

My two favorite standard (standard only because they are on the menu daily) pizzas are the Red Head featuring shaved steak, roasted potatoes, cremini mushrooms, applewood bacon, and a horseradish drizzle and the Chile Relleno Pizza featuring salsa verde, corn (yes, that's right and it's delicious!), chorizo, relleno peppers, and Cotija cheese.

The Red Head

Even more than the pizza, and the fact that it's literally 50 steps from our building, what I love about this place is the neighborhood atmosphere.  The owner loves sharing his pizza with Inman and loves how great everyone has been to him.  If he's in the shop he'll stop by your table and ask how the pizza tastes.  It's the kind of place where your greeted not with "What will you have?" but "How's everything going?  Good to see you again."

All Star Pizza Bar deserves all of the awesomeness that has come it's way and I for one, despite my complete lack of a blog post until now, am grateful for it's addition to the Square!

Same Old Story

Sadly it's been over a month since my last blog post.  It's the same old story.  School plus my dad's house kept me super busy.  Fear not.  I had some time to squeeze in city adventures, but certainly not enough time to blog about them.  Thanks to summer vacation though I have all the time in the world now.  It's only been five days but already I feel like I've been on break for a month.  The last two summers have been super busy for me, getting ready to go back to the classroom and wedding planning, so this summer seems extra relaxing.  Here are a couple of highlights from spring in the city.

The Grafton
Towards the end of April vacation I met a friend of mine in Harvard Square for lunch.  We were trying to figure out where to go and settled on The Grafton due to their outdoor seating.  We were lucky enough to get a seat in the perfect spot.  Our table was right where the full windows open onto the patio.  We had the luxury of shade from the restaurant but all the fun of eating outside.  The Grafton's outdoor seating is really great.  I love not only the patio but the bar seating by the full windows.

Meadhall
I headed home from The Grafton when I got a phone call from a good friend saying he was in Kendall Square and wanted to meet up.  Since he was in Kendall, I took the opportunity to suggest a place I had been wanting to try for awhile.  Meadhall opened about a year ago to rave reviews.  We spent a few hours here sitting by the large full sized windows catching up.  This is a great place to hangout and catch up with friends.  With 100 beers on tap everyone should be able to find something they like.

Park Restaurant and Bar
Park opened up in the space formerly occupied by the Redline in Harvard Square.  It's owned by the people who own The Grafton, Temple Bar, and Russel House Tavern.  I didn't love Russel House Tavern when that opened so I didn't hold out high hopes for Park.  In a testament to social media, a picture from Park came up in my Twitter feed and I was instantly intrigued.  The picture showed a large arm chair and small round table in their lounge area.  It reminded me a little bit of The Last Hurrah and anyone who knows me knows I love that place.  Our friends wanted to meet up for drinks one Saturday night so I of course suggested this place.  We got a table in the main bar area and within minutes I was hooked.  I never realized how huge the space was.  They've decorated it perfectly.  The decor was even featured in Boston Magazine last month.  There is a main bar and dining area, a lounge area, a smaller dining room, and another dining room in the back.  Each room is decorated perfectly with a blend of luxury, rustic, and Harvard Square vibes.  You really have to go in person to really get it since I'm not doing a good job explaining it.  Everything at Park is great.  From cheese plates, to chocolate plates, to a trio of bacon tastings and a toast tasting you can't go wrong.  I was so impressed with our visit that we headed back a few weeks later for dinner.  It's easily already one of my favorite places in the Square.  


First Printer (Again)
To celebrate the end of the school year, JO and I decided to head into Harvard Square for dinner at Daedalus and drinks at First Printer.  I have to say, I really enjoy the bar area at First Printer.  The room is so open and bright and the staff is really friendly.  Both First Printer and Park have great sparkling wine options on their menu, something that was lacking in the Square.  I was surprised at how empty the place was, so I don't want to get too attached.  It was recently rated the 2nd most interesting new restaurant in the Boston area so hopefully it won't be going anywhere anytime soon.


Now if this heatwave would just go away I could get back to enjoying the city!

April Vacation!

April vacation started on Friday and with it came amazingly beautiful weather. A few years ago I declared Mission 5 so I wouldn't waste my vacation sitting on the couch. This vacation has been pretty similar to that one.

Friday night we headed over to Casa de Portugal for a delicious dinner. We started with the littleneck clams in a white wine and garlic sauce. They were so delicious I want to go back again to get them.

Saturday we woke up to absolutely beautiful weather. We headed into the Square. I was secretly hoping we would go to Daedalus and get a table at the roof deck so I was super happy when JO directed us in that direction. There is something so fabulous about the roof deck at Daedalus. It's so relaxing and the food is delicious. After lunch we wandered around the Square before stopping in front of the public library to sit in the sun and read a book.

Monday was Marathon Monday. Typically I head into Boston to watch the race but it was so hot I wanted nothing to do with the crowds. Instead I opted for an early morning walk to Harvard Square to sip coffee and read a book in Harvard Yard. My usual summer ritual started early this year! I even grabbed some Pink Berry since there wasn't a line... probably because it was 10:00 a.m. but I didn't care.

Monday night the temps had dropped a bit as we headed in Boston for a city night that had been delayed two weeks due to a nasty cold that took JO forever to get over. We started at the Last Hurrah, one of my favorite places in the city, for a champagne tasting. We each ordered a tasting and ended up having 10 glasses on the table. Usually it's pretty quite in the Last Hurrah but there was a lot of activity due to the marathon. There were a few runners at the table nearby and it was fun to eavesdrop on their postrace discussions. The tasting was really fun and a great bargain for what you get.

After drinks we walked through the Common and Public Gardens and up Comm Ave. to Deuxave. Last year we popped in here for drinks on our way home from a winter night out and we've been wanting to go back for dinner ever since. A good friend moved into a building nearby and she was nice enough to get us a gift card to the restaurant for our wedding.

We grabbed a table outside since it was so nice out. The outdoor seating is fabulous. You have great views of the Pru and Comm Ave. We started out with a spring salad and were so impressed with the flavors in a simple salad. The entire salad was inside a circular vessel created out of potato sticks. Everything was so fresh and delicate tasting. For dinner I got the chicken with crispy mushrooms, spring vegetables, artichoke hearts, and crepes filled with rillette. There were so many flavors and they were each delicious. JO got the Bolognese pasta and he loved it! This place definitely lived up to the hype and we are already thinking about when we can go back next. For dessert we got the creme brule and it was probably the best creme brule I have ever had. It was a fabulous way to spend an evening!

On Tuesday I spent another fabulous morning in the Square before meeting up with a friend at Area Four in Kendall Square. I really haven't walked around Kendall much since our wedding and it was fun to remember a great day. We only had coffee but I really liked the atmosphere of Area Four. I would love to go back again for lunch.

On Wednesday I met up with a friend at Nubar at the Sheraton Commander for lunch. I love visiting the Commander and the food at Nubar is always great. I got the beet and asparagus salad and was blown away. Beets, asparagus, frisee salad, and pickled shallots were dressed in a white wine vinaigrette. The flavors all worked so well together.

This morning I headed back to the Square for coffee and reading before going into Boston to do some shopping at the Prudential Center. While I was there I toured the Skywalk since I get free admission as a teacher. It was a beautiful day to get an arial view of the city.

This vacation has been super so far and just what I needed to make it through the end of the school year.

First Printer

About a year ago JO and I noticed a new restaurant in the works in Harvard Square. We watched the renovations and with each passing sighting we got more and more intrigued. Finally, First Printer opened in mid-March and we were fortunate enough to check it out with a good friend.

It was one of those unseasonably warm nights that we had at the end of March and of course that meant a trip to Harvard Square. After grabbing dinner at John Harvard's we met up with a good friend. Since you couldn't even get near an outdoor table any where in the square we decided to check out First Printer for drinks.

The restaurant is really spacious with high ceilings. There is a wrap around bar in the middle of the space and beautiful tile work on the floor. The walls are decorated with references to the "printing press" which the restaurant is named after. This place used to be Herrell's ice cream and a bank before that. The old bank vault, that Herrell's had used as seating, is still there. There are a couple of tables back there and it adds an interesting spin on private dining.

The drink menu has lots of options as does the food menu. We had a really fun time and the atmosphere was great. We'll definitely be going back again for dinner.

March Madness- Inman Style!

Once again I've been gone for a while. This is mostly due to my favorite time of the year, March Madness! For three weeks every March I get in the zone and watch as much basketball as humanly possible. As a result, I kind of withdraw from society for a while. Of course the tournament has been over for a few weeks now so it's time to get back to blogging.

One of my favorite parts of March Madness is the first day of games. At times there are four different games going on. The new broadcasting format is awesome in that all of the games can be viewed, but you need to be awfully good with the remote to keep on top of it all. Not a problem if you live in Inman Square though.

I happened to have had a doctor's appointment on the first day of games so I was able to head over to Parlor Sports for the opening tip of the tournament. Parlor Sports is the sports bar attached to Trina's Starlite Lounge. Earlier this year Trina's renovated their parlor room and turned it into a sports bar. They did a great job with the renovation and the eight tvs don't hurt either. Back in January JO and I went to Parlor Sports to watch the UConn vs. Notre Dame women's game. The bartender was really awesome about putting the game on one of the tvs and even consoled me when we lost in OT.

So I had no reservations about watching the tournament there. It was a great afternoon. Around 2:15 we hit the magical time when there were four games going on at once and it was great to have multiple tvs so we could watch all of the games without flipping back and forth. Once of the things I love about this place, and Trina's, is the neighborhood feel of the place. The staff really makes an effort to get to know their costumers.

JO and I went back three other times to watch March Madness games. A highlight was the last night when we went to watch the Final Four game and the bartender put our tab under "UConn." Big points in my book!

FYI- tomorrow they are opening early for the the 100th anniversary Red Sox game and serving pizza from All Star Pizza. If I didn't already have plans I would certainly be there.

Birthday Outing

I spent my actual birthday standing with my fellow teachers in support of our union's continued efforts to bargain us a fair contract. Although not ideal, it was very inspiring to be surrounded by colleagues standing up for what we believe in.

We decided to go out for my birthday last Saturday night instead. We decided to start out night at Taranta in the North End. I love this restaurant. It's particularly special because we came here to celebrate after we got engaged. The upstairs dining room is softly lit and has exposed brick and stone work. There are only about 15 tables upstairs so it's really cozy. I also love the fusion aspect of this restaurant- Italian meets Peruvian. It makes for some nice flavor combinations.

We started our meal with the mussels. I think they might be even better than the ones at Daedalus and those are delicious. These are cooked with Marsala and pancetta Abruzzese and balsamic roasted shallots. The flavor is so rich you kind of want to dive into the broth with your bread. JO ordered the pork chop and it was out of this world. It was a double cut chop with a sweet reduction. It was delicious! I got the fusilli Avellinessi al cartoccio which is a fancy name for baked pasta that tastes like gourmet street meat. It has a delicious combination of pancetta, sweet roasted peppers, and roasted tomatoes. It literally smells like the food carts on Lansdown Street on game day. For dessert I got the Limoncello sorbet which has this perfect creamy consistency.

After dinner we decided to go exploring for a new place to get a drink. We ended up at the XV Boston Hotel. This hotel is right off of Tremont Street. The hotel doesn't have a bar but the attached restaurant Mooo does. The bar is white marble and the lighting is very soft. A couple of tables near by were served their food and I have to say this place gets points for presentation. The steaks are served with bone marrow butter served in a small container shaped like a steak bone. A sprig of rosemary sticks out. The steak knives are placed in corks on your table to keep the blade safe. The bar offers an exceptional wine and drink list although the bar tender seemed less than stellar. He got confused making one mixed drink so he just served it the way he had made it when it was clear he had been searching for another ingredient. He also drank right out of the shaker after pouring the drink into a glass. The atmosphere was very relaxed, perfect after a crazy week at school.

After drinks we headed back to the Park Street T station to catch the red line. Walking down the stairs to the train we heard a band playing. There was a full fledged concert going on in the T station.

Me vs. Gravity is a local high school cover band and apparently they have shows in the Park Street T station on Saturday nights. They are really upbeat and exude happiness. We couldn't help but dance. We were having so much fun that we skipped our train to listen to some more of their songs. Looking around at the other people in the station there wasn't anyone who didn't have a smile on their face. It was really the perfect ending to a birthday night out!

Going to the Cafeteria

A while back JO and I bought a Groupon for Cafeteria on Newbury Street. We headed in one rainy night back in February for dinner. I was looking forward to this place since I've heard good things about it. The place was packed when we arrived so we waited at the bar for a bit. They have a really fun drink menu.

The whole idea of this place is that they reinvent cafeteria food. Other than the name I didn't really get this from the decor or menu. The decor is so neutral it's a bit off putting. You're dining in a sea of tan and cream. The walls are bare except for a small metal "Cafeteria" sign.

We ordered the mussels and they were good but nothing special. Our main meals were good but again nothing special. We did enjoy all the crazy fashion we saw and spent much of dinner trying to figure out what the "Cafeteria" desired attire is. Track suits were big as were designer shoes and accessories. Odd!