Boston - Part 1

Three days sound like a long time to spend somewhere, but it really isn't.  Even with the goal of packing in as much human adventure as possible, there is bound to be something missed.  Which, in retrospect, I'm fine with.  It gives me another reason to go back to an amazing place.

Last weekend we set off to Boston with our good friends, Gary & Terri.  Coincidently enough, we hatched the trip while sitting at our local, Boston's (named after the family, not the city).   None of us had been to Boston before and all of us craved a little weekend adventure.  It was an easy itinerary to make.

When it comes to fluid intakes, I mostly drink three things: water, coffee & beer.  As I get older and find it hard to stay awake past 9 PM (just kidding 9:30, I'm that big of a tool), I dramatically up the coffee intake.  It was the first thing I grabbed after landing.

Boston was described by several people, including our gregarious taxi cab driver, as a "small big city".  I really couldn't agree more.  After checking into our hotel, we hit up Yelp and then double-checked with the concierge on a spot for dinner.  What seemed like a pretty good distance on my phone, was literally a few steps around the block. It was those few steps that brought us to Stoddard's Fine Food & Ale.

For a Thursday night at 10 PM, they were pretty busy.  Stoddard's has been around since the late 19th century.  Like so many buildings of this time, the inside was long, narrow and full of history.

Thankfully, the bar was easy to find.  Not only was their beer selection great, they had 5 beers on cask.

I considered the presence of firkins and beer engines a positive omen for the weekend.  For dinner, I had a beef tenderloin served over pureed potatoes with sweet onions and creamed spinach.  I about licked my plate.

The plate licking was in part because the meal was incredible and also in part as I had not eaten in about 7 hours. My stomach was working on chewing its way out of my body.  My tapeworm can be quite surly when not fed on a regular schedule.

I believe it was somewhere over dinner I realized I had brought my English wife to the birthplace of the American Revolution.  Whoops.  Although she naturalized many years ago, I reminded her that Paul Revere was not some kind of English traitor.  She promised to behave.

Stoddard's is a great example of a gastropub.   Just because dinner is at a pub or bar, doesn't mean the food has to be wings and burgers.  Conversely, having dinner at a fabulous restaurant shouldn't mean the wine list is longer than the beer list.  Great food and great beer are meant to go together.  I wish more "higher end" non-chain restaurants in my neck of the woods would see this light.

After gorging ourselves and satisfying my tapeworm, we made our way back to the hotel.  I was already pondering about breakfast.  No surprise there.