Entries in dining out (3)

Tuesday
Nov102009

the grand finale

To sum up our weekend, in a word, it would be... accomplished.  Christian's last weekend in town was nonstop, but a lot of fun!  We ended on a high note for Christian here at Finale in Coolidge Corner.  Check out these scrumptiousnesses:

Which do you think I like best?  The handsome Dane, the ice cream, the molten cake or the espresso martini? :)  Difficult to choose but I guess I'll go with my Dane as the what I liked best about that night.

Saturday we went bowling at Jillians with Megan (Focaccia) and her boyfriend Matt.  We got some grub and only Matt bowled over 100.  It was lots of fun!  Afterwards we took a walk to Matt's office in which he grabbed free tickets to the Museum of Science for Christian and I.  Saweet.  Thanks Matt.  Check out his blog - lots of funnies and head scratchers and 'ohhhh that's interesting's!

We spent two hours roaming the general exhibit halls, highlights include the visual perception exhibit and of course the butterfly garden - helloooo. :)  Beautiful, beautiful butterflies.  We each had a few "hitchhiker" butterflies land on our shoulders - so cute!  After the exhibit halls closed and I stopped acting like a child in the gift shop we went to a Guitar Hero laser show.  I fell asleep during the last song, haha.

Took the E train and headed to the beloved Cheesecake Factory where you can eat like kings with left overs enough for three more meals.  1.5 hour wait and Christian and I have a new business plan - he is genius.  I would tell you what it is, but I'd have to kill you.  Stuffed to the gills we headed home.

Sunday we woke up to gorgeous and profound 60 degree weather in Boston in NOVEMBER.  Nice.  Went to brunch at Charlies on Newbury St and sat outside.  Perfection.  Took a stroll and then got on the T over to Cambridgeside Galleria to start CHRISTMAS shopping.  Yep you read that correctly.

Few gifts bought we headed home to Brookline and met Lykke for dinner at Zaftigs.  Matzo ball soup and potato pancakes are just about the best thing in the world aside from great Danish company.  As a grand finale to the weekend and Christian's trip we headed to... well you already know where.

Now I'm here trying to catch up with the digital world as I've been somewhat MIA in the personal realm for the past month.  I've got a awesome invite to Google Wave from a developer I work with in the UK and not a figgen clue how to use it.  Even the Wikipedia explanation didn't quite clear it up for me.  Hmm.

Do you Wave?  Can you Wave with me?  (Don't worry Sarah - save that one wave of the flag for you!)

What else is new in the virtual world - anything more fun then our weekend?  I bet not!  

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Wednesday
Oct142009

Zinfandel, the 2nd best thing about California

I'm talking about the red stuff, none of that lame white zin crap. The 1st best (ha) thing about Cali is of course Libby! :) Anyway...

Christian and I went to a zinfandel tasting at The Ivy in downtown xing after work last night and it was delectable. For $20 each we received a full glass of 4 different zins and a round of delicious appetizers for each wine. To top it off they drew my biz card and we won a bottle of wine of our choice.

We (I) chose Green & Red Vineyards Zinfandel as it was my favorite glass from the tasting.  It was the darkest and spiciest of the lot (figures) but it had a really even taste from start to after taste which I really liked. 

Guess what appetizer they served with this wine? My other 3 favorite things in life. Small strip of fillet Mignon on top a giant potato chip, drizzled with a Gorgonzola sauce. WOW. Almost chased the kind man with the tray back into the kitchen!

All in all... the best $20 I've ever spent one wine and food. Clearly we stumbled home after 4 glasses of Zin!  So good. The next tasting they have is for regional Italian wines and is on Nov 17th. I highly recommend it!

Also recommend the Ivy for dinner, cocktails, happy hour and even lunch. Reasonable prices for absolutely delicious food (try the brushcetta!) and 55 bottles of wine under $26! Great for a wino like myself :)

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Wednesday
Oct072009

Me gustan las tapas

I am watching the typical Wednesday night marathon of Top Chef Las Vegas - love this season!  It has me thinking of one of my favorite things in life, food of course!  Here's a diddy on food from Gail's birthday celebration!


I can't think of too many people I know that don't like tapas, in some variation. And if you ever tell anyone you're going to a tapas bar or better yet invite someone... well say it fast and see if the person raises an eyebrow or says "wait, what?"  Minds out of the gutter fools, we have some tortilla to eat!

For Gail's birthday a big group of us went to Bar Lola on Comm Ave in Back Bay for dinner.  It was delicious and hugely inexpensive for tapas. Their red sangria rocked my socks.  Between seven of us there was plenty of variety, yum!

There were plenty of traditional Spanish plates available but Bar Lola did well to cater to the typical American as well. Would be lying if I told you I didn't order mini hamburguesas! ;) Service was good and food came out as it was ready.

I've been to two other tapa bars in the city and Bar Lola fits securely in the "just right" category.

Toro in the South End wins in the "worth the splurge" category.  I still dream of their corn dish (left) and delicious cocktails and red wine. Highly recommend you make that trip but they don't take reservations so be sure to get their early or just plan on having drinks at the bar, first.

Tapeo on Newbury St in Back Bay is the other restaurant.  I honestly didn't love Tapeo.  Every dish I had was greasy but it could have just been what was ordered.  

Anyway - Bar Lola & Toro - can't go wrong!!  Are you hungry yet?  Serrano ham... Tortilla... YUM!

Who's going home on Top Chef tonight? 

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