I spent St. Patrick’sDay evening last Saturday at Mohegan Sun, having a drink at Leffingwell’s Martini Bar, and then dining at SolToro Grill. Enjoy the photos!
Sweet tea vodka martini with a sugar rim!
Patron XO Dark Chocolate Shots
Lidia and her Strawbarita (El Charo Blanco, strawberry sorbet, lime juice).
My original margarita, extra salt (not as good as last time’s).
Until I have time to blog about my visit with the amazing Heather of For the Love of Kale, check out her twoposts on our endeavors 🙂 Today I bring you a fantastic restaurant review!
Cocktails on the left, rums on the right, and the rum menu has a back too!
During my inaugural visit I was blown away by the hospitality of the staff, especially Ed Zynko, the bar manager. Last Saturday I took another trip to Zafra, and was treated just as well, if not better. Ed even reserved spots at the bar for my friends and I to ensure that he would be taking care of us and showing us a good time.
We certainly felt special!
I ordered us a round of Ed’s famous mojitos immediately – one cannot visit Zafra without trying a 10 Cane Mojito, honestly the best I have ever had.
Ain’t it pretty?
My companions for the evening were Joe and his brother, Chris, who I recently discovered is a fellow food, drink, and restaurant fanatic!
Joe and his mojito.
Me and Chris!
We perused the appetizers and decided to order a couple to share – the Cuban Dumplings and the Coconut Ceviche for 2.
When the menu said “beautifully arranged”, it was NOT kidding!
The Cuban Dumplings – inside of a coconut!
The dumplings were so yummy, especially with the inclusion of PICKLES, and the dipping sauce was tasty too. What a pretty arrangement!! These went VERY quickly between the three of us.
AAHHH! Look at that!
Yes, THAT is the Coconut Ceviche for 2. Oh goodness! You can’t tell from the photo, but it was even lit up from inside with a red light! The orange sauce on the wooden spoon was a chipotle sauce that was to DIE for, we had to ask for some more because Joe demolished it (he’s a condiment king). The seafood was amazing, just look at those HUGE shrimp, and the avocado paired with them was a nice touch. On the lower right you’ll see tostones, or green plantains, tucked into the white napkin. They were absolutely wonderful dipped in the chipotle sauce. I could have eaten a million more!
Chris was a big fan.
Time for another round of drinks – I learned about Ed’s famous and award-winning Caribbean Dream, made with egg whites, on the Taste of New Haven visit. It’s been called “vacation in a glass”, and though it is too sweet for my martini-loving taste buds, I knew Joe would be ALL about it.
He gets to work – this drink takes awhile to make.
Ed crafts a masterpiece.
The finished product, and a happy customer.
Just like I thought – Joe LOVED it! I did steal a sip or two 😉 and so did Chris, but his next drink was of the more dangerous variety.
Delicious, but indeed dangerous, the Jamaican Motherfucker (yup, that’s the name) has a bite to it that indicates that it’s one powerful beverage. Ed declared it to be the strongest drink on the menu. I helped Chris finish some of this. After all, didn’t want to leave him to handle it alone, right? 😀
Ed and his partner in crime working on drinks.
Doesn’t that sugar-rimmed martini look mighty tasty?
Ed prepares a Captain Jack Sparrow – notice the concentration.
Captain Jack (Pyrat Rum XO Reserve, pineapple, passion fruit, and lime juices, and blue curacao) is ready to be consumed, and Ed makes like a blur to go make the next drink.
Joe headed out for the evening, and Chris and I decided to order two entrees to share so that we could try as many things as possible. We did a bit of surf and a bit of turf. First up, the Lechon Asado: slow-roasted pork (marinated 24 hours), sauteed onions, white rice, black beans, a broiled yucca.
The pork was beyond excellent, Chris and I could not stop raving about it. The 24-hour marinading DEFINITELY makes a difference. I also adored the yucca. It was my first time having it! The black beans were very good (I’m a fanatic when it comes to those). I left the rice alone because I’m just not a rice person – so boring compared to the many other interesting, flavorful eats!
As for the surf, we went with Jumbo Diver Scallops: pan-seared scallops, black beans, and maduros (sweet plantains).
Again, I left the rice alone and the beans were yummy. The scallops were cooked very well, but I got a few crunchy bites – Chris guessed it was leftover sand? I’ve heard that it’s very difficult to get scallops completely cleaned of it. Not sure, but they were still nice and juicy and seasoned very well! I was all OVER the sweet plantains, I just love them.
If you’re a vegetarian and wish to visit Zafra, you’re in luck – there are plenty of options on the menu that you can still enjoy! Just check out the Latin Caprese below, made with fresh mozz, roasted red peppers, tomato, cilantro oil, and balsamic vinegar:
Zafra regular Colin, owner of Taste of New Haven, was kind enough to let me snap this photo of his meal.
Ed insisted that Chris and I try one of his favorite drinks to make, an espresso martini, AKA a java chip frap with alcohol! Well, we had to have dessert in some form, right?
He started by lining a martini glass with chocolate syrup – I already liked where this was going.
I could hardly wait to take the first sip!
Chris and I LOVED this. Four thumbs up total! Unfortunately we could not finish it because a) we were full and b) we both had to drive over 45 minutes to get to our respective homes.
We had an amazing time at Zafra and I couldn’t be happier about my new-found love for New Haven and its restaurant scene. Just goes to show you that you need to experience something before you can judge it – no longer do I think of this city as “shoot-em-up New Haven”. No, now I see it for the diverse, exciting hotspot that it is, with tons to offer in terms of food, drinks, sights, and history!
Thank you Ed, and all of Zafra’s staff, for a fun and delicious night!
Have you ever been to a rum bar or tried Cuban food and/or drinks?
Have you ever realized that you were judging something without experiencing it first? Once you experienced it, what was your take? Did your opinion change?
Hey everyone! I am ridiculously swamped with life right now and have no time for an up-to-date post, which sucks because I have SO much on my mind and also many a fun experience to share, but for now I hope you’re satisfied with a better-late-than-never review of a restaurant I visited several months ago.
Also, I’m psyched to announce that CT’s largest newspaper (and the nation’s oldest), the Hartford Courant, is hosting blog awards this year called the Websters! The nomination form is here, and you don’t have to fill in every field, so even if you’re not from CT but enjoy my blog, you may want to check it out 😉
The answer to this post title’s question is ridiculous. This restaurant review from my Florida vacation in December 2011 is SO overdue, the restaurant is ABOUT TO CLOSE. #fail
EDIT: THE RESTAURANT IS NOT ABOUT TO CLOSE! My grandma is apparently a source of false information! But I’m keeping the title of this post because it doesn’t work otherwise…
Yeah, this will soon cease to exist.
I had always wanted to visit McCormick & Schmick’s for a full meal. They have a fantastic happy hour menu that I had the pleasure of sampling during my foodie road trip to DC with Jeff last May.
Cheesin’ it with fried alligator.
Double cheesin’ it.
I was pretty excited to be able to order a beverage and an item off the full menu. After checking it out online, I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to choose!
The menu at every McCormick & Schmick’s varies according to what food is the freshest available locally. I like how the menu listed out specifically what items were from the Florida area and where they came from.
I was impressed by the variety of cocktails offered and selected a drink called the Skinny Bootlegger. In case you can’t read the print above, it consisted of Prairie organic vodka, lemon/lime juices, agave, and mint. Definitely sounded promising, but unfortunately this drink spelled a bit of trouble in terms of service.
It certainly looked lovely, but the drink was way too juice-y. I felt as if (my parents both agreed) I was drinking straight lime and lemon juice with a little mint thrown in! I like my drinks strong and usually the “Skinny” options on restaurant menus use less juice/added sweeteners and are therefore enjoyable to me. This drink wasn’t though, so we asked our waiter for another shot of vodka that I could add to the drink. No, I am not an alcoholic, I just know how I like my drinks to taste!
At this point it became apparent to use that we did not have the speediest waiter in the world. He didn’t return for over 10 minutes, and other people in the table had yet to receive their drinks in the first place. Finally I sent the drink back altogether and just asked for a glass so that I could have some of the red wine my parents had ordered for themselves.
They had chosen 14 Hands Cabernet from Washington. I prefer other reds to Cabernets, but did enjoy this wine. Looks nice in the glass, right? 😉
It paired especially well with the sourdough bread, which tasted just like J. Gilbert’s bread to me.
For my meal, I ordered the Jamaican Grilled Mahi-Mahi, with some modifications. I asked for the vanilla rum sauce on the side, and for veggies instead of the sweet potato mash (I love sweet potato fries and sweet potatoes as co-ingredients, but do not like them enough to eat them mashed/baked/roasted by themselves). Obviously I stuck with the black beans – I’m obsessed, after all.
My food was delicious! The fish was cooked perfectly and the char-grilled beefsteak tomato was a welcome and pleasant surprise to find on my plate. Ittook a very long time for our food to come out (and for bread to be replenished in the mean time – our waiter really was quite sluggish, though polite) but this was worth the wait.
My dad started with the Maine Lobster Bisque with Sherry Butter, and was so excited and impressed by the presentation that he called me over to snap the above photo. The lump lobster meat in the center of the soup was certainly impressive!
Is anyone else having slightly dirty thoughts about this meal’s presentation?
My brother’s (awkward) meal of choice was the Petite Filet Mignon with veggies (for my mom and I) and two fried mashed potato balls. Yes, fried mashed potatoes – I had a bite of one, and it was AMAZING!!!
Despite the bad drink and waiter, I really liked my food! And they did take my drink off our bill – after my mom sternly prompted them to do so, of course.
Have you ever sent a drink back because you didn’t like it?
Have you ever been torn between liking and disliking a restaurant because some parts of the experience were good and some were bad?
Time to recap the last full day of last week’s Orlando vacation (last Friday). I woke up and went to the hotel gym to do another treadmill 5K. This time I just kept the channel on Live with Kelly! the whole time. I love Kelly Ripa and have been a huge fan of Live since middle school. I remember the highlight of school breaks and summer morning was being able to watch! Of course, the version with Regis will always be my favorite.
I felt way more tired though and ran my 5K in a slower time than the day before. Still pretty good though – 29 minutes. I kept my 1% incline and Kelly and her guest host (I don’t even remember who it was) helped it go by at a pace that wasn’t too excruciatingly slow. Then I did about 30 minutes of upper body weights, one muscle group per song (chest, shoulders, bis, tris, and abs).
Took it easy by the pool the rest day of course, and wore one of my outlet purchases – a new bathing suit! I also brought a solo cup filled with cottage cheese and blueberries with me to the pool for a post-workout snack. I’m sure I got plenty of judgement because of my solo cup…little did people know I was NOT headed to the pool at 10AM with an alcoholic beverage in tow. Though I’m NOT opposed to that either.
After another fabulous poolside day, my parents and I got cleaned up and headed to happy hour! I love eating out on vacations but my parents wanted to stay in and grill since we had a kitchen in our room, so we made a deal – happy hour out, followed by seafood dinner in. Um, fine by me!
While waiting for my parents to get ready, I caught up on work and had a snack – two pieces of rye toast topped with turkey and salsa.
It wouldn’t be vacation without another fam photoshoot.
Another my-mom-is-way-shorter-than-me pic.
I rocked another Black Friday purchase from Kohl’s (and with pleats just like the last one – told you I’m obsessed). The top is by Elle.
For our happy hour destination, I used Yelp to find Emeril’s Tchoup Chop at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando. I wanted a place with deals that didn’t end too early (these ended at 8PM), where we could enjoy our last warm night in Florida (outdoor tiki bar!), and with unique drink options. Done, done, and done!
The tiki bar was empty so we took three seats front and center. I love sitting at the bar and chatting it up with the bartender and other patrons.
We lucked out with a fantastic bartender named Deanna. She was so kind and made amazing drinks!
I inquired about the cucumber vodka I saw behind the bar, and Deanna whipped up a Cucumber Cooler for me of cucumber vodka, cucumber liquer, and ginger beer. I LOVE ginger beer in drinks – another favorite is the Dark n Stormy, which has popped up a coupletimes on the blog.
No, that’s not water. Nor is that a Starbucks straw.
I removed the straw (tip: this slows you down when you’re drinking so that you can savor the beverage and also accurately assess how it is affecting you) and “dug in”. Wow, this drink was perfection. So smooth and perfect for an outdoor happy hour.
My mom got a house margarita and I tried a sip. Yum! Nice and strong, not too sour or sweet. She loved it.
There was a bar bites menu too, but I was waiting til dinner.
I asked Deanna about this Soho Lychee Liquer – I had never seen that before! She let me sample a small pour of the Lychee Martini it goes into. Very yummy, but the sample was enough for me because it was a bit sweet.
And thank goodness for Foursquare – I checked in and got a free Mai Tai – which I shared with my parents, because I was feeling a bit buzzed and was also getting pretty hungry! This beverage was delicious, one of the best Mai Tais I’ve ever had (the one at Drink wins because it was on FIRE).
Gorgeous, no?
Thanks Deanna for being so awesome and making our experience at Tchoup Chop so great! By the way readers, it’s pronounced “chop chop”.
By the time we got home I was hangry. My dad got the grill fired up pretty quickly and prepared the salmon and shrimp burgers I’d gotten the day before at Whole Foods.
Salmon/shrimp burgers with yellow mustard and Russian dressing for dipping. Baked potato skin and innards with salsa.
I was SO hungry, but got full SO fast! I couldn’t even finish any of the innards of my baked potato (on the right). Bummer.
What a great last full day in Orlando – and I still had one more pool day left before we had to hop on our plane in the evening, but with no restaurant and no new workout (just another 5K and abs), I don’t plan to write a full recap of that day.
Do you have a favorite spot to go to in the warm months to have a drink outside?
Have you ever tried a seafood burger?
Did you or do you watch Live with Regis and Kelly (or just Kelly)?
I woke up on the Monday of our vacation feeling good, and I was so excited and grateful! To play it safe, I did my favorite yoga video on Hulu, YogaWorks Body Slim. I was sweating by the end and also felt relaxed and stretched-out. I headed to Starbucks and, continuing the play-it-safe plan, opted for an iced decaf Americano with the teeniest splash of skim to protect my still-sensitive stomach.
The pool wasn’t crowded at all and we scoped out some excellent seats. I sat back and enjoyed the warm weather with my magazines, and also had my beloved Chick-fil-A chargrilled chicken sandwich with extra pickles for lunch, with no stomach issues.
My Grannan and George (grandparents) arrived mid-afternoon too, and I was so excited to see them! We all remained poolside til late afternoon.
I continued to feel better, no doubt thanks to how cautious I was being and all the water I was chugging. I’d found out that one of my former co-workers from UConn, Matt, was staying at a nearby Embassy Suites with his mom – AND they have free happy hour every night! He invited me to be his guest, so I took my grandparents’ car over to see him.
I had a couple nibbles of chips, and that classy plastic mostly-empty cup you see there was formerly filled with red sangria. It was extremely – juicy. But what can I expect during a cheap happy hour?! I planned to have a more unique libation at dinner anyway! Thebest part was meeting up with Matt after not having seen him in so long, and also finally getting to meet his mom, who I heard plenty about while we worked together at UConn Dining Services.
I met my parents and grandparents at a restaurant with a Caitlin-approved food/drink menu – and bonus points, our hotel gave us a coupon for it!
Interesting outdoor seating "booths", complete with space heaters.
The new-ish restaurant, Atlantic Cove, featured a menu of traditional meat and seafood plates, sushi, and unique Asian-fusion dishes. Our waitress, Alexa, was an absolute SWEETHEART. She seemed a bit new and nervous, but was so respectful and accommodating! I was very impressed.
Talk about a drink menu! My choice jumped out at me the second I saw it.
The Basil Martini, made with Belvedere Red, vermouth, and infused basil, was just what I was hoping for and more. It was so amazingly smooth, tasted like spiked pesto, and was certainly worth its money in terms of strength! I have to admit that I sloshed a bit of this beauty on myself at the end there.
Yay Dad!!
We were served some pretty tasty bread with olive oil and herbs, which I definitely prefer to butter.
I knew I wanted to get my fill of seafood on this trip, but I could NOT for the life of me decide on which fish I wanted, and whether or not I wanted it cedar-planked or blackened! I quickly took to Twitter to ask my go-to foodie followers for advice, and though I went with the votes for blackened, I opted for a fish I hadn’t had in a while, snapper.
My dad ordered seafood soup, one of his favorite things to get before our vacation dinners, a Lobster & Crab Bisque, and he loved it. The bowl was cool too!
He also ordered his fish blackened, but chose grouper. Unfortunately the kitchen goofed and served it grilled instead, but he didn’t say anything, because it was still excellent.
My meal was amazing too! I got asparagus on the side and devoured my pineapple mango salsa, as well as my dad’s. I also picked at my grandpa’s crabcakes and my mom’s baked potato skin.
I still had room for dessert once we got back to the hotel, so I savored a tiny treat I’d picked up the night before at TooJay’s, one of their famous mini black and white cookies. I didn’t have one during my December Florida trip, so it was a necessity!
I went to sleep content and grateful to be feeling better. Until the next day’s trip recap!
Which of the fish options on the menu would you have chosen? How about the preparation method?
Have you ever had a classic black and white cookie from a deli? The ones from Starbucks don’t count! 😉
Happy post-Super Bowl Monday! I definitely have a lost of Super Bowl party photos to share, but don’t want to get too ahead of myself because I’ve got great stuff that happened earlier in the weekend to share too. Good problems to have, yes?
But I just want to say quickly, I am already getting a bit sick of hearing people beat themselves up for indulging last night. I was doing some of that and still kinda am, but it’s the last thing I want to see and hear all over the place this morning. So let’s together try to make this a #mirrorlessmonday and just reflect on the good times. I’m working on it, and I hope you can too!
Saturday was quite an excellent day that started with a trip to the gym for Group Step. I had attended the exact same class the night before (Friday night “happy hour”!), but since the current release is still quite new, I wasn’t bored with the choreography at all. Some of the songs are so awesome! I’m always talking about this exercise program (by Body Training Systems) but have never actually SHOWED you guys what it’s about. Here is a trailer that shows you exactly what moves I’ve been doing in class, and you can hear the music too! I got the video from the BTS website.
I headed home, took a refreshing shower, and hit the road for Boston. It was great sunny driving weather, and I enjoyed some music and, once I lost radio reception to my favorite stations, listened to “The Tiger’s Wife” on audio book. I had big plans for the day. So big in fact, that they warranted a ridiculously-long-titled post like this one! 🙂 I first met up with Greg and Kramer, two good friends that I’ve known for awhile. Greg even spent Thanksgiving with my family (his parents are my godparents and vice versa). We walked to Newbury Street to have lunch at Stephanie’s on Newbury, a place that Kramer (a fellow restaurant fanatic) and I had been wanting to try for awhile. From the way my Twitter followers responded to my check-in there on Foursquare, I can see that many of my readers are already fans!
Each table at Stephanie’s was set with the cute little clipboard above that enables guests to customize their very own Stephanie’s Famous Bloody Mary for $11.50. The ingredients sounded really cool, but I have never been the biggest Bloody Mary fan (but more on that later…soon to be shown that this may have changed) and was going to be having some cocktails later, so we all just ordered food. Boston.com has called these bloody marys some of Boston’s best though, for those who are fans.
The cocktail menu was pretty darn impressive. It was hard for me to resist indulging in one of these! But really, I was hungry and food was at the top of my brain.
A girl at the table next to use ordered the Seared Yellow Fin Tuna Salad, and as soon as I saw the waiter set it down in front of her, all I could think was…I WANT. It wasn’t too hard for me to decide on that, though the menu did have plenty of appetizing options. Kramer and Greg had a way harder time choosing than I did.
Kramer ordered the Oversized Stephi Burger: ground sirloin, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, bacon, sauteed mushrooms, and french fries. It was definitely oversized! And also over-cheesed and over-fatted – Kramer commented that the cheese was way too much, and the sirloin itself was too fatty. There was definitely a sizable pool of grease that crowded and ruined the last few fries on his plate. He liked the burger, but said next time he’d go light on the cheese or nix it completely.
Greg’s choice was definitely more unique and delicious, though not enough food for him! He has been loving shepherd’s pie that Kramer cooks in their apartment, and ordered Stephanie’s version, which came inside an acorn squash and with a side of deliciously salty sauteed collard greens. Fortunately for Kramer and I, Greg didn’t want the greens. After I snapped this photo, Greg poured gravyover the whipped potatoes on top, and it looked even better. He said it was so delicious, but again, not enough food for him.
My salad was fantastic, with perfectly seared tuna and plenty of yummy ingredients like marinated green beans and olives, just the way I like it. The lemon caper dressing was the star – one of the best salad dressings I’ve ever tasted. I dipped my fork in it lightly before each tuna bite and the combo was out of this world.
After lunch, we walked around Newbury a bit and did some shopping. I finally got some Toms at Urban Outfitters thanks to Christmas gift cards, and also had some luck at Forever 21!
Next on my agenda was a meet-up with my pal Ken of Pete & Gerry’s Heirloom Eggs. Don’t forget, you can still access coupons for their eggshere, and FYI, their eggs are available to buy (and use the coupons on) at Northeast grocery store chains like Shaw’s, Stop and Shop, and Whole Foods!
This small sign was literally the only indication that we had arrived at Drink, Boston’s premier destination for specialty cocktails. The bartenders here are more like mixologists or artists. There is no drink menu – just tell them what you like or what you’re in the mood for, and a special, unique beverage will be made just for you. Each drink takes awhile to make but it’s well worth the wait.
The place runs like a well-oiled machine. That girl in the photo above was preparing citrus fruits for drinks the whole time we were there. Another girl was completely in charge of washing off any tools/shakers/cups used to make the beverages. That way, the mixologists could concentrate on what they did best. Each drink was quite a production! It looked like our bartender, Will, was performing an operation while he made our first beverage.
Luckily the booze was not only flowin’ at Drink, but water was too – served in shot glasses! Very cool, and despite how busy it got not long at all after the place opened at 4pm, the employees were very attentive about keeping the glasses full.
Our first drink was a Mai Tai, but not one you’ve ever seen before.
Yes, the drink is on FIRE! This was amazing. Ken and I informed Will that we wanted something with rum, citrus-y, more tart than sweet…and this is what he came up with. The thing on fire in the lime skin is a brandied cherry, and the cherries in this drink were actually the best I’ve ever tasted. The Mai Tai contained two rums:El Dorado 12 Year and one other that I cannot for the life of me find the name of – bad blogger. Other ingredients included house-made grenadine, freshly squeezed lime juice, orange curacao, and the obvious fresh fruit and crushed ice.
Drink may not have a drink menu, but the food menu was incredible. Ken chose a couple of bar bites for us – warm olives and candied bacon cashews. OH. MY. GOSH. The olives were good, don’t get me wrong. But those cashews? Fantastic, amazing, wonderful, not enough positive words exist to describe these cashews.
It was time for another drink, and Ken had brought along a very special ingredient – his Pete and Gerry’s eggs! Will gladly accepted them and offered to whip us up some cocktails. He and some other Drink employees were definitely admiring the brilliant yellow of those cage-free yolks as he worked.
Yes, that’s a light Will is working with. I’m telling you, each drink was like an operation! An operation that involves lots of heavy drink shaking.
Will made Ken and I two drinks to share, one with egg whites and one that used the egg yolk. First up, was a Good Humor, made with egg yolk, aperol cream, and topped with nutmeg.
Interesting story behind the Good Humor – it was invented by a couple who owned a farm and used to make drinks with egg whites. They had so many leftover yolks that they knew they had to come up with a drink to put those into, and that’s when experimenting was done and the Good Humor was invented.
The next drink, which was the favorite of both Ken and I because it tasted stronger, was the Pink Lady made with egg whites, apple brandy, gin, pomegranate, and lemon. YUM!
Ken and I toasting to Pete and Gerry's egg cocktails!
Ken and I had to cut ourselves off, because we had another destination to hit! Chef Jason Santos of Hell’s Kitchen’s seventh season is the executive chef at Blue Inc. and he has an affinity for Pete and Gerry’s eggs! He uses them in his kitchen and had nothing but good feedback for Ken. That’s right, I got to meet Chef Jason Santos!
The interior of Blue Inc. is gorgeous, with a really cool blue and orange color scheme and a very retro appearance. The restaurant was designed with help from Taniya Nayak, an interior designer and HGTV/Food Network personality!
Jason was kind enough to send out shooters of his celery root and Fuji apple soup. This was creamy and not too rich. The apple taste was extremely subtle – good for someone like me who doesn’t really like apples! What an amazing soup.
The unique foodie fare didn’t stop there. The bartenders were also very generous and gave Ken and I a sample of one of the crazy cocktails from Blue Inc’s Crazy Cocktails menu. Tricia LaCount, the Bar Manager and “Mad Scientist”, has done an amazing job coming up with some really unique concoctions, like a dirty martini made with black sea salt. Oh, and she’s also a sweetheart! The above shot glass is filled with a rum and Coke made with butter-popcorn-infused rum. Yes, that’s right, they literally take rum and let it soak in buttered popcorn! Not exactly my cup of tea (I don’t like soda…) but what an idea. I can always appreciate creativity like that. I had to try a couple sips!
For my next cocktail of the evening, I was daring and selected the Angry Tomato: gazpacho vodka, pickled green beans, and a double-secret bloody recipe.
The rim was garnished with some kind of red-pepper and the green beans were EXCELLENT dunked in the drink. This was a daring choice for me because like I said before, I’m not really a Bloody Mary fan. I could actually only finish about half of this. However it was the best one I’ve ever tried and I’m glad I stepped out of my box!
Not pictured are the Spicy Red Curry Mussels (with Thai crab cakes, scallion salad, and fresh coconut) and Pretzel Rolls that Ken and I shared as well. The broth of the mussels was FANTASTIC when soaked up with the pretzel roll. Mmmm. Unfortunately at this point, it was time to part ways with Ken. I had another meet-up on my agenda, a very special one indeed.
Yes, that’s Heather from For the Love of Kale! She already blogged about our meet-up and had so many nice things to say, and I’m happy to say the feeling is mutual. I feel like I’ve known her for forever and she’s one of my twinnies! We had a great time in the city and I loved meeting her friends too.
We were going to hit up The Other Side Cafe, and I was so psyched for a unique meal, but they were at capacity and showing no signs of emptying out anytime soon. Bummer! A lot of the restaurants in the area were also “full-up” for those with no reservations, so by process of elimination we ended up at Mass Ave Tavern.
Good thing I wasn’t even really hungry at all after all the munching and imbibing I’d been doing the last several hours, but the Bee Keeper cocktail sounded simple and delicious, so I did order one of those. When in Rome?
The drink was definitely excellent, and the four of us shared a Hummus Plate. It was yummy and the perfect light snack for my hunger level, but Heather the hummus-expert confirmed for us that this hummus was not homemade, but Tribe. Still good, but something easily recreated at home!
Our waitress also had an attitude and there weren’t many options at all for a vegan like Heather (what do you expect from a Tavern we ended up at because we didn’t have many other choices…), but we went with the flow and had a blast with each other anyway, of course! How could we not?
It was such an amazing Saturday. I headed home after dinner and was in bed and passed out by 11:15PM. Not too shabby! Still was able to get up the next morning and have a super productive Sunday.
Have you ever met someone you met through blogging in “real life”?
Which of the cocktails I sampled would you most want to try?
I’m a 28 year old full-time working girl living in Boston (previously lived in Connecticut). I’m passionate about food/drink, restaurants, self-love, fitness, and the ever-present search for balance. I write about that journey on this blog – I hope you enjoy!
My header was originally designed by Mai Le and later tweaked by Chris Roggi to match this theme, which he helped me customize. He also moved me over to self-hosting! Both can be contacted through their sites for design & development work!
Disclaimer
I am not an RD and do not have any official training, certifications, or degrees in nutrition or fitness. This blog is a way to write about my life. Any views I express are mine alone, based on what works for me, and should never be taken as medical advice. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan. In addition, this blog and its content are in no way affiliated with Kate Gosselin, “Kate Plus 8”, TLC, or any related affiliates.
Privacy Policy
I allow third party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit this blog. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g. click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice visit the NAI at http://www.networkadvertising.org. To opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices.
