Restaurants

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Southern Comfort at Estelle’s

April 1, 2013 in Food, Restaurants by traveleatlove | 7 comments

I say it time and time again, but the best part of blogging, by far, has been the friends I have made. There are so many people I’ve met that I may never had encountered otherwise, and I am thankful for it every day.

Over the past few months, I’ve had some great dinner dates with blogger friends; these “supper club” dates are definitely something I look forward to. On our last get together, we finally tried Estelle’s, the latest from Boston chef Brian Poe.

This comfort food-centric establishment was perfect for the night we visited. Despite it being officially spring, snow was falling outside, and I think we were all a little disgruntled with the weather. A great beer selection, cozy atmosphere, and good friends were the perfect remedy.

I was excited to see that one of the many beers Estelle’s serves is Boont Amber Ale, from the Anderson Valley, one of the places we visited on our last wine country vacation. (We’re going to Sonoma in 10 days. . . the thought literally has me wanting to jump up and down on my desk.)

I love Anderson Valley Brewing Company beer just as much as I love the great wines that come from the region. It doesn’t hurt that it is gorgeous up there.

As we often do, we ordered a bunch of appetizers to share. Estelle’s menu has so many delicious sounding items on it; I am eager to try them all. Being a lover of all things pickled, I love the platter of pickled veggies and a pickled egg. I could easily eat this for my entrée next time.

My photos didn’t all come out great, but we also enjoyed massive slabs of cornbread, hushpuppies, deviled eggs, and a chopped salad. Obviously, by the time my entrée, a shrimp po’ boy came, I was pretty much stuffed. After a few bites for dinner, this made a perfect Thursday lunch.

I also stole a couple bites of the husband’s fried chicken. Fried chicken rarely equals my mom’s, but this was really great. The mac and cheese on the side was the perfect comfort food.

I balanced out all of the fried food with some garlicky greens. I can’t get enough of these.

Though we were all stuffed, we decided to share an order of red velvet whoopie pies, because they were there. How can you pass up red velvet whoopie pies? The restaurant overheard that it was my birthday the day before, and kindly brought the dessert out with candles.

It was a sweet end to a really warm and welcoming meal. Estelle’s is a great place to grab a beer and a bite and a welcome addition to the South End.

Technorati Tags: Boston, comfort food, Dining out, Food, Restaurants, Southern food

Tags: Boston, comfort food, Dining out, Food, Restaurants, Southern food

Out and About

March 21, 2013 in Cocktails, events, Food, Living, Restaurants, wine by traveleatlove | 7 comments

Despite the miserable winter cold and snow, I have been making my rounds in Boston and Cambridge, checking out restaurants and bars new and old, spending time with friends and family. The camera has been mostly tucked away in my bag, allowing me to enjoy every sip, bite, and conversation, but that definitely doesn’t mean I made it out without any photos.

There was a birthday celebration for my father-in-law at our local pub, The Banshee, complete with pints of Guinness and Georgetown Cupcake’s festive holiday treats. It was the night of the surprise blizzard, yet everyone we invited still made it, and we went to the week hours of the morning.

Then there were belated birthday drinks for two of my closest friends, a stop at Harvard Square’s Park for a drink followed by a visit to Noir for a Seelbach and bar bites. I made my inaugural visit to Belly Wine Bar, my quest for a cozy Boston area wine bar mostly satisfied. (I still long for a wine bar like this one though.)

We toasted to Summer’s inevitable arrival with a bottle of Chateau Coupe Roses rosé, snacked on fried chickpeas, and I made a note to return for wine at Belly and a Blue Room dinner; the last one was pretty phenomenal.

Finally, there was a fun night out with friends (who happen to have a cool blog redesign) for whisky and women at the Urban Grape. Who doesn’t love chatting with a fun group of ladies, learning about whisky cocktails, and tasting yummy Macallan?

Followed up with dinner at nearby Coda, where Lin and I had our fill of our obsession, deviled eggs.

We may have also ordered a full order of ribs with sides as an appetizer, prior to our entrees, but that might be a story for another day. Sometimes you just need a big plate of comfort food to kick off a meal. . .

There have also been a few undocumented visits to Steel and Rye, our new regular hangout. After our first visit, I was smitten, and it has been amazing every single time since.

Boston is seriously bustling with wining and dining activity; I can hardly keep up. Hopefully patio weather will be here soon, but in the meantime, I’ll be out in my boots with the (fake) fur, enjoying all the city has to offer.

Have you been out and about lately?

Don’t forget to enter to win a huge box of whole grain goodies to celebrate Whole Grains Sampling Day with Oldways!

Technorati Tags: appetizers, Boston, cambridge, cocktails, Cupcakes, events, Girls Night Out, going out, nights out, whiskey, wine

Tags: appetizers, Boston, cambridge, cocktails, Cupcakes, events, Girls Night Out, going out, nights out, whiskey, wine

75 on Liberty Wharf

February 25, 2013 in Cocktails, Food, Restaurants by traveleatlove | 7 comments

A small, cozy dining space, understated décor, and views of the harbor are just the beginning when it comes to Liberty Wharf Boston’s newest restaurant, 75 on Liberty Wharf. Warm, attentive service, a long list of libations, including green cocktails, and outstanding food round out the experience.

Friday night, after a wine tasting at Del Frisco’s (more on that soon), we were in the mood for some more time out and saw that 75 didn’t look too crowded. We walked in and were seated right away. The first thing I noticed is that the restaurant just felt really good. The energy that it has is very calm and cozy; despite sitting in the middle of the room, something I dislike, I felt completely at ease.

The menu and cocktail lists are both lengthy, and it was hard to decide what to order. One thing I loved instantly about 75 on Liberty Wharf was that they offered half portions for a lot of their salads and other things which meant I didn’t have to decide on just one.

First we started with cocktails. I overheard the woman next to me raving about the Spicy and Dirty Martini, so I went with that. The flavors in this cocktail were delicious; it had a nice kick of pepperoncini, rounded out by briny olive juice. I loved this cocktail, but it was strong, and there was no way I could drink more than one.

I decided to go with a classic favorite, the wedge salad. This is just a half order, so you could imagine the full order would be pretty large. This was perfect for me, just enough blue cheese, bacon, and tomatoes on top of the crunchy wedge.

Whenever I’m near the ocean, I crave seafood, so we split the shrimp cocktail which came with a positively addictive tequila cocktail sauce. We dipped our baguette in it once the shrimp were gone. It was that good.

My entrée was a half order of the pumpkin ravioli (and handfuls of perfect fries from my husband’s plate). Again, the half order felt like a full; I had leftovers to bring home! I loved that this pumpkin ravioli had pumpkin in the pasta and butternut squash on top, adding a little more nutrition to an otherwise decadent dish. Absolutely delicious.

My Spicy and Dirty Martini at the start of dinner told me that it was a great idea to finish with a Chocolate Martini, which I missed photographing because I was leaning back in my chair, relaxed, and marveling over the dessert cocktail, which was divine. The dessert menu looked great, but we were both way too full for another bite.

Before we left we were given souvenir mugs, a sweet touch to a really warm and relaxing experience.

I am a huge fan of Liberty Wharf, but it can feel fast, crowded, and like it’s trying too hard sometimes. 75 on Liberty Wharf reminded me of something I would find in Galway, just a great little neighborhood spot that happens to have a prime location on the water. It’s the place you go when you want to shake off the work week, and that’s exactly what we did.