I'm traveling to Boston each week for the next two months (and likely longer). I'll be staying at the W with a few nights at Le Meridien in Cambridge. I'm looking for any and all advice to make my time in Boston awesome in the evenings... Beer bars: Best places for beer that also have solid food. Don't mention Stoddards... solid beer, but dinner tonight was pretty poor (not to mention the god awful service). Secondarily... great beer bars that don't have good food. Any of note? Heady... I can't help but ask. Is there anywhere that regularly gets some? I don't follow enough of the Boston threads to know if it shows up here super rarely or semi-often. Restaurants: Don't care about the beer selection here. Any recommendations are super welcome. Sushi, New American, Seafood, etc. Anything and price isn't that big of a deal (but let me know if it's crazy expensive just so I have expectations set right). Beer events: Anything I should know about that is up this way in the next few months? First beer tonight at Stoddards was Cape Ann Deadeye DIPA on cask. Really solid stuff. Looking forward to try some more local stuff! Thanks in advance for all the help and maybe I'll catch up with some BAs while I'm up here.
The Publick House has Heady tonight. There are a few other threads on the front page here that list places in Boston to visit as far as bars go. For restaurants, Hungry Mother and Highland Kitchen both are from the top of my head.
1. Deep Ellum, Mead Hall, Stoddard's, Sunset Grill, Publick House, Lord Hobo, Bukowski, Cambridge Brewing, Enlightenment Ales. (no particular order) 2. There doesn't seem to be anywhere in Mass that regularly sells Heady in cans. Buddy is going to VT next weekend, can be convinced to do some shopping. Would you be trading or paying? 3. Herp derp 4. Night of the Barrels + Extreme Beer Fest on 02/08-09. Tickets are scarce, event being a month away. If you're really in need I can talk to a coworker who bought extras.
Eastern Standard in Fenway/Kenmore always has Heady. Just ask for it as it is not on the menu, and its $10, but they also have great food. Food: Toro, Coppa, Neptune Oyster and Meyers and Chang all in the south end are great.
Two main areas to hit for good beer bars: Kendall Square in Cambridge (off Red T line) has Lord Hobo (overall quality), Mead Hall (lots of taps, food is ok), and Cambridge Brewing Co. (best brewpub in Boston, must visit, beer slightly better than food). Allston/Brighton/Brookline (off Green T lines) has Deep Ellum (curated tap list, decent food), Sunset Grill & Tap (lots of taps, huge menu but nothing amazing), and Publick House (mile walk from the other two, but worth it. Overall quality and good food). Other areas of interest: Kenmore Square- In-between downtown and Allston/Brighton/Brookline. Fenway Park is located here, but obviously off season. Lower Depths (cash only, hit or miss tap list), Eastern Standard (Used to be the easiest place to find Heady Topper, not sure about lately; Great cocktails and food, upscale), and a Yardhouse (if you're not familiar with the chain, it's a huge place with lots of taps). Park Street/Downtown- Seems like you're already familiar with Stoddard's. JM Curley (great burger, decent taplist) and Scholar's (hit or miss selection, after work and nightlife place) are in the same area as well. Lastly, there's a bunch of other good restaurants around it, but Picco in the South End (walk from Copley/downtown) has great food (pizza and ice cream) and decent taps. Last time I was there they had Backwoods Bastard bottles for something crazy like $5. The Salty Pig is within walking distance and has usually a good tap list (although one time I went it was pretty crappy and they were advertising 2 great beers "coming up" which annoyed me) and good charcuterie (not cheap though). This was mentioned above, but BA's Extreme Beer Fest is coming up and it's one of the best beer festivals in the US. Even if you don't get tickets, there are usually a few events going on around town at some of the bars listed above.
Right across the street from Stoddards is jm Curley. Smallish but nice beer selection, good cocktails, very solid and affordable food. All around great place. Jacob Wirth is a block from your hotel and has a good selection of locals and Germans on tap. Your hotel is very close to Chinatown. My favorite place is Dumpling Cafe. Go there and order some adventurous stuff. For seafood in Chinatown go to Peach Farm. They have a live tank full of fish so its obviously fresh. For seafood in general go to Island Creek Oyster Bar in Kenmore Square. Erbaluce is really good modern Italian near your hotel. South Street Diner is a 24 hour diner near your hotel.
Definitely hit Lord Hobo. If you find yourself at the Back Bay station, head out and across the street to the Salty Pig. Solid beer options and charcuterie boards.
Le Meridien is less than ten minutes walking from my house. Lucky for both of us, you'll also be about ten to fifteen minutes walking (or a 3 minute cab) to the two best beer spots in Cambridge: Lord Hobo and Cambridge Brewing Company. They've both been mentioned, but since I live right there, I would like to mention that these will definitely be your best bets, especially if you're there for work. You can hit either one of them without making any real journey. Lord Hobo is my favorite beer bar ever. They have maybe 30 taps and they're all great. Their bottle list is pretty great, too. The food there is a little limited, but their new chef is fantastic. Do yourself a favor and get the short rib and sandwich and the truffle fries. Their regular fries are fine, but the truffle fries are worth the trip alone. The people that run it are always great. It's my local place. If you see a guy playing a card game with a girl, that's me and my girlfriend. Cambridge Brewing Co is the best brewpub I've ever been to. Their food is solid (although you should really go for the pizza directly across the street, Emma's), but the beer is something else. It's really just a great place. Lots of people will direct you to Meadhall. It has a billion taps, but usually only about 10 that I would really get excited about. Also, I find their food to be middling. Their events can be awesome though. Heady is so hit or miss, don't get your hopes up. Any bar you go to, you should ask. I know some places have it off-menu, but if it's actually on the menu anywhere, it's gone in a snap.
People have the bars down you mentioned sushi, basho or douzo are your best bets imo both owned by the same owners. Basho is right across from fenway if you are in that part of the city. Boston burger co makes a pretty good burger tasty burger in fenway is decent and has an okay beer line up if you are in the mood for a quick meal How could I forget, my new favorite spot in town is salty pig right across from back bay station. Food is awesome and the beer is pretty decent too. El pelon, probably the best burrito in town. Thats on resteraunt row a block away from fenway
I'm sure he did have a great time... Just a head's up since you are new here (welcome, by the way) - make sure you note the dates when things are posted. This thread is 3.5 months old...
