Boston Bars: Katie and Doug's Epic Boston Bar Crawl

Posted by Katie

So Doug came to visit. And we had a pretty amazing weekend.

Thursday night was spent at Charlie's Beer Garden followed by dinner at Tory Row (post coming soon).

On Friday, we had dinner at The Barking Crab, drinks at my very favorite place in Boston, Drink, and more drinks served by our fav bartender, Robby, at The Regal Beagle.

On Saturday, we hit up Newbury Street and then took the commuter rail out to the New England Revolution vs the Seattle Sounders game in Foxboro.

And then came Sunday. Ah Sunday...

Somehow Sunday turned into a bar crawl of epic proportions. Here's a map of our route if you don't believe me.

I know, right?

Let's talk about it.

Our crawl started with our tour of Harpoon Brewery at 3pm, which is the last tour of the day. If you want to go on the last tour too, you should make sure you're out at Harpoon by at least noon to buy your tickets, otherwise, you might not make it in.

I could tell you all about the Harpoon tour...but that might spoil the fun if you want to go on it. All you really need to know is that the tour takes about 15 minutes and then you have 30 minutes to "sample" aka chug as much beer as you want. Fun!

Because Doug and I were a little tipsy, and because I sometimes have trouble estimating how far apart things actually are, we then decided to walk to the original Cheers across from the Public Garden. What I assumed would be a quick walk actually turned out to be a 2.3 mile trek. Oops. At least we really appreciated those beers once we finally got them...

I can't remember what Doug had but I tried the Purple Haze brewed by Abita in Louisiana. The bartender described it as a Blue Moon with a hint a raspberry. Tasty.

From there, we were off to dinner at Toro. I had so much fun when I went there with the fam, but I wanted to take Doug there too because I knew he would try some of the weirder things with me.

We started off with the more normal, ordering the ceviche and patatas bravas (fried potatoes). Then it got a little more fun. We tried the mussels with blood sausage, which were very good. And then came the crown jewel of our meal: Asado de Huesos. That's roasted bone marrow with radish citrus salad and oxtail marmalade.

The bone marrow was rich and creamy and Doug and I both loved the sweet oxtail marmalade. Having a few beers in our systems probably helped reduce the gross-out factor...but it was so good that I would order it again, even completely sober. Ha.

From there, we decided to head out to Cambridge. We stopped in at Grendel's for a round of beer and some shots. Now, shots and I are not the good friends we once were, but Doug convinced me that I needed to try his favorite shot, a Dead Nazi. Dead Nazis are made with Jager and Rumple Minze peppermint liqueur.

Sounds kinda gross, but they're actually not bad. Went down much smoother than the shots of Patron or, gag me, SoCo Lime that I've been treated to at bars before. Good choice, Doug.

From there, we hopped across the alley to Tommy Doyle's. There was a great band playing upstairs so we stayed for quite awhile.

An hour or so later, the roomie and her friend Erica were done with their movie, so we all met up at Sunset Grill & Tap in Allston. I had a one of their many pumpkin ales which I think I enjoyed? They'll rim your glass with cinnamon and sugar if you ask nicely. Fancy.

And then Doug went on a photo-taking frenzy.

The End.

Boston: Grendel's Den

posted by Katie
photos by Nico

The few times I’ve talked happy hour with people in Boston, Grendel’s Den in Cambridge always comes up as a recommendation. Last week, for some reason, my Wednesday night class was switched to Tuesday night, so Katie H., Nico and I took advantage of the situation and headed out for Grendel’s 9-11:30pm late night happy hour.

As per the law, there are no discounted drinks at Grendel’s but all the food is half-off. That’s right, ALL the food. We’re not talkin some whimpy little appetizer menu, we’re talkin the whole thing.

Grendel’s menu includes soups, salads, sandwiches, heartier entrees and, of course, the obligatory appetizer menu. Katie H. had already eaten but Nico and I were hungry so he went for the California Burger with jack cheese and guacamole ($3.35) and I tried the Barley Risotto with butternut squash, arugula, rosemary, parmesan & feta cheese ($3.35). The risotto was a special and they took some liberties with it, adding peas (which I like) and mushrooms (which Nico took care of), but the peas at least were a welcome addition and the risotto itself was very creamy and delicious, pretty much the perfect fall dinner.

Since we were celebrating the fact that our class was over and done with earlier in the week than usual, we decided to have some drinks too. Katie H. went with a Hurricane ($5.50) and Nico ordered the French 47 ($6.50), which is named after a hard-hitting WWI artillery piece and consists of Beefeater Gin, lemon, simple syrup & a float of champagne. Fancy. I decided to go with the Cucumber Lime Vesper ($8) which seemed a little over-priced until it came with its own miniature shaker which allowed me to refill my martini glass two times after the waiter’s initial pour. Nice.

Around the time Nico and I were finishing up with our meals, Bryan joined us and he decided to try the spicy shrimp appetizer ($4), and really, they’re not kidding around when it comes to the kick those puppies have. Luckily, Bryan had his pitcher of Grendel’s delicious sangria ($10) to help cool things down. Never one to turn down the opportunity to try more food, I convinced everyone that we should get an appetizer for the rest of us too so Bryan wouldn’t feel alone eating his shrimp. We decided on the Spinach, Artichoke and Snow Crab Dip for ($3.50). Maybe I was fuller from the risotto than I thought, but the dip was way too rich for me. All cheese and not much spinach or artichoke (which I think is the best part).

We all agreed we need to go back to Grendel’s soon not only for the cheap and (mostly) delicious food, but also for the laid back atmosphere, the novelty of being out and about in Cambridge and, in Nico's words, the "particularly enjoyable" sangria. Plus, after a good hour of running around the Harvard area looking for our bus, we finally figured out where to pick it up. Definitely a “know we’ll know for next time” experience….

Grendel's Half-Price hours are from 5-7:30pm every evening and from 9-11:30 pm Sun-Thurs. You must purchase a minimum of $3 per person to qualify for half price food. And be sure to get there earlier rather than later; the bar is small and tends to fill up quickly when there's half-price food going on.

Sip on This!

The sign outside of Grendel's says "Est. 1271". They explain on their site that "people frequently wonder why this seemingly impossible date is posted. The truth is that we were established in 1971, and there was an error in printing. We decided to run with it, since the medieval date actually evokes the period during which "Beowulf" was written, the classic of early modern English literature from which our name was taken. Beowulf is a hero who slays an ogre named Grendel, who terrorized a great mead hall. We figured, Grendel may have been an hideous ogre, but he knew a good mead hall when he saw one."