Daily Ramblings: July 2007

Last night SC and I tried a few new places in the South End. We went to the Franklin Cafe. It is a cute, small, neighborhood restaurant. They have about eight or nine tables and a bar. SC and I shared some grilled mussels, tuna tartare and the steak frites. The grilled mussels were amazing and now bear the title of "best mussels in Boston" in my book. They salt them, grill them and serve them with some melted butter for dipping. So very delicious.

Then afterwards, we decided to have some after dinner drinks at the Beehive, the new music bar in the South End. We got there around 8 PM and found a nice spot at the upstairs bar. The bartender was really friendly and we enjoyed draft beer in some hearty beehive shaped mugs. When we left the place around 10 PM, there was a line out the door, which seems typical when a new spot opens in Boston. The Beehive was cool, but I'm not so sure it warrants a line out the door.

Here's the updated summer restaurant checklist (I guess I'm adding and striking at the same time):

Beehive
Coda
Franklin Cafe
KO Prime
Lower Depths
Oishii
Toro
Union
Wagamama

I like it when you get to extend your birthday celebration over a few days.

Yesterday I got a whole bunch of my friends together for some festivities over at Pho Republique. We had some tables at the back of the bar reserved which was perfect for folks to have something to eat and drink. I even behaved myself this time and refrained from banging on the gong on the way out. After we were done at Pho, we headed down the street to the Red Fez for some more drinks.

Check out some photos from our little outing.

SC has class tomorrow night, so this evening, SC and I went out for my birthday dinner at Oishii. The food was amazing, especially the white salmon sashimi appetizer and the real Kobe beef. Mmmm... everything we ordered was excellent and the chef even came by to check on us. Oishii definitely lived up to the hype. (And by the way, I tried PF Chang's for the first time yesterday and it met my expectations for being rather mediocre. If you don't already know this about me, I am very adamant about eating authentic Chinese cuisine.)

Oh yeah - so here's the updated summer restaurant checklist:

Coda
Franklin Cafe
KO Prime
Oishii
Toro
Union
Wagamama
Lower Depths

Three down, five more to go.

SC and I tried the Lower Depths Tap Room today, the new, more upscale offshoot of Bukowski's Tavern over in Kenmore Square. The food menu was great and had lots of stuff I want to come back and try next time. SC and I both had hot dogs with cheese and guacamole and shared a basket of fries - YUM! And like Bukowski's, they have a large beer menu.

My only complaint was that the later it got in the evening, the more fratty the clientel became. Plus, I was enjoying dining alfresco until some guys sitting near us started exhaling second hand smoke in my direction. Yucka.