06 May 2011

Channeling tourism in dulcet tones

The weekend after B's 30th, we headed up to Boston for a short visit with our fantastic friends JH and PY and to attend a wedding of a good friend of B's from work in New Hampshire.  As just a short weekend trip, it wasn't long enough to soak up all the JH and PY time we wanted, but we're still glad we got to visit.  

We arrived Friday night around the close of the business day, settled into our hotel in the Back Bay and headed over to the Parish Cafe on Boylston Street to meet PY for drinks while JH was finishing up at the office.  While it was a windy day, the temperature was nice and we were able to sit outside and enjoy our drinks and the first of a weekend filled with good company.  We didn't have too much time to linger over our happy hour though, as we'd been able to snag a reservation to celebrate both B's birthday (5/3) and PY's birthday (5/7) at an excellent Italian restaurant, also in the Back Bay neighborhood.  After drinks, we met up with JH in front of Sorellina.

We were seated at 6PM and enjoyed a leisurely three hour dinner complete with wine, first course, mains and dessert. We began our meal with two primi (aka the appetizer course) to share.  PY and JH ordered the Verdure, a plate of french beans, sunchokes, artichokes and carrots drizzled with a citrus vinaigrette.  B and I settled on the Tuna, which was served sashimi style with a spicy mostarda aioli and chili vinegar.  Both plates were excellent and were nice, light ways to start the meal.

For our mains, JH ordered the Cappellacci, a red beet farcito, served with toasted Marcona almonds and creme fraiche.  Sadly for this blog, PY ordered a special that I recall was quite delicious, but without being able to jog my memory looking at the online menu, I fail to remember what it was.  Sorry PY, but at least I remember it was good!  They shared eggplant rolatini filled with sheep's milk ricotta that was also exceptional.  B and I were true to our carniverous ways, ordering the Maccheroncelli and the veal respectively.  The Maccheroncelli, which I had to refer back to the menu three times to spell properly, was a combination of homemade pasta, barollo sauce and American Kobe beef meatballs that were amazing!  My veal was also great, served saltimbocca style (translation: jump in my mouth) with sage, prosciutto and mushrooms.  With such delicious food and great conversation with good friends we lingered over our mains for quite a while. 

When we finally moved on to dessert, we found ourselves all on the same page - the Sformato - a chocolate mousse confection served with warm salted caramel and hazelnut brittle (on the side in our case to accommodate my ultra-annoying food allergies).  Two dishes of Sformato, two coffees, an espresso and a cappuccino later three hours had passed. We were full and ready to move.

We decided the best way to facilite the digestion of our dinner and allow B and JH to smoke the cigars B had brought from DC was just to walk around Boston.  The weather was still nice even with the sun down so we made our way from the Back Bay, through the Boston Common to downtown where we ultimately ended up in a bar at the Omni Parker House.  We probably spent about an hour walking over there though, just enjoying the weather, the company and in B and JH's case, their cigars.

We rounded out our night with more wine at Parker's bar in the Omni.  Since JH, PY and I had all ordered different reds (B opted for a Plymouth gin martini, his favorite), we entertained ourselves playing the tasting game.  Testing our palates to see if we could decide which glass was which. Ultimately, we failed to properly identify the three glasses during our game, but all showed a preference for our own orders.  At least we know our own tastes.

About midnight, we were all yawning having had long days of working and/or traveling and decided it was time for bed.  We caught a cab back to the hotel in time to get a good night's sleep and prepare for the day ahead.

1 comment:

  1. sounds like a great jo-pat visit. the desserts sound fabulous and the italian dinner made me recall our NYE doing italian in boston together. yum. happy birthday to patrick and ben!

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