Sweet and Sour in Boston

I love fall for its resurgence of pumpkin related products. I love pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin beer, etc. This past weekend, I came up with my own version of a pumpkin pie martini. The caramel syrup is a little tricky, but it's very worth it. You could use leftovers in coffee for a yummy treat.

Pumpkin pie martini

2 oz vodka
2 tbsp pumpkin puree
1 tsp caramel pumpkin pie simple syrup (recipe follows)
1 dash vanilla
2 ice cubes
A cocktail recipe from our Libations Liaison:

Combine in a cocktail shaker and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Caramel Pumpkin Pie Syrup

2 cups sugar
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

Heat about 1/4 the sugar in a sturdy pot over medium heat. Once it begins to caramelize, add more sugar, stirring to incorporate. Once all the sugar has caramelized, remove from heat and add water. Be careful, the mixture will sizzle (I wear an oven mitt). Add spice and stir to incorporate. You may need to return to heat if the caramel starts to stick. Allow to cool, then strain into an airtight container.

Friday was a pretty gross and rainy night, but Jason and I ventured out in town to grab some drinks. I had a Groupon to Stoddards which was about to expire, so that was our first stop. It's a newish place that opened in late summer, located in Downtown Crossing on Temple. The space is very beautiful, with an extremely ornate carved wooden bar. There's not a lot of room by the bar, and it was packed with a bustling after work crowd, so we decided to come back later when (hopefully) it would be less crowded.

We decided next to try Battery Park, which was having its soft open. Located on Batterymarch in the Financial District, it's a nice, but kind of expected space. Pretty much like most of the new bars in Boston, it has lots of dark wood, a few flatscreens behind the bar, and current pop music soundtrack. It's not very big inside, but it has a large outdoor space (which I didn't see). We sat at the bar and chatted with the bartender, who told us that the kitchen wasn't fully operational, but offered us some free appetizers to try. I didn't see a drink menu, so I decided to try Hex Octoberfest, which is a Magic Hat product. I'm normally not the biggest fan of Octoberfest, but it was such a cold, rainy night, it seemed appealing. I enjoyed it a lot, it didn't seem as heavy as other Octoberfests, with a nice spice to it. They brought us some chicken tenders (very standard, which is not to say they were bad in any way, there's just not much to do with them) with a delicious spicy ketchup, and buffalo chicken wontons which were extremely tasty. We saw them bring another couple down the bar a plate of calamari that looked delicious. I'll definitely check it out again sometime, I'm interested to see what their menu will look like and how they manage cocktails.








After Battery Park, we went to one of my favorite haunts in Boston, Ames Plow. Located under Ned Devine's in the Quincy Market Building, this place is very no-frills and pretty divey, but I like it for the jukebox and $2 PBRs. Maybe as libations liaison, I shouldn't admit that so readily, but I'm also Abby's cousin, so there you go.



Finally, we headed back to Stoddard's. It was still really busy, but as luck would have it, we managed to grab two seats at the bar. This place has both extensive beer selection and craft cocktail list. The cocktail list has drinks from different time periods, such as an Aviation, Sazerac, etc. Since I was ordering a burger (which was very tasty), I had a BBC Steel Rail Pale Ale to start. If you haven't tried this western Mass brewery, I'd suggest it, they make some great beer. The pale ale is their flagship brew, and it's a great tasting, refreshing beer. It was perfect with the burger. After I ate, I ordered a Blood and Sand cocktail. This was phenomenal. It consists of whisky, vermouth, cherry brandy, and orange juice. It was garnished with orange peel and a dried tart cherry. It was an amazing balance of tart and sweet, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are a lot of drinks on the menu I'd like to try, so I'll probably go back. The drink prices are actually not bad for the craft cocktails compared to other higher-end places in Boston, each are $9. The only thing that bothered me is that the beer menu doesn't list prices. You don't want to order an interesting sounding beer and have it be $15 or some such, and it's sort of awkward to ask for the price first. But all in all, I liked the space, and the staff was friendly. Very worth a try.

There has been a big hole in our Sweet and Sour in Boston blog (well, there's many holes including my horrible english and lack of posting) and that is that while we discuss lots of restaurants and good eats we are leaving out bars and good cocktails. Enter in our new Libations Liasion, Annie. Annie went to the other OU (Ohio University) and is Abby's cousin. Unlike us lame-o's, she actually does go out to get drinks and can tell us all the wonderful places to go. Also, she's linked with our good friend Crawl In Boston who organizes the best bar crawls in Boston. So we are expecting big things for her. Here is her first post:

I am definitely the kind of girl who prefers savory drinks over sweet. As it stands, one of my favorite drinks is a Bloody Mary. Not just as a hangover cure, but my favorite drink in general. Sadly, it's only acceptable to have them in the morning or early afternoon, so I don't get to enjoy them too much. So this past weekend, on a getaway to Milwaukee, I had the pleasure of enjoying two fabulous bloodies.

The first and best one, surprisingly, was at Jerry Remy's in Logan airport. We were flying Airtran, which is the crappiest place to fly from in Boston. It's this little mini terminal with three gates, a Hudson News stand and nothing else besides screaming babies and other social miscreants who are also cheap enough to actually fly Airtran. So we got to the airport early, there was no one in the security line, and Remy's was right there. In we went. Bloodies were ordered. I was shocked when the affable bartender, while making pleasant small talk, started pulling out a bottle of Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and real, actual horseradish. I was completely expecting Mrs. T's at best, canned tomato juice at worst. I guess only the best for Jerry? It was delicious, and perfectly spiced. It should have been for $9, but it definitely exceeded expectations. If you're ever stuck in the Airtran terminal in Boston, grab one of these bad boys before you go through security to make it bearable.


The second one was at a bar in Milwaukee called Major Goolsby's. This is not a dining destination by any means, but it had the Sunday Ticket, so it was a good place to catch the Pats game. Jay and I both got a bloody, and finally, what seemed like 30 minutes later, they finally came out. The first thing we noticed was that the waitress gave us each a dixie cup full of beer with our drinks, but turned away before we could ask her about it. Do people in Milwaukee put it in their drinks? Shoot it? We never found out, so maybe someone out in the blogosphere knows. The second thing we noticed is that there was a stick of meat in our drinks. Meat? In a drink?? I'm usually psyched when I get an olive. I mean, drink AND snack? Score! This was like a really big slim jim of some sort of spicy, delicious sausage. The bloody itself was spicy and good. Not as good as Remy's, but the novelty of the sausage made up for it. Most of our other drinks in Milwaukee involved $1 domestic drafts and rail drinks, so this was most definitely the best of the bunch.

Dude, do a guest post already. We're obv too lazy to update.

P.S. You smell :)

Hello, I'm Annie, and I'm addicted to pumpkin. "Hi, Annie!"

Fall is my favorite season for two reasons, because I live in New England and it's gorgeous, and it means the return of pumpkin products. Anything pumpkin, I'm there. So when I read online about the three-course pumpkin pre fix menu offered at Temple Bar in Cambridge this week, I knew I had to go. Lucky for me, Abby was up for the challenge.

We met up at Downtown Crossing first to have a few pints at Kennedy's. Eh, it was a long day, and for me, going to Cambridge is like going to a different country, so the red line is easier to take after a few beers. We then headed off on our pumpkin adventure.

After getting off the train at Harvard Square, we headed down Mass Ave to Temple Bar. The wrong way. A kind (and good looking) shuttle driver for Harvard offered to take us the right way, and dropped us off a block away from the bar. The restaurant was nice, modern and cozy. I'd made reservations, but it wasn't crowded at all on a Tuesday night, so we would have been fine without it.

We were seated and ordered a bottle of sauvignon blanc. Yes, we got it because it was the cheapest wine on the menu, so what? It was good. The waitress soon brought out a bread basket. This too was good, if not basic: onion roll, corn bread, french bread.

The waitress then brought us an amuse bouche. It was a tiny ball of pumpkin risotto, with a dab of cranberry and a sprig of mint on top. It was very tasty (although, I must say, my pumpkin risotto is better!). It was fried like an arancini. A nice little bite.

Next was the pumpkin bisque, with an cider popover. Phenomenal! There was a definite bacon overtone to the bisque (no pieces, but definite taste), and, since I'm of the belief that bacon makes EVERYTHING better, I was happy. The popover was very good too. It had some sort of apples in the middle.

Next came the main course, duck with pumpkin gratin. Now, I've never had duck, but I've always imagined it to taste like dark meat chicken, only gamey. But I so love pumpkin that I was willing to try it for the sake of this menu. I was nervous, but Abby loves duck, so I figured why not. I was happily very wrong about duck. This was phenomenal. It was so rich and tasty and amazing! It wasn't gamey at all like I imagined. It was served over sauteed apples and onions, and a bite of duck with the apple was sublime. I'm not one for hyperbole, but I saw god in that duck. The pumpkin gratin was amazing too. I was a little curious to see how pumpkin and cheese would taste together...and it worked VERY well. So good!

For the last course, we had pumpkin souffle. We had to wait a little while for this, but it was worth it. The souffle was warm and spicy with a tasty burnt sugar ice cream on top. A great end to a great meal!


It was $35 for the three course menu (plus the amuse), and it was well worth it. I definitely got my money's worth!

Thanks to Abby and JP for letting me guest blog. Also, many thanks to Abby for an amazing birthday dinner!

We started off the evening at a free concert at Government Center. It was the English Beats, a very fun band that my boss likes. There was so much awesome old white people dancing, I mean, they were just letting lose, shakin' it with abandon. However, they didn't start until pretty late, so 3 or 4 songs in, Abby and I were STARVING so we had to say goodbye to my boss and leave. We headed to the North End.

Now, I have a very big problem with making decisions, so Abby and I strolled the North End for awhile checking out menus. I knew I wanted seafood/Italian. I had in my head a dish called cioppino. It's like a stew of seafood in a tomato broth, so I kept my eyes open for that, but didn't see it on the first 4 or 5 restaurants we checked.

Then we happened upon 5 North Square and the creepy old man/maitre'd standing outside told us to check out the menu. They had cioppino on the menu, and it said it was their specialty, so I was sold. We went in and were shown to a cute table for two. The service overall was very friendly and relatively attentive. It was strange, because they were absolutely not rushing us. We weren't exactly sure what we wanted at first, so we ordered an app, and then it wasn't until after we got our app and ordered wine that they even took our entrée order.

For the appetizer, we got the pomodoro. Thick slices of tomato topped with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, and basil, on a plate of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, with roasted red peppers on the side. Just…wow. Everything was very fresh and very tasty.

We ordered a bottle of Chianti, which was very good. I don't remember what it was called, but we enjoyed it. We had to wait awhile for our entrees, but luckily I had good wine and good company, so it wasn't that big of a deal. The restaurant is small and quiet, and very conducive to conversation. A little too quiet almost, since sometimes our conversation can border on the inappropriate!

Finally our dishes arrived. Now, before when I've gotten cioppino, it's been a bowl of seafood and broth, with maybe some rice on the side, or a piece of bread. Now, this time, they set a bowl of heaping seafood in front of me. On the menu, it said that it came with a side of linguine. I imagined a small bowl of pasta on the side that I would ignore. I didn't expect a whole other platge of pasta also topped with seafood. It was like two meals in one! A veritable bounty of seafood: mussels, clams, scallops, shrimp, calamari, and a crab leg. The seafood was AMAZING. Everything was perfectly cooked and tender (especially the calamari--just spot on texture-wise). The broth was just extremely flavorful, slightly spicy, and amazing. I have to admit, I ate almost the whole thing! There was some pasta and maybe a few mussels left. I felt kind of bad since Abby probably has 2 days of leftovers from her puttanesca! But not that bad. It was amazing.

After our plates were cleared, and we sat finishing our wine, we were brought a complimentary tiramisu since it was my bday. This too was very good. Moist and tasty, and either semisweet or bittersweet cocoa powder sprinkled on the plate kept it from being too sweet. All in all, I couldn't have been happier. Granted, we were a little taken aback by the pace of the meal, but I think this was just a matter of NOT being rushed as opposed to poor service. I would definitely come here again—I left completely satisfied. Good portions, nice staff, nice atmosphere. Thanks again, Abby!



I'm at work right now, but when I get a chance this weekend I'll upload our pictures! ~Abby