Weekend in Boston

Saturday was RRR's birthday. My 'gift'? The pleasure of my company for the weekend. I drove up on Friday, picked her up from Logan Airport and we headed into Boston's South End to meet Mitch and SheGal for dinner and drinks.

We met at Stella in the South End or SoWa as it is being termed. The decor was minimalist yet modern and the bar scene was pretty hopping for an early Friday evening.

For appetizers, we shared the spicy mussels with saffron cream, roasted peppers, white wine and garlic. The broth was a bit creamier than expected but in a good way. A bread-sopping good way. We also enjoyed the crispy fried artichoke hearts with country mustard remoulade.

There was a lot of tempting choices on the menu but I couldn't get past the pastas. SheGal and I both decided to get the tagliatelle in Bolognese sauce. The noodles were soft yet firm enough to support the hearty tomato sauce and chunky pieces of meat. There was definitely a heavy handed dose of cream used to finish the sauce and I found myself eating beyond the point of being satiated. It was just that good.

RRR went her usual pizza route but deviated somewhat from the usual mushroom with truffle oil route and instead went for the meatball. Not as many meatballs as she would have hoped but certainly with a large enough portion to have leftovers to bring home. Unfortunately, I completely forgot what Mitch ordered so perhaps she will read this post and comment below.

And in an unusual turn of events, we skipped on dessert and did manage to find some room later to have some birthday cake at casa de RRR.

On Saturday, RRR and I continued the celebration with a casual lunch at Not Your Average Joe's. We started off with a couple glasses of wine (I chose a lovely dry Alice White chardonnay) and some of Joe's signature bread. They serve their foccacia-type bread with a dipping sauce of olive oil, grated cheese, minced garlic and some crushed red pepper, assembled tableside by our uber-chipper server Joe (Ironic huh?). Okay, he poured oil into a dish of cheese and garlic and gave it a stir, but it's the thought that counts.

We split the crispy Asian chicken rolls which were filled with chicken, ginger, soy, carrots, mushrooms and rice noodles, and served with both a cucumber-carrot salad and a peanut dipping sauce. The dipping sauce was okay but we were more impressed by the curry in the rolls. The chicken might have been a bit too moist though since the rolls did start to fall apart but all in all this appetizer was much better than expected.

For our 'main' we split a crab cake sandwich and some fries. Poor RRR didn't even get a chance to ask for a salad before I told Joe we wanted the fries as our side. The crab cakes were nice and flaky without a lot of heavy breading and served on a buttery brioche roll.

We attempted to pass on dessert, but Joe lured us in with Not Your Average's clever offering of "sweet petites"; tiny versions of their desserts served in miniature martini glasses. We were wooed by the key lime pie with raspberry sauce and whipped cream. A few perfect spoons of sweet to finish a meal!

RRR's birthday dinner was at what can only be termed as Hingham's hottest restaurant, the Scarlet Oak Tavern. It was difficult for Cousina to get a reservation there at the same time and her crew wound up at the Square Cafe instead. 5:30 or 10? What is this Nobu? Perhaps it's the happening bar scene...this place was jam packed! Crazy!

I started with a delicious French martini, not too sweet, not too strong. From there I moved on to the arugula salad with goat cheese complete with red and gold beets and pistachios. Mitch had the most adorable appetizer of the group, the farmhouse grilled cheeses complete with a tomato soup dipping sauce. Awwww....

Steaks are the thing at the Scarlet Oak and I chose the 6 oz filet mignon. It was pretty good, however, I made the mistake of ordering medium instead of medium rare so it was cooked a bit more than I would have preferred.

Interestingly enough for a nominal fee, you can add a lobster tail, grilled shrimp or shrimp scampi as an add-on to your steak if you are in the surf and turf mood. The two sides that came with my steak were quite enough thank you and I thoroughly enjoyed the butternut squash puree with Vermont maple syrup and the sauteed wild mushrooms. I did manage to sneak a fork into Mr. RRR's two deliciously decadent sides: corn bread stuffing and classic mac and cheese bake.

This time around, I did manage to find some room for dessert complimented by a d'Arenberg shiraz port. Rich, ruby and sugary sweet with a deep berry aroma. Mitch got a delicious carrot cake that was far better than any carrot cake I've had in recent memory. There were bits of carrots in every bite and the fresh hit of nutmeg on the back end. I chose a large cakey brownie complete with pecans and vanilla ice cream and a sweet caramel sauce and of course monopolized the dessert.

I can see why the Scarlet Tavern is a hot spot, but perhaps I might have to return for further investigation...starting with the dessert menu!