Decent Drink, with a Fantastic Finale

A long lost friend of mine recently moved to Cambridge, and my excitement to show her around the city has been consuming me ever since. We talked briefly yesterday and she expressed an interest in a place with “fun cocktails.” In a daring attempt to be impressive, I decided to take her someplace I’d never been, but has been the subject of a lot of buzz: Drink. A short walk over the bridge on Congress St. by South Station, you’ll likely walk right by this little bar. Oozing with exclusivity, Drink is a basement establishment with an unassuming sign out front written in about 48 point font. So make sure you know the address if you’re chic enough to try this place, or you’ll end up backtracking like we did.

The vibe was fairly mellow and the bar reminded me of the game snake the way it weaved across the entire room. We grabbed a couple seats and were offered a food menu and the tiniest glass of water I’ve ever seen (it literally looked like a shot glass). If you haven’t heard of Drink yet, here’s the premise…these bartenders are seemingly so good at their trade, that you can just tell them a couple key ingredients you’re feeling at the moment, and they’ll mix you up something amazing every time. My friend expressed an interest in pomegranate, and I said I liked vodka or rum base with a citrus vibe. Shortly thereafter she was presented with a Jack Rose and I with a Traditional Daiquiri (who knew they came without the strawberry?). Both were small, but good…nothing mind-blowing by any means though. The atmosphere was nothing special either, and for $10.75 a pop, I suppose I just had higher expectations for this experience. I will say their calamari was very good, though again…small (and $12). The real kicker came at the end, when it came time to pay. As we sorted through our wallets, pulling out credit cards and cash and calculating what we owed…the bartender grabbed the bill and a credit card TWICE, thinking we were ready to pay. I feel like a server who can intuitively know what drink would be perfect for you, should also be capable of assessing whether the bill is all set – or at least having the courtesy to ask us, rather than walking off with it without a word. Hmph.

Over the course of the evening, my friend had mentioned her want to try out Finale. And since the night was young, we hopped on the T and went for it. This famous bakery/desserterie has 3 locations – Park Plaza (which is where we went), Harvard Square, and Coolidge Corner. I’ve been for lunch before because my office is close to one, but I’d said their specialty really is dessert. Skip it and go for the burrito at noontime.

We found ourselves staring at a delectable menu of sweet cocktails, and after the “eh” experience we’d both had – we each ordered a fun one. I had Coconut Hot Chocolate - $9 (the weather was brutal outside and I had a chill – wah!), and she ordered the Hazelnut Martini - $8…both highly recommended by the waitress. Her gentleman friend joined us and ordered a Minty Chocolate Martini - $8. All were delicious, but in the end we all agreed the Hazelnut martini was the most delicious dessert/drink we’d hzad in recent history….I highly recommend it. We complemented our drinks with the Boston Cream, accompanied by mini whoopie pies, gelato on an almond Florentine, apricot sauce, and fresh fruit ($11). The dessert chef had mirrors above his station so we were able to watch as various dishes were decorated and sent it. How fun! We ordered more than one Boston Cream, and turns out there was plenty to share. The dessert was very good and you probably cant go wrong here if you have a sweet tooth, but I really just can’t say enough about the hazelnut martini. Yum.

Overall assessment of the evening? Save your pennies if you want a “fun” cocktail and head over to Flash’s in Park Plaza (review to come!) - friendly vibe, bigger/better drinks, and no attitude. And next time you take a date to see a show or a movie, stop by Finale after for something sweet to seal the deal.

Livin’ la dolce vita…
Little B

Missing something good in your life? Find it at Tango…

Let me just set the stage here for a moment…J and I decided to go out for a nice, romantic dinner to celebrate our anniversary. We decided to think outside the Beantown-box and headed out to Arlington.

Bad directions and about an hour later, we were a bit frazzled when we finally arrived at Tango…not the greatest opening for a romantic evening. We were warmly greeted at the door and seated right away. I don’t pretend to know what Argentinean décor looks like, but it didn’t take us long to realize we were in the midst of authenticity. Within minutes, any agitation from getting lost was relieved…primarily by Gabriel, our server.

We confessed to being first-timers and he walked us through the menu. Argentina is apparently very well known for their beef, and I’d say at least half the menu consisted of it. Normally, I’m not a heavy red meat kinda girl, but when in Rome Argentina, as they say… We started with some bread with chimichurri sauce (already on our table). The sauce has a vinegar and soybean oil base, with some spices thrown in, and it was delicious! Gabriel recommended the empanadas as an appetizer and we happily polished off one beef, and one chicken (though he recommends the ham & cheese) - $2.75 each. Based on just the bread and apps, J and I were getting really excited about dinner…

By the way…around this time a guitarist and a singer filled the room with some beautiful music – I highly recommend going on a Wednesday night between 7 and 10, as that’s their performance time…we just got lucky! More good news - we found out Tango is expanding. They started out in one tiny storefront, and are working on moving into a 3rd at this point! Good news for food lovers everywhere.

We decided to share a couple meals, each coming with two sides. We got the Medallon Roquefort (filet mignon, grilled and topped with Roquefort cheese ~ $30) and the Milanesa a la Napolitana (filet of beef breaded, fried, and prepared with red sauce and cheese ~ $20). For sides, we ordered Puré Porteño (mashed squash and sweet potato), mixed veggies, mashed potatoes, and rice. For wine, Gabriel suggested Malbec, a native Argentinean grape, to go with the Milanesa and the Cabernet Sauvignon (also an Argentinean variety) to go with the filet.

I’m really at a loss of words to describe how good everything was. Some highlights…the filet was perfect…melt in your mouth good – the cheese was rich and delicious. J loved the Milanesa and its similarity to veal parm. Our favorite side was the Puré Porteño – apparently lots of butter and cream does the trick! Normally I wouldn’t go into so much detail on the sides, but the veggies were cooked perfectly, potatoes were smooth and creamy, and the rice was flavorful! Perhaps the best part was the wine…I may have to go find a bottle of the Malbec…it was very smooth, but had rich flavor (good if you’re the Merlot type). The cabernet went beautifully with the filet.

Apparently I’m not capable of giving “highlights” when everything is delicious… No need to give an “overall” opinion here, since I have nothing negative to say, except that I selfishly want Tango to move closer to my apartment so I get there faster and more frequently (though, it really isn’t that hard to get to if you have better directions…). Go for a romantic night out, go with a group…just GO! You’ll love it.

Chau!
A very happy Little B :)

Via Matta when you're feeling classy...

Via Matta has been on my list of “someday” restaurants for a while now. It receives consistently good to great reviews on Yelp and is conveniently located downtown. Sadly though, it’s a bit off my dining price point for a standard night out. Last night, however, I had a date planned with my bestie (Packie) to go see Wicked (fantastic show, btw…definitely go if you haven’t!), so we decided to get all jazzed up and head out for a nice dinner before the show.

We made reservations for 5:30 – absolutely not needed on a Tuesday night, but if you’re registered with OpenTable.com, you make a reservation for everything. Reservations add up to free gift cards, and who doesn’t love that? We showed up at 5:26 since we came straight from work, and the hostess informed us that we were a bit early and the dining room wasn’t open yet. Seemed a little picky to me, but you don’t have to ask us twice to get a drink at the bar before dinner, so that’s just what we did.

Their cocktail list was unique and creative but nothing jumped out at us, so in the end we decided to spring for Cosmos…$12 each and delicious. Prices were as to be expected at this particular establishment.

The hostess came over mid-martini and told us our table was ready, so we carried our pretty pink drinks over and found our little table for two decorated with tealights (good spot for a little romance if you’re there on a date). They served us some delicious bread with olive oil while we decided on our meals. We ordered a bottle of the Salviano, Orvieto Classico ($36)…purely because it’s from a region of Italy I studied in during college and because Orvieto tends to put out nice wines. And it was nice, indeed!

We ordered the spicy calamari with tomatoes, olives and capers ($14). Also, delicious. And, being the classy place this is, they brought us our own little bowls of calamari instead of making us divvy it up from a shared plate. For dinner, I opted for the Chitarra (basically homemade spaghetti) with lobster, peas and spicy tomato sauce ($28). Again…fantastic. I wasn’t even terribly hungry going into dinner, and I polished off this entire meal. So very good. Packie had the Chicken alla Milanese with cherry tomatoes, arugula and red onion ($23). The meal was good, but to use her words, it was “nothing to write home about.”

Overall, it was a really nice dining experience. Like I said, you’re likely to drop a pretty penny in this place so make sure you like your date a lot if you’re planning on treating them to dinner here. But a great place for a relaxing, classy - even romantic evening.

Salute!
Little B