Boston Bound

Vacation! This is my first day of vacation this year. Last year I had planned to go to Oregon for my 40th birthday, but couldn’t make the plans all work out. So Jenn encouraged me to plan for 2008, and technically I’m still 40. And with the support of my parents in watching the kids (God do I love them), Jenn and I were off on our adventure. Because we were planning to use our frequent flyer miles, we were limited to flying in and out of Boston. We decided to stay at the Courtyard Marriott in Revere, which allowed for parking and provided a shuttle service for our early morning flight. My favorite part was that the hotel is right next to Kappy’s, my traditional beer stop when we lived in Portsmouth and went to Boston.

Since I’ve been pretty stressed recently, Jenn let me pick the restaurant for dinner (you’ll notice a theme, I’m picking all the restaurants this trip). I chose to get beer and bar-b-que at Redbones (http://www.redbones.com/) in Somerville, MA. Redbones has an excellent selection of about 30 taps and great food. I got an Atomium Grand Cru from Van Steenberge in Belgium to start off with. I hadn’t seen it before and I thought the beer would go well with some spicy items. Jenn and I split a small plate of nachos (and unfortunately it really was a small plate) to start off with. For dinner, Jenn got the pulled chicken sandwich with fries, and I tried a two meat special. The first meat was what they called their BBQ Hash, which was like pulled pork but had peppers and onions mixed in with it. It was really good. My second choice was the Jerk chicken. Oh my Lord was it hot! I had a few bites and my ears were sweating, my tummy was grumbling, and my posterior was itching (I know, too much information). I had to try the Avery New World Porter to cool it off, but I didn’t get much relief. I couldn’t finish it, and had to send the rest back in shame.

Perhaps the coolest part of the bar is what you do when you don’t know what to order. They have a large wheel behind the bar that can make the choice for you. Jenn enjoyed eating in the heart of Red Sox nation, and we were on our way for a wonderfully relaxing vacation. - 4584

"There can’t be good living where there is not good drinking." - Benjamin Franklin