Lunch at Bostonia Public House

Bostonia frontA little over a month ago, my friend Karen (Boston area food blogger Fussy Eater) and I had a wonderful lunch at Bostonia Public House. The plan was to catch up over dessert and coffee. But both of us arrived rather hungry, so we ended up having a full lunch.

Bostonia neighborhood

The day was hot and humid and we both needed to cool off fast. Since we decided to really get a feel for this restaurant with a full meal, we both decided to have cocktails. Sure it was only mid-afternoon. But it was a Saturday and this is one of the perks of being an adult. There sure are a ton of responsibilities, so we might as well have fun when we can!

Karen arrived first and she was sipping on a mint julep, when I walked in. While not on the drink menu at the time, she ordered it anyway and was very pleased.

mint julepAs I read over the drink menu, I was intrigued with Pimm’s #617. I’ve read good things about Pimm’s, but have never tried it. I was pretty excited to order it, but unfortunately they were out. I ended up ordering a French Martini instead. Loved it!

French Martini

We both took pictures of our drinks with our phones and I can definitely see that I need to upgrade. But for now, at least you can see what the drink looks like. The pretty pink color was a pleasant surprise! By the way, service at Bostonia Public House was excellent!

The ambiance of the restaurant is very nice. My only comment was that there were many TVs with sports on. That is not my preference, but a public house or pub is like a sports bar where the focus is on drinks and sports. Given the name, they do the “extras” very well and probably won’t be turning off the TVs anytime soon.

Also, I’m not a fan of the seemingly growing trend of restaurants having tall tables with stools, which is how we were seated. I’m fairly short at 5-foot-3, so I have to make a fair effort to sit on the stool and never feel very comfortable. Karen didn’t find it a problem, but she’s also much taller than I. Is the trend to focus on taller people? Are there no short people making restaurant purchasing decisions??!! This is quite curious to me. But, I digress….

warm lobster rollBack to our lunch. We both had lobster rolls. There was a choice between warm and cold, which was quite nice. I had the cold and Karen had the warm, which is pictured above. They were a hit regardless of temperature!

Both Karen and I have a big focus on desserts with our blogging, so we were eagerly anticipating the sweets offered here. We decided to share, so we could try both.Boston Cream pieThe “Bostonia” Cream Pie was good and an interesting twist on the traditional Boston Cream Pie. It was beautifully presented, but I wished there had been more of the chocolate ganache. After much Boston Cream Pie tasting, I’ve realized that I prefer the messy, gooey and sloppy, which does not align with a pristine presentation. I think a less than perfect looking homemade Boston Cream Pie is the way to go and will probably not be ordering anymore in restaurants.

Now, if you take nothing else from this post, please remember this. If you value your own happiness and appreciate that life is short and fleeting, you must try the Berkshire Bourbon Glazed Sweet Potato Doughnuts. Do it now. We don’t know what tomorrow brings.

sweet potato donutsThis is one of the best desserts of my life. The doughnuts were served hot. They were tender inside with a soft crackle of glaze outside and reminded me of French toast.

Lunch was a real treat, but way more expensive than what I can justify on a regular basis. However, I will be going back for those doughnuts and I hope you do too.

*Updated 10/16/2014* I forgot to mention the generous portion size of the doughnuts. Karen’s post reminded me. Take a look at her thoughts over here.

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Photo Credits: Karen Zgoda photographed the mint julep, lobster roll and doughnuts.

Is Legal Sea Foods a Restaurant Chain?

poll about restaurant chainHave you seen any of the commercials that are part of Legal Sea Foods “Not A Chain” campaign? They’re rather clever. But after watching them, I can still only think, “Really? Thou doth protest too much.” As much as Legal’s doesn’t want to be considered a restaurant chain, it is considered a chain restaurant by many, if not most. At least according to this poll pictured above. Boston.com’s article, “When Does a Restaurant Become a Chain?” discusses this very issue.

For full disclosure, I cast a vote in this poll and said that I consider Legal’s a restaurant chain. When I took the screen shot of the results, there were 601 votes and 87.69% also considered it a chain. Also, at least at the time of this writing, if you look up Chain store in Wikipedia, there is a section for restaurant chains. Below is an excerpt with links removed.

A restaurant chain is a set of related restaurants in many different locations that are either under shared corporate ownership (e.g., McDonald’s in the U.S.) or franchising agreements. Typically, the restaurants within a chain are built to a standard format through architectural prototype development and offer a standard menu and/or services. …

Fast food restaurants are the most common, but sit-down restaurant chains (such as Timber Lodge Steakhouse, Outback Steakhouse, T.G.I. Friday’s, Legal Sea Foods, Ruby Tuesday,and Olive Garden) also exist.

Legal Sea Foods is listed as an example on the page right now, although I would not be surprised if their name is soon removed.

I remember when Legal Sea Foods was new and special, because you could only find it in the Boston area. Going to the Park Square restaurant was a really big deal. At least to me. The food was always wonderful. The service too. I haven’t been to a Legal Sea Foods in years, although I have planned to try one of their new concept restaurants. They do know how to keep things fresh! While their locations may be branded differently, they are still under the umbrella of Legal’s and part of their family. That is why it seems like a chain to me. Their restaurants are all still related.

Years ago, when I learned that you can find Legal’s restaurants not only outside of Massachusetts, but also outside of New England, I was a bit disappointed. They were no longer special to us in this region. One of the things that I love about travel is trying someplace that I cannot find at home.

If I’m in Florida or California, I generally don’t want to go places that I can find here in Massachusetts. Unless of course, I need a quick cup of coffee before my caffeine withdrawal headache starts and I can’t find a local coffee shop. Then I will go into a Starbucks.

What do you think? Do you consider Legal Sea Foods a chain? Have you been to one of their locations recently? Tried one of their new concept restaurants?

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Photo Credit: Boston.com

Freelance Writing

recent writing on LegalZoom

Just in case you’re interested in some writing that I’ve done recently, I thought I’d share some links.

Look at the Clips page on this website. Also take a look at my author page over at LegalZoom.

Hope you’re enjoying the long weekend so far. It’s rather cold and rainy here, so it’s the perfect day to try and and catch up on writing some more blog posts. Hopefully I’ll have a few new posts here soon!

 

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Photo Credit: LegalZoom

Snacking On A Pumpkin Cookie

pumpkin cookie for snacking

As I mentioned in my Edgar Allen Poe post, I had a meeting downtown yesterday. We met at Starbucks, but then decided to sit outside, since it was nice out.

My free birthday drink was getting ready to expire, so I let Starbucks treat me to an iced Oprah Chai Tea Latte. My first time trying it. It was good! Have you tried it?

Since I can’t resist anything striking any sort of resemblance to a pumpkin or hinting at pumpkin spice, I broke down and got a pumpkin sugar cookie since it was perfect for snacking. It wasn’t pumpkin spice, but I still enjoyed it.

I could probably bake something just as good, if not better myself for snacking. Maybe I need to get a pumpkin cookie cutter?