Boston is a casual city. Jeans are always acceptable attire and it’s rare that restaurants actually require men to wear jackets. Most nice restaurants won’t even notice if you’re wearing leggings and an over sized t-shirt! Trust me I’ve done it. This system is usually perfect for me because I wear Tom’s shoes 90% of the time and always sleep in too late to do my hair, but sometimes I feel the need to get dressed up. It usually happens after a string of way too casual outfits and a weekend trip to NYC where I borderline freak out at the state of my wardrobe.
Getting dressed up and doing it up right was the inspiration behind our Keepin’ It Classy event with Google Places. A few weeks ago, Jacki, Adri and I, plus 7 winners of our contest hit up three of our favorite classy Boston spots for appetizers, dinner, dessert and drinks in between!
We started with drinks and small plates at Jackson Cannon’s newest Kenmore Square venture — The Hawthorne. If you haven’t been yet, I recommend trying it ASAP for pre or post dinner drinks. It’s a way sleeker and more modern (but also funky) version of one of those subterranean/no-sign/speakeasy type places that has the best bartender in Boston to thank for the cocktails.
The Paper Plane - bourbon, Aperol, Nonino Quintessentia, and lemon juice
Aviation - gin, maraschino liqueur, crème de violette, and lemon juice
Olives, Pretzel Rolls, Deviled Eggs with Crispy Prosciutto
Next stop — Theater District, to our favorite Parisian Bistro Pigalle. We came to Pigalle for one thing and one thing only — their famous Cassoulet (and obviously a glass of Rhone to accompany it).
Cassoulet - braised lamb shank, duck leg confit, house made garlic pork sausage
& great northern white beans
Then it was off the Kendall Square’s newest food geek haven, Catalyst, for dessert. The private table behind the fireplace is a must for big parties. We’ve tried Catalyst’s brunch and loved it, so we were expecting great things, but what we weren’t expecting was a dessert tasting of every single item they offer.
Butterscotch and Passion Fruit Pudding, Warm Pound Cake Croutons
Selection of Cheeses – this obviously made my night, and managed to bring my level of food coma to a new high…until THIS arrived at our table…
Chocolate Fondant, Caramel Glaze, Hazelnut Streusel, Banana Coulis
Pear-Almond Financier, House Made Crème Fraiche Ice Cream, Candied Almonds
Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake, White Chocolate Ganache, Caramelized Pineapple Coulis
Daily Offering of Housemade Sorbet
Which was then followed by a much needed espresso martini.
So Boston, if you want to keep it classy like we (sometimes) do — I wholeheartedly recommend each one of these spots not just for the food and drinks but for the hospitable servers, hosts and chefs.
p.s. I tried out Hawthorne around 1 am a few weeks ago, and it’s just as good for late night drinks as it is for pre-dinner, plus they got crazy with the playlist and start bumping 90′s rap jams which made my night.
Thank you to Google Boston and Uber for being our chauffeur for the night!
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