Gaslight Enchants

With the winter wonderland delivered to our doorstep this past weekend, you would think that our first instinct would be to stay in the house, shutters drawn, warm, and cozy. We did that for much of the day yesterday, me blogging and tweeting and reading Wine Secrets by Marnie Old, and the hubs working on his Masters thesis. But around 6:00 I think we both started to get a little stir crazy, not to mention that for some reason, when it is freezing cold out I often get a big hankering for oysters.

So after tossing the idea of going out vs. staying home around for awhile, we bundled up in our wintry finest and got in the car to head to the South End. The streets were well plowed, surprising for Boston, and there were barely any cars. The city looked SO pretty! The lights, the buildings, the greenery, everything decorated by Mother Nature suddenly had a whole new look.

We decided to give Gaslight a try for dinner as it has a parking lot and is close to home but also offers a raw bar that we had heard good things about. We have had brunch at Gaslight before but for some reason had never checked out their dinner menu.

When we arrived at Gaslight and made our way through the velvet curtains keeping the cold out, we opted to have a seat at the long, sort of u-shaped bar. As we expected, the restaurant was pretty empty, and we had our choice of seats.

Gaslight is decorated like a Parisian brasserie with subway tile and dark woods, providing the perfect atmosphere to cozy up to your dinner date for a romantic meal or a good place to enjoy some of their fabulous cocktails with a group of friends.

To start, we ordered 1/2 dozen oysters, and we both wished we had ordered more. They were ice cold, plump, with a briny ocean flavor and a spicy horseradish cocktail sauce for topping. They made me want to write an ode to oysters. I didn’t have time today, but stay tuned, it might just be posted here one day!

I also had a Fin du monde, a tart, very effervescent beer by Unibroue.

For our entrees, the hubby ordered poelee espagnol, pan roasted cod with shellfish, chorizo and sauce ā l’armoricaine  and I ordered the moules frites with pernod and coriander.

Now that I know Gaslight has a great dinner menu and a charming evening vibe, I think we will become regulars, especially at their bar.

Even if you don’t live in the area, its worth checking out their website. Its like taking a tiny trip to Paris!

Speaking of Paris, we are trying to figure out what to do for our side trip when we go to Ireland. We want to spend a few days somewhere outside of Galway, either traveling around Ireland which we have seen much of before, visiting family in Italy, where we have both been but of course, love, or going somewhere new. I love Austria and would like to see Salzburg, but Prague also looks magical, and Spain will be warmer. Paris is the easiest as it has the most flights going  out of Shannon, but we have been before and aren’t necessarily in a rush to return.

Any thoughts for us?