After Work Drinks and Snacks

Happy New Year! I hope you had great one! Did you go out or stay in? We made a fire, drank Champagne, and ordered Thai food. Being in a new home is interesting in that we are still figuring out what takeaway restaurants we like, but we lucked out with Kapow in Lower Mills. The avocado curry was to-die-for! We made it to 12:02 before shutting out the lights and promptly falling asleep. This holiday season was stressful for a number of reasons, and I am actually pretty glad to see it over. Next stop, a fabulous 2014!

Life has been moving quickly, and we have been out and about in Boston quite a bit here and there for drinks and appetizers mostly. Below are some photos from Barlow’s and Ward 8, two recent after work stops.

I always sort of forget about Barlow’s but on one particularly bad traffic night (Seriously, what’s up with Boston traffic lately?!), found ourselves off 93 and in South Boston, hungry and trying to wait out traffic. We ended up finding easy parking near Barlow’s, and we were delighted to find it festively decorated and bustling with great energy. Their cocktail list is long and really fun, and the appetizer menu is the same. We ordered up drinks and then shared a few really delicious items: Thai Chicken Dumplings, Short Rib Tacos, Pretzels with Sam Adams Cheese Fondue.

I didn’t expect too much from our bar food items, but everything was so good! The tacos, especially, wowed me, with tender and flavorful short rib meat

And we were practically fighting over the fondue. Once we finished the warm, soft pretzels, our server gave us house made chips to dip in the decadent fondue. Barlow’s is sort of on our way home, and I would not hesitate to stop again for snacks and drinks or dinner.

Another place we visited recently was Ward 8, which took the spot of Nebo in the North End. I followed the progress of Ward 8 as they worked on the space, so I was excited to finally sit at the beautiful, huge white marble bar. The space is fantastic, and the cocktail menu is really great. I had a Ward 8, naturally.

We decided once again on bar snacks, and we really enjoyed the Bacon Cashew Caramel Corn (Really, how can you go wrong?) and the 3 Cheese Spinach Dip. The full menu looked great as well, and Ward 8 has a raw bar I would love to return for

The Fry Sampler was just kind of meh. You know I love my fries, and these were kind of underdone. The lemon aioli was good, but for a fry fix in the area, Saus has my heart.

I think Ward 8 has some real potential once they get a good rhythm going. Service was great but not very friendly; other than that I would definitely say it was a good after work experience.

I’ve said it a million times, but Boston is chock full of great restaurants, new and old, and snacks and drinks are a great way to be able to experience more but within a budget. We’ll often go home and make a dinner with food we already have after sampling a few things out.

In this New Year I am hoping to cook more at home and to move more, plain and simple. I have a good feeling about 2014 and hope yours started off fabulously!

What did you do for New Year’s? Do you have any resolutions?