Cocktails

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I swear the weeks are flying by faster as each month passes, and I don’t know where the time has gone since my last blog post. My travel schedule has been pretty hectic, and my husband has also been traveling a ton for work. As a result, lots of other things have gotten put on the back burner. I miss my Boston blogging community!

One thing we have made an effort to do is to venture out of Dorchester for dining out, which can be difficult, especially when it’s dark and cold and Dorchester has so many great restaurants. Boston has such a great dining scene these days that it can be overwhelming, so we have been keeping a list of places to visit.

Where in Boston have I been lately?

Haley Henry

A catch-up date with an old friend at haley.henry wine bar was the perfect way to while away several hours on a blustery November night. The space is so cozy, and while our food was a bit hit-or-miss, I was a huge fan of the wine tots and pickled vegetables. The wine, however, is really where it’s at here. We went with staff recommendations for all of our wines, and they steered us in delicious directions.

While I don’t normally love Gamay, I have been thinking nonstop about one we tried from Isabelle & Bruno Perraud. It was the perfect suggestion, and it would be an incredible Thanksgiving wine.

Haley Henry

haley.henry is definitely a place I could see myself spending wintry afternoons, especially as a respite from holiday shopping.

Haley Henry

With all of our travel, fitting in date nights to reconnect have been more important than ever, and finding good places close to the airport has been helpful. I had been dying to visit Reel House in East Boston, and after a recent airport reunion, we fell in love with the beautiful space, great service, and delicious seafood.

Reel House

Tiki drinks and twinkling white lights and nautical decor won us over. Seafood charcuterie was a fresh and creative treat, perfect for sharing. The service was super warm and friendly and made us want to stay forever. This will definitely be a new favorite post-business-travel spot.

Reel House

anoush’ella in Boston’s South End is a place I now crave regularly. I kind of knew I would when I started to read the menus online, but it was truly love at first sight and first bite.

anoush’ella

I love the casual atmosphere of the space and the quick arrival of the food, which doesn’t take away from a relaxing experience. I sipped a delicious whiskey and grapefruit cocktail while devouring delights from their labne and m’anoush menus. I absolutely love yogurt in savory dishes, and this labne is super thick and tangy with perfect toppings.

anoush’ella

A sweet m’anoush to end the meal was stuffed with marshmallows and Nutella and was gooey and warm and perfectly delicious. I saw many people coming into anoush’ella for takeaway orders; if I lived in the neighborhood I would be tempted to go in several times a week!

anoush’ella

Tags: Boston, Dining out, Food, food blog

It went by in less than a blink of the eye. On our way to Italy last month, we spent just two days in Ireland. . . just as we started to settle in it was time to head to the airport again!

Aer Lingus

Ireland

While we were grateful for even a little bit of time in Ireland, we knew time was ticking and planned on cramming in as much as possible without entirely exhausting ourselves. Spoiler: It mostly involved eating and drinking!

Irish breakfast  

An Irish breakfast at home after the post-flight nap is a must. Buckets of tea and lashing rain make it all the better.   

Irish summer can be beautiful, but for the most part, it can be pretty miserable, especially in the West. We got the miserable bits.

Tribeton Galway When it rained we sought shelter in favorite watering holes like Tribeton, which has a veritable bible of gin and some of the best cocktails I have ever had. It’s also just a really cool space with very friendly and creative staff.

cocktails in Galway

Bite Club Galway

Galway’s dining scene is booming, and I always try to visit a new or new-to-me spot. This time it was the delightfully playful Biteclub, which had a whimsical cocktail menu with options like little slushies, along with an extensive food menu.

cocktails in Galway

I tend to crave vegetables while traveling, and this giant plate of veggies and falafel totally hit the spot.

dining in Galway

Gin is still all-the-rage in Galway, so I made sure to have plenty of beautiful gin cocktails and even visited their newest bar, Tigh Nora, which is dedicated to gin. The number of gin options made in Ireland is growing, and it was fun to try a different one with each cocktail.

gin cocktails

Tigh Nora Galway 

Of course we also made time for old favorites, classic Irish pubs like Taafe’s, with views of street performers, stellar people watching, and pints.

Taafes

And let’s face it, no trip to the pub is complete without some garlic cheese chips after! No trip to Ireland is complete for me without a visit to Supermacs.   

Supermacs

In spite of the cold, gray, windy, and often rainy weather, we still also spent plenty of time outside, taking in the beauty of all of the lush gardens, buoyed by the rain and truly stunning.

roses in Ireland  

Rain or shine, there’s a wild beauty to the beaches in the West of Ireland, and even while shivering, I somehow managed to fit in an ice cream cone.

Spiddal

 Galway

Two days or two weeks, it never seems like there’s enough time when we land in Ireland, but I will always take whatever we can get, and always miss it terribly when we leave.

Tags: cocktails, Food, Galway, Ireland, Travel

We have been seriously spoiled here in Dorchester over the past year! I recently wrote about a new favorite, The Industry on Adams, and we’re also loving Molinari’s, Lower Mills Tavern, Lucy’s and a bunch of others, all within walking distance of our house. I still actually can’t believe, despite the plumber issues, the luck we had finding a house we love in a location that is booming.

Right after we returned from Italy a few weeks ago, Yellow Door Taqueria opened up in our very own Lower Mills neighborhood. We had been stalking its opening, peering over papered windows on walks around town, and getting ready for a funky new spot for tacos and tequila. . . it’s worth saying though that we have another taco favorite, Sea Breeze nearby on the Ashmont side of us, which is excellent and totally different. One doesn’t replace the other. . . I caved into a serious Sea Breeze craving last night!

Anyway, back to Yellow Door. . .

Yellow Door Taqueria

The taqueria is an absolutely beautiful spot that was once an antique store that is now down the street. The design is chic and fun and comfortable; the bar is a likely winter hangout for us.

Yellow Door Taqueria cocktail menu

A creative cocktail menu with a focus on tequila made for good reading material as we cozied into our corner table. We’re bar people, but at 5:30, the bar was already full. We were lucky to snag the last table. My strategy going forward, when possible, is to be waiting by the door at 4:00 when they open!

It was a warm day, and I always crave grapefruit, so I went with the Paloma which ended up being completely delicious and fresh and perfectly made.

We took our time ordering food. It’s become our new way of dining that we have a cocktail first, then start to order, so the food doesn’t come piling out.

Yellow Door Taqueria Dorchester

paloma cocktail

I am a huge fan of ceviche and am so excited that Yellow Door features three options. I could easily just make a meal of ceviche on its own, but we were there for the tacos, so we went with the scallop ceviche to start before putting in our taco order.

I love that sweet, super fresh scallop flavor when scallop ceviche is done perfectly, and this was it. Delicate flavors of habanero, lime, tequila, all came together for flavor without overwhelming the seafood. Sturdy chips were perfect for scooping!

scallop ceviche

The taco menu was really hard to put down. We decided we wanted everything but the duck and in the end went with Veggie, Chicken Tinga, Carnitas, Cangrejo (Crab), Azteca, and, as lovers of fish tacos, the Daily Fish. I’ve included the descriptions from the menu below, because these aren’t your ordinary tacos. Each has the perfect accompaniments to go with the meat or fish or veggie that is the main feature.

Everything was SO delicious. The only issue was that, after the ceviche, we definitely did not need six tacos. We forced ourselves to eat every bite because these were incredible and couldn’t go to waste, but I definitely rolled out of there.

Our entire experience at Yellow Door Taqueria was excellent, and considering we went on their third day of being open, that’s pretty amazing. From the warm welcome to the well-paced service, it felt like they had everything down already, and I can’t wait to be back to eat and drink the rest of the menu.

Welcome to Dorchester, Yellow Door Taqueria!

Yellow Door Taqueria

 

CARNITAS (GF) pork confit, cotija, salsa verde, refried beans, red onion, cilantro, chicharrones 4.

DAILY FISH chili-infused Tecate-battered fried local fish, calabaza purée, crema, grilled pineapple salsa, cilantro 5.

AZTECA tequila-habanero braised beef, salsa ranchero, onion bacon jam, pickled red onion, crispy tortilla strings 5.

CANGREJO (GF) local crab a la plancha, blue corn purée, chipotle beans, mango pickled serrano slaw, red onion 5

CHICKEN TINGA tinga braised chicken, crema, avocado frito, crispy chicken skin, radish, cilantro 4.

VEGGIE (GF) chipotle potato purée, beets, queso de cabra, carrot fresno salsa, house guacamole, tortilla strips, cilantro 4

Tags: Boston blogger, cocktails, Dorchester, Lower Mills, tacos, tequila

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