Archive for the ‘Boston bars’ Category
June 23rd, 2006
Ed. Note: The B-Side Lounge closed in 2008.
Established: 1998
Specialty: Cocktails
Prices: Moderate
Atmosphere: Hip but not painfully so. Retro but not kitschy. Crowded.
See Best Boston bars for address and contact info.
B-Side opened at the tail end of the widespread, short-lived revival of cocktail culture, a la the Rat Pack, that the movie Swingers ushered in. Fortunately, the cocktails themselves stuck around, and so did B-Side. That’s because owner/bartender Patrick Sullivan did something revolutionary: he offered vintage cocktails. And he offered them right, with crushed ice, fresh citrus juice, and long-ignored ingredients like Benedictine liqueur and rye whiskey. The drink menu — probably the most comprehensive in greater Boston — categorizes cocktails by their base liquor, e.g. “Whiskey Base,” “Gin Base,” etc. It includes classy stuff like the Frisco (rye whiskey, Benedictine, lemon juice) and the Champs Elysees (brandy, yellow Chartreuse, lemon juice and Angostura bitters), plus drinks like the Double Wide (Coke syrup and Jack Daniels) and the Mullet (Bud Light and a shot of Sambuca) that clue you in to the fact that B-Side refuses to take itself too seriously. A cocktail can be a sublime thing, but it shouldn’t be a serious thing. This attitude comes through in the drink prices, which start at $8 (downright cheap for the Boston area). If you’re not into mixed drinks, B-Side’s got you covered with wine and a decent selection of (mostly) craft beers on tap, as well as macro and retro brews in bottles and cans.
Several of the Boston area’s best bartenders — including a few profiled on this site — either work or have worked at B-Side. It’s the perfect place to hone one’s knowledge of mixology, not to mention crowd-control skills. The place is frequently packed. The bar staff looks professional (they wear long, white aprons, and the guys wear ties) but far from stodgy (body art seems to be a requirement). B-Side bartenders who move on to other gigs take that “I’m a professional but I’m having a good time” attitude with them.
B-Side occupies the site of the former Windsor Tap (the building is located at the corner of Hampshire and Windsor streets), which was something of an East Cambridge institution. B-Side was initially resented by many WT regulars as one of those trendy, upstart establishments that signal the yuppie takeover of a working-class neighborhood. But its no-nonsense attitude ultimately endeared it to a wide range of drinking types. It helped that Sullivan fixed up some of the space’s best features: a large, U-shaped bar, pressed-tin ceiling, and thick glass tiles on the wall that let in light but mercifully shield customers from a view of the drab intersection outside. Vintage cocktail equipment and a plastic Bud Man (that’s a Budweiser spokes-character from the late 1960s/early 1970s, kids) share a perch above the back bar that houses the citrus juicer and the turntable. Yes, B-Side plays records when things aren’t too busy. Another big, big plus is that the food here is consistently good. I guess you’d call it “American-eclectic.” There are six or eight well executed entrees, most of which are around $20. People actually go to B-Side to have dinner! Don’t worry, if you’re saving all your money to pay the bar tab, look for the wire carousel and help yourself to a free hard-boiled egg.
B-Side’s only real drawbacks are a lack of parking (but you shouldn’t be driving after hanging out there anyway) and the noise level, which can escalate painfully when the place fills up.
Posted in Boston bars, Cocktails | 3 Comments »
June 20th, 2006
It seems like Mimosas and Bloody Marys have been the only drinks available at brunch since about one million years B.C. That’s quite a rut. Even during a recent visit to the cocktail mecca the B-Side Lounge, these libations were all that our server could suggest as boozy accompaniment to our eggs and bacon. After downing a perfectly servicable Bloody, I asked for the cocktail menu. There had to be something different, but still brunch-y, there. Something with, let’s see, fresh-squeezed juice, but less sweet and more bracing than a Mimosa. A new item on the menu caught my eye: the Stork Club – dry gin, lime juice, orange juice, triple sec and Angostura bitters. Now that sounded liked the perfect brunch drink. I ordered one, took a sip. It was the perfect brunch drink! It had sunny citrus juices, plus a little extra orange flavor and sweetness from the triple sec. But the gin and bitters added a pleasant sting, like the flirtatious face-slaps in that old commercial for Skin Bracer aftershave. Unfortunately, most of the bleary-eyed brunch-goers at B-Side aren’t likely to have the acumen to examine a long list of cocktails and select an unknown, unproven one to start their afternoon. They need helpful suggestions from someone they trust, i.e. their bartender. That’s where a menu of new and interesting, but brunch-worthy, cocktails would come in handy. Let’s put the Stork Club at the top of that list.
If you want to see a menu of brunch cocktails that goes way beyond Bloodys and Mimosas, check out Eastern Standard‘s. They can take the credit for popularizing the Hemingway, or La Floridita, Daiquiri as a brunch drink in Boston. The thing that makes it a great brunch drink is that the bartenders serve the mixture of white rum, maraschino liqueur, lime juice and simple syrup over crushed ice, creating a refreshing, adult sno-cone. (If you’ve never had a Hemingway Daiquiri, note that it is hardly sweet at all, which makes sense when you learn that maraschino liqueur is the opposite of the liquid in the jar of cherries: clear and only semi-sweet.) Try this drink — you might find it more pleasant than sucking spiked tomato juice through a straw clogged with horseradish and peppercorns.
Posted in Boston bars, Brunch, Cocktails, Gin, Rum | No Comments »
June 10th, 2006
Recently, after a kindly bartender at Eastern Standard sent me home with a bottle of hard-to-find Peychaud’s bitters, I mixed my first Seelbach, a bourbon-and-Champagne-based cocktail born in 1917 at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Oh my god, was it good. I assumed I would never encounter this rare drink outside my own living room. Then one night I met Scott Holliday, bar manager at the Cambridge restaurant Chez Henri. When he took my order, I simply told him that I liked whiskey drinks. A few minutes later, he placed a bubbly, reddish cocktail on my bar napkin — a Seelbach! I wanted to marry the guy. I’m a sucker for drinks that top spirits off with Champagne. Mysteriously, the bubbles both accentuate and mellow the bourbon and bitters, and as a whole the Seelbach conjures up dueling memories of wedding toasts and camping trips. Try this recipe:
The Seelbach (from Gary and Mardee Regan’s New Classic Cocktails)
1 oz bourbon
1/2 oz Cointreau
7 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
7 dashes Angostura bitters
5 oz Champagne
Pour the liquor and bitters into a Champagne flute and stir. Add Champagne and stir again. Garnish with an orange twist.
Note: I prefer to stir the liquor and bitters lightly over ice and then strain them into the Champagne flute before adding the Champagne. It makes a pleasantly chilled drink that is not so cold or watered down that it dulls the spirits’ character.
Posted in Boston bars, Cocktails, Whiskey | 4 Comments »
June 7th, 2006
Eastern Standard’s cocktail menu just keeps getting bigger and better. It now takes up a whole page and is divided into categories like Standards (which are actually newly invented drinks like The Rat — Fernet Branca and Coke, named after the beloved rock-and-cheap-beer joint that used to occupy ES’ spot on Comm Ave.), Coolers, and other categories based on the drinker’s mood or mealtime plans. One recently added classic cocktail is the Periodista (aka “journalist”): Myer’s dark rum, fresh lime juice, Marie Brizard Apry (apricot liqueur), and a dash of orange liqueur, perfectly chilled and served in a gorgeous, delicate, rounded cocktail glass. This is a drink that can class up any summer afternoon, transforming you from just another pale-legged Sox fan snacking on cod cakes before the game to a bon vivant in cool linen waiting for a beautiful, suntanned stranger to step through the door.
B-Side Lounge in Cambridge also does a nice version of this drink, and they get credit for being perhaps the first bar in greater Boston to serve this cocktail in modern times (as in post-1963).
Posted in Boston bars, Cocktails, Rum | No Comments »
May 21st, 2006
I had drinks at Bar Lola (160 Commonwealth Ave.) and Bar 10 (in the Westin hotel) this past week. At the Spanish-themed Bar Lola, I did not try the house cocktail, the Lolita: Stoli Perik (peach), Gran Torres (a Spanish orange-flavored cordial) and mango juice topped with cava and garnished with an edible orchid flower. It sounded like just another fruity vodka drink to me. Instead, I opted for the Don Quixote martini: tequila, Cointreau, lime juice, and sangria. I guessed that it would be the least-sweet cocktail on the menu. The drink was a beautiful reddish-purple color, and that’s unfortunately all it had going for it. It was too sweet and not very well chilled. It kind of reminded me of a summertime punch my mom used to make when I was a kid: Minute Maid lemonade and Welch’s grape juice. Now that was a good drink. And it didn’t cost $12. Next time I visit Bar Lola, I’ll stick to the sangria on its own, which was pretty good, or just play it safe and order wine or cava by the glass to accompany the tasty tapas.
Bar 10 describes its vibe as “casual sophistication.” I’ll go along with that as far as decor goes. The place has a polished, grownup, hotel lounge feel. The soft lighting and plush, semicircular booths make you feel like a fashionable urbanite, as do the gigantic martinis. The problem with gigantic martinis is — do I really have to state the obvious? — that drinking eight ounces of gin or vodka in one sitting is bad for your health. Even worse, the alcohol warms up before you finish the drink, which is as unpleasant as drinking lukewarm coffee. The Bombay Sapphire martini I ordered was not only automatically served dry (everybody just assumes you want a dry martini, because it sounds cool or something), but it wasn’t thoroughly chilled. If there’s any drink on earth whose quality depends on the proper temperature, it’s the martini. It’s pretty simple, yet very few bars get this. Moreover, I had read that Bar 10 was a good place to get a classic cocktail. Oooh, I thought, maybe they serve up a good Negroni or French 75. No such luck. This is one of the many places in Boston where vodka martinis and Cosmos constitute “classic” cocktails.
Posted in Boston bars, Cocktails, Gin, Tequila | No Comments »
