Three for Three {Birthday Celebrations & Restaurant Reviews}

This weekend, I was incredibly fortunate to go to three absolutely wonderful restaurants in celebration of my birthday and I am excited to share them with you! Josh and I tend to prefer to eat in (it saves money and I enjoy cooking for us) but for celebrations, we both agree it's nice to head out and explore new places in our area. We also tend to stick to the guideline that the place be somewhere that neither of us has ever been before. While we I have a few favorites that I would go to over and over again, I love finding new places. So, without further ado, here are our fantastic finds from over the weekend...

Lucky's Lounge, Boston, MA:


From Citysearch

Styled like a speak-easy from almost a century ago, without a sign on the door or an obvious entrance if you don't know what you're looking for, Lucky's is not only a wonderful place for a drink, but also a wonderful place to eat a delicious meal. I had a reservation for 16 people at 8 pm on Saturday evening and we walked in and were sat immediately, despite a packed restaurant. Clearly, reservations were a good idea. They have a good selection of wine, beer and cocktails, and nothing is ridiculously priced. I had the Kung Fu Girl Riesling and it was delicious. While I did not have an appetizer, a few people around the table had the house salad and no one had anything bad to say about it. For dinner, I enjoyed the handmade kobe beef burger with an apple and onion chutney that was to die for. It was perfectly cooked, juicy without still mooing, and the flavors were a perfect complement to one another. For dessert, I had the NY Style cheesecake with oreo crust and fresh mixed berries and it was an incredibly rich cheesecake with an oreo crust. It was so rich that I couldn't finish it all by myself, but one of my friends helped me out by finishing the rest.

The food was great, not at all overpriced (my hand-formed kobe beef burger was only $16 and nothing on the menu was much more than $20), and the atmosphere was spunky. There was a live jazz performance until about 10 pm and although it was definitely very loud, the music was a nice addition to the evening. I would definitely recommend Lucky's for dinner and for drinks, although by the time we left around midnight, a long line had formed outside of the establishment. If you're in Boston and looking for a place a little out of the ordinary, this restaurant is a must-go. They also have a jazz brunch on Sunday mornings, and although I cannot speak to it specifically, from everything that I saw on Saturday, I'd bet it is pretty outstanding.

Arthur & Pat's, Marshfield, MA:

From GlobeSouthDish

If you live on the South Shore, and haven't been here, you are seriously missing out. A South Shore institution for years, it was more than worth the 30 minute drive from our apartment for a birthday brunch yesterday morning. Located in what appears to be an old, red barn, the place was fully packed at 11:30 on a Monday morning. Having won 6 different Best of Boston awards, known for its amazing breakfast and local charm, as soon as I heard of it, I knew that Josh and I absolutely had to try it out. And boy, are we glad we did. Their extensive menu is posted across their walls in a colorful and interesting display. They do have a specials list and hand you a short-one page menu with some additional items listed on it. While everything looked wonderful, Josh and I settled on the sirloin tip cheddar omelet (for him) and a meal called "The Joey K" (for me) which included a potato latke with dropped eggs, smoked salmon, and lump crab meat. It also came with tomatoes and mozzarella, mixed greens and whole-grain toast. See how amazing it looks?

 
And trust me, it was. Amazing. Absolutely beyond incredible. The potato latke was light and fluffy, the eggs (and yolk) were perfectly proportioned to the rest of the food, and nothing was skimped on. I should let you know that I ate almost every single thing on that plate, with the exception of a about a quarter of the mixed greens. If I wouldn't gain about a million pounds, I might insist that Josh and I start going there on a more regular basis. As it is, I cannot wait to go back. Great comfort food, great ambiance, and while I'm sure the wait on weekends probably gets a little long, it would definitely be worth it to wait for this amazing food.

Towne, Boston, MA:

From AldenBlairEvents

Our culinary weekend adventure ended at Towne last night. And it was another meal to write home about. Arriving just before our reservation time of 7 pm, we were able to easily valet park the car (at only $16, it's cheaper than parking in the nearby garage because it would be nearly impossible to luck out with a metered spot on Boylston at that time in the evening) and were seated right away. It was a beautiful night out last night and so we opted to sit outside instead of at one of their tables indoors. Our meal began with bread and these giant flatbread crackers, accompanied by pureed eggplant, salted butter, and ricotta with caviar. It was so good, we devoured it all by the time we had ordered and so they brought us another one to keep us nibbling til our dinner arrived. To start, I ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio and Josh ordered a Long Trail. For our appetizers, we ordered the our towne waldorf (for me) with pork belly, apples, apple cider glaze and walnuts and the lobster tails (for Josh). These were both mouth watering and disappeared very quickly off of our table. Josh even let me try a bite of his lobster tail before we devoured all of it and it was every bit as good as he said it was - perfectly seasoned and it melted in your mouth.

For dinner, Josh and I each ordered steak. I had the skirt steak 9 oz. wagyu, xtreme with wasabi, white polenta and xtra crisped shallots and Josh had the sirloin, prime 14 oz. simply grilled with man's butter and the broccoli with pancetta for a side dish. Is your mouth watering? Because it should be. Cooked to perfection, our steaks were everything we could have wanted. Melt in your mouth delicious. Both of us took home leftovers, but I only took home my steak because there wasn't any polenta or shallots left on my plate - they were too good to even consider not eating right away. For dessert, Josh and I shared the hot chocolate cheesecake with a side of maple cotton candy. I'm not even sure I need to say anything else to convince you of how good it was. And it came with a candle and a piece of white chocolate that said "Happy Birthday" on it. So yummy! Although the meal wasn't exactly inexpensive, it was wonderful food, with a large and diverse menu and the service was outstanding. Definitely a place to go when celebrating life's milestones.

The lighting wasn't great, but I think it's important that you see the size of the cotton candy! Happy Birthday to me!

We're 3 for 3 at restaurants this weekend and we'd definitely recommend the food at each one of them. We're so glad we picked these places and are looking forward to eating our leftovers from Towne this evening. Anyone have any recommendations for their favorite places in the Boston area? Like I said, we love trying new places!