Boston - Estragon and Beehive

So hung out with the East Coast Cousins, which is always a treat. The meetup was a bit like a snowball going down the mountain, where you kinda just collect people along the way.

Ken and I chilled at Clarke's, a pub just outside of Fanueil Hall. Drank Sam Adams, which always seems to taste better when I'm in Boston, and had a basket of fries - nice crispy thick-cut chips.

Then we picked up Shona, and sped over to Estragon in the South End. It's a tapas place that has a hip ambience. When Jacob showed up, we went to work on choosing from the restaurant week menu, with the mission of ordering a myriad of tapas we could all share.

There are some tapas that are good, but mostly, they were average to slightly disappointing. The ones that shine are the cod cheeks, arugula salad, and garlic shrimp. The typical torta or croqueta pale in comparison to the real thing that you're sorry you even tried it. Stick to the unique items that you probably never had while you were whiling away the best summers of your life in Barcelona - beef tongue, tripe, anchovies, that kind of thing. Those were okay. Opt for the Turron dessert. Don't bother with the queso platter. Only one of the options is good - like a young Parmesan cheese that has a lot of potential, the other is such a waste - like a chunk of waxy Swiss cheese...

Later that night, Jacob and I ended up at the Bee Hive. It was busy, but the space is so eclectic, that it's enough to just stand around a little bit and soak it all in. There's a massive portrait of a woman on the 30-ft high brick wall that's entirely engaging. She reminds me of a sad, depressed Bjork. Really startling.

Anyway, the highlight was the company, not necessarily the food.