The Four's, Boston Beer Works, Haymarket, and The Other Side Cafe

It's been an eventful foodie weekend, and for most people the weekend is still in full swing. However, I'll be doing homework for most of the rest of it so I'm glad I got in what I did.

Last night I went out with a couple people. Our goal? Find a sports bar so I could fix my beer itch and we could watch the Red Sox game. Atlanta creamed them by the way. Which I'm 100% okay with. I haven't switched from Braves to Red Sox yet, much as I'm sure I won't ever make the full conversion from Predators to Bruins. Some things are too ingrained.

Anyways, we ended up at The Four's, voted best Sports Bar in America by Sports Illustrated. I started off the night with a Sam Adams Summer Ale. This beer is awesome, as are most all Sam Adams to be honest.


My companions rounded out the Sam Adams trio by order the Sam Adams Light and Sam Adams Boston Lager. Two other fine choices.

As for our food? Companion one got the Larry Bird. My dad would be proud. Not because of the meal, the name. Anywho, it was a grilled chicken breast with lettuce and tomato and deemed a success. She basically got two meals in one as the pasta side was massive.

The rest of us opted for the Nachos El Grande. I'll get to the complete lack of vegan items and very scant selection of vegetarian items in a minute. I ordered mine without the sour cream and chili. Doing what I can.

Overall verdict on The Four's? Nice. Great place and good service. I would take my Dad here. Enough TVs to really watch the game. However, the beer selection was a little lacking, I had my Summer Ale and a Coors and then opted to wait until I could get to a place where I hadn't tried all the beers. Additionally, I was a little disappointed by the vegetarian/vegan selection. My only real option for dinner was to technically revert to vegetarian with the nachos. I did the best I could by passing the cheese off onto the other giant nacho plate and taking advantage of the massive amounts of guacamole and salsa. It would be nice if at least one of their sandwiches was vegetarian. My verdict on the guacamole? Not too shabby, not the best by any means, but not bad.

After dinner the roomie and I headed to Boston Beer Works. Do you see that beer? It's called the Cherry Bomb and it's even more red in person, I kid you not. Did I like it? I liked trying a cherry beer, but the beer itself is a lot to handle. One pint was definitely my max. An experience I don't regret, but one I wouldn't repeat.

While there we ran into some guy who had just come from a beer festival. This is significant for two reasons.

1. I got a Long Trail bumper sticker (yay Vermont!) and

2. I learned Brooklyn Brewery is wind powered! A fact I just verified on their website. Brooklyn Brewery was already working their way onto my list of breweries I love (Sam Adams and Magic Hat) but this seals the deal

Home and to bed.

Today the roomie and I got up headed for a farmer's market. We had one in mind but I did some googling before I went. Intrigued at the chaos that was rumored to be Haymarket, and the love/hate relationship many of the reviewers seem to have with it, we changed plans and headed there.

My verdict? Okay, this isn't the farmer's market where you're going to meet the actual farmers and it's going to be organic and calm and peaceful and soul searching. Not at all. If I was to hijack a produce truck and then set up a rickety table to stand behind while I peddled you my contraband, this would be the place I would do it. That said, I freaking loved it. Why? I love fruits and vegetables and I'm broke. Rundown:

$8.50 later...

-6 red delicious apple
-2 bags of baby carrots
-carton blackberries
-3 cartons of blueberries
-2 containers of strawberries

and the roomie was just as bad. You can't beat that. You just can't. It should have been $7.5o but I jumped the gun on the apples.

Then I went to check on my sick friend and deliver one of my containers of strawberries as an antioxidant boost. He needed to sort out some financial stuff and so while we did that we stopped at The Other Side Cafe.

Oh. My. Gosh. I loved this place. I'm all about the new places and new beers, but a few standbys are always necessary. I think this is going to be one of them. My Sun Spot replacement if you will. And since I have had maybe 3 out of the 50 beers they offer I don't think this is going to dampen that pursuit in any way shape or form.




Companion got the CBC Benevolence while I sampled the Saint Botolph's Town. The menu is full of awesome vegetarian and vegan food but it wasn't really a meal time so we opted for the chips, salsa, and guacamole. Salsa wasn't really my style. It wasn't as...thick?...I'm not sure of the correct term there, as I generally would have liked it. Save for many salsa verdes. But it was good none the less. Guacamole was great, the color was a little off putting, but that's a variable thing anyways. Chips up to par.

So the beers. CBC Benevolence....oh my. This is not for the faint of heart. If you want to scare a first time drinker, pass them one of these. It's almost like starting a novice wine drinker off with a port. Not the best idea. It was an awesome drink to try though. I'm glad I didn't have to down the whole thing, but man what a beer. You take a sip and the alcohol just hits you in the face. Then you get this taste/smell that you can't quite pinpoint, but don't think I haven't spent my afternoon trying. If you're making bread dough in a bag, and you let it ferment, and then you open it to release the CO2 and push it out right in your face....or if you're eating a bread infused with brandy and raisins...something like that. Quite an experience.

So what about Saint Botolph's Town? Awesome. It reminds me of Yazoo's Dos Perros, you just feel like you are drinking a complete beer. I think I'm going to try some of the other Saint Botolph's next time I go.

Little snap shot of the awesome bathroom for you.

Enjoy!