Twin Cities:
Ok, so this first one isn't in either New England or the Mid-Atlantic, but it's the only odd-ball. First wedding of the summer (second of the year) took place just outside of St. Paul, one of the twin cities in Minnesota.This wedding was for my college/study-abroad friend Kelley and it was a fabulous time - even with the crazy Midwest humidity and the power going out later during the reception. I always have a wonderful time with my study abroad friends and this was no different. I'm just sad that we don't (yet) have a wedding to go to for another reunion in 2017. But this just means Las Vegas is happening!
Restaurants I went to while visiting were:
- Hen House Eatery for brunch on Sunday. YUM. Brunch is the best and this place had perfect brunch fare. I had the Fat Hen Omelet and a single tiramisu pancake.
-Surly Brewing Company. You didn't think I'd visit a city without trying to get to a brewery did you? Surly is the most popular and one of the best in the Twin Cities and holy crap their tap room/entire brewery is MASSIVE and beautiful. They have a great back patio section as well for people to play games or music and more. My friend from college, Rachel and I were only going to spend a couple of hours there and then go lay out by her pool, but we were having too good of a time and stayed there for oh, about 5 hours. Loved it!
Portland, ME:
On 4th of July weekend, I went up to Portland for a day-trip with my friend Jen. We stopped at a few other places in Maine on the way up there. Here are the stops:
- Bob's Clam Hut for lunch in Kittery, ME. Kittery is just over the border from NH and I have never eaten at a true Clam/Lobster shack before. This one was pretty highly rated and so we checked it out. I got a lobster roll which was a bit smaller than I was expecting, but good. They also had some crazy ice cream flavor that we HAD to try - wish I could remember what it was, but it wasn't something you'd ever really see - like something with cheese. I don't know, I should just stop talking.
- Nubble Light, Cape Neddick Lighthouse. I hadn't really even seen a lighthouse in Maine yet, which is ridiculous because that and lobster are what they are known for. It was really pretty and I wish we almost had more time to explore around there. Loved it!
- Bissell Brothers Brewing in Portland. This is one of the best breweries in Portland and little did we know but their brand new taproom had just opened about 6 weeks earlier. It looked very new, but very hip as well and I loved it. I was a little disappointed I wasn't able to get some Swish, but I feel like that's hard to find. They had some other great IPA's there. It's in this old warehouse building that also houses a distillery and winery. Bring a DD and get boozed up all day and night without having to walk more than 5 steps :)
- Novare Res Bier Cafe. Best beer bar in Maine according to Thrillist, and I have to say it was pretty darn awesome! Their draft list isn't large, but it's good. But their bottle list is MASSIVE and has some really excellent beers on there. Highly recommend this as a stop in Portland.
- Elevation Burger. We spent too much time savoring our beers that we didn't get to eat until after 7ish and therefore getting into one of the many great restaurants in Portland was impossible. So we just walked a bit and found this local burger chain restaurant and honestly it was perfect for what we wanted at that moment and it was quick.
- Gorgeous Gelato. It was summertime after all and even though we had a wee bit o' ice cream earlier, we decided to go all out and have some again.
The last weekend in July, I took a bus down to New Haven to visit my friends Kelli and Madison for our annual East Coast get together. Changed up the venue from Boston to where Kelli lives and the first thing we did was run a 5k and then drink beer afterward for the Craft Brew Races - an event that I love and have done in previous years in Providence and on the Cape. All I can say is that I finished, yay! And then had a great time trying beers from over 20 different breweries! Great start to the weekend!
- The Trinity Bar. Why not continue the drinking? This is Kelli's local watering hole and so we had some apps and another beer to tide us over until dinner later. There was barely anyone there, but sometimes I like being at bars when they are empty - so much calmer.
- Sally's Apizza. I always love trying the "quintessential" food of a region or town, and New Haven - style apizza is one of those. The pizza here is much thinner and basically this monstrous rectangle and ABSOLUTELY FREAKING DELICIOUS. There's a bit of a "war" going on here for who's pizza is the best: Sally's or Frank Pepe's, much like there's a war in Boston about where to get cannoli's: Mike's or Modern (Hint: Mike's). I only tried Sally's and it was amazing, so I'll have to make another trip down so I can make a true decision.
- Elm City Social. Classy place for some fabulous cocktails! I was sadly too full to truly indulge, but from what I saw and had, I would definitely recommend.
- Lena's Cafe and Confections for brunch Sunday morning. Yum! The menu was fantastic and I could have ordered the whole menu and been satisfied. Bonus, while you wait for a table they have a coffee bar!
- Two Roads Brewing Company in Stratford, CT - not too far from New Haven is one of the most popular breweries in the state, and it was a great place to while away the afternoon. Though, they could do with some AC and not just fans - just saying. Beer was good and there was a nice variety!
New Hampshire:
August was a REALLY full, but fun month. Started off the month with a relaxing and fun weekend in New Hampshire with my friend Ashley and her husband Zach. This weekend was the start of the Olympics, so in between adventures in this beautiful state, we also parked our butts down on the couch to watch the games in Rio and play games #relaxation. One of the days we did drive up into the White Mountains for my first time and stopped at a few breweries along the way, of course! I definitely want to go back and see more of the mountains and definitely do this Sacco River Tubing thing! Ended the weekend with some sand volleyball in Portsmouth, which was so much fun! Lovely weekend :)
- Bagel Grounds - breakfast for the road! I ordered my favorite bagel (asiago) with some delicious boursin cream cheese. Sometimes bagels just hit the spot :)
- Harvey's Bakery and Coffee Shop. Now that we got the savory breakfast item (above), we needed to grab something sweet, so I ordered a maple icing covered donut - one of my faves!
- MOAT Mountain Smokehouse and Brewing Company. The food here looked pretty good, but we weren't hungry so we just split a flight of their beers which were pretty decent.
- Tuckerman Brewing Company - This looked like a pretty new taproom as well and I really liked it. Their beers were pretty good as well - I'd go back!
- Woodstock Inn Brewery. This place is a full-on Inn as well as a restaurant and a brewery. We ordered some food along with sampling a few beers, which were okay. The beers were ok, the food was pretty tasty- I had the Bison Burger California Sunshine Style.
- Street in Portsmouth for a delicious brunch with an eclectic menu. I ordered the small of the French Toast Especiale which was HUGE, so be careful there; and the K-Town Bennie (a Korean-Style eggs benedict).
The main reason for this trip was to attend the wedding of another study abroad friend, Ashley in Hico, West Virginia at the New River Gorge and it was BEAUTIFUL. And a ton of fun! To get to this rural part of WV, I needed to fly into a bigger city, rent a car, and drive there. What better city to do this in than one of my favorite cities in the world? Pittsburgh! I couldn't resist it and my 1 1/2 days there was not enough at all!
-Black Bear Burrito - since I had to drive through Morgantown to get to Hico, I just HAD to stop at my favorite restaurant and a must for any trip to Morgantown. Their guacamole is bomb. Get it.
-Morgantown Brewing Company - I also can't resist visiting a brewery in a new place (especially one of only 16 in the whole state), so I had a few tasting size glasses of beer at this brewery. They were just ok, but it was a nice escape from the humidity outside!
-PNC Park for a Pittsburgh Pirates Game - If you visit during baseball season, THIS is the top thing you need to do in Pittsburgh. The Bucs aren't the best team, but they certainly do have the best view, it seriously can't be beat!
-Primanti Bros - this is also a must in Pittsburgh. There are multiple locations, but we went to the location in the Strip (which I think is the original?). My old roommate Carly and I both ordered a Kielbasa sandwich (sandwich meaning the traditional Pittsburgh way with fries and coleslaw) and it was FANTASTIC! I was starving and it hit the spot so much.
-East End Brewing - Since I was last in Pittsburgh they opened up a new small taproom in the Strip District. Always enjoy checking out what this brewery has, and the new digs were great!
- Mad Mex. I didn't actually eat here because I was so full, but I met up with my friend Sarah and had a margarita. Unfortunately, not a Big Azz Margarita, but it still tasted good. If you end up in Pittsburgh around November, make sure to get the Gobblerito here, it's so freaking good!
-Millie's Homemade Ice Cream - Ok, I lied. I didn't eat at the above, because I was full and also saving room for what is being said is the best ice cream in Pittsburgh. So I had to check it out. It was quite delicious and they had the perfect sizes! Even in the small size you could get two flavors! Loved that because I have a real hard time deciding. Definitely don't come here too late like us, because then they may run out of their FRESHLY-MADE waffle cones that looked amaze-balls and I'm a little sad that I didn't get one. Oh well, next time!
-Hemingway's Cafe (aka Hem's). On Monday, I was on my own, so I drove down to Oakland and hung around my old haunts including the Main branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Cathedral of Learning, Schenley Plaza, and this place: one of the best places in Pittsburgh! At least, if you went to Pitt and like super cheap food that's even more cheap during happy hours (which are basically half the day)! Decent draft list too, which I was impressed about! My main reason for going to Hem's was to get their pierogies - which are THE BEST! Gosh, I love them. It was delightful!
-Eat Unique - basically there is not enough room in my stomach to eat all of the things I wanted to eat in Pittsburgh, but I did manage to grab one of my favorite desserts from here and that is a chocolate chip sea salt cookie - HEAVEN.
-Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens - how did I never go here when I lived in Pittsburgh? Ridiculous! It was beautiful and the perfect day to go looking through much of their gardens which were both inside and out. I had a great time discovering something new in Pittsburgh and I would definitely recommend it!
The last weekend in August, a few of my friends and I drove down to Philly to celebrate our friend Karen's Bachelorette Party! We had a relaxing, leisurely walk through Philly along the mural mile (really 2.5 miles). Here's the map for reference. Along the mural route we also did a little bar hopping, with a gelato stop included as well!
-Brauhaus Schmitz. OMG I loved this place. Great German bier hall, but the menu was literally the most perfect German menu - everything you'd ever want! I split a sausage plate and doner kebab plate with one of the girls and had some German potato salad on the side and it was so perfect!
-McGillin's Olde Ale House. This was recommended by a friend for it being the oldest continually operating pub in Philly! It was a fun place and great for a pub crawl stop.
-Capogiro Gelato Artisans. Made a real quick stop here to grab some very delicious gelato, splitting just a mini cup with someone.
-Bank & Bourbon. This was definitely ritzier than I thought it was going to be, but it's always nice to shake things up a bit, right? I made sure to imbibe in their namesake and I had some bourbon - ooh boy it was strong, but good! Classy place, I liked it!
-Independence Beer Garden. Yet another place that I would hang out in ALL THE TIME if I lived in Philly. This place was huge and outside with all sorts of viney things to make it look like a garden and just about every yard game you could ever think of: cornhole, bocce, shuffleboard, etc. Super fun! If you go, get the cheese curds with jalapeno dressing.
Providence, Rhode Island:
Because I clearly need to go somewhere every weekend, haha or at least on a 3-day weekend, I went for a little day-trip to meet up with my friend Melissa in Providence. I can easily take the commuter rail from Boston to Providence and be there within an hour! The weather turned out to be beautiful and it was nice to explore parts of Providence that I hadn't been to yet.
-Constantino's Venda Bar & Ristorante - I knew I wanted to eat lunch or dinner at an Italian Restaurant in Providence's Federal Hill (their Little Italy) because I'd read that Italian is great there. We happened upon this adorable little courtyard with a fountain and outdoor seating, so we decided to check out this restaurant. It was delicious! We had an appetizer that was burrata (a weird, big cheese that was tasty), prosciutto and tomatoes, and then I had rigatoni w/ vodka sauce and scallops. The vodka sauce was amazing!!
-Long Live Beerworks - this was a really fine brewery that had some real winners for beer! Especially their coffee stout. Very good! Glad we checked it out!
-Brown University - took a stroll along this old and beautiful campus, but boyyyy is there a hill to get there.
-Tealuxe - Apparently there's actually one in Cambridge as well, so not exactly local, but I decided to try it. I wasn't super impressed, but honestly I'm not a huge tea drinker, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.