Boston: Harvard & Samuel Adams Brewery

For our last day in Boston, we decided to stop by the area around Harvard, do a little exploring, and check out some of the popular spots.  Afterwards, we headed towards south of Boston for the famous Samuel Adams Brewery.

Pinocchios Pizza & Subs

74 Winthrop St 

Harvard Square

Cambridge, MA 02138

pinocchiospizza.net

First stop, Pinocchios for some Sicilian style pizzas!

Spinach & Garlic (white) and the Tomato & Basil.

Tomato & Basil, which is essentially a margherita.  Really nice crunchy thick crust.

The Spinach & Garlic was the favorite out of the two.  Very strong garlic flavor, which is what I like!

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Since Jadson was already out and about visiting a few schools, we met up with him at the Train station and headed towards Mr. Bartley's for the real lunch.  I was pretty stuffed from the pizzas but gotta visit this landmark!

Mr. Bartley's Gourmet Burgers

1246 Massachusetts Ave

Harvard Square  

Cambridge, MA 02138 

mrbartley.com

Mr. Bartley's!


Since 1960.


Menu.  Lots of burger selections, many named after celebrities!


I decided to go the safer route since I didn't really know what to expect and got the Joe Biden (just read a pretty cool article about our Vice President in GQ). Comes with bacon, american cheese, and BBQ sauce.


Upgraded to their onion rings!  Very different from your typical onion rings.


The burger after a few bites.  Nothing that really stands out about the burger since the sauce is fairly standard BBQ sauce, but dayum, burger patty cooked perfectly!


Diana got their sweet potato fries.


They have this jalapeno pineapple relish on the side that's pretty interesting.

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After our lunch, we took the train and went south until we got to Jamaica Plains for the Samuel Adams Brewery!  We got there just in time too because when we got there, the last tour of the day had already started.

Samuel Adams Brewery

30 Germania St

(Between Marmion St & Brookside Ave) 

Jamaica Plain

Boston, MA 02130

samueladams.com

The brewery.  Definitely can't compare to the Budweiser Brewery in STL haha.


The "ticket" for the tour.


The tour.  Rather than bringing you around the brewery and showing you the different process of beer making, Samuel Adams is more about explaining about the process and a little hands on with some ingredients.


Hops!  Smells just like beer.


They have you take a handful and rub it between your palms to get the fragrance extracted.


Variety of malts.


Lightly roasted.


Medium roasted.


Dark roasted for them heavier beers.


A collection of the beer they brew.


The most famous, the Boston Lager, with its awards.


Banner for all the awards they've won!


Some of the tanks.  SO MUCH SMALLER than Budweiser's.  They were doing so renovating so not all of the brewery was operational and many beers are brewed elsewhere, but even as one of the biggest craft brewery, Sam Adams is still tiny compared to the giants.


Barrel Room, where they age some of the more unique microbrews.


The tasting room!


On tap today, Boston Lager, Summer Ale, Citra Pale Ale, and "The Prohibition" Cream Ale.


Free glasses for going on the tour!


Instructions on the glass on how to taste a Boston Lager.


Of course, start out with the Boston Lager!  Really is better fresh.


We got to try one of their newer creations, the Citra Pale Ale!  It's one they are just testing now and not on market yet.  Pretty cool!  Like its name implies, hint of citrus.

Gotta say, I was really surprised at how small Boston is, and even though people talked about how Boston is a clusterfck, we were able to get around the city without much trouble.  The North End was a little harder to navigate around but somehow we managed haha.  The "T" was a lot more convenient than I thought too.

Some LA & SF posts coming up!

Saint Louis: Pi Thin Crust & Deep Dish Pizza

When I went back to St. Louis for the 2nd time, I got in late again, but just so happens Pi in Central West End closes fairly late so Diana and I went there for a late late dinner.

Pi is a popular pizza spot with several locations in STL and even one location in Washington DC!  They are famous for their award winning deep and thin crust pizza, and it had been awhile since I had a good deep dish.  First night we tried a thin crust since the special that night came on a thin crust, but I got to order take out the next day and try the deep dish :P

Oh and sorry for the yellow green tint on the photos for the first night.  Forgot to check what setting it was on haha.

Pi

400 N Euclid Ave

Central West End

St Louis, MO 63108

restaurantpi.com

Garlic Bread.  It's more of a deconstructed garlic bread.  They give you a loaf of bread, garlic butter, and a whole roasted garlic so you can make your own garlic bread!

Bread with the roasted garlic.

Good one Pi.  Smart way of doing less work and make the customer do everything :P  I liked the hands on experience though and can't hate if there's good roasted garlic!

Needed a beer to relax after the flight and went for the Schlafly Pi Common, which is a California common style beer exclusive to Pi restaurant, brewed by Schlafly.  First time trying a common style beer.  Pretty damn good actually!  Malty.

Since we wanted the special of the night, we went for the thin crust.  They allow you to go half and half on the pizza!

First half, South Side Classico, which is suppose to be a deep dish, but customers can choose to have deep dish made as thin crust and vice versa.

Called the South Side Classico cause it has all the ingredients of a classic Chicago deep dish.

Special of the day: Thin crust pizza with butternut squash puree, balsamic onions, mozzarella, and roasted brussels sprouts.  Ridiculously good and favorite out of all that I tried.  The puree is sweet and the balsamic onions are addicting.  The mozzarella really shines through too since this is a lighter pizza.

Went back the next day and ordered a small deep dish to go.  Not big in terms of portion but filling.  It is missing a piece because we stopped by Diana's friend's apartment first and gave him a slice haha.

Kirkwood, with mozzarella, Italian meatballs of hormone-free pork & beef, red peppers, and basil.  Love the chunky tomato sauce.

East Loop, with mozzarella, pesto, roasted chicken, mushrooms, and onions.  Another tomato-less pizza.  Nice herbaceous pesto!

A bit expensive, considering the portions, but you can really tell all the ingredients are top notch!  Never would've thought that I would like a pizza with butternut squash puree too haha.  If I lived in STL, I'd probably eat at Pi at least once a week :P

New York: Pure Thai Cookhouse for the Best Dry Noodles

No joke, I had one of the best dry noodles in NYC this time around, and it is from Pure Thai Cookhouse!

Hungover once again, we woke up late and got ready for a late lunch.  From Jimmy's place to here is actually not that far, but that trek was hard, especially when you have nothing in your stomach after a night in Ktown.  Took about 15 minutes to get there, and found out we had to wait for another 40 minutes.  Edwin and I weren't too happy about it, but damn, it was worth it.


Pure Thai Cookhouse
766 9th Ave
Between 51st St & 52nd St
Hell's Kitchen
New York, NY 10019
purethaicookhouse.com

Pure Thai Cookhouse.  With a name like that, I expected really authentic Thai food, and it really is legit.

To-go menu and their lunch menu in the back.  Menu's available on their website.

Small restaurant.  The kitchen up front is just for noodles only.

Definitely reminiscence of food vendors in Asia with the way it is set up.

I like the transparency here hahah.

Jimmy & Janice ordered the Shrimp Calamari Herb Salad to share.  Kaffir lime, lemongrass, mint, shallot, peanut, ginger, and chili lime juice.  Intense flavors.  The ginger was a little too much for some, but I liked the spiciness from it.

Grilled shrimp and calamari.  Beautiful.

Edwin ordered the Chicken Satay to share.  Rubbed with coconut milk and tumeric.  Served with a side of pickled veggies and peanut sauce.

Tumeric gives the chicken that orange-ish color.

Pickled veggies.  Very vinegar-y.

Peanut sauce.  Generally not a huge fan of peanut sauce since I was mildly allergic to peanuts just a few years ago, but it's light and whatever they add to it makes it really good.

Chicken with the peanut sauce.

We also got the Steamed Fresh Roll.  Definitely favorite out of the three we got to share.

Crab meat, pork sausage, cucumber, smoked tofu, and tamarind reduction.  I think the fresh crab meat and that tamarind reduction set it all apart from the others.

Link's Fried Rice with Lump Crab Meat.  Egg, Chinese broccoli, tomato, scallion, onion, light soy sauce, and lime.  Solid fried rice.  Again, the crab meat was bomb.

Good fried rice means it should look fluffly and light!  Also, if I ordered this, I would've requested 10 limes and go crazy with it haha.

The noodle dish I'm still obsessing over a month later, the Ratchaburi Crab & Pork Dry Noodle.  That handmade egg noodle is a MUST here.

Handmade egg noodles, roasted pork, lump crab meat, yu choy, and scallion.  I love everything about this dish.  The colors, the seasonings, the toppings, the noodles.. The dish is seasoned lightly and you can just taste it without the toppings overpowering it.

The roasted pork is very tasty, and again, delicious crab meat.  The pork is flavorful and not too fatty, with a good bite to it too.  I can't express enough just how much I like this noodle dish.  It really is one of the best dry noodle I've had anywhere, and that includes Asia too.  Pretty much, I inhaled it, and even thought about ordering another one, but I was stupid.  Should've done it.

You can get it with soup or soup on the side, and I went for the latter.  Soup is a very simple broth, sorta reminds me of the soup they give you in Taiwan night markets to go with your porkchop rice.

Janice's Krabi Seafood Noodle Soup.  It had chili peppers next to it on the menu haha.  Looks like such a busy bowl!

Flat rice noodle, shrimp, calamari, water spinach, bean curd, fermented tofu, fish ball, and tomato pork broth.  There really is a lot going on haha.  The heat slowly creeps up on you.

I was craving milk tea of some sort and I wanted a drink for the walk back, so Jimmy and I got a Thai Iced Tea there.  Doesn't taste artificial, which is a good thing!

On our way back, I was already getting hungry so I made the gang go to a dollar pizza store with me to get a whole pie.  Went to Roll And Go, which is Jimmy's favorite in his area.

Whole cheese pizza for $8?  Yes.  

Edwin and I went crazy with the garlic seasoning, chili flakes, and oregano haha.

I really am still thinking about those noodles even today.  The firm handmade egg noodle, the flavorful pork and crab, and all the other toppings & seasonings make it so good.  There is Thai Town in LA, but I don't think any of them can be comparable.  Sad.