A blog for hospitality and restaurant professionals. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the Front of House blog is a place to share funny stories and grievances related to the restaurant industry.
"What should we do tonight?” “I don’t know, something.”
They shrug and wind up going to the same old Irish bar around the corner. They see the same people, drink the same drinks, eat the same previously-frozen bar snacks. They’re trapped in a comfort zone, stuck in a routine. Sure they have fun sometimes, but there’s an element of excitement missing from their social lives. Everything just feels a little stale. This is a common situation amongst young people all over the city. They know that there are unique and exciting experiences out there just waiting for them, but they don’t have the ambition to find out where. From crazy cocktail challenges to obscure trivia nights, Boston’s restaurants and bars are constantly coming up with new themes and weekly traditions that many people are completely unaware of. So, for those of you who are looking for something to do, here is a rundown of some of the city’s most interesting and affordable nights out.
Our week starts on Monday. For most, Monday is a day of mourning for the weekend that passed away far too soon. Well, the best way to get over your beginning of the week sorrows is to drown them in booze. If you don’t have to work or be in school, you can start your day early by hitting up the brunch at Trina’s Starlite Lounge in Inman Square, where you can chase down your biscuits and gravy breakfast with a delicious mango bellini. As you leave the comfort of the retro lounge, greeted by the somewhat uncomfortable rays of the afternoon sun, you squint and decide that you need to rest up for the excitement that awaits you on the rest of your Monday Funday.
On Monday night you have a couple of good options. There’s always the poker night at the Vegas Lounge in Norwood. Yes, we all know that gambling is illegal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but there are ways around that. Every Monday night, you can find anywhere between fifty to one hundred players congregated around five Hold ‘Em tables in this unassuming stripmall bar in the suburbs. The drinks are incredibly cheap and the owners offer up free pizza to the players, so if you’re feeling lucky, punk, this might be a good remedy to your case of the Mondays.
If you don’t have the disposable income to throw away on games of chance or the inclination to drive out to Norwood, then head up to Beacon Hill, where you’ll find the 6B Martini Lounge Bar & Restaurant. In addition to excellent 25-cent chicken wings, starting at 8:00 pm the 6B offers one of the most fun trivia nights in the city. Hosted by the aptly-named “Trivia Guys,” it takes on a free-form style that is severely lacking from the numerous Stump!-organized trivia nights around the city. The grand prize is a $30 gift certificate that you can use immediately, with different prizes also being offered to second and third place teams. Be sure to say hi to Olive, 6B’s resident Monday night server and DJ if you decide to stop by. Mondays are also home to the best standing hip-hop date in the area. Mattapan’s very own Big Shug, founding member of the Gang Starr Foundation, takes to the stage every Monday night at the Wonder Bar in Allston. Backed by a live band and featuring a weekly special guest star, Big Shug puts on a different show every week and there’s never a cover!
Come Tuesday, you need to head down to Estragon in the South End for their weekly exploration of classic cocktails. Join their resident mixologist, Eric Cross, on a journey through 100 turn of the century and prohibition-era cocktails that you won’t find anywhere else. There is a grand prize for the first person to make their way through all 100 cocktails, so you should probably hurry up and start drinking. Pad your stomach with some of their authentic Spanish tapas, including the Tocino, Miel y Marconas. That’s pork fat back, spanish honey, and Marcona almonds on toast. I can tell you’re skeptical. You can’t get over the part about the pork fat back. Well, get over it, because it’s one of the tastiest bites you’re sure to experience in the city. Remember, folks, fat equals flavor.
For a less sophisticated night out, you can head back to Allston on Tuesdays for the weekly Beer Pong tournament at the Draft Bar & Grille. Over the past few years, beer pong has exploded in popularity. From a myriad of “official” rulebooks that you can find at Urban Outfitters to the orange ping-pong balls now sold at the counter of your local White Hen Pantry, the game is everywhere. So, you’re invited to bring your skills every Tuesday night, when you can enjoy drafts for $2.50 and pitchers for $9. Compared to other bars in the area, it is relatively low-key and boasts a nice patio, complete with an outdoor bar, where you can enjoy a Pabst and a Parliament when weather permits.
Tuesdays also offer a couple of fantastic weekly comfort food extravaganzas. Check out Taco Tuesdays at Tremont 647, where local celebrity-chef Andy Husbands offers up a menu of $2 tacos each and every week. There are more $2 treats across the river, at dante in Cambridge. Starting at 5:30, every Tuesday night, they will be featuring different grilled cheese sandwiches inspired by the restaurant’s favorite Italian films. Previous offerings have included the Under the Tuscan Sun, with buffalo mozzerella, roasted tomato, and pistachio pesto, and The Godfather, filled with eggplant, mozzerella, tomato, and Sicilian oregano.
On Wednesday, your best bet is to stick to Cambridge. At M.I.T., there is a relatively-unknown establishment doing some relatively awesome things. At the Muddy Charles Pub, you can enjoy all the wings you can eat - for free! That’s right, in addition to their ridiculously low-priced beer list, the fine folks at the Muddy Charles offer up free chicken wings every week! Dealing with the robot-building nerds that make up the clientele is a small price to pay for such deliciousness. Just kidding, we love the nerds and their robots. Where would we be without them?
Just a short walk away from the Muddy Charles is Kendall Square, where Flattop Johnny’s hosts free pool every Wednesday after 9:00 pm. Their bartenders control the iPod, so the music is always as ecclectic as its choice of beers.
Speaking of iPods, each and every Thursday, dBar gives you the chance to show off your musical prowess with their UB the DJ night. Make a playlist and bring your mp3s down to Dorchester for the chance to control the house music. Show off those indie chops by introducing people to new bands they’ve never heard of or stick to the classics and watch as people do the Humpty-Hump upon your command. They feature an extensive and affordable seasonal cocktail list, with unique creations like the Huckleberry-Rhubarb Martini and the Celebration Sangria, a devious mixture of red wine, Jim Beam, and fresh fruits and spices.
By now you’ve drank your week away but you’re entitled to celebrate Clink’s “Finally Friday” anyway. Located in the Liberty Hotel which is actually the old Charles Street Jail, Clink offers modern American cuisine while maintaining the vestiges of original jail cells, which have been retrofitted for casual fine dining. Clink can be pricey, but if you catch them on Friday night, you can enjoy some raw bar and chacruterie bargains while taking in the most unique atmosphere offered by any restaurant in Boston.
Fridays also give you the chance to visit the Boston Globe’s recent Munch Madness winner, The East Coast Grill in Inman Square, where they invite you to “go whole or go home.” Each week in the spring and summer, Chef Chris Schlessinger and his team will be roasting a whole pig in their backyard. The accompaniments and rubs will change from week to week, so you might want to keep checking back.Wake up early on Saturday to head back to Tremont 647. You tried their tacos on Tuesday and now it’s time to experience their pajama brunch. The service staff remains cool and calm in their robes and kimonos, while you get to munch on the city’s best Huevos Rancheros and sip on the Tremont Tang, an easy-going concotion of vodka and orange juice in a martini glass rimmed with the space-age favorite, Tang.
On Sunday morning, you can trade in your footsies for platform shoes and check out the Disco Brunch at Gargoyle’s on the Square in Somerville, where you can enjoy Pumpkin-Butterfinger pancakes or a Nutella Smoothie with liquid nitrogen and banana. Chef Jason Santos, known around the city as “Blue Jay” on account of his blue-dyed hair, has created the ultimate neighborhood spot in Davis Square and his Disco Brunch is an excellent opportunity to enjoy his creations at an affordable price.
On Sunday nights, Park Square’s Avila hosts a weekly Sabor de Espagne, or Taste of Spain. For only $28, you’ll enjoy a special three-course prix-fixe menu prepared by Chef Rodney Murillo to honor the flavors of Spain. Options include a classic Chilled Tomato Gazpacho and Braised Short Ribs with Brussels Sprouts and Creamy Corn. For dessert, don’t miss out on the Spanish Churros with Chocolate Sauce and Dolce de Leche.
By the time Sunday is over, you will hopefully be ready for a good night’s sleep only to start the process again with a visit to Trina’s in the morning. You’ve heard about those Chicken and Waffles, you’ve spent the whole week regretting the fact that you didn’t order them. You look forwad to defending your trivia title at the 6B, and suddenly you’re stuck in a new routine that makes the city feel just a little bit bigger.
Trina's Starlite Lounge - 3 Beacon Street, Somerville, MA 02143 (617) 576-0006 The Vegas Lounge - 36 Vanderbilt Avenue, Norwood, MA 02062 (781) 769-1888 6B Martini Lounge Bar & Restaurant - 6 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108 (617) 742-0306 Wonder Bar - 186 Harvard Avenue, Allston, MA 02143 (617) 351-2665 Estragon - 700 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02118 (617) 266-0443 The Draft Bar & Grille - 34 Harvard Avenue, Allston, MA 02134 (617) 783-9400 Tremont 647 - 647 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02118 (617) 266-4600 dante - 5 Cambridge Parkway, Cambridge, MA 02142 (617) 497-4200 The Muddy Charles Pub at MIT - 142 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 253-2086 Flat Top Johnny's - 1A Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02141 (617) 494-9565 dBar - 1236 Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester, MA 02125 (617) 265-4490 Clink Restaurant at The Liberty Hotel - 215 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114 (617) 224-4004 East Coast Grill - 1271 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 491-6568 Gargoyles on the Square - 219 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144 (617) 776-5300
Celebrities are people, too, and they need to eat. Sometimes celebrities go to restaurants. I’ve had the pleasure of waiting on a few. Perhaps you don’t consider some (most?) of them to be “celebrities,” but it’s pretty awesome when someone even semi-recognizable walks into your restaurant, so I thought it might be fun to talk about some of these people.
Here's some background music.
Gene Hackman
Back when I was a young waiter slash college dropout in New Mexico, Gene Hackman used to come into my restaurant all the time. He was the first celebrity that I ever had any sort of real contact with and he remains the absolute coolest of them all. Though his far-younger wife was somewhat rude, Gene was always incredibly friendly and appreciative. He was incredibly social and always wanted to talk. He couldn’t eat the Tacos Satanicos on account of his lactose intolerance.
My biggest regret with Gene is that I never got to pitch him my awesome idea for Superman V, which involved experimental drugs causing Christopher Reeve to believe that he truly was Superman and that Gene truly was Lex Luthor. Would've been huge.
Judge Reinhold
Again, this was back in New Mexico. Our kitchen closed at 10 and I got a phonecall at 9:50:
Thank you for calling the Blue Corn Cafe, this is Anthony, how can I help you? Hi, I was wondering what time you closed? Kitchen closes at 10. Okay, we’re on our way right now - Well, you better hurry up!
I hung up the phone, all pissed off that I had another table coming in. Even though I still get upset about that sort of thing, I would never be so explicitly rude about it. I was still developing my sense of hospitality, I suppose. Five minutes go by and in walks a tall man and his pretty blonde wife.
Holy shit. Judge Reinhold.
Kids these days probably don’t have much appreciation for the man, but growing up a child of the 80’s, I was pretty floored when I saw him walk in. He approached the host desk, all timid..
Uh, we called...
Holy shit. That was Judge Reinhold on the phone. I told Judge Reinhold that he needed to “hurry up.”
I brought him to his table and happily took care of him. He had a very genuine quality to him and was as gracious as just about anyone I’ve ever waited on, let alone a celebrity. He asked for extra pickles. Apparently, Judge Reinhold loves pickles. I brought him a whole bowl.
T’was the least I could do.
Matt Cassell
Matty (as we came to call him) and his tall, athletic wife are really down-to-earth, awesome people. The first time he came into my restaurant was during the 2008 pre-season. He was the back-up quarterback at the time and no one recognized him when he first came in. He sat at the bar and ordered a MacCallan 18 on the rocks.
More like a MacCallan 18 and 1...
The Pats had infamously gone 18-1 in the previous season, you see. I didn’t actually say that to Matt, though he might have found it humorous. Maybe not.
The next time we saw him was after the season opener against Kansas City. T. Brady had gone down with a knee injury early in the game, giving Matty his first starting job since high school. While most of Patriot Nation thought we were “all done,” all of us at the restaurant were psyched for the guy. Sure, we figured we weren't going to win the Super Bowl, but we felt like we needed to root for Matt. After the game we joked around about how cool it would be if he came into the restaurant to celebrate his big win.
And then he did.
This time, everyone recognized him. Chef prepared them all kinds of mid-courses and spent a lot of time chatting with him at the table. I can confidently say that it was the first time Matt was treated like the star he would soon become. Chef got a little excited and tried to give him hats from the restaurant so that he could wear on television. We were all relieved when he couldn’t find any.
Matt continued to come into the restaurant with some frequency, always personally thanking and shaking hands with everyone in the building on his way out. He also had a very underrated season for the Patriots, leading them to the same record that Brady did upon his return in 2009.
I remember there was one time when he was having dinner and Wes Welker kept texting him. Welker kept asking him what he was up to and Matty lied because he didn’t want to hang out with him.
The last time we saw him was when someone asked to take a picture with him. That’s probably not why he stopped coming in, but we always thought that it might have tainted what he considered a fairly low-key little restaurant in the ‘burbs.
Bill Richardson Governor of New Mexico, former presidential candidate and ambassador to North Korea. He ate very loudly, which is a huge pet peeve of mine.
These are the more exciting ones, but we'll delve into the lower and more local levels of celebrity next time.
Every year it seems like radio stations and other media outlets try to capitalize on the NCAA's March Madness fever by hosting their own "tournaments." This year, Boston.com is hosting their very first "Munch Madness," where they pit 64 of Boston's most popular restaurants against one another in an epic four-bracket food fight. The voting has come down to the Final Four restaurants, which are Toro, East Coast Grill, Orinoco, and Hungry Mother. Despite my own negative opinion of them, Toro has to be considered the favorite going into this round, as they are the only #1 seed left in the competition. Voting for the Final Four is open through April 1st, so head on over there and cast your vote. Mine's going to the ECG.
Edit - Looks like the East Coast Grill is your 2010 Munch Madness Champion, destroying Hungry Mother in the final round.
Just wanted to send a little happy birthday note to my friend Dale.
I don't know Dale very well. In fact, we just met tonight.
She was an older woman, somewhere in her sixties. They were a party of three, though one of them was late.
Can I bring you some water while you wait for your other friend? We have someone meeting us.
A lovely woman, that Dale. Did I mention that it was her birthday?
She dined with two of her (old-)lady friends. They got sassy, opting for Pear Sidecars instead of Cosmos. Despite their seemingly impenetrable personalities, I wanted to like them just on account of their creative drink order.
Dinner went off without a hitch. They didn't require much attention. I knew that they weren't into having any sort of close contact with their lowly server, so I held back and attended to them silently, only when needed.
Knowing that it was Dale's birthday, I brought dessert menus over to them after their entrees were cleared. They didn't seem like the types of ladies who would order dessert but birthdays were special, so who knows.
I brought you some dessert menus. What? Huh? I brought you some dessert menus... I thought you said ONIONS.
Onions? What?
Seeing their dessert menus stacked up in a neat little pile off to the side of the table, I thought that I was in the clear. A quick dismissal of the menus usually results in a rejection of dessert, a prompt drop of the check, and an insincere thanks-so-much.
So, did you see anything you'd like to try for dessert? No dessert but a whole bunch of decaf. No onions?
They liked that one. They laughed.
Make sure mine's decaf. No way, I'm giving you regular! Well, you know, some restaurants give you regular when they run out of decaf. Oh, I would never do that to you!
I tried to win them over with whatever charm I could muster up which wasn't really very much. I had to rely more on cheap parlor tricks, like melting a wax candle to birthday Dale's coffee cup, since she didn't order any dessert. As a server I feel it's my responsibility to make sure you get to blow out a candle on your birthday, but your lack of a dessert order makes it tricky sometimes.
They thought that it was a cute gag and I kinda thought I had them.
After they paid, they sat for two hours before finally getting up. I was surprised to see Dale approach one of the waitresses, angry.
I listened as Dale launched into a tirade about how she was so upset that the restaurant didn't send her a complimentary birthday dessert. I folded napkins and listened to this, laughing to myself. She argued that it was bad business for a restaurant to refrain from practices like giving away free product.
As she repeated the story to my general manager, I lit the candle on a complimentary cookie plate for table 33. Dale eyed the cookies and even mentioned them as I walked away, smiling. It was literally the first time I had given away a dessert at this particular restaurant and the timing couldn't have been any better. Seriously, lady in your sixties, you're mad because you didn't get a free scoop of vanilla ice cream on your birthday? I would argue that she was mad that her two friends split the bill three ways with her. If I were her I'd be a lot more upset about the Scallops and Sidecar than the scoop of vanilla.
So, wherever you are, happy birthday, Dale! Thanks for the laughs and good times, hopefully we can do it again sometime.
Mark your calendars because Boston is ready to celebrate two of your favorite things: bacon and beer. On Saturday, April 24th @eatBoston and SoWa Sundays will be hosting the first-of-its-kind Boston Beer & Bacon Festival at the Power Station in the South End. Restaurants from all over the city (including Trina's Starlite Lounge and Myers & Chang) will be sharing their best bacon-themed dishes, while local breweries will offer up some of their sudsy creations to go along with them. Tickets start at $25, with all proceeds going to charities such as the Juniper Fund, Share Our Strength, Community Servings, and South End Youth Baseball, so you won't have to feel too guilty about partaking in the indulgence of it all. Tickets can be purchased in advance on their website and you must be 21 to attend.
The next time you’re planning a pub or app crawl, you might want to check out the sometimes-overlooked neighborhood of Inman Square. Nestled between its more popular cousin squares of Harvard and Central, Inman is a favorite among hipsters, college kids, and folks in the restaurant industry. With the addition of Trina’s Starlite Lounge this past September, Inman has solidified its status as one of Boston’s best neighborhoods for great food and cheap beer.
Trina’s takes over the old Abbey Lounge spot on the Somerville side of Beacon Street, on the very outskirts of Inman Square. Located under an old-school Miller High Life sign, in a plain and unassuming brick building, it might be easy to mistake it for the type of dimly lit joint where old men hide from the sunlight, swapping stories over Wild Turkey while they inhale the dust from piles of losing scratch tickets. On the contrary, when you enter Trina’s, you are welcomed into a 1950’s throwback lounge that keeps things classy and restrained despite the invitation for kitsch. Local artist, and part-time bartender, Thomas Tietjien provides much of the cozy space’s retro-inspired artwork.
Trina’s is the brainchild of Trina and Beau Strum, who spent years behind various Boston bars before tackling their own enterprise. Josh Childs, co-owner of the legendary downtown Silvertone Bar and Grill, is a partner in the business, as is general manager, Jay Bellao. Given the ownership’s deep connections in the city, Trina’s was a highly anticipated project that proved to be an instant success upon opening. Fueled by one of Boston’s most creative cocktail lists and a whimsical menu of delicious comfort food, word of mouth quickly spread.
Perhaps their most popular menu item, Trina’s Dog of the Day has reached a cult status through daily Facebook status updates sent to their 1,500 friends. Every day, Trina’s chefs use their wit and creativity to come up with a new way to cook a hot dog, with consistently delicious results. Recent dogs have included the Tostada Dog, the Fish and Chip Dog, and the Farmer’s Market Dog, which is made from all local ingredients, wrapped in smoked bacon and topped with brocolli and Brussels sprouts hash, laced with a mustard maple sauce. Trina’s also features the best Chicken and Waffles available in the city. The chicken is moist and juicy, fried picture-perfect and crispy on the outside, and served over homemade buttermilk waffles. All of that is topped with a hot pepper syrup that contributes to the dish’s spot-on contrast of sweet and savory. There is a superb veggie burger also available to those so inclined.
The cocktail list features the freshest seasonal juices, fruits, herbs, and spices. As they say, “if we can make it ourselves, we do.” Many of the liquors that they use are obscure, which can make for a fun learning experience. Try their Samata, made from Bison Grass vodka, ginger syrup, lemon juice, green tea, and mint if you want something refreshingly different. On a cold winter day, try the Adirondack, made with butter-infused bourbon and real maple syrup. If you’re not really into the fancy cocktails, then check out their beer list, which appeals to the hipster looking for an ironic can of Schlitz for $3 or the beer snob, who might appreciate the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA on draft. My favorite happens to be the bucket of Miller High Life ponies for $11.
Because the owners have all spent years working in restaurants, they have recently started hosting industry brunches on Mondays, though everyone is more than welcome. Complete with classic sugary cereals, Saturday morning cartoons, and their signature “Velvet Elvis” French Toast, stuffed with peanut butter, bananas, and chocolate-covered bacon, Trina’s has applied the same ideas that have made them such a successful nighttime establishment to the day shift. There might be no better way to start the week than a plate of Huevos Rancheros and a Hair of the Dog, a dangerously easy to drink combination of vodka, Licor 43, orange juice, and orange soda.
Trina’s joins Bukowski’s Tavern and Chef Chris Schlesinger’s seminal East Coast Grill in Inman Square, as exciting options for great food that maintains a sense of fun and won’t break the budget. Bukowski’s, which also has a more popular sister location on Dalton St. in the Back Bay, is born from the same love of nostalgia that Trina’s is and boasts one of the city’s most impressive beer lists. If you’re overwhelmed by the selection, leave it to the fates and give their Beer Wheel a spin. Right next door to Bukowski’s is the East Coast Grill, which has been serving up delicious food for over twenty-five years now. With its focus on bright flavors, fresh seafood, live fire and barbeque, its popularity is at an all-time high, thanks to a featured segment on the Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food. Similar to Trina’s, they draw industry people into their dining room on Mondays by holding special events like Hell Night, Bob Marley Night, Pig Around the World Night, and Put a Little South in Your Mouth Night. These events sell out almost as quickly as they are announced.
There are a lot of good things going on in this often forgotten-about neighborhood quietly tucked away in the middle of everything. If you can’t drive, then hop on an MBTA bus (lines 69, 83, or 91) and get yourself a Nacho Dog at Trina’s or a Hobo Special at Bukowski’s or a bowl of Ghost Chili Pasta at the East Coast Grill (though, you might want to bring a pen, as you’ll need to sign a waiver).
(Trina’s Starlite Lounge is open 7 nights a week from 5 pm – 1 am, serving dinner until midnight. Brunch is available Mondays from 12 pm – 4 pm. Trina’s is located at 3 Beacon Street, Somerville, MA 02143.)
Happy March, ladies and gentlemen! We’ve made it through the worst of the winter and spring is just around the corner. In Fort Myers, the Red Sox have started playing games and, here in Boston, we are getting ready for Restaurant Week once again.
This year marks the 5th anniversary of Boston Restaurant Week (which actually runs for two weeks), when the best spots in the city offer three-course prix fixe menus at the low cost of $33.10 for dinner and $20.10 for lunch (the price increases one cent annually, echoing the current year). Co-sponsored by the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau and American Express, the twice-a-year event (there’s also one in August) is designed to drum up a little business during an otherwise slow time of year for restaurants. In theory, it’s a great opportunity to go out and try new places whose normal prices may cause you a bit of hesitation. In reality, Boston Restaurant Week is a complete zoo, with most restaurants offering food of a substantially lower quality than they regularly do, thereby maximizing their profits. The whole thing is really one big smoke and mirrors trick that the industry plays upon the public. Aside from the steak houses and some of the elite “special occasion” restaurants like L’Espalier, Mistral, and No. 9 Park, you can go into just about any participating restaurant on a normal day and have a higher quality dinner at a comparable price. During Restaurant Week, many of the better restaurants cut back on the creativity of their menus, in an effort to please the fairweather foodies who only come out this time of year, while also using inferior (cheaper) ingredients and slashing portions. Nonetheless, the four weeks of the year that make up Boston Restaurant Week are always among the busiest.
In addition to being short-changed on the meal, another aspect of your Restaurant Week experience that is likely to suffer is your service. Restaurants employ a turn-and-burn attitude, trying to cram as many of you into their dining room as possible. For servers, this is a horrible time of year and I always make it a point to plan my vacations accordingly. You would think that it might be a lucrative deal for us, as more business should theoretically equal more money in our pockets, but that’s simply not the case. Not only are the typical Restaurant Week diners, on average, “more frugal” than our normal cliente, thereby leading to lower check averages and worse tips, but the restaurants also stack the schedule, adding as much help as they can. This often results in more trouble and less money for us.
If, after all of that, you still feel like braving Restaurant Week, there are a couple of restaurants who actually do an outstanding job with it: First, Gargoyle’s on the Square (Davis Sq., Somerville) offers many of Chef Jason Santos’ delicious signature dishes, such as Hawaiian-Style Tuna Poke and Hoisin and Honey Glazed Duck Confit. I always make it a point to get to Gargoyle’s for Restaurant Week because it’s the only time of the year that they’re open on Mondays, which is my night off. They have an innovative cocktail list and a cozy dining room, making this one of my favorite restaurants in the city.
Pigalle (located adjacent to the Stuart Street Theater in the Theatre District) was a treat last year and, by the looks of their menu, is ready to knock it out of the park once again. Instead of the typical three or four options, they offer eight appetizers to choose from (including Bacon-Wrapped Wellfleet Oysters and Duck Liver Terrine) and nine entrees (Slow Cooked Pork Belly and Steak Frites with Creamed Spinach are calling me).
Restaurant Week runs from March 14-28, but participation on Fridays and Saturdays varies from restaurant to restaurant, so you might want to check on that. Reservations can be made through OpenTable or through the Boston Restaurant Week website, where you can also peruse a list of participating locations.
r most, Monday is a day of mourning for the weekend that passed away far too soon. Well, the best way to get over your beginning of the week sorrows is to drown them in booze. If you don’t have to work or be in school, you can start your day early by hitting up the brunch at Trina’s Starlite Lounge in Inman Square, where you can chase down your biscuits and gravy breakfast with a delicious mango bellini. As you leave the comfort of the retro lounge, greeted by the somewhat uncomfortable rays of the afternoon sun, you squint and decide that you need to rest up for the excitement that awaits you on the rest of your Monday Funday. 
isposable income to throw away on games of chance or the inclination to drive out to Norwood, then head up to Beacon Hill, where you’ll find the 6B Martini Lounge Bar & Restaurant. In addition to excellent 25-cent chicken wings, starting at 8:00 pm the 6B offers one of the most fun trivia nights in the city. Hosted by the aptly-named “Trivia Guys,” it takes on a free-form style that is severely lacking from the numerous Stump!-organized trivia nights around the city. The grand prize is a $30 gift certificate that you can use immediately, with different prizes also being offered to second and third place teams. Be sure to say hi to Olive, 6B’s resident Monday night server and DJ if you decide to stop by.
ad down to Estragon in the South End for their weekly exploration of classic cocktails. Join their resident mixologist, Eric Cross, on a journey through 100 turn of the century and prohibition-era cocktails that you won’t find anywhere else. There is a grand prize for the first person to make their way through all 100 cocktails, so you should probably hurry up and start drinking. Pad your stomach with some of their authentic Spanish tapas, including the Tocino, Miel y Marconas. That’s pork fat back, spanish honey, and Marcona almonds on toast. I can tell you’re skeptical. You can’t get over the part about the pork fat back. Well, get over it, because it’s one of the tastiest bites you’re sure to experience in the city. Remember, folks, fat equals flavor.
ears, beer pong has exploded in popularity. From a myriad of “official” rulebooks that you can find at Urban Outfitters to the orange ping-pong balls now sold at the counter of your local White Hen Pantry, the game is everywhere. So, you’re invited to bring your skills every Tuesday night, when you can enjoy drafts for $2.50 and pitchers for $9. Compared to other bars in the area, it is relatively low-key and boasts a nice patio, complete with an outdoor bar, where you can enjoy a Pabst and a Parliament when weather permits.
e Muddy Charles is Kendall Square, where Flattop Johnny’s hosts free pool every Wednesday after 9:00 pm. Their bartenders control the iPod, so the music is always as ecclectic as its choice of beers. 
