Having had a pretty quiet week (besides setting this place up), I wanted to get out of the house and hang out with my friends. Since I am on the Redbones e-mail list, I suggested to the NLM Crew that we should attend the Dogfish Head Brewery event being held there Thursday night. Gavin had a rough few days at work and was too exhausted to go out, and Rob hadn't checked his e-mail for a couple of days, so Brian & I met at Alewife, hopped on the T, and arrived in Davis Square around 5:30.
When we got to Redbones, we headed right downstairs (they call the below-street-level part of the place "Underbones"). It was so packed, however, that after ten minutes or so of being ignored at the bar (I've been eating/drinking there for over a decade, so for the record that was unusual, but annoying nevertheless) we headed upstairs to the back bar, where we each had a beer in seconds, plus seats along the outer wall. I had a really good Dogfish India Brown, which compared favorably to Newcastle, and Brian had a Dogfish Black & Blue (he can fill you in, though he told me it was 'fruity'). For some reason, neither of us was that hungry, so we got several appetizers. He got a plate of nachos, and I got hushpuppies (something I got hooked on back in Kansas in 1987-88), catfish fingers, and fried oysters (of which I could have eaten fifty, let alone the amazingly good five I was served). I also enjoyed a fantastic Dogfish 60 Minute IPA. Easily my favorite beer of the night. I would have liked to try a few more of the selection (there were around 20 beers on tap from the Delaware-based brewery, including a 90 Minute IPA, and a 120 Minute IPA), but it was so packed, that we decided to hit some other Davis Square bars.
Next up (and right across the street): The Burren. I have considered this Irish pub 'mine' since it opened back in 1996. My five college buds (Keith Bedard, Darren Suarez, Jeff Vautour, Bob McCarthy, and John Hutchinson) and I used to go there all the time. John lived in Needham, and Jeff lived in Waltham, so we spent many fine evenings in this Davis Square bar. Also, my old Roslindale ('93-'95) roommate Jay ran the Somerville Theater for awhile, so it was a convenient place to hang out. When I managed a Waldenbooks in the Assembly Square Mall for close to a year in 1997, a bunch of us would meet there nearly every Friday night for a few Guinness drafts, and my assistant manager played the occasional weeknight set there with her Irish music ensemble, James' Gate. On May 1st, 1999 my friend Jason (see: "Upcoming Events", though it's not the same band) played a rousing gig with his band Soupbaby. And finally, it's proximity to Redbones has made it an obligatory stop anytime any of my friends & I go to enjoy the great BBQ there (which was ridiculously frequent when Keith & John shared an apartment in Medford for several years). Anyway, I am babbling. To sum up: it's a kick-ass bar, Brian & I went in for a beer (it was pretty quiet tonight), and then we turned left out the door to see what was next.
The Sligo Pub was a few doors down. It was a tiny little hole in the wall, with several huge tvs showing the Sox-Marlins games. It was clean, well-lit, and nearly entirely full of 'bros'. It was a complete sausage-fest, except for one girl with her five pals. And to make matters worse, I got a Sam's Boston Lager, which after a couple of IPAs (I had a Harpoon IPA at The Burren), tasted like complete shit. We felt guilty doing so (the bartender was prompt and very friendly), but after I used the namesake-sized water closet, we left the bar, beers practically untouched. On any other night, it could have been a really fun place to hang out, but with only one cute girl in sight, and wall-to-wall 'sporto' meat heads, it truly was the definition of Lame Minus...
Finally, across the street from The Burren, we parked ourselves at the bar at The Joshua Tree. Wow. This is my new favorite bar in Davis Square! The hot bartenders (more than one) kept our pint glasses full, there were many high-definition tvs on the wall showing us both the Red Sox's lame rain-out loss and the Yankees shameful defeat at the hands of the lowly Nationals, and there were beautiful women everywhere. There was even a live band we hadn't been expecting, playing lots of loud rock. Such a good mixed crowd, with a fantastic vibe, and never a dull moment. Gavin even sent a few humorous texts, so his presence (however limited) was felt. Anyway, sometime after midnight (and six Long Trail Ales - good stuff!), we paid our tab, walked back to the T station, rode to the parking garage, I got a quick look at Brian's new Honda Fit (sweet!), and we each drove off. Another successful Not Lame Minus event! There's nothing like an unplanned, slow-motion, four-bar pub crawl, especially when it ends on such a high note.
Joshua Tree definitely warrants a return visit!
ReplyDeleteI've been haunting Davis Square for a long time give or take some significant gaps over the years. Back before The Burren opened and long before Tommy knew and forgot my name, there was the Sligo.
ReplyDeleteSligo. It used to be the very definition of a hole in the wall. One old-school tube TV precariously perched in a corner, a bunch of beat-up tables, a juke box and as much cigarette smoke as you could inhale.
It was a local bar in every sense of the word. Staffed by locals, frequented by locals and the occasional Tufts poser clueless enough to wander in. If the regulars didn't recognize you you'd best just order your beer and sit the F down and hope the guy who'd been drinking since three didn't take a liking to your girlfriend. They had both kinds of beer, regular and light and the Sligo Punch was whatever the hell the bartender wanted it to be.
There was no Burren
There was no Joshua Tree
There was the Sligo.
And it was good.
Nice! That would have been fun. Have you been into the shiny new version?
ReplyDelete