Oktoberfest for Lunch and Ceviche for Dinner on Saturday
Dan and I spent much of Saturday outside in the spectacular sunny weather of a warm Fall afternoon in late September. We got our Oktoberfest on and did some shopping in downtown Boston before eating at a new-ish restaurant we hadn’t yet been to on Newbury Street. Overall, it was a busy yet relaxing day.
We started our day off going to Cambridge Common’s Oktoberfest, which featured cider by Bantam. For $15, it was all you can eat food, and $5 for beer and cider, which was a great deal. We shared sliders (beef and veggie), a bratwurst, potato salad, and a soft pretzel. I doctored up the bratwurst and did halfsies with mustard and ketchup (my preferred condiment on a sausage despite being a crazy mustard fan), and relish and sauerkraut (historically, not my favorite thing on a sausage, but I’m coming around to it) so we could get a little of everything. I loved the toasted bun, which gave you the perfect amount of crunch when taking a bite. The potato salad was good, but I thought it could have used some mustard in it. The pretzel wasn’t anything special, but I’m always a sucker for a soft pretzel.
Following our meal, we played a terrible game of cornhole on the special Bantam cornhole set. Dan and I took forever to finish our game as the bean bags kept sliding off the board, and he did beat me, though it was close. It has to be the worst round of cornhole we’ve played, and I have to say that we both struggled in playing. I didn’t even care that I lost in the end, as I just wanted that terrible game to be over! During the game, I was able to show off my Bantam pride by wearing a pair of their sunglasses, which I super excited to be able to wear now that I have contacts!
Following lunch outside, we made a stop at Beauty Spa for pedicures (yes — Dan loves getting pedicures after fighting me for years about not wanting to go). We then took the bus from Harvard Square to downtown Boston to do some light shopping around the Pru before discussing where we wanted to go for dinner.
We ended up choosing the Latin-inspired Puro Ceviche Bar. Opened in 2017 by the same team that operates the excellent Greek restaurant, Kava Neo-Taverna in the South End, Puro is located in the basement of an old brownstone along Newbury Street and features patio seating with spectacular people watching. We arrived just before 7pm and were one of the first tables seated outside. However, by 7:15pm, the patio was packed with a waiting list going so we timed our arrival perfectly.
I started with a glass of the Riesling, Spater-Veit from Mosel, Germany which was very good. For food, we shared two ceviches: sea bass with bell peppers, red onion, chili peppers, cilantro, passion fruit, aji amarillo, and lime juice; and octopus with leche de tigre, salsa criolla, and capers. I had never had sea bass ceviche before and thought it was really good. The fish was perfectly tender, and I liked the sweetness of the passion fruit. The octopus was a bit chewy, but that is typical for an octopus ceviche, so I didn’t mind the texture. I liked the idea of serving the ceviches with sweet potato chips, but I think the chips were too soft to scoop up the fish with the sauce and accouterments. (I think a more dense chip would be better.)
We also shared the Pimientos with shishito peppers, soy sauce, and red chimichurri sauce; and Pollo Tacos with blackened chicken, pineapple salsa, and spicey aioli. I’ve been on a shishito pepper kick lately, and I loved the chimichurri sauce served with the peppers, which had just a touch of heat to it that made for a great flavor. We asked for a recommendation for the tacos as we were debating between two different options and the server didn’t hesitate to recommend the chicken tacos, which were outstanding. The pineapple salsa was the perfect sweet counterbalance to the blackened chicken. The corn tortilla shells also held up pretty well when eating the tacos, which can sometimes be a disaster because they are softer than flour shells.
Overall, we had a great meal at Puro. The food was excellent and the service was top-notch. My two quibbles about the restaurant is that they don’t take reservations (which is why we waited so long to check it out because you have to time it right to avoid a long wait) and that we had to ask the kitchen to slow down bringing out the food, as they bombarded us with three dishes at the same time. I like the enjoy a coursed-out meal and don’t like it when more than two dishes arrive at the same time, especially when seated at a small two-top table. Despite these minor complaints, we will certainly be coming back, and I will ask them to serve us no more than two dishes at the one time.
For dessert, we stopped by J.P. Licks in Harvard Square and I was thrilled to see cookies & cream dough back on the menu as one of the special flavors of the month. I first discovered this flavor earlier in the Summer and for some reason went bonkers over it. The combo of creamy cookies & cream ice cream with chucks of cookie dough is, in my view, inspired and I was super excited to find it again on the menu. I get the sense in talking to the workers at the shop that it is a very popular flavor, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that J.P. Licks eventually add it to their permanent menu.
All-in-all, we had a great day and I’m very glad that we were able to spend so much of it outside in the perfect Fall weather.
(Saturday, September 29, 2018 / @julieschultz79 / #mycrazylifeblog)
