Baseball, Beer, Bites And The Perfect Boston Night

What does the perfect Boston night look like to me?

Well, I'm glad you asked.  I'll tell you.  It looks a lot like last night, actually.  Sitting amongst thousands of screaming fans chanting and clapping along to the "Let's Go Red Sox!" rally cry followed by the occasional booming voice of a vendor, "Gettcha hahht dahhgs he-ahhh!" echoing as he slings hot dogs to hungry fans.  The smell of stale spilled beer and popcorn hanging thickly in the warm cusp-of-summer air.  The focus of all this, of course, was what was going on underneath the bright lights as everyone waited for that sweet little "pop" sound of a ball making contact with the bat.  

As I sat there, taking in the sights and sounds, an ice cold Miller Lite in my hands, I knew that it was happening...I was having the perfect Boston night.  

Backing up a bit to earlier in the evening, I had plans to meet my friend Fiona for pre-game drinks and bites at Jerry Remy's new place (www.jerryremys.com).  (Fiona writes the deliciously written blog A Boston Food Diary and I met her, and her boyfriend John, at a Smorgie event that I attended a couple months back.  We became fast friends, bonding over food and a mutual love for Boston sports.  Isn't it just amazing how food brings people together?)  For those of you who may not know who Jerry Remy is, he is the play-by-play announcer of games and the voice of Red Sox Nation.  For years, his distinct voice is synonymous with summer and this past March, he opened up a new bar behind the Park on Boylston Street (right across the street from the Baseball Tavern).

I love the look of Jerry Remy's Sports Bar and Grill.  With open and spacious with retractable floor-to-ceiling windows and shiny hardwood floors along with exposed warehouse ceilings and monstrous plasma TVs, it's a great new spot to go to grab a drink or a bite to eat before (or after!) a game.  The beer list is an impressive one, drawing on classic run-of-the-mill ballgame beers (the Miller Lite's, Bud's of the beer world) and then working its way up to fancier drafts and imports.  We were fortunate enough to get a coveted cushy leather bar stool at the bar, right in front of the addictive live feed of Twitter.  Fiona and I thoroughly entertained ourself by tweeting @jerryremysgrill and watching our little news-feeds appear on the screen.

Getting to the food, the menu contained your typical bar food fare, with wings and rings and fries, sandwiches and burgers and a happy little array of BBQ food.  This includes ribs, pulled pork and other meats smoked on site.  Not wanting to bog ourselves down with too much food, we opted to sample some appetizers including the smoked chicken quesadilla, pulled pork sliders and homemade potato chips.  (Clearly we were opting for the figure-friendly food).  The quesadillas were my favorite of the three.  The chicken had a great smoky twinge to it and it paired well with the cheddar, jalepenos and softened red onions that were also encased in the perfectly grilled tortilla.  An interesting twist to this appetizer were the toasted sunflower seeds that decorated the top.  The accompanying salsa was also surprisingly really good.  With fire roasted tomatoes and lots of cilantro it had a pretty nice heat to it.

On the other hand, the pulled pork sliders were a little (and by little, I do mean a lot) greasy.  The meat itself was fantastic and smoked well so that it was moist and flavorful and they were served with a side of peppery BBQ sauce.  My main gripe with these was the bun.  It seemed as if is had been soaked in butter (literally) and then oddly smothered in mayonnaise (I have not blogged about this before but my BIGGEST pet peeve is hidden mayonnaise.  Why must people do that?  Not everyone is a fan of this, myself included!)  That being said, I wouldn't order these again or if I did, I would ask them to hold the mayo and butter.

The handcut chips were good.  They started off nice and crisp and then did get a little limp as you dug into them but this is Remy's fault, that is just what happens when you make homemade chips and pile them into a little cone.  The steam from the top chips make the ones on the bottom loose their crunch.

After we had our fill of beers and bites, it was game on!  We walked down historic Yawkey Way and past the steaming carts of Fenway Franks and Hot Sausage.  It doesn't matter how full you are, the smell is just so amazing that it makes you catch yourself questioning if you have enough belly room for one more thing...

We had great 3rd baseline seats and somewhere between all the cheering, clapping and yelling a pretty strong "Beat LA" chant erupted.  I know, I know.  We Boston fans just don't quit!  We then sang (well okay, it was more yelling really) along to Sweet Caroline.  (Good times never seem so good..so good, so good, SO GOOD!)

And the best part?

They won.

Cheers to the Red Sox, cheers to long weekend and perfect summer nights!