Free beer tastes better: Samuel Adams Brewery tour

A splendid way to spend a dreary winter day: at the Samuel Adams Brewery in the Jamaica Plain (JP) neighborhood of Boston.

The tour (the details of which are in a hard-to-find place on the brewery's website) was jolly (dare I say "hoppin'?")

Our small group followed a beer-wielding guide through the brewery's fragrant chambers. Yes, employees get to drink beer on the job (part of the reason it's voted one of the top places to work in the photo above, I presume).

It was very hands-on: we crumbled the hops in our hands and smelled them in one room, gazed hungrily at the beer-filled tanks in the next and, the best part, eventually tried the beers for ourselves in a tasting room at the end of the tour.

Tours are free, but a $2 donation for charity is recommended at the beginning of the tour. Bring some cash, otherwise you'll feel like Scrooge walking past the collection barrel empty-handed (especially since you get free beer at the end).

Our tour guide taught us how to properly taste beer: visual appraisal, aroma, flavor and by just asking yourself if you like it. A few rowdy people at our table seemed very familiar with the curriculum already (hmmmmm) -- but truth be told, the place is so laid-back, it seems like most come for a visit whenever they fancy some free tastings.

The tasting glasses were sweet (and free) souvenirs for an already sweet tour experience. You can buy the other three -- each is printed with a different rule about tasting beer -- in the set in the gift shop.

Emily and I loved the free postcards you can send, postage-paid, to friends and family about your rad experience at the brewery. Ours got a little goofy since we had to mention that our experience was very Asian: drinking three glasses of beer (no matter that they were tiny ones) in 20 minutes is not necessarily always an easy task.

Have you ever been to the Sam Adams brewery? Or others around the country? Which are the good ones?

Leave a comment below and give us the scoop.

A hidden treat: Orinoco's Venezuelan food and great live jazz at Wally's

After a long day in Emily's house near Cambridge, part of which was spent making our homemade soup and flourless chocolate cake (more on that later), she and I ventured out into the cold to explore and grab something to eat.

I had spent the day lounging around with no guilt, contentedly gobbling up her roommate's food and cooking magazines and easing into the second stage of my trip: the resting stage. After all, vacation isn't a vacation without rest.

During one of my reading frenzies, I read about Orinoco in an old issue of Boston magazine (read the article here) and it seemed like the perfect dinner spot, as we were going to be in the neighborhood in order to visit Wally's later on that night.

We ordered two arepas, traditional Venezuelan grilled corn pockets (think the Venezuela version of Mexican tamales): the "Domino" with black beans and palmizulia cheese ($5.75), and the special "Portobello" made with sweet roasted corn, wild mushrooms, huitlacoche cream and roasted cubanelle pepper sauce (pictured below). We both agreed the rich Domino was much tastier than the semi-bland Portobello, but the Portobello's texture was much more pleasing to the palate (I vaguely recall my knife wrestling with the Domino).

The restaurant is small (not ideal for large parties) and when we arrived it was packed. The service was attentive, though, and they seated us quickly on the stools near the window and we enjoyed the cozy atmosphere. It would equally be a perfect place for an intimate dinner or lively drinks with a friend.

We visited Wally's after that, a tiny jazz club that's been around since 1947. Students from the Berklee College of Music, the Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory of Music mingle in the club's lineup with seasoned jazz professionals. The clientele, then, is regularly a refreshing and relaxed mix of professionals, music buffs and college students all just looking for some good music and a beer.

Check the website for the schedule (they boast live music 365 days a year), but know that you won't find bands listed on the website -- rather, see what types of jazz they play on different nights and just enjoy it.

Orinoco: A Latin Kitchen
477 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, MA 02118
617-369-7075‎
www.discovervenezuela.com

Wally's Cafe jazz club
427 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02118
617-424-1408
www.wallyscafe.com

Top photo: Wally's jazz club. Credit: skasuga
Bottom photo: Arepas from Orinoco. Credit: Kelsey Ramos

Gritty Boston: French dip and cold brews at Doyle's Cafe

Emily and I met as undergraduates at UCLA in the Christian ministry we were both a part of. She is two years ahead of me in school and at one point lived right across the street from me.

She's quite a catch, and once you get past how wonderful she is on the outside (current Harvard law school student, spent a summer doing social justice work in Bolivia, hikes and runs and is so much fun) you can quickly and easily see what I love most about her: Emily is one of the most caring, intelligent and loving people I've ever had the privilege of meeting.

You can see why I was a little bit ecstatic to see her while in Boston.

Anyway, my second night with Emily, we joined her sweet sweet roommates (two of them named Jen and one Jenny) the next night for Jen's birthday.

Enter: Doyle's.

Doyle's is one of those places someone would take you when you really wanted to see the real grit of the city -- where tradition is and where the natives go.

A piece of advice so you will actually enjoy your meal: this is bar fare, so don't waste your time ordering anything with an even slight resemblance of health -- go straight for the sweet potato fries (those count as healthy, right?), pastrami on rye, burgers and the beer. Guests are happy to order the Sam Adams special edition beers Doyle's has on tap as well.

I ordered the French dip with fries, which was a winner; someone else with us had a pizza which looked delicious if not gourmet (it was also huge). The waitress advised us to skip the buffalo chicken sandwiches because the patty preparation involved only unthawing.

The service when we were there was helpful but not the best I've ever had, sometimes forgetting to return with our condiments but always good-natured and pleasant. Doyle's is perfect for large parties -- it's loud so you can be loud, the place is all dark wood and paper placemats, sort of grimy-casual. Its strength, by far: good cold beer for cheap.

And while it looks like Yelp reviewers say breakfast fare is also hit or miss, the eggs Benedict (above) looks pretty darn delicious, if I do say so myself.

Have you ever been to Doyle's? Tell me what you like about it.

Doyle's Cafe
3484 Washington St, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
617-524-2345
http://www.yelp.com/biz/doyles-cafe-jamaica-plain

Top Photo: Eggs Benedict at Doyle's. Used under Creative Commons license from: stevegarfield Bottom Photo: Doyle's taps, which include Boston beers Samuel Adams and Harpoon. Used under Creative Commons license from: jpc.raleigh

A true college town: Pinnochio's Pizza and Bartley's Burgers in Cambridge

While I have a huge love of the vibrancy of college towns -- I still live in UCLA's Westwood, after all -- I have to say that Harvard Square doesn't have much in the way of classy restaurants. It is, after all, catering to students (and some of the most studious in the country, at that).

Even in my travels, however, I am forever Frugal Nosh and as such always appreciate a good piece of college-town pizza or a big juicy burger that won't set me back a pretty penny.

That's why I was overjoyed to nosh on some Harvard Square Bartley's Burgers after a long day in the Cambridge rain.

The place is small -- "cozy" would be a nice word to describe it, "tiny" would be more accurate -- but warming. The brick walls are covered with college rivalry paraphernalia and snarky vintage placards. You can read a menu or try and decipher the different one written in chalk on the wall; the service is quick and pleasant and you can tell they're used to serving people who need to get back to studying.

The menu is filled with christened burgers with tongue-in-cheek descriptions. The Barack Obama ("no experience necessary") is a modest feta cheese burger with lettuce, tomato, red onion ($9.45). The Steve Jobs ("iBURGER") rolls out with boursin cheese, mushrooms and onions ($9.75), and The Facebook ("connect with this") is topped with BBQ sauce and cole slaw ($9.75).

All the burgers are served with fries. Substitute onion rings or delicious sweet potato fries for $1.45.

Their menu changes with the political and social climate, I imagine, since I didn't see our exact burger we ordered (below) on their online menu. All I remember was creamy boursin cheese...yum. Note that Bartley's is cash only.

Another Cambridge highlight is Pinnochio's pizza - affectionately dubbed "Nochs" by my company. They serve hot pizza - Sicilian (deep crust) or regular (thin crust) - by the slice or by the pie, with any number of delicious toppings.

There are, alas, no photos from my delicious slices of lush spinach pizza (Sicilian crust) because when I finally had the chance to eat it after nibbling in the car, I was far more distracted by a long-awaited catch-up session with my second gracious Boston hostess, Emily.

Pinnochio's pizza, Cambridge
74 Winthrop Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
www.pinocchiospizza.net

Bartley's Burgers
(cash-only)
1246 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138
bartleysburgers.com

A taste of Boston's history (and trendiness): Faneuil Hall and Newbury Street

I know I said that being in Boston allowed me to see the non-touristy parts of the city, but know that I got the full treatment, tourist spots and all.

One of the most tourist-laden (and heartily enjoyable) days was my last day with Amy and Jon.

We walked the colorful food-lined length of Faneuil Hall marketplace (Quincy market), where I picked up some slightly-overpriced clam chowder and reveled that Boston not only offers jimmies (the East coast vocab for "sprinkles") but also sprinkles. What the difference is, I have no idea. If you're looking for a quick bite and lots of variety (but not much authenticity), come to Faneuil.

We admired the boutiques and shops on Newbury Street together, and they even indulged me in going to see the "Make Way for Ducklings" statues in the Boston Public Gardens. As my dad kept reminding me (it became a little joke that we must see these ducks): "you loved that book as a kid!" And it's true...I did.

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Faneuil Hall Marketplace
www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com

Newbury Street
www.newbury-st.com

Oysters and beer, a true Boston experience

Next up on the Boston agenda: oysters and beer.

The great thing about traveling with locals is they (hopefully) don't stop at giving you the average, run-of-the-mill tours of their town. The great thing about traveling with Amy and Jon is they also really love good food, so I felt like a winner all-around.

The day I had my first Boston oysters (and my first oysters of my life) was, naturally, a day when the heavens overflowed with rain all day long, the wind blew horizontally, and our umbrellas were mercilessly destroyed. We were soaked through, so much so that the windows on the train got all steamed up from the dampness (yuck) and we could hardly see where our stop was.

Somehow we made it to Legal Seafoods on the outskirts of Harvard Square -- a little worse for the wear, but happy and ready for our dozen oysters (and brews).

Behold: my first raw oyster. I couldn't get enough of all the different ways to eat it (I'm almost salivating just remembering it) -- with hot sauce, with lemon, with cocktail sauce, with Legal's gingery vinaigrette sauce...all so good. We took turns toasting each round.

Now, this is a true Frugal Nosh find: the oysters were 6 for $6 during happy hour (if I remember correctly). Give them a call to double check that the special is still happening, and during what times.

I must say it again and again. You really left your warm and dry apartment to trek through the pelting rain just to get me oysters and beer? Boston hostess and host extraordinaires: Amy and Jon. Bravo.

Legal Seafoods
20 University Road Cambridge , MA 02138
617-491-9400
http://www.legalseafoods.com/

Mike's cannolis in Boston's North End

My father, a huge food influence in my life, grew up in Brooklyn and went to school in New York. I learned first how to eat Italian food - my favorite food ethnicity and a place I long to visit - from sitting down to the childhood dinner table and its steaming plates of al dente pasta, all topped with my dad's rich bolognese sauce and always made from scratch -- just like he ate in NY's Little Italy, I like to imagine. I eventually learned how to cook it, too, though my taste buds like to remind me that my garlicky marinaras are still far from those made with the deft hands of my East coast-born father.

My dad also spent a great deal of time in Boston. As many engineering students' ambitious parents can't stand the idea of a child spending a whole summer outside of the classroom, my dad went, whether by choice or by force, to summer school at Harvard and Boston University during his college years.

When I asked my dad for tips about what I should make sure to do while I was in Boston, one of his immediate responses was "cannolis from North End." I've never knowingly ignored my dad's food advice, so that's just what we did.

After a decadent dinner with Jon's family at Erbaluce, we drove over to the popular Mike's Pastry in the North End for some real Italian dessert.

The place, which is normally packed to the rafters, was only quietly buzzing when we arrived around 9pm. The women served us with the practiced hands of professionals, quickly wrapping and typing our boxes of cannolis and tiramisu in the bakery's trademark way, from string wound around giant spools on the counter.

The bakery's cannolis serve the cravings of presidents and celebrities, as evidenced by photos lining the walls taken with owner Mike Mercogliano. Mercogliano runs the bakery with his wife, Annette.

And here they are, in all their North End glory: rich ricotta cream filling in a home-baked pastry shell, dusted with confectioner's sugar and dipped in chocolate chips on each end. I'd advise not eating after a huge meal like we did -- these suckers are nearly a meal in themselves.

Mike's Pastry
300 Hanover Street
(between Parmenter/Richmond and Prince Streets)
Boston, MA 02113
617-742-3050
www.mikespastry.com