I don't know what's taking them so long as I heard and posted about this in November. I think it will be just pizza, sandwiches, tap wine and canned beer. A welcome opening to neighborhood with little to offer when it comes to pizza and beer pairings.

He was at the Alchemist before they closed and he moved on to Anchovies. He opened Firebrand Saints prior to his stint at ESK.

Big John can be intimidating but he knows his way behind a bar and the classics. He was at E.S. up until a few months ago. I have yet to hit up Blue Dragon but I've heard nightmarish reviews about their opening week, including a sighting of Ming face palming himself while shaking his head as he walked out of th kitchen.

I recently talked with a person who worked in the prep kitchen used by some of the trucks. Their experience left much to be desired compared to other kitchen they had worked in.

In the late 90s the Russian grocery store on Comm Ave (next to Store 24) used to advertise horse meat for sale on their window display.

Deep Ellum and Publick House have some of the best curated beer menus in New England as they are a great mix of local, national and international craft beer. Therefore it is not a guarantee that a local beer you've never tried will be on draft at that time. Check out the website of the bar you plan to visit just to be safe.
I don't know where you live but some local brands like Pretty Things, Slum Brew (both gypse brewers) and Clown Shoes (contract brewer) are available in other parts of the country.

If I were you I wouldn't bother with The Publick house or Deep Ellum if you're specifically looking for local beers. Check out Stoddard's (they have 5 cask engines that are most often hyper-local), Mead Hall (custom built 100 line draft system that only serves craft beer) Sunset Grill (100 drafts of craft beer but they sometimes have freshness issues) and Lord Hobo (always a solid line-up of 40 beers).
The Cambridge Brewing Company IS A MUST for any beer geek visiting town. Established in 1989 it's one of the nations first brew pubs and has quietly remained one of the best. They helped kickstar the New Wave of American Craft Beer (NWOACB \m/ ) and were the first American Brewery to make a Belgian beer among other styles. They also have an extensive barrel aging program which, on a recent visit, yielded me a blended barely wine (half dry hopped in the tank and half bourbon bbl aged) and a beautifully sour ale that was a mix of a few different worts and fermented with 2 strains of brett in a sherry bbl.

You will find that many of the small establishments around town do what they can to support the local brewers. Feel free to drop into any non-chain establishment and check out when beer list because it may surprise you.

Did you say pizza and craft beer? Area Four and Flatbread Pizza Co have awesome pizza and serve only local beer (unfortunately for Flatbread Sam Adams is not a local beer considering its brewed in PA). Picco does a great job at this as well.

If you love beer you'll love Boston.

Has anyone tried the ramen at Back Bar? After two test runs they now serve ramen daily from 4 - 6.

Get the Hangar One while it's still made by Saint George. They sold the brand but are under contract to produce it for another year or so.

Considering it's between the Garden and Theater District you never know how much traffic you might get on any given night. The bartenders are slow enough without having to check IDs and if they did they'd be in the marshes not the weeds.

I bounced for a few years at a restaurant in a college area that has two bars. Once the drinking crowd starts taking over the dinning crowd it goes from a restaurant with families to a bar full of drinkers young and old. Underage drinking, fake IDs and over intoxication are just a few things nearly every establishment has to deal with in this city and that's what the bouncer is for.

It's fairly easy to find on the shelves of the larger stores. I haven't tried any but I do know the "Bakon" brand does not us any bacon in the flavoring process.

What non pizza sub shops are in Arlington?

FYI I stopped by Quebrada the other day and noticed that cakes and bread where being delivered from the other location.

Think " Tavern in the Square" with 1/8 the beer and food menu. It's a big open space with lots of smaller TVs in random places and a poorly curated bar. The food menu looks like it comes from the "Gastro" section of a Sysco truck so I skipped on that. If you want a beer have some backups in mind, they didn't have th first three I ordered off the list, and don't bother with the Long Island Iced Tea.

I haven't tried a cake from Quebrada in maybe ten years but I remember they had some of the best butter frosting cakes around. It's disappointing to hear that this might have changed. I still stop by for cookies and a great mocha every so often.

Do tell!

The only times I've had slightly enjoyable experiences at Saloon and Foundry is when a friend was behind the bar. Now that they've all left, and the management hasn't changed, I would rather grab food and drink at Mikes Pizza.

The Radler is just a simple way for German brewers to get around the purity laws that don't allow "flavoring" to be added to a beer. Mixing the beer with a lemon soda and calling it a Radler, not a beer, is the only way to make a fruity like beer legally unless you add the syrup as in a Berliner Weisse.

Adding a fruit garnish to a beer helps coverup the bread/grain aromas of the drink, which is appealing to many, but no serious brewer would suggest their beer be served this way as the acid also kills the head retention.

When Moksa opened an Om employee told me that they would re-concept Om once Moksa was running smoothly.

I heard a rumor that Area Four is opening a satellite in the former Bearded Pig location. I think it will only serve pizza and they will have draft wine and canned beer.

Eastern Standard. While the bar program and staff are quite extraordinary I find the kitchen to be lacking in many respects. The best thing about the kitchen is that they serve food late. However after 6 or 7 meals I would rather go the frozen pizza route. Every time I've eaten there the food is most unremarkable dropping one step down from "meh". My last meal at E.S. was the steak frites which came out lukewarm, over cooked with zero seasoning (not even a pinch of salt) and cold soggy fries. I choked down half of it and promised myself to never eat there again.

Wow. Odd hours combined with bad reviews makes this place a no-go no-brainer.

The few times I saw Cleve at Think Tank he was excruciatingly slow and seemed lost behind the bar. Although his knowledge and charm made up for it even when he would drink the remainder of a cocktail directly from the shaker.

Interesting. I walked by last night (Wed) at 11 or so and it was completely closed, lights off without a soul in sight.

Great restaurant run by great people. I have only recently discovered Sichuan Garden II and upon my first trip I was immediately blown away by the well curated beer and cocktail lists. The service I receive from the bar staff is top notch as they not only great at making a drink but they are always able to suggest something from the menu after asking a few questions.

Frank Reardon style.

By "impurities" do you mean turds?

Walker is a distributor but they produce a bunch of bottom shelf spirits under the Allen's name.

The fig vodka you're referring too is made in Union Square in Somerville by M.S. Walker. They use their bottom shelf vodka (they are the makers of Rubinoff, Ruble, basically all the bottom shelf and house brand names you see at the store), add a sugary fig concentrate to it, package it in a fancy bottle and sell it for $65/750ml.
I'd suggest saving a lot of money by purchasing a 1.75L of the same crappy base vodka for $12.99 and infuse it with quality figs.

Gulu Gulu is a cafe with beer and wine only. Greenland in Salem has a very well curated bar program and although the food has been dumbed down since opening it's still pretty good. Alchemy Bistro in Gloucester is the best place on the North Shore for what you're looking for. Great bar program, intimate gastropub atmosphere and a kitchen that will wow you.

The place just opened so I'd suggest giving it a couple of months before a re-try. To be bitter because it tookover the spot of your local fav is unfair considering they had nothing To do with the closure of Gargoyles.