My friend, Colette came into town for a quick visit this past weekend from Tennessee. I miss her a lot, but we make up for it whenever we see each other. On Monday we had dinner at Local 149 with Kathleen and on Tuesday I took the day off so we could hang out and have some fun… and what a gorgeous day it was to do that.
As you have heard me say a number of times recently, South Boston (aka Southie) has exploded over the last few years. Today was another exciting adventure in exploring our new restaurant scene. We walked down the Liberty Wharf boardwalk passed all the new restaurants from the huge new Legal Seafood, Jerry Remy’s, Sal’s and a number of others. Our destination of choice was the much talked about “Temazcal Tequila Cantina.”
A few friends have tried to get in a number of times, only to be told there is a three hour wait, or that the bar is 10 deep and there was no chance of being able to get a cocktail. We felt lunch was safe and we were right!
We entered the stunning, bamboo archway, almost cathedral-like, to the young hosts and were seated on the outside deck immediately. The place is beautifully decorated, inviting and friendly. There are large votive candles everywhere and the overhead light fixtures are incredibly striking. The space itself is very contemporary and spacious.
We were handed an iPad menu for drinks, which was fun and I am sure the way a lot of restaurants will go in the coming years. I scrolled through my choices and opted for a nice glass of Fume Blanc. Colette ordered a Corona. Its so fun to drink in the sun! They have an amazing cocktail collection, which I am definitely going to try at some point.
Our waiter was lovely and friendly and incredibly attentive to our needs and many questions. We were served the complimentary house-made chips, spicy salsas – green and red, and a creamy, delicious refried bean dip with crumbled cheese on top. We indulged in practically the whole basket of chips – woops. They were good!
For my lunch I ordered the Chicken and Avocado sandwich. Sadly, the menu with what I ordered is not up so I cannot remember exactly what it was. What I can tell you is that was quite possibly one of the juiciest, most decadent chicken sandwiches I think I have ever had. It was fantastic as far as sandwiches go.
Colette ordered the Carne Asada Tampiquena, marinated grilled skirt steak, cheese enchilada, frivole negros, queso fresco, salsa tampica. It looked amazing and she did concur with the taste. It was huge and far too much food for one person but she said it was wonderful.
We were also served complimentary rice and beans, which again were both really tasty. I loved the celery they added to the rice.
As we watched the world go by on a lovely, sunny, perfect weather day, it felt good to just be doing nothing except chatting with my friend, drinking a glass of wine and feeling happy about all the other places that I cannot wait to visit this Summer! I am loving living in Southie right now.
Now although this was a very relaxing day, with a working day crowd, I can imagine that at night this place is quite a scene and with the outside seating, the whole area will be the place “to be seen” in Boston. I cannot wait to go back.
After a really long, leisurely lunch we walked around a little more, stopped at Ben & Jerry’s and sat at some park benches to indulge a little more. What an amazing Tuesday!
