Day of food

It may surprise you to know that never before have we taken a day off with the intent to go on food adventures.

While Josh played some tennis, I ran errands: dmv, post office. After that, we had the whole day to play.

For lunch, we headed over to The Optimist for a leisurely lunch at the bar.

We started off with oysters: two kinds of Massachusetts oysters I had never heard of before. The ones on the left were a little more bland, those on the right much more briny and more to my liking.

Next, I got the smoked white fish chowder. It was delicious. A thicker chowder with a light smokiness. It was quite tasty.

Josh got the fried clamroll with a kimchi sauce and pickled peppers. I had planned to try it, but it smelled so spicy even from where I was sitting that I dare not.

He enjoyed it with relish though, no pun intended!

For Josh's main, he got the tuna nicoise. The tuna is poached in olive oil but was a little oversalted. The salad itself was a nice mixture, though a bit overdressed, even without the louie sauce in the bottom.

For me, the lobster roll. Mayonnaise-based and tasty, though not as good good as some in town. The shoestring fries were tasty, crunchy and salty.

It was a delicious lunch.

From there, we ran around town before heading over to Holeman and Finch right as they opened. We scored a nice seat at the bar with Greg and Jason tending bar. Turns out they had just changed menus for Halloween.

At Jason's recommendation, we opted for the roasted pate campagne, which he said was a James Beard recipe. It was quite delicious. It came with mustard and some bread n butter pickles.

From there, we had the steak tartare, which was very tasty.

Next, I moved onto the carbonara which is served now with Storico Fresco pasta. Here it is as it arrived.

And then all mixed up! Tasty.

Josh had the hot dog, which he enjoyed very much. Though it looks like a ton of jalapenos, they actually ended up quite mild overall. Their ballpark mustard is housemade and it was quite delicious. Josh said this is a hot dog to crave.

Fried squash blossoms. Our dessert. We were surprised they are still in season, but they were pretty tasty.