Tag: Anthem

Boston Restaurant Roundup: Part 1 {Downtown Boston}

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It’s no surprise that I love to go out to lunch or dinner or even just for drinks, right? I love trying new places or foods or drinks and then sharing that information with all of you who read this little blog. I especially love when you guys ask me for restaurant recommendations, so I thought that I would make it a little easier for you and give you my Boston Restaurant Roundup so you can have access to all my favorite restaurants in a few different posts. I originally wanted to put everything in one post, but as I started to list out the various restaurants I’ve been to, I realized I’ve been to A LOT of different places all around Boston. Putting them into one post would’ve just been too long, so here is your first installment of my “Boston Restaurant Roundup”, which includes restaurants in Downtown Boston (Fanuel Hall, Financial District and Downtown Crossing).

Faneuil Hall/Financial District

  • Anthem– I have talked about Anthem a number of times on here, so it’s no surprise that it’s the first place I list. They are located right in the heart of Faneuil Hall, have a good wine and cocktail menu and a terrific food menu. It’s great for outdoor dining in the summer and the bar area is great for indoor people watching in the winter/colder months. If you go, you MUST, I repeat, MUST get the fondue! It is the absolute best.

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  • Granary Tavern– This is another place with a similar vibe to Anthem. I have to say that the prices are a little better and I like their wines more, so sometimes we choose this place over Anthem. It’s located on Atlantic Ave, so it’s still close to shopping and bar hopping. They’ve got some terrific salads and pizza’s and a great outdoor patio area for summer dining.

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  • Sakurabana– If you’re looking for Sushi in this area, I definitely suggest Sakurabana. The fish has always been really fresh and colorful and they have brown rice options. This is a really popular lunch place, and although it’s never busy for dinner, it’s wroth a trip. I think I’ve been there 3 times in the past 2 months. If you have a gluten allergy or intolerance, they accommodate that, too!

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  • Society on High– I went here for after work drinks and loved the atmosphere. They had a great bar area and lots of high-top tables to sit at around the bar. They also had an absolutely delicious Sauvignon Blanc that I may or may not have had 3 glasses of… on a Tuesday! 😉 We ended up getting some apps and really loved the fish tacos and shrimp cocktail. I’ve been trying to get back there ever since.

Downtown Crossing

  • Stoddards– I haven’t eaten here, but my sister, Amy and I had a girls night there a few months ago and loved the bar area. We ended up downstairs, but they have an area upstairs, too. I’ve heard that the food is good, I just haven’t had a chance to get back there to try it.
  • 49 Social– Danielle, Amy and I went across the street from Stoddards for dinner at 49 Social. While this is a little more of an ‘upscale” place compared to Stoddards, it wasn’t TOO stuffy. We tried to sit at the bar area since it was certainly more casual there, but they were full so we had to go upstairs. The regular menu looked wonderful, but we were more in the mood for munchy food and asked if we could order from the bar menu- no problem at all! Everything we had was absolutely delicious- I highly recommend trying this place.
  • Sip– I recently went with my friend Lisa and we enjoyed countless drinks and a few food dishes and left there completely satisfied. I still dream about the tacos and mushroom pizza with truffle oil. The fact that you can choose what size glass of wine you want is also a really fun thing- it gives you a chance to do a tasting “flight” of various wines. The prices are also very reasonable.

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  • Gem– This triples as a great dinner spot, lively after dinner drink spot and a great post dinner drink spot. Trust me on this- I’ve done all three 😉 We did dinner first (a while ago as one of our girls nights) and loved it. We shared a salad and a flatbread and lots of wine (they have a heavy pour!). Recently, we went for after dinner drinks and loved the scene. It’s certainly not a “casual” atmosphere (more clubby than casual Boston bars), but if you’re looking for a time to get dressed up, it’s a great place to go!

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So, there you have it! Your first installment of my “Boston Restaurant Roundup”. Next up will be Southie/Seaport District and East Boston. There are lots of good places in those locations!

Questions for you: Have you been to any of these places? Did I miss any/are there any that I should try? I’m always looking to expand my restaurant repertoire, so share your favorites in the comments section!

A jam-packed weekend full of working out & dining out

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Do you ever have those weekends where you’re so busy you feel like you need another day just to breathe and catch up on everything you didn’t catch up on over the weekend? That was me last weekend… and, well, all of last week, actually. I have spent the majority of the beginning of this week catching up on everything I wasn’t able to do last week or this week- my floors need to be washed desperately, but that keeps getting pushed further and further down my list, which is totally ok 🙂

Anyway! After work on Friday, I met up with someone for drinks at Vintage Lounge, which I hadn’t been to in years! From there, we headed to Sakurabana for sushi (as a Catholic, I’m not supposed to eat meat on Friday’s during lent, so sushi was a perfect option!).

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Saturday started with kickboxing (loved seeing Jen, Mary, Valerie, Dani and all the other familiar faces!) as my first workout and then I met my sister at Exhale Spa for a Core Fusion Cardio class with my sister. We met up with our friend, Jessi, for lunch at Anthem. It was such a beautiful day in the city- perfect for walking around and having lunch out (actually, who am I kidding- any day is a great day for lunch out in my mind!). We shared a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, the Fondue (cannot go there without getting it- SO SO SO good) and a pizza.

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I did some serious bar/restaurant hopping on Saturday night, which was great at the time, but not so great when I had to wake up at 7:45am on Sunday to teach a 9am class, after having gone to bed at 1:30am and losing an hour of sleep due to the time change. Womp. Oh well, I made sure to not drink too much so at least I wasn’t hungover! My Saturday night locations included: Prima E Dopo, Back Bay Social Club, M Bar at the Mandarin Hotel and finally Towne… phew! I wasn’t kidding when I said I hopped around 😉

Sunday I taught my 7th class of the week, puttered at Target and then did my CPR recertification. Not really my favorite way to spend a Sunday, but I didn’t really have a choice!

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Lunch at Pizza Etc. after the recertification did make me happy… I’ve missed their Greek salad with grilled chicken. When I lived in Brighton, Rachel and I would get that salad once a week!

By the time I grocery shopped and got home, the last thing I wanted to do was cook dinner. I ended up going to Santarpio’s to grab pizza… not the healthiest choice, but I had been craving it for a while so I decided to just do it. It did give me a crazy bad stomach ache later on- I wonder if it was the pizza or just the fact that I had eaten out literally all weekend.

By the time Monday rolled around, I was so ready for my usual clean eats! Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy eating out and would never deprive myself of it, but my body just likes it better when I don’t eat out consecutively for days in a row. I used to let it bother me when I would eat out a lot, but at this point in my life, I’ve gotten to a place where I just let it go and enjoy it because I know as soon as Monday rolls around, I’ll be back on track with my eats. No better way to do that then kale & onion stuffed turkey meatballs served over spaghetti squash and sautĂŠed veggies, right?

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I’ve been enjoying this all week!

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Did you try any new workouts/classes/studios? Did you go to any new restaurants? Have you been to any of the ones that I went to over the weekend? Do you beat yourself up after indulgent weekends of eating out and drinking? What’s the first thing you do to get back on track?

This Week: Weekend Catch Up, Workouts, Things I am Looking Forward To

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Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? It felt good to have one since last weekend I was cooped up inside at MANIA on Friday and Sunday and ran the Spartan race on Saturday (I owe you that recap this week!), which didn’t leave much room for “weekending”.  Friday night I went to drinks at Warehouse on Broad Street followed by dinner at Anthem which is always a favorite of mine! Saturday I taught an amazing kickboxing class (46 people came!!!) then ran a bunch of errands and went to lunch at Not Your Average Joe’s with my sister. I went back to Warehouse on Saturday night for drinks with a couple of friends (they ate dinner and said the food was great!!) and Sunday I hosted a Pampered Chef party. So even though it was a busy weekend, it was fun 🙂

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Stemless champagne flutes at Warehouse? New to me… not sure if I’m a fan or not. Regardless, the bubbly tasted good 😉

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Winter beer for lunch and an amazing seasonal flatbread which had pesto, caramelized onions, butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, and cheese (can’t remember what kind, though).IMG_5872

The girls got the “Greek Nachos” to start, which I tried and thought were delicious. It was such a fun idea!

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How about the workouts? I took Monday and Tuesday as rest days because my body needed it! Holy moly did it need it. I was SO sore and tight after my weekend festivities that it felt good to rest and foam roll. Once I got back into workouts, I felt like I did the right thing by giving my body some time to rest.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday & Tuesday- Lots of walking! Monday I took the long walk home and Tuesday ran errands and shopped. My muscles loosened up a lot by walking and getting blood flowing. Needed that!

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  • Wednesday- I ran a 5K on the treadmill (a slow one, but that’s ok!) before teaching UXF Burn. It was a big class, so I didn’t get to do as much of the workout since I was walking around correcting form (I brought in some new moves so that required a lot of coaching from me).

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Wore my new shirt from MANIA!

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  • Thursday- Taught SHRED using a format I learned at Sunday’s MANIA events and taught kickboxing with a totally new set of combos (that I made up as I brushed my teeth, haha). It was high cardio- we gotta burn those calories before T-day!
  • Friday- I did 10 minutes of random cardio (jogging, jumping jacks, burpees, jump squats, etc. etc.) and the upper body and core exercises from Athena’s Total Body Blast workout.
  • Saturday- I taught a super sweaty, super high cardio, super crowded kickboxing class at the Oak Square YMCA. I woke up feeling like I had done a million lunges on Friday, and since I didn’t, I blame it on Delayed Onset Soreness from Thursday’s workouts. Felt good to shake my legs out in class!
  • Sunday- Since I feel like I didn’t get a chance to get in some isolated and focused strength training in, I headed to the East Boston YMCA for their 10:30 “Y Pump” class. Felt great!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- Subbing a kickboxing class at the Watertown BSC- it’s a 6:30, so BSCers if you’re looking for a good class, please come!
  • Tuesday- I will probably head to the gym after work for strength and maybe a little cardio.
  • Wednesday-My 6:30 UXF Burn class is cancelled, but I am subbing the 5:30 Sports Conditioning Class, so if you get out of work early, definitely come- we will work super hard to burn lots of calories before Thanksgiving!
  • Thursday- I will do some type of at-home workout at my parents house. I am trying to come up with a Thanksgiving-themed workout, so be on the lookout 😉
  • Friday- Rest day! I am getting my hair done and then my family is heading to Kennebunkport for lunch at David’s, walking around, shopping, and drinks at Hurricane Restaurant (fun fact: I used to manage the books and be a hostess there- so fun!).
  • Saturday- Heading back to Boston early Saturday morning to teach Kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA- come burn off your holiday eats!
  • Sunday- Maybe a rest day? I’ll see how I feel.

Things I am Looking Forward To

Gosh! There are so many things! I am exited to sub a few classes since I am missing both of mine on Thursday. I am excited to be home in Maine for Thanksgiving. We are doing dinner just the 4 of us and then we head to Sara and Amy’s mom’s house for dessert… a tradition for as long as I can remember! I’m excited about getting my hair highlighted and then spending the whole day with my family because we have lots of fun together 🙂

Questions for you: What was your favorite part about last weekend? Do you plan on working out on Thanksgiving? What are you looking forward to this week? Please share- I love hearing from you 🙂