Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Linwood Bar and Grill in Boston, MA

For the sake of argument, let's say that you might be at Fenway Park to see the Boston Red Sox. Or, you may be checking out (Boston) Beer Works. These are both especially convenient given their close proximity to the MBTA's Green Line. And, why wouldn't you? These are both fun options. But, I challenge you to walk a bit further away from Commonwealth and Brookline. Head over to Boylston avenue and down a few blocks on Kilmarnock street. What is it about barbecue and Boston?! RedBones BBQ in Somerville and now here I present to you The Linwood Grill to satisfy your southern delicacy (and, oh yeah, beer too!) cravings. Though, where the food menu at RedBones was either of equal, or perhaps greater, caliber as the beer menu, most would agree that The Linwood Grill's beer menu outdistances itself from the food menu. The location is split into two main areas of operation, the main bar/restaurant and the separate back bar. The latter opens only after 4pm or 5pm, I don't recall. To illustrate the quality selection of beer, take for starters the draft list which on this particular Monday afternoon included a fine representation of local, national, and worldly beers. The available bottles at this bar were also quite appealing. But, if I thought that the main bar's selection of beer was good, or even great, I was soon to learn that once the doors to the back bar open, the beer selection goes into the stratosphere. LG's manager, Matt, was kind of enough to chat with me for a while about the operations of his place and apologized that I would unfortunately not be around later in the evening to enjoy the back bar's atmosphere. It seems like such a great place to hang out and dive into so many good beers. In a way, the selection reminded me of my recent visit to the Brick Store Pub in Decatur, GA. Alicia was working the bar during our visit to LG and provided us with such a pleasant experience....offering up samples upon request and just being friendly, but not in an aggressive way. So, what did we sample you may ask! Well, fortunately, we did have enough time to stay for a few beers and a sandwich before our parking regulation on the street expired. The beers we drank included: Lagunitas, Offshore, Wachusett, and Stoudt's. The newcomer to this bunch for me was the Offshore IPA from Martha's Vineyard. Apparently, this is only beginning to become more easily accessible in the Boston metropolitan area. It seems, according to Matt, that the owner's new direction is striving to get their product distributed more, uh, offshore :) Their IPA interpretation was certainly respectable and I am looking forward to my next trip to Boston and hoping to find more Offshore products available around town. For food, we had great pulled pork and chicken sandwiches. Very good pub grub indeed. I can only imagine that the barbecue dinners are even better still. With our chosen beers and this delectable food, we were quite satisfied and only too disappointed to leave. But, with rush hour traffic bearing down upon us and needing to get across town (and, oh yeah, we needed to get the car out of the parking spot where we left it) we reluctantly had no choice. But, as you can see in my words, The Linwood Grill will be on my short list of places to revisit when again in Boston......and we will make sure that it is at night when the back bar is open, and with no car to drive! p.s. speaking of parking, with LG being located in a highly residential neighborhood, do not be surprised if you cannot find on-street parking. There are, however, some private parking lots where, for a fee, you can leave your car. I believe, but won't swear, that there is also some limited customer parking behind their establishment.

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