Jess was working in Newburyport so we opted to stay local but have her be a "bus wanker" as they say on the Britcom "The Inbetweeners" and take the MVRTA to us, instead of us coming to her.
She's only here for two more weeks, and I think on Monday that's her last day in Newburyport at that job, as they hired a full time person to start for the fall, so our shenanigans can officially go far afield starting next week.
So staying local meant we could sit in our cups and linger over lagers and ales at the Barking Dog Bar and Grill, sister restaurant to our Amesbury foodrinkery of choice, the Ale House.
We arrived early, greeted by the lovely bartender Danielle who was attentive and kind even when the bar started hopping around 1pm. I started with the Notch Session, Dave started with his best friend, Chimay. I hadn't had the Notch before, it was bubbly and hoppy. Very good. And... Chimay is Chimay. Belgian, Traditional, Trappist, History in a glass.
Dave's happy and I'm happy and there is ESPN Not Top 10 on the tube and the gentlemen next to us are lovely as we laughed at all the baseball highlights and mishaps and insulted Rex Ryan at his press conference, and a grand old time is had.
Buffalo Fingers were perfectly seasoned, and I ended up eating them all myself since Dave was wallowing in the menu. He likes appetizers, and wasn't sure if it was mussels or quesadilla or what.
Danielle let him order of the night/dinner menu which had more choices and he found his joy in some pan seared tuna. Or as he put it, "Show it the pan, that's all you need to do. Just show the tuna the pan and that's as hot as it needs to be." Way undercooked for my choice, as I've seen too many of those "Bizarre ER" shows where people go to exotic locations, go swimming, and get some worm that swims into their bodily openings from the sea and the worm gets in their body, or they eat sushi at a street food market in Malaysia, and get worms in their bodies .... the ocean is full of worms, you know.
But hey - if you like sushi, don't let me stop you! I prefer my fishies grilled, fried, broiled, with some garlic butter wine reduction sauces or whatever.
Dave's tuna indeed came to the table after a gentle baptism by warmth, and he was in his heaven.
Dave wanted a "flight" or a "paddle" as he calls it. Four little beers on what looks like a school-room punishment device for very small fannies.
Danielle had a little fun with disciplining Dave, as seen here!
He had Danielle do most of the choosing, so she served up Wachusett Summer, Long Hammer IPA, Notch Session and Sixpoint Belgian IPA. Sixpoint was delicious, Dave hates Summer Beers so he pretty much ordered the summer for me. He loved the Notch Session, like I did at the start.
He went with a half and half made with Guinness and Smithwicks (see below), and they mixed very well together but they do not do what Bass and Guinness do together which is make that distinctive half and half black and tan look as you can see below.
But there was no complaint because it tastes great.
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I had a Widmer Hefeweizen with my veggie quesadilla (with grilled chicken added, because I like veggie things and all, but who can resist grilled chicken on their quesadilla, really?) which was served in a giant, tall glass.
The bar was playing Sirius/XM radio, and after a little while Dave asked me "Who told them to play our soundtrack?" It was all Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison and we had a wonderful time sitting there whistling "Rosalita" and enjoying the beers.
Dave asked the bartender to show us his tattoos (he always likes a great story as to why people pick the ink they pick). St. Michael Squashing the Hell out of Satan is a pretty awesome kick ass tattoo.
I asked Dave if he wanted a tattoo and he said no, but he still wants that mohawk we talked about a couple weeks back at The Tap.
Once the boys go back to school we'll take care of that.
Jess missed her bus (stupid bus wanker!) and the next one wasn't for an hour, so I opted that we would wrap it up and come get her. We cranked up songs from Death Cab for Cutie, and Dave loved "Passenger Seat" and "What Sarah Said," so I told him I'd find him some sheet music so he could learn to play them on his piano.
All told, a great day of shenanigans at the Barking Dog. Loved the bar, the food and the staff. Will be returning for more shenanigans at a later date.
I want that tuna!!
ReplyDeleteoh so you are like dave! see, i need mine seared/cooked a weeeeeee bit more than he likes it. he's always generous and offers to share but that's still swimming.
ReplyDeletethanks for reading the shenanigans amy!