Sweet as Tupelo.... in Somerville

Oh, Hello Douglas. Oh, Hello Christine.

Another Friday night, a beautiful night for a walk. Let's walk over to Inman Square and see what is going on. Oh! Look a sandwich board on the sidewalk, with the word "PORK" on it in giant letters. Outside of a restaurant. Hmmm. They had me at pork so let's go in.

We were pretty much the only people at Tupelo at this hour. 6pm seems early for dinner in Somerville based on some of the restaurant reviews I've been peeking at.  There were two other people at the bar, and we thought for a minute that we were making a bad choice.

See, up where we live, between 6 and 7pm you can't get a seat in most of the places we like to eat (and I am not talking Olive Garden or Pizzaria Uno). I guess in the rural communities like where we folk be livin, people eat early, go to bed early, and get up early. But them there city folk... well! 6pm is when people are just starting to think about getting ready to go out to eat.

Much to our benefit! Tupelo opens at 5pm. We were in the door just before 6pm.

Our waiter, Brian, puts us in the sunny front window seat where we can watch the ever comedic ballet of cars, bikes and pedestrians along the street. He was sweet and kind, and very funny.

And we had beer.

Now, many of you know that part of the "demise" of this blog is because my A1C was up over 7 this time last year. I changed my diet, dropped beer out of my life (a fate worse than death some may say). I lost 40 pounds. My A1C got down to normal levels. I'm still not drinking beer or eating pasta... but on this particular night finding ourselves in a particular bar without a full liquor license (just beer and wine, kids) we broke the treaty and declared that John Barleycorn must die.

Appetizers were ordered.

Doug got the fried oysters, which were incredibly well made. Usually fried oysters come out tasting like the little erasers at the end of your pencil in middle school (uh, not that I've eaten one but I imagine that would be analogous). I ordered the wings, which weren't buffaloed but were something elsed. They stated they were triple fried and crispy. I found they weren't crispy enough to my liking but they were still pretty good... probably because of whatever combo of spice coating they had going on.

First round of beers brought us the Dogfish Head Noble Rot. Sweet, fruity, almost champagne-like, it did a happy dance on the tongue. Perfect beside the spicy wings. I was incredibly happy. It felt like cider without being cider. Wine without being wine. Beer without being beer. Great stuff. Delightful.

For dinner, Doug ordered the gumbo, which came in a giant boat sized bowl (nice) and I got the maple bourbon braised pork loin over beans and rice with seasonal greens which were maybe dandelion greens? Not sure, I didn't ask Brian.

They were bitter but delicious in their dressing, and when mixed up against the beans and sauce, it was a beautiful change of pace from your basic baby spinach or mesclun or any other kind of green.

I was still working on my Noble Rot and Doug moved on to the Newburyport Brewing Company Greenhead IPA. Kind of fun to go to Somerville and drink the local beer, but because we kind of stopped drinking beer right around the time these guys launched, we hadn't had it. Sadly. It was a classic American IPA. Crisp, bitey, cold and refreshing.

When I taste a beer like this, I wonder why on EARTH anyone would EVER drink a Bud Light ever. It boggles my mind. Why would you want to drink something weak, tasteless, horrible, watery... when you can have something that feels light and refreshing and happy, without sucking.

Good grief, America.

Having not had any beer for nigh onto a year, I have to say that I'm baffled by what people choose to drink, choose to put into their mouths. Is it just the marketing machine? Is it just the giant corporation and the billions of advertisements? No one can seriously like drinking bulk manufactured piss swill, right? Someone help me understand this. I kind of feel like I should do some sort of blind taste test for myself. Line up all the good beers that I claim I like in little 4 ounce flights, and slip a couple "populars" in there like Bud Light, Budweiser, Corona... and just see if I can taste the difference. I'm not telling you, dear reader, to do this. I'm just sayin'....

Beer. Tasty and beautiful. 

All told, we had a great time. Because no one was there, we got great attention from Brian, without him being overbearing. He was fun to talk to, and we had some good laughs. I read a lot of the yelp reviews that talked about how there is "so much hype" about this place. A lot of criticism was that the food wasn't "all that southern" as it says it is. People were angry and disappointed that it didn't live up to a "southern" flavor.

Well, to be honest, it's Somerville. Inspired by the south maybe, but not truly southern, and that's alright. As for our overall experience, it's good to be the country mouse in the city, showing up when no one else is there. When you're the only seated table, anywhere, having the kind of wait staff experience we had and the great food speaks for itself.

A place only has to live up to except whether or not you leave happy. And we did. Very special thanks to the chef and staff. Lovely place. Will return.