A Little Night Out

Gentle Friends, this weekend Rico headed south to visit his family and I stayed home with the Who hounds.... it was quiet and uneventful.  Saturday evening some friends and I went out to dinner..... we headed for a new place on Upper Market Street in the Castro called.....

... Botellon.... which means "big bottle" in Spanish...

... the space this restaurant now occupies has been at least three other restaurants in recent years... they were all versions of Mexican eateries, none very good and all came and went with little fanfare.... however with this restaurant's soft opening and really good reviews I think it may just make it - it is very good!!!!

... they have a really extensive bar and...

... some really fun and tasty drinks...

... we started off with some crunchy calamari and I had a "Sherry, Cherry and Green Fairy" which consists of St. George absinthe, Pedro Ximenez sherry, black cherry juice, lemon.... and they had "Havey's Punches" which is made of Denizen rum, Smith and Cross rum, Banane du bresil, pineapple, orange, lime, and mint... the "Fairy" was really and I mean really good!!...almost like a strong sangria and it is served as a slushie which only makes it better!!... the punch was good but the Fairy was better!!

... the menu leans towards smaller plates and sharing which is fine and makes for a fun dinner...

 after the calamari we ordered...

... some chorizo oil cornbread.... and...

... some lamb pops...  by this time I needed another libation so I ordered a...

... "Word Play"... made up of Hanson's cucumber vodka, green chartreuse, Dolin dry vermouth, Averna Amaro, lime, basil... it was good but the "Fairy" was better!!

...and then we ordered a Potato Bomba....  the cornbreads are bite size and packed with flavor, spicy and delicious....  the lamb pops  - I had read about online -  were superbly cooked with a great char, sitting on tzatziki sauce, mint gastrique and feta, they were delicious a real nod to Greece... then we ordered a couple of their stone hearth cooked pizzas...

... the first to arrive was the "Con Carne" - tomato sauce, basil, fresh mozzarella, house Italian sausage, pepperoni, olives, parmesan... and then arrived...

.... the Margherita" - tomato sauce, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, olive oil...  both were piping hot and very good!!!  We sat around for a while feeling good and full, then decided to walk down to Sweet Inspirations......

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We thought about sitting down and having some cake but decided against that and instead took slices home...

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... I chose a slice of Princess Cake - which is a cream cake lightly soaked in Triple Sec, and layered with custard, raspberry compote, whipped cream, and dressed housemade marzipan.  After I got home I made a pot of tea and enjoyed my slice of sweetness.  It was a lovely way to wind up and uneventful day!!

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I would highly recommend both Botellon and Sweet Inspirations.  

There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar