Road trip to Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. Recommendations? - Page 3

Just got in, I've a bit of unpacking to do still, so I'll keep this abridged for now and may elaborate later on. Boston: Beautiful city. Stayed at the Colonnade in what is usually a $400 room, but was heavily discounted for some reason. Thoroughly enjoyed Cigar Masters and Bukowksi's, regrettably missed out on the Oak Room. Hit the MFA and Gardner. Had a fantastic Eggs Benny and Bloody Mary at Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge. Walked around the Harvard campus a bit, wanting to impregnate most every woman I saw and wishing child support worked in reverse. Philly: In the epic battling of Pat's vs. Geno's, Pat's won me over on both quality and quantity. Though, I must note I wanted Geno's to win if only for the audacity of the place. I quickly discovered Philly reeks of piss, almost ubiquitously. I would never live there, but I appreciate all there is to do and wouldn't mind visiting on a fairly regular basis. Loved both Monk's Cafe (reopened by the time I got there) and Eulogy. Nodding Head was cool. Wandered into Triumph after Eulogy, nice enough place, but terrible beer. Also swung by Eulogy's sister establishment Beneluxx for flights of cheese, chocolate, and beer. Biggest disappoint of the trip was missing out on Franklin Mortgage and Investment. I tried twice, and they were closed both nights I was in town. After a pricey cab ride over there only to be met by an empty venue, I hung my head in shame and went over to Tria instead where I had an alright time. I also made an attempt at Southwark, but it too was closed. Cocktail bliss in Philly escaped me this trip, it seems. I will return, if only for that. Finally, Morimoto's was rad, and yes, I most certainly suffered the most expensive bill for dinner I had ever received up until that point. It was the $120 omakase, flight of drinks, and assorted small plates that did me in. DC: With the aforementioned still in mind, Minibar beat out Morimoto's on that same honor just a few days later. Great dining experience, and about as close to El Bulli as I will be getting for awhile. After Minibar, we hit District Chophouse for some drinks. Decent beer, went with a flight of 6, but our bartender kept hitting me off with full sized tastings of all their other beers, and then a number noteworthy Scotches I had never tried -- for no additional charge. She let me drink an obscene amount of alcohol for free. With a salad, my bill was ~$12, I tipped about the same. Only had time for the National Gallery of Art earlier in the day, glad to have caught a few key pieces of interest. I really need to make it back and spend more time at the other museums. Ended up staying at Hotel Helix. It was, uhh... something. Hyper themed, while teetering on tacky, and I'm not even certain if it's in a self-aware/tongue-in-cheek sort of way.

In a wonderfully drunken state, I went on at great length to my girlfriend about how great I thought the place was and deemed it necessary to bring the concept back to Columbus with me. Whether that involved Monk's opening their own location here, or convincing a bank to give me a loan in order to open my own Belgian tavern, I didn't care either way. I settled on stealing a menu.

On that same thievery note, I also stole a Yuengling glass from some dive we hit on the way back to the hotel. I was so impressed with how cheaply awesome Yuengling was (my first time ever tasting), I felt compelled to bring that little trophy back with me as well.

Apparently I'm a bit of a klepto after a few drinks when I'm on vacation.