Before watching the uber-adorable Chris Garneau’s show at the FU chapel, we stopped by Rum Bar for food and drink. When we got there, there was nobody eating there at all. But we were told all the tables were reserved. Nerds! Who knew you needed a reservation to eat here? So I had to do the old hover and stalk at the bar to see if people were leaving. Once I spotted my victims, all I had to do was wait. Then we snagged a couple of primo spots at the beautiful bar. They have a huge drink menu here, and a small food menu. As you might have guessed, the rum offerings here are ridiculous. This particular drink is a type of coquito. What’s a coquito? Why it’s a type of rum eggnog. And what does it taste like? It tastes like rice pudding, without the rice, that you drink! In other words, it was shockingly delicious. Delicious and boozy. A perfect combination. It’s like a dessert you can drink.

M’s caribbean paella with shrimp, calamari, chicken, chorizo, peppers, and onions in a jamaican curry broth. The flavoring was very mild curry, not strong at all. Perhaps it was a bit too mild. Like they were trying, but didn’t quite make it. C’mon Rum Bar! Go all the way! It was good paella, but it definitely has potential to be great! Those are some giant ass shrimp.

Speaking of giant ass seafood, I got the pan seared scallops. 3 ginormous scallops with vinaigrette salad. The scallops were delicious and filling. The salad was fine, nothing exciting. I think it would have been better if they went a bit further with the caribbean flavorings. Maybe a mango salsa? Papaya? A citrus vinaigrette? Just something a little more! All entrees are served with fried plantains, chili cornbread, and calypso squash au gratin. The plantains were fine, nothing exciting here. Some pieces were more sweet than others. I loved the little teeny chili cornbreads!  They even had pieces of whole little corn in them. The squash au gratin thing… I did not care for at all. It kind of looks like a little tiny lasagna made with thin slices of squash and phyllo dough. But it tastes weird. And by weird I mean kind of gross.

But overall, a great meal. We were both surprised! These entrees are a bit pricey, but we used a gift certificate so it ended up being dirt cheap. And for dirt cheap, this meal was was a totally tasty deal! I think they have super good deals on drink and food on wednesday nights. I’m going to have to make it out there one of these wednesday nights!

Welcome to the inaugural post in my brand new series called boozings. What is boozings? It’s simple. The folks at Philadelphia Weekly recently posted their list of Philly’s Top 15 Drinks. So I’ve decided to try them all. No, not all on one night! I have no interest in alcohol poisoning. But I will try them all, and write about it right here, once a week, as part of this new 15-post series – boozings. And as their list is in no particular order of preference, my posts won’t be either. Well, my posts will simply be in the order in which I try them.

First up was Parc, the swanky little french style bistro in Rittenhouse Square. And serendipitously enough, the chosen drink at Parc was the sidecar, one of my favorite cocktails, ever. Their version of the sidecar is the Calvados Sidecar. It is made with Calvados brandy (apple brandy, and hence the name), Cointreau (orange liqueur), lemon juice, and an apple slice, served in a half sugar rimmed martini glass.

Oh boy oh boy. This drink is boozy. As in all I taste is booze. Whoo! I taste no juice at all, just lots and lots of alcohol. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I can see how if I had two of these, it would knock me on my boozed out ass. It’s a bit too strong for me, as far as flavor goes. Without a hint of anything other than straight up liquor, I found it a bit hard to truly enjoy. I mean I liked it, and I felt great while I drank it, but it was a bit rough for me. And the apple, if you choose to eat it, is just as boozy. While it was an enjoyable drink, I think I still prefer my sidecars from the Sidecar. Parc is a bit of an older crowd, perhaps a bit on the more sophisticated side. A button-down shirt and slacks kind of place, which isn’t particularly my scene, not that I have one, but I’m more of a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl.

Ok, 1 down, only 14 more to go!

It’s obvious that I like to go out to eat. But it never fails that just because I have a food blog, everyone wants me to pick the place. Why? I, for one, do not like to force my will upon others. Plus, I can be indecisive. So I love it when others pick. But hey, I’m proud to say I picked Oyster House. And then after I picked it, it turned out that it’s the favorite or second favorite restaurant of two of my friends. Why did they not tell me this before? So Oyster House used to be Samson Street Oyster House, before it closed, got a facelift, and renamed itself. I’m not sure what it looked like before, but it sure is sparkly now. There’s a big bar and oyster bar area in the front, along with high tops. The back half is for tables. It’s cool and casual, but not like fish market casual or anything.

They do have a full bar, and we did partake. We got some of the famed oyster house punch, but of the non-summer variety… more on that in an upcoming post. They have buck a shuck here, where one oyster is featured as the day’s $1 oyster. This happens weekday nights during happy hour and late on saturday nights. How could I pass this up?

We went on thanksgiving weekend, so it was a strange time to go. Because of the lack of people eating out during this time, they actually ended up only having 3 varieties of oysters, period. So the ones above were the buck a shuck, some kind of oyster from jersey. I’m not like a raw oyster connoisseur, but I liked these just fine. Listen, you’re talking to a girl who gorged in 10 cent oysters during grad school… oh Alligator Grill of Austin, how I miss you! Ok, back to the oysters… In addition to the buck a shuck, there was another variety from canada and one other one from somewhere else. These were all east coast oysters.

See the ones in the back whose shells are more scallop shell shaped? Those are the canadian ones. While R preferred these more expensive canadian ones, T did not like them at all. He said they tasted metallic.

So what does one put on raw oysters? Well, it’s up to you. You are provided with lemon, horseradish, cocktail sauce, vinaigrette, and hot sauce. And you can use none, one, more, or any combination of the above. I am not into horseradish, so I first squirted lemon juice on all my oysters. Then I experimented with different combinations of everything. In the end, I decided that cocktail sauce, with a tiny shot of hot sauce was the way to go. The vinaigrette with a tiny shot of hot sauce was the runner-up. Any more than a tiny dash of hot sauce is too much for me. I learned this the hard way.

While everyone filled up on raw bivalves alone, I had to try the clam chowder. While it was a good chowder with good flavor, big chunks of fresh clams, and well-cooked potatoes, this chowder is not thick. It’s cotton-pickin watery! And watery chowder is so strange to me. While it tasted great, it just wasn’t chowdery enough for my liking. I like me a thick and hearty chowder that would break plastic spoons!

The service was good. Our server was a good sport and she kept up with all our punches. The buck a shuck is only available at the bar or any area with a stool, so if you sit at a table, it does not apply. I definitely recommend taking advantage of this deal!

Oh, and afterwards, we went to RAW. Did you know they have lounge in the back that plays music? I had no idea! Well, it totally wasn’t my scene at all, but they do have these incredibly giant sumo decorations on the wall and show some strange sumo videos.  But if you’re into really expensive bottle service with really terrible music, then this is the lounge for you!