It was T’s birthday on Thursday and we had to escape. We’d been thinking about going to Spring Mill, but fine provencal french cuisine didn’t scream birthday shenanigans. So I dragged everyone to McNally’s instead. Yes, I can admit it now. I’m addicted to McNally’s and the Good Dog. I will use any excuse to go to either place. Appendicitis? Let’s go get a burger! Goldfish die? Off to McNally’s!

There were six of us and there was a big to-do about carding us. For whatever reason, they only carded four of us. I think both T and J were offended they didn’t get carded. Oh, so you can’t even eat there if you’re not 21. Even if you’re not drinking, you have to be of age. Apparently, they’ve been burned in the past. They even have one of those machines they swipe the ID through. They’re serious.

J got the clam chowder, so did R, and she also got a grilled cheese. Who goes to McNally’s and gets a grilled cheese? Too bad they didn’t have lox and bagels, or she would have gotten that.

J got the George Bernard Shaw, or the GBS. Three different cheeses, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, with special sauce. No meat? J didn’t get the full McNally’s experience.

T and T had never been there before, so they both had to go with the Schmitter. Ahh… the Schmitter! I went with the Tobias again. Why? Because the Schmitter is even better with pepperoni. One thing to note, these sandwiches are extremely messy. With every bite, you need an entire napkin to sop up the juices. That’s my kinda sandwich!

Service that day was very matter of fact. When I was here the other night, our waitress was sweet and nice. But during my lunch visits, we’ve had the same waitress, and she’s just matter of fact. She does a fine job and kept us well fed.

After stuffing our faces, we had to walk off our Schmitters and took a stroll down Chestnut Hill’s main strip. We were looking for an ice cream place, but didn’t know if there was one. We ended up at the French Bakery, which is a hole-in-the wall little bakery. It was a little depressing, but the pastries did look good. R got a loaf of banana chocolate bread to go. We asked them if there was a place to get ice cream in Chestnut Hill, and they couldn’t really help us. We kept walking and finally ended up at Roller’s, which did have ice cream! I couldn’t possibly eat anymore, but the birthday boy and R both got scoops of cookies n cream. Then we had to go back to work. :-(

Put a dozen designers inside on an 80-something degree day and what do you get? DQ run! Blizzards and shakes are something I don’t mind juggling!

Whenever we go out to lunch at work, we end up at places like the Great American Pub (bad), the Boathouse (worse), or Chiangmai (good). I’ve been wanting to go to Blackfish for awhile, and I finally got a chance to go. I had a little lunch date with my old teammates. Yeah, that’s right, I have old teammates now. Whoo hoo! But I digress…

It’s an adorable little BYOB tucked between the Pub and the Boathouse. You’d never know that something like this would be on Conshy’s main strip. The place is really bright and clean and simple. You can’t smoke there. There’s no frat boys. There’s al fresco dining.
The lunch menu is sparse, and surprisingly, with only one seafood choice. I’d been hearing about their burgers, so I had to get one. In fact, we all got the burger. Then everybody asked why we ate burgers at a seafood restaurant. They didn’t see the menu! I also heard that their pot pie and the shepherd’s pie were also quite awesome. That’s for next time.

Even the drinks came in big wine glasses. Fancy schmancy. Their tables were very very shiny and black. R couldn’t stop pointing that out.

The burger? Mine was loaded with extremely thick bacon and caramelized onions. Oh, how I love caramelized onions. This burger was ginormous, and delicious. It came between a brioche bun. All in all, this burger almost rivals the burgers at Good Dog. But I said almost. I’m still devoted to the Good Dog burger, but this comes a close second. The fries were also pretty damn good. I asked for my burger to be well done (I always do, sorry) and it defintely was well done. In fact, it was a little charred, but that’s ok, I like things charred.

Service was good. We got there pretty early and were the only ones there for a bit. But eventually, the place filled up with business-type folk wearing khakis and polos. It’s a nice and peaceful respite from the keg parties going on next door.