Publick House, Washington Square

I've been meaning to try the Publick House ever since I moved into the neighborhood. Luckily, my childhood pal, Melody, just moved back to Boston, so she stopped by to see my apartment before heading down the street for a celebratory Welcome Home dinner - and the Publick House was the first place we came to.

The restaurant has great decor - it's like the common room in a small medieval castle. Before I even ate anything, I could see why this place is so popular. It's a really relaxed and cool place to hang out, and we hung out for quite a while without being hassled (but our waitress was easy to catch when we needed something).


I've probably mentioned it before, but I'm not a beer drinker. So it's kind of odd that I ended up at a place with about a million Belgian beers. I was pleased to find that the two cider options they offer were not the regular, but were Original Sin (from Vermont) and Cidre Normandie (from, obviously, France). The menu claimed that the Cidre Normandie was the "best in the world," so it was my obvious choice. After my first sip, I believe my words were "This is the Champagne of ciders." It was pricy, though (I think it cost as much as my meal).


And my meal, wow was it good. I once again only pretended to be healthy by negating my veggie burger with an order of fries.

Now, take a good look at that picture. Click through to enlarge, if you must. What do you see? The burger is GREEN! Know why? Because there are actual VEGETABLES in this veggie burger! I know, it's a novel idea. It was flavorful, fantastic, moist, and... damn, I want another one right now.

I hate veggie burgers that pretend to taste like meat because, as a meat eater, I'd rather just have a real burger (I understand, though, that some vegetarians would want a meat-like burger now and then). This burger had visible pieces of pea and carrot, amongst other vegetables, and it actually tasted fresh.

The fries were delicious Belgian-style, a little thicker with a nice crunch on the outside. They also serve these as an appetizer or as bar food with different dipping sauces, again a traditional move.

The menu is not huge (certainly not as large as the beer menu), but there is a good amount of variety. Lots of traditional pub foods have a slight spin to them, upping their quality. I can't wait to go back and try some more!


Mel, this picture's just for you to laugh at (so comment, damn it!).