Stoddard’s Fine Food & Ale – Boston, MA
Stoddard’s Fine Food & Ale / 48 Temple Place / Boston, MA 02111 / 1-617-426-0048
Stoddard’s Fine Food & Ale is much more than a gastropub, it is an experience.
The 1800’s, speakeasy prohibition decor and ambiance is absolutely stunning! The design exposes it’s bare brick and old structure. Some of the decor highlights include hanging corsets which is a homage to it’s original use as a shop for lady’s intimate apparel, the lamp posts, and huge antique bar with five cask conditioned ales and a varied assortment of draughts and bottles.
I loved the dark wood and brass decorations. I truly felt transported to the late 1800’s. The thematic elements go above and beyond. There is even a shoeshine stand!
Stoddard’s features craft beer and classic cocktails, paired with a menu of early American Fare.
They have an amazing beer selection on tap and a great drink list with a nice mix of classics and moderns and, as always, if you can’t decide on what to drink you can always have the bartender make you something!
One of the comments my dining companions commented on were the shiny silver beer taps all evenly spaced out and mahogany bar mantles.
They also mentioned that the draft beer list is outstanding. Stoddard’s advertises 20+ fine beers, ales & lagers on tap.
One dining companion had the Oskar Blues G’night on cask. Here is Stoddard’s description: “Velvet M-80” is a hefty, dry hopped double-red ale with a nose full of aroma, a sticky mouth feel, a malty middle and unctuous hop flavors.”
Another dining companion enjoyed the Wormtown Be Hoppy, Be Hoppy I.P.A, which is described as: “Reddish-gold hazy unfiltered brew and pungent aroma of citrus, floral spice, and grapefruit; Decidedly bitter palate with a medium light body and flavors of hoppy grapefruit give way to a dry finish.”
For an appetizer we chose the Aged Gouda & Cask Ale Fondue served with an English style cheese fondue made with local cask-conditioned ale served with house made pretzels and crudité.
This was insanely delicious. The best cheese fondue I had ever had. The melted gouda complimented the pretzel’s perfectly. We all agreed that this is a MUST each time we visit Stoddard’s! 😉
My partner, Jennifer, ordered the Chicken Pot Pie as her entree.
The chicken pot pie, made with root vegetables and pate brisee, was out of this world delicious. It tasted as good as it looked! The best part, the crust, was unique and not like the usual puff pastry crusts one is use to when ordering chicken pot pie. The only complaint my partner had was that she wished there was more of it! Yum!
April, one of my dining companions, had the Ale Battered Crusted Cod with house made tater tots, remoulade, lemon & malt vinegar. The fish was cooked to perfection and the tater tots were HUGE.
Pepper, another dining companion, ordered the Game Bird Ragu made of duck, quail and pheasant over Cavatelli pasta and fried quail egg.
The pasta was delicious with a nice tangy sweet tomato sauce. Another thing that makes Stoddard’s food a step above is the fact that their noodles are house made.
I wanted to sample something simple that I figure many people would try, so I ordered the burger with fries.
The burger was fantastic! It was cooked well done (how I like it), crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside. It was seasoned with just enough spice and huge. I can taste it now! 🙂 The fries were served with a garlic mayonnaise and were very crispy.
For dessert we were served a chocolate mousse with candied nuts and bacon bits and a Chantilly Creme that was delicious!
We also sampled their Cheesecake Kumquat Marmalade with Graham Cracker Crust which was also very good.
- Menu: Visit www.stoddardsfoodandale.com or http://boston.menupages.com/restaurants/stoddards-fine-food-ale/
- Hours: Open Tuesday–Saturday, 5 pm–2 am; Sunday, 10:30 am–2 am | AE, DC, DI, MC, VI | Full bar.
- Parking: Validated parking at Lafayette Garage, $2 weeknights; $10 weekends. Stoddard’s will send a coupon for parking nearby – $8 instead of the $20 evening rate. Make sure you print out coupon and present it to parking attendant.
Gay & Lesbian Factor: Stoddard’s attracts a very diverse crowd. It is definitely a great place to mingle and people watch. I have heard that it is extremely popular with the after work crowd between 5-7pm. I found the atmosphere to be extremely gay friendly and witnessed several same sex couple being openly affectionate, this is Boston afterall! 😉 The atmosphere is eclectic, lively and just plain fun! It is less than a 5 minute walk to many of Boston’s popular gay & lesbian nightclubs so it would make the perfect start to a fun evening out. Stoddard’s Fine Food & Ales was extremely welcoming to Gay Travel Information when we approached them with the idea of spotlighting them on our web site and William, one of Stoddard’s coordinators, was a delight. With that said I am hereby OUTING Stoddard’s Fine Food & Ale as LGBT friendly and worthy of our business.
Stoddard’s was a fantastic experience from beginning to end. We all loved the decor, drinks, food and service. It was one of those places where you wanted to linger at the table and soak in the lively atmosphere. We are already planning our return!
Desiree Sousa
Owner
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