City Brews

For years Matt and I have been trying to do a date night in the city but it never seems to work out. Matt's summer break will be ending in a few weeks, so we made a spur of the moment decision to make it happen last night.

We had been planning to check out Do or Dine - the restaurant owned by our favorite new Next Food Network Star - but traffic was crazy and it just wasn't meant to happen. I work near Hell's Kitchen, so we switched plans and headed to Restaurant Row. After a 30 minute walk in the 95 degree heat we were sweaty and parched, so we made our first stop The House of Brews for a pint.

House of Brews has a great craft beer selection. I started off with the Green Flash West Coast IPA, which was citrusy, hoppy and really refreshing. While we sipped our drinks, we split an order of the Belgian Fries with chipotle sauce - so good! Even the bartender gave into trying one of them. :) We didn't want to fill up on fried potatoes, so after a few each we grudgingly abandoned the plate.

The bartender at House of Brews was great and chatted us up about beers, letting us know they had a limited supply of the Stone Ruination 10th Anniversary IPA in the cooler, which we hadn't tried yet. He said it was amazing, so we went for it. He wasn't kidding. This beer is awesome. It's a 10.8% ABV and has twice the amount of hops as the usual Stone Ruination IPA. House of Brews got one of the ten cases delivered to New York and they only have a few bottles left, so if you want to try it, go fast! 

After drinks we headed down 9th Ave and stopped into Hummus Kitchen for dinner. It was so muggy and hot in the city that all I wanted was a cold drink and some cold eats. 

A lemon mint slushy and hummus platter did the trick!

I also had half a falafel wrap with cucumbers and tomatoes on a homemade pita.

As we were finishing dinner, my friend Abby showed up to meet us for a night cap. She's been wanting us to try Brickyard Gastropub, which happened to be right across the street, so off we went!

Brickyard also has a good selection of brews. I ordered the Founder's IPA, which is always a good pick. 

Great night! But this morning I woke up tired. I'm declaring the next two weekends drink-free so I can rest up and get my healthy kick back on. It's about time, I think. ;-)