Pho Sure

Well, the big birthday and has come and gone… including my b-day party this past Saturday, when I threw myself a “forget I’m 40” bash.

I’ve had a crazy-busy week, dining, wining (and whining) my way through it all. I took off Wednesday through Friday to have a little “me time” and to get things done for my party. On my actual birthday, I treated myself to Chipotle Grill for lunch and then got a pedicure at the Dedham Day Spa. The burrito was amazing as usual… especially since I’ve been doing Weight Watchers… and the day spa was ‘okay’. It’s new and this was my first visit. The pedicure was $30 and wasn’t that great. I pay less and get a much better pedi at Classy Nails in West Roxbury. If you haven’t been there yet, this place is my personal favorite (out of about five or six nail salons in all).

The birthday celebration started off Wednesday night — when I went out with two of my best friends to Pho Republique in the South End. We picked Pho because the atmosphere is fun, the decor is cool and the drinks are great.

We met up around 7:30 and started at the bar (of course). Even though I was vying for sharing the Scorpion Bowl (mango, pineapple, and passion fruit juice with Malibu, Meyers and light rum – $18), we decided to start the night off more conservatively. I had the Cherry Blossom Mojito ($8) — a twist on the traditional, with rum, club soda and cherry blossom liqueur. Delicious! “S” got the Sake Martini ($9.50) — premium Kaori saki with a twist and “M” got a Red “something” Martini (can’t remember what it was called), which was made with pomegranate, cranberry juice and vodka with a sugar rim. All three of the drinks were great. We each had a few… 🙂

For dinner, we decided just to share some apps. We got the Chicken and Ginger Potstickers ($8.95), the Tofu, Edamame & Bok Choy Gyoza Dumplings ($8.30) and the Crispy Sashimi Tuna Springrolls ($12.50). Everything was fresh, flavorful and delicious. The potstickers were particularly good and the springrolls were HUGE, with very large chunks of amazing tuna inside. The portions were big enough to tide us over… but after all the drinking we did, I was feeling a bit hungry again by the time I got home that night.

Afterwards, since it was only 10:30, we decided to walk down to Banq (literally, less than a block away) for a few more drinks. The place was empty, which made it easy to score seats right at the bar. I opted to stick with the mojito theme and had two Watermelon Mojitos. I’m not even sure what “S” and “M” got and I have no idea what the drinks cost — since the girls picked up the tab and because Banq doesn’t post their cocktail menu online. All I know is that the drinks were good and we finally called it a night around 12:30. “M” and I grabbed a cab back to West Roxbury and I strolled through the door around 1am to find the Husband asleep on the couch.

A very fun start to my birthday week!