Date Night in Harvard Square

Andrew and I had a wedding vendor meeting in Cambridge last night, so we decided to make the best of it (after a long work week) and turn it into a date night!

I've always wanted to try Upstairs on the Square so I was pleased to see that it was on the same street as our meeting location with the vendor.

I was pleased to see that the decor lived up to the hype when we walked into the Monday Club Bar on the first floor (note the distinctive chandeliers). What you can't see is the "bad girl" plaid paint job on the walls and the zebra print on the chairs:

This was my favorite chandelier - it looked a flock of light bulb birds flying away from the ceiling:

The waitress caught me taking pictures and graciously offered to take one of me and Andrew. We were seated right next to the fireplace - thankfully, it was turned off at that point. They had turned it on when they seated us and it became uncomfortable in a matter of minutes. I have to say that the service there is excellent and someone came over immediately and shut off the fireplace, rather than have us move to a new table:


I like the small decorative touches that came with the meal, including the decorated lime that accompanied my G&T. I have to mention that their bread basket and dipping sauce were also excellent - it wasn't anything special, just fresh white bread with a chewy crust and a quality olive oil with herbs - but it tasted great!

Instead of going with entrees, Andrew and I decided that the appetizers looked more interesting and decided to choose two each. The first set of dishes that came out were the Brûléed Boucheron (top) with Shaved Butternut, Macintosh, & Cranberry Walnut Kashi and the Oven Roasted Lamb Meatballs en Casserole (bottom) with Slow Cooked Orange Scented Tomato, Sumac & Farm Egg :

We both loved the Brûléed Boucheron, especially the boucheron cheese itself - yummy! Andrew liked the meatballs while I wasn't the biggest fan - maybe because I don't eat lamb often?

There was a long lag before our second set of dishes arrived, and in that time, Andrew and I realized - surprisingly - that we were actually pretty full! Nonetheless, we were committed to try the second set of appetizers -

Roasted Pumpkin Pizetta with Smoky Bacon (left) and Autumn Squash Mezzaluna with Bacon & Pepita Brittle, Sage Brown Butter (right):

The pizetta was amazing - there were crunchy and soft triangles of fried dough covered with pumpkin, creamy chunks of cheese and bits of bacon. The Mezzaluna were just meh - and honestly, as one of our more expensive options, they only gave three? I would definitely save your money for something else.

Next, we had a very pleasant meeting with the vendor, and I'm happy to say that you will be experiencing their work first hand at the ceremony next year!

Finally, since we were in Harvard Square, we had to drop by BerryLine for some froyo:

We both opted for original flavored yogurt, skipping the pumpkin pie and apple cinnamon flavors. As blueberries are only a seasonal topping for them (boo!), Andrew went for chocolate chips to accompany his strawberries and almonds and I went with fresh kiwi.

Full and freezing (as we were dumb enough to be eating frozen yogurt outside on one of the coldest nights we've experienced this fall), we headed back to the car happy with our night out. On the walk to the car, Andrew pointed out that it was funny that we were ready to call it a night at 9:30 p.m. while we were clearly passing people that were about to start their nights. This didn't bother me, as I was content with all that we managed to cram into three hours!