Summer Preview

As we wrote about a few weeks ago, the "Decks" that line Bow and Ceres streets are now open. And since we, like most people, are starving for summer, this weekend and yesterday in particular have been absolutely fantastic (I mean, 90 degrees in April? Awesome.)

I went camping this weekend, but we managed to hit Poco's at least before I left. The most economical way to... ahem... "enjoy summer" there is through pitchers of their delicious (3 Tugboats) Sangria. One pitcher gave both of us two-and-a-half glasses.

Sangria stems from the root word for "blood". Heather likes blood. (H: God, J-- way to make me sound SUPER creepy while glossing over what you REALLY did this weekend. That's fair. . . )

We also ate. Poco's has the best balance of price, experience, and food when it comes to eating Mexican.(H:Unless you want fast food, in which we encourage going to Dos Amigos.) We'll be writing an awful lot about Poco's (it's one of our favorite places) so we'll pause on the food review for now.

A note about Ceres Street. We never call it Ceres Street. Instead, the entrance to the deck walkways was dubbed "Judgement Hill" by our third partner in crime, Kristi. It's called that because if you are waiting in line for (or sitting in) Poco's deck, you can see everyone who is coming down to enjoy the decks. And judge them. (J: Well, not me, I don't judge people. And if you believe that, I also have a bridge to sell you.)

The hill isn't judging you, we are.

Anyway, Tuesday's ridiculous temps saw the three of us rushing to get out of work and get down to Old Ferry Landing for their world* famous "Jimmy Juice", a drink with 3 kinds of rum that all other restaurants in Portsmouth have tried to replicate and give their own name to, but the original is still the best.

If you cheers three Jimmy Juices together, Captain Morgan will appear. Like Captain Planet or Shazzan.

We didn't eat there this time, but Old Ferry Landing has the best fried seafood of all of the deck restaurants.

After downing the Jimmy Juice, we made our way across the now abandoned deck of what was the Stockpot. We've heard that a new restaurant will be there soon, but it still makes us sad, since the Stockpot's food was so good and perfect when you just wanted something simple or lunchable.

But the now barren deck leads you to the end of the deck row, at Harpoon Willy's. I had never been there before, and was not disappointed (J: Why? Because you can still smoke there!). The drinks were good, and the food (J and K: Fried haddock sandwich. H: Cheeseburger sliders.) was reasonable and hit the spot (1 Tugboat). But the selling point was that it has more of a "local" feel than the other places. If you need to escape the swarming tourists-- even if you are one--, go to Harpoon Willy's.

As an added bonus, it's well protected from wind and rain in an emergency.

Sadly, the weather shifted overnight and robbed us of our summer preview. But have no fear, it will be here soon, and so will more deck-action.

*Well, our world anyway.