Market Squared

Nobody Likes a Tease

This past week, the city of Portsmouth went absolutely, bat-droppingly, cabin feverishly (these adverbs doing it for you? No? Okay sorry...) stir crazy. Like the seasons in the journey of Monte Python's king of England, winter decided to give spring a miss and went straight on into summer.

It was so nice that I skipped out on my own family members on Easter Sunday to drive back home and head straight to Annabel's Ice Cream, a place that beckons summer travelers like an oasis of creamy homemade goodness. They also have a location in Barrington.

Afterwards I stopped to get a snapshot of the progress made on the new boardwalk; it was eerie with it being so warm and seeing no one in there, so all I could think was "I can't wait till Thursday".

That construction cone apparently didn't have his ID on him

You see, "the decks" are supposedly opening today. "The decks" is a term locals use to refer to the waterfront bar locations including Poco's Bow Street Cantina, The Blue Claw, Old Ferry Landing, The River House, and Harpoon Willy's, all along Ceres and Bow Street. But since this spring/summer (sprummer?) is being the tease that it is, when it was 89 degrees yesterday, Poco's decided to open their decks early, much to my sadness. And I am sad because today is back to normal April weather, and looks like it will be for some time. Will they still open today? I hope so! Will we be there nonetheless, whining like pets left outside in the cold? Yes!

Hopefully summer will hurry up and get here for real.

Mmmm, Restaurant Week

It's that time of year again, budget-diners: Portsmouth's Restaurant Week kicks off this Friday and lasts until Saturday, April 3rd.

Check out the participating restaurants and their menus here. If you're lucky, you'll choose a place where an adult beverage is also offered. (There I go, sounding like a lush again. . . )

Sadly, I'll be in glamorous Salt Lake City, Utah for the bulk of the festivities, so I'm going to have to count on you to enjoy this for me.

Eat well, loves!

When it snows...

There's been a lot of snow in the mid-Atlantic lately, and it has made me appreciate winter in New England and in Portsmouth in particular. Why? We deal with it.

Last year, I thought I was getting old (yeah yeah, shut up Heather) when I really started to hate winter for the first time. You know it happens - when snow goes from fun to work. But this year... something is different. Maybe it's that our winter hasn't been so bad, maybe it's because I live on my own and don't have to really shovel living so close to downtown, but something about this winter has been more magical than most. Last night, it reached its pinnacle.

Winter ain't so bad. To plow the streets, Portsmouth issues a "snow emergency" parking ban. To know if one is in effect, just call 603-766-7669 (603-SNO-SNOW hahaha get it? SNO-SNOW?) at any time and they will let you know of an advanced warning or if one is in effect, or if it is over (I've had conflicting reports over whether or not they actually ticket and tow you, but I know at least two people who have, so that's good enough for me). If you don't have off street parking and don't feel like fighting for a municipal lot space, you can go to city hall and enroll in the Snow Ban Parking Program, which lets you park in the Hanover Street Parking Facility for only $3.00 for the duration of the snow ban (plus 2 hours before and 2 hours after). The real benefit from this is that when you get to your car, it is snow free.

Needless to say, I needed to take advantage of this last night, when 2009-2010 winter magic in po-town reached its pinnacle.

Good call, weatherpeople

I parked my car in the garage (I mean... parking facility...) and headed out on the town. Luckily, two bars in Portsmouth have decided to cheer us up when the weather gets frosty. The Portsmouth Gas Light Co. offers Guinness for $1 per draft when it snows 2 inches or more, and $2 when it snows at Ri Ra's. After some much needed venting with a good friend, I ended up at Ri Ra's for said Guinnessessesses.

This guy was standing outside welcoming us in. Punk.

The walk home had that magic silence that snow brings, as well as snowing a WHOLE LOT. The iPhone doesn't take great shots, but it looked something like this:

WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH - Hear the wind?

Awaking bright and shiny in the morning, I had to go back to the garage to get my (clean) car and go to work. The morning walk was no less perfect, and quite a contrast to the night before. While getting a coffee, I saw a woman taking pictures of the beautifulness with much better skill than I and my iPhone. So, I asked her to send me some of the shots. Thanks Jessica!

Anyway, winter in Portsmouth - more reason to be here, not less.

Pictures courtesy Jessica Hulseman

Changes, and the Rumor Mill

Taking a walk around town makes you realize that Po-town is going through some major changes over the coming year. While I don't have the photos to back up some of these things (like shops mysteriously closing, or Ganesh moving across the street to a new location).

But first we thought we'd foster some unconfirmed, unverified rumors going around that the Brewery Lane Tavern might be changing hands soon.

"BLT" is not a sandwich around here.

Our ninjas in Portsmouth inform us that the hands it may be changing to belong to the fantastically delicious Mojo's BBQ Shack, who may be looking to expand its operations (and is also rumored to not be renewing his lease on its current location on Islington Street). Is it true? Who knows. But I suspect that if it is, then enough relationships will remain intact that the good ol' BLTs will still satisfy.

Meanwhile, construction continues on the "boardwalk" that will grace us next summer along Bow Street. We talked with some of the people at Poco's on a particularly slow Monday evening and the design for their own piece of the boardwalk pie seems to be coming along nicely.

And that's just the bottom floor.

It's going to work out to two separate floors, accessible from the second floor of Poco's itself (how many of you have actually eaten up there, anyway?).

But honestly, take a look around - because things, they are a-changing.

UPDATE: It turns out everything was true. I saw this sign out there today:

It's actually a little sad... goodbye BLT.

Celebrating 2010 like it's... 2010

What exactly do we call them now? The teens? The tens? Well, anyway...

Hi folks. After a new design and some soul searching, Market Squared is ready to shamelessly indulge your voyeuristic tendencies in the coming year and share our lives in our favorite town while providing you with valuable and useful information on how you too can love po-town like we do.

In any case, this time we decided to do a video blog of our night out on New Years Eve. Portsmouth is one of the cities that holds First Night festivities on NYE, including a lot of family friendly activities, arts promotion, and fireworks. As wonderful as all that is, it certainly doesn't take away from the fact that Portsmouth is a great place to drink and be merry.

Our adventure starts at the home of our dear friends Jess and Joel, Joel being one of the co-owners of Dos Amigos Burritos. Afterwards, we hit downtown, and in the interest of not encountering cover charges, head straight to the Coat of Arms to while the night away.

Anyway, without further ado:

Thank you to special guest stars: Karin, Brad, Jess, Joel, Beeson, Laura, and That Guy Who Laughed At My Joke

Thanks to Bill for being our camera guy all night.

Happy New Year everyone, and we'll make a deal - if you break YOUR resolutions, we will too.

The Wheel of Lunch!

Looking for somewhere to eat in Portsmouth? Fret no longer! Just take a spin on the:

*echoing voice*

WHEEL OF LUUUUUUNCH!

Fireworks Follow Up

I hope a lot of you made it to the fireworks last night. We were talking after, and Portsmouth really has one of the best shows around. It was about 20-25 minutes long, but it wasn't drawn out on purpose like a lot of other fireworks displays. That, and they had about three "almost" finales before the actual grand finale, which was no less than epic. Not bad for our little city of 25k.

Anyway, some action shots:

The rest of the day was no less perfect. The first sunny day in, well, forever, we made it to the NH coast to get lightly toasted (by the Sun! by the Sun...) We then naturally dined at Poco's (to get lightly toasted) and went to the fireworks from there, finishing up at Daniel Street Tavern karaoke night (you may be aware that we are karaoke connoisseurs - we'll talk about it sometime). It was packed like sardines in there, but it was worth it.

Independence Day in Portsmouth

Cheer up everyone. I realize that this has been probably the worst summer ever. But take heart: Sunday is going to be sunny and 78.

Because of that, Portsmouth has delayed the annual fireworks display until Sunday at 9:15pm. They shoot them from South Mill Pond:

View Larger Map

There's some debate about where to watch them. You can basically see them from anywhere in the city. If you get there EARLY, you can watch them from right underneath them from the fields at the middle school directly across from city hall. You can also get a good view from Prescott Park.

Also, the Summer in the Street series continues with Cormac McCarthy and MAINESQUEEZE.

See you around town!

Summer in the Street

Here's a real-time bulletin: Pro Portsmouth Inc. (who does Market Squared Day's 10k Road Race and First Night on New Year's Eve) is hosting its first Summer in the Street featuring TJ Wheeler and The Smokers, a blues/jazz ensemble. I'll get some pictures if I can when I'm out tonight.

UPDATE: And here they are:

Market Square Day

Guest Correspondant : The Beer Babe (www.beer-babe.com)

Hi there! After being asked (ahem, told) to cover Market Square day in Portsmouth because both of the Msquared bloggers were out of town (Portland and Florida? Really?) (J & H: It's circumstantial! We swear!) I gladly accepted the job because it involved being outside, food, and Portsmouth. And, honestly, I had planned on going anyway. I woke up bright and early, put on a cute summer dress and headed south to Portsmouth.

Deciding that the chances of finding a parking meter (free for the event) were next to nothing, we headed towards the parking garage on Hanover Street. For a flat fee of $5.00 we were able to park for as long as we wanted – which if we stayed more than 6.5 hours – was a discount. I thought that was fair considering that we planned to stay all day, and that it wasn’t as high as some fair/festival parking can be. It also meant that people could park legally, securely within close proximity to Market Square.

(J: For future reference, you can always try and park in the State/Cabot St. area. It's not a far walk. However, if you take my parking spaces from in front of my house I will be very perturbed.*)

The day was bright and sunny, with an occasional breeze. The streets were lined with small white tents, balloons hung overhead, and a flow of people moved up and down the streets with relative ease. There were families, strollers and beautiful people young and old, all dressed in comfortable summer clothes. It felt like summer had truly arrived (though it doesn’t officially show up for another few days).

Seriously there were people everywhere.

These balloons were cool though.

The tents featured both vendors from local shops and local artisans. Most of the shops had some kind of sale items out front – clearance or special items that were less expensive than what is normally sold in retail stores. Breezy fabrics in neutral colors waved in the wind, beads on necklaces rattled and the noise in general was of a busy flea market. The artists impressed me – there was one who made jewelry and wind chimes from silverware in unique arrangements, one who made sculptures from pieces of old pier wood that looked like they were asking to be shaped into a whale or lobster. Hand-made beads, hand sewn purses and avant guarde designs were everywhere, and all the vendors selling wares gave Portsmouth its feel. Not entirely “hippie” like (J: Oh you hippies...), but an earthy and creative feeling that seemed to mirror the tastes of the people walking around. I felt like I could get a good sense of a store and decide which stores I’d come back to look around in – which isn’t always obvious just from window displays.

Uri Gellar, eat your heart out.

In addition to the crafters, there were businesses raising money for charitable events. A ring toss sponsored by Smuttynose and the Portsmouth Brewery raised money for one of four charities – the tosser was given a token at the end of the attempts to win and got to choose the charity to receive the donation. (This is similar to how they do their Charity Pint Nights on Tuesday nights.) Others were raising money or awareness for education, women’s rights, environmental issues (J: See? Hippies...) or local non-profit organizations.

Better than Beirut? You decide. And it's Beirut. Not "Beer Pong"

Starting in front of Breaking New Grounds, the street was also filled with restaurant booths cooking away sizzling steaks, hot dogs, sweet potato fries, crab cakes and other local delights. I had a crab cake from The Common Man restaurant’s booth that was a solid two tugboats. The Common Man will be opening a Portsmouth location on State St. in July.

Other food vendors included Canceaux Hot Sauces where I bought some “Angry Pickle” relish, and Maine Roots Soda where I had a wonderful blueberry soda – the perfect summer soda, in my opinion.

The Beer Babe. IN ACTION. With, um, soda.

I was pleased that I still had access to the normal businesses in town. I was able to get a beer at the Portsmouth Brewery and a chai at Breaking New Grounds without being mobbed by people. I spent some time in a used book store and wandered around a park or two when I needed a rest from people. The presence of visitors who had not been to Portsmouth before was a new feeling – watching people study the chamber of commerce maps together to figure out where they were going was interesting. Portsmouth still functioned despite all this and I took that as a very good sign.

The weather held out all day, and it turned into a warm night. After the vendors packed up everything and the roads were re-opened, we seamlessly flowed into a summer evening out. Sitting outside of the GasLight listening to a great cover band and reflecting on the day, I realized that if I went to this every year, I might tire of it (J&H: We won't), but going to this event was a good look inside what Portsmouth is really about. And honestly, it contributed to my growing desire to move there (J&H: To which we say, DO IT!).

(J: Special thanks to Carla Companion, the Beer Babe, for this post! We sincerely apologize for missing the event that is our namesake!)

*H: I would like to point out that I think our readers are smart enough to know what "perturbed" means, but that's because I love and respect you, unlike Jayson.

Hey, we try

Thanks to the Boston Globe's Ethan Gilsdorf for giving us credit for the Jimmy Juice shot in this post.

Oh right, hi. . .

So Jayson went on protest until I posted again, and I felt like my muse withered and died when my netbook did (which, honestly is my own fault. . . . apparently the Universe punishes you when you try to watch HBO shows illegally.) Now Jayson's attempting to repair the damage, and I am posting here with my proverbial tail between my legs. And while I can't promise to adhere to my lofty goal of twice weekly postation (new word!). . . I can promise to try harder. (Again.)

Alright-- Market Square Day is this weekend. Unfortunately, I'll be in Tampa, Florida, and won't be able to go, but Jayson will most likely make an appearance and document some of the day. It's on Saturday, June 13th, from 9-4pm. Browse through the many booths, listen to the performers, pop into the stores and boutiques, and cheer on the racers. By the way, the MSD 10K Road Race reached its registration limit of 1,850 runners. I'm (definitely) not a runner, but I find that to be rather impressive.

Also, here's what to expect from Market Squared this summer-

As "Townie Tourists," we plan to tour Strawberry Banke, rediscover Water Country, go on a walking tour (the name of which I have currently forgotten, but will find soon . . .) and hit up the play in Prescott Park. (This year, it's Grease, opening June 26.)

As a Day Trip, we want to go to Canobie Lake Park. I went a few weeks ago, and Jayson got jealous. No fears-- I'd love to spend more time there. Just look at the joy!

Whee!

Also, it's worth it just to go back and eat another of these:

Yes, I shared. But I might not next time.

If you're interested in tagging along to any of these outings, just let one of us know. We'd love to have you there! (We get a little bored with each other's company eventually, not going to lie.)

That's it for now. Finally, Jayson can stop pouting. I think he has another alcohol rant to share, despite my warnings that he might appear to be a bit of a. . . lush*. But then, you probably already knew that. ;-)

*Hypo-what? Lalala, I can't hear you.

Hey, we're only human

I have some news - posting will be light for me this weekend since I am traveling to Spain all next week. Heather will have an update on her weekend next Tuesday (don't you worry). In the meantime, enjoy our town where you can!

Your MOM's Day

As promised (*cough* as opposed to Tuesday *cough*) here's your weekend outlook from Market Squared. First off, the weather report.

Finally, the weekend we've been waiting for.

If you've already forgotten, it's mother's day this weekend. If you want to be a good child and do something more than just show up (like me), here's some options.

If your mom's a geek, you could go see the new Star Trek movie. It's got action and young attractive men in it:

They even have it in IMAX

Besides, if she's a fan of Heroes she'll get to see Zachary Quinto in a role other than that of a super-powered serial killer. (H: Also, I saw it last night, and even as a non-Trekkie, I thought it was awesome. Hellooooooo James T. Kirk.)

Sunday will be cool, but nice, so a trip around downtown is never a bad idea. In particular, you could take her shopping around the many clothing and jewelry stores on Market and Congress streets, and have a stop at Annabelle's Ice Cream and take a walk around the docks to Prescott Park. As for me, my parents live in Raymond, so for ice cream we'll probably be taking a trip to Memories in Kingston (hey, it's her favorite).

Moms do generally love chocolate, so if you've never got anything from Byrne and Carlson on State Street, I suggest getting your chocolate there. It's more than 3 Tugboats good, and you can even get the chocolate with flowers embedded in them:

Yes, you are supposed to eat it.

As for the rest of the weekend, we'll probably be hitting the bars tonight, and I'll be celebrating the second of many 30th birthdays to come this year among my friends. It is one more step on the frightening countdown to Heather's and mine (on 9/30 and 11/10, respectively). We're not old, yet. (H: Shut up, we're not.)

May Day!

We've been a little sporadic here at Market Squared-- probably because I'm a giant slacker and Jayson kept waiting for ME to actually write something (J: Actually I was using it as an excuse to also be a slacker). Because I'm so very deadline driven, we've come up with a schedule for this site. We plan to post every Tuesday and Friday, with little treats tossed in whenever we're so inclined.

I can FEEL your excitement, people.

So here we are, on the cusp of the weekend, and-- sadly-- it doesn't look like it contains any of the weather- related glory of last weekend.

Meh.

Still, tonight you can take part of the monthly Art 'Round Town from 5-8, where you can stroll into local galleries, admire the art on the walls, and stuff your face full of free cheese and wine. It's pretty much my favorite thing to do in Portsmouth. If I wasn't going to see Bret Michaels tonight at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, I'd be there in a heart beat. Alas, I can not resist the siren call of the Bandana-Man.

There's also an art show/ fundraiser over at Choozy Shoes/ Le Club Boutique. Click here for the brochure (you might need to squint a smidge).

Jayson will be playing tour guide this weekend, so he'll most likely be around town. As for me, after I absorb all the Poison one girl can handle, I'm headed to Foxborough to see the Dalai Lama at Gillette Stadium. I'll take plenty of pictures with my BRAND-SPANKING NEW camera (just purchased two hours ago) and post them under one of our new features, "Day Trips."

After all, we can not survive on one town alone.*

*Actually, we probably could, but who doesn't want to see Bret Michaels AND the 14th Incarnate of the Dalai Lama?

They just have so much in common.

See you on Tuesday! (J: Unless we all die of the VERY REAL AND IMMINENT DANGER OF SWINE FLU!)

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.

15 Seconds of Fame

Last night, Marketsquared had the privilege of presenting three awards at the 15th annual Spotlight Awards at the Portsmouth Music Hall. If you haven't been to the music hall in awhile, you really should go, as they've completely rebuilt the first floor into this ridiculously amazing bar that seems like something out of Pan's Labrynth. We didn't get any really good pictures of it, so stay tuned for a music hall review in the future.

Naturally, we dressed up.

No Sequins* were harmed in the making of Heather's dress

We were graciously invited by Spotlight editor Jen Stevens (okay really Heather was invited, since she's a columnist for the Spotlight. Jayson was invited because he's her "platonic partner in crime"), and ended up presenting the last three awards - Best Production of a Play, Best Production of a Musical, and Best Rock Band (in our opinion, the best three categories ever). The full list of winners can be found here.

(J): I was told "No Witty Banter" by Heather. Your loss.

The Spotlight awards is voting-based, so you know that things aren't the manufactured opinions of some elite academy. We're very thankful for this, as it meant that the wildly entertaining "Gay Bride of Frankenstein" musical, written by Portsmouth natives and very clearly Broadway calibur, swept the awards ceremony. It's our deepest regret that we missed it while it was out, but luckily, we've been invited to the CD release party at the Muddy River on April 20th. Its creators include the famous Billy Butler, who now lives in New York but is a Portsmouth regular through and through (and had a great song about the reality of Portsmouth vs. Dover from last year's Spotlight awards).

The afterparty was also held at the Muddy River, with the stylings of Tim McCoy and the Papercuts.

See Jenn, this is what I was really taking pictures of.

Anyway, it was fun and a good taste of the culture Portsmouth has to offer, as well as a sobering look at how far our little town of 20,000+ is starting to reach. It also made us realize we really need to go out and see some more plays!

*A Sequin is like a Penguin from the Caribbean. Except, instead of being flightless birds, they are swimless fish. Go ahead. Look it up.

Liquor? I don't even know 'er!

You may have noticed Portsmouth has a lot of bars. Let's face it. People come here to go out and drink. And I say go out and drink because with the exception of a few wayward freshly 21-year-old coeds from UNH*, Portsmouth's alcohol scene is not about the drunkenness but about the atmosphere and the variety.

*(Heather: That's Jayson's favorite flavor. . .)

Don't be fooled by their delicious appearance!

That of course doesn't mean we don't like to go out an occassionally get completely pissed. But although Strawberry Banke has its charm, it also reminds us we were founded by puritans, and honestly, I wonder when (if) we actually got over it.

Recently there's been a lot of hooplah over a few "incidents" at a few of the more popular bars in Portsmouth for doing a crazy thing like serving their patrons. The bottom line is that the bars are being held responsible for the intent and actions of the people that come there.

Whether it's arresting a server for serving someone under the magic "responsibility" age or costing a restaurant thousands because they don't have intoxication-sensing super robots, the reactionary, overzealous way that we as a state and a city confront the issue is baffling to me. We even go so far as naming the "offending" clerks in the media as if they are some sorts of pariahs for doing their jobs.

UPDATE: Here's another example of this ridiculousness (Thanks, Heather.)

Look, it's not the responsibility of a bar or store to not serve people. It's the responsibility of those people not to break the law. Luckily, a bill sponsored by Portsmouth Senator Martha Fuller Clark that was passed and is now moving through the House would change at least part of the law so that a bar must know that the person is intoxicated in order to be held responsible. Sure it's vague, but it's a start.

Of course, you start to understand where the problem stems from when you hear that the state's liquor law enforcement chief, Eddie Edwards (yes, that is his real name)** suggests that it's a better idea to limit everyone who drinks at a bar in portsmouth to one drink per hour. Seriously. That will fix the problem, and in the interim we can fine and arrest the people who decide to bar hop every 10 minutes.

Whether you think Portsmouth has an alcohol problem or not, I wish people would realize that they way to solve the problem is to stop treating alcohol as some terrifying taboo and educate people that like all things, it can be enjoyed in moderation... most of the time.

**(H:)William Carlos Williams feels your pain, Eddie.

In With the New

So I realize we apoligized for this last time, but really, sorry we haven't posted in nearly a week.

Between my moving to Cabot St. (that's all you're getting about my address) and the fiasco I had with Comcast, I haven't had the time or the internet access to be able to contribute any adventurous anecdotes or delicious decisions. So bear with us while we dump some of the events of the past week on you.

Last Thursday we made our first trek into Ri Ra's, the new "Irish Pub" located in the remains of the banks next to Breaking New Grounds. Since its opening on March 28th, it has been packed non-stop. We decided to finally take a look and revel in the realization that in our current economy, banks are closing and bars are opening in their place.

We got there, and it was seriously packed. I mean this packed:

But Jayson, how did you get UP there?

It took us approximately an hour and a half to get seated, but we had beer, so it was okay. To be fair, we also had eight people and showed up unannounced. So word to the wise, while the rush is on, make reservations.

Reading the menu while waiting.

But alas, I was eventually out of beer.

I was not aware at the time that Ri Ra's is a chain. It's somewhat like an Irish Margaritas of New England and the North Atlantic states. That fact makes its location and atmosphere a great addition to Market Square for the visiting tourist. The food was decent (around 2 Tugboats on average - their wings were delicious).

What was cool about RiRa's was its humungous open ceiling and the fact that some of the tables were set up in the vault and safety deposit box areas. There was also a small cover band playing there too. Perhaps in the future there'll be some local irish band playing there.

Dinner you can bank on! Hahaha! Hahaha... ha... ahhh...

The rest of our adventures will be posted soon. In the meantime, here's a reminder that MarketSquared will be presenting one of the awards at the 2009 Spotlight Awards at the Music Hall on April 16th!

Just a reminder

This is where Jayson and I will be on Thursday Night.

Blue Mermaid

Benefit to support the Seacoast Science Center

Thursday, April 9th at the Blue Mermaid island grill
Present this to your server to indicate you are dining in support of the Seacoast Science Center
In return the Blue Mermaid will donate 10% of your dining proceeds.

For music lovers:
Tone Twins will be performing in the lounge 7:00-9:00 pm

An acoustic duo playing tunes from the 60's-today

Lunch begins at 11:30; Dinner is served from 5:00-9:00 pm

This offer is only valid on 4/9/09 and can not be combined with any other restaurant discounts or promotions.

More info: www.seacoastsciencecenter.org
Menu & Directions: www.bluemermaid.com

Seaocast Science Center, 570 Ocean Blvd., Rye, NH 03870

Phone: 603-436-8043 Fax 603-433-2235