Most people, especially those not from Boston, know Charlestown from the Ben Affleck movie "The Town." For me, Charlestown is a place home to many of my best childhood memories. I spent weekends and school vacations in Charlestown as a kid, working at my grandparents shoe store on Bunker Hill Street. By working I mean, handing out lollipops to kids who sat patiently while my grandparents fitted them and made them try on pair after pair of shoes until they found the perfect fit. To this day my grandfather can still tell if your foot is narrow or wide, flat or high arched, just by looking at you.
Though I hung out on Bunker Hill Street as a kid, I haven't really spent any time in Charlestown as an adult. My grandparents closed their store when I was 14 and since then I've only been back to Charlestown three times - twice to restaurants and once to a friend's parent's house.
This morning I went with two friends to the Charlestown Navy Yard to have Sunday brunch at Tavern on the Water. My friend (read her blog here) used to live in Charlestown and always wanted to go there, but never made it while she was local, so we decided to go check it out.
As soon as we stepped out of the car and onto the pier, I was awe struck. The view of the city of Boston from Tavern on the Water is absolutely incredible. From their windows you can literally see every neighborhood of Boston, all in a row: the Zakim bridge, TD Garden, the Prudential, the John Hancock, the Financial District and the Seaport.
This morning the sun was shining particularly brightly and was reflecting off the water. It was gorgeous.
In the warmer months, Tavern on the Water has a bar on the ground floor that is right on the water. During the colder months (apparently that now means October) the restaurant is open on the second floor.
When we walked in the hostess walked us to a table in the back, right corner. We hopped up onto the bar stools and took in the amazing view.
On the way to our table we passed the make-your-own bloody Mary bar! I'm not a huge fan of bloody Marys, but if you are - they've got your covered!
The brunch menu was very enticing. While we tried to decide, we ordered our drinks. A cranberry juice for me and mimosas for the girls.
This was a real glass of cranberry juice, not one of those short, narrow, juice glasses that some places try to pass off as a legitimate serving. The glass was garnished with a lime which felt rather fancy!
The girls' mimosas arrived in branded, wine glasses which was a cute touch. They praised the orange juice to champagne ratio and sipped the drinks happily throughout the meal.
To eat, we sampled a wide variety of menu items. Across from me was a plate of three sides - scrambled eggs, bacon and an english muffin.
To my right, the egg benedict (no bacon) which came with home fries and a mixed green salad.
I ordered the monterrey jack and mushroom omlette which also came with home fries and a mixed green salad. From the very first bite of the omlette, one of the ingredients stuck out - butter. When I make eggs or an omlette at home I use PAM, but this omlette was clearly made in a frying pan full of butter. No complaints here!
The omlette was very delicious with the perfect amount of mushrooms and ooey gooey cheese. The home fries were over done, so much so, I couldn't cut them with my knife, they were too hard. I didn't bother with the mixed green salad.
We ordered the sweetest dish on the menu to share - the blueberry stuffed french toast. Man, oh man, was it delicious! The plate came with three pieces, which was perfect for us three girls.
Each piece was actually two pieces of lightly browned french toast, stuck together by a generous layer of cream cheese and fresh, whole blueberries.
With the first bite I tasted an unlikely ingredient - lemon. I think there was some lemon rind shaved into the finished product. It was a lovely touch and helped cut the sweetness of the dish.
It was a good thing we split the french toast, it was way too sweet for one person to eat the whole portion.
Throughout our meal we kept noticing the great music they were playing: Chris Brown's "Look at Me Now", Justin Bieber's "Baby" and John Legend's "Ordinary People", just to name a few. I was starting to wonder if they had my iPod behind the bar.
In addition to the amazing city views, the crave-able food and the great service, Tavern on the Water also charmed me because it reminded me that even after 27 years in Boston, I still have more to discover.
After brunch we decided to keep bopping around Charlestown. We drove through the Gaslight District oggling all of the gorgeous, brick houses. We parked at the Bunker Hill Monument and walked all around taking in the beautiful views.
I took these two photos of the monument with the Instagram for the iPhone app:
It was a perfect way to kick off my Sunday.
Have you spent any time in Charlestown? What should I check out?
