top of the hub + atlantic fish

Photo is from the Top of the Hub website

We started the new year with good food, fun, and company by having drinks and dinner with my brother-in-law and his wife. We took them to the Top of the Hub in the Prudential Center and luckily managed to find a seat in the lounge for some drinks. It's always fun to take people who have never been there before, even if it's cloudy outside like it was that night. The whole ordeal of trying to find a parking space nearby, walking through the Prudential Center, and then taking an elevator up to the 52nd floor of a building can be quite exhilirating. And then you see the spectacular view from the top.

They feature a pretty nice wine and cocktail menu that may be a little pricy, but we all agreed that the portions are bigger than what you usually expect. The martini and champagne glasses we were served that night were quite large which was quite nice. :)

Even though it was quite cloudy, I managed to snap this photo of Fenway Park all decked out for the Winter Classic that took place earlier that day.

Since we managed to [miraculously] find a parking spot on Newbury Street, we decided to find a nearby restaurant for dinner instead of driving to another neighborhood. We ended up going to Atlantic Fish, a restaurant that we had gone to with my sister-in-law and her mother back in February last year.

It's such a classy joint and after eating there again, I have to say that I'm glad we picked it. Our waiter, Fabian, was great and quite animated (even as he poured out one of the cocktails). He was good at taking a group shot with my camera, too.

We shared the clams casino appetizer. It was delicious! There were six pieces and I think we could've fought each other for seconds. I think next time we go back there I could polish off a whole plate of these with their delicious fresh-out-of-the-oven bread. Yum!



As you can see, our table was full of good food! I had the 2007 Viognier from Miner Wines and it was so good. Marina had the 2008 Sancerre “Les Belles Vignes” from Domaine Fournier and it, too, was good. Our waiter brought the glasses to the table and asked us to guess which was which. It was kind of difficult but you could definitely smell a difference between the two (one was sweeter than the other).

Marina had a grilled yellowfin tuna steak with spinach and lobster mashed potatoes on the side. Those mashed potatoes were amazing! Whomever thought to put lobster in mashed potatoes was a genius.

Tony had the seafood fra diavolo dish which was made with shrimp, scallops, swordfish and mussels in a spicy tomato sauce. The portion was quite a lot so he ended up taking home some leftovers.

I went for the lobster ravioli dish again even though I've tried it before because it is just way too delicious to pass up. They make it with chunks of lobster and shitake mushrooms in a really nice and rich basil cream sauce. I had to ask the waiter for extra bread so that I could sop up the sauce.

Needless to say, we had no room for dessert afterwards and left the restaurant with some very happy bellies. It was such a nice way to ring in the new year!