#76 The Boyler Room - Sam's synopsis

Well, Sandya and I failed and attempted to go to Hurricane Alley when it was closed (at least it's not closed for good), so you'll have to wait a little longer for that review. Luckily, the Boyler Room was open and the rest of our company was fine stopping there for the evening, so we were still able to get our fill of drinks and bar food. Turns out Mondays are free poker tournament night, so there were a couple of rousing games of poker behind us (Texas Hold 'Em maybe, I wasn't really paying attention). The group of people playing poker all seemed like they had been there before and were having a great time, so having a loyal fanbase is always a plus in my book. The bar itself is pretty low-key: pretty divey vibe, but that's a good thing. Cheap beer and food, plus the divey atmosphere might lead you to believe that we were in for an unpleasant surprise, but it was in fact quite the opposite. The draft beer list was pretty extensive with a lot of variety. The food was really tasty and didn't leave me feeling like shit afterwards. 

To start, Sandya and I ordered some gravy fries while waiting for the others to arrive. When they came out, the gravy was served on the side in two plastic containers. At first I was a little disgruntled - why didn't they pour the gravy on top?! But if they had done that, I realized, the fries would have gotten too soggy and been less enjoyable. Maybe that means the gravy was too thin in some people's minds, but it was delightfully salty and aromatic and really hit the spot on a cold winter night. When the rest of our crew arrived, we ordered some more appetizers, including meat- and gluten-free nachos (nachos might be the best and easiest dietary restriction snack ever... except if you're lactose intolerant). I also really enjoyed the nachos. The chips were sturdy enough to handle all the toppings piled on them, and there was a good balance of cheese, veggies/salsa, and beans. And they did a pretty good job of spreading the toppings out evenly - I hate hate hate it when you get nachos and only the three chips on top have everything and then every other chip has just a smidgen of melted cheese. UGH. 

At this point I was pretty full, as was the rest of our party, so instead of Erin and I splitting french onion soup and me getting a grilled cheese, I decided to just order a chicken caesar salad. I don't know why but I've been craving caesar salad a lot lately. I used to eat it all the time as my free meal when I worked at a restaurant in high school and then got sick of it, so maybe it's finally reemerging as a food I want to eat. In any case, it was a large salad but nothing special. Pretty standard. All in all, I'd return to the Boyler Room to grab some bar food and a beer for the evening.

The Boyler Room
328 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 413-8294