There is nothing better than an evening of beer and delicious food after a long run.

After a relaxing afternoon with Bo, we headed over to the Galway Hooker to meet Theodora and Tina for a drink.

Luckily, the bar was pretty empty, so we were able to snag a booth and hear ourselves talk without having to scream. This is a rare find in New York City during football season so we were all pleasantly surprised!

Per Theodora and Tina’s suggestion, I started with Sam Adams Octoberfest since the bar was lacking on pumpkin beer selections.

It was absolutely delicious! Drinking regular beers is still a very novel idea for me as I used to be the “light beer” girl who would never fathom drinking a full, malty beer. This beer was malty with a little bit of spice,  luckily lacking on the hop flavor that I don’t normally like. This may become my go to beer this season since Sam Adams is normally available in most bars.

After a round of drinks and lots of laughter, we headed downtown to meet Gabriella, Rebecca, and Clare at BLT Fish Shack.  Even though this is one of our favorite spots in Flatiron, we hadn’t been to BLT Fish Shack since our Memorial Day weekend date night.

Bo saw on Twitter that BLT Fish Shack was celebrating NYC Beer Week with a special prix-fixe beer paired menu for $40! I quickly sent the suggestion to Theodora and Tina, originally hoping we could go Friday night before I left for Philadelphia. Luckily the stars aligned and we were able to enjoy the evening together last night!

Upon arriving, we were quickly seated towards the back of the restaurant. Luckily, unlike many NYC restaurants, they were willing to seat us even though only 6 of the 7 people had arrived. This is just one of the many ways the service out did their self last night.

I love the Shack’s cute decor details such as the lobster placemats and dish rag napkins.

Within minutes of sitting down, our waitress graced our table with their famous garlic cheese bread. It’s easy to enjoy too much of this bread at one sitting as it’s so delicious. Luckily, I was forced to share last night and therefore limited myself to only one piece.

Bo was craving raw bar and quickly asked the group if anyone could help him enjoy some oysters, clams, and shrimp. Clearly we were all more than happy to oblige his request but were taken by surprise when the large seafood tower was presented!

The shrimp were absolutely divine and could have been a meal alone!

Everyone except for Bo chose the pre-fixe special for their meal since it was such a great deal and most of the items aren’t regularly on the menu.

The first round of beers were delivered to our table within seconds of us ordering!

Our first course was a rich but delicious corn & crab chowder, paired with Blue Point Toasted Lager. This was my favorite beer of the night, going down very smooth and paired perfectly with the rich soup. The chowder was delicious but the crispy bread, especially when dipped in the chowder, was the real winner. I only finished 1/3 or so of the bowl since I knew I still had two more courses coming.

The second course included tempura fried branzino served atop braised Swiss chard and lemon jalapeno aioli paired with Lagunitas IPA. Now I know why I stick to grilled or broiled fish. While the tempura was quite as heavy as other fried options, it really took away from the flavor and was too heavy to enjoy the whole serving. The Swiss chard was delicious however and thoroughly enjoyed!

The final course of the evening was my least favorite unfortunately.  I was excited for donuts when I saw it on the menu but disappointed to find that they were churros instead. Furthermore, the final beer was Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout, a very heavy beer that I could barely swallow. The rest of the ladies were very excited to happily pass my bottle around to share.

The conversation flowed just as easily as the beers all night long! In fact, we may have hazed Tina at one point in the evening tempting her to double fist in true champ style!

Such a great time with wonderful food and wonderful ladies, plus Bo! He was a true champ!

After dinner I went to a friend’s house for a farewell to summer party but was in bed passed out by midnight! Beer+heavy foods+long runs=exhausted Ashley!