Lord Hobo

I am currently in China right now and will be there for the next two weeks. This is the first of several posts that I had prepared beforehand for when I was away. Please understand that during this time my response to comments / e-mails / etc. will be slower than normal. Finally, if you are so inclined, you can vote for me here for Project Food Blog.

40 microbrews? Hard to find beers from around the world?

Owner Daniel Lanigan is no stranger to this beer business, having run two “cult beer bars” in Amherst and Northampton. The last time I had encountered such a diversity of craft beers was probably at Granville Moore’s in Washington D.C.

Bryan and I finally got a chance to check out Lord Hobo (which took over the old B-side Lounge in East Cambridge) this past weekend. I had heard great things about it, so I was anxious to see if it lived up to the hype.

The ambiance inside is dark yet hip, with tall wooden stools and chairs spread through a wide open space. The center bar, which boasts all those interesting drafts, clearly steals the show as it is prominently displayed in the center of the restaurant. I found the room to be uncomfortably cold, to the point where I was almost shivering.

Of course, the focus is on the beer, and the drink menu literally takes up over three quarters of the menu. There’s one page of food and about 4-5 pages of drinks. It’s mind boggling and overwhelming, to say the least. Thankfully, the server is happy to bring you little “tastes” of their brews free of charge. I tried three different ones before deciding on the St. Bernardus (shown on the left). The servers are very knowledgeable about the beers (I’m sure they are used to having guests come in who have no idea what to order), and can certainly guide you along in a mini-tasting, which is quite fun.

The food was surprisingly good! We’re talking nice, gastropub food. Bryan likened it to the style of Garden at the Cellar, one of our favorite restaurants. We started with a lovely crab and avocado salad, which was very nice – fresh ingredients, lightly seasoned, it was the perfect start of a pretty good dinner.

I got the seared halibut, which came with a nice succotash of corn and peas that tasted very fresh. The fish was nicely seared, although just a tad on the dry side. I guess sous vide cooking has really made me kind of picky when it comes to meat textures!

Bryan got the steak which was seasoned with chimichurri sauce and came with a side of fries. We requested that the fries be served with the truffle aoili, which was actually really intense and truffly (yum!). Bryan thought the steak was cooked a perfect medium rare, and he liked the chimichurri sauce, so he was quite pleased.

We were surprisingly impressed with the food at Lord Hobo. The prices are reasonable, although you can quickly spend a lot if you each get a few craft beers. Although Cambridge boasts a lot of gastropubs that serve very good food, Lord Hobo shines when it comes to beer. You really can’t get this many hard-to-find beers anywhere else close by.

If you like trying all sorts of interesting beers in a fun environment with good food, definitely check out Lord Hobo. Just don’t forget to bring an extra sweater.

Lord Hobo
92 Hampshire St.
Cambridge, MA 02139