Soft-serve espresso martinis at The Hourly
Good local eats
An Affogato Martini at The Hourly Oyster House in Harvard Square, Cambridge.
We’re in one of the hottest, most humid summers on record, so what to do if you don’t have a Cape cottage or lakeside getaway? Cambridge has water park play stations and a smattering of public pools, and there’s always a cool coffee shop to slide into (though the AC just died at the one I’m at), but if you still want the tang of the ocean and some creamy cool adult treats without hopping in a hot car and dealing with bumper-to-bumper traffic, let me steer you to The Hourly oyster bar in Harvard Square where you can get fresh shucked oysters and a soft serve espresso martini. If that doesn’t sound refreshing, you’ll have to wait until New Year’s Day to take the chilly plunge with the L Street Brownies.
Looking to do something a little different, The Hourly got a soft serve machine and put it to quick work. Not only can you get that Affogato Martini, you can also get a boozy “adult milkshake” that comes with rum, cinnamon accents and Horchatta liqueur. It’s good, but that martini pour-over (with Grey Goose, espresso and coffee liqueur) is the sweet spot: You begin to cool down upon just drinking in the aesthetics of the very photogenic beverage – then grab a spoon and dig in, or maybe slurp the martini off and go spoon second, though you might end up with some of that silky soft serve on your nose. No matter how you go, it’s smooth and rich, but not heavy.
Both use the house vanilla soft serve as a primary ingredient, but it’s not your basic overly sugary, airy Dairy Queen that gives you a brain freeze and an instant sugar rush. No, this is dense, creamy silkiness that emphasizes the vanilla – you can taste the bean!
To round out the experience, order a half-dozen oysters. The selections are fresh and rotate every day, and you can trust in what you read on your check-off card – whoever selects them and writes the descriptions (“plump and briny” or “sweet and nutty”) is nearly infallibly spot on. The presentation of those oysters on a neat bed of ice is, like that martini, a work of art that defies you to ruin the picture by diving in – but you do, to your delight. It’s not a cheap treat, but a drop in the bucket if you’re not paying for a waterfront rental.
Adding to the experience is the atmosphere of the bar, which is best described as stately and collegiate like area sister restaurants Russell House and the Grafton Street Pub. It’s transportive, as The Hourly is a quaint, off-the-beaten path nook tucked away in the middle of Harvard Square – a hidden Shangri-La, if you will.
The Hourly is open for lunch and dinner with a menu that leans heavily pescatarian. For the weeklong Dine Out Boston in August the lunch and dinner menus will include watermelon salad (yum!), shrimp ceviche toast, a whole rainbow trout, and natch, soft serve ice cream for dessert. Start with that espresso martini and end with soft serve? Why not? I’m not aware of any rule that says it’s gauche to start a meal with dessert and have a second treat at the end. If so, pull out you Mulligan card and enjoy double happiness.