College Guide Allston/Brighton – Boston

It’s that time of year again. 50,000+ plus college students are coming back to Beantown. Allston/Brighton is one of the epicenters of Boston college life. Everyone knows all the classic college bars and pizza spots, but we are here to give you some of our favorite spots in Rat City. In this first installment, we will give you a bar, some late night drunk food, and finally, a spot to cure your hangover

Silhouette

If there was an award for most “divey” dive bar in America, Silhouette would be a finalist. It goes without saying that this spot is cash only, and like most cash only places they pass the savings on to their patrons. We are talking cheap pitchers of beer and mixes that will have you buying the bar a round of shots.

Yeah, cheap drinks are great, but the real reason Silhouette is on the list is the darts room in the back. For the price of letting them hold on to your ID, you can spend hours playing darts, eating free popcorn, and drinking cheap beer. You don’t even have to leave the dart room to go to the bar because they have a window in the back of the bar that you can order from (now thats what we call service!). If you want to get a dart board get there early. On weekend nights they are in high demand.

Azama Grill

After a night at the bars you want something hot and doughy to absorb all of that alcohol (and hopefully lessen that impending hangover). While all the bars in Allston are turning on their lights for last call, Azama is slinging their roll-ups. These roll-ups are the Egyptian version of the gyro. The meat is packed with flavor and it is one of our favorite shawarmas in the city. If you are trying to cut down your meat consumption after midnight, the falafel delivers with a moist inside and nice crispy outside.

The sauces tie it all together. You get a kick from the garlic sauce, which is mellowed out by the freshness of the tahini. You don’t have to settle for fast food late night. Azama brings the same quality whether it is 1 in the afternoon or 1 in the morning.

Pavement Coffee House

There is a special place in our hearts for the sausage egg and cheese on an english muffin from Dunkin’ Donuts– the same way the Big Mac has a special place in millions of peoples lives. But let’s be real, they can both be done better.

Pavement Coffee is that better breakfast sandwich. The difference is the quality in the ingredients. All of their bagels are made in-house, which takes these breakfast sandwiches to the next level. For that greasy hangover cure they have “The Fix,” this is essentially our Dunkin’ favorite on steroids. Instead of English muffins it’s on a flakey biscuit. The pepper jam adds that little kick you need to start your day, and the eggs are the real deal.

If you are looking to start the day on the lighter side they have lox for days. The Nova lox with the lemon & dill cream cheese is the right way to start an action packed morning. It’s more than just your cream cheese and salmon on a bagel. The lemon dill cream cheese is bursting with wonderful citrus flavor, and the cucumber and broccoli sprouts add a much needed crunch to the buttery lox.

We couldn’t end without mentioning the tequila sunrise. They do say the best hangover cure is “hair of the dog.” No, there isn’t any tequila in it, but the diablo cream cheese still might help you sweat out that hangover.