Esquire includes the ‘right’ J.J. Foley’s on this year’s ‘Best Bars’ list
Last year, Boston snickered as Esquire included the “wrong’’ J.J. Foley’s on its “Best Bars in America’’ list. This year, the magazine got it right by our standards, but not without paying the bar and its city a backhanded compliment in the process.
J.J. Foley’s Cafe was founded in 1909 and remains one of the oldest operating bars in Boston. Last year, Esquire highlighted J.J. Foley’s Bar & Grille on Kingston Street. The post-work crowds may flock to the downtown watering hole, but it’s not as iconic as the family-run Boston staple in the South End.
In its feature, the magazine writes:
We included the Downtown one because we thought it, and still think it, an oasis of normalcy in a neighborhood rapidly becoming a gentrified wasteland. This year, we’re happy to include the other Foley’s, a righteous old warhorse of a place that’s so crusty it eschews barstools. As Boston as it gets.
This year, Esquire also honored Kendall Square’s State Park, writing “…the drinks are fine, the fried chicken is excellent, there’s a pinball machine and a jukebox, and everybody seems to be having a hell of a time.’’
What’s more Boston than collective anger when our city’s reputation is slighted? Not much, except for a pint of Guinness at Foley’s.
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