on the town
07/30/2012
07/11/2012
New England Vacation Day 5
Our last day . . . we ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and then pushed ourselves all the way out to Provincetown to say "we made it!" While we had hoped for a geocache out there, luck was not on our side and we had to give up so we could head back points west. What we did do was have a sandwich for lunch in Sandwich, MA. How fun was that? Marshland Restaurant & Bakery (as seen on the Food Network) was our point of destination and a lovely destination it was . . . after randomly stopping by a local farmer's market as well.
Aaron enjoyed the BLT (standard fare).
Ryan had the Pilgrim Wrap (sliced roasted turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce wrapped up in a flour tortilla). He did add a slice of cheese, and his only complaint was it would have been better warm.
Tracy had the Chicken Salad sandwich (which was on the dry side).
If we hadn't been so determined to have a "sandwich in Sandwich" the breakfast menu looked amazing . . . and very tasty on all those plates around us. We did stop in their bakery on the way out and got treats for later.
Next we swung past the fish hatchery to do a geocache and feed the fish, then it was back in the car and heading to Providence/the airport for our trip home. We ended up getting to the airport rather early which was good as our flight was cancelled so they were able to fit us on another flight and many delayed hours later we were home. Home and back to work the next day.
All in all, a very tasty adventure through New England.
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07/10/2012
New England Vacation Day 4
After waking up in Ogunquit and enjoying a lesiurely breakfast as the hotel (surrounded by many French speaking Canadians), we wandered the town and found a few more geocaches. One of them was quite creative and we're contemplating reusing the same idea . . . then it was time to hit the road again as we wanted to make Boston by lunchtime. A HUGE storm sort of interferred with that, it was a fairly late lunch, however our travels were safe and that was the most important part. We got to the Sam Adams brewery area just after 1 o'clock and got tickets for the 2 o'clock tour which meant we had time to eat if we did so locally. Luckily they had an interesting restaurant right there in Jamaica Plain named Ula Cafe. We enjoyed a bowl of veggie soup (it was cold after being rained on)
Ryan and I both enjoyed their roast beef sandwich
while Aaron checked out the Sweet Potato sandwich.
Everything was very tasty! Aaron even bought a pastry or two for later . . .
Then it was off to the brewery for their tour. While the tours are free, they do requests donations which support local charities. Not a problem for us! After a short, yet extremely informative tour of the beer making process, it was off to the sampling room. Yes, it was good beer (even if it isn't a good picture)!
Next was a whirlwind tour of Boston Commons (yes I did have my picture taken with the ducklings) before heading out to the Cape. We didn't make it all the way out to the tip today, and spent the night in West Dennis where we found an extremely tasty restaurant on the water where we had, what else, more seafood!
We started out with crab cakes and fresh clams (crab cakes were phenomenal, the clams were a bit gritty even after rinsing).
Ryan and Aaron both enjoyed lobster rolls . . .
while Tracy indulged in some (haddock) fish and chips.
(Sorry about the poor quality of these pictures - we'd forgotten the regular camera at the hotel and lighting was not very good.)
After that we poured our tired selves into bed knowing we had a 6 am wakeup in mind to make it to the tip of the Cape the next morning before heading back towards Rhode Island and home . . .
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07/08/2012
New England Vacation Day 3
Day 3 had us going alot of miles in the rental car. Our first leg was to drive to Quechee, VT to rendezvous with one of Tracy's high school friends Katrina. Ryan had heard about the Simon Pearce Restaurant and had it as a place he really wanted to visit on this adventure. Since Katrina was not that far away from Quechee it was a good place to meet for brunch. Before I tell you about the meal let me just show you the view from the restaurant.
The Simon Pearce Restaurant/Gallery/Workshop sits next to the flowing Quechee River. This view from the dining room overlooks the dam and an old wooden bridge that is currently being repaired. The whole area is just beautiful to look at.
Since were meeting Katrina for a Sunday Brunch no brunch is complete without some brunch beverages. I ordered the house special Bloody Mary, Ryan ordered a Switchback Ale from Burlington, Katrina went for the Mimosa while Tracy had a glass of sparkling cider.
This meal was Tracy's turn to satisfy a seafood fix by ordering a Rock Crab Cake
and the Butter Lettuce Wedge Salad.
Katrina went the salad route also but with a very tasty looking Spinach Salad.
Ryan ordered the Quiche Du Jour.
I went with the Rock Crab Cake Benedict.
We barely had room for desert but managed to split the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee.
Between the gallery/workshop, the restaurant, the food and the A+ customer service this place was worth the Sunday drive. Inside the workshop we were able to watch hand blown glass ornaments being made. That was really cool to watch! Inside the gallery were some amazing creations. Tracy and I both fell in love with a wooden table made out of old barn wood. We all enjoyed the food but Ryan made an interesting observation with the question "Why does fresh food have to be such a novelty?" Fresh food meaning locally grown from community farms. I think he has a good point.
Before we finished up with Simon Pearce we needed one more photo.
Then we got back on the road and headed east. We grabbed a few quick geocaches in VT and a few in New Hampshire as we passed through. Our stop for Sunday night was the coastal communtiy of Ogunquit, Maine. I picked this because it seemed like a place that would have plenty to see and do without us having to go all the way to Portland. That is a trip for another time. Since we were just looking for a place to stay the night and another good seafood meal Ogunquit was a great choice.
I decided to hold out on my lobster fix until we got to Maine and tonight was the night! Ryan was up for a Maine lobster too. I used to love eating lobster for my birthday then I was a kid and this made me feel like a kid again. Lobsters - Time you meet your doom!
This was another great place to just sit, enjoy dinner, people watch and enjoy the view of the ocean and the boats in the bay.
I would go back to Ogunquit or Quechee again anytime. These were both locations that would be great to spend several days in even if there were not so much more to see and do nearby.
And the beach was pretty nice too.
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07/05/2012
New England Vacation Day 2
After an early night, we woke up at a decent hour and had coffee and bagels at home while playing with the dog before heading out on part two of our adventure. Ryan wanted to take us to Pepe's in New Haven, CT for authentic "Apizza". Luckily his neighbor informed us there was a Frank Pepe's at the Mohengan Sun casino (Uncasville, CT) about 90 minutes closer . . . cutting 3 hours off our drive and allowing for much more sightseeing along the way.
They use a coal fired oven for their baking here. It makes for a tasty crust!
We started off with a speciality soda, Foxon Park Soda, served at Pepe's since 1925.
The White Birch had a light flavor but was kind of medicinal. The smell reminded us of a gum like Wrigleys. As for the root beer, Ryan said it had a very rooty flavor but Aaron found it too sweet.
And then on to our meal. We had the White Clam Pizza (we are in New England after all)
and the Original Tomato Pie w/Mozzarella - adding some fresh roasted red peppers as well. The clams on the pizza were chewy but still tasty. As this was a thin crust pizza it was too thin to really pick up and eat. The tomato pie was most excellent and the roasted peppers were really good.
Aaron also requested a side of anchovies (imported from Italy no less). These were not overly salty like anchovies can be.
After all that good food, it was off to explore Connecticut.
We drove through New London and Mystic (but no Mystic Pizza), stopping to geocache and explore the coast as the whim took us. One of those whims was to indulge in Rita's Ice Custard.
They take various flavors of custard as well as Italian ices and you can layer or blend them for your own favorite concoction. We tried a few different types.
Then it was back to Providence for (?!?!?) more pizza (We wanted to compare "New-Haven style Apizza" to Rhode Island's "grilled" style - the "first" one being coal fired, the other being "wood" grilled.) and Waterfire. One of Aaron's good friends from high school is living about halfway between Providence and Boston so Josh and Tonya joined us for the evening.
We started off at a rather famous local joint: Bob and Timmy's Grilled Pizza (they had Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy on tap!).
For appetizers we had both bruschetta and calamari - got to get the good sea food in whenever possible.
Next up were two pizzas, both half and half. So we had Four Cheese (with a pink vodka sauce) and Margarita (with proscuitto) pizza. The Margarita pizza would have been absolutly wonderful if the tomatoes had a better flavor. They did not have that summertime fresh taste.
And we had Buffalo Chicken and Trio of Wild Mushrooms pizza. Aaron thought the Buffalo Chicken was the best buffalo chicken type pizza he had ever had. At the end of the meal there was just one slice of the Wild Mushroom pizza left and no one had room to eat it.
The grilled thin crust was amazing . . . and there was NO room for dessert. Bob & Timmy's will soon be seen on the Food Network.
After that we took a short walking tour of downtown and headed over to the river for Waterfire.
Last, we headed out to Newport Creamery to try the "Awful Awful" because we now had room for that dessert. No pictures of that though . . . then home and to bed because Sunday was going to be another really long day.
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07/04/2012
New England Vacation Day 1
Tracy and I are back from a visit to see Ryan in Providence, RI. We flew up there early last Friday day for some family time, geocaching (6 states in 5 days) and food adventures and got back in late Tuesday night. Oh Man, did we come back exhausted.
Our vacation started with a 3:15am alarm clock. Our first flight was at 6 am from Nashville to Charlotte, NC and then on to Providence with an arrival at about noon. Pretty easy flights but that getting up at 3:15am was rough.
Ryan met us at the airport just as we were headed over to Budget to get our rental car for the weekend. I'll give some praise to Budget Rental Cars for their customer service and the Toyota Corolla that we rented for the next few days. Pricing was good and the car was excellent for our needs. They get a gold star.
We put Ryan in charge of lunch that day and we headed over to the Warwick coast for our first food adventure. Let me explain something first- there is Chowder and then there is Chowda. Chowder is the umbrella term for a variety of soups/stews but Chowda is how the locals say it in New England. Second, chowder splits into types based on ingredients. There is New England Clam Chowder with a cream base, clams and potatoes and then is Manhattan clam chowder that uses tomatoes instead of cream. Yes, there are further nuances to the chowder but I'll keep it simple with the Types A and B as they are probably the most common. Here we have type A (cream based) and a variation on type B (tomato based). I am New England Chowder fan whereas Tracy leans to the Manhattan style which is why she was very intrigued by this style in which there is both tomatoes and cream. In the basket are some hush puppy-like things that the locals call 'clam cakes'.
Then, after walking around on the beach for a while, we indulged in our next Rhode Island tradition: Frozen Lemonade.
While the more famous shop is "Del's Frozen Lemonade", this quaint "New England Frozen Lemonade" was the one on our beach. Tasty Goodness! Our only regret is we did not have a chance to indulge more often in this wonderful treat. Luckily, Del's has a website and will ship you their mix to make your own at home.
After that, we hit the road for some geocaching and to see Newport. We were told that Newport gets alot of tourism by way of the cruise ships but on this day it looked like no ships were in harbor. As we walked around I spied this fresh oyster bar. Since we live in Tennessee we rarely get to enjoy fresh seafood but mostly we just do not buy it that often (Tequila Lime Shrimp being our main exception). When we started planning this vacation I wanted seafood whenever I could get it. This oyster bar was calling my name! I cannot remember the last time, if ever, that I had oysters like this.
Ryan was much more familiar with the fresh oyster bar scene so I let him pick for this snack. Since they had 4 kinds of fresh oysters we both ordered one of each.
Ryan and I got to talking to the bar tender/oyster shucker and he asked us if we were also interested in their 'oyster shot'. He went on to explain that they take vodka infused with jalapenos that has marinated for a few days and make a martini. Add to that martini a fresh oyster and a few splashes of Sriracha hot chili sauce and that is their 'oyster shot'. Ryan gave me the "I dare you" look. Challenge accepted!
The oyster shot was good as far as a spicy martini goes but the oyster was just a novelty. One was enough for the "Been there, Done that" list. The last place we checked out was a ice cream shop called Kilwins. The big sign in the window for Salted Caramel ice cream sucked Ryan and Tracy inside. I would put this ice cream chain on the list of places to stop and get a treat if someone ever comes across one in their journeys. We have on in Gatlinburg so next time we head out to Townsend and that area we will definately make a stop.
So this was the first few hours of our vacation in New England with Ryan. The weather got a little stormy but that was okay. Next stop was back to Providence for dinner at La Lupita, recommended in a Yahoo article: 10 Best Tacos in America.
We got various types of tacos
and Tracy enjoyed an order of fried plaintains as well.
Last was an early bedtime. This was a long day.
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04/11/2012
Shaffer Farm's Texas Bar-B-Q
Part two of our food adventure this past weekend involved lunch at Shaffer Farm's Texas Bar-B-Q. This place combines an actual butcher shop (and they know what tri-tip is!) with a restaurant serving true Texas style BBQ. With hilarious seating:
and fun tables (that spin . . .) we thoroughly enjoyed eating lunch here.
We were able to sample a few tastes before placing our order and everything was fabulous. We ended up with a Brisket plate (sides of white beans and ranch potatoes) and a Ribs and Wings plate (sides of baked beans and ranch potatoes). Both came with hot pickled peppers (yum!), pickles, onions, and corn pancakes. We also had fresh lemonade and a buttermilk pie. Leftovers did come home with us.
Next time we go back? We're taking the cooler so we can stock up on some perishables to go with the non-perishable items we bought: jalapeno beef jerky, spicy pickled hotdogs (?), and peach jalapeno jam.
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04/10/2012
Meridee's Breadbasket
This past weekend, Aaron surprised me with an adventure. The first stop on the food portion of the adventure was Meridee's Breadbasket, a local experience I had not yet had.
While I meant to order the egg and cheese on ham biscuit, I forgot to say ham so I ended up with egg and cheese on biscuit. The biscuit fell apart with every bite and was absolutely scrumptious. However, I do want to go back and order it on the ham biscuit next time. Apparently they add ham to the biscuit dough and it sounds delightful.
Aaron ordered a sausage biscuit and we both had sides of hash brown casserole.
We also picked up a few items on our way out: a raspberry scone, a cinnamon roll, and a Viking stick. Unfortunately we were coffee'd out by the time we got there so I did not get to taste their coffee. But we will go back!
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11/12/2011
Casa Fiesta
We started with chips and salsa (of which they promptly brought a second bowl upon request which was good as we finished the first two and made a dent in a third).
I ordered my regular which is the vegetarian 24A: bean burrito, chalupa, and quesadilla . . .
(they have got to grill it in melted butter, otherwise how could it taste so good?!?!?)
And Aaron had the "Hot and Spicy Burrito" stuffed with chicken.
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10/27/2011
Capitol Grille Nashville
Fall is here and it is time for Tracy and I to do our October tradition - we celebrate our 'dating anniversary'. We get a little quirky in the way in which we celebrate our dating anniversary and our wedding anniversary in that for our dating one we make it a night on the town and our wedding one we cook a fancy meal at home together. Given that the two are spaced out not quite six whole months apart enough time is between the two that they remain special. For the dating meal we have a few qualifications.
- One, the restaurant has to be a non-chain restaurant. That alone eliminates many of the restaurants around us. This allows us to enjoy the hard work of hopefully locally owned restaurants and local chefs putting their culinary skills on display.
- Two, we try to pick a restaurant that at least tries to have a changing menu. This qualification also hopefully means that the restaurant is taking advantage on locally grown ingredients, seasonal items and not using items trucked in from far away locations.
- Three, knowing that this will in all likelihood be an expensive meal we budget for it. That makes for equal parts frivolity and responsibility. We are not about to have a fancy meal and spend the next three months paying off the credit card bill.
Knowing the date of this meal was fast approaching I consulted several of my coworkers for suggestions. This year is would be the 4th year of this tradition and we had done Margot Cafe, Rumours East and Tayst in years past so finding a new one while keeping to our qualifications was starting to get tricky. One of my coworkers suggested Capitol Grille because it was their go-to anniversary dinner place and their fondness for certain menu items piqued my interest. After looking at the Capitol Grille website and menu I knew I had found the place for this year.
About two weeks before the date we had picked out for our fancy night on the town I called Capitol Grille to make reservations. Yeah I know we are in a recession and people are supposedly eating out less but I would rather be safe than sorry if that night had already booked up. It is also respectful to the restaurant because they know that someone cares enough to ask and that they know someone is serious about getting a good meal/service. The young sounding lady who answered the phone asked questions like 'Have you dined with us before? Is this a special occasion? Oh really, how many years is this? Congratulations. Dinner reservations for 2 at 7pm will not be a problem. We have you down and will see you soon.' The same girl called back the day of the reservation to confirm that we would still be dining that evening. So far, One Gold Star earned.
So the Capitol Grille is located in the Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville. We made it a point to arrive early so we could look around one of Nashville's oldest hotels and take in the history of it. One very intesting feature of the hotel is one of the Men's restrooms, specifically the color pattern and decorations. The picture below does not capture the green color of the bathroom fixtures but 'WOW, this is a crazy color 1920's fashion green'.
We were promply seated just after 7pm to a table set for two with a line of rose petals. They seated us side by side as opposed to across from each other and our table was on the outside wall so our view was the whole of the dining room. It kinda felt like we were on display but at the same time we were pretty cozy. As we looked around the room we saw other tabled set up in the same fashion. Clearly we were not the only ones on 'date night'.
The first course was absolutely amazing! Tracy ordered the Sweet Onion Bisque while I had the Hunter's Plate. The bisque was bigger than a cup but not as big as a bowl portion that gave an experience of 'this is very good but I do not need any more than this'. The brie grilled cheese, bacon and chive ingredients were heavenly on the tongue. My Hunter's Plate was described as 'a collection of house curred, smoked and pickled foods' but in truth it was a display of the art of charcuterie. The paper thin slices of cured ham, the summer sausage and the smoked duck ham were phenomenal. Also served was a pepper jelly, a stone ground mustard and a berry preserve and each one was excellent.
Capitol Grille just earned a Second Gold Star for what we ate on the first course.
Next up was the main course. Tracy ordered the Venison while I orderd the Gulf Snapper. The Venison was described as 'Georgia collard greens, heirloom pumpkin, huckleberry shallot jus' but in taste that venison had no gaminess, peppered and grilled to perfection and covered in a wonderful berry sauce. The cubed pumpkin saute was a nice side item. The collard greens may have been cooked with some of the same summer sausage that was on the Hunter's Plate and made them a bit too salty and smoky in taste. This alone was the only negative thing we could say about the meal.
I had the Gulf Snapper which was described as 'brussel sprouts, celery root puree, crab beurre monte'. I think the snapper had been poached to cook it and rested upon a bed of brussel sprouts, the celery root concotion and I could swear I tasted some fennel bulb too. I am not sure what beurre monte is but I need to look it up.
Again both dishes were wonderfully prepared and very enjoyable. Third Gold Star earned.
My coworker who suggested we try Capitol Grille said that one of her favorite dishes was their Truffle Mac and Cheese. I had also heard from other reviews on Capitol Grille that the Truffle Mac and Cheese was something they were particularly known for. I have neglected to mention that much of the food at Capitol Grille is grown at the Farm at Glen Leven. This evening one of the side dishes was wax beans from the farm. Neither Tracy nor I could recall ever having wax beans so we ordered those too. The Truffle Mac and Cheese had a wonderful flavor going on that must have been the truffles or garlic, I could not tell. Not having had wax beans beans before I had nothing to compare them to but they were very tasty.
How could the night get an better? Dessert!!! and it was simple divine. Tracy and I ordered a Peach and Ginger Sorbet but look what we got.
Another Gold Star earned!
So there we were at the end of the meal and Capitol Grille had earned Four Gold Stars in our book. Time to call the valet to bring the car around and get on home. Thank you Capitol Grille for a very good anniversary dinner and evening!!!
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