Tomato Soup

Lili Marlene's

I'm back! And I know I never mentioned that I was going to be gone, but that's because I fully intended on doing some long-distance blogging. However, that never worked out- because while I was in Atlanta for Passover and vacation, I kept myself pretty busy!

But, no fear, I do have some great posts up my sleeve. First up: Lili Marlene's on Atwells. Andy and I headed there for several reasons. One, because we love Loie Fuller's, the owner of Lili's other restaurant. And two, because we heard from several sources that Lili's had some great, cheap food.

For an appetizer, we split the tomatoes and mozzarella:

It's really not quite tomato season yet, but these tomatoes were pretty good. I also loved the generous slab of mozzarella on top of the tomatoes- often restaurants serve this dish with only a thin slice of mozzarella on top, but Lili's did it right.

Then I had to have the Shrimp Po' Boy. I had heard from my sources that this was the sandwich to get, and they are absolutely correct:

Just like the mozzarella, they did not skimp on the shrimp. You can see it literally pouring out of the sandwich! The shrimp were perfectly fried, and the toppings on the sandwich complimented them well- pickles, herbed mayonnaise. And the fries. Yum. Some people herald these fries as the best in Providence- and while I can't claim that because I'm not a huge fry eater, these were very very good.

Andy had a chicken sandwich which I couldn't snap a good photo of (the restaurant is very dark, and my camera is awful- thankfully I am in the process of buying a new one!) but he liked it, but preferred my po' boy. I really think it is a star of the menu at Lili Marlene's.

While we really enjoyed our food, Andy and I decided that Lili Marlene's is more a place for drinks, and for eating as an after thought, instead of a destination for dinner. Not because the food isn't good, but the ambiance does not lend itself to a weekend meal, especially as the nights get brighter and Lili Marlene's remains shrouded in darkness.

Anthony's Seafood

Last time I was in Newport, my parents were in town and we made the mistake of eating lunch at The Candy Store  because The Black Pearl was closed. This weekend, Andy's mom was in town so we made another trip to Newport and vowed to have a better meal. At first, we were geared up to go to The Black Pearl. But after Andy and his mom did a little more research, they decided they were in the mood for something a little more hole-in-the-wall, a little more authentic- so Anthony's Seafood in Middletown it was! It is a step above a hole, certainly, but it maintains a no-frills approach to seafood plates which I think appealed to all of us. Yes, we were missing out on the view of The Black Pearl, but we were getting some pretty great seafood at some pretty great prices. You order at the counter, and the food comes out fast. Andy's mom had the flounder and chips:

She was wowed by the large portion, the light batter, and the fresh flounder.

Andy had the salmon burger:

Which consisted of freshly ground salmon and lots of spices. I didn't try it, because I was much too involved in my dish, but he thinks it was "very good". If that was all he had to say, he should have followed my lead and ordered the lobster roll because I was thrilled with this:

Strangely, this picture makes the lobster roll look very drenched in mayonnaise and lacking in chunks of lobster. In reality, it was very light on the dressing and almost every single bite was a huge piece of lobster (including almost an entire claw!). It was one of the best lobster rolls I've had in awhile- and for only $16.95, certainly the best priced.

Even better, as we left, we were able to pick up some great fresh fish to go. I got some large shrimp to cook that night (that post tomorrow!), and Andy's mom got some scallops and cod to bring back to St. Louis (they will pack it up in ice and a cooler for you). Unfortunately for Andy's mom, she forgot the fish in our fridge! Fortunately for Andy and I, we now get to enjoy it this week! At least it won't go to waste...!

Newport Creamery

On a recent trip to Seekonk, Andy and I planned to detour to Barrington and make our usual stop at The Daily Scoop before doing some discount superstore shopping. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that The Daily Scoop is a seasonal ice cream shop, and we were devastated. Determined to get ice cream, we decided to go back up the street and pull into Newport Creamery for our first Newport Creamery milkshake...er...Awful Awful experience.

I had a chocolate mint Awful Awful and Andy had an oreo one.

I have to admit, I didn't think it was better than any other milkshake I've had. Andy, however, when asked if he thought that it was just okay, said "No, I really liked it actually." I liked the flavor and thought that the ice cream was tasty and good quality, but I thought it was going to be thicker. I found it a little too thin- I like to not be able to really suck any of the milkshake through the straw for a good 10 minutes. I did do a little research and found out that the difference between a milkshake, a cabinet, and a frappe, is the use of a secret frozen ice milk mix and found that pretty interesting. But, since a lot of Newport Creamery's have recently shut down and none are too close to where I live, I don't know how soon I'll be having an Awful Awful again!

**NOTE: I am extending the Food for Thought contest until the end of the week to give people more opportunity to enter. So head on over here to leave a comment and enter the contest for a free ticket to Food for Thought and a cookbook!**

Dear Hearts Ice Cream

In a couple of weeks, I am going to do a round up of all of the ice cream places I have tried in Rhode Island, and give them some sort of star rating. I have a couple more I'd like to get to before that, but here is another one to add to the list: Dear Hearts. Andy and I went to Dear Hearts I in Pawtuxet Village. It is quite a little place, with no room to eat your ice cream inside, so when you go make sure that it's either a nice enough day to sit outside, or you're prepared to do takeout (and wait the entire ride home to eat your ice cream!).

When I first walked in all I saw was the huge sign declaring how many soft serve flavors they have. They don't have their menu online, so I can't remember how many flavors there were, but I think it was somewhere around 100! In any case, I didn't need to peruse all of them to figure out which one I wanted. Peanut butter soft serve is one of the greatest treats of all time. I got my peanut butter soft serve with sprinkles, peanut butter cup pieces, and chocolate sauce. And it came in a huge cup, since all of their soft serve is one size only:

In the couple minutes this ice cream traveled from shop to outside bench, it got a little soupy on top but it was still very delicious. Nice and creamy! There is something about soft serve that makes it so much more palatable than hard ice cream, which also makes it easier to eat, and thus makes it gone faster.

Andy had a kids sundae, which was hilariously served in a baseball hat cup. They were out of Cardinals hats, so I forced him (he was not happy about it) to get my team- the Yankees:

He had oreo ice cream in his cup- but you can barely tell under all of that whipped cream! My favorite thing about this picture is not so much the ice cream, but that Andy is holding Yankees memorabilia. I may have just lost some readers here... :). I didn't try any of it, but he seemed to like it and thought that the kids size was the perfect amount.

Better Beach Food

A couple of days ago, I wrote a review of George's of Galilee, noting how it didn't impress me, when I was so looking forward to good beach grub.

Luckily, the next weekend I had the opportunity to eat beach-side seafood again and put my faith in the chef's at the Andrea Hotel in Misquamicut Beach. I had eaten there a couple of years ago, and remember quite liking it: the drinks were strong, and the lobster rolls delicious. Not to mention the view of the water is incredible. Sitting out on that patio, one foot in the sand while you sip your drink, you might not even notice if the food you're eating is good or not. But I did notice, and here is the round up of all the food I consumed while at Misquamicut with Andy and two dear friends of ours, Katy and Chris.

We started with two appetizers, the popcorn shrimp:

And the fried calamari:

Both of these appetizers came with a ginger orange marmalade for dipping, which was not good at all. It was much too thick and sweet, and both tasted much better with a cocktail sauce that we asked for after we tasted the marmalade. I liked the calamari the best because it was spicy Rhode Island style with hot peppers, but the popcorn shrimp was also nicely lightly breaded and tasty.

For our main dishes, Katy had salmon, which I don't believe was the "lacquered salmon" on the menu, because I think this had a raspberry sauce, not a teriyaki sauce:

The presentation is really beautiful, and I remember Katy liking it, but not being thrilled (Katy if you have anything to add to the review of this dish, leave it in the comments!).

Katy's boyfriend, Chris had lobster:

There was a lot of meat to this lobster, and Chris was happy.

I had the Baked Cod with sundried tomato basil crust served with rice and broccoli:

I obviously have the most to say about this dish because I ate it- and I liked it. The tomato basil crust was rich with sundried tomato paste and the "crust" part was thin and not heavy at all. The cod was perfectly cooked and paired very well with the crust. I thought the rice was unnecessary and pushed it to the side of my plate. The dish really just needed the broccoli (hiding under the fish) and it was more than enough food.

Andy had the special, which was tilapia with tomatoes and a balsamic reduction:

He didn't like this at all. He thought it was overcooked and relatively flavorless for how expensive the dish was. I will agree that I think the place is overpriced, but I have somehow come to expect that from beachfront dining, even if it claims to be casual and the outdoor patio seating consists of white plastic chairs and tables. I think, as I said in the beginning, you sacrifice some level of consistency and quality at the Andrea Hotel in order to have a good view and the ocean breeze.

 

Beach Food

One of the great things about going to South County is the food. Clam shacks line the beaches offering up their famous chowders, clam cakes, and scallop rolls. Most of the time, whatever I get from one of these hole-in-the-street places is delicious. Usually greasy, creamy, and comforting.  However, my experience at George's of Galilee in Narragansett was really nothing but greasy.

I had the fish sandwich:

It was a big piece of deep-fried scrod that was just flavorless and left me feeling heavy and unsatisfied. It was definitely a disappointment- I went with some of my cousins that were visiting from Georgia and they didn't seem to impressed with their food either. Most of them had chicken sandwiches, so not traditional Rhode Island beach food, but everyone was too hungry to protest. At least George's was on the opposite end of the beach from where we were laying, so we had a long stretch of sand to walk off the food!

Phil's!

The morning after the Mews, we went to Phil's. There was no contesting this dining choice- I threatened Beth and told her I wouldn't come celebrate her birthday unless we got to go to Phil's. The conversation went something like this:

Me: I'm only coming if we get to have brunch at Phil's
Beth: First of all, Phil's isn't classy enough to have "brunch", and yes we can go!

I guess Phil's is more of a breakfast joint than a brunch spot, but any way you put it it is fantastic. They have a slew of specials that all translate into tons of food for only $4.25-4.95.

My special was the any kind of pancake and sausage or home fries special (I think a #4?):

And I like mine with chocolate chip pancakes and sausage. These pancakes are the reason you should go to Phil's. They are light and fluffy and speckled with warm gooey chocolate chips. They are definitely not for the faint of heart- the chocolate makes these very, very rich.

Speaking of being rich, that is what comes to mind when I look at Beth's eggs benedict:

She decided to go fancy and strayed from the specials board to order this eggs benedict with home fries. I think it was a smart choice on her part- it definitely looked worth it.

I wanted to take a picture of the outside of the restaurant because it is just so quintessential American breakfast-nook. The service is fast, food good and cheap, and when you sit down you just feel at home.

The Mews Tavern

This past week it was my college roommate's birthday, so I drove to Wakefield to help her celebrate! Her venue of choice? The Mew's Tavern on Main Street. I had never been to Mew's before, but was intrigued by its incredible beer selection (69 hand-crafted Micro Brews!) While there, I drank Blue Moon's Honey Moon summer ale- which is not only  a perfect summer beer but also went very well with the food I consumed:

We started with the Basic Nachos. These were somewhat of a disappointment. You can see that the tortillas are really bunched together and layered, and because of this only a few chips had cheese on them and the rest were plain and mostly neglected at the end because there weren't enough side sauces (guacamole, salsa, and sour cream) to dip them in.

But it was okay, because it gave me room to devour this:

This is the Mew's Brick Oven Pizza- garlic butter basted dough topped with tomato slices, fontina and mozzarella cheese, and basil. I loved this pizza. The dough was thin on the bottom but had a nice puffy crust so I could really enjoy the flavor the garlic butter. There were a lot of tomato slices (most of them were hiding under the layer of cheeses) that added a nice, fresh taste that cut through the richness of the cheese. I ate all but one slice of this personal sized pizza! They have a great variety of other specialty pizzas and calzones that I can't wait to go back and try- along with some more of the micro brews!

The Mews Tavern is quite a big space, but it has a fun, laid-back feel with good food and beer. And all very reasonable! The personal-sized pizzas are around $7-8, and they always have two beer specials for $2.95 (when I was there, one of them was  Long Trail Ale). Definitely worth the drive from Providence!

Ice Cream Weather

I like to write about ice cream. And I like to write about it even more when it is more appropriate ice cream weather- when I can sit outside, on a patio or in a park, and enjoy my scoops in the sunshine. I do eat ice cream year 'round, even when my teeth are chattering from 12 degree temperatures, but it is definitely more enjoyable in the summer when it can cool you down.

I think that my favorite ice cream, so far, in Rhode Island is the Daily Scoop in Barrington. It is an adorable little shop with a great outdoor patio and lots of delicious flavors. They also have a pretty great low-fat ice cream selection, although I only know those flavors by name. Whenever I'm there, I can't resist the full-fat stuff.

Two of my favorite flavors are the peanut butter banana and the chocolate fudge brownie (especially when they are together in one cup):

Peanut butter and banana were made to be together, and mixed with some chewy brownie the mixture is just perfect for a sweet tooth like me. Just beware that a two-scoop cup is quite large- and you may not be able to stop yourself from eating the entire thing (like me).

Andy likes the oreo and peanut butter cup:

Also good choices, especially when your scoops contain big chunks of candy and cookie.

The Daily Scoop is also located right off the East Bay bike path, so if you want to feel better about eating all this ice cream, jump on your ten-speed and ride to the location.

Also, check out this weeks Motif Magazine for a listing of some other great Rhode Island creameries as well as my review of Arunothai in Cranston!

Chowhound Get-Together

A great group of chowhounds got together this past weekend to try out a restaurant in Woonsocket, share some stories, and bond over our mutual love of food.

We met at Vintage, and Bluebird (the organizer of the event) compiled a list of our various comments to write out a lengthy review on chowhound. You can view it, and pictures, here.

I had the pasta special of the night: pappardelle with mushrooms, truffle oil, and sundried tomatoes topped with shaved pecorino romano:

This pasta was very, very rich. I could only eat a few bites! But that was also partly due to the fact that I ate a fair amount of appetizers...so I ended up taking a fair amount of this home (also due to the fact that this was a generous serving).

I am going to echo the review on chowhound and suggest everyone try this place out. It seems to be having a hard time staying afloat in Woonsocket, but it is a restaurant that deserves to stay around!