CAV

For our one year "dating" anniversary, we decided to dine at CAV.  I had heard a million and one good things about CAV, and was anxious to see what all the fuss was about.

We arrived for our 7pm Reservation, it's a little tricky to find as it is located in the Jewelry district and located below a mill of loft apartments.  It appears to be a cute little area which I'm sure will be so nice to hang out  when the weather is warm.

The host showed us to our table, which was a little cramped on the dining room floor.  Each table is a different shape, different style, different chairs.  All the tables had original table cloths with glass over them to create a colorful atmosphere.

CAV is packed wall to wall with decorations which are available for purchase.  It's sort of a mix between an antique shop and an eastern asian, bohemian feel.   Very different, very cool, very interesting.  I had a hard time concentrating on our "date" as my eyes couldnt help but wonder around!

We started with:

Crostini with a mélange of wild mushrooms sautéed with wine, fresh herbs and a concasse of fresh plum tomatoes.  For Two $9.95 

and

Coconut Shrimp:  Large Shrimps with Thai Chile Dip $5.00  (is there such a thing as ShrimpS? Isn't shrimp plural already?!)

Both appetizers were delicious, the two of us were fighting over who could get more mushrooms on our forks!

Our Dinner entrée selections: 

His: Risotto with Wild mushrooms (Porcini, Portabellos, Shitakis and more) in a white truffle oil sauce with Sage flower $20.95  (more mushrooms!)

Mine: Fresh cut pasta, rolled and filled with chicken, spinach, walnut and cheese mousse served with a shallot cream sauce with sundried tomatoes and Parmesan Crisp Flower $16.95   Ahhhh-Mazzzzzz-ingggg omg....delish...I need to get myself a homemade pasta maker and try to re-create this dish at home!

We were too full for dessert, and opted to finish our wine instead :) 

The server was excellent, everything was excellent...I love a restaurant where every aspect deserves an A+

Next visit to CAV will definitely be for Brunch 

Served Saturdays 10am and Sundays 10:30am

Fred & Steve's at Twin River

My Boyfriends Holiday Party was at Fred & Steve's this year.     We started the evening with open bar drinks in the main entrance of the restaurant, and shortly thereafter were lead into the back private room for dinner.

As a Sales & Events Coordinator myself for a well known Providence Restaurant, I am always interested in seeing how other private events are run.  

There was a table of place cards setup as we entered with our names and our dinner choices.    I do that myself for plated dinner parties, but most of the time, I am given the meal choices by the party host, and the party guests are able to choose that night as they walk in a place card of their dinner choice and are to put their card at their seat.  Makes it much easier for the party host as they do not have to track down what people would like for dinner ahead of time, and for servers and runners to know where to place down a dinner plate if people are still mingling around the bar while dinner is (trying) to be served.

The private room looks as though during normal business hours it is part of the main dining room, with bench seating built in around two sides of the square room, and an arrangement of two tops pushed together, with round tables of various sizes in the middle of the room.  Our table was a long dining room like table that fit 8 people, so we sat with 3 other couples from his department.

Staff was very efficient in refilling drinks, delivering meals and clearing plates...good job!   The food was excellent, my choice--Filet...of course...how can you pass up a free Filet?!   Dessert looked more promising on paper than it did on my plate "smores pie" sounded like a good idea, but when put to fruition, not so much.  Oh well....can't win'em all!

Fred & Steve's: A