Andreas & Byblos

My Boss was in town from Charlotte, so after a long day of work, we decided to go out for some food and drink and entertainment.

We decided on dinner at Andreas...one of my absolute favorite restaurants in Providence.  I always get the Garden Souvlaki, no matter how hard I try to deviate and try another menu option, I always order the Garden Souvlaki!


We started with their Melitzanosalata appetizer:
This dip is a classic Greek appetizer, and our
variation combines our fresh baked eggplant
blended with roasted garlic, red peppers & mixed
herbs.  Served with our fresh, locally baked pita
bread. $7.25



My Choice: Garden Souvlaki $7.99
Organic baby spinach tossed with vine-ripened
tomato & mushrooms, topped with Swiss and
American cheese, served with cucumber sauc


My Boss chose: Andreas Signature Salad $8.99
Vine-ripened Roma tomatoes, capers, crumbled
Feta cheese, fresh artichoke hearts, Spanish onion
& Kalamata olives hand-tossed and drizzled with our
own Balsamic vinaigrette.

After dinner and a few drinks of red wine, we headed across the street to Byblos, a Hookah bar to visit a friend who was Bartending.      As the evening progressed and we had a few more drinks of wine, we opted to try Hookah.....it was interesting, we were given the grape flavor as that's what our friend suggested as the best tasting Hookah.  

All in all a good night out on the town :)   Thank you Providence.

Publick House (Boston, MA)

Publick House

Made the trek up to Boston (well technically Brookline, MA) to have a very belated birthday Dinner with Miss Britt....

She chose the Publick House on Beacon Street....

(thanks for the pic Britt!)

http://www.eatgoodfooddrinkbetterbeer.com/

I of course chose the most expensive, most alcoholic beer you could find on the menu, called total viscosity. It was delish, tasted a lot like wine, I wasn't drinking it fast enough for Britt and half way through my glass she took it from me to finish it. As for the rest of my beer choices, I allowed our server to make some suggestions based on my love of Guinness, Blue Moon and Sam Seasonal.

Brittany had a few La Chouffe, (8,5%) Brasserie d’Achouffe, Achouffe, Bel, and I sampled one myself.. Not sure what else I tried, but nonetheless, they were delish :)

For our meal Brittany chose: a heaping pot of p.e.i. mussels steamed in house-made fish stock served with grilled bread and small house Belgian frites; Pot 4: Smuttnose IPA, red curry, lime

I chose a Reuben Panini: in-house corned beef & sauerkraut, swiss cheese, russian dressing, dark rye.

Food was good, Beer was good, Company was good..all and all a good night with a visit to the cube to top it all off! Very cute :)

Everyman

Everyman is located in the American Locomotive Works newly refinished mill buildings on Valley Street in Providence, RI.  This is actually a hop, skip and a jump away from my house...How convenient for me :)

They recently joined the Restaurant.com family where you can print off a $25 gift certificate to use when you spend $50.  

We decided to go there on an off night when we didn't have any food in the house, nor the motivation to grocery shop, and/or cook.  

I opted for their Appetizer Mac and Cheese dish $5.50, with a side of Sweet Potato Fries $3.50 and a Brooklyn Lager (Healthy, I know!)

My better half chose the Baked Scallops with Marinated Grapefruit and Citrus Beurre Blanc, served with
his choice of potato and vegetable or pasta    $15.95

Needless to say, we didn't hit the $50 mark to use our Restaurant.com gift certificate, so we'll save it for another visit to Everyman :)

http://www.everymanri.com/
555 Valley StreetProvidence, RI 02908(401) 751-3630 ‎

Wicked Bad Bar and Grille

Myself and my co-workers attend the Twin River Bar Expo, and after taste testing a concoction of coconut, dark beer, chai alcohol, margarita martini samples....we desperately needed some food to fill our bellies!

We entered Wicked Good Bar and Grill (who should immediately change their name to Wicked bad awful terrible Bar and Grill) and told the hostess we had reservations for 12 people.   She said our reservation was not ready and we'd have to wait (OK, so much for reservations).  We asked if we could sit at the bar, and she said "well I don't really think there is any room at the bar"  as a bartender myself, the more the merrier...2, 3 people deep...bring it.    

As we made our way into the bar, miraculously 6 people all in a row on barstools got up!  Wow! Room for us! yay!   We told the bartender that the hostess was telling people there wasn't any room at the bar....I think it was only right of us to tell her that the hostess is impacting her tips!  We all had a(nother) beer or two while waiting for our table.

From then on, dinner spiraled terribly out of control.   Orders were wrong, some peoples food didn't come out till much later than others.

It's unfortunate we had such a bad experience, as the food was really tasty, but the personalities of the staff and the general demeanor of the place left a bad taste in my mouth.

Wicked BAD Bar and Grill: F

Cuban Revolution

As I've mentioned in other postings, I like to stay in my "neighborhood" when dining out....I know Rhode Island is small, but yes, I am a true Rhode Islander, and driving to Warwick sometimes is just too far! 


Another Valley Street treat is Cuban Revolution...located below the Rising Sun Mill Lofts, the restaurant itself is anything but lofty.    Again, we had in our pockets, a Restaurant.com gift certificate...spend $35 and get $25 off..you just can't beat it.

I always start with a Modelo Negra.....but when I'm feeling extra fruity their raspberry mojitos are delish!  Mmmm....Then I proceed by ordering a large array of tapas. 

CUBAN SAMPLER 12

NACHOS w sour cream and guac 8

beans, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, jalapenos

I am still on the hunt for the best nachos in the city...one of these days I am going to put together a Nacho bar crawl!!

MADUROS 4

ripe sweet plantains with sour cream

OMG Melt in your mouth deliciousness!

CHICKEN QUESADILLA 7

with onions, peppers, cheddar, guacamole

CROSTINI CON HUMMUS 4

hummus on toast, diced tomato, jack cheese

SO Mad they took the black bean dip off the menu :(

SWEET POTATO CHE FRIES 5

crunchy and sprinkled with adobo

GAMBAS AL AJILLO 8

three jumbo garlic shrimp with chipotle dip

CHORIZO AND SHRIMP 9

with sherry, garlic and spicy red pepper

EMPANADAS 4

beef | spinach and cheese | portobello mushroom and asiago | chicken

That usually does the trick....definitely always leave Cuban Revolution feeling fully satisfied :)

Cuban Revolution: A

Eleven Forty Nine--East Greenwich

1149

I recently submitted my review of Cafe Dolce Vita to www.theprovidencelife.com as one of Providence's best Al Fresco Dining spots. Lucky me, the Providence Life chose my review as their winner, and I received a $50 Gift Certificate to 1149! Whooo hooo :)

I dubbed this past Saturday night as "Date Night" and MB and I made 8pm reservations for Dinner at 1149 in East Greenwich.

We arrived around 7pm and sat at the bar for drinks and apps prior to dinner. We both decided on a fancy cosmo style drink to start...mine was a Pomegranate Cosmo, and MB a Strawberry Smash. Followed by an order of Calamari with Pepper Relish and Chipotle Scallion Mayo, and the Grilled Trio of Beef Tenderloin, Chicken and Shrimp. The bartender service was less than good. It took anyone way too long to even greet us once we seated ourselves, and they were basically non-existent the entire time we sat there.

We were then shown to our seats, a 4top against the back wall, white linens and comfy plus leather high back chairs. Our 2nd round of drinks consisted of Red Sangria, which arrived in these huge goblets and were delishhhhh....

Our server Brett was very "military-esq" in his greeting, speaking and dealings...(we later asked him and indeed, he is in the military...the Coast Guard stationed at Quonset).

I ordered the Pork Tenderloin Special served with Acorn Squash and a Raspberry compote...Mmmm...Absolutely Delish, and MB ordered...can you guess? Bingo...Chicken and Pasta.....Shocker! Haha...it was Cavallari pasta with Chicken in a tomato basil sauce....tasted good as well, but why am I gonna order chicken and pasta when I can make it and eat it at home for about $3! (MB claims he can't cook chicken!)

We finished our dinner experience with a sampling of "Cheesecake Lollypops" which were 4 bites of cheesecake on lollypop sticks arranged on a plate with caramel sauce and brown sugar. Just enough to satisfy that sweet tooth despite being sooo full!

1149 receives a B+....our entire bill came to $100 for 4 drinks, 2 apps, 2 entrees and a shared dessert...not too shabby considering $50 of that was on TheProvidenceLife.com. Thank you very much :) Hopefully 1149 will consider joining Restaurant.com!

Texas Roadhouse

Advertising Yum!

So, upon my return from my cousins wedding in Florida on Monday, I had to go and re-collect my poochies from their respective dog sitters. (3 dogs, 3 different dog sitters).

MB and I were driving along RT 6/10 to get to Cranston to pick up Brandy Boi....we had plans to grab a quick bite on the way

As a Sales and Marketing Major from University of Delaware, I have always been fascinated with advertising, and the ability for an ad (print, billboard, radio..etc) to actually MOVE you to buy the product it was advertising....I mean, how many times have you driven by a Dunkin

Donuts billboard? (btw, billboard ads cost an average of $8,000 for 3 months)

Do you really need a Dunkin billboard to drive you to get your ice coffee? No, there is a Dunk on every corner in RI and you're gonna go there to get your daily caffeine fix anyway!

As we were driving on Rt 6/10 there was a Billboard for Texas Roadhouse: 20 meals under $10.......Errrrrrrrr.....Pull over! So we quickly exited the highway and made our way to Texas Roadhouse.

As I had never eaten there before I have heard nothing but how awesome their fresh bread is. The hostess grabbed us a basket of bread from under the heat lamps as she showed us to our seats. I'll give the bread a "C" in the realm of restaurant bread rolls.....although the maple butter was delish...how can you go wrong with maple butter?

And the best part about the Billboard advertising, is though we planned on going in for 2 meals under $10, we both ended up choosing dishes that cost more than $10!

Bens had Sirloin Steak and BBQ Chicken and I had a half slab of FALL-OFF-THE-BONE RIBS

"Our "blue ribbon" winning ribs are slow cooked with a unique blend of seasonings and signature BBQ Sauce. Available in half slab or full slab."

Each of our dinners were served with a choice of two sides.

I chose house salad--yummo with cheese and hard boiled egg..light ranch dressing..delish and a Baked Potato (loaded with butter and sour cream...Mmm).MB had the house salad and a Sweet Potato.

All in all BRAVO to Texas Roadhouse's Advertising Team..not only did they "drive" us in there for a meal under $10, they achieved the ultimate advertising goal of making more $$!

Texas Roadhouse Received an A..We'll definitely be back..

Oh and our server, Jack Black's long lost twin, Matt, he was good too....good as servers go...not fabulous, but did his job...he received a 20% tip.