Mediocre Mills

I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Mills Tavern! When I saw that Mills was participating in Winter Restaurant Week 2011, I dubbed it date night!

We arrived and the hostess did not have our reservation, which wasn't a big deal because it was a Thursday, and not too busy at that point.  We later found out that whoever took the reservation, wrote it in their book for the next night.   (Strike One)

We were showed to our table which was next to the front window, near the bar.  The atmosphere in Mills is awesome...old, dark wood, great ambiance.

Since it was Restaurant week, we selected our choices from the Restaurant Week Menu: 

Course One

Choose One

POINT JUDITH CALAMARI

with RAS EL HANOUT,HARISSA,ARUGULA and TZATZIKI

WILD WHITE WATER MUSSELS DU JOUR 

Course Two

Choose One

RICOTTA and SPINACH STUFFED GNOCCHI

with FRESH BABY SPINACH and WILD MUSHROOMS IN A ROASTED GARLIC

and PARMESAN CREAM SAUCE

GRILLED PETITE FILET 

with BACON MARMALADE and MELTED LEEK HORSERADISH CREAM SAUCE

Course Three

Choose One

PORTUGUESE BREAD PUDDING

with MADERIA CARAMEL, CURRENTS AND CHANTILLY CREAM

BLACK MISSION FIG CREME BRULEE

with STRAWBERRY-ROSEMARY SORBET, CANDIED WALNUTS AND OATMEAL CINNAMON CRISP

As the waitress was opening our bottle of wine and telling us about the specials for the evening, I could smell the cigarette smoke on her breath, not too appetizing, to say the least (Strike two)

The appetizers were delicious, the gnocchi was delicious, however the filet was most disappointing.   It was like a little hamburger patty on a plate about an inch wider than the patty.  I asked for it to be cooked medium rare, and it was cooked medium well...boo (Strike Three).  Dessert was mediocre as well.

Overall a disappointing visit to Mills, which is unfortunate as I was so excited to dine there.    We'll see if they get another try come Restaurant Week again, as there are just too many other untapped restaurants in Rhode Island I've yet to get to! 

Mediocre Mills: C-

Capital Grille

So, as to take FULL advantage of the Winter Providence Restaurant Week, I've jammed packed my schedule with reservations at some of Providence's finest.

Today, I enjoyed a "working lunch" at the Capital Grille with some lovely ladies from the Multiple Sclerosis Organization, the March of Dimes and the Rhode Island Convention Center.  Way to network AND eat right :)

Capital Grille's lunch menu is absolutely too good to be true (lucky for me it isn't!)  I think between the 7 of us ladies, we tried all the options, except for the Roasted Half Chicken (my first choice)
because they were out.

The Grille was slammed packed, you could tell the servers were a bit "in the weeds."  It took our server a bit longer than should have to approach our table and greet us.    We were all so happy to get out of our offices, I don't think it really was a big deal that we waited a bit longer.

So for $12.95 ($17 each after tax and tip!) we dined on the following:

Course One

Choose One 

Field Greens,Spring Vegetables with Shallot Champagne Vinaigrette

Clam Chowder 

Course Two

Dry Aged Sirloin Salad with Gorgonzola Vinaigrette

The Grille’s Signature Cheeseburger with Truffle Fries

Seared Citrus Glazed Salmon

Roasted Half Chicken 

Course Three

Choose One

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake

The Capital Grille Handcrafted Ice Cream

Chef’s Seasonal Sorbet 

While I am not a huge fan of dining at the Capital Grille for dinner, as I think it gets a bit too loud in there, dining there for Lunch was fabulous.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Capital Grille: A

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

Mmm....Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, need I say more?!  You'll  never have a more amazing Filet Mignon than at Ruth's Chris...In an attempt to be able to dine our frequently, I often use Groupons, Restaurant.com and other various coupons or gift certificates.    During Restaurant Week, a visit to Ruth's Chris as an ABSOLUTE MUST!  

My Boyfriend's mother has always wanted to dine at Ruth's so she treated us to dinner.   :)

Course One

Choose One 

Louisiana Seafood Gumbo

Steak House Salad with House Vinaigrette 

Course Two

Choose One

Filet 

The most tender cut of corn-fed Midwestern beef 

Broiled expertly to melt-in-your-mouth 

NY Strip 

A favorite of many steak connoisseurs. This USDA Prime 

Cut has a full-bodied texture that is slightly firmer than a Ribeye 

Sizzlin’ Blue Crab Cakes 

Three Jumbo lump crab cakes served sizzling with lemon butter 

Marinated Chicken 

Broiled Chicken Breast marinated in garlic and herbs 

Your choice of one of the following personal side items:

Creamed Spinach

Garlic Mashed Potatoes 

Course Three

Duo of Berries & Cream and Chocolate Mousse Cup 

I opted for the Salad (though I tasted the gumbo and it was delish), Filet and we all shared the sides.....my Filet was melt in your mouth perfection, I am salivating at the thought of having to wait until July for it again!     My boyfriends mother said that her steak was the best steak she has ever eaten.  

Ruth's Chris  A+ (we'll be back in July!)

Posted by Missie Rose at Wednesday, January 26, 2011 

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

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 :)