Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant

140 Thames St.

Newport, RI  02840

(401) 849-6334

www.brickalley.com

July 24, 2014

I’ve never heard a bad word about Brick Alley Pub, but Mom and I had never been.  The parking is horrendous, the restaurant is always packed and for some reason or other it has always been one of those “we’ll get to it” types of places.  We were in Newport picking up my paycheck and figured that since it was early on a weekday, we might be able to find a parking spot right in front – and we did!

Now that the car was in a safe place, we went inside.  We were met with a large set of stairs leading customers to the second floor, but “ain’t nobody got time for that.”  We wanted to dine on the first floor, so we were taken to the very last room at the back of the restaurant because it seemed as though the other rooms were filling up fast.  We did get a sort of “tour” of the first floor, all of the crazy stuff on the walls and the large salad bar area which looked fantastic. 

When we were finally seated, our waitress – Kaelan – brought over two large menus for us to peruse.  Mom and I were overwhelmed – in a good way – with so many choices.  (Click here to view the menu.)  While we were making our decision, Kaelan took our drink order.  I chose the Sparkling Blackberry Sangria ($7.50) and Mom had the Brick Alley Mudslide ($8.75) on the rocks – both were fabulous.  For our entrees, Mom went with the chicken parmigiana with angel hair pasta and her choice of a side of garlic bread ($19.95) and I had the lemony chicken piccata with my choice of a side of Nancy’s creamed spinach ($19.95).  Our dinners each came with a free soup and salad bar option, and for an appetizer we chose something that my sister loves – the cheese nacho platter ($8.95).  We definitely went all out today!

Kaelan told me how to get to the salad bar and what to do when I got there so I wasn’t totally lost.  She told me to take two chilled plates from the cooler for our salads, which is all Mom and I were going to get from the bar since we were going to be having so many other things.  I made awesome Caesar salads with all the trimmings and brought them back to the table.  I could have gotten some soup or a few pieces of bread as well.

The salads were cool and crisp and everything tasted fresh.  While we were still picking at them, our nacho platter arrived.  It was out of this world.  A thick layer of tasty cheddar-Jack cheese had been melted over top of a large platter of colorful homemade tortilla chips.  The gooey cheese was great with the crunchy chips, and the plate of nachos was accompanied by two large cups of sour cream and salsa.  Mom and I absolutely could not leave the nachos alone.  Kaelan had to bag them up for us so that we would be able to save room for our chicken dishes!  The nachos are now our new favorite appetizer.

After we almost overdosed on nachos, our entrees arrived.  Thank goodness we still had room in our bellies because they both looked amazing.  My lemony chicken piccata was a pan-seared boneless, skinless breast in a white wine and lemon sauce and topped with capers and fresh lemons.  All I could smell was lemon!  The chicken was cooked perfectly and the taste of the sauce was outstanding.  I loved the added bitterness of the capers and the meal was appropriately portioned.   My spinach was also delicious.  That Nancy, whoever she is, certainly knows how to cream spinach.  It had a little bit of toastiness on top from the cooking process which gave it a lot of added flavor. 

Mom loved her chicken parmigiana.  The breaded breast was pan-seared and topped with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses.  (It comes with a fresh basil chiffonade on top, but Mom asked for it to be left off.)  It came with a side of marinara sauce and her chosen angel hair pasta.  The chicken cut easily and was beautifully white inside.  The breading wasn’t too thick and was quite flavorful.  The angel hair was cooked nicely al dente which is hard to do because of the thinness of the pasta, and the sauce was pleasingly seasoned.  Mom also enjoyed her side of toasted, buttery garlic bread.

Kaelan returned to ask if we wanted coffee or dessert, but we could barely move.  This was certainly a divine dining experience.  From the very helpful waitstaff to the friendly hostess and busboy and the eclectic adornments hanging about, we absolutely cannot wait to eat here again.  Our total came to $70.31.  A bit pricey, but worth it for all the top quality food we had.

I have no idea why we waited so long to visit the Brick Alley Pub.  All of my parking and crowd concerns didn’t seem to matter anymore.  I’m a pain in the ass when I have to wait to get into a restaurant, but I would actually wait to eat here.  And I’d even consider – wait for it – paying for parking.  It’s that good.

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Newport Cookie Company

471 Thames St.

Newport, RI  02840

(401) 619-5671

www.newportcookie.com

July 24, 2014

Mom and I have been driving past the Newport Cookie Company for a while now, each time trying to take a whiff of the freshly baked cookies through the open car windows.  There’s never a good place to park on Thames Street, so it was fantastic luck that a car was backing out of a space just as we were about to pass the store.  Mom – who never wants to get out of the car unless it’s important – grabbed her wallet and ran inside while I stayed with the car since it didn’t completely fit in the parking space.  Newport problems!

I did get to go inside for a just a minute while Mom stood at the counter looking over the display cases.  The whole place smelled like a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie, and that’s exactly what we were going to get.  Mom decided on six large chocolate chip walnut cookies (our favorite), which came to $9.72.  They were placed in a cute pink box and before I knew it, Mom was heading back to the car.  Despite the fact that my car was probably parked illegally, I put it in park so that we could each try a cookie right on the spot.

The cookies – which were still warm – were excellent.  The chocolate chip walnut was one of the most flavorful and perfect cookies we’ve ever had.  The chocolate chips were still melty and the walnuts were large and crunchy.  The cookie texture itself was firm around the rim but soft in the middle.  It had obviously just been made and the taste was superb.  Well worth almost getting a parking ticket for.

Newport Cookie Company is famous for its “cakeballs,” which come in a variety of different flavors like red velvet, lemon and German chocolate and different shapes like sea shells, flowers and pineapples.  They also serve cupcakes and other kinds of cookies which can be customized for a wedding.  I also spotted an ice cream case serving Gifford's brand ice cream.

It’s also open late, which is how we originally spotted it.  Mom and I love to drive around Newport on Saturday nights because there’s a lot of excitement around every corner.  We often see people lining up inside for a late night cookie or cakeball.  We are looking forward to trying more of their baked goods.

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Eastwind Lobster

2 Main St.

Buzzards Bay, MA  02532

(508) 759-1857

www.eastwindlobster.com

July 18, 2014                      

We were headed “down the Cape” for the afternoon and wanted to try out a new restaurant, but we were having trouble deciding between two possibilities – one located over the bridge and the other just before it.  Before we knew it, our empty stomachs decided to cast the winning vote and chose the closer of the two – Eastwind Lobster in Buzzards Bay.

Mom had read great reviews online, so naturally we just had to pay a visit.  To be honest, the restaurant looks more like a bait and tackle shop from the outside.  I almost missed it completely until Mom shouted, “There it is!”  Since you can never judge a book by its cover – and since places like this usually serve fantastic food – we went inside for a seafood meal.

As we were walking in past a small outdoor patio we noticed a list of specials with prices – high prices.  You never know with seafood; sometimes it’s going to be high, sometimes it’s not.  We were just hoping that the portions were appropriate to the cost.  

After a few seconds of deciding what we wanted to eat (click here to view the menu), I placed the order with the cashier.  We chose two bottled sodas ($3.76 total), an order of fish and chips ($10.99), a clam strip roll ($9.99), clam fritters ($3.99) and a cup of chowder ($3.75).  The total came to $34.75.  The cashier took my name and told me that she would call me when our food was ready, but she handed me my chowder right away, which was piping hot.  Mom and I decided to sit outside on the covered deck, which overlooked the Buzzards Bay Marina.

We chose a picnic table and I dug into my chowder.  It was excellent.  The broth was perfectly seasoned and the texture was thick and creamy.  There was a ton of clams – and I mean a ton.  Fresh clams in every bite, and that’s something that doesn’t happen often.  You can’t beat homemade chowder, and this one was fantastic.

Before I knew it, my name was called and the food was ready.  When I went inside to pick it up, I started laughing when I saw the fritters.  They were huge!  Unfortunately, my clam strip roll was not.

It’s no secret that I love to eat.  I’ve had clam strip rolls in dozens of restaurants and I have to say that this was, by far, the skimpiest.  The skinny strips – which were greasier than I prefer – were perfectly seated in the toasted roll.  The last two times I ordered a clam strip roll, I had to eat half of the strips off the top before the roll was even noticeable.  I guess that’s what I was expecting on this visit, however, the sandwich was tasty.  I squeezed fresh lemon over the roll to give my sweet strips some tartness.  The strips – contrary to popular belief from anyone who prefers clam bellies – were tender and meaty.  The fries were good.

Mom’s fish and chip plate was also on the small side – especially where the fish was concerned.  Although they were thick, the pieces seemed kind of tiny.  She did enjoy the taste of the fish, which was white and flaky inside of its thin, dry coating.  She liked the fries, but they were nothing to write home about.

We finally decided to try one of the baseball-sized fritters.  I was the first to have one and unfortunately I was quickly disappointed.  The fritter was way too doughy – a result of the enormous size.  It tasted undercooked.  The coating was crisp, but the inside was almost flavorless and I really don’t remember seeing any clams.  It was just bread, bread and more bread.  Mom didn’t care for them either.  I think they need to shrink the fritters and perhaps cook them a bit longer.  There’s no use serving a show stopping appetizer if it’s not going to taste good.

As we were eating outside and listening to a nearby radio, we heard a gentleman announce that the raw bar was open.  When we were leaving, was passed a little shack where there were fresh oysters displayed on ice.  People were already lining up, so I assume this is a very popular offering.  I would like to try an oyster one day, but I’m scared that I’m going to hate it!  Plus, I don’t want to pay for something I’m not going to like.  So if you see me in a restaurant and you’re eating oysters, please let me try one.  And while you’re at it, please show me how to eat the damn thing.

Will we be back to Eastwind?  I don’t want to say no, but I will say that we won’t rush there.  I think you can get more for your money elsewhere, even though the food wasn’t bad.  It was just “ok” in our book, but you should definitely try it out for yourself.  Make sure to get the chowder!

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Not Your Average Joe's

1125 Fall River Ave.

Seekonk, MA  02771

(508) 343-5637

www.notyouraveragejoes.com

July 12, 2014

When I first started dining at the Not Your Average Joe’s in Dartmouth many years ago with a friend, I repeatedly ordered the same thing – the Mezzaluna.  The Mezzaluna was spinach ravioli stuffed with artichokes, a three-cheese blend, prosciutto and sundried tomatoes.  Sometimes we’d get the Devil’s Tower for dessert – two devil’s food cake “towers” served with vanilla ice cream, fresh whipped cream, hot fudge and caramel.  Unfortunately both of these dishes went the same way as the friendship – they disappeared due to unknown circumstances.  Fortunately for me, NYAJ decided to bring them back as part of their 20^th anniversary celebration.

When Mom first told me about the return of the Mezzaluna and the Devil’s Tower, I freaked out.  I have mentioned them often throughout the years, and they’ve both been gone for at least a decade or more.  Although I needed absolutely no convincing to have dinner at NYAJ, Mom wasn’t exactly on board.  “It’s not my favorite,” she said.  NYAJ has a bit of an eclectic menu (click here to view) and for a plain eater like Mom, sometimes ordering can get a bit tricky.  With that being said, she found a few things on the menu she could choose from and so off we went.

Mom and I were seated quickly and our waitress – Abby – took our drink order.  We both ordered Diet Pepsi ($2.99 each). Now we hadn’t been to NYAJ in a while, so I was really looking forward to having the complimentary bread and oil.  The bread and oil at NYAJ has always been one of my favorite starters, but unfortunately the bread on this visit was a bit overcooked and some of the caramelized onions on top were burnt to a crisp.  The cheesy/garlicky oil tasted very good and so did the inside of the dense bread.  I guess we could have asked for another basket, but we wanted to concentrate on our meal.

I didn’t even look at the menu except to make sure that the Mezzaluna ($12.99 – lunch portion) and Devil’s Tower ($7.50) were still on it.  What I did notice was that they would only be offered through July 15!  It’s a good thing that we stopped in when we did.  I would have been crushed if I’d missed having them one last time.  Mom decided to get the Anything but Average Meatloaf ($11.99 – lunch portion), which was stuffed with fresh mozzarella.  It came with sautéed veggies, barbecue gravy and mashed potatoes, but Mom told Abby to leave the veggies off.

It didn’t take long before our food arrived.  Both plates were presented beautifully and I almost cried because my Mezzaluna looked – and smelled – exactly the same as it did all those years ago.  Mom’s meatloaf came in a fashionable tower with mashed potatoes on the bottom, meatloaf in the middle and more potatoes and onion straws on top.

I couldn’t wait.  I cut a bit of my ravioli, a piece of tomato, a piece of prosciutto and scooped up some of the delicious cheese sauce to make the perfect bite (like Barbara Streisand’s character in “The Mirror Has Two Faces”).  The taste was unbelievable.  It was like stepping back in time because it was just as I remembered.  The salty prosciutto and the creamy cheese were perfect together and the ravioli were stuffed with flavorful filling.  I tried to eat at a slow pace so that I could make it last, but eventually I was done.  I even ate the little scallions that were on top.  It was fantastic.

Mom – who didn’t even want to come to NYAJ – loved her meatloaf.  The portion was perfect and the mozzarella inside was just enough so that the whole meatloaf wasn’t dripping with cheese.  The barbecue sauce was tasty and the mashed potatoes – garlic she said – gave everything a punch of flavor.  She said the meat was cooked perfectly and nicely spiced (she could taste the little bits of onions and peppers mixed in) and she would get this meal again in a heartbeat.  So much for not being able to find anything on the menu!

During the meal I was kicking myself for not ordering a non-alcoholic cucumber mint spritzer ($3.99).  It just sounded so cool and refreshing, so we had Abby bring one over (Mom didn’t want any) and it was even better than I imagined.  There was a ton of cucumber flavor mixed with lemon, lime and mint.  It was made with soda water so it was nice and bubbly.  The whole restaurant experience was getting better by the second!

We decided to finish off with the Devil’s Tower.  Abby brought it over and it looked just as I remembered – two cake triangles sitting in a deep dish of ice cream, whipped cream and tasty sauces.  As full as we were, we each took a slice and ate every crumb.  The whipped cream was cool and tasty, the ice cream was great and the sauces were thick and rich.  This is just the sort of dessert that Mom dies over because – being a plain eater – one of her favorite things to have is a piece of plain cake with either whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.  It was the perfect ending to our fabulous lunch.

Our total came to $45.42.  During the meal a manager came over to ask us how everything was going.  The NYAJ staff – from the host to Abby to the manager – was very professional and seemed to really care about doing their jobs well.  They even had a nifty way to take a survey.  They handed me what looked like a painter’s palatte with a cell phone stuck to it.  I’m not a texter so it must have been quite comical watching me complete the electronic survey.  Oh, and for the record, the dining room chairs were extremely comfortable.

I don’t know if I’ll ever have the Mezzaluna or the Devil’s Tower again, but I know we’ll be back to Not Your Average Joe’s.  We had a wonderful time, the service was excellent and the food was amazing.  My throwback lunch was a lot of fun and I even contacted my old friend to tell him that our favorite dish had been resurrected!  As for the friendship – not so much.  Oh well.  We’ll always have Mezzaluna.

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Aquidneck Pizza

27 Aquidneck Ave.

Middletown, RI  02842

(401) 849-3356

www.aqpizza.com

July 12, 2014

Mom and I have been going to Aquidneck Pizza for years.  A friend turned me onto their delicious pies in the late 1990’s, and since then I’ve taken – and suggested it to – most of my family and friends.  This is my sister Mallory’s favorite pizza of all time, so naturally Mom and I were super excited about stopping in for a late night slice … or more.

We arrived at around 10 p.m. after taking a fun drive through busy Newport.  We like to see the people in the streets and smell the delicious food coming from the restaurants.  Even though we could have chosen any “hot spot” to visit, we wanted Aquidneck Pizza – a double decker restaurant that has late night/early morning hours and delicious food.

Mom and I ordered our favorite – a large extra-cheese pizza ($11.79) – and two Diet Cokes ($2 each).  Our total came to $17.05.  We took a table at the back of the restaurant and waited for our pizza, which came out fast and smelled fantastic.

It’s funny, because if you ask us what our favorite pizza is, we will give you about four or five different answers.  We like different pizzas for different reasons, for example:

• Best bar pie:  Cape Cod Café, Brockton/Raynham/Bridgewater, MA
• Best “old school” pizza:  Caserta Pizzeria, Providence, RI
• Best four cheese pizza:  Spumoni’s Restaurant, Pawtucket, RI
• Best crust:  Federal Hill Pizza, Warren, RI
• Best delivery chain pizza:  Papa Gino’s, various locations

As for Aquidneck Pizza, we would rate this as our best “all-around-awesome” pizza.  Every time we have it, it’s like we’re having it for the first time.  The taste is outstanding, there is always a perfect amount of cheese and sauce and the crust is nicely crisp.  It really is a perfect pizza.  Just ask my sister!  To her, it is the only pizza place that matters.

Once Mom and I dug into our pizza, there was no stopping us.  Before we knew it there was nothing left on the pan and we were rolling back into the parking lot.  Our waitress was awesome and the restaurant is always clean and neat.  It actually has one of Mom’s favorite public restrooms because everything has been modernized.

I can picture gaggles of drunk college kids stumbling into Aquidneck from the beach bars to sober up with some pizza or perhaps one of their breakfast dishes (click here to view the menu).  You really can’t go wrong with anything at “AQ.”  We’ll be back!

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Purefections Chocolate

102 Franklin St.

Quincy, MA  02169

(617) 328-6248

www.purefectionschocolate.com

July 10, 2014

Mom and I love getting our chocolate on, and since we found ourselves in Quincy having lunch at The Clam Box, we knew just the place to satisfy our sweet tooth.

We’ve been to Purefections Chocolate one other time, and we both thought that it was some of the best chocolate we’ve ever had.  We’ve tried Hilliard’s, Sweenor’s, Dorothy Cox, Godiva and many other candies from local chocolatiers, but the offerings at Purefections were top notch – especially the P2C2.

The P2C2 (pronounced “P squared, C squared”) is a nicely sized piece of Belgian chocolate mixed with peanut butter, caramel and a salted potato crunch.  “A salty sweet treat” notes the wrapper.  It comes in milk, dark and – we found out today – white chocolate.  The P2C2 is probably the tastiest candy bar you’ll ever have, which is why it has been featured on several food-themed television programs.

Obviously Mom and I were there to score some P2C2 (both milk and white), but we also chose two milk chocolate tartarugas with spiced pecans, two milk chocolate cashew clusters, two pieces of milk chocolate almond toffee, two peanut butter and marshmallow cups and two dark chocolate lavender truffles.  Mostly everything at Purefections is made with different types of chocolate, but Mom and I tend to favor milk over dark (even though white is our real favorite).  Our total came to $38.50.  Is this a lot to pay for chocolate?  Yes, but A) we’re never in Quincy and B) it is delicious and worth every penny.

The P2C2 was just as good as we remembered.  The pieces of potato crisp are minced so that you get a tiny bit of texture in every bite (think Nestle’s Crunch).  The chocolate on each candy was very creamy, and Mom marveled at the fact that the candy (even the white chocolate!) wasn’t overly sweet – it was rich and flavorful.  You get what you pay for.  The delicious turtles, cups and clusters were filled with their requisite ingredients and were fantastic.  The toffee was very tasty and the lavender truffle was crazy because it tasted just like lavender smells – only less harsh and surrounded by sweet dark chocolate.  Everything was amazing.

Purefections is definitely one of the greats.  You can order online (click here) or stop inside and choose something from the display case.  Make sure to pay attention because the store is small and barely noticeable from the street.  Once inside, be sure to get their signature P2C2.  You will thank us.

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