Newport, RI My weekend Reviews

[RPMcMurphy]

Girlfriend surprised me and planned a trip to Newport, RI this weekend for my birthday.

Friday Lunch - Asterisk - We were the only ones in there, understandable as it was friday afternoon in the off season. I had the "Restaurant week special" Goatcheese, Spinach, and Duck Confit pizza and cabbage soup....mine was good. Girlfriend hated her fish and chips.

Friday Dinner - 22 Bowens - Ordered a 6 peppercorn encrusted sirloin with a cognac sauce and she ordered a petite filet. both EXCELLENT. its nice to order a steak medium rare and get it medium rare! I had a wedge salad before hand (sorry) and she had clam chowder. Desserts were good too, I forget what it was, but almost a cappuccino custard. Service was great. Atmosphere was great, except the pretentious guy with his new finance at the other table who wanted to chat up the GM all night about wine. GM just wanted to get the **** out of there....

Saturday Lunch - Brick Alley Pub - Great. Burger and fries and hotwings...THIS place is what Fridays should aim to be....had that applebees atmosphere only real, with good food and GREAT service (hot towels after wings sold me on service!). Girlfriend had a salad with crab salad.

Saturday Dinner - Mama Luisas - GREAT atmosphere, in an old house....very cozy. Food was excellent and I almost turned into the guy above by asking about italian wines and pairings, the waitress said 1 second and the owner, Marco came over with excitement to recommend a nice bottle of wine to pair with my Bolognese. I had carpaccio for appetizer, and the bolognese for lunch, tiramisu for dessert (can't get more classic than that I guess) girlfriend had pasta fagioli soup and whatever the pasta special was, I forget, but it was excellent. Service was GREAT and sure the food wasn't like I was in italy, but it was a great overall experience. I'd recommend this place as #1 if you visit. Fair priced as well. What made our night is another young couple was there for their 1yr anniversary sitting next to us and sitting next to them was another couple who were celebrating their 39yr.....the younger couple, had dessert sent to the others table, and that wowed me...there is hope for todays youth...then they left...when the older couple asked for the check, the waitress said the younger couple picked up the whole tab! finally, a glimmer of hope!

This morning we stopped in Mystic for Brunch on a whim....Seamens Inn, buffet, 22pp, and it was "OK"....Who doesn't put out scrambled eggs at a breakfast/brunch buffet? Sure they had Benny, but.....staff was "eh"

So, overall just 1 bad experience with my girlfriends lunch on friday and that's it..not bad for a not-new-york city....

I know I know...we missed a bunch of other good restaurants, but we'll be back.....

[boar_d_laze]

Sounds great. 3 questions:

What does the wife say about your taking the weekend with the GF?

How did the peppercorn sirloin compare to yours? And did GF have anything to say about that?

BDL

[RPMcMurphy]

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

Sounds great. 3 questions:

What does the wife say about your taking the weekend with the GF?

How did the peppercorn sirloin compare to yours? And did GF have anything to say about that?

BDL

Haha, one is more than enough!

The peppercorn sirloin was much different, so I can't really compare....the pan sauce was comparable, but the steak I had there was literally like biting through a peppercorn crust, pretty much breaded with pepercorns. Interesting taste that I was actually looking for instead of just a "plain ol steak" (which is strange and rare for me!)

Girlfriend is quite the girlfriend, she of course said that my (your) cognac peppercorn sauce was a little better, she said the sauce at the place used more cream than I did...