Pizza King on the Lake

 Average Joe is a pizza connoisseur.  He won't eat pizza just anywhere, he has a few favorites.  And when I met him, he was delighted to introduce me to a place he'd been coming to since the beginning of time, Pizza King in East Killingly, CT.  He said "You're not going to believe this place, the pizza is slammin'! And it's in the middle of the woods, in the middle of NOWHERE!  And it looks just like something out of a Coors silver bullet commercial!"  And he was not lying.  He was not lying about the pizza, either. 

The view from the back deck in the fall

I had heard about this place since I was a teenager.  But growing up in South County, a lot of people get...well, stuck in South County.  There's a weird sort of mentality that precludes you driving more than 10 miles in any direction.  You have to drive all the way out Rt. 6, take a right down a narrow winding road, take a left onto a REALLY narrow road, and up a long dirt driveway to get there. So I'd never been.   The place has apparently been through a lot of changes over the years, but now you can go in anytime Thursday through Sunday and find Buddy holding court and making you feel like you're part of the family.  There's plenty of room for dining; in the winter you can huddle up next to the fireplace if you like (I do), and in the summer you can eat on the deck and marvel at the quiet beauty of the lake in back.

There are loads of options on the menu, but what we usually go with are spinach, feta, tomatoes and mushrooms.  Joe likes chicken on his half.  The pizza is thick and loaded with cheese, they are not shy with their toppings. Absolutely delicious.

Wings are one of the Pizza King specialties.  There are various degrees of hot sauce you can select, and I'm told that if you choose the XXX sauce, it comes with a personal visit to your table from Buddy, who will explain just HOW hot it is and try to talk you out of it.  A full selection of burgers, salads, pasta, grinders and Starlets' famous pies are also available if pizza is not your thing. 

Pizza King seems to be a very popular place for birthday parties.  A lot of the times we've been there on a weekend, there's been a party going on, and Joe says he had his 50th birthday there. 

One of the items on the menu is "a bowl of junk".  In one of my earlier visits, I got a big kick out of this and posted a photo of that menu listing on my facebook page as we were waiting for our pizza.  About 2 minutes later, Buddy came over to our table and explained what a bowl of junk was.  So he clearly pays attention to his facebook page!

So, what's a bowl of junk?  You just have to go to Pizza King and find out for yourself.  It's worth the trip, even from South County.  430 Ledge Road, East Killingly, CT.

Alaina's Ale House

"Pie and Pint Night", someone said to me last summer, "My boyfriend and I go every week, it's great!"  Pie and Pint night?? Never heard of such a thing.  And truly, it shouldn't have taken us so long to go check it out, but we finally made it over to Alaina's Ale House, 343 Kingstown Road in Richmond (at the Beaver River Golf Course).

Alaina's opened up last year, and while my friends raved to me about the food, Joe and I had not managed to work Pie and Pint Night into our schedule until last week.  The forecast had called for snow, but we don't have far to go so we ventured out for a late dinner.  It was coming down pretty hard by the time we got there, so we were the only diners in the place...just a few people at the bar.  Alaina's is not a big place, but it's VERY nice in there, classy like you'd expect at a country club but at the same time, very down-to-earth and the people are very friendly.  We were greeted by the manager, Chris, and the one server on duty (whose name I can't recall and this is why I should write these things right away!)

There were 4 pot pies on the menu, and a limited selection of beers for the deal; Joe chose the chicken pot pie and a pint of Harp.  He said it was the best pot pie he'd ever had, and he's a pot pie fan.  It was a good-sized pie, served in the cast-iron frying pan in which it was cooked, and I could see it was filled with big chunks of white meat and veggies.  I confess I don't care for beer, and as a (mostly) vegetarian I wasn't into the pies, so I went for the sweet potato veggie burger.  I usually stay away from veggie burgers when I eat out, as they tend to be premade/frozen little hockey pucks filled with unidentifiable but colorful chunks.  Not so at Alaina's;  it was a very tasty house-made patty, and a pretty big one at that.  My only suggestion was that it could have come with some sort of hummus or chipotle mayo or something on it; it didn't REALLY need it but I was offered ketchup and while I understand this is not a veggie restaurant, ketchup doesn't really go with a veggie burger in my opinion.  Just my opinion.  But it was really good, and it came with a side.  I wasn't feeling the fries so I went with green beans, which were cooked to perfection, not mushy.

In a rare display of gluttony, we decided to go with dessert.  What got our attention was when our server said "apple crisp with ice cream".  We got one and shared it, which was a good thing (for us) because it was a pretty big serving.  Delicious!

We will be back to Alaina's, there are quite a few things on the menu that we need to try.  They have  live entertainment on the weekends (which in the summer moves out to the back where there is outdoor dining too), as well as karaoke and other fun stuff.  Follow them on Facebook to keep updated!