Garden Grille, 77 East Ave.,Pawtucket

 

Jane here! Happy fall!  Wanted to let you know about our latest gastronomic discovery.

Apparently, Garden Grille has been open since 1996 and no one told me!  To be fair,  I don't venture into The Big City (which is what many of the locals here in southern RI consider anything north of Coventry) very often in search of sustenance.  But I came across Garden Grille while roaming around Facebook and it has been on my radar for about two years now.

So a couple of weeks ago my bestie and I were prowling around that end of the state, and decided to check it out.  First of all, there are a couple of things about a restaurant that impress me before we even get to the food; the water and the napkins. If you've read some of our other reviews you might have noticed.  The water in some places is just vile, full of chlorine or whatever.  Not here! good water, and they bring you a bottle so you can refill your own.  Napkins: high quality.  There's nothing more aggravating when you're trying to eat a quesadilla or something equally messy and the napkins are flimsy and useless.

Speaking of quesadillas, that's what my friend and I went with that day.  I had the butternut squash quesadilla, and she opted for the mushroom with smoky tofu.  They came with either dairy or vegan cheese; we both opted for dairy.  Both of our meals were fantastic!  Whole wheat tortillas with crispy edges which I never have encountered on a quesadilla, but they were great.  I sampled hers and although it was delicious, I found it quite a bit saltier than mine.  Not a bad thing, unless you're watching your sodium. 

Then today I was finally able to bring Average Joe in for lunch.  I must admit I had the same quesadilla again...it was just that good.  He loved it also, and was impressed that butternut squash lent itself so well to a Mexican dish.  This time I decided to try the vegan cheese.  I have never had any vegan cheese (on the East coast) that was worth eating, but I honestly could not tell the difference. It was delightful.

I also had to try the Island Sweater (I was tempted by the Grille's facebook post), a delicious warm concoction of hot cider, rum, and assorted other delights.  Yum.

I need to mention also that two doors down from Garden Grille is the Wildflour Vegan Bakery Cafe & Juice Bar.  My friend is gluten-free, and we were delighted to find a LOT of gluten-free goodies in there...although we were stuffed with quesadilla so we didn't take full advantage.  That's going to be a separate excursion!

There don't seem to be a lot of vegan/veggie restaurants in Rhode Island but I feel like it's becoming more and more of a thing.  I'll be seeking out other places, just because we're from the other end of the state, but we will definitely be back to Garden Grille when we're in the area because there are a lot of pretty interesting dishes on that menu (like the pizza) that we need to try!

Santo Taco y Cantina, Coventry, RI

WE'RE STILL HERE!!!  Just, you know, trying not to die.  So we've kept our gastronomic adventures to a minimum; frequenting the same places for takeout.  But we're SO looking forward to getting back to our mission to bring you down-to-earth food reviews from every little place we can find!

So today we found ourselves headed to Coventry for lunch and a bike ride.  We haven't found a lot of lunch options available in Coventry, but we happened to remember that a friend of Joe's had told us there was a great new Mexican place in the Center of New England.  We decided to check it out, and without high expectations because we LOVE Mexican food and you never know how it's gonna go.

Well.

Santo Taco is the real deal.  Click here for their website.

Joe had a chicken quesadilla, which although the menu did not specify, came with pico and lettuce in it (some places, just chicken and cheese unless you ask) and he was extremely pleased.  I had the flautas, and they were just delicious!  If I had one comment, I thought they could have come with more salsa verde, but they were done to perfection and had a wonderful flavor.  

Worth mentioning also is the horchata; I don't know what the deal is with horchata, I had suspected that it was made from a mix (kind of like ordering chai and getting Big Train everywhere you go), and it may be, OR maybe these places all have their own recipes.  I suppose I should probably find out.  Anyway, I really loved the horchata here because it had the great flavor but managed to not be gaggingly sweet like some other places I've had it.

The room is spacious and very clean and welcoming, but we are not ready to dine in anywhere yet.  The lovely gentleman who greeted me at the door brought our food out to the car when it was ready.  I really look forward to when we can go back and enjoy the full dine-in experience; If you're someone who is comfortable with that, I think you'll be very pleased.  Check out their online menu, which also includes a full selection of tequila and cocktails (and sangria!  That'll be next time!)

Joe and I both agreed wholeheartedly that we can't wait to go back and try some more of their menu; I know he's got his heart set on some chicken tamales.

This place is set in an area that, unless you're shopping at one of the big box stores in Center of New England, you might not think to venture into for lunch--other than the options presented to you when you first turn in (you know the ones, don't make me say them).  PLEASE go to Santo Taco!  They have only been open since the beginning of this year, and we want to make sure they stay in business for a good long time!!