Zip's Diner

Since our travels today took us up to the wild and uncharted territory known as northeastern Connecticut,  we planned to stop at Zip's Diner, located at Rt. 101 & 12 in Dayville.  We went there once before, but it's not an area we frequent so it's been a while.

 First, let me (Jane) state that we are both big fans of diners in general.  The whole atmosphere is inviting.  And if you are out on a busy day doing lots of errands (which we usually are) and find yourself needing some lunch, you can usually find one within a reasonable distance from wherever you are where you can grab a quick meal that won't break you and is a step up from a fast-food joint.  Having said that, although we love diners, we try to not visit them TOO often because while the food is decent, it's not by any means what you call "healthy". Lots of fried stuff, salty stuff, comfort food. And no matter what you might infer from our reviews, we do eat healthy most of the time.

Anyway, what we've realized is that diner food is pretty much the same everywhere.  Mostly the same stuff on the menu, all pretty good.  You've been to diners, you know the score.  So I'm not going to review the food at Zip's even though it was good (except the frappes, they were exceptional).

What I AM going to review is Zip's itself.  The diner opened in its current location in 1954, and has a long and interesting history.  The place is bright and cheery, and very clean.  It has the added appeal of being open 6AM-9PM every day!  A lot of diners close at 2 or 3 in the afternoon, which is inconvenient because not all of us follow the same schedule.

We were enjoying our frappes and waiting for dinner...it was kind of quiet, a few diners in there...when in walked Paul.  As I said we are not regulars in that area, but apparently Paul is because everyone, from every single employee to several of the patrons, greeted Paul by name as if he was everyone's best friend.  He sat at the counter and was immediately served his coffee just the way he likes it, without even having to ask.  That's the kind of place Zip's is, and it makes you want to be a regular, too.

As far as I'm concerned, though, the real star of the show was Michelle, our server.  She waited on us both times that we've been to Zip's, and she's an absolute ray of sunshine.  I wish everyone who has that job could have her personality.

So yeah, go to Zip's.  It's a fun place and the food won't disappoint.  Ask for Michelle!

Dante's Kitchen

We love our lazy mornings at home, taking our time over coffee and tea and what-have-you, but once in a while we'll go out for breakfast (which usually turns out to be brunch, by the time we get our lazy selves out of the house), and so it was on Valentine's Day.  We'd seen Dante's Kitchen, 315 Main Street, East Greenwich advertised in the area magazines for quite some time, and it was on the list, so....today was the day.

When we got there, it was slammed!  Not really surprising, because East Greenwich seems to be a really hot destination for people who love to eat and no matter where we stop in, there's always a bunch of people who had the same idea.  The atmosphere was very cozy and welcoming, and despite the crowd the wait staff was right on top of things and got to us right away.  French vanilla coffee was our beverage of choice.  Lots of southern-inspired goodness on the menu!  After much consideration, Joe decided on the veggie breakfast burrito, which I also wanted but it contains scrambled eggs, which I can't do.  As there was no scrambled tofu option to replace the eggs,  I went with one of the day's specials, apple-cinnamon pancakes.  Joe was very pleased with the burrito.  It came with a side of home fries, which I DID sample, and even though home fries sound like a simple thing it's worth mentioning that Dante's Kitchen is really good at them.  I've had them overcooked, undercooked, greasy, too much seasoning, etc. etc.  but these were done right.  He also got a side of cheddar grits.  They were good too, I mean grits are grits but the addition of the cheese was an interesting twist.

My pancakes were good, and they (the pancakes themselves, topping notwithstanding) tasted different from anywhere else that I've had them.  I could be wrong but it seemed to me to be a marked lack of salt, which I feel is a VERY good thing. They came with whipped cream and some sort of caramel drizzled on them, so no syrup needed (IMHO). 

Only two things we didn't like; I'll refer back to a post Joe recently made on our Facebook page regarding servers.  When you order food, and the server says, "I love that!" or "Excellent choice" that's ok, but when you're in a crowded little restaurant and you can hear your server saying "Excellent choice" to every single customer he's waiting on, it kind of loses its meaning.  The other thing was that after our server brought our check, he kind of disappeared.  I mean, it WAS really busy in there and he wasn't standing around doing nothing, but it's kind of a pet peeve of both of ours; you were right on top of things taking our order and the food came out pretty quickly, but once we're done we want to go.  And don't you want our table for the next customer?

We liked Dante's Kitchen a lot, and will most likely go back.  The food was very good, and above comments notwithstanding, the service was good too.

Condesa Restaurante Mexicano

We love Mexican food.  Almost too much, if that's possible.  So we kept driving by Condesa, 721 Quaker Lane, West Warwick, AFTER we had already had Mexican somewhere else and saying, "we have to try that place". 

Well we finally made it in, and let's just say we both had mixed feelings.

To start, it's a little more upscale than the Mexican places we usually frequent.  The decor is nice, but I found it a little strange that in a place that is more "upscale" the seating reminds me of a more casual place you'd go to have lunch.  There are no booths, and the tables are situated pretty close to each other; we were seated next to a group of people who were pretty boisterous.  Maybe it's just me (Jane, BTW), but if I'm out to a nice dinner I want to be able to talk without yelling over my neighbors.  And the water tastes like bleach.  Yeah, I know, it's city water and that's the way it comes out the tap, but yuck.

The service was great, no problem there.  Our server brought us a big bowl of chips and four different dips, which was fun.  We each ordered a sangria; he the Classic 9 red, and I got the Peach Ginger.  Both were excellent.  Joe has a thing for tamales, so he got an order of the chicken & poblano.  He described them as "lame".  Could only taste the cornmeal, I guess there wasn't much chicken in there.

For dinner I went with the California burrito.  It was between that and an enchilada that also sounded good, but every time I get an enchilada I regret it.  Something about the wet, slimy tortilla I don't like.  So I went with the burrito, and it came on a plate smothered in sauce.  I understand "burrito"means different things everywhere, so maybe that's on me for not asking.  It was ok, that's the best I can give it.  And for $15, I feel like it should be more than just ok.  What it WAS, though, was enormous.  Two of us could have split it and been full.  Joe went with the Pollo Maya, which came with grilled veggies and chipotle mashed potatoes.  He was really happy with it, and I tasted some too.  Very, very good.  The price was around the same.

The consensus?  We won't be going back.  It's a nice place, but you can get better Mexican for a lot less money at a lot of other places.  I wouldn't say don't go there, it wasn't BAD.  It just wasn't for us.

Crazy Burger

It was a dark and dismal day...we were cooped up in the house, too rainy and miserable to play outside...so we took a ride, and ended up at Crazy Burger, 144 Boon Street, Narragansett RI.

A whole lot of people already know about Crazy Burger, judging by the fact that every single time we've been there, it's packed. Sometimes there's a wait line down the sidewalk in front.  Not today, though.  Today our table was waiting.  The atmosphere in here is so interesting!  Local art all over the walls is different almost every time you come in, lights and fun lanterns hanging from the ceiling.  The booths are big and roomy, or you can sit at the bar if you like.  They use cloth napkins, which I like.  I'm a big fan of cutting down on waste. And the water is good.

For those of you who DON'T know, Crazy Burger is not a burger joint.  Well, not JUST a burger joint.  The menu there is unlike any other.  Sure, there are burgers, but some really unusual ones!  And lots of other great stuff too, with a great deal of vegan and vegetarian choices.  On this day, I opted for breakfast for lunch.  Eggs and I don't get along, but their Mexi-tofu is comparable to scrambled eggs with salsa and goat cheese, and it comes with home fries and Brioche.  It's extremely tasty.  (my favorite way to have them, BTW, is in the summertime out on their back patio.  Plants growing everywhere, it's just a whole experience).

Joe went with the honey barbecue chicken enchilada, which he described as a taste bud orgy. It came with a side of seasoned rice that had corn in it (among other things which are a mystery to me) which was also delicious, and cornbread, also delicious.

When I go to a Mexican restaurant, I want to hear Spanish music.  Ditto Asian food=Asian music.  So what was playing that day at Crazy Burger?  Digital Underground's "Humpty Dance".  Perfect :)

So if you haven't been to Crazy Burger, we both highly recommend it!

Anchor Pete's

Jane here...wow, it's been over a year and a half since the last review!  Trust me, we've been eating, but life intervenes and we've both been too busy to post.  Too bad, too, because we've been to lots of great new places but neglected to take notes, so we'll just have to revisit some of them.

However, today we visited Anchor Pete's in Wakefield, RI, and it inspired me to get going on this blog again!

For those of you who might not know, Anchor Pete's is the old Rhody Joe's.  We had gone there several times, but the new place is much better.  The atmosphere is nice, very much more open and bright than it used to be, with a nautical theme (of course) that we both liked.  One thing we noted right away was that the televisions in the dining area were off.  This is a pet peeve of both of ours; we feel like the TVs should be in the bar area.  Televisions on when you're eating are an unpleasant distraction.  There were only a couple of people in the dining room, but then we were there in between the lunch and dinner crowd so not surprising, I guess.  The service was excellent (our server was Shelby).  We both decided on the chicken burrito, one of the specials.  It did not come with fries or chips or anything like that, and that's probably a good thing because it was just the right amount of food for lunch.  Joe says it was probably the best burrito he's ever had, and he loves his burritos!  I must agree, it was very tasty and came with small sides of salsa, sour cream, and guacamole.

The menu stated that it will change weekly, and that was very intriguing to me. Anchor Pete's didn't waste money getting permanent menus made up; the menus are just printed paper which makes sense if the selection is expected to change. The food was so good that we will be back to check out one of the several seafood dishes they offer, and they had some interesting salads on the menu also.

Two thumbs up from both of us for Anchor Pete's.  We encourage everyone to stop in and check them out!

Bravo Wood Fired Pizza, North Kingstown

We're so behind!  It's not that we haven't been eating, goodness knows, it's just that real life keeps us pretty busy.

A few weeks ago, we went back to Bravo Wood Fired Pizza., 6689 Post Road, North Kingstown.  We had been there once before; Living Social had a coupon and we decided to check it out.  I don't want to go into detail about what transpired that night, let's just say things did not go smoothly.  Which was disappointing, because Bravo serves what has to be the best pizza either of us had ever tasted.  The owner, whose name escapes me at the moment, contacted Average Joe in the interest of good customer relations; the two of them resolved the problem and we were happy to give them another try. 

As I said, the pizza is fantastic.  Their website boasts "locally sourced and high quality ingredients" and seriously, you can taste the difference in every bite.  They even offer dessert pizzas and breakfast pizzas, as well as a bunch of other stuff I can't wait to try.  The restaurant menu is here. The place is clean and roomy, and open to the kitchen so you can see the big oven.

Bravo also offers catering services, and they are portable for fairs and festivals!

Please do yourself a favor and try Bravo.  We can't wait to go back!

Maharaja

Vegetable Biryani

It had been a while since we had Indian food, so we decided to go back to a place we'd been once before; Maharaja, 1 Beach Street, Narragansett.  I'm pretty new to Indian food, so I'm still pretty unfamiliar with what to order.  Thank goodness it's pretty well explained on the menu!  And both times we've been here, the wait staff has been exceptionally helpful and friendly.  One thing I've come to realize quickly is that it's all spicy.  VERY spicy.  So spicy, in fact, that when you go to Maharaja and you order and they ask you if you want it mild, medium, or hot, they will warn you (or maybe we just look like newbies) that even the mild is pretty spicy.  And it is.  So be warned.

The first time we went here I had Navarathan Korma, which was a pot full of veggies, nuts, raisins and (of course) spices, served with a pot of rice so you can serve yourself whatever ratio of veggies to rice you like.  It was wonderful.

This time, as we had a Living Social coupon again, we ordered a ridiculous amount of food.  And they start you off with a basket of some sort of bread that's really thin, almost potato chip thin, with three little bowls of assorted sauces for dipping.  I got a cup of coconut soup, which was like heaven in a bowl.  Sweet, with spices.  Average Joe got the lentil soup.  He said it was delicious; I didn't love it so much but that might have been because I was bowled over by my coconut soup.  I usually like lentil.  Anyway, then we had an appetizer, the Samosa Chat.  Vegetable dumplings with chickpeas and yogurt, with sweet and sour condiments.  That was VERY spicy.  For an entree, Joe got the Shrimp Vindaloo (shrimp cooked with potatoes in hot and tangy house gravy), and I opted for the Vegetable Biryani.  This is a one-dish meal with basmati rice, cashews, saffron, and a wide variety of vegetables.  When I tell you they brought me a huge plate, I mean that right now, two days later, I am eating the last of it.  It is quite spicy, but our waiter assured me that he had the chef make it very mild so I can only imagine what it might have been like had I asked for hot.  My mouth is on fire.  Don't get me wrong, I like it.  We also had chai.  And this is REAL chai, not the prepackaged mix; it's not sweet.  You can add sugar of course if you want, but it's not presweetened.

All in all, I have to say we love this place.  I look forward to going back to try something else new.  Average Joe describes eating at Maharaja as like "an orgy in my mouth".  So there you have it.