come dine with me...

Went to Rodízio at Inman Square in Cambridge, MA today with elder son, CF, and his SO, CB. We scouted out about 'a trillion' restaurants before settling on this one.

It looked very authentic from the outside and had a good crowd in there eating [the day after Thanksgiving, no less!].
And it was so cold the open ovens were very inviting.

Cf and I both opted for the Rodízio [A Brazilian Barbeque Banquet]; mine with a Brahma Brazilian beer.

There was Salad Bar and Hot Food Bar to start. The salad bar was ignored except for the Chicken Salad which was very good. The Hot Food Bar had Rice, Beans [habichuelas], Sweet Plaintains, Chicken Wings, Roast Chicken and a Ground Beef Dish with Corn that looked good. Garbanzo Bean Salad, too.

The servers then came around with braziers of various meats and carved them at the table. I remember Pork, Chicken wrapped in Bacon, Roast Beef, Brazilian Sausage, Kielbasi but NO Lamb [they had run out of it tonight!!!].

CB is a vegetarian so she ordered the Fish equivalent to our rodízios. This was a huge portion of Fish Stew in a Oniony Tomato Sauce. This was accompanied by Black Beans [frijoles negros] and a serving of Tomato Sauce thickened with Yucca Flour.

There was a Dessert Bar also. From it I had two servings of Rice Pudding and CF ate up lots of the Strawberry and Chocolate ice creams.

The winners were [of course] the Meats, the Tomato Sauce with Yucca Flour and the Garbanzo Bean Salad.

bloginfo: The Rodízio were $22.95 per person.

MER and I went to lunch at the Tavern at the Armory in the Inn at Middletown on Main Street.

We shared a Sauté Brie Salad with sunflower seeds and a black raspberry vinaigrette.

MER [on my recommendtion] had the Tavern Surf and Turf Burger which was a Black Angus beef burger with Lobster, Havarti Cheese, Tarragon Aioli and Tavern Fries. It was cooked medium as requested and had a great charcoal tasting crust [$10.95].

I had the Tavern Lunch Special [$9.95] of Dry Rub Pork Spare Ribs with Coleslaw and Tavern Baked Beans. This was a good sized portion and very tasty. The dry rub on the ribs had a good bite to it.

We skipped dessert and didn't even look at the Dessert Menu. What willpower!

The winner was the Surf and Turf Burger.

Went alone today after church to DISHES on Farmington Avenue in Hartford. This is the site of the original Aetna Diner which I saw being setup in 1948. I lived across the street at 288 Laurel with Aunt Kiki. This building has housed many a different establishment since being the Aetna Diner. Hope this one stays; it's a winner.

I had the Buttermilk Pancakes [3 big ones], a generous helping of crisp thick Bacon and a delicious cupful of Grits. This along with four cups of Coffee came to $6.89! The cups and saucers are wild.

The winner was the whole experience of being back in the neighborhood where I grew up. And the Bacon ruled!

bloginfo: DISHES is located at 267 Farmington Avenue. Telephone 525-3474. Breakfast served all day on Saturday and Sunday. And they are open until 4am on the weekends.

The MSG [Middlesex Society of Genealogists] met today at Baci Grill in Cromwell. Actually this group from NEAC [gym] is just an excuse to go out to lunch. Sometimes we talk about our genealogy work but not much got discussed today except for the menu!

There were five of us: LMcN, BMcN, JCf, JCm, and Mofongoman. BMcN and I each had the Guinness Skirt Steak Sandwich [on a Ciabatta Roll and not as a Wrap] with Caramelized Onions, Sautéed Mushrooms and Swiss Cheese with a Country Salad with Creamy Gorgonzola Dressing. LMcN and JCm each had the Pasta Special of Chicken Parmiagiana over Penne. JCf had the Pan Seared Scallops with Shiitake Mushrooms, Spinach Radicchio, Soy Sauce, Lemon, Ginger and Hot Peppers over Cappellini.

Three desserts [out of five offered] got sampled: Key Lime Tart, Tiramisu and a tart of Chocolate/Peanut Butter Mousse with a Chocolate Ganache.

The winners were the Steak Sandwich and ALL of the desserts.

Bloginfo: Eric was our waitperson and did an excellent job. Must be that BrewBaker's connection!
www.bacigrill.com

Had a great lunch today the Jasper White's Summer Shack at the Mohegan Sun Casino.

The lunch special was a Fish Taco. This was a beautifully plated dish of three flat tacos spread with sour cream, piled with a dry slaw, dotted with tender fried Fish nuggets, heaped with fresh salsa and adorned with stripes of Chipotle Aioli and festooned with lime quarters. Never thought Mofongoman could get poetic about fried fish? Well he could and did!

The winner was the quality of fish, the artistic plating and the price of $12.

blog info: http://www.mohegansun.com/index.jsp

Lunch [or rather luncheon] at Ann Howard Apricots today with EDuB. She was up from Pensacola and in her Farmington Woods condo. Had to do lunch before she went back 'down South'.

We both had a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. She ordered one of the day's specials of Grilled Striped Bass with Crispy Corn and Crab Potato Cake with a Lemon Beurre Blanc. It came with assorted baby vegetables.

I ordered the soup of the day: Butternut Squash/Apple Cider Bisque and it was delicious and creamy and piping hot. Followed with the Warm Lamb over Wilted Spinach Salad with Lardons, Feta and Portabella Mushrooms. Rich and good and filling. EDuB skipped dessert and I should have but had to have the special dessert of the day: Pumpkin Bread Pudding served with Vanilla Ice Cream and a Caramel Sauce. Wow; rich and rich and rich and gooey!

What a beautiful setting on the Farmington River and the weather was a perfect Indian Summer afternoon.

I had all the winners: the Soup, the Lamb Salad and the Pumpkin dessert.

bloginfo: Apricots is located at 1593 Farmington Avenue, in Farmington.
Telephone: 860.673.5405. There are three dining options: downstairs informal, upstairs more formal [both with river views] and the bar. All have the same menu for lunch.

And happily we did! Located at 228 Pearl Street in Hartford is the Bin228 Panini and Wine Bar. We went there after seeing "The Retreat from Moscow" at TheaterWorks. Great play!

We [MER, NO, TD and Mofongoman] started with a bottle of a San Giovese Red [$29] and an Olive Bowl [$4], Fig Prosciutto Bruschetta [$4 and a bargain] and the Paté Special Plate [with a Pheasant paté] of the evening. MER and I split a Goat Cheese Salad [$7] and each had the Chicken Pesto Panini [all panini are $8 and served over a mini-pasta salad]. NO and TD each had the soup of the evening: Seafood Chowder [$4.50 a bowl] of Swordfish, Salmon, MahiMahi and Tilapia. NO had the Coppa Sopresata Panini [minus the cherry peppers, tomatoes instead please] and TD had the Chicken and Tomato Panini [and a glass of white wine $6.50].

Watch out, the servings are very good size and we did overorder. But the leftover Panini will do well as tomorrow's lunches. Kate was our server and was excellent. We didn't even feel put upon having to leave at 6:30 as the restaurant is very well booked. They were able to reserve us a table after the play if we would finish by 6:30.

The winners were EVERYTHING! No losers here.

bloginfo: http://www.bin228winebar.com/
telephone: 860-244-WINE

And that's the name of the restaurant, too. Soup's On!!! is at 295B Ives Road in Wallingford near the Shaw's Plaza on Route 5. Telephone is (203) 269-3303.

BN, JC and I went there after the Y's Men meeting in Meriden. BN had one of the lunch specials [$7.99] of Roast Beef Sandwich Au Jus on a Grinder Roll. It came with a 20 oz soft drink and Sweet Potato Fries. Looked a little too well done for me but he said the meat was tender. The fries were good [I 'borrowed' one].

JC and I each had the Pulled Pork Sandwich on a Roll. This was a great choice. The pork was tender, sweet and had a good 'bite' to it. The roll was excellent. It had melted American Cheese on it and was garnished with a lettuce leaf and red cabbage which found their way into my sandwich.

I also ordered a cup of soup [Soup's On!!! - get the message]. There were several varieties and mine was Garbanzo and Three Sausage Soup [hot Italian, sweet Italian and chorizo]. The broth was tomato based with a green [kale?] and was very tasty. The soup came home with me for dinner as the sandwich was very filling. My order came to $8.96 with tax.

The winner was the Pulled Pork!

Went here again today for coffee [senior discount day] and sat outside for a while. Believe it or not, it was warm enough on November 1st to do that!

Here is the review from last November [when there were two of us] which I cannot find. Probably streaming around cyberspace somewhere:

Best place for coffee in Middletown is BrewBakers on Main Street. Went there again today. Too cold to sit outside at an umbrella table [great for iced coffee in the summer though] but it was nice and warm inside. Got one free coffee with my completed 10 punched Coffee Club card. It wasn' t Tuesday or Wednesday so no senior discount. Everyone is so nice here; a great place to relax. They have bagels, sandwiches, salads, soups and desserts. The desserts come from Tuscany Grill just across the alley. This is their sister establishment along with Baci Grill in Cromwell.

Info @ www.bacigrill.com/brewbakers.html and also try www.tuscany-grill.com

And the winner is a grilled Asiago Bagel with butter.