Savor Providence 2010

After skipping last year’s edition because of torrential rain, I was super excited to return to this year’s Savor Providence, a fundraiser for the fabulous Trinity Rep theatre company. (You may recall my attending 2008’s inaugural event.)

The day started off right with Rhode Island wine and cheese – Sakonnet Vineyards and Narragansett Creamery – in the theater’s lobby. Great stuff! I’ve been aware of Sakonnet wine for years, if not decades. I knew of it when I was a kid (my dad being a bit of a consumer of localish wines) and moreso during my R.I. college days when a few times we enjoyed their Eye of the Storm wine (when we were feeling upscale we’d browse the wines at Haxton’s instead of heading straight to the Natty Ice!) whilst reminiscing about Hurricane Gloria, as New England kids our age tend to do. (It was, aside from the Blizzard of ’78 which for most of us was just an opportunity for our toddler selves to be posed next to snow piles, the main weather memory of everyone’s youth. I doubt you want to hear the story of how school was cancelled that day and I was pissed because it was supposed to be my first day of clarinet lessons and I really needed that first day of lessons in order to figure out how to put the darned thing together. Also, one of our apple trees fell down.)

Anyhoo, they had much tastier wines than that one at Savor Providence. I tried two: the “Petite White NV,” a vidal blanc/gewürztraminer blend which actually had detectable levels of the “white grapefruit flavors” the tasting sheet touted; and the 2007 No Oak Chardonnay, which was delicious. I haven’t had a lot of unoaked chardonnays but really enjoy them every time I do.

And I cannot say ENOUGH about the Narragansett Creamery cheese. Their Atwell’s Gold was fantastic, as was the Salty Sea Feta. (UPDATE: Bought a nice slab of Atwell’s Gold at Sandy’s in Westerly in September! Love it!)

This year’s restaurant list was different than the first year’s, which turned out to be a good thing because otherwise we probably would have just returned to some of the same places that we knew were fabulous – we’re still talking about the mac and cheese at Al Forno – instead of trying new ones. And the addition of cooking demo tents was really nice, even though we only made it to one session.

Here’s a rundown of the highlights:
Aspire, 311 Westminster St.: “Unagi shrimp with wakame salad & toasted sesame; spiced nori encrusted scallop with grilled watermelon.” OMG. LOVE. Why am I not encrusting and grilling more things at home?

Café Noir, 125 N. Main St. They offered steak frites and a “goat cheese tart with sexy greens.” Sexy greens! Say no more. (They actually looked like ordinary greens to me but if you’re gonna stick tiny flowers in ’em and call them “sexy greens” I’m game.) And I’ve certainly never met a goat cheese tart I didn’t like.

Trinity Brewhouse, 186 Fountain St.: We started off here for lunch with the lobster mac and cheese, which I enjoyed with the suggested pint of Rhode Island IPA. Then at the end of the day we finished things off with dessert of “stout brownie sundaes.” Tasty! And a trip to Trinity is not complete without me reminding people that this is where we went for my 21st birthday. It was always my favorite bar in Providence. Still is now that I know they make brownies out of beer.

OK, this isn't a food highlight, but was super excited to learn that as Savor attendees we were entitled to 10 percent off at Craftland. I love love love Craftland. Go! Visit their website! Become a fan of them on Facebook!

Finally, new this year, I tweeted the event. (I know! I just used “tweeted” as a verb!) At one restaurant we were sitting next to someone checking people’s tweets to see what others were saying about the day. (I later figured out it was the ProJo’s food editor; I’ve still got my reporting chops!) So I logged on to Twitter using my mobile phone (for like, the first time ever, I might add) and unleashed one weak tweet about where we went and where we were going next. (I also spelled a word wrong and forgot to add the appropriate hashtag.) My bad. Next year I promise to tweet the event properly.

New NYC Ballpark Food Tour '09, Part One

Well, first off, I doubt I'm going to get to Yankee Stadium before this fall is over, so this will probably only be a one-part series.

Went to Citi Field to see the Mets yesterday. I haven't paid much attention to the Mets since, well, 1986, but I did want to see what the new ballfield was all about. The cheap tickets and chance to hang out with some fun coworkers didn't hurt either.

Mostly, though, I wanted to check out the food, chiefly its Shake Shack outpost. The line was pretty long at first pitch, despite there being only about 100 people in the stadium. So we got regular old dogs and beers and headed to our seats. Well, not our seats. We sat in some empty seats closer to the field than our actual seats (not sure if it was due to the team's performance of late, or the U2 concert).

Here's the food rundown. Hot dog: tasty, good bun, everything you'd want it to be. Beer: Miller Lite. Slightly above average owing to the atmosphere. French fries: thicker and less salty than I'd like. But I'm not a big fry person anyway. Dill pickle-flavored sunflower seeds: Wait, what? Did you say "dill pickle-flavored sunflower seeds?" I did! I did say "dill pickle-flavored sunflower seeds!" They were ... interesting. Not available in your area? Sprinkle some pickle juice on a popsicle stick, chew on it for a bit, and spit it out. There you go. Again, though, they really lent something to the ballpark ambiance.

As the game wore on and we assumed the line was growing short, we walked over to the Shake Shack. Hurrah! No line to speak of. So I got myself a vanilla shake even though I didn't think I had the room left in me. It was thick and delicious -- pricey, yes, as I recall, but now I am not exactly sure what it set me back. No more than you'd expect at a stadium, though. I think it was more that the cup was small. I'd be mad if I had counted on it to be my whole meal.
But in the end, I wasn't able to finish it all without succumbing to post-beer heartburn, and so, comfortable in my successful conquest of the park's eateries and in my avoidance of Pepcid, I tossed the near-empty cup in the trash, took a deep breath, and patted my breast. Success.

Food-related report: NYC weekend

OK, so my weekend in NYC really wasn't about food. But there were some food-related tidbits I'd like to share.

It was pretty cool "girls' weekend" -- my mom and I spent the weekend with one of her college roommates and her daughters who are my age, who were all visiting from California. We hadn't seen each other since, like, seventh grade. It was great.

OK, without further ado. Food highlights:

As I said, they were visiting from the West Coast, home of Pinkberry, the pleasantly tart frozen yogurt sensation which is new to the East Coast. As it happens, there is a new Pinkberry shop right in my old neighborhood, which we just happened upon on a walk. (Good thing it wasn't there then! I would have been such a piggy and eaten it every day.)

It was a nice surprise! I'm not much of an ice cream or frozen yogurt person. But this was tasty. I can't wait to try it with Cocoa Krispies on top. (I'm not just saying that. They actually have random breakfast cereals for you to choose as toppings. The strawberries, though, were excellent.)

It was also NYC Marathon weekend. Did you know that New York apples are the official apple of the NYC Marathon? For real. The things those promotion folks come up with.

We had some nice actual meals. A memorable first-night feast in Little Italy, where we caught up over pasta, glasses of wine, and free alcohol-plus-coffee drinks. A delicious large brunch at a surprising diner in Midtown. But probably the most memorable meal was not really a meal at all.

We went to Hooters.

I know, girls going to Hooters is sooo not a big deal. 60-year-old moms going to Hooters might be. And especially the Hooters on West 56th Street in New York. Who knew there was even one there?! We totally wanted to embarrass the moms, but it was actually a completely fun place for everyone. The Giants game was on, and everyone was having a blast. Us included! And, as everybody always says, the wings were great. And wings plus beer are a timeless pairing. Probably the only time our moms feigned embarrassment was when I took a picture of them with the faint image of a Hooters Girl and a poster advertising the 2009 Hooters Calendar in the background so as to set the stage.

I think I could have handled the tight Hooters shirts when I was a bit younger. But the shorts? Oh no, I don't think I could have carried off the shorts. But I definitely recommend the place as a good spot to enjoy a beer, some wings, and a game. (I give Hooters two boobs up!)

Raw Goods

Friday night dinner in Maine: a dozen oysters and a beer, at J’s Oyster Bar in Portland. This place is a REAL bar. The tables feature some of that do-it-yourself decoupage you can only find in joints of this sort, with pieces of decorative paper stuck beneath a layer of epoxy—but not epoxied enough that it’s hasn’t been picked at and peeled by drunks or people bored or uncomfortable with their dinner companions. The bathroom wall features a poster offering the services of a company which will drive both you and your car home if you are too drunk to do it effectively yourself. It even smells like a bar, even though you can’t smoke in bars anymore.