The day after Ernie’s birthday and 2 days before Valentines Day, Ernie and I had reservations to stay overnight at the Castle Hill Inn in Newport, (a nineteenth-century Victorian mansion off Ocean Drive, overlooking the Atlantic). Even though it was the one day it didn’t snow this winter, it was a 90 minute drive so we decided to leave work a little early.  We arrived at the Inn around half past 6 and here we begin our Restaurant Reviews Rhode Island – Castle Hill Inn.  After a brief check in, we were escorted up the stairs to our room. The young man, whose name I forget, unlocked the door to the room with a real old-fashioned key, not a card, and he briefly pointed out the room’s features.  We were anxious for dinner and headed back downstairs to dine. More about the room later.

Castle Hill Baked Oysters

We were seated in the main dinning room at a perimeter table with an ocean view.  Our server, Carl, welcomed us with a warm, friendly greeting and promptly removed the white napkins from the table.  He had clearly noticed we were were both wearing black pants and placed black napkins on our laps.

I was delightfully surprised to see such an extensive wine list and after studying the four pages of Cabernet Sauvignon, I selected the moderately priced 2010 Louis Martini from Napa Valley.  Ernie ordered a dirty martini with Grey Goose and a bazillion olives; it came with 5.

Baked Oysters Florentine
We started with the Baked Oysters appetizer which was nicely presented with a dozen oysters surrounding a center of seaweed greens. Each oyster was blanketed with garlicky spinach and Gruyere cheese, topped with a sprinkling of buttery bread crumbs and a hint of bacon.  A bit too salty and barely luke warm, the appetizer was just slightly short of excellent.

Duck Confit Ravioli with lobster and pineapple

Duck Confit Ravioli
The Duck Confit Ravioli was the first course of our three-course Prix Fixe.  While the feature of the dish was the handmade pasta filled with tender and richly flavored duck, it was colorfully embellished with lumps of lobster, droplets of concentrated grapefruit, and pieces of grapefruit and grilled pineapple.  Carl set the bowls before us and proceeded to pour the broth over the top.  The duck had a savory taste and the pineapple and grapefruit were a sweet twist.  This dish had a fabulous presentation and some great flavor but the lobster and pasta were both rather firm, suggesting one was slightly undercooked and the other somewhat overcooked.

Smoked Cannelloni
Ernie’s main course was the braised rabbit cannelloni with sweet potato and Brussels sprouts, finished with Tallegio cheese and pomegranate mustard.

Braised Rabbit Cannelloni

Slow Roasted Angus Ribeye

This hearty dish blended sweet and savory elements, and left Ernie wondering if he had enough room dessert.

Slow Roasted Angus Ribeye
I ordered the ribeye, medium rare as Carl suggested, with whole roasted cauliflower, glazed spinach and baby carrots in beef au jus.  The steak was cooked to perfection and each tasty bite melted in my mouth.  The spinach and cauliflower were nice accompaniments to the robust serving of beef but the baby carrots were so small, I think they were just included for color.

Angel Cake with Citrus Mousse

Chocolate Mousse Covered Pretzel

Dessert
The dessert menu offered a variety of unique choices for our third and final course.  I opted for the Angel Cake which was light and airy with citrus mousse and pieces of blood orange.   Ernie ordered a cappuccino and the Chocolate Mousse Covered Pretzel with peanut brittle ice cream and nougat.

Back to the Room
After dessert, Carl cleared our table, sealed the remaining 1/2 bottle of wine with the cork and handed me a fresh wine glass to bring back to the room.  We headed up to the Mrs. Agassiz Room on the second floor.  (I assume that Mrs. Agassiz was the wife of Alexander Agassiz, the Harvard University marine biologist and naturalist that built the place.)

Mrs Agassiz Room at Castle Hill Inn

The Perfect Vantage Point

The room features a super comfortable king size bed with feather pillows, cotton robes, handmade chocolates, bottled water with glasses by the bed and a gas fireplace.  Just as amazing is the large bathroom that has an enormous “two-person” tub, a marble standup shower, luxurious over-sized towels, organic soaps and lotions, and a second fireplace.  Knowing about the amazing tub in advance, I had made sure to pack my bubbles.  As soon as we got back to the room, I poured myself a glass of wine, turned on the bath water and added the bubbles. And there you have it, my story’s featured image. Though not the end of my story.

All overnight visits to the Castle Hill Inn include a full gourmet breakfast and OMG it is AMAZING!  I won’t go into all the details here, just a few. This was a pleasant surprise.  As soon as we were seated in the main dining room, the server brought us a refreshing strawberry, banana smoothie.  Coffee was served in individual French presses, again OMG.  I ordered the vegetable omelet with homemade sausage and 9 grain toast and Ernie had the lobster hash (I guess you can make hash from anything, who knew) with poached eggs.  While we waited for our meals, the server offered us a morsel from a lovely basket of assorted pastries.  We both selected the sweet potato coffee cake which was so heavenly and moist that I can’t stop thinking about it still.  Ernie really seemed to enjoy his lobster hash, he practically licked his plate clean.  My omelet was very good, I particularly enjoyed the spicy homemade sausage.

Immediately following breakfast, we checked out and headed back home…all the while thinking about when we might get back to the Castle Hill Inn.

Another fabulous experience delivered by the Newport Restaurant Group.

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Mixed green salad with a uniquely flavored house dressing

Oysters & Shrimp Cocktail

This week’s Restaurant Reviews Rhode Island – Hemenway’s had an extremely attentive waitstaff this evening as the four of us spent 3 hours dining on fabulous food and catching up on life’s events.

I’m here with my friends Beth and Mike and of course, Ernie too. Maura was our server and she was diligent and amazingly patient with us.

To whet our appetites, we shared a dozen oysters and one jumbo shrimp cocktail for each of us.  We ordered two varieties of oysters, six from Onset and and six from Matunuck. The medium sized oysters from Onset had a deeper shell, they were plump and meaty with a sweet and salty seaweed finish.  The Matunuck oysters were petite in size, crisp and briny with a clean, slightly sweet finish; we all seemed to favor these most.

The mixed greens salad was comprised of fresh baby greens, fragrant red onion and lightly seasoned croutons with a unique curry vinaigrette dressing that was light and delicious.

Lazy Man’s Lobster with scallops and shrimp

We were all very tempted to order the Fried Fisherman’s Platter with scallops, shrimp, haddock, my

Creamy Lobster Macaroni & Cheese

favorite whole belly clams.  Beth ordered the Lazy Man’s Lobster which was just an extravagant dish. The 2.5 – 3 lb lobsters shell was stuffed with scallops, shrimp, and of course lobster.  The claws hanging over the shell were just to drool for.

Michael was probably the closest to ordering the Fried seafood platter however, he instead ordered the lobster macaroni and cheese.  This was also served in the lobster shell but didn’t seem as appetizing as it was when it was served to Beth in a medium sized pasta bowl during our last visit.  Despite the presentation, the entree was made with cavatappi pasta and large pieces of lobster in a creamy cheese sauce.

The Seafood Casserole

The Hemenway’s seafood casserole features shrimp, scallops, scrod, lobster, Monterey Jack cheese, sherry cream and seasoned crumbs.  It was perfectly baked with excellent flavor.  A big fan (and shouldn’t be) of french fries, I ordered them for the side.  They were also very good.

Ernie ordered and devoured the chef’s special, a seafood bake with flounder, 3 mussels, 3 littleneck clams, 3 shrimps, fingerling potatoes and corn on the cob.

Hemenway’s seafood bake with flounder with mussels, littleneck clams and shrimp

There was unending conversation and we all savored each morsel during our 5 hour dining adventure.  Yes, 5 hours, that’s not a typo.  Thank you Maura and all of the chef’s and bartenders who took such great care of us this evening!

Always an enjoyable time at Hemenway’s, another tremendous dining experience from Newport Restaurant Group.

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Entering Trafford

I am inclined to frequent highly satisfying and familiar places and while I did have a hankering for some Lobster Fritters from the Boat House, we decided to head to Warren for this week’s Restaurant Reviews Rhode Island – Trafford was our Sunday summer waterfront dining destination.

Trafford house sangria and Narragansett Del’s Shandy

Nothing too extravagant this week, I ordered a Trafford house red sangria which was refreshing and not too sweet.  Ernie requested a local favorite, Narragansett Del’s Shandy.

Strawberry Spinach Salad & Stuffed Quahogs

To begin our food fiesta, we shared a beautiful summer salad with baby spinach, mozzarella, chopped pecans, blueberries and superbly ripe strawberries, dressed in a poppy seed vinaigrette.  Neither of us are big fans of dressing and we found this one to be an elegant vinaigrette that was delicious and light, and a splendid complement to the amalgamation of flavors already on the dish.  The stuffed quahogs were savory and nicely spiced with red and green peppers, although a little heavy on the bread stuffing and less heavy on quahog.

Amazing Fried Clams

For his entree, Ernie ordered the dish that is always tempting to me, fried clams.  Of course I warned him that I would have to try just one and he professed his “I don’t share” routine.  When our dinners arrived, Ernie offered the first clam off of his dish to me.  Okay, everybody say “aww”.  The batter was delicate and the clams delightfully sweet. The french fries and cole slaw were both good.

Cod stuffed with lobster

Our bartender recommended his favorite dish, the Stuffed Cod with Lobster, and that is exactly what I ordered. The cod was fresh and filled with seafood stuffing and a generous portion of fresh lobster tail and claw.  The drizzle of lobster cream sauce was almost enough.  The fingerling potatoes and fresh green beans were nicely cooked but could have used some additional flavor.

Moving on to dessert, the options were interesting and included one of our dessert standbys, creme brulee.  The one on today’s menu had a twist of caramel and orange, which sounded very intriguing.

We ended up ordering a dessert which was the Trafford recipe of a Hummingbird cake. Part carrot cake, part German chocolate cake, the dessert we selected was not on the standard menu.  It was quite possibly the largest plate of dessert I have ever received and for certain it was way more than two people could possible eat. The cake was full of things like walnut, coconut, carrot, other ingredients that make it a cake and a cream cheese frosting.

Part carrot cake, part German cake with cream cheese frosting & coconut.

We are clearly good eaters and we had a lovely time on the outdoor patio.  I’m sure we will be back to Trafford again soon.

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A fun, casual environment, there are three outdoor bars and plenty of outdoor seating along Rhode Island’s longest waterfront deck that  overlooks a wide variety of boats docked at the marina.  The indoor seating is also very casual and very empty on this warm, sunny summer afternoon.  The bar stools were full and the World Cup was on all of the large screen TV’s.  The crowd was engrossed in the match, Germany versus Argentina, with timely oohs and yeahs.

Margarita, Corona & some law of physics makes this a tasty & interesting beverage

We were very impressed with the bar staff and servers.  They were extremely busy, exceptionally hospitable and moderately entertaining.  Our initial bartender made drink and food recommendations and we agreed that they were excellent suggestions.  The recommended drink was the Coronarita.  How fun and crazy is this?  I think he said he made this using 1800 Reposado Tequila, Cointreau, lime juice, a couple of other ingredients and a 4 oz Corona. A light, less tangy margarita with plenty of kick.

Now the appetizer order.  We wanted steamers but they ran out.  We then asked for the whole belly clams app but they didn’t have that either.  So we ordered half dozen oysters and two jumbo shrimp cocktail.  The local oysters were small, my preference is medium;  I ate one that was crunchy and that was enough for me.  Ernie at the remaining and enjoyed them.  The jumbo shrimp was not quite at the top of freshness and only mildly chilled.

Lobster crab cakes, super tasty

Next, we shared the lobster crab cakes.  The appetizer is pleasantly spicy with suitable pieces of lobster and crab meat in two really good sized (maybe 3″ diameter) cakes with a chipotle aioli.

Amazing fish tacos at Blu

The bartender indicated that his favorite dish at the Blu was the fish tacos.   Ernie enjoys an occasional fish taco so based on the high recommendation, this was a clear choice for his main course.  Ernie was especially unhelpful in describing the flavor of this dish, but the 3 large tacos were filled with grilled mahi mahi fish steaks, not the typical battered haddock or cod.  The tacos were embellished with mango, tomato and other fabulously fresh ingredients and were devoured in no time.

Blu’s Lobster Ravioli

The seared sea scallops were cooked to perfection and an amazing complement to the lobster ravioli. The homemade ravioli were partially filled with lobster pieces and arranged beautifully in the dish with a delectable, light lobster cream sauce.

Reeses Peanut Butter Pie

The meal wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t order a dessert to “share”.  While the dessert menu had only a handful of options, the selection was diverse enough to satisfy a variety of tastes.  Our choice was the Reeses Peanut Butter Pie.  Sugary sweet and rich, this pie featured layers of peanut butter mousse and milk chocolate with a cookie crumb crust and whipped cream on top.

We look forward to our next Restaurant Reviews Rhode Island at Blu on the Water to try out more dishes from this spectacular menu.

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Boat House Restaurant from the dock on Mount Hope Bay

Jo & Ernie’s Restaurant Review Rhode Island – The Boat House Restaurant

Hydrangeas adorn the Boat House Restaurant patio dining overlooking Mount Hope Bay

The fabulous weather, beautiful flowers, tranquil ocean view and always amazing food, make the Boat House a favorite destination on Sundays.  Approaching the entrance to the Boat House during the month of July, guests are greeted by dozens of hydrangea bushes.  The outdoor dining patio is nestled between the Mount Hope bay with plenty of boaters and the beautiful pom poms of pink and blue (not sure why they are called blue, they look purple to me).

One of the many enjoyable aspects of this waterfront restaurant is when the windows that overlook the bay are opened just right to make the temperature inside perfect without the use of air conditioning.

Native Oysters YUM!

 We had an excellent experience at the Boat House during our last visit on the Sunday of July 4th weekend.  We started with a mixed green salad and a half dozen oysters.  Oh yes, and a glass of Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon and Grey Goose Dirty Martini with 5 olives.

The native oysters were nicely chilled with a slight buttery taste.  They come with cranberry mignonette, cocktail sauce, lemon and lime.  I do not profess to be an oyster purist and my garnish of choice is cocktail sauce with plenty of horseradish.

Mixed Greens Salad (half eaten)

To the right is a photo of my half eaten Mixed Greens Salad.  I had forgotten to take a photo before I started digging in.  The salad is large enough to share (unless that is all you are planning to eat) and is a lovely mix of small greens, pecans, goat cheese, radish, red onion, tomato and cucumber with a light Champagne-honey dressing.  I don’t like radishes and Ernie doesn’t care for onion so we exchange those ingredients and everyone is happy, happy, happy. (Duck Dynasty anyone?)

Fish and Chips

The Best 8 oz Filet Ever!

   Ernie got fish & chips and I got the 8oz fillet.  The fish is a beer-battered native cod that is crunchy on the outside and full of flavor on the inside.  The coleslaw is a typical salad of cabbage and carrots with a light vinaigrette dressing that is only slightly tangy and a little light on flavor.   The tartar sauce compliments the fish nicely and the chips are to die for, (more on those later).

The 8 ounce certified Angus beef filet was grilled to perfection and I’m pretty sure that it was the best steak I have ever eaten.  Now I don’t eat a lot of beef and when I do, I’m the kind that likes it cooked so that it’s barely pink.  Nonetheless, it makes me hungry every time I think about it.  The dish would normally come with goat cheese-potato cake, asparagus, creamed leeks and a port wine-rosemary demi sauce, which does sound great, but I really wanted the garlic flavored spinach and some of their award-winning fries (I have no idea if they have won any awards but if they have not, they should). I asked if we could switch it up and my request was graciously accommodated.

Just to emphasize here, these fries are so ridiculously good and perfectly seasoned, the flavor cannot be beat.  (I know we should not be eating deep fried foods-more on high cholesterol in a future article.)

Grasshopper Pie is clearly not pie at all

On rare occasion, we order something to share from the dessert menu. When I say “share”, I mean I’ll take a bite and Ernie will eat the rest.

With a small selection of uninspired (sorry Boat House) desserts, we would typically select the tried and true creme brulee.  We felt the need to try something new and decided to order the Grasshopper Pie.  As you can see here , it is obviously not really a pie.  It was a nice combination of flavors, including chocolate brownie and mint chocolate chip gelato which was not too heavy and not too much (as clearly we had already eaten quite a bit).

We very much enjoyed our meal and the hospitality of this visit to the Boat House Restaurant.

Jo & Ernie’s Restaurant Review Rhode Island will be visiting the Boat House again soon, likely before the end of summer.

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Open windows let in the fresh ocean breeze, no AC needed

Jo & Ernie’s Restaurant Reviews Rhode Island  – Sunday Afternoon at Boat House

One of our favorite Sunday afternoon dining places in the summer is the Boat House Restaurant in Tiverton, RI.  Overlooking the Mount Hope Bay, the Boat House dining rooms and patios allow guests to comfortably watch the boats pass by while enjoying fabulous dishes with boat people, hill people and just random people, (more about the people later).

We begin the experience finding a spot at the bar and taking a look around to see if there are any “regulars” or people that we might recognize.  As we relax into the space we have designated as ours for the next two hours, we look out the open windows at the picturesque and tranquil backdrop.

Grey Goose Martini with 5 Olives – is there another way?

Bloody Mary with cucumbery flavor

Ernie often enjoys a micro-brew from the tap but today ordered a Grey Goose dirty martini with 5 olives (Clearly, he really likes olives).

I ordered a Bloody Mary that also came with an olive which I quickly removed as not contaminate my beverage. Ernie got that olive too.  The Bloody Mary had an unusual flavor; it was light and rather cucumbery, with less tomato flavor than you might typically expect.

Little necks with chourico..tasty

For the first course, we often choose raw shellfish, either oysters, shrimp, clams or a combination.  Always has the shellfish been clean, crisp and cool for a light and delectable beginning.  Today however, we decided to go with the little neck clams steamed with chourico, onions, garlic, tomato, and wine. The combinations of flavors was fragrant and spicy and a great start to a great meal.  Of course, my white dress was a magnet for the spicy red broth.

Second course is always a tough choice but the Mixed Field Greens is one of my favorites.  We often share this simple s alad of greens, pecans, goat cheese, radish, onion, tomato, cucumber, Champagne-honey dressing. We opted for the Lobster Fritters this time however.  Fried cakes with corn, small pieces (really small) of lobster and large on flavor, the Lobster Fritters are extremely tasty and very filling.

Lobster Fritters with Chipotle Aioli

The fish is good with a beer batter crust, the chips are the best fries on the planet and the coleslaw could use a bit more flavor.

Fish & Chips with Vegetable Slaw

Ernie got the oh my God this is so fabulous, I can die now, burger which also happens to come with the best fries on the planet.  This could quite possibly be the best dish on the menu.  Looking forward to Jo & Ernie’s next restaurant review Rhode Island at the Boat House.

Fabulous best ever burger and fries

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