Sweet Leaves for Dessert

Sweet Leaves
22 Pleasant St.
Brunswick, ME
(Check out their website for menus and upcoming events)

Sweet leaves has a good dessert menu, which I believe changes daily as well. Pictured here is their beet ice cream which was absolutely wonderful. Now, I'm no fan of beets but this is really good. It's creamy and very refreshing. I can't explain the taste except that the beet is well represented. Also, their ice creams are home made. Keep room for dessert and remember that since it is a tea house, get some tea along with your sweets.

Sweet Leaves

Sweet Leaves
22 Pleasant St.
Brunswick, ME
(Check out their website for menus and upcoming events)

This cute little tea house next to the Brunswick post office is a nice little place for tea or lunch (I can't speak about their dinner menu). I can imagine sitting down with a pot of tea (there is a large selection to choose from) during one of those freezing cold Maine winters, springs, and falls. For summer, the iced teas are quite refreshing. For the kids, there are little board games to pass the time while adults might enjoy the evening music series. There are some items that don't change but the menu does get a new look every day.

Pictured to the left is their seafood sampler with cooked scallops, shrimp and mussels in a light cream sauce and smoked salmon. The dish came with a small side salad and bread. A tasty meal but a bit on the small side and maybe just a tad expensive. Still, worth the money if you want a nice, light lunch.

Pictured to the right is also one of their salads with walnuts, goat cheese, and grapefruit. Very refreshing dish and the side of cold cucumber soup also made the hot summer day an enjoyable one.

Spats

Spats
182 Angell St.
Providence, RI

If you're looking for a fun sports bar or just a place to have a meal near Brown, you might want to try Spats at 182 Angell Street. Now, I'm not from Providence so I'm a little confused with the names of the streets. Is it Angel or Angell? I've seen it spelled both ways. In any case, I think they are same place.

Spats has that sports bar feel with monitors everywhere and a dark decor. The service was very good and people seemed friendly. I'm not sure how crowded and smokey (do they allow smoking in pubs in Rhode Island?) it would get if the place were packed with hungry and sports-crazed college students but when I was there, it was a bit early for the dinner crowd and everything was nice except for the overeager patrons at the bar. The Mariners were playing on the monitors and that passed the time well as I was waiting for my food.

I was in the mood for seafood and ended up ordering the "Clams Zuppa," which was angel hair pasta covered with a wonderful tomato sauce (they claimed it was spicy but it really wasn't), littleneck clams, chorizo, and garlic. The meal was very tasty. The clams were fresh and I really liked how the chorizo complimented the rest of the flavors. A great dish overall.

For dessert, I tried the apple crisp, which was just perfect. The crust as nice and gooey and went well with the wonderfully tender apples. The vanilla ice cream may have been too much but it was very good along with the whipped cream. I think the crisp would have been fine on its own but if you're going to go all out in Providence, why not just have the complete meal?

Overall, this was a fine place to dine.

As it turns out, there is this blog about Providence area restaurants ("Eating Providence"), which is interesting. Check it out.

Return to Frank Pepe's

Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana
157 Wooster Street
New Haven, CT
(See my previous post here)

So, I wasn't entirely impressed with Frank Pepe's pizza the first time I went there. I just thought it was regular, greasy pizza that I could get anywhere but I was persuaded to return for their seasonal special. Actually, there are two seasonal specials: the fresh tomato pie (fresh tomato with mozzarella, garlic and basil) and the clam pizzas. I only had the stomach for one so I chose the clams and I was not disappointed. These are real, fresh clams mind you. None of these are from a can. Hence, when there are no fresh clams, there is no clam pizza at Frank Pepe's. I just had the small clam pizza with red sauce. They added a good deal of garlic along with this treat and it was spectacular. The one problem was that the clams were all bunched up on one side of the pizza so there were some slices that were left out of the tasty frenzy. Nothing that a few rearranged clams couldn't fix though.

If you're in New Haven, check these guys out and try the clam pizza.

Again, what's up with the small soda glasses?

Marathon Grill

Marathon Grill
40th and Walnut
Philadelphia
(Check out their website for other locations around the city)

I've had a bunch of salads from the Marathon Grill recently. This is the Provence steak salad. It's basically skirt steak and bacon bits over arugula and grilled asparagus. I told them to hold the parmesan and white beans (comes with the regular salad). I substituted some roasted peppers for the rest. The salad came with the lemon-dijon vinaigrette. Nice overall but the arugula was a bit overpowering.

Return to Cote's

Cote's
212 Maine Street
Brunswick, ME

It's summer in Brunswick, Maine. That means you should head over to Cote's to get some ice cream. Any flavor will do. Pictured here is their delicious chocolate chip. Watch for large crowds.
They're open in the afternoons and evenings. You will not be disappointed by this homemade ice cream.

(Read the previous post here.)

Roba!Dolce

Roba!Dolce
178 Angel Street (corner of Thayer St. and Angel St.)
Providence, RI
(Visit their website for other locations)

This is a fun little place near Brown University. I didn't realize that this was a chain store because it was so much like just a little cafe that catered to the college and tourist crowd. At least in the case of the Providence store, the service was very good. Enter the cafe and you are greeted by "Welcome to Roba!Dolce!"

The store offers a wide variety of drinks, meals, and desserts although it is primarily a cafe so you're going to get the most choice in the drink realm. For lunch though, they had a special Penini with turkey (or ham), American cheese, tomatoes, red onion, and Balsamic vinaigrette. My dining companion and I topped that off with some coffee, espresso, and two desserts: a raspberry pie and a chocolate covered (and lathered) cream puff. Pretty good overall. I would say the atmosphere in this store makes it worth the visit.

Marathon Grill

Marathon Grill
40th and Walnut
Philadelphia
(Check out their website for other locations around the city)


This is my favorite salad from the Marathon Grill. It's called the Marathon Chopped Salad and comes with an option of turkey or grilled shrimp. The basic salad is $8.95 (add $3.00 for turkey or $5.50 for shrimp). The basic comes with avocado, chopped tomatoes, diced eggs, sliced mushrooms, bacon bits over garden greens. All this is mixed with thousand island dressing, well mixed in. I've had it with the turkey a few times and am very impressed. Be warned that this is a giant salad and will fill you up very easily.

Kabob and Curry

Kabob and Curry
261 Thayer Street
Providence, RI
(Visit their website)

This is a nice two story restaurant right near Brown University. I had the lamb barba kabob salad, which consisted of lamb kabobs over lettuce, diced cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes. The salad also included walnuts and cranberries. I had it with balsamic vinaigrette but this dressing tasted different than the regular variety. I'm not sure if they added some sort of Indian spices to it or something but it was very tasty.

The seating was a bit crowded but the food was decent and the service wasn't bad when we first got there. Lunch hour is a busy time though but it looked like the wait staff worked well together.

The mango chicken was also very tasty but the portion seemed a bit small.