Pot Au Feu---Providence's great French restaurant

www.potaufeuri.com

Pot Au Feu

44 Custom House Road

Providence, RI

(401) 273-8953

Recently did a day trip to Providence, Rhode Island to check out Waterfire and the sights with two friends. Of course we had to eat well and opted for the Pot Au Feu Bistro (lower level of this beloved French Bistro). At the RISD Art Museum, we got effusive and loving praise of this restaurant! We were pretty excited! We knew to arrive early as reservations are not accepted.

We arrived at 5:35pm and already there were 6 tables seated inside the lower bistro

space. We loved the wine bottle lined walls with white Christmas lights giving the room a festive but soft glow. Our server was attentive and we always had a change of silverware, our glasses of water were filled and she had great suggestions when we were choosing our menu items.

Escargots a la Bourguignonne-Snails broiled in their shells with garlic-parsley butter. 9
Foie Gras de Canard Veronique -Fresh duck liver pan seared with white wine & grapes. 20
Boeuf a la Bourguignon-Beef marinated in red wine and spices, braised until tender, served with potatoes gratinee. 22.95
Bouillabaisse Marseilles - From Provence, a variety of fin fish and shellfish, potatoes and onions poached in a saffron and tomato broth. Served with aoili. 23.95
Pot au Feu - Beef and chicken braised with a melange of fresh vegetables including onions, leeks, carrots, celery, cabbage and potato served with traditional garnishes of coarse salt, cornichons and warm horseradish and mustard sauce. 22.95

Pomegrante Sorbet $7
Mousse Au Citron -A mousse with a hint of tartness and lemon-lime zest whisked to airy perfection. $6

As a party of three, we each had two big escargot and were given tongs to use to eat them with (which I found hard to handle). The garlic parsley butter was delicious. The Foie Gras I had to convince the two newbies and once they tasted "heaven" we finished the dish and used all our bride to soak up all the sauce and demi glaze from the plate. The white wine and grapes and foie were just a perfect meld of flavors, fat and we were all content.

Our salads were a nice fresh mesclun mix with delightful bits of chevre cheese served with two homemade dressings-mustard and balsamic vinegarettes. I enjoyed the balsamic a bit more.

My Bouillabaisse Marseilles was good. I have only had it here and there and I am not an expert. I liked the seafood broth and though it looked like alot of food, it was not actually that much. I felt I had more potatoes than anything. I got 2/3 pieces of mussels, shrimp and scallops and fish sprinkled through out my plate. Though it was very flavorful and I used my bread to finish the broth up with it. The Pot Au Feu was a huge plate of protein my poor friend could not finish. A simple but beef and chicken braised with delicious veggies that were flavorful and not dry at all.
Boeuf a la Bourguignon good with the wine sauce but we all attacked the potatoes gratinee with more gusto! (The waitress confided in us it was the only menu item that had it!) The layers of potato with creamy cheese sauce was delectable and lovely!

We topped out meal with pomegrante sorbet (very refreshing and light) as well as the mousse au citron which was quickly finished. The lemon-lin zest in the mousse created a welcome tart zing to the luscious, airy confection of a dessert! (I would love to have it again!)

Atmosphere and service 9.5
Food 9.5
Prices 9.5

Score of 9.5 forks out of 10 forks for the Pot Au Feu Bistro.

Sichuan Garden----szechuan delights

Chengdu Chicken and cucumber with bamboo (insides) -chinese menu only


Stir fried Chinese Eggplant (Chinese menu)


Braised fish with tofu


Sichuan Garden---9.23.07
www.sichuangarden2.com
295 Washington Steet, Brookline, MA

Sichuan Garden situated near Brookline Village has great Sichuan food. It proclaims itself to have been voted top 100 Chinese restaurants. I have gone on a few occasions and found it to be tasty.

This time I was friends for dinner and we got the cucumber with bamboo shoots (inside) in a light sauce. The cucumber dish was ery tasty and on the Chinese language menu so you have to ask. The bamboo shoots inside is white and spongy like but good. The dan dan noodles were tasty with chilies and five spice and great flavor. We opted for the braised fish with tofu which was spicy and flavorful. The Chengdu chicken was fried but not every greasy and tasted surprising light but delicious. We also got the garlicky spicy Chinese eggplant stir fry which was great.

There was a stream of people on a Sunday night. The staff was helpful and friendly. We got our water refilled and whenever we wanted something or if we had a question, we always had someone able to answer our question. I really enjoyed the sichuan cuisine at this restaurant.

9 forks out of 10 forks

**Confusing with Pin Yin and Wade Giles you will see Sichuan/Szechuan spellings all mean the same thing.

Omelette Parlor---a Santa Monica Breakfast institution

Omelette Parlor

2732 Main St,Santa Monica, CA 90405

(Ocean Park)

(310) 399-7892

My last lunch during my recent trip to Los Angeles was with a friend SChan whom I had not seen in 4 years! We had met via a mutual friend in Texas while I was at a leadershop retreat thanks to a friend JLee (He is a people connector and all around funny/intelligent guy! )

We opted to check out a local breakfast institution known for their omelettes. We had to wait a bit for at least 20 minutes and the place was packed. Our server Nori was very efficient, friendly and helpful. For my friend, when she was deciding over the pasta salad or side salad as a choice she got the pasta salad. (She found it with too much mayo and not so tasty. The Tuna sandwich was delectable but no oomph at all with the pasta salad.). When my friend complained, Nori was willing to change it but he also suggested hot sauce for it. (Did not help the pasta salad much.). I enjoyed my create your own omelette which I had avocado, spinach, onion, mushroom, pepperjack cheese along with some home fries, wheat nut english muffin (very delicious and I loved the nut in it) and two pieces of fresh fruit. Now I can see why their omelettes are divine---fluffy and beautiful made to perfection!

8 forks out of 10 forks

( for my omelette I would give 9 forks)

Overall good experience--nice atmosphere, good server and good food

Octopus Japanese Restaurant---nestled in Manhattan Beach

Octopus Restaurant

1133 Highland Ave, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266-5331

Phone: (310) 545-2826

Before heading to the airport for my red eye flight, I was able grab dinner with a good buddy from my college days living in Cerritos now. We decided to go to Octopus which had the basic classics and maki roll. We entered into a basic restaurant space with a sushi bar on the left and we sat at a both. Service was very attentive and our water glass was always refilled. We got the Chilean sea bass marinated in miso (very flavorful and decadent), gyoza (steamed simple and delicious) and I got the sashimi dinner ($22.95) with salad, rice and miso soup. I got 14 pieces of sashimi which were very fresh and delicious----salmon, hamachi, tuna and mackerel. For dessert I got the two scoops of green tea ice cream and my friend got two chocolate mochi ice cream.

8 forks out of 10 forks

Pinkberry

Pinkberry
West LA (Olympic Collection)

This is the healthy yogurt chain that started a over $1,000 worth of parking tickets. Photography is forbidden at these outlets. There are only two flavors green tea and vanilla. But if you want a twist it ONLY comes in the LARGE size (easily with toppings can exceed $10! I found that very annoying. I got the small green tea with one topping and that was almost $5.

The floor design and items sold are very cute. Service was fast and the toppings were fresh but I thought a bit pricey. You had choice of chopped up fruits and dry items from kiwi, strawberries, mango to coco puffs, chocolate chips etc. The yogurt itself in the original flavor is slight sour but the green tea is very refreshing.

I had the fortune to try Red Mango, the yogurt from which Pinkberry is based upon. I like them better and you can find them from the California Roll and Sushi chain sold by the ounce and much more affordable and tasty. There is a blog entry comparing both Pink Berry and Red Mango at LA Eater's blog using photos and doing a side by side comparison. After reading some things, they are banking on the advance work and research as well as success from the Pinkberry fame. Now it has multiple locations in Los Angeles area and an outpost in Chelsea on the East Coast in New York.

7 forks out of 10 forks
Atmosphere-clean and modern with light colors
Attitude--little snooty with the "no photos allowed" and why cannot they allow Small/Medium sized TWIST-half green tea/half regular ????
Price--pricey (especially when you add on an extra topping or two)

Sushi Mac--in West Los Angeles

Sushi Mac
West LA 9.15.07

This Sushi place is no nonsense with everything being $2.75 from nigiri, appetizers and maki rolls. With Sushi Mac, sushi is affordable for the masses unlike the usual $7-16 designer rolls and maki prices. Very clean and we went to one of the locations out of three in West Los Angeles. Very clean with two sushi chefs, one server (serves tea, gets you the bill and clears your space) and we were seated at the sushi bar area. There is a helpful chart that aids you in calculating how much your bill will be.

We tried some nigiri pieces and but particularly loved the unagi, hamachi and mackerel. The hamachi was delectable and very fresh. The spicy salmon maki was a big hit with us. The sushi mac special meatball (was nothing to write home about). Some of the other fried stuff was alright.

We were served the tea and water but the soy sauce, gari and wasabi was placed in front of you (self serve style). When we wanted more sushi I just ordered with the sushi chef in Japanese. (One thing I noticed while in LA there are native Japanese at Japanese restaurants. Not something you see a lot of on the east coast).

I would come again for the unagi, spicy salmon roll, hamachi nigiri! We need this place in Boston!

9 forks out of 10 forks

*atmosphere -simple, clean

*food ---overall fresh and quick

*price---cannot be beat at $2.75 for every plateful of food

Versailles in Culver City (Cuban food)

Versailles Restaurant

10319 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles /(310) 558-3168

Last night I met up with my friend KK from Chicago and TL (who now lives in the Bay Area). So we met up near my friend's place to eat at Versailles Restaurant known for their affordable prices, big portions and good Cuban food. There is a location in Culver City about a 1 minute drive from my friend's digs.

For a thursday night, it was not too crazy when we got there at 7pm. But within minutes the dining room lit up. A lot of red is used for the atmosphere, dim lighting and red splashed walls. When they had a birthday party, they turn off the lights and blow a whistle. (The first time it happened I thought it was rolling electricity or we lost electricity in the restuarant.)

Because we were forewarned by my friend, we only got two dishes and a pitcher of sangria. The sangria had alot of ice but I thought it was decent. It was not the best not the worst. The red wine, fruit and flavors were good but nothing stellar. We were served a little basket of lightly garlic flavored toast. We shared the #1 Pulled Pork and #6 a Popular Chicken dish and a pitcher of Sangria. For a party of 3 with flan we only paid $15 a person including tip. I am not a plantains fan but theirs was unbelievably good! (We thought that was a bargain!) Despite having only dessert, two dishes and a pitcher of sangria we were not able to finish everything! Their sangria was nothing to write home about but hit the spot. I enjoyed the pork and the chicken dishes.

#1-Lechon AsadoCuban Style Roast PorkCLASSIC CUBAN ROAST PORK MARINATED IN VERSAILLES' UNIQUE GARLIC MOJO CRIOLLO SAUCE ROASTED TO PERFECTION
9.95

#6-Famoso Pollo Versailles-Versailles Famous Garlic ChickenOUR FAMOUS HOUSE SPECIALTY - JUICY ROASTED HALF CHICKEN MARINATED IN OUR DELICIOUS GARLIC SAUCE GARNISHED WITH SLICED WHITE ONIONS

8 forks out of 9 forks

Service overall good

Food was simple and delicious