It’s that time of year again!!

It’s time for Summer Restaurant Week in Providence!!

Which restaurants will YOU be trying this time around?

Check out the link below!
http://www.goprovidence.com/rw/

Check back here for recommendations for restaurants to go to!

Asian Restaurants: Thai Star

Who loves Thai food? Hardly anybody hates it! Of all Asian foods, Thai food is probably one of my favorites (if not my favorite!). Thai cuisine is known for their spices and plethora of flavors used in the cooking. AND IT ALL TASTES SO AMAZING. I promise I’m not being biased. Promise.

While there are many Asian restaurants in Providence, RI, Thai Star has got to be one of my favorites to go to for Thai food. It’s especially quick, cheap, and super authentic. Thai Star doesn’t really sweeten up their food for American taste buds, but that’s okay! Everyone loves it still! Plus, the owner is awesome. She’s super friendly and I don’t think I know anyone who’s been there and hasn’t said anything nice about her!

Order Recommendations

While you’re there, check out their Angel Wings. They’re simply fried chicken wings served with a sweet sauce, but their perfectly crisp and not heavily floured so that they’re so cakey. If you’re a fan of crab rangoon, I’ll have you know they’re also awesome here. For entries, I do recommend getting a noodle dish. My favorites are the classic pad thai, pad see ew, and spicy vegetable noodles. My boyfriend’s favorite is the crunchy pad thai, so if you want a little crunch, it’s definitely worth trying! Not a huge fan of noodles in general? PLEASE try the chicken in the garden. Chicken in the graden is a spicy chicken dish made of ground chicken and an assortment of vegetables, tossed in a spicy sauce that mixes ever so greatly with white rice.

Eat in at Thai Star or pick-up! Dishes usually range between $9-$15 and is relatively cheap with great portion sizes.

Thai Star is located at 1088 Chalkstone Ave in Providence, RI and is not too far from Rhode Island College and Providence College. Check out their website here for more information!

Asian Restaurants: Ebisu

Now that Restaurant Week in Providence, RI is over, I’ve found more time to go to other restaurants that did not take part in Restaurant Week, one of which is Ebisu. Ebisu is a Japanese restaurant located around the Reservoir Triangle/Edgewood area in Providence/Cranston. Unlike typical Japanese restaurants in the area, Ebisu specializes in authentic ramen and shabu shabu (which is like a Japanese hot pot).

Occasionally Ebisu will have specials for the night, which usually include really amazing Asian fusion dishes. As an Asian person, I’m very picky about my Asian fusion foods. Some “Asian fusion” foods I find are not made with nearly enough love and usually taste empty to me — I don’t generally believe that foods made with typical Asian ingredients should be considered “Asian fusion”. But Ebisu does it well. SO well, in fact. So, if you get the chance make sure you try one of their awesome Asian fusion dishes, like a Japanese Surf and Turf!

On my last trip to Ebisu I ordered:

• Takoyaki balls as an appetizer
• Tantanmen ramen from the Special’s menu

If you ever get the chance to go to Ebisu, please order the Takoyaki balls. Takoyaki is a traditional Japanese food made of octopus and fried into a ball shape and also made with a sweet sauce. These are probably my favorite things to eat when I’m at Ebisu, but I’ll let you know it’s not the only amazing thing.

As usual, my ramen was amazing. Now, don’t get this ramen mixed up with the $0.10 Maruchuan ramen that you get at a supermarket — the ramen at Ebisu is FRRRRRRESH! The broth isn’t powdered and you can tell that the ingredients are made fresh and the broth is probably made from a paste instead. Regardless of the matter, Ebisu ramen isn’t packed with sodium but rather packed with so much more flavor of all meats and vegetables!

Also to try while you’re at Ebisu — the grill menu! Another feature of Ebisu is the grilled skewers menu. Ebisu has so many meats on the grilled skewers menu from chicken heart, liver, gizzards, and chicken skin. My personal favorite from the grilled skewers menu are the gizzards. Although it sounds a little scary… believe me. The gizzards are amazing!! As are the rest of the menu… Lots of the skewers on the menu are also grilled with a special sauce so as to make the meat even more tasty.

In the end, Ebisu is definitely a different type of Asian restaurant around and the foods aren’t greasy and are still packed with lots of flavor! It’s not expensive either! Packed with a full bar and awesome food, there’s no reason to not try something new at Ebisu!

Ebisu is located in Providence, RI at 38 Pontiac Ave. See their main website for more information.

Restaurant Week: Bacaro

Alas, the time has come for Restaurant Week in Providence to end. But have no fear! You have until at least tonight to find yourself a late lunch and dinner at a Restaurant Week restaurant! And if you weren’t able enjoy Restaurant Week, no worries — these restaurants will always be around in Rhode Island and are AMAZING year round, like Bacaro!

Most recently I went to Bacaro, located in Providence, with my sister. Bacaro is an Italian wine bar located downtown and is probably one of our favorite places to go! They have a large menu with many selections — flat pizzas, pastas, entrees, olives, antipasta, and the list goes on!

When I first saw the Bacaro Restaurant Week menu, I got really excited; my favorite pasta dish was on the menu — Pasta con I Funghi! I felt like Bacaro had selected it just for me :’) (just kidding). There was no doubt on my mind that I was going to enjoy Bacaro during the Restaurant Week at all! And of course, I did.

As normal Bacaro-goers, my sister and I ordered a few other small appetizers in the menu before enjoying our Restaurant Week dishes. We ordered our regular apps — Castelvetrano olives, pan-seared scallops, and the foie gras crostini. Now, I may be biased but I really do think that these appetizers/tapas are really top notch choices! The olives are just awesome, and the scallops are “OH MY –! MELT IN YOUR MOUTH” amazing. The scallops themselves aren’t too heavy and the truffle oil just makes the scallops THAT more savory. The foie gras crostini is simply perfect. The foie gras is served on semi-hard wafers that aren’t hard to bite through and the foie gras is perfectly creamy and flavorful. It is, in no way gamy, and is even served with a homemade Bacaro jam that does not destroy the flavor of the foie gras.

After finishing our appetizers, we continued on to the Restaurant Week menu (I know… we eat a lot). For my Restaurant Week appetizer, I selected the Caesar salad. Although just a Caesar salad, I’ll have you know that this salad was still unlike any typical Caesar salad. This Caesar salad was a lot more light than other Caesar salads I have had. The dressing and cheese was not overwhelming and the croutons were not greasy. In fact, the croutons were real bread, fresh from the oven! I mean, if any restaurant can one-up a traditional Caesar salad, you know that restaurant must be awesome. Bacaro certainly is!

After finishing my salad, I had the Pasta Con I Funghi (of course, it’s my favorite!). The Pasta Con I Funghi is a homemade egg tagliatelle pasta (Bacaro makes their own pasta from scratch I’ve heard…) with parmesan cheese, truffle scented eggs, and mushrooms. If you are not a fan of mushrooms, I can assure that the mushrooms in this dish are not overwhelming in the plate. In fact, like the scallops, the truffled eggs makes the pasta super savory. What I love about this pasta dish so much is that it’s light, not drowning in pasta sauce, yet so packed with flavor. After looking at that Pasta Con I Funghi dish, you’ll be wondering why your dish is empty because unbeknownst to you, you’ve already finished the whole pasta dish because it was so delicious!

After devouring my Pasta Con I Funghi, I enjoyed an apple crumble (as listed on the Restaurant Menu). The great thing about Bacaro and desserts is that they make desserts to order. They don’t keep desserts in freezers only to serve — they make it once you order. I advise to have a good idea about what dessert you would like to enjoy so that it’ll be readily made once you’re done eating your entree dish. So, of course, since desserts are made ready to order, my apple crumble was so warm. I especially liked my apple crumble (and I don’t usually care for apple crumbles) because it was perfectly portioned, not overwhelmingly sweet, and fresh and warm!

So, if you’re in a rush to find a great restaurant to finish off Restaurant Week in Providence, definitely take a look at Bacaro. Not looking for a Restaurant Week restaurant? Still look at Bacaro!

Bacaro is located at 262 South Water Street in Providence, RI by downtown. For more information about the restaurant, check out their website! Also, follow them on Twitter @BacaroRI for the latest restaurant news!

Restaurant Week: Rue de L’espoir

Don’t you think I forgot about Restaurant Week!

In the wake of the new semester came the return of my boyfriend into Providence, RI and to celebrate his return we went on a date to Rue de L’espoir, upon my request because I had never gone their before. Rue de L’espoir is an American bistro inspired by French cuisines located on Hope Street. Similar to Chez Pascal, Rue de L’espoir uses organic produce local to the New England area. In fact, Rue de L’espoir is RI Green Certified!

Now on to the meal.

I began the Restaurant week menu with the amuse bouche, as advertised on the GoProvidence menu page, which tonight consisted of a tiny cup of hummus and two crackers. To my surprise, the restaurant was also offering a choice to customers of a soup or house salad to go with the amuse bouche. While my boyfriend ordered the house salad, I ordered the soup which was an asparagus and cheddar soup. The soup was very delicious and tasted almost like a broccoli and cheddar soup. On the other hand, I was the biggest fan of the amuse bouche simply because I felt the crackers were a little more charred than I would have liked.

I was a little disappointed about the selection available for the entree  only because the in-restaurant menu did not offer the scallop fettuccini dish I was hoping to order. To substitute the scallops and fettuccini I, instead, ordered the scallops and ravioli dish. The presentation itself was very nice, thought I found the dish to be a little too rich. The scallops were very delicious but unfortunately I forgot how rich in taste scallops are in general. The raviolis had a nice texture, but I was taken aback a bit because of the fishier taste (I think they were filled with some sort of shell fish). Overall, by my third bite I was experiencing seafood-overload and I was wishing that I had ordered the steak and fries like my boyfriend. I’m not saying it was horrible, but it was certainly a little bit more rich and fishy than I was hoping for (the sauce was a little more fish-heavy than what I was used to too).

After the main course was over, my boyfriend and I ordered the chocolate pot de creme and the creme brulee, respectively. I was a little overwhelmed by the richness of the ravioli dish so I ordered a cup of coffee to go with the creme brulee. My creme brulee was very good, but also very rich, and I was thankful that I had ordered the coffee. I tried my boyfriend’s chocolate pot de creme (which is a thicker chocolate mousse) and found that to be very rich too, but very good at the same time. Unfortunately after eating so many rich foods of some sort of thick creamy texture, I couldn’t finish my creme brulee and ate about half of it.

The food was good, but a little tooo rich for my liking and I was taken aback a little when our main dishes were brought out before we finished our soups and salads and the fact that the menu was not the same as the one listed on GoProvidence (otherwise, I might have reconsidered my decision going there). Nonetheless, the waitress was very friendly and the service was very good! Overall, my experience at Rue de L’espoir was decent.

Rue de L’espoir is located at 99 Hope Street in Providence, RI. For more information on their other two restaurants and their locations, check out their website.

Restaurant Week: Cav

I finally got in my second Restaurant Week trip last night! My sister and I went to her choice-restaurant — Cav. Cav is a magical award-winning restaurant located in the Jewelry District in Providence, RI with great atmosphere! Upon walking in, customers will notice the large pieces of artwork around the restaurant. These pieces, owned by the owners of the restaurant who often travel, practically bring customers into a magical world where different cultures from around the world collide! There is no doubt that going to Cav would be a unique  experience from any other restaurant that you might go to.

Now let me continue on to the food…

To start, I had their starter salad of wild greens, chopped walnuts, and goat cheese in a walnut vinaigrette with chopped apples on the side. I had my first bit and ohhhhh goodness it was sooooo good! I mean, I’ve had salad before, but this one wasn’t quite drenched in the salad dressing, nor had too many overwhelming ingredients — the walnuts, goat cheese, and apples. When I first saw that goat cheese was in the salad, I immediately thought, “Am I going to like goat cheese…..?” But golly, I did! The goat cheese was not too dry, but particularly creamy With just a few simple ingredients and a kick-ass dressing, the salad was both refreshing and filled with great flavor!

Onward forth, to the main course! For my entree, I selected the haddock dish served with black trumpet risotto and truffled asparagus wontons in a red wine Procini reduction. This was an interesting choice for me only because I typically order a red meat dish when I go out to eat dinner but I was not disappointed! When ordering a fish dish, I’m always afraid the fish will be a little overcooked and too dry. But, like I said, I was not disappointed. The haddock was cooked perfectly so that it wasn’t dry and was tender and meaty, but not too tender. Packed in the red wine reduction, the fish was also somewhat juicy and very flavorful. I was a fan! The risotto that was paired refreshing. It was a little harder than what I’m used to with risottos but nonetheless, it was still good. What got me with this dish were the two truffled asparagus wontons that were served with the haddock. Eating my first wonton was like having a food orgasm in my mouth. Upon eating it, I fell into food heaven and I wanted to cry because I was so happy — so happy that I raved about it and felt like I wanted to cry. I made sure to save the second wonton for last. My sister noticed that I was saving it and made fun of me a little. I then I had no choice but to rave again and although I wanted my sister to try the wonton, I admit, I got too selfish to give that last wonton away. So, if you do go to Cav in the next week and order the haddock… Please. Please, please please savor those wontons!

Lastly, for dessert I had the blackberry sorbet. As expected, the blackberry sorbet was very good. It was served in a glass cup on a plate, topped with a chocolate covered peppermint stick. Altogether, the sorbet was a perfect mix of sweet and refreshing and I felt like I could actually taste the fruit!

If you’re looking for a restaurant with a relaxed and sociable crowd and cultured artwork, Cav is a perfect place to check out!

Cav is located at 14 Imperial Place in the Jewelry District of Providence. (Did I mention it’s really cute outside of the restaurant, which is also located in what looks to be an old mill?)

Check out their main website where you can find more information about booking business and private parties! Here, you can also find the Restaurant Week menu listed!

Restaurant Week: 2 for 1 Deals

A popular thing to look for during Restaurant Week in Providence is the 2 for 1 deal at a restaurant.  With the 2 for 1 deal, customers are able to order two meals for one price of $30! Order details vary from restaurant to restaurant (e.x. some may offer two of each course or some may offer one appetizer and 2 entrees…).

For a quick look at all of the restaurants offering the 2 for 1 deal during Restaurant Week, see the list below!

• 2 Pauls (East Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• Bravo Brasserie (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• Caffe Dolce Vita (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• Fire + Ice Restaurant (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• Harry’s Bar & Burger (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• LUXE Burger Bar (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• Paragon + Viva (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• Rick’s Roadhouse (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• The ROI (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• Sawaddee Thai Restaurant (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• Snooker’s Sports, Billiards, Bar and Grille (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• Spats Restaurant and Bar (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• Sophia’s Tuscan Grille (Warwick, RI) | RW Menu
• Spirito’s Restaurant and Bar (Providence, RI) | RW Menu
• Veggie Fun (Providence, RI) | RW Menu 

Restaurant Week: Chez Pascal

Last night, I finally got the chance to go out to dinner for Restaurant Week. Of course, my sister and I decided on our favorite Hope Street restaurant — Chez Pascal. Chez Pascal is a great quaint restaurant that serves french inspired foods using local groceries found in Rhode Island. From the good-humored artwork showcased in-house and the excellent service and great food, a trip to Chez Pascal is so worth the visit!

Like the other participating restaurants during Restaurant Week, Chez Pascal offered a three-course meal for $30. This night, though, they also had another option for an appetizer (a beet salad) and another option for the entree (a fish dish) for an extra $10.

For my appetizer, I ordered the roasted mussels which were excellent. The mussels were perfectly cooked and the broth was amazing, especially with the ridge-toasted bread that was served with the mussels. I swear I could have drank the broth like a soup because it was so good!

Next, I had the “slow roasted brined pork belly with polenta, Brussels sprouts, apples, turnips and apple compote” (as listed on their Restaurant Week menu). Upon my first bite, I realized I had eaten this before. In fact, it was what I had ordered the very first time I went to Chez Pascal because it was being served as a special that night! I was so happy to be eating it again (having been a special when I first had it, I didn’t get a chance to eat it again during my other visits because it wasn’t on the menu). The Brussels sprouts were perfectly cooked — not too hard and raw and not too soft. And by golly, the pork belly… Now, I’ll have you know I’m a lover of fatty foods. And, although fatty, I can assure you it was far from a disgusting fatty. The pork belly was sooooo (and I stress so) perfectly cooked, the meat was so tender I did not need a sharp knife to cut the meat. As soon as I ate the pork belly, it practically melted a combustion of amazing flavors (melting and combustion? yes, it was that amazing)! The apples in the dish were diced and also perfectly cooked with the pork belly so you could almost taste some apple in the fattier part of the pork belly. The pork belly dish, as you may have guessed, made me a very happy camper by the end of my dinner.

Lastly, I had the chocolate stout cake. The chocolate stout cake was warm when I got it, which made it even more pleasant to eat than just eating a chocolate cake. Not to mention, the diced apricots on the side of the cake made it even more refreshing to eat. And to top it off, a hand-whipped spoon-serving of whipped cream!

Overall, my Restaurant Week trip to Chez Pascal was very successful. But then again, Chez Pascal always serves food to perfection! Among the restaurants I’ve been to anywhere, I must tell you that Chez Pascal is the only restaurant I have ever had zero complaints about! It’s definitely worth a visit for dinner at any time of the year but if you are on a budget, I highly recommend going to Chez Pascal in the next week and a half.

Chez Pascal also has a Bistro Menu that serves 3 courses per person for $35 Tuesdays through Thursday. As their site notes, the menu changes every Tuesday so you’ll be able to try something new every week!

Click here for Chez Pascal’s Restaurant Week menu and don’t forget to check out their main website to see their menu!

Did you know? Chez Pascal also has a wurst truck that serves food in Providence! Follow them on twitter to find out more information about Chez Pascal and their truck locations!