Dining in Newport, Rhode Island

On Tuesday, Carlos and I headed to Newport, Rhode Island on a day trip. We have both been to Newport before but it had been a while and we had never gone together. It was a fun trip filled with food, drives, walks, mansions and beautiful sights.

We had lunch at The Red Parrot on Thames Street. I had been to this restaurant before. It's in a great location and gets a lot of business because of it. They were packed and we got some pretty crappy service. I was incredibly hungry by the time we got there so I was very impatient. It took forever for us to get service and to get our food. It felt like we were there for 2 hours!

We ordered a half dozen local oysters as a starter.

I'm so happy Carlos has developed a taste for Oysters. He dislikes most seafood but gave raw oysters a try and discovered that he likes them. These were pretty decent.

Carlos got a Greek Salad.

I really wanted lobster so I ordered a Lobster BLT with sweet potato fries. The basil focaccia was supposed to be either toasted or grilled but was neither. It was cold and not very tasty. The insides were delicious though. There were lots of large chunks of lobster, strips of crispy bacon and slices of tomato along with field greens. On the side there was a dipping sauce for the fries and mayo for the sandwich. I skipped the mayo. I'm not a big fan of sweet potatoes but these sweet potato fries were the most delicious ones I have EVER HAD! Perfectly fried, sweet, crispy on the outside, soft in the middle and overall heavenly! If you ever go, you must have these as a side. Even Carlos, who also isn't a fan of sweet potatoes, enjoyed them.

For dessert, we split a slice of coconut cake. It came with fresh pineapple, mandarin oranges and mango puree. The cake was a bit stale and dry but overall it was tasty.

We did a lot of walking an exploring along the wharves, up and down the different streets in the touristy part of town and down some side streets.

Later on, we went down Ocean Drive to see all the glorious sights and headed to the famous Bellevue Avenue. We went to two mansions: Marble House and Breakers (above). I had only ever seen the mansions from the outside and had never been inside so this was a treat.

We went back to the wharves and had dinner at The Wharf Pub & Restaurant.

We had a long journey back home so we ordered iced tea and had plenty of refills.

For an appetizer, we got the house tater tots. This restaurant had different tater tots with all sorts of toppings and sauces. We went with the plain ones which were only $5. It came with rosemary ketchup and whole grain mustard. I can't stand rosemary so I mostly had the mustard. These tater tots were hot, crispy and mighty tasty.

Carlos ordered a Greek Style Turkey Burger. The toppings included tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, Kalamata olives, cucumbers and parsley. It came with a side of potato wedges. Carlos devoured this plate of food!

I had the Beet & Green Salad with Blackened Local Cod. The fish was an extra add on for about $5. The salad had mixed greens, local ricotta, red onion, toasted pine nuts, pickled beets and croutons. Everything was tasty but the croutons were a bit burnt and they could have been more generous with the beets. I only say this because this was advertised as a beet & green salad. 

Now let's talk about that cod. Oh my heavens. That was one of the best pieces of cod I have ever eaten. It was well-seasoned, perfectly (and I mean perfectly) cooked. The cod held together really well and it was blackened just right. I would go back just for that cod. I told the waiter how good I thought it was and I hope he passed that compliment on to the chef.

After, we got some cookies from the Cookie Jar which is right across from The Wharf Pub & Restaurant. No pictures though! For $5, we got an oatmeal raisin cookie, snicker doodle cookie and a peanut cookie. The snicker doodle cookie was the best of the three!

We had fun in Newport, RI and will definitely be going back.

Carne de Porco A La Antejana ~ Portuguese Pork & Clams

My dad is one of the most difficult people to buy presents for, so when his birthday comes around I was always in quandary as to what to get him. Whatever the present was, he would quickly get bored with it and said present would wind up collecting dust somewhere. So a few years ago, I decided to forego the traditional present and make him a traditional Portuguese dinner instead. I went with Carne de Porco A La Antejana (Portuguese Pork & Clams) and it was an instant hit. Every year since then I've made it for his birthday and he eats it up with much gusto. It's the perfect birthday present for my father and he looks forward to it every year. My dad grew up in a seaside town of Aveiro, Portugal, famous for it's salt dunes. This meal is very popular in that area, especially in restaurants along the beach. Growing up, my family and I would travel to Portugal and we always made sure we had this meal. I've mastered it and it's one of my crowning achievements.

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds of pork loin cut into 1-inch cubes
Pork Seasonings (see below)
1 large onion or 2 small onions chopped
3 cloves of garlic chopped
3 bay leaves crushed
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
2-1/2 cups of dry white wine
20-30 mahogany clams
parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Pork Seasonings (from Emeril Lagasse):
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano

You'll need a large round skillet with a cover. There needs to be enough room for a layer of pork cubes and for the clams to rest on top, to steam and open.

Scrub and rinse the mahogany clams to make sure any dirt on the shells is removed. I like to use an old toothbrush that is set aside just for the purpose of cleaning clams. Add clams to a large bowl of cold water and set aside. A good way to get clams to release their sand is to add a splash of white wine vinegar and a few dashes of salt to the bowl of water.

Mix the seasonings together to make a seasoning blend. Season the pork cubes with the blend and set aside for 30 minutes to an hour.

Heat some olive oil in the large skillet. Brown the pork cubes in batches, 2-3 minutes on each side. Set aside pork in a bowl covered with tin foil.

Sautee the onions, garlic and bay leaves in the skillet until the onions start to get translucent but are not fully cooked. Add the tomato paste and slowly incorporate the dry white wine. Make sure you deglaze the pan to get all the lovely brown bits from the bottom and mix the liquid thoroughly so the tomato paste is incorporated well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Slide the pork cubes into the skillet and cover. Cook for 1 hour at low-heat.

Remove cover and add the mahogany clams by placing them carefully over the pork cubes. Make sure any raw clams with open shells are discarded. Cover the skillet and cook until all the clams have opened. If there are any clams that haven't opened after 20 minutes, discard those. When cooking with clams, assume that there will be a few clams that you will throw away. Mahogany clams are the best type of clams for this dish because they have little to no grit.

Sprinkle parsley over the top, serve hot and present in the skillet.

This dish is best served with fried cubed potatoes.

Mabel's Lobster Claw Restaurant Kennebunkport, Maine

I was on vacation last week and I took my mom up to Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, Maine. What's the first thing we did in Maine? Ate lobster sandwiches and had clam chowder. That's what you do here in New England especially since there are so many great places with top-notch fresh seafood.

My mother and I stopped at Mabel's Lobster Claw Restaurant in Kennebunkport, Maine where we had, what the waitress called, the perfect lunch. A cup of clam chowder and a lobster roll meal.

The clam chowder was absolutely delicious. Very creamy with satisfyingly big chunks of potatoes and clams. The scallions gave it an extra kick and the oyster crackers topped it all off.

The lobster roll was quite perfect. It had pretty much no dressing which allowed the lobster to remain the star of the show. I was fascinated my their coleslaw (which I will attempt to make in a future post) and their fries were kind of bleh. Overall I was really impressed by the food.

My friend Jonas from Sweden asked me why us New Englanders have a tendency of eating lobster in a roll. Lobster in a roll is much cheaper than purchasing a meal with a whole lobster. Thee amount of meat given is probably a bit shy of a whole lobster. It's easy to prepare since the meat is all lumped up and doled out on buns. No need to cook a lobster to order. Also, eating a whole lobster is very messy and the meat is hard to get to. So eating lobster in a roll is much easier and you can get at the meat in a more satisfying way.

It is very easy to make a bad lobster roll (McDonalds and D'Angelos are two such places where you'll find lobster roll disasters). The secret of a good lobster roll is to let the lobster's natural sweet flavor shine through and not to drown it in mayonnaise. So if you get Lobstah and Clam Chowda in New England, make sure you go to a reputable place like Mabel's Lobster Claw Restaurant!