QUICKVIEW: Pot Au Feu Bistro- +++ / $$$

One of Providence's old guards, Pot Au Feu is famous for being one of the only two places at which Julia Child would eat, the other being Al Forno.

She always said she liked Pot Au Feu because she couldn't find a traditional French bistro up in Boston. Obviously, there was tons of French cuisine, but the bistro is a unique experience. It's not intended to be fancy, nor is it intended to be terribly expensive. The bistro is like a nice, French version of TGI Fridays.

Pot Au Feu's bistro fits the bill, even though it's on the pricey side. The atmosphere is cozy, warm, romantically lit, and pretty loud when it gets packed. Part of the kitchen is on full display so you can stare at the chef and make him feel uncomfortable. An entire wall is lined with opened bottles of wines dating back to the 1970's. White Christmas lights are scattered throughout, and the complex mix of textures, colors, and lights creates a very dynamic and pleasing dining area.

For appetizers, we got the onion soup which was, I guess expectedly, some of the better soups I've had. Loads of cheese, a large crouton, and ultra-soft and sweet onions that were cooked long enough. A mild beef flavor, the soup was primarily onion. Even though I like my soup with more body and heartiness in flavor, the lighter broth was excellent. The lobster bisque was creamy, with a deep lobster flavor, but I like it when restaurants serve their bisque with a smattering of something in the center, be it crackers or bread, to mix up the textures. The salads were salads.

For dinner, we had the stuffed chicken, with cranberries, croissant, and peaches, which was delectable. It was tender, sweet, and perfectly prepared. The Coquilles St. Jacques was, again, perfectly prepared. Scallops weren't the biggest, but they were very tender and flavorful. The Tournedos Bearnaise were perfectly cooked, leaning towards the rare side of medium rare, AS THEY SHOULD, with a mild, too mild in my opinion, Bearnaise sauce. The Crepes Du Jour had chicken, tomato, and bordelaise sauce. Very well prepared, but the filling was missing something. It needed a binder of some sort, like a mild cheese.

For desserts, the vanilla mousse with caramelized pecans was too mild. It was exceptionally light and airy, very well made, but the vanilla flavor was light bordering on non-existent. Also, the pecans were too gummy to really offset the creamy texture of the mousse. If they had included granola, or replaced the pecans with almonds, I think it would have worked better. The creme brulee was excellent. It was easily some of the best in Rhode Island. It differentiated itself by being served warm. Most creme... cremes brulee?... are served with the custard chilled except for the freshly brulled sugar on top. This was less solidified, creamier, and warm. It went well with the rich vanilla flavor. The pot of chocolate was utterly decadent. The chocolate flavor was so strong and so dark it was a little overpowering. It bordered on a savory dessert. I liked it a lot. Super-dark chocolate goes well with sour-sweet fruit, and I think a raspberry reduction or coulis would have gone well. Still, it was rich, dark, and oh so good.

After much procrastination, I'm glad I finally made it to one of Rhode Island's gems. I wish I had gone sooner and will definitely go back.

Sorry for the lack of photos. The dining area was dark and my poor little camera just couldn't handle the low light.

Also, this review applies ONLY to the bistro, not the Salon.

Pot Au Feu: +++
Price range for two: $35-$75

http://www.potaufeuri.com/


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Hours
Bistro Lunch:
Monday through Friday 11:30am to 2:00pm
Bistro Dinner:
Monday through Thursday 5:30pm to 9:00pm
Friday & Saturday 5:30 to 10:00pm

REVIEW: The Panini Grill- ***1/2 / $

Small and inauspicious, the Panini Grill is a place that you try with low expectations and leave amazed at what you just got. The sandwich menu is large, with diverse ingredients and tastes, the prices are very competitive, and the smoothies are excellent.

Nothing is particularly impressive with the place's looks. The outside is simple, the inside is simple and diner-like, the website is simple, and the menu is simple. Not simplistic, just simple. The only thing that really stands out in the dining area is a large, Dr. Who pinball machine next to the entrance. Seems a bit odd outside of a bar or arcade, but it adds some welcome, and needed, pizazz to the interior.

The menu is large and varied. A wide selection of vegetarian sandwiches guarantees that you'll find something for your ethically inclined friends. The quality of the ingredients is very good. My Steak & American sandwich had tender, flavorful shaved steak with very crisp lettuce and firm tomatoes. The Monster had good, fresh-tasting turkey with honey mustard that was, um, honey mustard, and mild muenster. The bread was, again, fresh and tasty. I would have preferred a bit more heft to the bread, but it still held up well to mountain of meat. All of the meat was moist, but not wet. There were no oils dripping down my hand, and no slimy leftovers. Low on fat, high on fuckin' good.

You have your choice of five breads. It's nice to see a sandwich shop providing more than just long rolls or round rolls. I got the herb foccacia and it was very good. As I said, I would have preferred a denser or thicker roll, but it held up well enough and stayed together. It was well-herbed and toasted to perfection.

A real bright spot for me was the smoothie. Something lots of places do is add ice to the smoothie to drop its temperature almost artificially. This RUINS the texture. It makes the drink watery and sour, and totally defies the name by being anything but smooth. Not here! These are the best smoothies I've had outside of Fresh City. The recipe was great, the price was good, and its texture was smooth embodied. I had the Berry Booster and I immediately wanted another. Fresh, frozen fruit, good, strong yogurt, and good juice all made it one of the best smoothies I've ever had. I only wish they offered different sizes because the one they have is woefully small.

They have a good selection of sides, mostly pasta salads. Only four soups to sample, but they are good. I liked the cream of broccoli soup the best, even though I wanted more texture to the soup. The chunks of broccoli were really small. Still, it was thick and flavorful, and it went wonderfully with the salty bits of panini toast that were so perfectly toasted as to be crispy yet soft. Salads are large and give you a good chance to sample how crisp and fresh their produce is.


I also liked that the Panini Grill knows exactly what it is. It's a sandwich shop and it's doing everything it can do to be that sandwich shop. It's BYOB, it has free wi-fi, and they deliver. An office-worker's dream. They do so many small things to add value to your meal. The fresh toast with the soup. The utter heft of the sandwiches. The free wi-fi. It all combines to to form a value/quality combo that really captured my heart.

And that's where Panini Grill shines. For the money, they give you some really big sandwiches with high quality produce and a number of extras. This place blows the chain sandwich shops clear out of the water and rests comfortably next to another of my favorite sandwich shops, Jim's Deli. Jim's Deli still has the selection to end all selections, but five breads at PG, the different taste inherent to panini, and the excellent smoothies makes Panini Grill a must-try for lunchtime zombies in the area and worth a short trip.

NOTE: I've only ever been to the Middletown location, so my comments on the interior obviously don't apply to the Newport location.

The Panini Grill: ***1/2
Price range for two: $12-$25

http://www.thepaninigrill.com/


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687 W Main Rd
Middletown, RI 02842
401-324-6199


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186 Thames Street
Newport, RI. 02840
401-847-7784

Hours
7 Days 10:30am to 9:00pm
Middletown Location
Sunday 10:30am to 6:00pm

Look At Ray's Big Meat

Ray gets all the attention. And poor Angus just can't find a girlfriend.

In all honesty, the number of dirty jokes I could make from this are almost limitless.
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REVIEW: Blue State Coffee- ***1/2 / $$$

Liberal? Conservative? Anarchist? Sexually frustrated? Who cares? Blue State Coffee may have a political agenda, but the superb coffee, atmosphere, and baristi deliver a winning experience that certainly gets my vote.

Open for less than a year, Blue State Coffee charges headlong into an ever increasing crowd of cafes eager to provide Rhode Islanders with their daily caffeine. While quantity is quickly entering the stratosphere, quality... not so much. The number of cafes was going up, and thus you'd expect competition to increase quality. Sadly, it seemed that that tenet of capitalism wasn't taking hold. Owners persisted in thinking that to operate a cafe, one required nothing more than an espresso machine, cups, and some tables.

I'm sorry, but if that's all you've got, don't bother. Go home and come up with something else, because the cafe business is definitely not for you. So many a time do I go into a cafe only to be served a latte that wouldn't pass for acceptable at a Starbucks, and that's exactly the point. Starbucks IS the bar. It is average. It's never bad, but it never truly excels. If you cannot be better than average, than you have no reason to exist. There are Starbuckses...es...'s... Stars-buck everywhere. You have to provide something that they don't.

That's what I get at CofEx, what I don't get at Felicia's, and what Blue State gives in spades.

Blue State's owners have obviously gone whole-hog. The interior is well-finished, large, airy, and plenty of seating and free wi-fi. I liked the edgier, more modern look to the design, as opposed to the wooden, earthy feel of CofEx and many other traditionally designed cafes. Some parts of interior are a bit bare, and the hard interior results in harsh acoustics. Escaping outside is always an option, with the nice, but unshielded from the skies, al fresco area raised from the street. If I was to pick a favorite design, it's still Coffee Exchange or Caffe Bon Ami, but this is certainly pleasant. Blue State has an ace up its sleeves, though: a different personality. Whereas other cafes are content with being just that, Blue State wants to be a vehicle of righteous change/indignation.

Their whole shtick is that they represent the blue (democratic) states as opposed to the red (republican) states. The inside is packed with political books, CD's, shirts, and those tireless warriors of the political battlefield, bumper stickers. They push a variety of liberal points, but thankfully they don't let this intrude on the business of making great coffee. They let it supplement the atmosphere and provide a sense of interaction with the customer. You can vote with small wooden chips as to which charity you want donations to go. You can monitor the progress on an update board situated just above the sugars and creams and look at the vote containers fill with chips. Blue State also advertises, more strongly than any cafe I can think of, their use of fair trade, organic, shade-grown coffee. You certainly can't accuse them of not practicing what they preach. As opposed to the comically hypocritical Cuban Revolution. But as I said, this never intrudes on the business. If you disagree, it doesn't matter, because Blue State is still first and foremost a cafe.

And I liked it because of that. I liked BS... hehe... because it's very much a cafe. It doesn't try to be some restaurant-lite. It's primary purpose is the coffee and some drinks and goodies to go along with the coffee. The selection of goodies is sourced from a variety of local producers, including Seven Stars, but the selection remains pretty thin. They also have an assortment of hand-made waist-enhancers hand-made by locals. These can get pricey, though, with some small cakes hitting $7. These are what push BS from a two-$ to a three-$. Good, for sure, but still expensive, and way too lean for the morning routine. A panoply of juices, waters, and bottled drinks round out the small display and are the exact same drinks and juices you find at every other cafe.

Still, they're just the supporting cast. The real star is a coffee. Unlike so many cafes, BS flies high instead of falling on its face. Given to me was one of the best lattes I've ever had. Again, New Harvest takes some credit -it seems that everyone is using them at this point- but the pull was perfect, the texture of the milk was perfect, and the temperature was also the closest to perfect I've encountered in a cafe, 157 degrees. It didn't have latte art per se, but it was an attractive swirl pattern that made the drink especially attractive. In the world of espresso, the stuff I had was a dead-match for the drinks I regularly get at CofEx. Simply excellent.

So why not four stars, like CofEx? Because CofEx is more than just a cafe. It's a roaster, a supply house, an experience, and let's the belt buckles fly with a wider selection of bagels, cakes, and cookies. Still, even though Blue State is just a cafe, it's a cafe that produces some of the best espresso in the state, and is also more within walking distance of the area of Providence where shit actually happens. For all this, Blue State is well above average, touches brilliance with its drinks, and is one of your best bets for the morning buzz.

Blue State Cafe: ***1/2
Price range for two: $6-$10

http://www.bluestatecoffee.com/


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300 Thayer St
Providence, RI 02906
1-877-626-BLUE (cute)

Hours
Monday through Friday 7:00am to 11:00pm
Saturday & Sunday 8:00am 11:00pm