Life has been pretty stressful lately, so I welcomed a retreat back east, even if it was only 48 hours. I woke up at 4:45 am and headed to O'Hare. The flight to Hartford was supposed to have thirty open seats, so I wasn't worried. Well, the flight filled up. Apparently bad weather back east had canceled the final flight from the night prior. Amazingly, mom and I got the last two spots. Two people were connecting from Minnesota and their plane arrived late, so that opened the seats for us. I was out cold for more than half the flight. Apparently, I needed the sleep. We landed in Hartford, which looked gray, damp, and disgusting. Pretty standard for that part of the country.
We rented a dark red Ford focus from Budget. It was pretty good; it had a USB port and a 30 preset radio stations. Of course, these stations had the weakest signals ever. They'd last 20 minutes at the most before static took it over. The drive to Providence took around 1:45. We hadn't eaten in six hours, so lunch was stop number one. Olneyville NY system is known for their hot wieners with onion, mustard, celery salt, and wiener sauce (beef based chili). We each had one with fries and they were pretty good. Not the best, the celery salt was pretty strong, but they were a good holdover.
Of course, mom had to get her lobster roll fix. We drove to Federal Hill, the Italian section of Providence. Very old school with guys playing cards, everyone knows everyone, and tons of restaurants. We stopped in this small Italian market that had huge cold cuts, dinner platters, and just about any Italian food you could want. You could even get a container of cannoli shells. Awesome place, I would have had a grinder if we didn't have other plans. Providence Oyster House has the best clam chowder I've ever had. Tons of clams, a rich broth, not too salty. I had shrimp and chorizo tacos with avocado, lettuce, and Chipotle sauce. Plus more fresh cut fries. Amazing lunch.
From there, we drove around the city. We saw Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence College, and Thayer Street. We also saw the First Baptist Church in America, founded by Roger Williams in the 1630s. We would have gone in, but they were refurbishing the floors. We finally headed towards the Omni hotel in the middle of downtown. Unfortunately, there were so many quick turns that we wound up turning back onto the highway. Took another twenty minutes to get back. The hotel is attached to convention center, the Dunkin Donuts Center, and the new mall. Pretty prefect location. We chilled for an hour or two before getting ready to head out. We checked out the mall first, which had eight levels. Since there's no room to build out in most downtown New England cities, it had to be built vertically. It has an IMAX, movie theater, department stores and some nice restaurants. Mom checked out a couple stores, but nothing worth purchasing.
From there, we walked fifteen mins to Federal Hill. Dinner was at Andino's, which had been around 80 years. It looked simple traditional food, but done right. The service was great, first of all. Our server, Erica, knew the menu up and down and was willing to answer any questions we had. We started with hot antipasto: four stuffed clams, stuffed mushrooms and roasted peppers. Outstanding. Mom had what she described as the best chicken saltimbocca she ever had. That's saying a lot. As for me I went with stuffed chicken and eggplant parmesan with linguine. Two chicken breasts and two pieces of eggplant layered like lasagna. Not to mention homemade mozzarella. And the portion size. The food nearly came over my dinner plate. It was cooked perfectly, the sauce was dynamite, the chicken was crispy and juicy. And it was only 18 bucks. I would go back there just for that dish. I had zero room for dessert, but it was well worth it.
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