Made the short and untrafficked drive down to Warren, RI this past gorgeous Saturday for lunch at Blount Clam Shack, one of our favorite places in RI. Completely outdoors right on the water, at picnic tables under tents/umbrellas. You order food at one truck and get drinks at the other. We ordered a bit too much fried food, but it was all delicious - full-belly clams, RI-style calamari, lobster roll, onion rings, French fries. Cold beer and wine. Pure summer. It’s the perfect place for a restless cipollini.
Yesterday, we headed in the opposite direction, first to Laudholm Farm to hit the beach and then to Kittery for lunch. We usually go to Anju but the last couple of meals there have been tough to enjoy with said restless cipollini, despite the delicious food. So, it was off to When Pigs Fly pizzeria, an old favorite. This was our first time not sitting at the bar. Initial impression - the (watered-down dance club-ish) music is just a plain weird choice and it was obnoxiously LOUD and we are people who love their loud music (did the music change or did we not notice on previous visits?). Service was rushed (it was very obvious right from the start that he was trying to turn his table since he was going off shift and admitted it when he brought the check). The charred Brussels sprouts were not charred but burnt. We NEVER send food back but even B couldn’t eat this. Instead of simply taking it off the check or sending a new one out (which we said we would pay for), the manager brought our dish out, stuck it in our faces, and asked us in an uncomfortable way about what we thought was wrong with it. She asked us if we knew it was deep-fried. “Sure, but it still shouldn’t be burned.” The conversation went on for a few minutes and she finally relented and brought out a new dish. Much better but the experience left a bad taste in our mouths. Our pizza was delicious as usual (mushroom/arugula/fontina), if a little too floppy in the middle for me. In all, we walked away disappointed. Not saying we won’t return but we won’t be rushing back.
Edited to add: To top it all off, we got stuck in traffic on the way home - took an additional 30 minutes. Luckily, cipollini and mama both feel asleep in the car.
