Poke in Somerville followed by the Zoo, Greek Dinner, and WaterFire in Providence
Dan and I were supposed to go to Providence over the Summer for a visit to the Roger Williams Park Zoo, however our plans changed at the last minute because we ended up having a rain show come through the day we were supposed to be there. I had already purchased our zoo tickets, so we decided to push off our visit to the Fall and have it coincide with WaterFire, which we hadn’t been to in years. I’m so glad we waited to go, as the weather was perfect to be outside all afternoon and evening.
We started our day grabbing a quick lunch at Manoa, our favorite Poke shop just outside of Porter Square. Dan and I shared a Big Bowl, which consisted of three scoops of poke with two sides, and a base. (We added an additional side.) We went with the spicy salmon and blue fin tuna special for the raw fish poke, and for our third poke, had the fried chicken (which was served separately). Our base was white rice and for sides we chose the Kim Chee Cucumber, Mac Salad, and Chorizo ‘Slaw. For toppings, we had crispy wontons and macadamia nuts. All of the fish was fresh and had a perfect flavor to it when paired with the sides. The fried chicken is the best I’ve ever had and the agave sauce with it it a perfect compliment. (I would have never thought to pair fried chicken with a sweet sauce, and I absolutely LOVE IT.) For dessert, we had the pineapple upside down cake, which I had seen on Instagram but had yet to eat as it sells out quickly. The cake was very dense (it reminded me of a pound cake) and the sweet pineapple sauce on top was outstanding. Hands down, this is the best pineapple upside down cake I’ve ever had, and overall, one of the best desserts I’ve had recently— it was that good. We got lucky and were able to snag a corner piece, which made it even better.
Following lunch, we hopped in the car to take a quick hour drive South to Providence, Rhode Island for the rest of the day. We started our adventure at the Roger Williams Park Zoo (“RWP Zoo”), which is my favorite zoo in New England. While small, the RWP Zoo does a nice job with its animal exhibits in that most of them don’t feature cages, which lets you view in the animals in their natural habitat. The RWP Zoo was getting ready for the Jack-O-Lantern Spooktacular, which we’ll attend in October, so there were lots of Halloween decorations at the Zoo.
We enjoyed seeing the elephants, giraffes, harbor seals, birds, river otters, porcupine, and other animals. The cheetahs were to watch, even though three of the four of them were lazy like all cats are in the afternoon.
Following our visit to the zoo, we went to an early dinner at Kleos, a new Greek restaurant in downtown Providence. We sat at the bar and enjoyed a good meal in a beautiful restaurant with a very bright atmosphere. I had the Mediterranean Mule made with Black Fig Vodka, Gosling’s Ginger Beer, fresh lime, and mint. I liked this cocktail and though the fig made this cocktail more fruity than a traditional Moscow Mule. For food, we started with the Dip Tasting that included tzatziki (cucumber and yogurt), tirokafteri (spicy feta), santonini fava (Greek hummus), melitzanosalata (eggplant spread), taramasalata (whipped fish roe), and avocado tzatziki, all served with grilled pita and cucumber sticks. The dips were all very yummy, and the tirokafteri was my favorite, followed by the taramasalata.
Next, we had the Kleos Meze Platter with spanakopita, stuffed grape leaves, grilled Greek sausage, keftedes (meatballs), fresh vegetables, tzatziki, and hand cut Greek fries. I loved all the parts of this Meze platter, however the portions were large. It was enough food to easily feed four people, and I got pretty full after eating it. The Greek fries were perfectly seasoned, and the lamb meatballs were tender. The spanakopita was good, but I thought we had better at the Somerville Greek festival a few weeks ago. We finished our meal sharing the Lavraki (branzino) deboned grilled fish served whole with house preserved lemon ladolemono, and a side of rice pilaf with orzo, pine nuts, herbs, and feta. While I was pretty full from the Meza platter, I had a few bites of the fish and it was very soft and buttery. I’m glad we had it deboned. The rice pilaf wasn’t exciting, but I wasn’t expecting anything wild, though I’m happy that I asked for feta to be placed on top. (I needed rice for dinner, which is the best carb for me to eat prior to a long run planned for the next morning.)
We ended our evening watching WaterFire, a urban public art installation located in the canal running through downtown Providence. The award-winning sculpture was created by Barnaby Evans in 1994. Over the years, the fire braziers have expanded to include 100 individual fires that are lit by people in boats that sail up and down the river tending to the fires during the evening. The scene is accompanied with music and performers on the boats sailing down the canal. Next to the canal, there are vendors selling food, drinks, and goods for purchase. It is meant to be a soothing public art experience that commences at sundown and ends hours later after midnight.
Overall, we had a fun day. We started off with an excellent lunch before driving down to Providence to spend the day outside at the RWP Zoo and WaterFire, with a good Greek dinner in between. We’ll be back in Providence later in October for Halloween festivities at the Zoo and I can’t wait to try another one of the new restaurants in the downtown area.
(Saturday, September 22, 2018 / @julieschultz79 / #mycrazylifeblog)
