New Thing #342: A Cookie From Meeting Street Cafe

I've never been to Meeting Street Cafe in Providence, Rhode Island. But I have had one of their cookies.

My co-teacher had raved about the food there on more than one occasion.

She spent some time there in October, I think, and floated the idea that she'd bring me back one of their big cookies.

She didn't.

I was kind of bummed because it was at a time I was kind of desperate for New Things.

She promised to get me something the next time she went…and that next time came over Thanksgiving weekend.

That picture above doesn't do the cookie very much justice.

First of all, it doesn't show how big the cookie actually is. And secondly, it doesn't look too delicious in that picture. Trust me when I tell you that it's a very big cookie and it's  quite tasty. (Though I am sure it's entirely unhealthy. It left a gigantic grease stain on the bag.)

Meeting Street Cafe is off of Thayer Street in Providence - right on the Brown campus.

What I'd like to look into someday is their sandwiches, because I'm told that like the cookies, the sandwiches are also huge. You can order a half sandwich and it's still very big.

Two notes about the cafe from my co-teacher: she says they have the best Reuben around (not sure if that's just Providence or anywhere, but still, that's high praise for a Reuben), and they serve breakfast all day.

I've been in Providence about three times in my life - all to visit my cousin who went to Providence College.

I'm thinking that at some point I'll have to go back and visit the other college campus so I can try out these sandwiches. That might have to be a New Thing in 2014.

New Thing #234: Buffalo Wild Wings

I probably gave you the impression a couple of days ago that Jacksonville was a mere necessity on my trip through Florida - the city from which I flew home and nothing else. Well, that's mostly true.

But we did do one New Thing in Jacksonville before heading to their beautiful airport.

For the first time in my life I went to a Buffalo Wild Wings.

I'm sure you're aware, if you've ever watched a sporting event - or television of any kind, really - of Buffalo Wild Wings. Their commercials are all over the place.

But there are none near me, so I've never been. (Surprisingly, there are at least 4 in Massachusetts. I just did a search on their website - it's one of those 'within ___ miles of [zip code]' searches, and there are 4 within 50 miles of my home. 3 within 30. There doesn't seem to be a list of locations anywhere on the site. I'm shocked there are 4 in Massachusetts - I didn't even think there were any in this region. Which always surprised me because of how many commercials are on. But I guess now all the ads make sense...even though I've never been, I certainly knew the brand.)

The only bad thing about the timing of our visit was that it was last Saturday afternoon, and there were hardly any sporting events on. There was the Little League World Series when we were there, and the Arena Bowl. I kind of wanted to get the full experience by watching some games while we were there...but I could also see it being one of those totally overwhelming game-watching experiences because of the quantity of TVs. (There was a fantasy football draft happening in the bar area while we were there. And Buffalo Wild Wings seems to cater to the fantasy football crowd - they are celebrating 'draft weekend' this coming weekend and inviting fantasy leagues to have their drafts there by reserving tables and such. Me from 10 years ago thinks all of this is very, very cool.) There were also a couple of trivia games on a few of the TVs. That seemed to have potential, though I didn't play.

Of course I had the wings. I went with the boneless option per my friend Kevin's suggestion, and I had a teriyaki sauce. It was delicious.

The service was great too. Very accommodating staff. (Interesting thing about Florida - they always ask if you want checks together or separate. In most other places I've been that feels like a burden. Every place we went to in Florida they offered to split the check. Buffalo Wild Wings even went a step further and rang up our order itemized so we could see exactly what we owed - so we paid a total bill but we could see it broken down by what we ordered.)

Overall a great experience...worth the drive if I was so inclined to visit one of the Massachusetts locations. But I don't know if I'm so inclined. (There are 8 locations within 20 miles of my parents' house in New York....)

The only other drawback of no games on TV while we were there - I couldn't employ the bartender to press the secret button that results in the delay of game so we could stay out longer.

I always wondered if that was a real thing.

New Thing #145: Wayland Town Center

There's a new complex opened up in Wayland town center. It's called Wayland Town Center.

The old Wayland town center is just a big intersection of two big roads.

This Wayland Town Center is anchored by a Stop and Shop and has other stores and restaurants sprinkled through it.

And there's a lot more coming.

We went there Saturday to eat at the Bertucci's. (I had been to the Stop and Shop once before.) There's also a Supercuts open, an Anton's Cleaners, a Subway, Panera Bread, a bank, and a frozen yogurt place (more on that tomorrow).

I saw that there's another restaurant due to open in June - called The Local - as well as a town green (date TBD). I guess they're opening up a green where they can have concerts and such within the same complex.

It's a nice space, and it's been wasted space for a number of years. It's kind of cool to see all of these places popping open, but at the same time you kind of wish everything would open up all at once so you can get an idea what the whole place will end up being like.

It's a convenient location too. For those who don't know, Wayland is about 15 minutes from where I live, Framingham. It's between Sudbury and Weston, and it's convenient to a number of other towns that I don't really know that I have the geographic know-how to list.

It's right off Route 20, if that makes a difference to you as a point of reference.

It's convenient enough for us that we'll check it out every once in a while. It's not going to be our go-to place for a supermarket or a bank or a hair cut or a restaurant.

But it's shaping up to be a pretty nice place to go to.

New Thing #104: Butter Cake

On Friday my family and I went to California Pizza Kitchen...or CPK, as it seems to have been rebranded. We were at the mall taking care of another New Thing, and sometimes we like to hit CPK while we're there.

And I'm always a little disappointed by the lack of menu options there - I always expect there to be more.

But there were a couple of new items being offered this time around - one of them being this dessert: Butter Cake.

First of all, I am just so glad there was a dessert I had never had before, otherwise this would be a boring entry about the new bread the restaurant has.

(Not that this is all that much more exciting...but there was really nothing about the bread that set it apart. And while we're going parenthetical let me state that I have nothing against CPK - I understand their bread and butter [no pun intended] is their pizza, but I'm just not into their brand of flat pizza. And not considering that really limits the menu.)

So let's talk about Butter Cake. It sure is buttery. And I don't think butter is the only ingredient...because there is a ton of sugar in that thing. It got really sweet really fast. It should be Sugar Cake.

Our server recommended it with ice cream on top. I'm glad I had that to offset the taste. It was good cake, but it was a little much with the sweetness. It was very much like the shortcake part of strawberry shortcake.

Except much sweeter.

New Thing #89: Scoreboard Sports Bar & Grill

Last week I told you that I was going out to watch the first night of the NCAA Tournament. That was new, and as it turned out, we went to a place I had never been to before to watch the games.

It's called Scoreboard Sports Bar & Grill, and it's in Woburn, Massachusetts.

Unfortunately, that's a hike from where I live - but that was about all that was inconvenient about it.

The set-up is great - there are tables throughout the dining room that are surrounded by TVs.

The friend I was going with said it was a great place for the basketball, since they would have all of the games on multiple TVs...it was indeed a great place to watch the Tournament.

(Except for some inexcusable reason, they had a couple of TVs tuned to ESPN and ESPN2 for the majority of the evening - one was showing NFL Live and the other a cheerleading competition. That's bush league stuff for the opening days of the Tournament. I will say, though, that the hostesses were great about coming around and turning the TVs to whatever channel was requested. While we're on the subject of other sports during the Tournament, I guess this is a big place to gather and watch the Bruins, because they were featured prominently, competing with the basketball. The place seems to do a lot of cross promotion with the Bruins, but you'd think for the opening night of the Tournament they might have held off on the hockey.)

I'm not sure how great of a spot this would be to watch other sports...and the food wasn't the greatest I've ever had. I don't even know if they have the Sunday Ticket, but it's out of season so I guess there wouldn't be signage anyway. But the layout of the place was such that it might be worth the trip to watch the Jets the occasional Sunday I felt like taking a ride for some football.

The staff was nice - I was the first of my friends to arrive and I occupied a booth for more than one person for longer than I should have been allowed to. But they didn't hassle me. That's a big score in my book.

Woburn is too far of a trip for me to make this place a regular hangout. I left earlier than I would have liked because I had a long drive home ahead.

But it might be worth going back to the Scoreboard for the NCAA Tournament, in part because of an important fact I haven't mentioned yet: It's located on the ground floor of a Crowne Plaza Hotel.

So the next time I go to watch some basketball...I might just get a room and save myself the drive home.

New Thing #29: Grill 23 & Bar

My wife and I wanted to go somewhere nice as part of our night out this weekend. But we didn't want to dress nice.

So after our movie on Saturday, we decided we'd check out Grill 23 & Bar, on the corner of Berkeley and Stuart Streets...but because we weren't necessarily dressed for it, we'd sit at the bar.

We ended up not exactly at the bar, but in the bar area - with our backs to the bar sitting sort of at a shelf facing the rest of the restaurant.

That was the extent of the new-ness of the night.

I have a weakness when I look at a menu: if something says "avocado" I have a really hard time not choosing that meal.

That's how I ended up having the scallops with avocado and some other vegetables at the steak house Saturday night. (I did try the steak frites my wife had. The steak was delicious. So were the frites. Next time we go I promise I'll have steak.)

It's not that I would have had a new dish Saturday night anyway - I knew going in just the experience of eating at Grill 23 was going to be the New Thing. (It's one of those places with the really thick disposable hand towels in the bathroom. I'm sure they're terrible for the environment, but man do I feel like I can really get my hands dry with those things.)

The bar area quickly got too crowded...we got there a little before 7 and within a half-hour we would not have found our bar seats, and even worse there were people right on top of us.

I told you the other day my wife and I would be repeating this date experience when the weather was warmer. We might just go back to Grill 23. If we do I'll take the extra step to wear a nicer pair of pants, and we'll make a reservation so we can sit in the dining room. And I'll definitely have the steak.

New Thing #19: Joshua Tree

Went to a new place last Saturday night. It's a restaurant in Somerville called "Joshua Tree".

I think I had heard of it, but I'd never been there.

But I had been in that area.

Here's the thing about Somerville - it's confusing. Really confusing.

There are all these squares: Davis Square, Central Square, Inman Square, Porter Square, and then Cambridge is there too with Harvard Square and others. (It's quite possible the other squares I mentioned are in Cambridge and not Somerville. Is Somerville part of Cambridge? It's difficult.)

After about 8 or 9 years of experience with Somerville (For my first 5 or 6 years in the area I rarely ventured across the river from the area around Boston University. And if I did, it was underground on the train and I think I had no idea where I was geographically.) I think I'm finally figuring it out - and Saturday was a big turning point for me. For the first time I got that Davis Square is slightly north of Porter Square, and I found my way home easily, which is not the norm for me coming from Somerville.

As for Joshua Tree (sorry about the fuzzy picture), even though it's the first new bar/restaurant on the list, I didn't really try anything new there. I'd like to tell you I at least tried a new beer, but they had Allagash White on tap, and "New Things" or not, I just couldn't pass that up.

So maybe I'll go back and try the food or something before the end of the year.

The good news is I'll have an easier time finding the place.