Les Flâneurs: Tiverton

One of the longtime stalwarts in Providence, Al Forno is upscale with a wonderful menu and decent wine list.

zucchini blossoms

pan-seared sea bass

Caesar Salad

A much more casual place, Dante's Kitchen in East Greenwich has real potential: imaginative menu, a cool space, good service, but the food was a mixed bag and the very small space was way too loud.

Susie had the fried green tomato BLT with hand-cut fries, which was tasty.

I had pulled pork hash with poached eggs and a grilled buttermilk biscuit (homemade of course. The BLT with hand-cut fresh fries was spot on but the hash was basically shredded pork on top of a handful of small, diced fried potatoes. Hmmmm. And then the eggs were small with very little yolk (an odd thing I thought).

The Boat House in Tiverton serves up fairly standard fare in a gorgeous location overlooking Narragansett Bay. I had the tuna salad (flavorless) with their own handmade chips (tasteless and oily). Susie had the Jens & Marie veggie burger, which was also bland. Not an exciting meal to be sure but it was a gorgeous day to sip a glass of Rose by the water.

Then there is Sofra Bakery & Cafe in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We'd been here once before and after a stroll through nearby Mount Auburn Cemetery Sofra is just the place to have a delicious lunch. It's chaotic to be sure and the seating can be interesting to say the least. But it's worth the wait and patience.

Even if you don't want lunch you have to try one of their incredible and incredibly delicious pastries, most of which are Middle Eastern in origin, like the twice baked brioche (left below) with custard actually baked into the filling (how'd they do that?). I had the chicken Shwarma stuffed flat bread and Susie had a concoction of three cheeses with grated fresh squash on top wrapped in a burrito-like hint of dough.

It was a gorgeous day when our friend Magali drove over to our condo, parked her car in our lot and joined Susie and I on an outing to the wilds of Tiverton. Our goal was to spend some quality time in a pair of wildlife refuges not far from the water: Ruecker and Weetamoo and we were not disappointed. As I said, it was beautiful day for a stroll in the woods and although we only got an occasional glimpse of the water through the trees at Ruecker, it was fun to be outdoors enjoying the fresh air.

And Weetamoo was interesting as well but for different reasons: an old sawmill that could have been operated by the Etruscans for all I know it was so old -- and spectacular views after a bit of clambering up a large rock.