Friday Night at the Mill's Tavern

I had plans to go to Boston on Friday morning with a friend so I thought, instead of rushing to put together a fancy meal after returning home from Boston, I would take this opportunity to suggest going out to dinner. Tony is always saying, "You know if you don't feel like cooking we can always go out...". It turns out we never went to Boston because it was such a rainy and raw day. So we kept our plan to go out anyway and we decided that the Mills Tavern in Providence was the place.

The thing we love to do is sit at the bar at the Mill's Tavern to dine. They always serve a small bowl of cashews, which we have started to do at home, at times, and we find that cashews go well with a drink. But I have to say this time the cashews were different. They seemed to be very buttery almost like they tossed the nuts in butter in a pan. They didn't feel buttery in your hand but a definite butter taste. I like them a little less buttery and a little more salty myself.  Tony asked for blue cheese stuffed olives in his martini, but the bartender said they were not available (they usually are at the Mills).  But "Tomolives" were which Tony also likes.

The options for an appetizer are limited. They have a "raw bar" and Tony always takes advantage of that, he got some oysters, which he always enjoys very much. He says they have extra good ones there. For me it's a salad. I have probably gotten all of them and they are always pretty big and can be filling so I opted for the mixed greens with raspberry vinaigrette. It's a good size and not filling at all. They served some mixed breads, raisin with fennel seeds, sourdough and Italian. It's hard to resist trying each of them.

I ordered the Filet Mignon with a grilled duo of beets. I was drawn to it because the Filet was served bone-on which you never see. Usually it's cut off the bone so I thought, I have to see what this looks like. I have made porterhouse steaks many times and basically that the same cut with the NY Strip still attached to it. So that was very flavorful, delicious and moist. The beets were interesting, it was red and yellow beets and you could see the grill marks on them. They had a very interesting and pleasant smokey flavor. Tony will be trying to recreate them on his smoker some time.

Tony ordered the Braised Short Ribs with Orange flavored Fennel. Of course we had a bite or two of each others and his was really yummy. Super tender, meaty short ribs and the fennel cooked perfectly with what seemed to be grated orange zest as the orange flavor, very interesting. I'll be stealing that idea.

We shared a side of Sweet Potato and Carrot puree. It was very fall tasting because it had a strong Cinnamon flavor to it. It paired nicely with both of our meals.

For dessert we shared the Cream Brulee with Warm Berry Compote. Very nice with the warm raspberry over the top, it could have used more berries. I will be stealing that idea too.