Newport Restaurants
 

Hi, everyone - we're going to be taking a trip to Newport and would love to know your favorite restaurants in the area. I think we want mostly casual places with good food and some charm. What spots would you recommend for seafood, good burgers, pub food, and a good place to have dessert? And if you were doing one upscale meal, where would you go for that? Thanks for any guidance you can give me.

We had wonderful seafood meals at waterfront restaurant The Mooring.
You'll find Flo's Clam Shack in Middleton, the town adjacent to Newport., an old time place for great fried clams and other seafood, burgers. It's a fun experience.

Thank you, Happy - I have heard good things about The Mooring. Would you recommend going for lunch or for dinner?

I'll check out Flo's too. I appreciate your recs.

When we were in Newport we ate at the Brick Alley Pub twice. It was a great place, with great food-loved the salad bar.

We ate at The Moorings for dinner and it was very good. We ate lunch at Flo's. I grew up on the ocean and love Clam Shacks! They were many other nice looking places for dinners in Newport. We ate at our hotel one night, Hyatt Goat Island and it was good too. You'll see Portuguese influences in the cooking along the coasts of RI and Mass. And RI chowder is different, clam broth based instead of cream or tomatoes. It's our favorite kind.

In July we had dinner at the Moorings and really liked it. We also had a lunch at Flo's - not only good fried clams, but a good lobster roll as well.

n, I have seen Brick Alley Pub recommended a lot. It's going on the list!

Sounds good, Happy. I don't think I've ever had Portuguese food before. And I've never been to a clam shack either. Looking forward to trying new things. The clam chowder sounds awesome, a definite must try.

Cpg, thanks for your input. Glad you liked those spots. I love a good lobster roll - had some of those when we were in Maine. We pretty much like any kind of seafood.

I wanted to follow up and ask - are there any things you would recommend for bringing back as souvenirs? Any famous sauces, cookies, or something along those lines that I can bring back for friends and family? Something that travels better than clams or chowder? :) I always like to bring something local back with us when we travel. Would love any recommendations you have.

Coffee Milk: The Rhode Island Specialty Fueled By Autocrat Syrup
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_2736223.html

There is a local variant of the Italian dry sausage, soppressata called "soupy." It's mostly made in the Westerly area, but you might find some in Newport. Ranges from hot to blazing hot.

Products from the Kenyon Grist Mill (http://www.kenyonsgristmill.com/home.html) can be found in most supermarkets. Try the Johnny Cake mix. Don't let the word "cake" mislead you -- it's a sort of cornmeal pancake.

Looks like you have to drop the parentheses for the link to work.

Thanks for the tips - coffee milk is a new one to me. How could you not love something called Autocrat Syrup?!

Just wanted to follow up - we're back from our trip, and tried out several of your recommendations. We loved Flo's - good lobster rolls and a great Greek salad, also loved Mission for burgers, the Brick Alley Pub, and 22 Bowen's. Newport has some fantastic food. We'd go back to all these places on our next trip and will try The Mooring when we go back. Even got some Autocrat Syrup as a souvenir. Got to try Del's lemonade too. Thanks for all your help and suggestions.

Brick Alley has the best crab cakes ever and I grew up with Maryland crab cakes.

We had their lobster bisque, and it was fantastic. We really liked the atmosphere too. It was close enough to our B&B that we could walk there.

We loved everything about Newport and definitely want to go back.

This is where I first read about coffee milk

http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/State-Slurp-

Mooring is pretty standard upscale by the water place - with seafood and such.
We have had good meals there and no so good.

Our last trip to Newport we went to StoneAcre Pantry and really enjoyed. A farm to table restaurant that wasn't too pretentious and had really nice, fresh and interesting food.

v, thanks for the back story on the coffee milk. I liked it. I can't see really drinking it with a meal though. I'm tempted to make it into some kind of smoothie or pour it over vanilla ice cream.

Does The Mooring have outdoor dining where you can sit outside? I wasn't sure. Our friend really wanted to eat outside by the water, so we ended up at 22 Bowen's, and it was very good.

stevie, I haven't heard of that one before. Hopefully we'll be going back someday and will get to try some of the other spots. We didn't have a bad meal on our entire trip. The Hydrangea House B&B was wonderful if anyone is looking for a place to stay. Warm chocolate chip cookies delivered to your room every night. How could you not like that?

My husband and I were trying to figure out what a Del's Shandy is - we saw it in cans - is it alcoholic lemonade?

As far as mansion tours, we went to The Elms, The Breakers, and Marble House and enjoyed all of them. The Servant Life tour at The Elms was a nice look behind the scenes.

Cafe Zelda-Thames St.

The Mooring has a large outdoor dining area with lovely views. There's a photo here: http://www.mooringrestaurant.com/moo...newport-ri.htm

Looks nice - where do you guys park when you eat at The Mooring? Is there free parking anywhere nearby or just the $10 lot right in front?

Found out Del's Shandy is a type of beer - we'll have to try that on our next trip. Thanks again for all the tips.

Del's is a kind of Italian Ice, which, in a typically Rhode Island fashion, they call lemonade, which it is not (except there). Put a scoop in beer and I guess you have a shandy -- though I can't see why you'd want to ruin a good glass of beer!