A Review of Tuscany Grill – by Laura Hess ’16

Tuscany Grill is a great modern Italian-American restaurant located on 120 College Street, which is not at all far from campus. From the outside it looks like a little hole-in-the wall place, but once you go in the first thing that hits you is the extremely spacious interior.  It has a really nice atmosphere, complemented by attentive and friendly service. The food here is pricey, starting at $14 for an entreé but averaging out at around $20.  However, it is definitely worth it, especially if you are gluten-free and are looking for a variety of options.

I tried four entrées and three desserts: sunflower encrusted ahi tuna, cornbread stuffed pork chop, cashew encrusted scallops, a swordfish special, apple bourbon Bundt cake, carrot cake, and tiramisu.

Entrées

Ahi tuna

The tuna was served rare, as I had asked for it, and was absolutely delicious.  It was served over pancetta and acorn squash risotto with broccoli florets and a red pepper sauce.  All the different elements had their own unique flavors, but they worked together really well.  The tuna was refreshing, while the risotto was warm and creamy.  The broccoli added a nice crunch.  The pancetta provided a salty flavor and the pepper sauce, a savory touch.  What more could you ask for?

Pork chops

The first thing I noticed about the pork chop was its enormous size.  Our waitress had warned us that you needed to be hungry to finish it, but I still didn’t expect anything that big.  The pork chop was grilled, but not dried out.  Even the cornbread inside it was moist.  It was served over apple and onion hash with acorn squash and a brandy cream sauce.  This was a really nice fall meal.  Eating it made me feel cozy and content.

Scallops

The scallops were served over butternut squash ravioli, making it like two dishes in one!  It was served with pancetta, roasted tomatoes, and a sherry, rosemary cream sauce.  This was definitely the richest meal I tried that night.  Between the sauce and the ravioli I was almost overwhelmed.  This is a great dish for someone who can’t make up their mind.

Swordfish

The swordfish was grilled and very moist – not at all dried out as fish can often be.  It was served over risotto with spinach and pickled cucumbers.  This was a surprisingly summery dish to offer in the middle of the fall season, but it was tangy and delicious nevertheless.

Desserts

Apple bourbon bundt cake

The apple bourbon Bundt cake was absolutely delicious.  It had a generous portion of vanilla ice cream on top with whipped cream, walnuts, and a caramel drizzle.  The cake was a perfect texture with warm apples – a very fall dessert.  I highly recommend it!

Carrot cake

The carrot cake was enormous, like the dessert version of the pork dish.  It could easily be shared with three or even four people.  It was not as good as the Bundt cake, but still quite good.  The presentation was very creative:  a round cake with cream cheese frosting completely covered with nuts and three dollops of whipped cream.

Tiramisu

The tiramisu was also really good, better than the carrot cake, but not as good as the Bundt cake.  It was creamy and pretty – exactly what one could hope for in a tiramisu.

I would recommend Tuscany Grill for a nice date or a dinner with your parents.  I had a delicious meal there and really enjoyed the entire dining experience.  Plus, it’s a little off the beaten path.  Definitely give it a try!

– Laura Hess ’16

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Picnicking — New England Emporium Edition

 

Be it a trip to Miller’s Pond, an impromptu lunch on Foss Hill, or a full fledge afternoon adventure, there’s never a bad time for a picnic, and luckily, Middletown has plenty of restaurants offering yummy to-go choices perfect for an outdoor dining sesh. Today, before heading out to Lake Waramaug in New Milford, CT for a celebratory end of the season swim, my friend Gillian and I stopped by New England Emporium to pick up a few goodies. Now, you may be wondering why we’ve talked about the Emporium in almost every single post thus far. In case you haven’t gotten the hint, this is a great place. The ambiance is fantastic, it has incredibly versatile options, and the food is of a very high quality. After scaling the expansive menu, which includes 16 different kinds of sandwiches, 17 kinds of crepes, 6 signature salads, a wide variety of daily specials, create your own sandwich and salads, and delicious breakfast, dessert, and drink options, we decided on the Tuna Salad Panini, which combines tuna salad, dill havarti, crisp bacon, and grilled rye. We also got a package of salted edamame beans, which are conveniently located in a refrigerator section to the side of the drinks, an Avery’s Cola, an Olde New England Berry-Lime seltzer, and a pack of Deep River Pack Original Salted Kettle Cooked Potato Chips. The one thing we didn’t take into consideration? The drive is about an hour and thirty minutes long. When we finally arrived, we were ravenous, and slightly disappointed that the panini was no longer hot and toasty. That being said, it’s hard to feel down when you’re sitting outside looking at a gorgeous body of water, and there are few things more satisfying than eating a picnic with fresh sea air (okay, lake air) blowing on your skin, and the sun shining brightly over the water. So how was the food?

Well, we have to admit, the sandwich would’ve been better hot; however, for a cold panini, it was pretty good. The bread was crisp and dense, with the faintly sour taste that is distinctive of quality Rye, and no overload of butter.  Even though it had been grilled, it still retained a decent amount of moisture. Bacon seems to be making an appearance everywhere these days. You’ve probably seen the commercials for Burger King’s bacon sundaes, but we’ve also noticed and tried concoctions like bacon chocolate, maple bacon cupcakes, and “Elvis” sandwiches, which combine peanut butter, banana. We were curious about the combination of tuna and bacon, and we found that the two actually complimented each other quite well. The tuna salad, which could’ve been served in a bit of a smaller portion size, was not overly doused with mayonnaise, nor was it disgustingly fishy, and the bacon was crisp, and had a hint of sweetness that we enjoyed. We admire the creators of the Tuna Salad Panini for their obviously careful choices of  cheese and bread. The combination of tuna salad and rye bread makes the sandwich familiar enough to fulfill any tuna melt fan’s craving for that specific type of sandwich. Havarti cheese has a fairly subtle taste, and the addition of dill adds a brininess that enhances the taste of the tuna salad, as well as the sourness of the rye. The bacon is a real surprise to the taste buds, but because the other elements of the sandwich are slightly more conservative, it doesn’t make for an overload of flavor. Overall, we’d give this sandwich an A-. True, there was a bit too much tuna per amount of cheese and bacon, and it wasn’t warm when we ate it, but we can only blame ourselves for that.

As far as the sides and drinks are concerned, the edamame beans tasted crisp, fresh, and well-salted. One of our favorite aspects of the New England Emporium is that, as the name suggests, many of their products come from New England. The chips, made by Deep River Pack Snacks, are from Old Lyme, Connecticut, which is a mere 45 minutes from here. Avery’s soda comes from New Britain, Connecticut, and Olde New England Seltzer is from Bedford, New Hampshire. Something about being locally prepared makes food taste better. Probably because it is made in small batches and regularly shipped in fresh. There is nothing better than eating potato chips on a beach. They were crispy, salty, and a tiny bit burnt on the edges, which gave them an authentic look and texture that is definitely not a characteristic of commercial chips. If you’ve ever had a natural or artisanal soda, you understand what we mean by natural-tasting, and we love the different flavors that Avery’s comes in, a number of which are sold at the Emporium. As I’ve stated before, I’m a huge fan of zero calorie drinks that are big on flavor, and I wasn’t disappointed by the Olde New England Seltzer. I could taste definite hints of both berry and lime, which was a refreshing change from other varieties of seltzer drinks.

New England Emporium is a great place to get a picnic lunch. Definitely try the delicious menu options, and don’t skimp out on the local products that you find in the refrigerator and market section. Our one word of warning, don’t expect a panini to stay hot if you’re going on an hour and a half long drive! The odds are not in your favor.

-Ari Rudess