#DowntownFlorence | The Jealous Crumpet

May 15, 2015
by Sarah Bélanger 10 Comments

Ricatoni’s Italian Grill

I don’t remember my first visit to Ricatoni’s Italian Grill, but over the year’s I have dined there many, many times. I have celebrated numerous friend’s birthdays at the restaurant, as well as my own. I’ve dined there with new friends and old friends, co-workers and one time a really awkward date. When I graduated from college Ricatoni’s is where I came to celebrate and two years later, when my brother graduated, we went again. It is comfortable and familiar. Though I am sure it has changed over the years, the general ambience is always the same and it feels a bit like going back home. I say all of this because I cannot give an unbiased review of the restaurant, as I love it too much and will fail to see it’s faults, if their are any. Ricatoni’s Italian Grill opened in 1996. The resturant was created by Rick Elliott, also known as Ricatoni Valentino. It’s been a few years since I’ve lived it Florence, but when I was in college Ricatoni’s had the most wonderfully eccentric advertisements on television.

That brings back memories! I don’t know Rick personally, but he must be fun at a party!

Ricatoni’s has a fun, social ambience. It is a narrow restaurant with an open kitchen so you can see your meal being cooked and plated. The servers are always pleasant and the food is always tasty.There are fun touches throughout the restaurant, including local artwork, murals and uniquely painted tables. I notice that the table next to us had spaghetti and meatballs painted on it. I could be wrong, but I believe the meatballs had Ricatoni Valentino’s face on them.

I’ve include a photo of Rick from the restaurant’s website next to the meatball. You be the judge.

When you first sit down the server always brings you a white paper bag filled with warm bread and a plate of herbs.

There is olive oil on each table to pour over the herbs and dip your bread in. We were going skip the bread (don’t want to fill up on the free stuff) and dine on our appetizer, but instead we ate the bread and still ordered an appetizer: Bruschette Ricatoni. This dish had two types of bruschetta, a set with tomato and pesto and a set with mushroom and fontina cheese. Both were great!There seem to be many wonderful dishes on the menu, but I have never tried any of them as I always get the Ravioli Ricatoni. I say I’m going to try something new, but then I change my mind and go for the tried and true. The ravioli is simple, creamy and delicious, the perfect comfort food.

After a short debate we ordered the tiramisu, which was the perfect sweet end to Florence Restaurant week.

Disclosure: I was invited to participate in Florence Restaurant Week by Florence Main Street. My hotel was paid for by them to make it easier for me to participate and I received a $20 gift card from Ricatoni’s Italain Grill. I paid the remaining balance out of my own pocket and all thoughts and opinions about the restaurant are my own.

May 14, 2015
by Sarah Bélanger 2 Comments

The Pie Factory

UNA had its graduation ceremony on Saturday. As an UNA alumni I got quite nostalgic about my years at the university, so I dragged my husband around the campus, pointing out locations of various fond memories and hijinks. “That’s where a gang of squirrels chased us down”, “here’s where a weird, religious zealot would stand and scream at students passing by”, “there’s where the LARPers would practice their sword fighting skills”. You know, typical college stuff.

After several hours of walking down memory lane, we made the short trek to The Pie Factory. I was actually quite jealous of the current UNA students, as the downtown Florence area is completely different from when I was a student. There are numerous wonderful stores and restaurants that we would have killed for back in the day, including The Pie Factory.

The Pie Factory opened their doors in 2013 with the goal of creating place that served great New York style pizza in Downtown Florence. A mighty tall order, but one which The Pie Factory does very well.We opted for an early dinner and arrived to the restaurant around 5:30. The restaurant was pleasant, with fun pizza themed details festooning the walls. The general ambience was lively, but laid-back. It weather was perfect, so we sat in the outdoor seating area. The outdoor veranda had a beachy feel and made me reminiscent about white, sandy summer vacations. Olivier and I split a wedge salad, which was just they way it should be: simple and fresh.

I knew we would be ordering pizza, but I still agonized over the menu for quite a while. There were numerous interesting choices such as The Funky Chicken, which included gouda cheese and another pizza (I can’t remember the name) which included pork tenderloin and peaches. The Restaurant Week Special is the Arthea’s Franklin, which is a spicy Buffalo chicken pizza, including ranch glaze, grilled chicken, jalapeños, Frank’s Hot Sauce, red onions, chives and both gorgonzola and mozzarella cheese. I did get to sample a slice of this at the Kick Off of Restaurant Week and it was quite delish, but in the end I went super basic and got The Sweet Marguerite.

Tomatoes + Basil + Mozzarella = Perfection

Shortly after we got our pizza a little bird perched across from us, hoping we were messy eaters and he could bag a few scrapes. See even the birds love The Pie Factory.The restaurant also has an extensive collection of beers. I was happy to see a lot of local brews and ordered Straight to Ale’s Monkeynaught to pair with my pizza. In the end we all enjoyed our food: Olivier, myself and the bird. Not that we’re messy eaters but I fell for the guilt trip and tossed him a bit of crust. The bird, not Olivier.

I am looking forward to going back and trying something more adventurous, perhaps the Funky Chicken.
Disclosure: I was invited to participate in Florence Restaurant Week by Florence Main Street. My hotel was paid for by them to make it easier for me to participate and I received a $20 gift card from The Pie Factory. I paid the remaining balance out of my own pocket and all thoughts and opinions about the restaurant are my own.

May 12, 2015
by Sarah Bélanger 1 Comment

Singin’ River Brewing

….At times soft and quiet,
other times loud and boisterous.
This was how the Yuchi Indians
described the Tennessee River
as it poured over the rocks and reefs
of the shoals.

− Singin’ River Brewing Co.

My first leg of the Florence Restaurant Week blog tour began at Singin River Brewing Co. and it was the perfect way to start.

Rob and Michelle Jones started the Singin River Brewing Co. just over a year ago. They celebrated their 1 year anniversary May 1st. Rob has been experimenting with brewing since the 90’s and Michelle discovered her love of craft beer through Rob after they started dating. The two of them have been touring craft breweries throughout the States since they met. Their shared passion for craft beer turned into a career with the creation of Singin’ River Brewing, Florence’s only craft brewery!

My husband (Olivier) and I visited the brewery/taproom early Friday evening, when it was “soft and quiet”. I’ve been to Singin’ River when it was packed with loud, boisterous patrons and though that’s a fun time to visit, it isn’t very conducive to good photography and leisurely chats with friendly bartenders.

The taproom is gorgeous, which if you visit a lot of taprooms, you’ll quickly find this isn’t always the case. There are beautifully designed rustic tables and chairs throughout. Carefully matching artwork adorns the walls and the bar is a stylish combination of corrugated metal and raw wood.

The flight (from left to right): Handy’s Gold, Dopplemaibock, Renaissance City Red, and Porter.

When I visit a taproom the first time I usually start with a flight of flagship beers so I can get a feel for the general style of the brews. It is a great way to try a little bit of everything without emptying the wallet and over-indulging. The flight cost only $5.

Daniel was our very helpful bartender. In addition to bar tending he is also a photographer (what luck!), so he was able to give me beers that were tasty, as well as beautiful. He also helped me scope out good locations to photograph them in.

The flight (from left to right): Handy’s Gold, Dopplemaibock, Renaissance City Red, and Porter.

Olivier and I have very different palates, so usually if he isn’t thrilled with a beer I know I’ll love it and vice versa. This makes us the perfect drinking partners! I loved all the beers, but my favorite was the Renaissance City Red and Olivier’s was the Dopplemaibock.

I also tried the Hard Pear Cider, which was nice and light. It was a perfect ‘summer evening watching fireflies on the porch swing’ drink. It was very bubbly, which gave it a celebratory feel. I really wish they bottled this one. (hint hint)
For my last drink I had the Cornbread Saison, which was interesting in a good way. It is brewed with jalapeños so it has a spicy kick to it, which sounds weird, but it is actually really good.

The taproom has a television to watch various sporting events and steel-tiped darts, with dart boards, of course. They frown on you throwing the darts directly into their walls.

After Daniel explained to us how to play Cricket, we played darts for a while. Sadly, I lost, but it was a close game (mostly because I was cheating).

We had a great evening and will definitely be back the next time we are in Florence!

Make sure you read the other bloggers posts from Restaurant Week: Dirt Plate and Friday Date Night

Taproom Hours:

TUE 5PM-8PM
THUR 5PM-9PM
FRI 5PM-9PM
SAT 2PM-9PM

Disclosure: I was invited to participate in the Florence Restaurant Week by Florence Main Street. My hotel was paid for by them to make it easier for me to participate and I received a $10 gift card from Singin’ River. I paid the remaining balance out of my own pocket and all thoughts and opinions about the brewery are my own.

May 7, 2015
by Sarah Bélanger 1 Comment

Florence Restaurant Week #FRW2015

I was invited to participate in Florence’s Restaurant Week 2015. Wonderful local food (for free), great people, and the chance to spend the weekend in one of my favorite cities. Yes please!

Florence is near and dear to my heart as it is home to my alma mater, UNA. I both studied and taught journalism and photography at the university. I have many wonderful memories of the city, which has great restaurants, fun festivals, and supports an impressive music and arts community.

This year, 14 restaurants are participating in the Florence Main Street sponsored charity event. Each restaurant will offer specials for participants. As part of the event, patrons that eat at one of the restaurants will have the opportunity to vote for one of their five favorite charities. At the end of restaurant week, the charity that has received the most votes will receive $5000, generously donated by McDaniel Window & Door.

On Wednesday, I attended the kickoff for restaurant week at Singin’ River Brewery and got to sample food from all of the restaurants. Everything was delicious and it made me super excited about this weekend. I also got to meet my fellow bloggers: Eve and Roger from Friday Date Night and my blogger BBF Christi Britten Williams (we were photojournalism friends at UNA) from Dirt Plate. Make sure you check out their posts this week as well.

Below are the participating restaurants of the event. Make sure you check my blog next week for lots of photos from the 5 restaurants I’m covering this weekend. I’m seriously regretting making an appointment with a personal trainer on Monday. 😦

Singin’ River Brewing Company