That time I drove all the way to Providence for dinner

Well, I guess the title of this post kind of gives everything away. But yes, I did once drive over an hour to Providence, Rhode Island just to go to dinner.

Why, you ask?

Well, my aunt and uncle were passing through Connecticut and booked a hotel in the area so they could spend a couple days with me. It was the middle of the week, so I had to be on campus for part of the day – but that was okay because they were able to spend time exploring Boston, and we could then meet at the halfway point in Providence and have a giant, delicious dinner at a restaurant that I’d visited once before: Fire + Ice.

If you’ve never been to Fire + Ice, you should remedy that. I think of it as buffet meets Mongolian-style cooking. In other words, they have an enormous range of food options, and you load up your plate with the raw foods and take them to the center where they cook it up for you on a giant hot plate.

The food choices are many: salad, soups, fruit, many varieties of noodles, all types of veggies, meat, and sauces. You can basically make anything you want. On weekends, they have a brunch buffet that also includes pancakes and omelets made with whatever additions you choose. They also have an ice cream bar. It’s delicious and I always leave feeling like I won’t need to each for the rest of the day. Sometimes I actually don’t.

After stuffing ourselves full of food, we decided to walk some of it off by walking around downtown Providence a bit to see the city. I’ve been to Providence a couple other times as well, so the photos below are from a combination of these three trips.

I like Providence. Like all cities, it has its areas that aren’t so nice. But it also has a lot of nice areas, and the Providence River runs through the center of the city, making for some nice scenery. I’ve always enjoyed it. You can park at the Providence Place Mall for 5 hours for just $2 and on-street parking is free after 6pm, so it’s also a fairly cheap place to visit.

Plus, I will always remember Providence as the place where Pat and I got to see Brian Regan perform live!

(If you aren’t familiar with Brian Regan, you should remedy that also – click here or here for two of his best skits)

Moral of the story: I enjoy visiting Providence, Fire + Ice has a delicious brunch, and Brian Regan is hilarious!