A few months ago I began researching restaurants near Tolland, CT to celebrate my best friend's last night as a single lady. Well, second to last night. I was organizing a girls only dinner for the night before her rehearsal dinner. What I discovered was, there are no nice restaurants in Tolland or anywhere within a 10 mile radius of Tolland. I had to cast a wider net.
One of my college friends has spent a good amount of time in Sturbridge, MA and suggested I consider hosting the dinner there. Sturbridge is about a 25 - 30 minute drive from Tolland. She gave me a list of three places and after checking out each of their menus, I decided on the Cedar Street Grille. The week before the dinner I found out that my boss' cousin is actually the executive chef there! Small world.
We arrived at Cedar Street Grille on a Thursday night around 7:15pm. Though the restaurant has its own parking lot, it was completely packed when we got there. Thankfully, there is an overflow lot across the street.
We opened the door to Cedar Street Grille and it was so cozy! It felt like being in someone's living room.
I particularly loved this table beneath this flickering candelabra.
The hostess walked us to a booth in the back, right corner of the restaurant. There was no one sitting next to us all night so it felt like we had the place to ourselves.
Our waitress, who was bubbly and attentive, came right over to deliver us menus.
My eyes went right to the cutely named desserts. Pattycakes? How adorable is that?
Before we could even consider food, we ordered a round of bubbly. We were celebrating after all!
Once we had our bubbles to sip on, we could turn our focus to the food. The front side of Cedar Street Grille's menu is all small plates meant for sharing. Translation = order more plates!
We started with the romaine, feta and avocado salad. I will order anything that has avocado on it and this salad did not disappoint. It was light, fresh and expertly dressed.
Next up was the calamari, served with pickles, hot peppers and grainy mustard. Though I don't eat seafood, I did snag many of those pickles!
Our final choice in the appetizer round was the parmesan truffle fries. The truffle smell took over the entire table. If you like that smell, it's glorious. The fries were not as crisp as I would have liked, but the flavors were rich.
After our first round of plates we were already stuffed, but when our entrees arrived, we magically made room.
The bride decided on the teriyaki salmon which came over mashed potatoes and topped with spinach and summer squash. She loved it! She said the fish was cooked perfectly and every single one of the side dishes was superb.
The bride's sister ordered the pork chop which came topped with a maple sauce. The left side the pork chop was garnished with summer squash and zucchini and on the right side, a piping hot bowl of mac and cheese. I reached right across that table to sample the mac and cheese and boy was it fantastic! It tasted as creamy and velvety as a dream bowl of mac and cheese should.
Two of us ordered the butternut squash ravioli which came in a parmesan cream sauce. The whole dish was topped with black peppercorns. That savory taste helped cut through the sweetness of the dish.
We each made it about half way through our plates when we had to tap out. We were just about ready to pack up and head out when we saw a gorgeous looking dessert head to the table behind us. We called our waitress over to ask what we just saw fly by and she said, "Oh, that's tonight's dessert special!" On impulse I shouted, "We'll take it! Four spoons, please!"
A few minutes later this arrived at our table:
The dessert special was vanilla ice cream rolled in Oreo cookies, topped with caramel sauce, whipped cream and a sugar snow flake.
How cool is this presentation?
The dessert was outrageously delicious. I forgot how much I love Oreos. I don't keep them in the house because I would inhale the entire package at once.
The food, service and ambiance at Cedar Street Grille was so exceptional that I would drive the 50 minutes on the Mass Pike just to eat dinner there again. It was the perfect setting for our bridal celebration, though I am sure that meal made our bridesmaids dresses just a wee bit harder to zip!
Have you discovered any gems that are off the beaten path?
