Another Dinner in Ashland

It's a tough job to do, but Andrew, his parents and I have made it our mission to eat our way through Ashland and the surrounding towns to pick the restaurant for our rehearsal dinner. Somehow, I think we're up to the task!

After visiting Stone's Public House for our first restaurant, this time around we went with one of Charlotte's choices and visited Fusion Cuisine. As its name states, it's a restaurant that features Japanese, Chinese and Thai cuisine. Truthfully, Charlotte had noticed a neat-looking restaurant the last time she was in Ashland, and she thought that this restaurant was the same. She realized when she arrived that it was not the right restaurant, but we still had fun trying out a new place.

Take a look at the fusion platter aka pupu platter that we ordered as an appetizer - it was seriously enough food to fill us up right away and we barely had room for dinner. While it tasted good, I didn't think the restaurant stood out in any way as an Asian restaurant:


I do have to mention that their spicy tuna maki (Andrew and I ate it too quicky to take a picture) was really good - it had a nice crunchy texture compared to other spicy tuna rolls I've had.

Now onto the gigantic size entrees - Charlotte's Chicken Lo Mein:

Andrew and his Dad opted for classic Pad Thai:

You think after spending almost two weeks in Japan, I would be tired of Japanese food - wrong! I was already craving chicken katsu and Fusion Cuisine's version was crispy without being greasy and even more importantly, they used the right type of tonkatsu sauce:

Even more remarkable than the food was the decor - while it had some touches of Asian influence, most of it was rather loud - like this room divider made out of heavy plastic balls:

Our red velvet booth - which was surprisingly cushy - with the bright lighting:


As we met up for dinner on Saturday, my picture of Fusion Cuisine's sign shows the snow that started falling rapidly that night:

And as an incredibly sweet touch at the end of a great dinner, Andrew's parents surprised me with a pink rose. It was a nice touch of spring during a cold and snowy night:

Thanks Tom and Charlotte!

Stone's Public House

After checking out the Warren Center, Andrew and I headed over to Stone's Public House (also in Ashland) to meet up with his parents for an early birthday dinner (for Andrew). We were also on a bit of a reconnaissance mission, as Stone's was a strong candidate to be the location for the rehearsal dinner next year:

Another fun fact about Stone's - it's rumored to be haunted!

Andrew and I were the first ones to arrive, so we ordered drinks at the bar. A hard apple cider that I had never heard of was on the menu, so I went with that as my choice. Little did I realize that it came in such a big bottle - this lasted me all through dinner!

The menu offered some interesting twists on old favorites, so we went with the fried calamari with curried slaw (Sidenote: I thought the menu seemed to veer slightly towards summer items in terms of what ingredients were used as accompaniments):

It was an interesting twist, and we had no problems clearing the plate, but we all agreed that we prefer a marinara or aioli dipping sauce instead.

We were all in agreement that Irish soda bread that came with the bread basket was quite tasty, as Andrew demonstrates:

For our entrees, Charlotte and I opted for the Flat Iron Steak With Blue Cheese, Tomato-Corn Relish & Roasted Sweet Potatoes - I was impressed by the fact that the corn was obviously fresh fromn the cob. And, the seasoning on the steak was delicious!



Andrew and Tom went with one of their favorites, Fish and Chips With Extra-Chunky Tartar Sauce. To be honest, they weren't impressed and found the red tomato sauce that accompanied the dish to be oddly sweet, like a sweetened homemade ketchup (their words):

The four of us opted for four different desserts, and we were all very pleased with our choices!

I had homemade Apple-Cranberry pie with vanilla ice cream - it was quite good, although I will say that 1) I thought the scoop of ice cream was quite stingy (loving ice cream with each bite of my pie) and the caramel sauce to be overkill (as it overshadowed the more delicate taste of the pie) - that would be the baking snob in me! :)

Charlotte loved the Carrot Cake with Caramel sauce (they must have a jug of that stuff) that was a special that replaced the Gingerbread on the menu:

Tom had no complaints with his Chocolate Molten Cake with ice cream:

And early Birthday boy opted for one his favorites - cheesecake - in the form of a Turtle cheesecake with tons of caramel and whipped cream on the side:

Overall, the food was pretty good and the atmosphere of the place reminded me slightly of the Publick House in Brookline. I wouldn't mind coming back and checking out one of their sandwiches on their bar menu next time or one of the cheeseburgers that a woman at the bar was raving about.

Autumn at Ashland

Andrew and I drove out to Ashland on Saturday to get a sneak peek of what our venue would look like with fall colors, since we toured it during the summer.

Although the foliage hadn't turned as much as I hoped, it still was colorful enough to give glimpses of a New England fall:

This last photo shows the cocktail hour of another wedding that was taking place while we were unobtrusively trying to walking around the property. As you can see from the pictures above, Andrew and I will have a tough decision to make on where our ceremony will take place! Whatever the decision, we are excited at the prospect of saying our vows with the Warren Center as our backdrop.