Fire & Ice is a raw, self-service restaurant where you pick out the ingredients and present them to a cook who uses a large, circular flat-top grill to cook your food. Basically it's an unlimited create your own stir-fry. At places like this, I already have a blueprint of my meal laid out. First is the beef and broccoli, then a white sauce chicken with tofu, and finally another beef and broccoli dish.
Tonight it started out similarly. I got the beef tenderloin mixed with broccoli, however I noticed they had pre-mixed sauces. Instead of my typical soy/teriyaki combination, I used a sweeter, friut-based teriyaki and szechuan sauce for saltiness. It still tasted the same, however the lack of soy sauce as an option was particularly confusing. After that course, I went with the chicken with tofu, egg and broccoli. While they were cooking it, I noticed they also had bread buns available for different types of food combinations. This was very exciting as I could now concoct non-Asian themed courses. I proceeded to cook up 2 more selections - both philly cheesesteak styled sandwiches. I also added in bacon grilled on the flat-top as well for a little bonus. I used the shaved steak and a combination of swiss and american cheeses to produce a very respectable cheesesteak. Though not authentic, it was still very good and the option to create them is a definite plus.
A feature I really liked was the variety of items that you could use. In addition to the standard steak, chicken, and veggies, they also had hamburger patties, bacon, and ribs. They also had 2 items I like to have at the table as side dishes, pineapple chunks and mandarin oranges at the salad bar. Some may think this is strange, however my long-held theory is that you have to have a certain amount of sweetness during the meal to continue eating salty foods. Thus the pineapple and oranges work out great to offset the saltiness of the stir-frys. Strangely enough I did not see any type of pork selections other than sausages and ribs.
I give this restaurant a 4 of 5 for the selection, friendliness of cooks (he gave me a good recommendation for next time with the olive oil tenderlion for the steak sandwich), and the food. Ultimately the food creation is up to you, and I feel that I was able to put together some rather good combinations. Perhaps the restaurant concept deserves the 4 and not the actual establishment, but I had an enjoyable time nevertheless. In fact, I think I scared my coworker slightly by the amount of food consumed, as she was done with her meal halfway through my chicken course. She did sort of encourage me to get the 2nd cheesesteak, so it wasn't that bad. We basically shut the place down as my cheesesteak was the last customer order of the night. It was a great time and recommended for a large group of people since you are free to select and create what you want.
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| first course - beef and broccoli |
Fire & Ice
48 Providence Pl
Providence, RI 02903
That sounds like a slightly upscale Mongolian BBQ, with a wider variety (thus better) selection of meats. The plate in the pic even reminds me of Mongolian (I don't go there a lot, the pic just happened to jog my memory).
ReplyDeleteThe B&B would look better over rice, but whatever. Is it just me or does baby corn have a variety of flavors? I like my Mom's B&B, and I like baby corn, but I don't like when she makes B&B w/ baby corn. And I've had B&B w/ baby corn that I liked.
At first I thought you were reviewing the bars @ MGM Grand Detroit, but the names of those bars are Ignite and INT ICE. Close, but not really. In my defense, there is a Fire and Ice bar in Royal Oak, but I've never been there.
Anywhooo...this is Jon in his element. Utilizing the uncanny ability to turn on the buffet "switch." Actually, 4 plates is kind of low for you, if I'm to assume that the picture depicts the size of your chicken/tofu dish. Yeah, it's still a lot of food.
I wish I still had it, but it's hard for me to get past a legit 3 plates now - I have to prep my stomach for a few days to be fully prepared to maximize that cost-benefit ratio. And I'm the big eater in my family. My parents probably couldn't finish one large plate together.
Funny that you and me have never done Mongolian. I actually get a similar "blueprint," but I go some kind of sweet chicken first (because I'd theoretically fill up on beef faster, but not really), then get B&B, then some veggie-based steak/chicken fajita combo. Oh, also, I get noticeably smaller plates to get more variety over the course of the night too.
Um, this comment might be longer than your review.
Seriously, I am not worthy. You had a blueprint of your meal laid out?!? This is where you are a much better food blogger than I. I fly by the seat of my pants depending on what happens to look good as I'm walking through the line. I do, at least, be sure to save plenty of room for the meat (which is always at the end of the line in these places), but that's the extent of my planning.
ReplyDeletechris - i wouldnt call it an upscale Mongolian bbq at all, in fact since it was "college night" at Fire & Ice i would say it was more downscale. rice was also added to the dish but i took it when i got back to my seat. yeah we will have to go to Mongolian, but if you want endless meat we should do the Brazilian bbq first...
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