Camille's is a relatively expensive restaurant and one of the dishes that I was thinking of getting was the daily special (no listed price), so I did not order an appetizer. The bread and butter provided was better than Andino's and we ate that while waiting for the food.
I ordered the veal porterhouse which also came with parmesan mashed potatoes and sauteed broccoli rabe. Again it was a thick cut veal chop that was presented brilliantly with a 2 green flowers(?) that made it look like antennae. The veal was ordered medium-rare and it was also cooked correctly, more so again than Andino's. The veal was tender as expected but also not dry. The wine sauce reduction also helped to flavor and moisten the meat. The potatoes were really good as the saltiness of the parmesan helped flavor with the sharpness. The combination of the oil from the sauteed rabe and reduced sauce helped add to the flavor of the potatoes. I also thought the rabe was cooked well as it was tender but also had a snap to the stems. The garlic and oil combination is always a winner too.
I struggled with the rating of this place. On almost all levels I thought that it was better than Andino's, but not by much. At least not a whole ranking higher. I guess if there was ever a time for half rankings this would be it, however the point of no half rankings is to make the decision. Therefore for this meal, I give it a 4 of 5 due to the direct comparison of Andino's where it won out as well as the overall "niceness" of this place. It was clearly a more upscale restaurant that may or may not have liked us being so loud with our joking and conversation. Luckily it was empty enough and rather large so it did not matter. Overall a good restaurant that I would recommend but at the same time I would try others on the Hill before coming back here.
71 Bradford St
Providence, RI 02903
Nice description of the mixture of flavor, texture, oil/sauce, etc. Looks and sounds good, maybe somewhat snooty, in a good way of course.
ReplyDeleteIf you ask me, that plate needs MOAR STARCH. I'm not a chef or a food-blogger, though, so who am I to say. Must be the Portuguese in me again.
Educate the uneducated; what's the broccoli rabe taste like? Any similarity to gai-lan? Kinda looks the same, and your descriptions make it sound similar, but I'm getting differing results from a simple google search.
This blog needs more Chinese food.
Moar starch? It looks like there's at least a whole potato on that plate (albeit in chi-chi piped format)!
ReplyDeleteYes to more Chinese food.
After reading Jon's Madeira review, I realized that I must be part Portuguese because I loves the starches. My usual variety of snacks include wheat toast, potato chips, hash browns, mashed potatoes, rice and more rice. I also nom on pasta at least 2 nights a week. MOAR STARCHEZ.
ReplyDelete@ chris - there are potatoes layering on the bottom.
ReplyDeletetexture i think of broccoli rabe is similar to gai-lan, but rabe is more bitter
chinese is not usually the first place we think of to eat but i do have a review coming up if i can ever get up-to-date with the posts...