Karilyn, our primary tour planner, was busy with moving this month, so I took over the tour and planned an evening close to home for her. In attendance this month were Karilyn, Heather, Paul, Dale, Sandra, Amy & me. I’ve been intrigued with bar pizza for quite a while but have never tried any in Massachusetts, so we began the tour by meeting at
Emma’s Pub & Pizza in Norton to share a few pizzas. After drinks and a few bowls of complimentary popcorn, we ordered three pies: plain cheese, meatball & mushroom, and Joe’s Spicy Sausage. I’d forgotten how much I like meatballs as a pizza topping, and the mushrooms were fresh and sliced at varied widths (thank you to Sandra for choosing this great pairing!):
Joe’s Spicy Sausage featured Italian sausage, hot pepper relish & onions. I’m always skeptical of onions on pizza but I wasn’t going to pitch a fit about it; I could always pick them off, no problem. These onions, however, were nearly minced and seriously complemented the sausage and spicy peppers. This was a fabulous pie and one that I’d definitely order again:
Our next stop was a mile down the road at
Wendell’s Pub for their famous Buffalo wings. The place was packed when we got there, so after waiting a while for a table, we settled for two adjoining booths. Dale ordered some onion rings for our table, and despite the heavy batter, these thick hoops were quite tasty:
We compromised on the
Regular heat level for the wings, though afterward Dale commented that he could’ve handled more heat. Everyone loved the wings, and I told our server that they get better and better every time I visit. They stay very crispy after being tossed with sauce, and
Wendell’s does not coat them with tons of sauce like many places do:
It was so noisy in the restaurant that we practically had to yell to converse with each other! This was crazy for a Thursday night; can you imagine the scene on the weekends? Of course, Wheaton College up the road is now in session, so that could’ve explained the crowd.
Wendell's is our favorite place for Buffalo wings in the Bay State, and we were happy that everyone enjoyed them as much as we did!
Our dessert stop was
Uncle Ed’s Back Porch, about three miles from
Wendell’s. They feature homemade ice cream and desserts and had around 30 flavors when we arrived. Dale & Sandra ordered warm Grape-nut pudding, which sadly I forgot to sample but they both deemed delicious:
Heather got a cone of Muddy Sneakers, and Karilyn ordered a Mint Chocolate Chip sundae, and the ice cream was so vividly green that almost glowed! Amy & I ordered a sundae with Muddy Sneakers and Red Raspberry Chocolate Chip, the latter of which I’d never heard of before. I’ve seen Black Raspberry everywhere but never Red Raspberry. The flavor was very fruity with large chunks of chocolate throughout, but the Muddy Sneakers totally bowled us over: LOTS of crushed Oreos and chocolate chunks with a fudge ribbon. The only photo that was useable (you photographers know how difficult shooting ice cream is with a flash
and with a mantle of whipped cream!) was this shot of Paul’s handsome Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip sundae. He was amazed at the symmetrical channels of melted ice cream flowing down the side of the dish!
An old-fashioned ice cream bar with horseshoe-shaped counters,
Uncle Ed’s has gone undiscovered by the Roadfood community until now, as far as I know. We definitely be returning to
Uncle Ed's for more of their great fare and friendly service!
Another memorable tour of great food with close friends! Thanks to everyone who came out this month, and especially to Sandra who drove up from New London to join us!
Chris
