Two Steps Downtown Grille, Danbury, CT

Someone asked me where I find these restaurants and my answer was that they were either recommended or we saw them in passing. Sometimes I do some research and look online for someplace new and that's why we tried Two Steps Downtown Grille in Danbury. I Googled Danbury restaurants and saw this place and it, and the menu, looked good.

The GPS got us there easy enough, it is only about 2 miles from the mall. We were there in the mid afternoon and there were no crowds. We were seated right away and given menus by one of the owners. The waitress came over after and offered some suggestions.

After looking over the menu I ordered the burger for nine bucks. You can get anything you want ('cept Alice) on it at no extra charge so I opted for bacon and Swiss. Then you have a choice of fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings and salad. I got the sweet potato fries which were just right, but I saw an order of onion rings go by and they looked good. Next time. The picture below is the half-eaten burger so you can see the medium that I ordered it is how it came. Good quality burger, cooked just right. Actually a very good burger.

Teresa got a chicken panini that was done on sourdough bread. She got the salad as the side. She said it was good and it looked it.

Bottom line is good food, good service, good prices. We'll be back again. They have a website for more information.

Steel House Restaurant, Kingston, NY

The waterfront in Kingston, the one by the Rondout Creek that is, is an area that has been gentrifying over the past few years. Many new restaurants have opened and it is a hopping place on a nice day. Today wasn't a nice day, rainy, so the place was deserted at four o'clock when we got there.

After looking around at some of the restaurants, and realizing that a couple of them didn't reopen for dinner until five, we decided on the Steel House Restaurant. We went in and were seated right away. It was quiet in there and they were starting to get ready for a school prom that night.

We looked over the menus and debated a few choices. I looked at the burger, but the menu said it was char burger, and I'm not crazy about burgers done in the broiler. We decided on seafood, Teresa got the shrimp scampi and I had the shrimp puttanesca, each were sixteen dollars. Both were good with plenty of shrimp. Mine had a slight heat to it, with a hint of something sweet in the background, perhaps the red onions.

The manager came over and chatted with us for a bit and the service was good. They have a website for more information.

DeStefano's Olde Erie Pub, Middletown, NY

DeStefano's, Chi Chi's, Scali's, Diana's, Tony Boffa's, are all names of good old school Italian restaurants in Middletown, NY. The only one left from the old days is Tony Boffa's, but DeStefano's is now called The Olde Erie Pub and is located on West Main. I shouldn't really say now, as they've been there for a few years. We've been there a couple of times for functions and always been pleased, so when we were going out with friends we decided to try them for dinner. In short, it was a good decision.

We got there at six-thirty and there was a crowd. The Kiwanis were meeting in the front room and there was an umpire's meeting upstairs. The bar was crowded, some of them people waiting for their meetings to start. We were shown to our table in the back room and given menus. I looked the menu over and there were some interesting choices. I decided on the Veal Savoya, beaded veal with prosciutto, roasted peppers and cheese with a lemon sauce. Teresa and Kathy got the Italian sampler special and Dan got pasta with scallops. We shared breaded and fried calamari as an appetizer. Everything was delicious and the portions were huge.

The bottom line? Good food, large portions, excellent service, good prices. You should stop by and pay them a visit. Skip the chains and eat good old school Italian food in a family run restaurant. They have a website for more information.

Pimento Burger and LA burger from Bobby's Burger Palace

No need for any comments here, the pictures speak for themselves.