Trowbridge’s ( 316 North Court Street, 256.764.1503) has been open in downtown Florence since 1918. It is a lovely little ice cream parlor where you can sit at the counter and watch everyone’s treats being made.
Isn’t this order board great??!!
I ordered an egg and olive sandwich, which was very good. I ate about half of it (it was conveniently cut in half) so I could still try the ice cream.
Av ordered the ‘oh my gosh’, which is a brownie topped with ice cream and caramel, whipped cream (which he asked them to leave off) and a cherry. The brownie was served warm and was *excellent*.
I tried one scoop of orange-pineapple ice cream — it also happens to be one of the ‘100 dishes to eat in Alabama before you die’ that’s being promoted by the Alabama Bureau of Travel and Tourism this year — with one scoop of butter pecan. I liked the butter pecan a little better, but only had room for about 1/4 what they served in the glass!
Everybody that works at Trowbridge’s was really nice and friendly, and we’ll visit again the next time we’re in Florence.
Dale’s (1001 Mitchell Boulevard, 256.766.4961), one of my and Av’s very favorite places, was supposed to be where we were going to have supper Saturday night. We arrived right on time for our 8:45pm reservation and were seated promptly. A waiter came right over for our drink order, and had our drinks back in just a couple of minutes. Then twenty-five minutes went by and the waiter hadn’t come by for our order (no nothing – even to let us know that he would be with us, just that it would be a little while). We decided just to leave, so we went to the front desk to pay for our drinks. Since we couldn’t get a waiter, we couldn’t get a regular check. The gentleman at the desk asked what was going on and we explained…..no cost for the drinks. We’ll still go back next time; everybody has a bad night every now and then, I guess.
Ricatoni’s ( 107 North Court Street, 256.718.1002) was lunch on Sunday. (I just noticed that Ricatoni’s bread with herbs is *also* on the 100 dishes list (and it was very good).)
I had the Ricatoni Ravioli, which was cheese-filled ravioli in a tomato cream sauce. It was soooo good. Av really liked his pasta too.
We both really liked the atmosphere, with the double-height ceiling (part of the room has a balcony), tin ceiling, and an open – and pretty loud – kitchen. We’ll definitely come back to Ricatoni’s too. Yay!