Z Bar & Grille on Wickenden Street

The second "Monday Night Raid" by members of providencepalate.com was held last evening, Monday (of course), at the Z Bar & Grille on Wickenden street. Located at the corner of Wickenden and Brook street in a funky neighborhood on the east side of Providence, the Z Bar has one very cool thing going for it: outdoor dining in its own little garden out back.

Even though Monday was hot and steamy, by the time the sun went down and we arrived at the Z Bar, the air had turned noticeably cooler and there were pleasant breezes to be had virtually everywhere in the city.

Anyway, there were eight of us from providencepalate.com there to talk food, wine, weather, food, Providence, Providence food, New York City food, Rhode island food, various Asian foods, and pretty much food. Rich Lang, who, along with Seth Price was one of the co-creators of providencepalate.com, served as the group's gentle moderator. But when you get that many serious food folks together around one table, there's little you can do but sit back and watch the action. Plenty of incredible information and experiences were shared that evening and frankly I'm already looking forward to the next event.

(In case, you're wondering: with so many restaurants in the Providence area closed on Mondays Rich thought it would be a good idea for some of the members of providencepalate.com to get together and support those handful that make the effort to stay open. Certainly makes sense to me.)

As I said the Z-Bar has this great garden out back and I would easily suggest you give them a try -- but stick to the salads and lighter fare. Susie had the Caesar which she thought very tasty, followed by the crabcake (appetizer menu). I had the "tenderloin" meatloaf and it was OK -- not, however, anywhere near as good as Pat's at Broadway Bistro though -- and the potatoes seemed quite bland to me. The Garlic mashed potatoes cried out for garlic and in fact tasted like plain old mashed potatoes that need a bit of salt and pepper. The only other potato available were oven roasted wedges that seemed oddly prepared -- they looked almost as if they were uncooked on the top but seemed tender enough -- they also tasted quite bland.

The wine list was unimpressive and generally unexciting, with too few wines by the glass and the few available mostly typical California jug wines (Trinchero and J Lohr for example). Too bad, since Campus Wines is right around the corner and I thought Z-Bar was one of their main locations for occasional tastings.

All the wines were served in the same small balloon glass, typical of lower end restaurants. Oh, and the by-the-glass prices were comparable to Gracie's where the wines are more interesting and the glassware much nicer! Remember, that's why we're going out in the first place -- the experience is a large part of the meal. If I want something more basic I'll go to Stanley's. One other thing: both of my Campari and sodas seemed heavier on the latter -- and at 7 bucks a glass that's expensive club soda.

Our server George was friendly, attentive and tired to make the best of a couple of glitches during the meal.

So go for the garden seating, order a Caesar and stick with a glass of sparkling water. For a different perspective, check out Meredith Ford's review.

Z Bar & Grille
244 Wickenden Street
401.831.1566