Taste of Newburyport

As I just noted to Ben (responding to his comment on my last post), I just got back from being downtown for about 3 hours.


Aside from it being about 10 degrees warmer there than it is out here on the island, it was chock-a-block full of tourist types. How do I know they were tourist types, you ask?


Well, they were making full stops in the middle of sidewalks, looking confused, had cameras slung around their necks and were consulting those street maps the Chamber puts all over town.


One thing they were not doing was shopping, it seems. We went into shop after shop (distributing copies of Applaud magazine) and all of them were virtually, if not totally, empty of customers.


Many of them, though, were eating - at Not Your Average Joe's (you know how I feel about THAT PLACE) and a few in Fowle's. Caffe di Sienna and the Purple Onion also had a few people lurking about. I didn't go into Agave, so can't comment on what was going on in there ... Gram's Ice Cream was hopping, though.

Have you ever had one of their chocolate & banana frappes (called something with the word "monkey" in it)? Haven't had one in a while, but I remember how tasty they are. If not for the line, I would surely have picked one up and made myself sick on it.

The Tannery was virtually deserted - but I did have a nice slice of pizza from Villaggio. Not being a pizza fanatic, I appreciate the unusual pie, in this case a BBQ chicken, goat cheese (or was it feta?) and caramelized onion pizza.

It was yummy! Although it sounds like a bizarre combo, the mix of tastes was pleasing to my palate (the owner, Michelle, came up with the combo).

So now I'm back home, with a refreshing breeze blowing through the cottage and my iced latte by my side. I decided to skip for once the 2 cinnamon buns from Nutcracker ...