Flo's Clam Shack

Following our Saturday spent in Connecticut, we continued onward to Rhode Island. Our first stop, was to get some lobster rolls and clam strips at Flo's Clam Shack in Middletown, RI (just across the water from the tourism hub of Newport.

Despite having the opportunity to dine at some of the finest restaurants all over the world, my parents genuinely prefer these local places when we're on the road. Living in New York City, there's no real shortage of fine dining options of all international cuisine types. So my parents don't love the idea of paying premium prices for meals when they're traveling when they can just as easily get the same (or better) in Manhattan.

Flo's Clam Shack was exactly the kind of place they were looking for. As you can see, the decor is going for the authentic fishing shanty look and doesn't try to cater to the upscale Newport demographic.

Like any other typical small local business, they cut down on overhead by having a order window that took cash only (but they did have an ATM on site). We arrived shortly before 12PM, so we didn't have that long of a wait and was able to secure a table for 4 in the upstairs patio area. Prices were reasonable for seafood (other places had lobster rolls going for $18-22).

While the lobster rolls weren't their signature dish (as it was in Montauk's Lobster Roll), my father decided he wanted to try one anyway. Of course, we couldn't go to the Clam Shack without sampling their fried clam strips, so we also ordered their Fisherman's Platter (including fried clams, clam strips, calamari, shrimp, scallops, fish and a clam cake). For their full menu, click here.

For 4 adults and 1 adorable toddler, we ordered:

• 3 lobster rolls (not the platters)
• 1 Fisherman's platter
• 1 kid's fish & chips meal
• 1 pitcher of Bud Light
• 2 sides of cole slaw

My personal favorite part of the ordering experience was getting a little lobster shaped buzzer to let you know that your order was ready at the pickup window.

As you can see, that order was MORE than enough food for 4 adults. In fact, I could barely finish my kid's fish & chips (though to be fair, it was sized more like an adult portion).

The lobster rolls were a good serving of cold lobster meat, but it wasn't prepared as a lobster salad. It was just chunks of lobster meat with a leaf of lettuce and a single serving package of mayo on the side. 

Flo's Lobster Roll

It was still pretty tasty, but nothing to write home about. Since we didn't need any more fries, we skipped the lobster roll platter and went with just the roll only.

The star of the meal was definitely the Fisherman's Platter.
Among the multiple fried items, my father's favorite was the scallops and the clam strips. There were even a few fried oysters in there as well, which we liked. The calamari was definitely plentiful, but not sure New England was particularly known for their squid, so wouldn't be surprised if that was more of frozen filler than a fresh catch of the day. The fried fish, on the other hand, super fresh. Unsure if it was cod or some other flaky white fish, but it was delicious as were the big steak fries.

If we go back again, we'd probably order the full portions of Fried Scallops and Fried Clam Strips. We didn't get a chance to try the raw bar, but that looked pretty promising as well, though I was more captivated by the big fish tank across from the upstairs bar. It reminded me of the Georgia Aquarium we visited a few weeks back.

Hyatt Place Mohegan Sun

Hotel Stay Details 
Hotel: Hyatt Place Mohegan Sun
Dates: June 6-7, 2014
Rate Paid: 8,000 Hyatt Points/night
Regular Room Rate: $197/night 
Point Redemption Value: 2.5 cents/pt

Next stop, was our hotel by Mohegan Sun Casino. But since the resort was much more than we needed (just a comfortable place to sleep for 1 night), we opted to save some money and use our hotel points instead. Fortunately, there was a 3 year old Hyatt Place just down the road.

Hyatt Place is super consistent from location to location. The properties are almost mirror images of one another. That being said, this hotel was just super clean and seemed much more polished than the other Hyatt Places we've stayed at (Boise and Long Island).

The good news was that we were able to use 8,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points to redeem for a free night stay. Cash rates using our AAA membership would have been about $197 including taxes, so we were able to get 2.5 cents/pt of redemption value which is pretty high for Hyatt points.

My father still had Hyatt Platinum Status (mid-tier) after his Diamond status expired in February this year, but that didn't really help us much. First, all the rooms are pretty standard sizes, so no elite room upgrades. Second, everyone gets wifi for free anyway. Third, everyone gets breakfast for free as well. I suppose we weren't any worse off, but it would have been nice to get something for hotel loyalty.

The best part of this Hyatt Place was the free shuttle every 30 minutes to/from the Mohegan Sun Casino just 3 minutes away. We were lucky enough to get on the 7:55PM shuttle along with 6 dudes on a "guys night out" at the boxing match at the Casino. Despite being loud and excited about their evening plans, they were really nice and let me and my family get on the shuttle first just in case all of us couldn't fit. Luckily, everyone got on board and we were off!

Classy in Connecticut

The last time we were in Connecticut was this past May when I was visiting my two friends who live in suburban Greenwich. They were showing me their awesome magnet tiles at their beautiful house while our parents had lunch and drank sangria. As you can see in the photo, I decided to show them how strong a 2 year old toddler could be by pulling them in their own wagon.

This past weekend my parents and I went back to CT, but this time to visit Yale University (never too early to start according to my Asian father) and Mohegan Sun Casino/Resort (probably the exact opposite of the Ivy League).

We were driving up with my aunt and grandmother in my father's car. While it was a 4 door sedan, it was definitely tight with 4.5 people, especially since I was in my bulky car seat. But we managed to split up the drive by taking frequent breaks.

Frank Pepe Pizzaria Napoletana
After leaving the city just before Friday 11AM, our first break was for lunch. Having heard so much about CT's famous white pizza, we decided to stop by Frank Pepe in Fairfield.

We had actually wanted to try out the original location in New Haven, but my father's impatient stomach couldn't endure another 45 minutes without feeding. So we went to this closer outpost and had some amazing coal-oven pizza. Fortunately, there was no line at this location, and we were seated right away. The place was still filling up at 12:15PM on a Friday as there were multiple booths open.

Because we wanted a good sampling, my family ordered both the White Clam pizza as well as the Original. My grandmother was torn, but ultimately chose the original. My father's favorite was the garlicky White Clam pizza, even though he loves his red sauce.

After sprinkling some grated Parmesan cheese on top to soak up the grease, and oh boy...my father dove right in and went to town. I mean, seriously, watch your fingers! Overall, I'm sure the "orginal location" is always going to be considered better, but the Fairfield shop was just fine for us. I mean, that super crispy pizza bread, reasonable prices and immediate kid-friendly seating. What's not to love?

Yale University
Despite not having applied to Yale when he was in high school, my father still had a lot of respect for the Ivy League university. One of the Elite 3 Ivy's (Harvard and Princeton being the others), it had a historic reputation, a beautiful campus, a mediocre campus bookstore and some pretty decent ice cream.

Mohegan Sun Casino
The casino is one of the largest in the United States. Of course, my family doesn't really gamble at all, so we were there just to look around and enjoy the splendor of American indulgence.

Having ate a monster pizza lunch, we weren't interested in overpriced casino food, though they did have plenty of dining options. And instead of checking out the table games and slots, we just walked around the "shopping mall" area and spent time in their Kids Quest video arcade area where degenerate parents can drop off their precious children (for $10/hour per kid) as they gamble away their college funds.