After a relaxing afternoon in the sun and sand at the beach in New London, we decided to take a short drive up to Mystic for dinner. If you're not familiar with Mystic, Connecticut, they're known for their re-created seaport village and maritime museum with buildings that date back centuries. We didn't have time to visit and sightsee on our weekend getaway, and I hadn't been to the seaport for at least a decade before our trip, but I've always had fond memories of Mystic.
We chose the Captain Daniel Packer Inne for dinner, a historic building on the Mystic River that had been built in the 1750s and which had served as a resting place for travelers between New York and Boston. We may not have had time for a full historical exploration at the seaport, but at least we could get a little taste of history by stopping by the inn.
It was crowded when we arrived, and we, of course, had not made reservations because we hadn't actually pre-planned anything for our last minute getaway. That just meant beers at the bar while we waited! What kind of beers did we get? A's Untappd app says he got the Mystic Bridge IPA, but beyond that, we have no real memories about the beer.
We were so hungry once we finally got our table. They brought out some complimentary bread alongside roasted garlic butter, and it was delicious. It wasn't just butter with some roasted garlic mixed into it though. It was better - an entire head of roasted garlic in melted butter - so not only did you get butter for your bread, but you could spread on soft garlic as well. Great start to the meal.
After indulging in our garlicky bread, we shared the portobello mushroom appetizer, which we ordered in part because the menu labeled it as "a Packer Inne original." Whether that means it was on the menu from colonial times or it was the chef's original creation, it was unclear, but the menu described it as a "large portobello cap rubbed with garlic and herb butter, then topped with Alouette cheese and seasoned breadcrumbs, baked golden brown and served with an intensely flavored chive-infused olive oil and balsamic reduction." I put the entire description here verbatim because we don't actually remember anything about the specific flavors five years later except that it was tasty and we liked it. (Really wish we took some notes about this trip...) At least now you'll have some idea what it might have tasted like.
For our entrees, we split two different sandwiches. One was the hot lobster roll, fresh lobster with a sherry butter sauce on a grilled roll. The two main types of lobster rolls are Maine and Connecticut-style, and this one was your classic Connecticut-style lobster roll, warm with butter. It was so rich and buttery, but what else would you expect when you combine lobster and that much butter? The fries on the side were also really good.
The second was the grilled crab and cheese, described on the menu as "fresh seasoned lump crab meat, red onion, fresh avocado, and gruyere cheese grilled on a ciabatta roll with tomato coulis dipping sauce." Unlike the lobster roll which came with regular fries, this one came with sweet potato fries. Between the two, we remember this sandwich being our favorite, but they were both good.
After dinner, we headed back to our hotel and called it a night. Weekend getaways are always so short, and it was time to pack to head home the next day. We wouldn't be headed straight home though. We had plans to take the scenic route home (at least for part of it), to drive down the Connecticut coast sampling even more food and taking some more relaxing walks, so there will be a few more posts in this weekend getaway series!
