Back in October, I interviewed Kelleanne and Ryan Jones at their Tariffville restaurant, The Mill at 2T, for a feature story about restaurateurs’ reactions to amateur online reviews. (Read the final graf for their unusual “turn the tables” idea.)

While I was there, they gave me a copy of their Friday-night menu. I brought it home to show Rob, thinking nothing of it. (In fairness, I visit restaurants weekly for this job, and our house is littered with menus.) But this one struck him, and we vowed to return for dinner.

Well, we kept our promise in a big way. We decided to enjoy the full Mill experience, opting for the six-course tasting menu and wine pairings while watching all the action from the “chef’s counter” – a row of six seats providing an unobstructed view of the open kitchen.

And we’re so glad we did. Our plans were very nearly derailed when a server brought a massive pan-roasted filet mignon with cheddar fondue and toasted corn bread “croutons” to a table nearby. (It looked absolutely incredible.) But we stayed on course, and ended up with one of the most exciting meals of 2012 thus far.

Photos after the jump:

Tender octopus "nicoise" with hard-cooked egg, cracked olives, fried gnocchi, marinated beans, anchovy emulsion. Wine pairing: 2009 Lagar de Costa Albarino

Seared white tuna with grilled vegetable gazpacho, spiced jicama, yellow tomato butter, mango and watermelon salsa. Wine pairing: 2009 Anne Pichon Roussanne

Sofrito-basted grilled quail with patatas bravas and corn bisque. Wine pairing: 2010 Gothic Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley

Wild boar tenderloin "pork and beans" with local asparagus, Asian pear, candied hazelnuts and a slice of French baguette coated with whipped lardo. Wine pairing: 2008 Robert Sinsky POV (Napa Valley)

Roasted Australian lamb loin with George's Bank scallops, polenta cremolata, celery root puree, Parma prosciutto. Wine pairing: 2010 Jaffurs Syrah (Santa Barbara)

Dessert trio: pistachio almond cake with chocolate gelato, brioche doughnuts with caramel, lime posset with Meyer lemon ice cream. Wine: Vinedo de los Vientos "Alcyone"

The chef’s choice tasting is $70 pp; $100 pp with wine. It’s a splurge, but well worth it for a special occasion or just a really, really nice “treat yoself” evening of food and wine.

* Some notes on Mill at 2T: It’s a very small space, with just about 40 seats. Make your reservations early, and don’t be perturbed if you have to wait a bit once you get there. Just relax and enjoy.

Be prepared to leave your credit card number with your reservation. Cancellations must be made 24 hours in advance; if you don’t cancel in time (or no-show,) your credit card will be charged $25 per person.

If you want to sit at the chef’s counter, you’ve got to call the restaurant at 2 p.m. on the day of your reservation to book the special seats.

The Mill at 2T, 2 Tunxis Road, Tariffville (Simsbury), CT. 860-658-7890, themillat2t.com.

Saltwater Farm Vineyard, Stonington

I’ve made no secret of my love for Connecticut’s farm wineries, which made this guide to the 2012 season so easy to write. There’s a lot going on this year, from new vintage releases to special food pairings, live music and alfresco dinners.

Pick up your 2012 passport at any of the 33 participating wineries. Visit at least 16 of them, have the book stamped at each location, and you’re eligible to win some sweet prizes. Each year, everyone guns for the grand prize: the two-week trip to Spain’s Costa del Sol.

I’ll see you on the trail.

This will forever and always be my quintessential summer beer.

Have you ever gotten one bite into your first course at a new restaurant and immediately thought, “I can’t wait to come back here”?

That was my experience at the Blue Heron in Sunderland, Mass. last night, situated in a beautiful rural area just a few minutes from Amherst. It’s an inventive place, focused on local, organic and sustainably-raised ingredients. Though that’s nearly cliche these days, you can tell when a restaurant is truly dedicated to the cause. Just look at the long list of farms and purveyors from which they source. (And they’re also known for hosting actress Jane Lynch’s wedding in 2010!)

The menu is divided into bites/small plates and entrees. It took all my restraint (and thoughts of my recent tax payment to dear Uncle Sam) not to ask our server to just bring one of each.

Here’s a look at what we devoured, between our table of 3. I wish my photos were better. The food deserves it.

Pan-fried oysters with the most insanely delicious champagne butter sauce.

A local cheese plate with selections from Massachusetts and Vermont.

Steamed bun with Vietnamese fried chicken, hoisin and kimchi

Housemade lemon chive fettuccine with lobster

Mediterranean shellfish stew with a tomato and white wine broth, served over mascarpone polenta

Smoked Niman Ranch pork chop with caramelized apples and applejack brandy sauce

Valrhona chocolate pot de creme with ricotta doughnuts

This is easily in the lead for my best meal thus far of 2012. It was an experience, made even better by the beautiful weather, our fantastically helpful server who went out of her way to answer our questions in plenty of detail and of course, moments of hysterical laughter among good friends. Fabulous night.

Blue Heron Restaurant, 112 North Main Street, Sunderland, MA. 413-665-2102, blueherondining.com.

  And here I thought Ed Hardy wine was ridiculous. But then I went into the liquor store and found these.

This line of wines from TXT Cellars is some of the saddest “millennial” marketing I’ve ever seen. Let’s brand a bunch of cheap wine with text-speak and see if it sells.

Even funnier/sadder are the notes accompanying the wines: WTF Pinot Noir, LMAO Pinot Grigio, LOL Riesling, OMG Chardonnay, GR8 Cabernet Sauvignon and CYA Shiraz. Each wine label is accompanied by three (!) exclamation points but I just couldn’t bring myself to type them out.

“Total acidity: No one really cares. Residual sugar: 30 g/l (that means it’s sweet.) Serving: Serve chilled from 42-46°F or throw ice in it. We really don’t care…This is wine geek talk. We don’t like wine geeks.”

My 1981 birthdate puts me right on the cusp of Generation X and Millennial, but if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to cling to the former.

If you’re a gourmand and live a.) in or near a major metropolitan area or b.) within driving distance of a city with a large Vietnamese population, you are one lucky person. Because you have ready access to some of the best – and inexpensive – food on the planet.

(With this photo, I can already sense there’s a split in my readership right now. Some of you are saying, “What in the hell is this?” and others are clawing at the screen, drooling.)

Friends, this is a bánh mì sandwich, a unique cultural fusion of Vietnamese meats, vegetables and condiments atop a baguette. The New York Times describes it as the “culinary embodiment of French colonial rule in Vietnam.” This is one of the most fascinating pieces of culinary trivia I’ve ever heard, and I guarantee you I’d have paid more attention in my history classes if every lesson was somehow linked to food.

Shortly after beginning this blog in late 2009, I became fixated on Vietnamese cuisine, with which I’m still enamored to this day. Despite growing up in Worcester, a city with a decent-sized Vietnamese population and plenty of fantastic pho restaurants, I didn’t discover the food until I’d moved away. Go figure.

Things often work out the way they’re supposed to, though, and I’m now living between two cities (Springfield and Hartford) with plenty of options for this cuisine. In Springfield, we’re no more than 15 minutes away from Dickinson Street, which is lined with Vietnamese restaurants, delis, bakeries and shops. (Vinh Chau is my favorite of the bunch; if we aren’t there once a month, something just feels wrong.)

Down the street is Can Tho Fast Food, a place I’m not sure I would ever have discovered if not for the divine intervention of my friend Ben, who stopped by one day and found out they were serving the best bánh mì in the area. I’d been resigned to the fact that I had to go to Hartford for my fix, so this was huge news.

Can Tho is a small spot; no more than a little luncheonette, but it’s great. They serve eight different varieties of bánh mì, with variations of pork (barbecued, pate, shredded, ham.) The crusty bread is spread with what they call “butter” (I’m not sure if it’s technically mayonnaise or aioli, but who cares, it’s perfect texturally) and loaded up with flavorful meats, pickled carrots and daikon, cilantro, cucumber and diced red Thai chiles that burn like a bitch if you’re not wild about spices. I like to add hoisin sauce to mine, and a touch of sriracha if the sandwich isn’t already spicy.

I stopped by yesterday with Kat for a takeout order. Six sandwiches and two bags of shrimp crackers = $21. It’s just that cheap. (The “loaded” sandwiches cost $4; regular varieties are $3.50.)

In fact, bánh mì are becoming so trendy that upscale restaurants are introducing their own riffs on the sandwich. At Dish Bar & Grill in Hartford, a chicken bánh mì with pate, carrot, cilantro and sriracha is priced at $13. At one point, Dirty Truth in Northampton served their own >$10 version, with duck confit as an extra add-on. Even a new Vietnamese restaurant in Windsor Locks, Pho 75, prices theirs at $7. (True story: My very first taste of bánh mì was actually one created by Copper Beech Inn for the 2010 Mohegan Sun WineFest.)

Without having tried the expensive versions, I can’t judge, but if I’m paying $13 for bánh mì, I’d rather have three authentic sandwiches.

In the Hartford area, you can find good, inexpensive bánh mì from a handful of spots in the city’s Parkville neighborhood, such as Kien Market and Hiep Phat. I’m partial to Huong Viet because it’s a one-stop shop for sandwiches and other delicacies like pho and bun (rice noodle dishes.) Same goes for Chau’s in Manchester. I haven’t been a fan of the bánh at A Dong in West Hartford, though.

I’m always on the lookout for new bánh spots, though, so please leave suggestions here if you’ve got them.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love bubbles? Oh yes, I have.

At one point during last night’s “Cheers to Cava” dinner at Barcelona Wine Bar West Hartford, wine and spirits director Gretchen Thomas said she “felt alone in the world” because she likes to drink sparkling wine all the time. Not just for celebratory occasions.

(If the situation were a little less formal, I would have called out, “Me too! You’re not alone! I feel you!”)

Gretchen made the point that bubblies are unbelievably food-friendly, moreso than almost any other type of wine. And cava – Spanish sparkling wine made in the style of French champagne (but at a fraction of the cost) – is a damn fine companion to almost anything you could put on your plate.

I took pictures for the A La Carte blog, but here’s a short rundown of the food and wine pairings:

• Pan-seared scallops with lobster meat, cava sabayon and micro celery greens  (2006 Sumarroca Brut Nature Gran Reserva, Penedes.) I love sparkling wine with seafood, so this course was the ultimate winner for me.

• Rare seared yellowfin tuna with braised oxtail grilled spring onions (2008 Raventos i Blanc L’Hereu de Nit Brut, Penedes.) Gretchen said this “light rose” is highly prized in Spanish wine bars. Wish I’d heard of it before our trip to Barcelona – this one was fantastic, and apparently not too widely available in the U.S.

• Marinated grilled lamb tenderloin with spring vegetables and white bean cassoulet (2007 Juve y Camps Brut Rose, Penedes.) Lamb with cava? Sure, when the grapes are all Pinot Noir. Interesting pairing.

• Key lime ricotta cheesecake parfait with fresh berries and Nilla wafer crust (NV Reymos Moscatel Espumoso, Valencia.) I normally skip dessert wines because of the excess sweetness. But when they’re expertly paired, I pay attention. This was no exception, as the Moscatel had a beautiful “fruit salad” nose and subsequently amplified the fresh fruit in the confection.

Barcelona hosts really well-organized and informative events, so it was disheartening to see about 10 empty chairs well past the dinner’s start time. The cava dinner had filled up well in advance, and I knew a few people who’d been shut out. To see that many no-shows was just disappointing, considering plenty of food and wine lovers would have been happy to take their place.

But besides all that, I’d recommend getting your name in early for the next event like this. For $45 a person (plus tax and gratuity,) portions and pours were generous. And I walked away dreaming of another trip to Spain, where this time we’ll make an effort to visit one of the wine regions. Salud!

As fellow Parks & Recreation fans know, sometimes you have to Treat Yo Self.

Rob had the day off from work Friday, and so I decided to take the day as well. We planned a multi-destination road trip throughout the state, all with the theme of relaxation and more than a little self-indulgence. Click through to see where we ended up.

First stop: One of our all-time summer favorites: Bill’s Seafood in Westbrook.

So maybe it wasn’t the warmest day to sit on the deck overlooking the Patchogue River, but that didn’t stop us from choosing a waterside table. For lunch, we shared Rhode Island clam chowder, cold lobster rolls (with mayonnaise, hi mayo haters) and a dozen of these absolutely perfect Blue Point oysters.

They're so perfect, they sparkle

Second stop: Clinton Crossing outlets for some shopping. I came home with some clothes, perfume and running shoes, but exercised major restraint by walking out of the Coach outlets without buying anything. (It only occurred to me later that I would have disappointed Tom and Donna from P&R by passing up “fiiiiiine leather gooooods.”)

Third stop: Chamard Vineyards in Clinton, just a minute or so up the road. The winery wasn’t busy, so we were able to sample all their current offerings. The 2007 estate Chardonnay was our favorite, so we bought a bottle to take home and two glasses to enjoy on the terrace.

Fourth and fifth stop: At this point, we had two hours to kill before dinner in Hartford. So we took an impromptu detour to Middletown on the way back.

We went to Eli Cannon’s first for a beer, spending a feverish few minutes trying to pick out a microbrew from their list of 30+ drafts. Rob went with a favorite Stone (Double Bastard) and I tried a Mud Slinger Nut Brown Ale from Red Hook.

Then we ventured across the street to the highly anticipated NoRA Cupcake Company (I say that because Emily was there last week with Nick and raved about it.) At 5:30 p.m., many of the day’s flavors were gone, but we still had plenty of choices.

Citrus lover Rob went right for the lemon drop, a little burst of sunshine with a silky crown of buttercream, flawlessly moist cake and a shot of tart filling. I held off on my chocolate peanut butter cake, not wanting to spoil dinner. It’s actually still in the fridge, along with our third pick: the carrot cake.

(They’re a little pricey, at slightly more than $4 apiece, but they’re good-sized and clearly made with quality ingredients.)

At NoRA (a trendy Manhattan-esque neighborhood anagram that stands for North of Rapallo Avenue) even those with dietary restrictions can partake. Among the offerings: vegan and gluten-free recipes, and a daily Weight Watchers version. Brilliant.

Sixth and final stop: Costa del Sol, Hartford.

Since our fall trip to Barcelona and Mallorca, certain elements of Spanish and Catalan cuisine just haunt us. The local trendy tapas places are great, but I suppose you get spoiled. In particular, I’ve been craving jamon iberico de bellota since we left Spanish soil.

For something different, I suggested we check out Costa del Sol, a time-honored Spanish/Mediterranean restaurant that just celebrated its 25th anniversary. And we happened upon an ideal weekend – visiting chef Iker Gonzalez from the San Sebastian region was preparing special menus through Sunday.

If I were a mojito fan, I’d be all over this, with its boozy dark-rum floater. Rob loved it. I had a goblet of cava sangria, which was heavier on liquor than wine.

First course: Tabla Iberica, a platter of serrano ham, chorizo, salchichón, Manchego and San Simon cheeses. With the addition of olive oil and crusty bread, it was an ideal starter.

Our entrees: mariscada with garlic parsley broth for me, a satisfying blend of shellfish served with a side of yellow rice.

And Rob’s dish, a Gonzalez special. I’m fuzzy on details since I was enjoying the meal, but it was a meltingly tender rack of lamb encrusted with four kinds of nuts and served in a reduction sauce with a slight blackberry (?) flavor. He chewed the bones clean and savored the caramelized pineapple on the side.

Our server told us Costa del Sol regularly serves jamon iberico de bellota, so you bet we’ll be back.

Treat Yo Self 2012 was just what we needed, and a great reminder that sometimes you don’t even need to leave your home state for a little getaway.

Turns out this freaky stretch of warm weather wasn’t just responsible for early patio dining and ahead-of-season crop flowering. It’s apparently triggered an extra-early debut for Chesapeake-area soft-shelled crabs, too.

I wasn’t entirely familiar with the season’s length, but I thought it typically began in late April or early May. And then I saw this tweet from Max’s Oyster Bar executive chef Scott Miller, confirming the surprising news.

Last night we were in Hartford, having dinner at Firebox before bidding adieu to my tremendous photographer colleague Bettina Hansen (who’s taking a job at the Seattle Times.) After deciding on mussels, a Cato Corner cheese plate and meatballs, we considered a fourth plate to round out the meal.

Firebox was on board with the early season crustaceans too. When our server came by to tell us the specials, she dropped those three little words and we stopped her before she even finished. “We’ll have those!”

The appetizer-sized crab came fried in panko crumbs, atop a fresh pile of greens and tangy romesco sauce. Crispy and sweet. I hope the season is long and prosperous, because I want more. Much more.

In fact, the star of our feast was this “cast-iron”dish of four good-sized meatballs, bathed in a different version of romesco with walnuts instead of almonds. The meat blend was comprised of beef, veal and duck, which made for a super-moist and ridiculously flavorful bite. (We made meatballs at home last week and after trying these, I don’t know if I’ll ever attempt that again.)

But now that summer’s approaching, soft shells are on my mind. I hope I can get back to Bill’s Seafood in Westbrook for one of these big boys.

Max Burger's "Miss Daisy," with bacon and brie on brioche

The “better burger” craze has been going on in greater Hartford for a good six or seven years. You can’t turn around without seeing a new burger joint.

Plan B, Max Burger and Corey’s Catsup & Mustard started to anchor the scene between 2006 and 2008. More recently, Burger Baby and BGR Burger Joint have popped up, and chains Five Guys and Jake’s Wayback Burgers have been proliferating all over Connecticut.

That’s all well and good – if you live in a Hartford suburb. But when you live as far north as I do, and you want one of these upscale burgers on a Friday night, you have to drive at least 30 minutes. And that’s before rush-hour traffic on I-91 and I-84.

I must have been putting good burger vibes out into the universe. Last year, I heard rumblings of a new Max Burger location in Longmeadow, just one town over from us. The rumors were true; it’s scheduled to open in June. And today, more ecstatic burger news: Plan B Burger Bar is planning a Springfield restaurant, next to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Suddenly, the Pioneer Valley, with its dearth of designer burgers, is awash in beefy options. It’s going to be a good summer.