Upland

It’s been a month since my last update but life has been so busy that I haven’t had any time to post! Lots of really great things have been happening (lots of CUTE things) and I was also traveling a bit for work, but now I’m back (for a little bit) and will update with all the places we’ve been eating!

Ken and I have been making a point of trying places in our neighborhood and one of the restaurants we tried back in January was Upland. Upland, named after the town where Justin Smillie, the executive chef grew up, has a light and airy feel, a bar in the middle of the restaurant, and an open kitchen. The restaurant recently opened when we visited and was a tapas place I visited the last time I was in the space.

We didn’t have a reservation but were seated pretty quickly after we put our names down with the hostess. We started with some sparkling water (I love when restaurants give you the option – such a nice touch):

Then a loaf of their warm potato bread with salted butter:

For an appetizer, we ordered the whole crispy mushroom – a hen of the woods mushroom with cloumage cheese:

And then we shared the bucatini cacio e pepe:

The chef, Justin Smillie, used to be the chef at Il Buco and was known for his cacio e pepe pasta so of course we had to order it when visiting Upland!

We also shared the whole roasted branzino prepared with fresh herbs and lemons:

We enjoyed the meal but needed something a bit sweet to finish. After looking at the dessert menu, we settled on the pecan pie with vanilla ice cream:

Ken is somewhat of a connoisseur of pecan pie and really enjoyed Upland’s version of the nutty dessert. We both enjoyed Upland (and randomly, as I was writing this post, Ken asked me about Upland and said that he really liked the restaurant). We’re so glad it’s in our neighborhood and can’t wait to return!