There's something about L'Elizabeth that inspires romance. But chocolate cake or cocktails for two suffice nicely when the mood and setting are right. For Valentine's Day, L'Elizabeth owner Ruth Elizabeth Mahoney agreed to share her recipe for chocolate cake, a favorite with decades of her customers.
Ambiance can be even more important than the food.
L'Elizabeth has a comfortable air of intimacy, with love seats, leather wing chairs, low tables, subdued lighting, soft music and the warmth of dark wood. Everything has the look of genteel age, like a home decorated earlier in the century and never changed. For 25 years, L'Elizabeth has been known as a place to take a special date, for students from nearby Brown University to bring visiting parents or for professors to meet for coffee and conversation. Many of today's customers are Europeans from the universities. It's a place where matters of substance are discussed.