Divinely Delicious Providence

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Does Providence make your list of top dining cities in the northeast? If not, it should. It may be the capital of the union’s smallest state, but Providence has a surprisingly big dining scene.

I was reminded of this while walking around the city recently, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I ventured from neighborhood to neighborhood, on an all-day bus pass, tasting the best that the city has to offer and remarking on how vibrant and progressive its culinary vibe is. Here are some highlights from that day. Note that there are many other fine places to nosh in Providence.

The Morning



Hewtin's Dog Mobile



As soon as I arrived in Kennedy Plaza, the commutation hub of downtown Providence, I jumped onto another bus to cross the city line into neighboring Pawtucket, the site of the city’s bustling indoor wintertime market, located in an artsy Hope Artiste Village. Farmers, dairymen, and cheesemakers from rural Rhode Island sell what's in season, and local food vendors prepare delicious goods, such as crepes and cheddar-scallion scones. For more substantial fare, Hewtin's Dog Mobile, a roving project from the chef of the well-regarded French bistro, Chez Pascal, prepares sandwiches with in-house made sausages and cured meats. At the market, I picked up Renaissance Ricotta from Narragansett Creamery, which won first place in its category at the World Cheese Awards in 2008. One cheese isn’t enough for me, so I also bought a plain chevre from Simmons Organic Farm near Newport.

Afternoon



Tony's Colonial



Where didn’t I go on the bus in the afternoon? I first traveled by foot up Federal Hill, Providence’s Little Italy, to visit the cheese counters at two popular Italian delis, Tony’s Colonial and Constantino's Venda Ravioli, situated near the European-style square, DePasquale Plaza, and then hopped the trolley to go all the way across the city to Wayland Square on Providence’s historic East Side. Located there is one of the best cheese shops in the country, Farmstead, which celebrates all things artisanal. Attached to it is a slip of a bistro, La Laiterie, that highlights the best produce, fish, and meat that’s in season in Rhode Island. Cheese plates with a selection of fine cheeses, paired with handcrafted accompaniments and the owner’s candied nuts are not to be be missed.



Farmstead



I slowly made my way back to downtown Providence via artsy Wickenden Street, where I used to go for coffee at Coffee Exchange when I was a university student at Brown, and hip Fellini Pizzeria for a slice of their New York, thin-crust whole wheat pizza with butternut squash--what an innovative topping! I then walked up Brook Street past one of my favorite boutique liquor stores, Campus Fine Wines, where I schooled myself about craft beer in the 1990s, when the craze was just brewing, so to speak, and up to a very local institution Loui’s, a family-owned and -run dinner, where I ate many late breakfasts after late nights of partying. It was closed by the time I got there, but saw on their window that Guy Fieri had made this one of his stops when covering the Ocean State on his TV food show.

Evening

It was time to get the evening started. Back in my college days this would be done on Thayer Street, the commercial strip that runs near campus, or on campus itself. Rarely would we venture downtown. There simply wasn’t much there. But with Providence’s renaissance, thanks in great part to Buddy Cianci, Providence’s controversial mayor, downtown is now hopping. I had a beer at one of they city’s two brew pubs, Trinity Brewhouse, and the hopped on the bus to head back toward Pawtucket on Hope Street, to have dinner with friends at Cook & Brown, one of the several, refined chef-owned bistros in town that highlight local and seasonal ingredients. I started with a cocktail, of course, which couldn’t be missed here. The highlight of the meal was a custardy bread pudding with salted caramel. I would have been happy with just the caramel!

After dinner, we hit downtown again, cool and youthful Red Fez for bad beer (Schlitz tallboys), bourbon, and Brussels sprouts. As if I needed to eat anything more, we soaked up the beer and bourbon with cheese fries from the quintessential Providence institution, Haven Brothers. A shiny trailer truck located next to City Hall every night from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m., Haven Brothers is the place for the current truck craze and even for the great American institution the dinner, which began in Providence.

It was now late and I had to leave Providence and head back down to South County, the collective area of southern Rhode Island near the ocean. It’s not a backwater; you can get great food down there, too. Providence and Rhode Island are definitely worth a foodie tour.

-Diana the Cheesemonger