Cod among the tastes of early spring at Blaze

The first taste of spring, at least this spring, is not found in a meadow just coming into bloom, or at dawn on a misty pond with the new season as fresh as the promise of the coming day.
It is in a city neighborhood where a chef-restaurateur is starting the season as she ended the last one, preparing seafood fresh out of local waters.
Chef Phyllis Arffa owns Blaze East Side located on Providence’s Hope Street Restaurant Row. The neighborhood is fast becoming an upscale, retail row as well. Her patrons, like those of the specialty shops and the other eclectic eateries on the street, care about where their food comes from, as well as how it is prepared.
All winter long Arffa was pleasing her customers with native cod she gets from another local entrepreneurial business, Brown Family Seafood. Since the first of the year, Blaze’s diners have been treated to Narragansett Bay cod that was caught by Capt. Christopher Brown just hours before from the still-icy waters.
According to Chef Arffa, cod is relatively plentiful year round, but this time of year has the offshore waters more or less to itself. When summer warms the ocean later this year, mahi mahi and tuna will migrate north and join the school.
But for now the catch of the day is cod, along with monkfish and scup. Arffa buys from Brown Family Seafood almost exclusively. Brown supplies her with whole fish and she expertly filets them, turning the entire cod into fish and chips, New England cod chowder or thick, cut cod loins, which accentuates its flaky texture and which she serves with flavorful and unusual side dishes.
Brown Family Seafood could be called the second generation of the practice known as “boat to table.” Formerly with another company begun by fishermen and founded to shorten the time between boat and table, Chris Brown struck out on his own, delivering orders directly to restaurants and retailers with the help of some family members.
The idea is for the seafood to pass through the fewest number of hands between being caught and being delivered to the restaurant. Actually, the process is a bit more involved than that. Today’s food-safety regulations that were an outgrowth of the industry’s best practices, added steps, personnel and delays between bay and restaurant. All seafood sold commercially must be registered with the R.I. Department of Environmental Management.
It was not economically feasible for a fisherman to handle such administration until technology caught up and made it possible to complete the job while still out at sea. A fish that was pulled out of the water in the afternoon can be on our plate at a local restaurant by dinner time. In fact, Brown Family Seafood has landed fish off Rhode Island and had it in a restaurant in Las Vegas within 24 hours. “It’s the freshest, most beautiful stuff! I love it,” said Arffa recently on my radio show about Capt. Brown’s catch.
Depending on the species of fish Brown brings to Blaze, she sometimes presents it as a “special,” which gives servers the opportunity to shine and describe the source ingredient as well as its preparation. It may be flounder stuffed with seafood and pan seared with a light sauce to bring out the delicate flavor. Another night it may be monkfish, referred to as “poor-man’s lobster.”
Arffa has other plans in the works for this spring. She is planning to introduce weekend brunch, which is a continuation of two traditions she and business partner Christine Edmonds have had since they opened their first restaurant nearly 20 years ago. Haven Hill Cafe in Cranston was known for its breakfast menu created by the two women who put their skill as bakers to expert use.
The tradition continued when the team opened Blaze in 2006. As the menu was tweaked to reflect changing tastes of the neighborhood, the breakfast menu became brunch, centered around the most popular day to enjoy that weekend midday meal, Mother’s Day.
The Blaze Mother’s Day brunch is an event looked forward to with great anticipation in the neighborhood and far beyond. Beginning this May, Arffa will serve weekend brunch every Saturday and Sunday morning. Local farm-to-table ingredients will play a large role on the menu, from eggs in a variety of Benedicts to Portuguese sweet bread and other baked products from Seven Stars Bakery, which has a location a few blocks down Hope Street.
With the emphasis on sourcing her ingredients from local farms and Capt. Brown’s fishing fleet, Phyllis and Blaze are ushering in spring with its promise of warmer days and the return of nature’s yield from sea, farm and field. •


Bruce Newbury’s Dining Out food and wine talk radio show is heard Saturdays and Sundays on WPRV-AM 790 and stations throughout New England. He can be reached by email at bruce@brucenewbury.com.

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