Eateries ringing Monday register

SPICE OF LIFE: Cooking class members prepare local lobster at the Spiced Pear at Chanler in Newport. / COURTESY SPICED PEAR AT THE CHANLER
SPICE OF LIFE: Cooking class members prepare local lobster at the Spiced Pear at Chanler in Newport. / COURTESY SPICED PEAR AT THE CHANLER

It used to be that nothing ever happened at the restaurant on a Monday. The first day of the workweek for most of us was commonly accepted as the default day off for chefs and restaurateurs. Hungry diners were hard-pressed to find an open eatery, save for the diner which never closed or the hotel dining room or coffee shop.
Chef’s day off was – and to a degree still is – the usual day for salespeople to call and for industry professionals to gather at trade shows and events. But it gradually dawned on the owners that if the restaurant was dark, the cash register was silent. And as debt-service and overhead expenses mounted, this became a luxury that could not be afforded. It was time for some out-of-the-box thinking.
Some savvy operators here in our state have come up with some creative ways to invite guests to spend Mondays in their establishments. Phyllis Arffa at Blaze decided to show off her new chef, Ashirwad Elhence, and her own passion to share her knowledge by starting a series of Monday night cooking classes.
Chef Ash, as he’s known, and Arffa have different backgrounds and techniques. Said Ash, “Our students will be tapping into a wealth of knowledge and experience.” Classes range from soups and sauces in which the recipe for Blaze’s pumpkin bisque and black bean soup will be taught, to seafood, pasta and what has become a signature style for the restaurant: vegan.
Arffa is undoubtedly influenced by her neighborhood in the Hope Street “foodie row” of numerous restaurants, located among a burgeoning group of retailers specializing in a multitude of specialties for the home cook. There are few other areas in the state where the art of cooking and those who practice it find as many choices to feed their passion. Shops carrying high-end artisan cookware, spices from India and gourmet olive oils find a steady stream of customers on their way to or from lunch or dinner up and down the street. There is even a farmers market on weekends.
The sharing-of-knowledge theme is a popular one among chefs and restaurateurs to fill up Mondays, while at the same time introducing new guests. Chef Tom Duffy at the Spiced Pear at the Chanler in Newport has made his twice-annual cooking classes a signature event. His holiday “Dinner with Duffy” classes draw an ever larger following, including a sizable number of returning students who sign up for their next class while their current class is still going on. This year’s subject was lobster. Duffy presided over an afternoon of six different preparations. One way was old-school lobster Thermidor, which has a reputation of being an intricate, complicated dish – mainly because of the Bechemel-style sauce combined with cooked, seasoned lobster-tail meat and the additional labor required to fill the shells with the mixture. Other restaurants are reaching out to meeting planners to host social and business gatherings on Mondays. Sylvia Moubayed of Cav restaurant hosts business meetings in the same space that has become a local landmark for weekend wedding and bridal showers. Cav is well-known for its expertise in hosting seminars and events for the pharmaceutical industry, as well as for some of the best-known holiday parties. Moubayed thinks her success with gatherings of all sizes goes beyond hospitality. She personally consults with planners on menus. She reports that an increasing number of inquiries about meetings, as well as parties, include requests for gluten-free menu items. Cav’s menu is nearly two-thirds gluten-free.
Like vegetarian menus of a decade ago, the gluten-free demand has brought about preparations that are designed around fresh produce and carefully sourced meats and seafood that are prepared with flavor first. This turns around the model of gluten-free food from the grocery store which starts with eliminating gluten first and then trying to add in flavor and overcome the inherent blandness of foods which have had gluten removed.
Many restaurants have abandoned the idea of closing down for almost 15 percent of their operating hours each week and are now open for regular service on Mondays. Others are creating new ways for regulars and new guests alike to discover unique tastes and to share knowledge, all to give us more reasons to dine out often. •


Bruce Newbury’s “Dining Out” talk- radio show is heard on 920 WHJJ-AM, 1540 WADK-AM and on mobile applications. He can be reached by email at bruce@brucenewbury.com.

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