Restaurants feed state’s economic engine

There is not the level of drama on Restaurant Row to capture media attention as there is coming out of Washington, D.C., the Statehouse or City Hall. But there is an important story to tell about the food-service industry hereabouts.
The restaurant industry in Rhode Island is similar to the amusement-park industry in central Florida. Both depend upon patronage from outside the immediate area as well as local trade. Both are vital to their area’s economic health, and both tend to stay under the radar of economic indicators.
A look at the restaurant landscape in the state readily tells the story. Pick the Restaurant Row in your town and you will see numbers of new eateries just opening next to successful restaurants of long tenure.
Start out in Coventry, which is host to a new location of the popular Irish-themed pub Fat Belly’s just opening on Tiogue Avenue. A mile or so west of town, where Route 3 changes to Nooseneck Hill Road is the recently opened Andiamo restaurant owned by a former principal of the successful Atwood Grille in Johnston.
Barrington is the home of the new local favorite Billy’s, which has hosted some visiting celebrities. Recently, members of the famed Alioto family of San Francisco restaurant and political fame dropped in after a round of golf at Barrington Country Club. Proprietor Bill Dessel returned the favor and visited Alioto’s on a subsequent business trip out West.
Billy’s has spawned another food truck on the Rhode Island scene. Little Billy’s launched earlier this fall. From the truck are served breakfast sandwiches, burgers and a Caprese grilled cheese on the streets of Providence and the East Bay and is a popular stop in the Thayer Street neighborhood at lunchtime.
Also in town, well-known Rhode Island chef and restaurateur Champe Speidel’s fledgling venture Persimmon Provisions is bringing back the old-time butcher shop to County Road. And baker Carmine Borelli is planning to open another location of Borrelli’s Bakery soon after the new year. Borrelli’s Johnston operation opened this past summer and has become a must-stop for pastries, breads and Italian baked specialties.
Hopscotching the state to Westerly, in the shadow of the elegant Ocean House – celebrating its own first anniversary – construction is under way to refurbish the stately Weekapaug Inn into an equally posh hotel and restaurant complex.
Cranston is about to see the curtain raised on what may just be the restaurant success story of 2012. Chapel Grille is literally just opening its doors in the Chapel development near Garden City. I was given a tour of the new restaurant and function facility in late November. Having broadcast my radio show from Garden City restaurants numerous times over the years, I’m no stranger to the panoramic view of Providence that can be seen from the shopping area. I wondered many times why no one had captured that view in a restaurant setting. Designer Judd Brown went one better. He crossed Sockanosset Road, climbed the hill and captured the view as few have seen it. Actually, many have seen the view but probably did not appreciate it. Chapel Grille is located on the spot where the state’s reform school was located.
The restaurant’s design was influenced by actual blueprints of “Sockanosset’s” buildings, including its chapel. The menu has been created by executive chef Tim Kelly, who is remembered from his tenure at Café Nuovo. Chapel Grille will feature hearth-style cuisine and a Mediterranean-influenced menu, including terra cotta cooking which was practiced not far away by Providence chef Walter Potenza when he opened the Sunflower Café in the 1990s.
Kelly’s menu will be focusing on locally foraged ingredients. The style, however, is comfort food. Pizza will be fired in a custom-built Woodstone hearth oven in the Cathedral bar, with soaring ceilings and modern lighting accenting some of the actual stained-glass windows from the original building.
Meanwhile in Providence the new Bar Louie is settling in at its location in the Union Station complex. Across the river in East Providence, longtime Rhode Island restaurateur Bill Pinelli has opened the doors of his latest venture, B. Pinelli’s, located in the former Estrela do Mar on North Broadway.
The state’s eateries are worth more than a momentary meal-time thought. They are a strong economic engine that has kept humming along even during the darkest days of our economic malaise. Sales tax figures from the state’s nearly 3,000 restaurants are showing an upward trend this year which sets this industry apart from others that tend to grab more of the spotlight. &#8226


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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