Three Rhode Island restaurants – Basil’s Restaurant, Bouchard Restaurant and Inn, and The Spiced Pear – made OpenTable’s list of the Top 100 Most Romantic Restaurants in the United States for 2013. more

Rhode Island’s projected 2.3 percent restaurant-sales growth for 2012 is among the worst in the country, besting only Vermont and West Virginia, at 2.2 percent each, and can be at least partially blamed on its slow population growth and high unemployment rate, according to National Restaurant Association research. more

Our local restaurants are the envy of foodies nationwide. Tourism officials have been fielding calls on a daily basis from meeting planners and journalists who are coming to visit our state to scout out upcoming events. One of the initial requests from these out-of-towners is to dine out locally. Our reputation for culinary creativity is such that high on the list of attractions is the state’s restaurant scene. more

Paul Skoczylas grew up around kielbasa. By age 8, he was lending a hand at Central Falls Provision, his family’s Polish sausage shop, and through high school and college he was working there full time during the summers. Photos from the period show him in front of the oven, holding a rack of sausages, wearing a T-shirt with “kielbasa kid” stenciled across the chest. more

When restaurateur and Rhode Island-raised Glenn Beattie returns to the state next year, he will be bringing the Corner Bakery Cafe with him. more

Providence beat out New York City, to be named the second best city for pizza in the United States by Travel + Leisure Magazine. more

“I have to say, it is a phenomenal year here!” says chef Brian Kingsford. He was waxing enthusiastic about a place where he spends almost as much time as he does in his well-regarded Providence restaurant, Bacaro. The chef starts most days out at Confreda Farm in western Cranston. He picks by hand basil and heirloom tomatoes and works closely with farmer Vin Confreda to select corn, peppers and other fresh vegetables. The close relationship Kingsford has with Confreda is readily apparent when the chef says he wants to have an in-depth conversation “with my farmer” about the bounty of this season’s produce and its exceptional quality. more

The first thing to know about Indian cooking, said Sanjiv Dhar, executive chef at and owner of Rasoi in Pawtucket, is that chefs can’t just throw together the ingredients, turn the oven up and go watch a football game. more

Colosseum nightclub co-owner Anthony Santurri knew mayhem such as the stabbings at nearby Richmond Street hotspot Level II in April – in Providence’s nascent Knowledge District – posed as potentially lethal a threat to the nightlife industry as it did for patrons. more

Salve Regina University’s Sigma Beta Delta national business honor society recently partnered with Sodexo Dining Services to raise $603 for the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center’s food pantry. more