Chophouse ‘specials’ connect with diners

SWEET SUCCESS: Key lime pie, one of the signature desserts often requested by guests of The Chophouse Grille in South Kingstown. / COURTESY THE CHOPHOUSE GRILLE
SWEET SUCCESS: Key lime pie, one of the signature desserts often requested by guests of The Chophouse Grille in South Kingstown. / COURTESY THE CHOPHOUSE GRILLE

A specially prepared dish or “special” is an opportunity for both the chef and the diner to experience a taste or technique both may be trying for the first time. The nightly recitation of specials is something just about all of us look forward to when we dine out.
It is a delicate balance, however. A restaurant’s and by extension a chef’s reputation is built on a menu of signature dishes to which guests become accustomed and in many cases attached.
Restaurateurs and staff from the front to the back of the house all have stories about patrons who were disappointed, pleading and even angry that a favorite menu item had been retired even temporarily. Depending on the chef or the restaurateur, the odds are about 50/50 that a dish once removed is returned to the menu.
One local restaurant ownership-chef team collaborates on nightly specials which have developed a dedicated following in a fairly short time. The Chophouse Grille in South Kingstown opened about a year ago – using my “Rhode Island GPS” – it is located in the space known for many years to the University of Rhode Island crowd as Casey’s Pub. Following an extensive renovation, the Chophouse opened with a concept known in the business as casual fine dining. Partners Charlie Samaras and Jamie Laplume, both restaurant-industry veterans, set out to appeal to residents who have relocated to South County but are looking for a taste of sophistication when they dine out in their new hometown.
Chef Jason Bourassa is charged with creating a nightly special that creates table talk among the staff and a buzz on the restaurant’s social media pages. While that may seem to be a tall order, the chef takes it in stride.
“The idea is to create something different and approachable without over-thinking it,” he said, while sitting at a large, round table just off his restaurant’s spacious bar lounge.
Bourassa knows his guests. He should. Many have followed him from his previous stint in Jamestown, where his Bolognese is still talked about today. The chef also spent a few years cooking in Newport at an eclectic non-Asian restaurant known for its pad thai.
The table at which we were sitting will host a tasting event for a group of my radio listeners with some of Bourassa’s new creations later this fall.
He acknowledges that there is a learning curve on the part of the servers when they have to recite something new: “It’s a mouthful to say the names of some of these specials!” One recent creation was talked about for a week by the guests. It was cheddar apple truffle, stuffed bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin served over grits. The specials are ingredient driven. As Bourassa put it, “One ingredient leads to another and another!” There is no set number of ingredients in the chef’s specials. Night after night, there may be as few as two or as many as six. Bourassa is of the new school, where the emphasis is on the composition of the dish with each element playing a part. The old school focused on intricate and complicated preparations, with sauces and styles that came with names that were difficult to pronounce.
These nights, Chophouse Grille staffers talk up the chef’s specials with ease and a natural enthusiasm. This comes from a pre-opening meeting with wait staff and support personnel – those who work in what is called the “back of the house”– in which each night’s dish is unveiled, described by the chef and then tasted by each member of the crew.
The “reveal” is a dress rehearsal for the night’s service in which Bourassa as well as management and the “front of the house” staff hear about the dish as well as taste it.
They then can give immediate feedback to the chef on whether the dish is approachable by patrons or if it is too “foodie,” the chef’s term for a special that is overly complicated. “[If that is the case then] at the table it just doesn’t come across right,” said Bourassa. “When you describe a special, our guests have to create a picture in their mind,” he continued. “They’re getting clues in the [recitation] of the special. It can’t be too complicated. It has to stay approachable.”
Whether it’s a nightly special at your favorite restaurant or a special-oriented week on restaurant row such as East Greenwich’s Restaurant Week continuing through Sept. 28, both the chefs who come up with them and we who dine out often enjoy the creativity of restaurant specials.
For maximum enjoyment and the sheer joy of discovery, don’t be afraid to put your palate in the chef’s hands. •


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

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