Falling for city’s charms

MAN ON A MISSION: TV show host Adam Richman has made the jump from the screen to the page, recently authoring his first cookbook,
MAN ON A MISSION: TV show host Adam Richman has made the jump from the screen to the page, recently authoring his first cookbook, "Straight Up Taste." / COURTESY TRAVEL CHANNEL

Gov. Gina M. Raimondo recently asked the state’s business leaders to become “development ambassadors” and recommend Rhode Island for business. The governor need not look any further for a food and dining cheerleader.

Adam Richman is the popular host of the reality TV shows “Man vs. Food,” “Man vs. Food Nation” and “Man Finds Food.” He recently released his first cookbook, “Straight Up Tasty.” He visited the state in late May for a book signing, to award a viewer a luncheon party and to spread the good word about our chefs, restaurants and especially unique dishes.

He describes himself as a man “who has known the love of many a pizza,” but said he was “flabbergasted” by the notion of Rhode Island-style grilled pizza. Richman declared it “one of my most favorite discoveries in all my travels for television.” As he told me at his signing in East Greenwich, “I think people [across the country] know about Chicago deep-dish or even New Haven brick-oven style or even New York City Neapolitan pizza, but Providence grilled pizza is in a class by itself.” With all tribute to the inventor [at Al Forno], he is partial to Bob and Timmy’s on Federal Hill where he filmed a show segment in 2012.

Richman says Providence belongs on any list of great food cities. “A lot of people know about the culinary identity of New Orleans; Austin, Texas; or San Francisco. But Providence has its own culinary identity apart from what people think about in terms of New England seafood or the other cities in proximity to it,” he said.

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The juxtaposition of the state’s culinary community – “with the handed-down recipes you have!” – to the college community with Ivy League (Brown University) next to a prestigious, cutting-edge design school (Rhode Island School of Design) down the street from the nation’s largest culinary university (Johnson & Wales University) adds to the feel in Richman’s view. He praised his location – Dave’s Marketplace – saying how he has lived across the country but always in neighborhoods filled with chain stores and how impressed he was that “I am doing an event at Dave’s and Dave is an actual human being who I met!”

He is constantly on the lookout for examples of food realism and mined story after story from his daylong visit to the state.

“The guy who picked me up at the airport and I got into a conversation about coffee milk and it was like having your passport stamped!” he laughed. “It was like, ‘Oh, you had coffee milk, you’re OK by me!”

Domenic Ierfino, chef-owner of Roma, described Richman as “a really nice guy” when he and his crew stopped in for lunch while on their TV episode tour.

His fans in Providence are similar to those across the country, dedicated followers of his expeditions to discover unique foods. In addition to his autograph session, he hosted a luncheon for a couple who won a television contest for the chance to have lunch in the winner’s hometown with Richman.

Adam Richman summed up his assessment of Providence and Rhode Island this way: “When you have such culinary accountability in a city this size with the reputation of Providence that has the soul of a small town,” with genuine chefs and food purveyors, “that is truly special. I have a love for this city. I wish I could come back more often.” •

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