R.I. entrenched as dining destination

As the saying goes, if we do not learn from the past, we may unwittingly repeat it. So at the table at our favorite restaurant, how well have we learned from the past? The answer is, we have learned our lessons well.
Some observations made a decade and a half ago by some leading lights of the culinary world’s first generation bear a revisit. Back in 2000, the culinary world descended on Providence. That year, the annual conference of the International Association of Culinary Professionals was held here.
Providence was well on its way to becoming established as a dining destination. Restaurateurs such as Bob Burke at Pot au Feu, Rozann and Tom Buckner of L’Epicureo and Johanne Killeen and George Germon of Al Forno, along with chefs Jaime d’Oliveira and Bruce Tillinghast were being joined by new faces and places like Agora with Casey Riley in the kitchen and Atomic Grill with John Elkhay’s menu innovations.
Johnson & Wales University was launching new courses of study, as well as new campuses across the nation to establish its brand as a leading culinary institution.
Almost a year before, the conference had been announced at a gala at Davio’s in the Providence Biltmore, now McCormick and Schmick’s. Then-Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci Jr. delivered the news and introduced Julia Child, who was to be one of the featured speakers at the conference, along with Emeril Lagasse, Jacques Pepin, Martin Yan, Graham Kerr and an up-and-coming restaurateur and cookbook author from the South named Paula Deen.
First coming together in 1978 as a group of cooking-school owners and instructors, IACP laid a foundation for the food culture that is now part of American life. Chefs, restaurateurs, food-service operators, writers, photographers, stylists, marketers, nutritionists and academics make up the association’s membership, hailing from hospitality, tourism, publishing and many other disciplines.
Food writing was a major topic at the four-day conference. It is instructive to look back on what the invited guest speakers and experts chose as critical issues to discuss. Cookbook author Marion Cunningham quoted studies showing the declining family meal and stressed the importance of preserving this ritual. She challenged writers to take responsibility for informing readers about the greater issues of family rituals and the future. It was the late Julia Child who made the most lasting impressions. At the launch party, she told friends at her table about “the mayor’s most lovely tomato sauce,” pronouncing it “to-mah-to.” Then during the conference, she told my radio listeners the one thing she felt was missing on the local restaurant scene. “I’d like to see an upscale Chinese place here!” she declared.
If we fast-forward to the present day, we can see that her vision was clear. It did not happen overnight, but Asian fine dining took its place in the downtown restaurant row. Jacky’s Waterplace is one of the most popular spots in the city, especially on WaterFire nights.
One of the latest players to make his move and locate an eatery in our state is chef and restaurateur Steve Johnson. His Rendezvous in Cambridge was a favorite among critics and foodies alike, both of whom paid tributes when he closed the doors and headed to Tiverton. Johnson’s newly opened restaurant serves a boat-to-table menu and as such is aptly named Red Dory.
It is located in an up-and-coming area being redeveloped on the Sakonnet River in the area around the former Stone Bridge. And the mayor’s sauce is still on local store shelves. As far as the dire prediction of the decline of the family meal and the so-called “lost generation” in the kitchen, the jury is still out. Restaurants are more conscious than ever of the desire of families to dine together and are making every effort to reach those families.

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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