Taste of things to come

Providence and the rest of the state are routinely getting noticed by the food community at large. A national publication – not food-oriented – sent out what is referred to in the business as a “pitch” – a request for information or a narrative – to the state’s food writers and others in the know about who is cooking and serving what. The periodical was seeking information for a series about restaurants in the United States. They wanted to know about chefs who cook and restaurants that serve croquettes native to another country.

The examples given covered dishes originating in a number of nationalities, but all are pastry or dough enveloping a filling and able with a few exceptions to be eaten out of hand.

Included were Indian aloo tikki, Korean goroke, Austrian Kroketten and Italian crocchette. The idea was that the dish is an exception to the restaurant’s menu, not an example of it. So an Indian or Italian restaurant was not being sought unless they cooked each other’s food. Which is too bad because we have some outstanding examples of creative regional cuisine from chefs such as Sanjiv Dhar and Domenic Ierfino.

Some examples of such cross-culture cooking can be found in the kitchen of Phyllis Arffa, chef-proprietor of Blaze East Side, which is described on the national scene as a New American bistro with a large vegetarian following. Arffa creates an authentic aloo tikki, the New Delhi street-food snack.

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She creates them with potato, spices, green chilies, cilantro, chick peas and chana dal (split chick peas). The tikkis are then pan fried and served with tamarind chutney and raita (yogurt blended with cucumber and mint). Also on the menu at Blaze is emboragados, an Ecuadoran snack made of mashed plantain.

An interesting aspect of authentic cross-culture cooking is the de-emphasis on sweets. Most often dessert courses consist of and almost always include fruit or cheese. There are occasional confections and they are always interesting. Arffa offers jalebi, an Indian take on funnel cake – squiggles of dough deep fried then submerged in sugar syrup and served hot.

Perhaps the hottest trend among chefs and restaurateurs at the moment is the “fast casual” concept. This differs from fast food and may be what fine dining is coming to. Think of Panera and Chipotle – in fact the phenomenon is referred to as “The Chipotle Effect” – and locally Providence Coal-Fired Pizza or Willy’s in Newport.

The ingredients are carefully sourced, the staff friendly, the menu is flexible and the kitchen is always visible. There are a number of chefs nationally who are choosing fast casual instead of fine dining for their next project. One has a Rhode Island connection. Johnson & Wales University alum, and chef of New York’s Del Posto, Mark Ladner is lining up investors for his Pasta Flyer, which made a test-market stop in Rhode Island last fall. Ladner has developed a gluten-free pasta that is as fast-cooking as ramen.

In other brick-and-mortar news, Mama Kim’s Korean BBQ of food-truck fame has opened a restaurant in Cranston. According to the Brown Daily Herald, the truck will no longer frequent Thayer Street due to parking issues.

Another food truck which frequents that neighborhood tweeted recently that parking on East Side streets has become difficult – even before the snow blockade began – due to merchant complaints and on-street meter regulations.

It is interesting to note that the “growing pains” food trucks are encountering have already been experienced in much larger cities. It is a sign of success that these matters have come to the forefront and undoubtedly will be resolved over time. At the same time, the spotlight shining on the local food scene and the confidence shown by entrepreneur chef Ladner in the ability of us who dine out often to evaluate new food concepts is a pleasant and exciting taste of things to come here in our food and dining destination. •

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