“I’m calling from New York,” said the woman on the phone. She was looking for a table at a Providence restaurant on a “WaterFire” night. She was after the best table in the house, and she knew what she wanted. “Which of your outside tables has the best view?”
Like our New York friend, we Rhode Islanders cherish our outdoor dining. We can’t wait for the day when the umbrella tables reappear outside our favorite restaurant. And although some restaurants are blessed with locations offering spectacular views, scenery is not necessarily a determining factor. Restaurants throughout the state report overwhelming demand for their outdoor tables from Memorial Day to the fall even if the view is of the parking lot.
Of course, some outdoor dining spots are legendary. Costantino’s Ristorante & Caffe transforms the brick sidewalks of Federal Hill into a Tuscan piazza each spring. Reservations for the patio at Café Nuovo on “WaterFire” evenings and graduation weekends have been taken since New Year’s, a phenomenon not lost on their new neighbors across the pond. WaterPlace Restaurant, recently reopened by Pinelli-Marra Restaurant Group, started fielding calls for reservations for its outdoor deck even before its doors reopened last week. And Ruth’s Chris Steak House plans outdoor seating on its deck overlooking the basin at Waterplace Park.
Providence restaurateurs are fully aware of how precious their outdoor dining space is. Just in case they needed a wakeup call, one came in March when it appeared that each restaurant seeking an outdoor dining license would have to undergo a lengthy public hearing process in keeping with the letter of the law.
More than 100 restaurants apply annually to Providence for a seasonal outdoor dining permit – bringing the number of licenses required for the average restaurateur to conduct business to 22. The city in the past had upheld the law by holding a single hearing to process all the seasonal licenses. Following a complaint from one nightclub’s deep-pocketed neighbor, the city’s licensing board was ordered by the court to hold hearings and each applicant to notify all abutters of its plans. This was seen by many in the restaurant industry as effectively shutting down outdoor dining in Providence just in time for the warm weather. Cooler heads prevailed at the R.I. Supreme Court, which granted a temporary reprieve, allowing the licensing board to hold a single hearing for this season’s applicants. The court will hear the full case in October, and the General Assembly is working on legislation to streamline the process statewide.
Cuban Revolution was the first restaurant granted an outdoor permit in Providence this year after relocating to Aborn Street. The setting might be called a cityscape, the “patio” a sidewalk with a front-row seat to the hustle-and-bustle of the burgeoning Providence city life. (Note: The restaurant sponsors my radio show.)
On the East Bay, S.S. Dion in Bristol has tables reserved on its deck for the night before the Fourth of July as much as a year in advance. “Some of our regular customers ask for tables along the rail to see the sunset over Poppasquash Point,” says proprietor Sue Dion. The covered deck seats about 30, and the restaurant recently added a flagstone patio off the deck for larger parties.
Papa-Razzi Ristorante and Bar in Garden City, Cranston, is a prime example of an outdoor dining experience that can make one forget one’s surroundings. The umbrellas are brightly colored, the food is bistro Italian and though the view is of the parking lot, demand for patio tables at Papa-Razzi is strong – particularly at lunchtime, for early evening dinner or Sunday brunch.
Dining Out with Bruce Newbury can be heard on Talk Radio 920 WHJJ-AM Fridays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at noon.
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