When you enjoy an exceptional dining experience, you want to remember it. You may take home a menu or ask for a recipe. You may have the sommelier jot down the name and vintage of the wine that accompanied your dinner.
Whether the reason is a desire for a souvenir or the common ground that we who dine out often have with lovers of art, there is a small phenomenon at work at your favorite restaurant. They are literally selling the paintings off the walls.
Some local restaurateurs have joined their colleagues around the world in putting works by local artists on their walls with price tags attached. This is nothing new or even local. Ever since Picasso painted for his supper at a café in the south of France, the close connection between art and food has flourished.
The creative process is very similar for artist and chef – years of formal education followed by more years of apprenticeship, followed by the leap of faith as the artist strikes out on his own, sometimes only after additional years under the wing of a mentor.
Today’s eatery as art gallery bears testimony to the unique deal the artists struck with the restaurateur back in the day. The artist was hungry and penniless, the restaurant had acres of bare walls, so why not a picture or two in exchange for a free meal? While the modern relationship is more of a business arrangement with the artist’s name prominently displayed as it would be in an art gallery and the price of each piece of art attached, many modern restaurants are still showcasing all forms of art.
One of the latest restaurants in the area to embrace local artists is a cozy spot in the picturesque village of Pomfret, Conn., called The Harvest. Owned for the past few years by Rhode Islander Anthony Malis, The Harvest incorporates a historic Colonial post office into its authentic New England setting with a dining room featuring a fireplace and a long, sweeping enclosed veranda looking out onto a wooded valley. Malis and general manager Susan Antonelli are careful caretakers of their unique spot and its stature in town, which dates to 1765. Antonelli has a handful of local painters whose works hang in the dining rooms and ballroom.
Quite possibly the best known of the area restaurants that offer art for sale is CAV in Providence. Today, proprietor Sylvia Moubayed integrates her carefully chosen tapestries, chandeliers, sculptures and carvings into the ambience of the restaurant. Some objets d’art around the restaurant are for sale.
Antony Canova of The Colonel Blackinton Inn in Attleboro is a fan of the CAV experience, as well as that of the vaunted Four Seasons in Boston. Canova started out at that hotel.
Canova and his wife fell in love with the works of Rhode Island artist Richard Rogno and feature his works in their dining rooms. While the prices are not shown on Rogno’s works, interested patrons will be quoted a price for his art upon request.
How worthwhile is it for an artist to display his or her works this way? Susan Antonelli says the customers at The Harvest purchase two or three of the works of her local artists, usually around holidays such as Thanksgiving. The exposure helps the artists to get potential commissions from restaurant patrons. And the care that these restaurateurs take in selecting their décor certainly adds to the ambience, which makes for more satisfied – and hopefully returning – customers.
As a chef friend of mine is fond of saying, “The eyes have to eat too!” •
Bruce Newbury’s “Dining Out” food and wine talk radio show is heard Saturdays and Sundays on WPRV-AM 790 and other radio stations throughout New England. He can be reached at Bruce@BruceNewbury.com.
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