Chef offers a taste of Venice on South Water Street

Brian Kingsford is trying to create a new genre of dining in Rhode Island, one that’s more interactive and can be as heavy or light as the diner wants it to be.
To do so, he has taken his cues from a Venetian concept that allows diners to order whatever quantity of meats, cheeses and olives from the restaurant’s salumeria (Italian deli) as well as cicchetti (Italian tapas) to enjoy as an appetizer or as a meal to share.
In Venice, these restaurants are also wine bars called bacari; hence the name of Kingsford’s and partner Jennifer Matta’s new restaurant, Bacaro, which opened three months ago in a space at 262 South Water St. formerly occupied by Neath’s.
Along with serving salads, grilled pizzas, entrees and desserts, Bacaro is a wine bar. And so far, the summer has been going well, Kingsford said.
“The summertime in downtown, they say [business] plunges,” he said. “But we haven’t seen that.”
Part of Bacaro’s success could be due to a following of customers who were fans of Kingsford’s cooking at Al Forno, an internationally acclaimed Italian restaurant at 577 South Main St.
Kingsford, who worked as a chef and manager at Al Forno for 17 years, said he didn’t even realize he had a following. Matta noticed it as she began recognizing faces, names and voices of customers she’d served during her 11-year stint at Al Forno.
“I’m not getting tourists as much,” Kingsford said. “We’re seeing a local base of diners in Rhode Island that do dine in the summertime.”
The restaurant seats 140 and occupies two floors. Prices range from $10 to $13 for appetizers, $10 to $18 for grilled pizzas, $19 to $39 for entrees and $10 to $18 for desserts.
Kingsford said he decided to split from Al Forno and start a restaurant because “it was time.”
He had started cooking at Al Forno when he was 16 (he said he was 18 so he could get the job). Kingsford said he was so terrified of making a mistake that he learned to pay close attention to details. “It is the accumulation of fine details that amounts to great cooking,” he added.
Kingsford also picked up a few things from internationally acclaimed chefs such as Ken Oringer, who owns Clio and Toro in Boston.
By age 22, he was chief of operations at Al Forno.
In 2001, around age 25, he took the executive chef title because, Kingsford said, he was doing all the duties of an executive chef. He was writing the menus and controlling inventory, food costs and employee pay in addition to management of the kitchen staff.
Also in 2001, Kingsford started looking for opportunities to open a restaurant. When he found out Al Forno was on the market he tried to buy it; the deal didn’t work out, but Kingsford said he learned from the process about the value of a restaurant and how it makes a profit.
“Preparing to buy is a crash course in the business,” he said.
That, combined with years of managing the restaurant, made Kingsford feel well prepared to run his own restaurant.
“I would be bored doing anything else,” he said. “It keeps your mind constantly moving. You’re constantly thinking of eliminating hurdles.”
In addition, Kingsford spends a good amount of time going to local farms to pick fresh produce for the menu, which changes each night, and developing new dishes. And because Kingsford got to build out the space and kitchen to his liking, he could make changes he couldn’t make at Al Forno. He was the own general contractor for the project as well.
He and Matta and some friends did all of the demolition themselves, he said. They also did the painting and tiled the floors. Kingsford hired subcontractors for everything else. The project was completed in two months.
Next, Kingsford said, he’ll work on spreading Bacaro’s name outside the state. He’s thinking of doing some strategic marketing, such as cooking demonstrations at markets on Cape Cod, an area where he knows his demographic lives and/or visits.