Home Hot Topics Coronavirus Dining out: They’ve got people talking

Dining out: They’ve got people talking

By

Bruce Newbury

-

07/09/2021

Bruce Newbury

What makes the dining-out experience difficult to define are the parts that at the same time make it so appealing. We discovered this to our despair during the pandemic. After we realized our food supply had been disrupted, we then had to come to grips with being denied the social aspects of gathering at our

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What makes the dining-out experience difficult to define are the parts that at the same time make it so appealing. We discovered this to our despair during the pandemic. After we realized our food supply had been disrupted, we then had to come to grips with being denied the social aspects of gathering at our favorite restaurant. We desperately missed what we craved – the conversation, the laughter, the solving of problems, the sharing of ideas, even transacting business. It all comes under the heading of “table talk.” And for 15 months, the silence was deafening. Now it is back and we are soaking it up like a sponge. Here are some conversation starters about some unique restaurants and their chef-owners: A dozen restaurants and food and beverage companies set up under tents outside Dave’s Fresh Marketplace Inc. in East Greenwich in June to welcome hundreds of people who soaked up the sun and the human interaction. There were well-known food personalities represented, from Ming Tsai – and the frozen specialty line MingsBings (think of an Asian empanada) – to The Granny Squibb Co. LLC co-owner Kelley McShane, who talked up the cocktail creation made with the local company’s cranberry iced tea, shaken or stirred with locally distilled Rhodium vodka and limoncello. It is called “Rhode Island Iced Tea” and proceeds benefit Save The Bay Inc. Then there was Pawtucket’s Omallys Hopper, known better as Omi. She is the creator of the Cooking Con Omi brand. Hopper is a professional makeup artist, but while quarantining, she decided to start recording herself making the food that she made at home for her family. A favorite was sofrito, the slow-simmered, intensely flavored base with peppers, seasonings and the Puerto Rican cousin of cilantro. It may be a familiar term to those of Italian heritage, but as Hopper explained, the flavors here come from just the green ingredients. Her fanbase grew, she appeared on the American Spanish-language TV network Univision and started selling online. Then she found Hope and Main in Warren and began distributing on a broader platform through its DishUp RI program that also brought these food makers to Dave’s and other independent local markets. [caption id="attachment_374747" align="alignright" width="279"]

LOCAL PRODUCER: Nohemy Rodriguez shows off some of her products at a recent event at Dave’s Fresh Marketplace Inc. in East Greenwich. Rodriguez owns La Arepa LLC, which makes traditional Venezuelan corn cakes. / COURTESY HOPE AND MAIN/RUPERT WHITELEY

LOCAL PRODUCER: Nohemy Rodriguez shows off some of her products at a recent event at Dave’s Fresh Marketplace Inc. in East Greenwich. Rodriguez owns La Arepa LLC, which makes traditional Venezuelan corn cakes. / COURTESY HOPE AND MAIN/RUPERT WHITELEY[/caption] La Arepa LLC is a woman-owned business located in Pawtucket. Chef-owner Nohemy Rodriguez makes traditional Venezuelan handmade corn cakes with fresh ingredients. She served them at her restaurant. Her customers kept asking for more to bring home. Through Hope and Main, Rodriguez also developed a mass-market version and the sweet corn cakes are now available for purchase in the frozen aisle of Dave’s. “I’m a chef by conviction, passion, tradition and culture. We – my mother and our family – all inherited the delicious taste of my grandmother,” Rodriguez said. There were many more tastes and stories. Longtime Newport chef Karsten Hart was tending a pepper garden in his backyard when he was out of his restaurant kitchen. His wife, Deja Hart, was developing a line of hot sauces, which went back to her growing up and then becoming a restaurant chef in her own right in Southern California. Deja’s Rhed’s Hot Sauces have been winning awards for the past five years. Now the couple has started their own business in Providence. The impression left by the food makers at Dave’s a couple of weeks ago – the passion, single-mindedness and gratitude for the ability to create and serve foods that are appealing, delicious and satisfying on many levels – is really something worth talking about. Bruce Newbury’s radio show and podcast, “Dining Out with Bruce Newbury,” is broadcast on WADK 1540 AM and several radio stations throughout New England. Email him at Bruce@BruceNewbury.com.