“This is how my grandma made a hamburger!” Chef Kim Scarano sat in her new dining room telling the story behind what will be one of her signature menu items at the Back 40 in North Kingstown. The Back 40 Burger is built around the chef’s pepperoni burger. The pepperoni is part of the DNA of the burger patty, as opposed to being a topping along with the pepper jack cheese, crispy onions, garlic aioli, bib lettuce and tomato atop a pretzel roll.
A Johnson & Wales University graduate, Scarano worked at Kingbird in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., under a rising-star chef who left to open his own restaurant. The philosophy of Back 40 is in the definition of its name. The “Back 40” refers to the remote, often uncultivated acreage of a farm where things grow wild. Scarano’s goal is to bring a sense of the unpredictable to farm-to-table dining with a casual, ingredient-driven menu and a scratch kitchen.
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MAJOR LEAGUE DINING: Dom Hayman, left, Marvin Barksdale and Jasmine Beidleman are the owners of Rec Room PVD, a new restaurant with a ballpark theme that expects to soon open in Providence. / COURTESY REC ROOM PVD/JULIA SCOTT[/caption]
In Providence, Rec Room PVD expects to soon open on Admiral Street near Providence College. Its trio of owners describes Rec Room PVD as a restaurant and nightclub with a ballpark theme. The menu features high-end treatments of sporting classics such as hot dogs, fries and chicken wings. Owner Marvin Barksdale, a Brown University graduate who cut his teeth developing and operating restaurants in New York City, took inspiration from visits to numerous major league baseball stadiums around the country. While Barksdale has launched restaurants for others, Rec Room PVD is the first restaurant he has designed, curated and owned – down to sanding the maple molding and coming up with ideas for unusual dishes. “I’ve spent most of my career looking for ‘white spaces’ where I can partner with creative people in building a one-of-a-kind narrative,” he said.
Rec Room PVD’s menu is built on ballpark food but with thoughtful flavor pairings and occasional hints of spice. The team drafted a “starting lineup” of stadium fare, then stepped up the flavor profiles. For example, there is a conversation-starting entry on the eight-item hot dog menu: the Olneyville-Adjace Weiner, a beef and pork smoked dog, served with crispy onions, a tangy chili sauce and spicy bacon jam. Culinary director Dom Hayman explained the handle is short for “adjacent,” as in the Smith Hill neighborhood, which lies next to Olneyville, and so a different take on the iconic dog is called for.
Hayman and Operational Director Jasmine Beidleman are Barksdale’s co-partners in Rec Room. Hayman is a Johnson & Wales graduate who was a fraternity brother of Barksdale. Hayman worked at Costantino’s Venda Bar & Ristorante, The Dorrance, and Shula’s 347 Grill. Beidleman was operations manager at Seoul Chicken, Soul of the Space Catering and Lott 77, all in New York City. Despite having large-screen TVs that broadcast major sporting events and being the only restaurant in Providence to feature an indoor bocce court, the partners do not want to be put in the box of running a “sports bar.” Dinner is served daily from 4-10 p.m. At 10 p.m., Rec Room After Hours, a nightclub space pumping dance music from a floating DJ booth, opens.
These two new entries on the state’s dining scene have more in common with the more-established restaurants they compete with. They are unique, as are the majority of the nearly 3,000 dining choices, and as their more-established colleagues will attest, that is a key to success in this dining destination.
Bruce Newbury’s Dining Out radio talk show is heard Saturdays at 11 a.m. on 1540 AM WADK and through the TuneIn mobile app. Email Bruce at Bruce@brucenewbury.com.
