With wishes for good health, happiness and prosperity, we will be gathering whenever and wherever we can at Christmastime.
This year marks the 45th consecutive Christmas Day opening at Sardella’s Italian Restaurant in Newport. The tradition started in 1980 when days and nights of record below-zero temperatures resulted in Newport Harbor freezing over and water pipes bursting in downtown restaurants that could not open even if their owners had planned to. The few places that were open that Christmas were in the hotels. Richard Sardella was entertaining some holiday guests, and they were trying to find a place to go for dinner late on Christmas afternoon. With few options, Sardella brought his guests to his new restaurant, which was closed for the holiday, and he cooked a steak dinner for his friends.
Soon the lighted eatery kept warm by a wood stove brought people to the door asking if there were tables available. More would-be guests telephoned. Sardella heard opportunity knocking and phoning.
The following year, he opened on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, serving a special menu, including steak served Fiorentina style with an olive oil rub, garlic and fresh rosemary; roast duck; and scallops and shrimp.
Fast forward to 2024 and Sardella’s will be open from 2 to 7 p.m. on Dec. 24, 25 and Dec. 31, New Year’s Eve. Chef Kevin Fitzgerald has created a special holiday menu.
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DOING HER PART: Maria Vicenzo, founder of Mariianna’s Cookies and Treats, has been one of the numerous Hope & Main food businesses to participate in the Main Street Meals program, which hires local companies to make food for the needy.
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Another spirit is in the air this holiday season: the spirit of cooperation, which is never far from food businesses and the hospitality community.
As Lisa Raiola, president and founder of the food launch platform Hope & Main, discussed on Giving Tuesday in early December, Rhode Island’s economy is 98% small businesses, many of them food businesses. Raiola described the state as a “wonderful, beautiful mosaic of foodways, artisans and entrepreneurs because we want people to understand that this is what keeps Rhode Island’s economy thriving.”
The cooperation goes beyond holiday markets to Hope & Main’s answer to food insecurity in Rhode Island. Starting in March 2020, Main Street Meals has hired growing food businesses to cook high-quality dinners with locally sourced ingredients and distributes the meals to neighbors in need. Hundreds of meals are provided weekly to community partners that distribute the meals when someone comes in for other services. No ID or registration is required, so the meals are swiftly given out. Meals are distributed in chest freezers at numerous women’s shelters, senior centers, schools and churches.
The spirit of community shows no sign of letting up. During this season of generosity and goodwill, the influence of the food producers and hospitality business owners in the state is often described as ever-growing ripples on a pond.
Raiola says this influence extends to local grocers. “You could find there isn’t an aisle you can go down [in] Dave’s [Fresh Marketplace] or Clements’ Marketplace Inc. or other independent grocers in the state without finding new products,” she said. “They’re going to find something local.”
She brought up other partnerships that have come out of Hope & Main, such as A.B. Munroe Dairy Inc., which carries many items on its home delivery trucks, as well as at its Sacred Cow Market located next to the dairy in East Providence.
While the food culture that has been created has a seemingly never-ending supply with new makers introducing items constantly, there are legacy businesses finding new ways to reach consumers. Raiola spotlighted the Giorgio family, the former owners of the long-remembered Club 400 who have recently utilized the Hope & Main facility to make the famous spaghetti sauce from their restaurant.
This year, there should also be a sense that the thousands of creators, servers and dedicated staffers in front and back of the house are keeping a steady reliable course to feed, care for and host us during this festive time of well-wishing.
“Dining Out With Bruce Newbury,” syndicated weekly on radio, is heard in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Indiana. Contact Bruce at bruce@brucenewbury.com.
