What’s in a name? Quite a bit if that name is over the front door of your favorite restaurant or specialty dish.
Restaurants often are named after chefs, proprietors or family members. Many of them have interesting stories to go along with the names. What is just as interesting are the stories behind menu items named for individuals.
It was fashionable some years ago to name signature dishes after celebrities who may have frequented the establishments. That figures in a dish that has its origins in Las Vegas. Veal Sinatra recently appeared on the specials menu at Perella’s Ristorante in Warren. It had not appeared there before in the years Lou Perella has sponsored my radio show, so I asked about it.
Perella’s has become known for several dishes named after guests and colleagues. The Veal Sinatra is a pounded veal cutlet topped with prosciutto and provolone and finished with fresh spinach and more provolone melted over the top. It is served over fresh pasta. It is an old-school dish and quite elegant in its presentation. The connection with “Old Blue Eyes” is where some distance is covered.
The dish originated with longtime restaurateur Ronnie Ware, who was the proprietor of the beloved Pal’s Restaurant in East Greenwich. It was a mainstay of the menu at Pal’s for many years.
The story goes that Ware was visiting Las Vegas and was eating in one of the casinos. Ware found his way into the kitchen through an acquaintance of his and inquired about how to make the dish. The chef was glad to share the recipe.
As far as the connection to Sinatra, the details are a bit hazy as to whether the singer made a habit of ordering it each time he appeared at the casino or whether it was what we now refer to as a “secret menu” item that it was understood should be at the ready should Sinatra request it.
The Vegas chef did not confirm or deny that the star may have had a hand in preparing the dish. Whatever the actual details, it made for wonderful table talk in East Greenwich and as Perella’s guests found decades later, in Warren as well.
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DRIVING FORCE: Jennifer Backman was recently appointed the executive chef of Waterman Grille, in Providence, which is part of the Newport Restaurant Group.
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On the menu at Waterman Grille, located at 4 Richmond Square on the East Side of Providence, is an appetizer called Karen Elizabeth Calamari. It is classically prepared in the Federal Hill style with banana peppers alongside the crisp rings. Waterman, a Newport Restaurant Group property, just announced that Jennifer Backman has been appointed executive chef.
Backman has been called a driving force in Rhode Island’s celebrated culinary scene for decades. Her career with Newport Restaurant Group began nearly 20 years ago when she joined Castle Hill Inn as a line cook and sous chef before being promoted to executive sous chef. During this time Backman oversaw the culinary program there and worked alongside then-executive chef Jonathan Cambra at the James Beard House in New York City.
After six years, Backman joined Ocean House Management Collection, where she led various restaurants within its portfolio, including Seasons, the Weekapaug Inn, Spicer Mansion in Mystic, Conn., and Coast, and was again invited to cook at the James Beard House.
Backman returned to the Newport Restaurant Group in 2018 as executive chef at The Mooring Seafood Kitchen & Bar in Newport.
Karen Elizabeth has been an influence at several of the NRG properties. She is the fishing boat Karen Elizabeth, a scalloper that fishes the Atlantic out of Point Judith. All the restaurant’s squid comes from Point Judith.
“Dining Out With Bruce Newbury,” syndicated weekly on radio, can be heard in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Indiana. Contact Bruce at bruce@brucenewbury.com.
