Providence Restaurant Weeks is getting underway July 9-22. Enjoy two weeks of special dining offers brought to you by the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The initiative, in which participating restaurants feature deals and specials for lunch and dinner, is inclusive of more than just the capital city. Restaurants all over the state, as well as over the state line, are taking part this time. It is no longer a one-size, one-price proposition. While recognizing the value of collective promotions, restaurateurs are insisting on unique propositions in the post-lockdown world.
Everyone on both sides of the table looks forward to Providence Restaurant Weeks. Each restaurant’s special is as unique as the eatery. Places may be serving breakfast, signature cocktails, family-sized entrees or even their specialty products. Many long-standing favorite spots are participating, as are some of the newer spots around the area.
In Newport, John Flynn, the general manager of Pour Judgement on Broadway, told a broadcast interviewer that the repeated inclement weather weekends that were the story in June did not put a damper on business on his restaurant row. Flynn said businesses on Broadway and in the city were open and welcoming crowds.
Before the summer season began, there were some potential challenges during the permit process as the Newport City Council balanced the new popularity of outdoor dining spaces from the past two years with the reality that space on the street and the island is limited. To allow restaurants to continue outdoor dining after the pandemic, rules had to be put in. As a condition of their outdoor permit, the businesses were required to display only “non-logoed” umbrellas, as well as the same color traffic barriers and planters atop the barriers.
Flynn said it has created more uniformity, and the umbrellas do provide some protection from the sun and a light rain.
With the last weekend of June featuring the sold-out Newport Flower Show along with concerts and other events, the city was busy all weekend and it shows no sign of letting up any time soon.
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ROOFTOP DINING: Guests enjoy a meal at Rooftop at Providence G during last year’s edition of Providence Restaurant Weeks. The 2023 promotion will run from July 9-22.
COURTESY PROVIDENCE WARWICK CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU/NICK MILLARD[/caption]
In fact, on the first run of the Providence-Newport Ferry, Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley told reporters that Providence hotel operators are booking a larger-than-usual number of rooms to guests whose vacation destination is Newport. Anecdotally, higher hotel room prices in Newport have apparently led to visitors booking rooms in Providence and day tripping to Newport.
In addition to an influx of visitors to Newport, there are new restaurants popping up in the city this summer season and both are “walk-ups.”
As Providence Business News reported in the spring, Newport Chowder Co. will be serving up its popular chowder, which was made famous on its food trucks, from a new walk-up window on Thames Street, and Luke’s Lobster, from Portland, Maine, by way of New York City, quietly opened a walk-up window tucked away on Bowen’s Wharf.
Luke’s serves Maine-style lobster, crab and shrimp rolls, as well as New England clam chowder. There is a backstory about the restaurant operating its own seafood-processing plant in Maine to be more sustainable. The business notes repeatedly that it is unable to issue or accept gift cards at the Bowen’s Wharf location.
“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.
