It appears that this young year is running at the same speed as the last two, with the same impaired drivers at the wheel.
As we await a return to normal and grab at anything that harkens to the familiar, along came Providence Restaurant Weeks. From Jan. 9-22, nearly 50 restaurants statewide have been making special offers on their specialties. The Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau is to be commended for going forward with its semiannual coordinated program of special dining offers.
Ordinarily, it would be a way to nudge us out of our dens during the coldest weeks of the year and the days that are not particularly wallet-friendly after the holidays. The idea of “warming up your winter” and enjoying two weeks of dining special offers is always appealing.
What has been learned during the past two years is that it is just as appealing to consider a deal or special at breakfast, lunch or dinner, or even all three. Restaurants may also be serving up signature cocktails, family-sized entrees, or even specialty products to be enjoyed at home long after the Restaurant Weeks event is over. The idea is that reservations can be made for dining in or to bring home a feast from participants offering their deals to go. Enjoy a well-deserved break from the kitchen, while showing your support for Rhode Island’s amazing restaurants.
Regarded as PWCVB’s “restaurant queen,” Christine Phillips, the organization’s director of partnership development, told me on air that the Providence Restaurant Weeks team “threw out the window” the one-size-fits-all, three-course prix fixe certain price point and placed no restrictions, as long as each restaurant was extending some kind of special offer in which everyone could participate.
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DINING DUO: Kevin Gaudreau, right, owner of KG Kitchen and Bar in Providence, with his chef James English at a recent event. / COURTESY KG KITCHEN AND BAR[/caption]
Kevin Gaudreau, longtime chef, owner and restaurant personality, is now a mainstay on the Hope Street restaurant row on Providence’s East Side. His KG Kitchen and Bar is an enthusiastic participant in Providence Restaurant Weeks. KG is staying with the traditional format of a three-course prix fixe dinner, as are numerous eateries. There are three choices for each course, from New England clam chowder with bacon or mushroom toasts as appetizers, to grilled tenderloin or Acadian redfish over sweet potato hash with Brussels sprouts and more bacon, to pots de crème and sticky toffee pudding.
As inviting as that appears, and it is doubtless a hit of the two-week promotion, unfortunately to some, our Rhode Island begins to show. KG Kitchen and Bar is, after all, in Providence. To a Warwickite, or someone in the frozen wilderness of western Cranston, the prospect of a trek of 8 or 9 miles as the sea gull flies is daunting. To a resident of Aquidneck Island or Conanicut Island, it may as well be San Francisco Restaurant Week.
Gaudreau knows his state. He disclosed during discussions of his special that he recently purchased a former restaurant in Jamestown that operated as Simpatico Jamestown and Trattoria Simpatico before that. That exciting news is more welcome these days perhaps than ever. It is not the only announcement of new restaurants poised to welcome diners in the better days that we are all hoping are coming. Gaudreau is completely renovating the space right now to get it ready for a spring opening. The new place will be called Beech after the 150-year-old Beech tree that is on the property.
There are several new restaurants that have participated in Providence Restaurant Weeks for the first time, including Little Sister, an East Side café and bakery.
Phillips called it “uplifting” that so many new places came on board and that there were so many new places opening.
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.
