Savor Providence 2010

After skipping last year’s edition because of torrential rain, I was super excited to return to this year’s Savor Providence, a fundraiser for the fabulous Trinity Rep theatre company. (You may recall my attending 2008’s inaugural event.)

The day started off right with Rhode Island wine and cheese – Sakonnet Vineyards and Narragansett Creamery – in the theater’s lobby. Great stuff! I’ve been aware of Sakonnet wine for years, if not decades. I knew of it when I was a kid (my dad being a bit of a consumer of localish wines) and moreso during my R.I. college days when a few times we enjoyed their Eye of the Storm wine (when we were feeling upscale we’d browse the wines at Haxton’s instead of heading straight to the Natty Ice!) whilst reminiscing about Hurricane Gloria, as New England kids our age tend to do. (It was, aside from the Blizzard of ’78 which for most of us was just an opportunity for our toddler selves to be posed next to snow piles, the main weather memory of everyone’s youth. I doubt you want to hear the story of how school was cancelled that day and I was pissed because it was supposed to be my first day of clarinet lessons and I really needed that first day of lessons in order to figure out how to put the darned thing together. Also, one of our apple trees fell down.)

Anyhoo, they had much tastier wines than that one at Savor Providence. I tried two: the “Petite White NV,” a vidal blanc/gewürztraminer blend which actually had detectable levels of the “white grapefruit flavors” the tasting sheet touted; and the 2007 No Oak Chardonnay, which was delicious. I haven’t had a lot of unoaked chardonnays but really enjoy them every time I do.

And I cannot say ENOUGH about the Narragansett Creamery cheese. Their Atwell’s Gold was fantastic, as was the Salty Sea Feta. (UPDATE: Bought a nice slab of Atwell’s Gold at Sandy’s in Westerly in September! Love it!)

This year’s restaurant list was different than the first year’s, which turned out to be a good thing because otherwise we probably would have just returned to some of the same places that we knew were fabulous – we’re still talking about the mac and cheese at Al Forno – instead of trying new ones. And the addition of cooking demo tents was really nice, even though we only made it to one session.

Here’s a rundown of the highlights:
Aspire, 311 Westminster St.: “Unagi shrimp with wakame salad & toasted sesame; spiced nori encrusted scallop with grilled watermelon.” OMG. LOVE. Why am I not encrusting and grilling more things at home?

Café Noir, 125 N. Main St. They offered steak frites and a “goat cheese tart with sexy greens.” Sexy greens! Say no more. (They actually looked like ordinary greens to me but if you’re gonna stick tiny flowers in ’em and call them “sexy greens” I’m game.) And I’ve certainly never met a goat cheese tart I didn’t like.

Trinity Brewhouse, 186 Fountain St.: We started off here for lunch with the lobster mac and cheese, which I enjoyed with the suggested pint of Rhode Island IPA. Then at the end of the day we finished things off with dessert of “stout brownie sundaes.” Tasty! And a trip to Trinity is not complete without me reminding people that this is where we went for my 21st birthday. It was always my favorite bar in Providence. Still is now that I know they make brownies out of beer.

OK, this isn't a food highlight, but was super excited to learn that as Savor attendees we were entitled to 10 percent off at Craftland. I love love love Craftland. Go! Visit their website! Become a fan of them on Facebook!

Finally, new this year, I tweeted the event. (I know! I just used “tweeted” as a verb!) At one restaurant we were sitting next to someone checking people’s tweets to see what others were saying about the day. (I later figured out it was the ProJo’s food editor; I’ve still got my reporting chops!) So I logged on to Twitter using my mobile phone (for like, the first time ever, I might add) and unleashed one weak tweet about where we went and where we were going next. (I also spelled a word wrong and forgot to add the appropriate hashtag.) My bad. Next year I promise to tweet the event properly.

Seen In Providence

Best bumper sticker ever:
GOD IS MY QUAHOG

No sign of these available for purchase anywhere. Just this:So I think I will need to make my own.

Savor Providence

Went yesterday with the aforementioned girlfriends to Savor Providence, a benefit for Trinity Repertory Company. It was excellent. Instead of being the usual "taste of"-style event, where you eat from paper plates in big tents, we actually went to the restaurants. You buy a booklet of "tastes" (uh, tickets, actually) and go around town during the four hours of the event to the participating eateries. Once there, you choose a menu item you'd like to "savor" and give them a ticket. Some places only had one food for everyone, others had a variety. It was really well done, and I especially liked how we actually got to go to the restaurants; it gave us a chance to check out places we hadn't been to, but also to "savor" some old favorites.

Highlights:

- This cheesy-tomatoey-baked-pasta dish at Al Forno was fantastic. We started here first at noon, and then went back at around 3:45 for seconds, it was that good. I mean, it was THAT GOOD. They were only serving this one dish (and drinks), which made it exceptionally well organized and speedy. Plus the atmosphere there is exceptional, too.



- A special shout-out goes to Costantino’s/Venda Ravioli, which, instead of inviting everyone in to the restaurant, served their ravioli right outside on Federal Hill. They were set up next to the fountain. Since it was such a beautiful day, it was quite lovely to sit there for a moment and have a bite. It was just like being in Italy. I suppose.

- I had always heard good things about Rue de l'Espoir but had never been able to make it there before now. It, too, didn't disappoint. They were offering a bunch of items off their bar menu; we opted for the "gooey grilled cheese sandwich" (pictured); the white bean, spinach & dried tomato crostini; and the so-called "trio of treats," although I am sorry to say I forgot precisely what all three of them were. One was a hummus, all three were to be eaten with grilled pita. All tasty nevertheless.

- We were excited to check out this new downtown spot, Local 121 (no, it's not the headquarters of the pipefitters' union; it's a restaurant which specializes in serving locally produced food). Mainly we were excited because they were billed as having some sort of homemade ice cream sandwich. But by the time we got there, they were fresh out of the dessert. "We expected, like, 8 people to show up," the waitperson said, "and we had, like--" "800?" I interjected. So instead, my companions tried some vegetarian "burger" thingies and I just had an iced tea. (I needed a break to make room in my tummy for the aforementioned second helping of pasta at Al Forno.) Probably the tastiest thing about Local 121 is the decor. It was smashing. Neat windows and wood in the bar. Huge, white leather (vinyl?) retro chairs and big tables in the dining room. Just very cool looking overall.

- CAV is just rad inside. (Did I say "rad"?) Because it is. It looks the way I would like my place to look if I lived in an old loft. Also "rad" at CAV was the lobster bisque served in shot glasses. What fun. Not as rad is how they seem to insist on capitalizing all three letters of the restaurant's name.

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- An oldie but a goodie: 3 Steeple Street. This was one of our favorite restaurants back in college. Well, that is, once East Side Mario's went away. I've always loved this place for the atmosphere, the food, and the history (it's housed in the "second-oldest existing industrial building in the United States," they say). Anyway, we had glasses of red sangria here (nice), and my companions had salads while I represented for meat lovers everywhere and had the pate de foie gras. And yes, those are onions on top--"red onion marmalade," is how they described it, I believe. Not too bad. They did leave me with quite the breath, though. And I don't mean heavenly.

Good local oysters

While on a recent visit to the Ocean State, I ate at this cute restaurant, Scales & Shells, on Thames Street in Newport and treated myself on a cold, cold March evening to some oysters. I was told they were Matunuck oysters, and as such, I assume they came from the Matunuck Oyster Farm in Peace Dale, R.I.

Anyway, these oysters were super tasty and fresh and I just wanted to give them a little shout-out because I think it's awesome that someone semi-locally is farming shellfish that I will presumably be able to eat lots more of.

Oysters aren't just awesome to eat, though. They do a pretty damn good job of cleaning water. For instance, they can help take care of excess nitrogen in wastewater, something that many municipalities spend millions to remove. Not that you'd want to eat the oysters that have done that, but still ... Read more (login required): In City Waters, Beds (and a Job) for Oysters, from the New York Times, Feb. 24.