Providence Dining Experiences and Reviews

[basachs]

Saw a posting on another board I frequent that Gracie's may have recently lost their chef, sous chef and pastry chef? Anyone know if that is true.

Seeing as how I have Saturday reservations for my wedding anniversary, its a bit alarming.

Thanks

[Garris]

Saw a posting on another board I frequent that Gracie's may have recently lost their chef, sous chef and pastry chef? Anyone know if that is true.

Seeing as how I have Saturday reservations for my wedding anniversary, its a bit alarming.

Thanks

Did you read this on Chowhound.com? That's where I saw it... I don't have enough connections to know if this is true or not... I think Gracies (like many top restaurants) has had their chef staff turn over several times over the years (it happened as well right before their move downtown as well), but they've never been anything other than consistently excellent.

This should put you a bit at ease...

- Garris

[Cotuit]

L'Epicureo had some turn over after they moved Downcity. Both restaurants expanded significantly when they left the hill, they really are only the same restaurants in name only, it's a whole different ballgame for the staff, and some preferred the smaller Federal Hill digs.

[oak]

Champe Speidel, the long-time chef at Gracie's on Atwells opened Persimmon in Bristol last spring and never worked at the downtown location. Andrew, the sous chef quit last month and moved to Washington, DC. Mark, the exec. chef, who used to be the sous chef under Champe before he was promoted, left two weeks ago. A new exec chef has just been hired. I wouldn't order the most complicated dish on the menu until the new staff is up to speed, but if you stick with something simple and you'll have a great experience.

Also, the owners of Gracie's still own the building on Atwells and they are opening a cafe in that space sometime soon.

[Cotuit]

Also, the owners of Gracie's still own the building on Atwells and they are opening a cafe in that space sometime soon.

I happened to be in a Board of License hearing when they were applying for a new license a few months ago.

[basachs]

Yep it was chowhound where i saw it. Unfortunately that board is better for Boston, not Prov. Figured someone here would have the scoop.

Thanks for the replies. I'll try it and report back...

[Garris]

Yep it was chowhound where i saw it. Unfortunately that board is better for Boston, not Prov.

Yup, it is better for Boston. It's actually better for the middle of Wisconsin as well (trust me, I know). I don't get it. There are about half a dozen Prov people who post and an almost equal number of other RI folks, I think. They'll answer the usual "Visiting my daughter at Brown, where should we eat?" questions, but you can't provoke them into any real discussions on any local food matters for some reason. I've tried and failed to do so in the past...

It's one of the reasons I've started this thread here (which, when active, is better than Prov food discussion on Chowhound).

It's one of those online oddities, like how the Boston and Philly sections here on UP, by contrast, are almost dead compared to the Prov section...

- Garris

[basachs]

Well I was pretty active on the Boston boards of chowhound when I lived there. Now that I live here, I look more at the "New England" board. In fact your post helped me choose Gracie's for my first nice meal out since I moved here. SO thanks for that.

But you are right, most of the posts about Prov are Brown related or the "Is Al Forno still good?" variety.

[Frankie811]

I visited chowhound.com 5 times today and all 5 times my computer frooze up. I then switched from IE to Firefox and the problem stopped.

[Garris]

I visited chowhound.com 5 times today and all 5 times my computer frooze up. I then switched from IE to Firefox and the problem stopped.

Frankie, Chowhound didn't freeze on you (or at least I don't think it did). I had the same problem with IE in the beginning. For their forums, Chowhound streams like 3 years of posts on the same page. IE doesn't display the page until its done loading (making it seem like the page has hung, sometimes for like a minute or two), while Opera (world's BEST browser) and Firefox will display the posts on the page in streaming fashion as they are loading.

It's a great site.

- Garris

[Frankie811]

Frankie, Chowhound didn't freeze on you (or at least I don't think it did). I had the same problem with IE in the beginning. For their forums, Chowhound streams like 3 years of posts on the same page. IE doesn't display the page until its done loading (making it seem like the page has hung, sometimes for like a minute or two), while Opera (world's BEST browser) and Firefox will display the posts on the page in streaming fashion as they are loading.

It's a great site.

- Garris

Thanks, I do believe that your correct. And I never heard of opera.

[Garris]

Thanks, I do believe that your correct. And I never heard of opera.

Opera is fantastic. Try their "mouselook" shortcut system to browsing, and you'll never use anything else again...

- Garris

[Cotuit]

I then switched from IE to Firefox and the problem stopped.

Firefox is the preferred browser of UrbanPlanet. Opera's fine too, as long as you're not using IE.

[oak]

Well I was pretty active on the Boston boards of chowhound when I lived there. Now that I live here, I look more at the "New England" board. In fact your post helped me choose Gracie's for my first nice meal out since I moved here. SO thanks for that.

But you are right, most of the posts about Prov are Brown related or the "Is Al Forno still good?" variety.

I suspect the Providence Chowhound board isn't very active because the Providence restaurant scene is very tight. Many of the foodies in town know eachother and wouldn't post on a board. My husband is in the business and after a few years in Providence you know everybody. Most kitchens only have about two degrees of separation. People are wary to criticize friends, neighbors and relatives. I can only think of one negative restaurant review in the Journal in the 7 years I've lived here. When we lived in Boston and DC it wasn't like this.

Also, I learned last night that the former Gracie's space is going to be an Irish pub. The opening should be in early December.

[Garris]

I suspect the Providence Chowhound board isn't very active because the Providence restaurant scene is very tight. Many of the foodies in town know eachother and wouldn't post on a board. My husband is in the business and after a few years in Providence you know everybody. Most kitchens only have about two degrees of separation. People are wary to criticize friends, neighbors and relatives. I can only think of one negative restaurant review in the Journal in the 7 years I've lived here. When we lived in Boston and DC it wasn't like this.

Wow, thanks for the insight! That explains a LOT. It's a shame, because there are foodies in town like me who don't know all the others and would love a good forum for discussing such things. I don't think there is a huge "enthusiast" dining class in Providence (where I'd put myself) between the casual diners and the hard-core folks you are talking about. Too bad...

You're also right about restaurant reviews in this town. Save for a fairly blistering critique of the long wait at Restaurant Oak (I hope there is no relation!), I've never read a negative peep about a single place in the ProJo, RI Monthly, or even the alternative Phoenix. It's all smiles and happy dishes! This month's "feature" on Asian restaurants in RI Monthly should have been labeled a "special advertising section" for how blandly complementary it was. See my rant above about the Phoenix's recent "best of" rankings...

A shame...

Also, I learned last night that the former Gracie's space is going to be an Irish pub. The opening should be in early December.

Thanks for the update... The appeal of the whole Irish Pub genre has always been something of a mystery to me, and I grew up in a predominently Irish area (which may explain why it's never appealed). People I know recently arrived from Ireland find them hilarious, like an Epcot theme version of the stereotype of what they've been told pubs used to be like in their home nation.

That's old Gracie's location, which is slightly obscure, is going to be much better once all of the condos/apartments go up...

- Garris

[basachs]

Wow, thanks for the insight! That explains a LOT. It's a shame, because there are foodies in town like me who don't know all the others and would love a good forum for discussing such things. I don't think there is a huge "enthusiast" dining class in Providence (where I'd put myself) between the casual diners and the hard-core folks you are talking about. Too bad...

I agree with you Garris. I dont know all the others either, and I consider myself a member of that enthusiast class. Its not my entire existence, but it is certainly fun and I would love to see more frank discussions of places.

My wife and I did go to Gracie's on Saturday evening. A wonderful meal all around, but there were some quirks.

The food:

Amuse bouche #1

Slice of port-poached seckel pear on a curry cream topped with pulled duck and crispy pancetta.

Amuse bouche #2

Seared red snapper on brown rice with a smear of pumpkin puree

1st course

Baby arugula salad, caramelized shallot and port vinaigrette, toasted walnuts, goat cheese cream, black mission figs

Seared sea scallops, buttery spaghetti squash, sweet potato puree, pumpkin seed oil

2nd course

Pan roasted beef tenderloin, ragout of caramelized shallot, cippolini, and pearl onions, potato confit, sauce bordelaise, truffle oil

Seared Crescent Farms duck breast, crispy pear and foie gras wontons, brussels sprouts, sage reduction

Dessert

Some sort of apple thing. Martini, a bottle of wine, and after dinner port were working against me at that point.

First the good:

1. One thing that was amazing was the catering to my wife's food allergy. She is has a gluten intolerance which is becoming fairly common. Gracie's has a waitress on staff with the same intolerance and they assigned her to us to ensure all was smooth. It was, and Gracie's should be commended for truly catering to their diners legitimate food needs.

2. Quality of food was excellent. Real care and attention to detail.

3. Martini was one of the best I have had in a long time. So smooth, it was hard not to drink it quickly.

4. Prices for what you got were fair.

The quirks:

1. It is what I call "pretty food". I left sort of hungry. What we got was excellent, just wish there was more.

2. The room itself was pretty, but the overuse of stars was a bit annoying and kitschy. There was even star shaped glitter sprinkled on the table.

3. Ordered bottled water. Once that was done, they just kept filling with tap water. I found it kind of amusing, as I am not a water snob. We always order tap water anyway, even at the most posh places, but since it was a special night I wanted to see what 7 dollar water tasted like. Tasted fine, but nothing special. I guess if I was a water snob, I would have been annoyed. Even as an amused diner, I sort of expected them to ask if I wanted another bottle of water.

4. The food service was rather slow. So slow in fact that we recieved two different amuse bouche. Other tables only recieved the first one.

5. Dressing and sauces that were advertised were almost non-existent. I love lightly dressed greens as well, but the "caramelized shallot and port vinaigrette" that was supposed to be on the salad was barely there. Ditto on the bordelaise sauce for the filet.

Conclusion

I would go back again as it was a lovely evening.Generally excellent, but there were some quirks. I have not dined at enough of Providence's great restaurants to say how it stacked up, nor have I been to Gracie's original location.

[spanishboy]

anyone know a real good steak restaurant in providence?

[brick]

anyone know a real good steak restaurant in providence?

Dining thread

might get you more or better attention to this question. Although from what I can tell in a week everyone reads all of the threads anyway

My three favorite destinations for upscale steak.

Prime on Federal Hill is my favorite.

The Capital Grille of course.

10 Prime Steak and Sushi is also good though I find their sushi to be overpriced for the quality.

There are obviously other fine eateries that have steaks on the menu. I had a great one at Mill's Tavern last summer.

I will admit that for more downscale experience I am happy to go to one of the chains. In chain-land, I would rank them Outback, Bugaboo, Texas Roadhouse in that order.

[Liamlunchtray]

The Capital Grille of course.

[

I know its expensive, but exactly HOW expensive is the Capital Grille?

[matt]

I had an amazing steak at XO this summer, but it was a rather pricey dining experience.

I gotta say, for the money, Texas Roadhouse makes a fantastic steak. I think they might even have Outback beat.

[brick]

I know its expensive, but exactly HOW expensive is the Capital Grille?

Expect to spend a minimum of $50 per person and crank it up a bit if you

plan on selecting from their excellent wine cellar. the most expensive meal I

ate there (I did not have to pay for, thankfully ) came to about $900 for 6

people.

[Garris]

The best steak I had in Providence has been at Mill's Tavern, although I recently had an excellent steak at Capital Grill and in the past at 10 Steak and Sushi. All are pricey.

How expensive was XO?

- Garris

PS: Cotuit, you might want to move these posts to the Dining thread...

[Garris]

I agree with you Garris. I dont know all the others either, and I consider myself a member of that enthusiast class. Its not my entire existence, but it is certainly fun and I would love to see more frank discussions of places.

That's why I created this discussion thread. For the non-in-the-loop enthusiasts like us to frankly discuss places!

One thing that was amazing was the catering to my wife's food allergy. She is has a gluten intolerance which is becoming fairly common.

Gluten intolerance (so she has Celiac Sprue?) is something that's very hard for a restaurant to work around, so I give them an amazing amount of credit for working with you as well as they did! The issue of gluten intolerance is one of the problems in the area of medicine I deal with, so I know how hard it is to keep to those diets (although an explosion of products on the retail levels helps). There might newly be some hope on the (distant) horizon for medications to deal with this...

1. It is what I call "pretty food". I left sort of hungry. What we got was excellent, just wish there was more.

2. The room itself was pretty, but the overuse of stars was a bit annoying and kitschy. There was even star shaped glitter sprinkled on the table.

4. The food service was rather slow. So slow in fact that we recieved two different amuse bouche. Other tables only recieved the first one.

5. Dressing and sauces that were advertised were almost non-existent. I love lightly dressed greens as well, but the "caramelized shallot and port vinaigrette" that was supposed to be on the salad was barely there. Ditto on the bordelaise sauce for the filet.

Very interesting. Gracies portions are certainly not huge. It's always been a "quality over quantity" type of place.

Their new space is VERY different from the old one. The previous site was tiny, almost intimate/romatic in layout... The new one is very spacious and BIG CITY... I actually prefer the old one, although I'm sure they'll make more money on the new one. Our table didn't have any glitter, and our service, while not what I'd call fast, didn't strike us as slow... I'd agree that their sauces/dressings are on the more subtle side. I've actually always liked this about Gracies. They have an almost Japanese approach to their flavoring. They don't hit you over the head with them... It's a style/preference thing that I've always liked...

- Garris

[brick]

Just hit Red Stripe for the first time. I had been meaning to get there. Pretty nice place. Both meals were excellent and they had a nice assortment of not too expensive bottles of wine. The service was excellent and attentive without being rushed which is a hard trade-off. For hardcore foodies, I wouldn't say it was top-notch, but I will definitely go back.

Also nice to see a bit of atmosphere. The PBC used to be great for that but then somehow was dropping off until they eventually closed.

[runawayjim]

excellent steak can also be had at the longhorn steak house... there's one in warwick next to the warwick mall.

what is red stripe? the only thing i can picture is the jamaican beer.