Best Restaurants For Newport Restaurant Week
Thursday, April 04, 2013
We don't know who was the 1st American to think up "Restaurant Week" but we are sure glad they did. Each year--twice a year--Newport and Providence each host Restaurant Weeks. The idea is to get people to try new places or re-visit old faves by offering three-course lunches and dinners at a special price. Starting tomorrow, and running through the 14th, the Newport/Bristol Convention and Visitor's Center is hosting their spring version. You can visit participating restaurants for a $16 three-course lunch or a $30 three-course dinner. Imagine trying Newport and Bristol's finest for those prices? We did, and we came back with 5 delicious-sounding menus for you to try...
Fluke, Newport
We begin on beautiful Bowen's Wharf with a favorite of ours for craft cocktails and devilishly good food. Fluke was the first local place we tried that used all fresh ingredients in their cocktails and tried to match the thinking of the kitchen with the thinking of the bar. They have been successful at that idea since day one. Chef Kevin King uses all the local goodness he can source to prepare crave-worthy food. For Restaurant Week, he has put together a menu that is equally crave-worthy. Three apps; four entrees; three desserts...all sound amazing. Start with the asparagus soup with Serrano ham and a touch of creme fraiche or the crispy oysters with mango relish and then move on to the sublime-sounding Thai pork belly with scallion mashed potatoes. If you're in the veggie mood the farrotto--the trendy grain farro, cooked in the style of risotto, with spring peas, ramps and fiddleheads, sounds like spring on a plate! 41 Bowen's Wharf, 849-7778, www.flukewinebar.com
Persimmon, Bristol
If you've somehow been asleep for the last culinary decade in Rhode Island, let us fill you in on some general knowledge: Champe Speidel has been doing it as long and as well as any chef who calls our state home. Challengers come and go but Chef Speidel remains. Since his time at the range at Gracie's--when it was on the Hill-- he has been wowing diners with creative flavors and beautiful plates. The best way we can describe his food and his restaurant and his wife and, hell, him for that matter is...clean. The flavors compliment without competing. The decor enhances without distracting. The drinks accent without overpowering. It's nearly perfect. For Restaurant Week try a surf and turf and turf by starting with a carpaccio of halibut with olive oil and grapefruit. You could then move on to the pork two ways--a staple of Speidel's food: different preparations of the same protein--with an amazing and confounding "pork sauce." How did he turn pork into a sauce? For dessert, spring is all about rhubarb and Speidel and team have you covered with a frozen rhubarb mousse with poached rhubarb and a vanilla sauce. 31 State St. 254-7474, www.persimmonbristol.com
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If you've been looking for an upscale twist on a typical seafood meal, you really need to check out Jamestown Fish. We are very happy that John and Cathy Recca have hooked up with Chef Matthew MacCartney to put forth a beautiful restaurant with thoughtful, delicious food. Chef MacCartney takes a European slant to local ingredients and recalls the flavors of Spain and Italy--amongst others. Chef MacCartney's Restaurant Week menu is as vast as his everyday menu. There are amazing options all around. Check out the house specialty Jamestown Fish Cookpot with an ocean's worth of local seafood in a saffron and Pernod scented broth with fingerling potatoes and churico. It is everything every boiled shore dinner should be: bright, lively and flavorful. It will have you feeling like your toes are in the sand all year around. If you dare not try the fish dishes, there is a tasty sounding osso bucco with some black truffle mashed potatoes that will fit the bill. 14 Narragansett Ave. 423-3474, www.jamestownfishri.com
The Mooring, Newport
We wanted to include one lunch spot on our rundown and for us lunch, in Newport, always means the waterfront. We just love sitting and enjoying a nice, light bite while looking at the water. We are lucky to work in such place and find ourselves at the Mooring often. The Mooring is part of the Newport Restaurant Group and is at the top of a lot of people's best seafood list. Always clean and fresh, the fish is among the best we've had. Our picks from the Mooring's Restaurant Week lunch menu features a spring crab and corn chowder for a first course. A cilantro-lime marinated shrimp salad with red peppers and arugala tempts for your entree and we would each get one dessert -- the carrot cake creme brulee and the ice cream sandwich with maple walnut ice cream and coconut macaroons. 1 Sayers Wharf, 846-2260, www.mooringrestaurant.com
Norey's, Newport
One of our favorite "off the beaten path" places in all of Rhode Island is the Broadway section of Newport. This vibrant street is a favorite for locals looking for good food and drink at reasonable prices. The establishments along this stretch rely on locals moreso than tourists so the prices are a bit more reasonable and the people a little less rushed by the masses. For a lot of our Newport chef friends, Broadway is that place they eat a few nights a week. For the former chef of our duo, the Restaurant Weeks menu at Norey's is all about the "three B's": bacon, bolognese and bourbon. He's sure there are other options on the menu--like a tempting cast iron seared chicken with artichoke hearts and the Swedish dessert "Swedish Cream" which is a sour cream infused pudding for lack of a better term-- but he will be having the bourbon and maple-glazed bacon followed by the parpadelle bolognese and will finish it up with the bread pudding spiked with bourbon. Wait...is that four B's? Whatever. It all sounds like a delicious way to try out this hidden gem.156 Broadway, 847-4971, www.noreysnewport.com
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