GQ Names Providence’s Big King One of the Best New Restaurants in America
Monday, April 22, 2019
Big King is the latest HOT restaurant in Providence. Who says? GQ magazine.
GQ has unveiled what the magazine says are the hottest restaurants around the country and one Providence addition made the list.
“…I squeezed into Big King, the self-described 'small weird restaurant' in Providence, Rhode Island. The narrow room has the relaxed feel of a neighborhood sushi joint; there's a “chef's counter” that, farther down, turns into a bar. Most of the food arrives from the tiny kitchen in back. The two set menus, one of four courses and the other of six (supplemented by a handful of à la carte items) are handwritten in a notebook each day, sometimes in the form of flowcharts. At $40 and $55, they are a remarkable deal. Each is a parade of precisely executed Japanese dishes filtered through the brain of chef James Mark,” writes GQ’s Brett Martin.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBig King is unique in a period of unique. “We handwrite our menus everyday, using produce, fish, shellfish, and poultry that comes from people that we know," writes the restaurant. “Depending on who is writing it, some menus are easier to read than others. we're working on our penmanship, promise."
“There was a bowl of warm kabocha squash, covered with a layer of wobbly egg custard and a bright cap of leek oil and cured egg yolk; a finger of barely blanched lobster, dressed with a silky emulsion of soy milk and aged hot sauce and a scattering of poppy seeds; tempura rings of delicata squash, light and greaseless enough to pass muster in any restaurant devoted to that frying discipline. Though there is a small selection of shochu cocktails and other beverages, Mark would like you to drink sake. (“One doesn't walk into a taco shop and ask for Quenelles Lyonnaise,” he writes on his restaurant's FAQ.) The sharpness and depth of the sake pairings make it easy to submit.” Martin wrote.
