How can you not like a restaurant named after the chef’s favorite Grateful Dead song? Stella Blues may have its limitations, but lack of sincerity is not one of them.
The place is the dream of two friends who met working at a restaurant nine years ago: Brian Aspessi, in charge of the kitchen, and Brian Thimme, who handles the front. In May, they finally opened their place, which offers a view of the Warren River. It traditional Rhode Island parlance, it’s where Bullock’s used to be.
As their new Web site has it, Stella Blues is an upscale pub that offers casual sophistication. That’s the ambition, anyway. Right now the legacy décor could use a makeover, to somewhere between the brass and mahogany of a fern bar and the musty contribution of the carpeting when we stepped into the knotty-pine main room on a recent hot, humid evening.
Asking to sit on the enclosed porch solved that. That was where I sat for a sunny lunch with a friend earlier this summer. The menu for that time of day has some span. There are sandwiches — including a Monte Christo for those who consider ham and Swiss just a jumping-off point, and a burger with blue cheese inside, rather than just on top. There are also a half-dozen appetizers, from grilled chicken kabobs to hummus with pita chips, and New England clam chowder, plus a soup of the day. Three salads are offered — and one is the obligatory Caesar — but the two others would be good additions to any list: heirloom tomatoes ($8) with olive oil and fresh basil, and antipasto skewers ($9) atop mixed greens.
The pub identity means they have two dozen bottled beers plus a half-dozen on tap, including Anchor Steam. But there are also three-dozen wines, 11 by the glass.
Our lunch was quite good, with the only negative being that my capellini was overdone. But that seafood pasta ($16) was chockfull of a bounteous amount of recent sea life, from fat littlenecks to fresh-tasting shrimp, and the tomato sauce was snappily tart, softened with white wine, so the pasta wasn’t being asked to contribute as much as usual. The selection across from me was exceptional. The fried oysters ($14) special lived up to the category, only lightly floured and thereby virtually greaseless. More importantly, they were so fresh they tasted briny.
When I returned with Johnnie for dinner and chose the fried calamari ($9) for our appetizer, the preparation was Rhode Island traditional and thereby swimming in oil. Tasty enough, though — Johnnie appreciated the plentiful garlic. The next time I might try the crab-stuffed portabella ($12), which is topped with a lobster cream sauce.
Choice of soup or house salad is served with entrées. Since the lettuce was iceberg, Johnnie chose the clam chowder, which was just creamy enough and had a tantalizing seasoning I couldn’t place. My Italian wedding soup contained as much chicken as other ingredients combined, a satisfying start. I had a special, grilled chicken with a mango and cucumber salsa ($14), served over a tasty rice pilaf that also contained large football-shaped whole-wheat pasta. The chicken was smoky and the fresh fruit a pleasant, summery complement.
