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Restaurant Reviews

United BBQ

The pull of the pork, and so much more
Reviewing the dishes at a barbecue eatery feels a bit like judging a family dinner. Most of us have specific expectations of what the meats and the sides should taste like — sensory memories that grabbed us the first time we ate pulled pork or collard greens, and they won't let go.

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | July 08, 2009

Rosinha's Restaurant

The traditional taste of Portugal
The latest eatery at Pawtucket's Hope Artiste Village is Rosinha's Restaurant, offering Portuguese cuisine — Cape Verdean, to be specific. Not wanting to give the wrong impression — music hipper and hoppier than fado sometimes reverberates from the Blackstone down the entrance corridor — a kind of manifesto stands at the door.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | July 01, 2009

St. Clair Annex

Seasonal delights in Watch Hill
Seasonal delights in Watch Hill

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | June 24, 2009

The Place

When only fancy will do
Sometimes a burger or a heap of nachos is just what the appetite (and budget) ordered. Sometimes nothing less than white linen elegance will do. A Newport place ambitiously named the Place bills itself as "the wine bar and grille at Yesterdays." The latter restaurant describes itself as "an alehouse;" it has 36 microbrews on tap and a menu that skews playful and Caribbean. Oy — a pint, mon.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | June 17, 2009

Review: Chez Pascal

Regional fare, boundless pleasures
Everything about Chez Pascal, beginning with Monday Market Menus and ending with a gallery show for a Rhody painter, emphasizes co-owners Matt and Kristin Gennuso's support for local talent, be it farmers or artists.

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | June 10, 2009

Champlin's Seafood

Clam shack bragging rights
There are clam shacks and there are clam shacks. Champlin's is more of a clam duplex, hot meals upstairs and fish market below. If you have friends visiting from the coast of Maine, where they take this sort of place seriously, bring them down and show them how things should be done.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | June 03, 2009

Maria's Seaside Café

The place to be in Misquamicut
The recent mini-heat-wave that made us all optimistic that summer really would roll around again set us to thinking about seasonal restaurants along Rhode Island's shore.

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | May 27, 2009

Los Andes

Back in delicious style
It makes sense that the people who run Los Andes are the ones who had a popular place further up Chalkstone for nine years. It was named simply the Bolivian Restaurant and was, in fact, pretty definitive. At a recent visit to the new restaurant, a fellow diner enthused that the baked saltinas (potato, yucca, and cheese), an indulgence-encouraging two-buck impulse purchase "at the Bolivian," were "worth driving across town for." Indeed.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | May 20, 2009

China Inn

Out of the Oriental ordinary
Finding a Chinese restaurant worth your loyalty is like dating. You look and you look and you yawn and you look, but when you find the right one, your eyes widen and you stick around.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | May 13, 2009

Rue De L'Espoir

So much to savor!
Perhaps the first thing to explain about the Rue's hours is that they represent breakfast, lunch, and dinner times and, on the weekends, brunch and dinner, with a "late lunch" on Sundays. The menu, like the weekly schedule, seems designed for an indecisive Gemini, a genus of which I'm a member.

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | May 06, 2009

Cosmic Steak, Pizza and Weiners

A Rhody landmark since 1977
A Rhody landmark since 1977

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | April 29, 2009

The Barking Crab

A clam shack with extras
The Barking Crab's second location in Newport is the ideal spot for strolling summer tourists, right in the downtown harborfront

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | April 22, 2009

Everyman

The true taste of Rhode Island
When the history of Rhode Island in the 21st century is documented 50 years from now, it's a good bet that prominent figures will include the restaurateurs, chefs, and restaurant designers who continue to make Providence such an exciting city.

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | April 16, 2009