LADIES (AND GENTLEMEN) WHO LUNCH

            Luncheon dining can be a worthwhile way to sample a new restaurant without the commitment of time or price for a full-course dinner. Service at fine dining or so-called casual dining restaurants at lunch is just as hospitable as it is during dinner. Wine lists and other unique features are in most cases offered at lunch as well. This time of year, restaurants that offer a luncheon menu - that is, more than just sandwiches-and-burgers - are more likely to find their tables filled with diners on business or celebrating special occasions. Summer is a more inviting time to dine out at lunch.

            The business lunch is still alive. It had fallen on hard times after the tax laws changed and the so-called “three-martini” lunch was no longer allowed as a business deduction.  In Providence, there are even some spots where the “power lunch” is still practiced. Midday tables at 10 Prime Steak and Sushi are filled most every day with the city’s legal eagles as well as those from the financial sector. There is a retro feel to the business lunch experience as the mainstays of Providence lunchtime dining - Mediterreaneo, Capital Grille, Capriccio, Café Nuovo, Parkside and Pot au Feu - are still as popular as ever.

            Admittedly, as Bob Burke, Pot au Feu’s proprietor and himself a mainstay, says, the business lunch is a bit of “a faded glory.” He says in this age of text messaging and the Blackberry, today’s deal maker is no longer willing to invest the time to meet and talk at the table. As a result, restaurateurs have looked elsewhere for midday customers. These days, Pot au Feu’s luncheon tables are increasingly filled with tourists. Burke has embarked on a historical tour of Providence called the Independence Trail and visitors can use his French bistro in an 1870’s-era Financial District building as a starting point. As he puts it, “Don’t just walk past history, dine in it!”

            At least one restaurant in the city is perhaps more renowned for its lunch menu than its dinner. Jaime d’Oliveira’s Red Stripe is crowded practically every night, but the crowds and the buzz are all about lunch and d’Oliveira’s American brasserie menu featuring steak frites and mussels frites with Portuguese chourico sausage. Red Stripe’s lunch menu is the subject of discussion among Narragansett’s foodies eagerly awaiting their own branch scheduled to open in the Salt Pond shopping center sometime this summer. D’Oliveira told me that he is being asked constantly if his new location will have the same lunch menu as the Angell Street original. (It will, along with some seasonal and local specials paying tribute to the growers and fishermen of South County.)  And, just like its Providence sibling, Red Stripe in Narragansett is occupying the site of a former Newport Creamery.

            The Colonel Blackinton Inn in Attleboro is a gathering place for luncheon get-togethers. Proprietor Antony Canova is welcoming large luncheon parties every week. The occasion is usually a celebration such as a birthday or a bridal or baby shower for a co-worker. Canova says, “People are so busy these days, they don’t have time for an evening or weekend party. We’re glad to accommodate them for lunch during the week.” Canova offers a banquet menu to groups, many of whom take advantage of his unique 18^th-century carriage house function room.

            While lunch may never regain its ancient title as the main meal of the day, it is enjoying a revival. Dining out at midday is taking on new forms and we who dine out often benefit. Certainly the competition is keen with everyone from fast-food chains to supermarkets competing for our lunchtime dollar. But today’s restaurateur has an ear tuned in to us, the customer. Some offer group specials or call-ahead ordering and seating, particularly restaurants near office complexes. One such neighbor is the new Cuban Revolution at The Plant on Valley Street just off Olneyville. Offices located in the rehabilitated mill building adjacent to the unique 1950’s Havana-themed bistro are supplied with menus and insider contacts for lunch as well as after-work cocktails. Why not use this Restaurant Week to sample a new place and its luncheon special. Then, after the promotion is over, revisit it or discover another new spot. You’ll find the price is right and the dining experience memorable. And if they do lunch right, it is very likely that dinner will be great also.

CHOWDER QUEST

     Restaurateurs tend to be a competitive lot. They will, at the drop of a toque, enter their menu, chef, restaurant design or other unique characteristics in cook-off style challenges. Some even travel across the country to have the public taste their food and vote for their favorite. Why do they compete year after year? I asked some of the recent winners in the Newport Chowder Cook-Off.

     “Win or lose, these competitions are just a great way to showcase our restaurant!” says Alan Delaney, proprietor of The Skipper Restaurant of South Yarmouth, Mass. The Cape Cod seafood eatery won first prize in the Clam category at this year’s Newport event. The Skipper has competed since 2003 in chowder-tasting events throughout New England.  Delaney explains, “If we are successful, it’s a huge benefit; if we are not successful, there is still some benefit.” As a case in point, he told about one of the first years the Skipper entered its clam chowder in the Newport competition. It placed third which was enough to earn the restaurant and its chowder an appearance on the CBS “Early Show.” The Skipper makes a serious commitment to competing. Delaney looks at it as a marketing investment for his restaurant. Twenty-two staffers made the trip to Newport for this year’s Cook-Off. With investing in special equipment to transport the chowder to the festival, accommodations for staff and time away from the restaurant, the outlay equals what some restaurants spend all year on advertising. Delaney says that to be in the Newport event is well worth the effort. “We have won chowder festivals here on the Cape and in Boston, but Newport is the premiere prize. It is a first-class operation.”

     The Newport Chowder Cook-Off has been run since 1981 and attracts restaurants from all over the world. Recent international entrants have come from Ireland and Bermuda. According to the Newport Yachting Center, the Cook-Off is the original and longest running chowder festival in the world. An estimated 17,000 attended this year’s event. Winning restaurants receive a cash prize along with merchandise and hopefully recognition which lasts long after they leave the City by the Sea.

     The Montauk Yacht Club in the Hamptons on Long Island, N.Y. is looking for some of that recognition from a particular group of potential customers. Keith Battaglia, marketing director of the 80-year old resort, explained, “We want to reach the boating crowd that travels from Newport to Block Island to our marina.”  Many of Montauk’s patrons also dock at the Newport Yachting Center, the site of the Chowder Cook-Off. Montauk Yacht Club’s clam chowder won second place in its first year of competition. Battaglia could not be happier. “To be able to say ‘Award-Winning Chowder’ on our menu in our first year of entering is a real coup for us.” He also is looking toward the future. The resort recently underwent a 3 million dollar renovation and as he says, “We would love to be able to put on an event like the Chowder Cook-off here.”

     The Blue Mermaid Chowder House in San Francisco proudly displays its four Newport Chowder Cook-Off trophies at the restaurant on famous Fisherman’s Wharf. This year, the Blue Mermaid won two awards for its Dungeness Crab and Corn chowder. Executive chef Steven Connolly says the wins meant a great deal. “We’re a chowder house and here on Fisherman’s Wharf, literally every restaurant sells chowder. It is important to us to win the largest chowder competition in the country.” Connolly receives numerous requests from attendees of the Newport event who want him to send his chowder. While the restaurant does not offer chowder-by-mail, the recipe is available.

     Closer to home, Justin Braun, general manager at Tiverton’s Boat House restaurant, which won the Creative award for the third time this year, says, “We find that guests have heard about our victory and are anxious to try the chowder to see if it measures up.”  Newport’s The Mooring Seafood Kitchen & Bar won the award for Best Seafood Chowder. Shawn Westhoven, general manager, describes the Chowder Cook-Off as “the most competitive,” adding, “We get great exposure and a ton of people in the restaurant to try the award winner!”

          To the chefs and restaurateurs who compete year after year- win or lose- food competitions are more than a quest for fame, recognition and a chance to bond with staff members outside the four walls of the restaurant. They are a sound marketing investment that pays dividends long after the event is over.

DINING OUT WITH THE PAWSOX

            McCoy Stadium has much more than peanuts, popcorn and Cracker Jack these days. While the home of our beloved Pawtucket Red Sox may be the last place you think of for fine dining, PawSox management spends a lot of time thinking about your tastes. It may surprise you to know that McCoy Stadium has a full-time chef, a wine list and music to accompany your meal.  Ken Bowdish is in his third season with the club after several years as a catering chef. His job is to feed the fans who get to watch the game from one of the 12 luxury suites located at field level along the first and third base lines.   Food and beverages are ordered from a menu with appetizers ranging from shrimp cocktail and fresh vegetable crudite to quesadillas, and even clam cakes - made with Bowdish’s secret recipe. These are followed by salads, New England clam chowder, chili, fajita platters, grilled chicken, sausage and peppers in marinara, wraps, pizza and giant sandwiches. Desserts are served late in the game.  

Of course, the fans in the grandstand and bleacher seats have plenty to eat during the game too. Jim Hogan, director of concessions oversees the vendors in the stands, the carts positioned throughout the ballpark and the tented Food Court that he describes as a mini-restaurant with picnic tables, a band, and burgers grilled to order, bratwurst,  fries including chili and cheese, nachos and of course hot dogs. The team serves New England-made Kayem franks, as well as kosher dogs made by Hebrew National, on buns baked locally by Homestead Bakery of East Providence. “They are the staple of the ballpark,” he declares, “but we have a lot more than just hot dogs.” Hogan and his staff have something for just about every fan’s taste and preference. He is very excited about the newest food cart that recently began serving hot roast beef sandwiches topped with zippy horseradish mustard sauce. These sandwiches have been wildly popular for years at the minor league ballpark in the Rochester, New York. McCoy even has a concession stand that serves vegetarian and vegan items during the game.

As for wine, it can be ordered by the bottle can be ordered in the suites with a good selection of vintages from California and Australia. Wines by the glass are served from the Wine Cart in the concession area under the stands.