Better late than never!

The only thing I read of late was that a frozen yogurt place is coming to the recently vacated Method Studio space in Wayland Square, so thankfully that place won't be empty for years like the last time it was vacant. Yea!

What else is new?

Don't know how absolutely new this all is, but:

- Bubble Tea House is gone, replaced by chain Bobalicious on Westminster

- In the Ugly American space on Ives is a new Thai place, not sure of the name (which makes for, what, about 6 Thai themed, if not exclusive, restaurants on the East Side!)

- Nami, new sushi place on Federal Hill which has had good word of mouth so far...

- Boloco chain opened in the Traders Joes plaza in Warwick

April seemed slow, but hopefully May will pick up. What new, closed, or on the way?

A worthy list all. To confuse matters, I would add The Dorrance as well.

I'm hopeful things here will eventually bounce back and become active again given the lighter moderation (evidenced by the fact this thread is still here and is mentioning other sites), no real competition for RI food chat, an improving economy allowing for more movement in the restaurant scene, and newer users finding their way to the forum.

Other subcommunities in the SE New England forum (Cape Cod, MetroWest, Fairfield, etc) are orders of magnitude more active and it's not unusual for a hot Fairfield topic, for example, to pull down 40+ messages. That hasn't happened in RI or PVD chat for at least 4-5 years and it makes me hopeful it can happen again.

To CapeCodGuy: Thanks for that blog link. I had not seen that before. It seems very solid, if a bit infrequently updated. There are one or two more blogs out there I don't follow that I didn't bother to post since they're somewhat, ah, suburban. You know, posts like, "Oooh, we tried Seven Moons and were so impressed at all the exotic menu options besides our usual General Tso's chicken and crab rangoon, so we decided to be adventurous and give that red bean bun a try." But the one you linked I think I will definitely follow...

Welcome to Providence and to Chow! I love the restaurant and dining scene here and rarely ever feel the need to venture to Boston now that the city has filled some holes in its offerings (like Ethiopian, tapas, Korean, etc). We only go now for some high-end sushi and niche ethnic.

Regarding local blogs and food media, the answer is, sadly, there isn't really much out there. Some restaurants and food concerns have their own sites and blogs and I'd bet Farm Fresh RI may have a blog, but otherwise, not so much. There was a Providence Palate site and forum for a while, but I believe that went down some years ago and some of those folks were going to launch Rhody Palate, but I haven't seen any progress on it of late (they were using terrible forum software).

This site used to be hands-down the best source of information and discussion for the PVD/RI area, but it's slowed down greatly in the last few years. Part of that has been an internet-wide move away from forums in general and towards blogs, and part of it is the rise of banal ranking sites like Yelp (where everything in PVD gets a 4/5 score and comments are heavily influenced by the college demographic),

Part of the decline has to be at the feet of Chow.com, though, whose heavy-handed forum moderation frustrated long-time prolific local posters. A good many of those I know personally here in the real world just gave up and never came back. A post like yours, some years ago, would have just been deleted outright for not being a restaurant Q&A topic (such as, "I'm coming into PVD for Waterfire, where should I eat?"). They seem to have lightened up in recent times, however, but chat has still been slow.

I do a monthly posting topic here asking everyone what's newly opened or closed that has been, I think, pretty successful. I've learned a lot from others who have contributed to those about what's going on restaurant-wise in the area. There is also a good decade-plus worth of outstanding forum chat from the forum's golden age that is searchable in the Chow archive, and much of that is still relevant to what's going on today.

I look forward to hopefully seeing your own posts and impressions once you arrive. Welcome!

March seemed like one of the quieter months in a while. What's going on in April?

Driving by last night, it looks like Victoria's Pizza and Ice Cream on Ives has closed...

I'm always floored that something can't make it work across the street from J&W with what always appear to be tons of students hanging out there all the time. I wonder if it's an issue of too high rents, a wrong mix for the street, or both...

A bit late, but in like a lion and, well, you know the rest.

What's new?

Mixed feelings about Liberty Elm...

- Great building
- Great concept
- Nice people
- Very average food, mediocre at best
- Somewhat overpriced
- Too cool for you attitude turned some people off
- Terrible location

Hate to say it, maybe somewhat can move the building somewhere else?

Winter grinds on (well, it hasn't been that bad). What new and notable (or closed) is happening around the region right now?

I wonder what will go in next. Temple always felt a bit "off" to me. From food to service to the space itself, it never felt like it came together.

New month...
New year...
New restaurants...

Discuss!

For the record, the dish doesn't have to be a *new* one, but can be of any vintage...

2012 is nearing a close, so it's time to do what nearly all social and media outlets do, and that's reflect... So, community, here are the questions, limiting it to 4 to keep it simple:

1) What was your PVD/RI area favorite DISH for 2012?

2) What was your favorite overall restaurant for 2012?

3) What was your favorite NEW restaurant for 2012?

4) What is your greatest chow wish for PVD/RI in 2013?

Discuss!

PS: Speaking of reflection, on a personal note, while it's surprisingly hard for me to verify this, I think this marks my 10th year posting on Chow(late -hound). It's been half a continent, many dwellings, a developed career, multiple girlfriends, then my wonderful wife and our great children, and many friends and other blessings that that have transpired since my first post. I mean, wow... Chow(hound) was a much more vibrant, rollicking community during my earlier posting years, especially in the PVD scene. While I think there are many reasons for this, ranging from site-specific Chow issues, to PVD/RI economic issues, to larger internet reasons that this (and many) forums have lost vitality, Chow remains a quite special place. Even with the proliferation of Yelp and other ranking sites, there's still nothing quite like Chow and there's no review site I trust as much. Thank you for reading and posting. Happy 2013!

A themed foodie road trip... Nice idea.

There's good advice above for Providence and there are tons of opinions about Italian restaurants on Atwells (the "Federal Hill" neighborhood) you can search on Chow.

Like most cities Italian "neighborhoods" at this point (like Boston's North End too), Federal Hill is mostly an Epicot Center-esque representation of Italian neighborhoods past. Beyond the front-of-the-house folks and patrons at its restaurants, you probably won't find many Italian Americans on Federal Hill, and fewer living there. Now ethnically and socioeconomically diverse, Federal Hill has matured into a broader dining district of serious note. There's great Chinese, Indian, Latin, and even Jamaican in addition to Italian.

The most "Italian" area of the Providence region is probably now Johnston, RI, a standard suburb about 15 minutes north of the city that, if my memory serves me correctly, I believe may have the greatest concentration of individuals of Italian heritage in the US (about half of its population). I know a few people who believe the best Italian delis and "red sauce" restaurants are actually in Johnston, not Providence proper.

We're almost at the end of the year. What's happening in the dining scene?

Very little Greek or Lebanese in the area you don't already know about, from the sound of things. Haven't been to Opa recently, but it has a solid reputation. Not personally a fan of Andreas on Thayer.

Lots of Italian chat is searchable here on the board, but my favorite is Siena on Atwells.

I've been looking forward to this one. Anyone been yet?

Seems like kind of a cursed spot, which I don't understand. Tons of traffic volume, and when it was Cattails, it seemed jammed packed every time I drove by.

Recently, we went to Lucia (Italian) in Newport and greatly enjoyed a excellent seitan dish they had on their menu (in addition to enjoying the restaurant overall). I also posted here just now about the newly opened Veggie Fun in PVD, which has many fake meat soy and seitan dishes on their menu. Besides other expected places like Garden Grille, can anyone thing of anyplace else in the area that makes use of fake meats or seitan in dishes?

Ok, ok... So I missed October, but whatever... I'm not a site admin here (not that they do anything like this), just a longtime 'hounder trying to contribute to a little PVD dining community here... Sooooo...

Here's November. One place we went during October of note was the new Veggie Fun on Dorrance in downtown Providence. This is a vegan pan-asian with lots of fake meat soy and seitan options, something I've been begging for in PVD for some time. While I don't think it's the match of our favorite such place in Boston's Chinatown and it suffers from some of the flaws of such places (overcompensating for vege dishes with some overflavoring and oversaucing), it's certainly very good, and some of its dishes (like its black pepper fake meat) are excellent. For those who keep kosher, it also is one of two places (Wildflour Bakery being the other) in the area that are under supervision.

It's definitely worth your trying out and supporting (I'm a bit concerned about their location at the edge of the Parking Lot District there, which seems somewhat cursed). What else is new, closed, or changed?

Thanks for the great review. We haven't been yet but it sounds consistent with what we have heard from others, but it is a glass half full or empty situation. Others we know love it and forgive their foibles. I'm looking forward to trying it myself now...

A bit late this month, but better than never.

What news here this month in Providence and Rhode Island?

We're been to Crazy Burger a few times and generally echo your sentiments. They sport an amazing menu, but the flavors, while fine, always seem to somewhat underwhelm and don't "pop" as much as your would expect. When we ask each other how our meals are, the answer always seems to be, "It's OK, fine..." As you put it, it doesn't blow you away, which it feels like it should.

Otherwise, I would agree that things tend to trend towards loud, small, slow, and a bit pricey. For that geographic area, though, it's a revelation and there aren't a ton of nearby options. I wish it didn't need that qualifier, but it is what it is...

New month, new news. Have at it!

Splendid... ANOTHER Italian restaurant according to the GoLocal link... (sigh)

Wayland Bakery in Wayland Square and Silver Star Portuguese Bakery on the East Side come immediately to mind although I'm not sure they have exactly what you want (not being a bakery person much myself).

My wife visited and said the sandwich menu was pretty meat heavy and not super vege friendly, but she only took a quick look. Was that your impression as well? She loved the decor and said the space looks fabulous. Said the gelato was OK, nothing great. No smoothies served (which I definitely miss from the old Edge). Also, no real "breakfast" items on the menu either per her recollection.

This place seemed to open in record time. Restaurants like Lim's and Abyssinia took like 6 months to start serving and this place seemed to appear overnight. Maybe the Alex and Ani folks have developed better RI "connections?"