PROVIDENCE — Sure, you can go to New York or Los Angeles or San Francisco and feast on a fantastic meal crafted by a top-tier chef.
But if you do, you’ll pay about $500 for that meal, while comparable fare can be found here in Rhode Island for a fraction of that cost, Globe Rhode Island reporter Alexa Gagosz said on the Rhode Island Report podcast as she introduced the new Food & Dining in Rhode Island section.
“Rhode Island’s dining scene is second to none, in my opinion,” Gagosz said. “I really think that Rhode Island’s dining scene is the most accessible and the most innovative in the Northeast.”
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Gagosz said other publications provide plenty of food reviews, but she’s aiming to report on the innovators who are pushing the boundaries in the state’s culinary scene. “So when we’re talking about this dining guide, it’s more of a business story, an economic story, and frankly, a community story, one talking about our hospitality industry, but talking about Rhode Islanders every day,” she said.
The guide looks some of most underrated restaurants in the Providence area, where politics is on the menu, and the best food trucks in Rhode Island.
While Gagosz will be leading the way, she said other members of the Globe Rhode Island team will be contributing.
For example, she noted that reporter Amanda Milkovits wrote about how “classic diners are Rhode Island’s little-known legacy,” and reporter Brian Amaral found that naming the place with the best Portuguese food in Rhode Island is a tough call. Even columnist Dan McGowan, who is pretty much the opposite of a “foodie,” contributed a “picky eater’s guide to surviving in Providence.”
Gagosz said the coverage will include profiles of the people behind Rhode Island’s restaurants and bars. For example, she said she recently spoke with chef Jeanie Roland, owner of Ella’s Food & Drink in Westerly.
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“A lot of people don’t know this because it’s out in Westerly and they’re not tracking over there,” she said. “But chef Roland has been nominated for seven James Beard Awards in the last several years, and she even went on Bobby Flay show (on the Food Network) and beat him at his own game. So she’s really well known on a national level, but when it comes to locals, they just don’t know yet.”
A companion newsletter will be launching soon as well. Sign up for it here.
Hear more by downloading the latest episode of Rhode Island Report, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and other podcasting platforms, or listen in the player above.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @FitzProv.