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Food & Dining

In Rhode Island

The Rhode Island restaurant scene is bustling, and we're here to help you find the hottest new spots, the coolest hidden gems, and the best places to satisfy your cravings for great food and drinks.

Everyone's gotta eat! Grab a seat and load up your plate: We've got regularly updated guides, behind-the-scenes features, Q&As with up-and-coming chefs and restaurant owners, and all the news that foodies can use.

Love to cook? There's an entire section of great recipes from experts to explore.
And we're serving up the best food news in Rhode Island as well. Sign up for our weekly newsletter and we'll deliver it directly to your inbox.

RI FOOD & DINING

In Providence, ‘the restaurant scene is completely segregated,’ restaurateur says

Paúl Mena, who has worked at award-winning restaurants in Rhode Island, recently opened The Press Room, a cocktail bar serving tapas in Chicago. He talked about the industry’s inequities and compared the vastly different foodie cities.

Sherry Pocknett named Best Chef: Northeast at the James Beard Awards

A modern Asian noodle bar replaces Fortnight in downtown Providence

Summer food guide: 12 unsung, yet perfect places to eat in Rhode Island this summer

From home cook to ‘Next Level Chef’: Social media influencer Omi Hopper’s love of cooking changed her world

The Guides

The best oyster deals in Rhode Island

There are scores of $1 oysters and half-priced deals in the Ocean State. Here are a few of the best ones.

Summer food guide: 12 unsung, yet perfect places to eat in Rhode Island this summer

From pop-ups at local breweries to farm-to-picnic dining on Block Island, these places are worth a visit.

Where to get ice cream in Rhode Island? Here are some favorite spots.

There are more than 130 ice cream shops to explore in the Ocean State, where you can find ice cream therapy, gelato, lemon ice, and other frozen treats.

A taste of Rhode Island in Los Angeles

As part of my recent voyage from Rhode Island to California on the first-ever nonstop flight to the West Coast, I checked out three restaurants in the City of Angels that have some Rhode Island ties.

Where to buy cheese in Rhode Island

In the past nine months, the number of specialty cheese shops in Rhode Island has doubled, and at least two more will open this summer. Here are some of Rhode Island’s specialty cheese shops.

Federal Hill is getting some new culinary faces

If you’re traveling to Providence's Federal Hill neighborhood for the first time in a while, you might not recognize some of its newest restaurants — here are a few.

Just opened and coming soon: A guide to the newest restaurants and bars in Rhode Island this spring

From award-winning chefs opening raw bars, to hip cocktail bars and noodle bars, here are a few places you'll want to check out.

Support local farmers in R.I. and head to one of these summer markets

A sure sign of summer: Farmers markets are the ideal warm weather activity, and that joy of buying local, outdoors, is about to return to the Ocean State.

Here’s where to get some great doughnuts in Rhode Island

Bakeries in the state have plenty of sweet (or savory) treats to offer.

Here are the best (professionally made) edibles in Rhode Island

If you’re 21 or older, you can go beyond ”special” brownies and celebrate 420 Day with these cannabis-infused consumables.

Retail therapy: New niche stores offer great grocery options

Independent markets and restaurants with packaged foods are staying popular even during the time of inflation.

Here are the nominees for the 2023 James Beard awards

A Lynn restaurant competes on the national level, and Greek and Yunnan cuisines are in the spotlight.

Drinks

Stormalong is cruising along, and releasing two new ciders this spring

A whiskey from Liev Schreiber that tastes good and does good

A Negroni made of pepperoni grease? The backstory and recipe behind this novelty cocktail

For low-key apple picking and wine tasting, explore the Farm Coast of Mass. and R.I.

Behind the scenes

Did you know Ocean State Job Lot operates owns restaurants? Here's how else this retail giant endures.

The troubles of retailers like Christmas Tree Shops and Bed Bath & Beyond can be a boon for Ocean State Job Lot, a closeout operation. And they're involved with tons of other businesses.

Keeping the tradition of making bagels from scratch — in an old Block Island post office

The Old Post Office Bagel Shop on Block Island was owned by Bill and Allison Brown for over 25 years. This year, they sold their business and recipes to Matt Barry and his two partners.

A pop up closes, and a chef may have to hang up his apron for good

“We rolled with the punches, changed gears when we needed to, and I stayed cooking for the people when it was physically hard,” said Ian Gormley, who has cooked in restaurants in Boston and Rhode Island.

Indigenous R.I. chef Sherry Pocknett caught off guard by James Beard award nom: ‘To be in the finals is like I won’

“I love what I do and it shows, said Pocknett, chef and owner of Sly Fox Den, Too in Charlestown, R.I. “I love teaching as well, my children and grandchildren, how to cook and forage like my parents and grandparents taught me.”

In retirement, former town clerk finds peace in her kitchen and while teaching a global community of seniors how to cook

Marianne Kelly retired in 2021 and felt like a fish out of water and unsure of what to do with her time. So she started taking classes at Get Set Up.

Q&A: A R.I. startup diverts 1 ton of waste each month from landfills. Here's how they're getting other businesses to do the same.

Tess Feigenbaum co-founded Epic Renewal, which looks to provide low-cost composting services for homes, businesses, and events.

Cooking

Recipe: Bake store-bought pizza dough with cheese and asparagus, top with prosciutto and salad, serve dinner

Recipe for Cheese Pizza with Asparagus and Prosciutto

Recipe: Mexican sopes filled with refined beans

Recipe for Sopes with Refried Beans and Cheese (Mexican Corn Cakes)

Recipe: Hearty bowls of Korean-style vegetable and noodle soup are spicy and flavorful

Recipe for Spicy Korean-Style Noodle Soup.

Recipe: Spicy grilled chipotle chicken stars in these irresistible Mexican street food sandwiches

Recipe for Grilled Chipotle Chicken Tortas

Recipe: Spoon plump little ovals of feathery light ricotta and spinach gnudi onto a quick, homemade sauce

Recipe for Ricotta and spinach Gnudi

Recipe: Give fattoush, the popular Middle Eastern bread salad, a little heft with farro in the bowl

Recipe for Farro Fattoush Salad

Recipe: A chocolate-almond cake to satisfy your sweet tooth

Recipe for chocolate-almond cake

Recipe: A roasted cod with plump cherry tomatoes

Recipe for cod with a skillet of sweet cherry tomatoes and a handful of fresh herbs.
MORE RECIPES FROM THE GLOBE

Meet the Rhode Island Team

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Rhode Island Food & Dining Headlines

RI FOOD & DINING

In Providence, ‘the restaurant scene is completely segregated,’ restaurateur says

Paúl Mena, who has worked at award-winning restaurants in Rhode Island, recently opened The Press Room, a cocktail bar serving tapas in Chicago. He talked about the industry’s inequities and compared the vastly different foodie cities.

FOOD

Sherry Pocknett named Best Chef: Northeast at the James Beard Awards

Pocknett, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, runs Sly Fox Den Too in Charlestown, R.I.

AROUND RI

Support local farmers in R.I. and head to one of these summer markets

A sure sign of summer: Farmers markets are the ideal warm weather activity, and that joy of buying local, outdoors, is about to return to the Ocean State.

RI FOOD & DINING

Here’s where to get some great doughnuts in Rhode Island

Bakeries in the state have plenty of sweet (or savory) treats to offer.

RI FOOD & DINING

A modern Asian noodle bar replaces Fortnight in downtown Providence

Providence Noodle Bar is intimate, with a specific and focused menu -- and very nice prices.

RI FOOD & DINING

From home cook to ‘Next Level Chef’: Social media influencer Omi Hopper’s love of cooking changed her world

The success of “Cooking Con Omi” has propelled Omi Hopper and her Puerto Rican dishes to FOX’s reality TV cooking competition with Gordon Ramsay, and beyond.

RI FOOD & DINING

Federal Hill is getting some new culinary faces

If you’re traveling to Providence's Federal Hill neighborhood for the first time in a while, you might not recognize some of its newest restaurants — here are a few.

FOOD & DINING

Summer food guide: 12 unsung, yet perfect places to eat in Rhode Island this summer

From pop-ups at local breweries to farm-to-picnic dining on Block Island, these places are worth a visit.