What to do in Rhode Island

10. November 2005 New England 0

I’ve never been to Rhode Island before, so when the boy proposed the idea that we meet there because it was a short drive from Maine, I bought a train ticket from New York to meet him. Before I left from work, I booked a room at Edgewood Manor and dinner twenty-something miles away at De Wolf Tavern, an Esquire Magazine restaurant pick for 2005.

In Providence, we stopped by for one drink at The Hi-Hat, a lounge with a live jazz band, before we drove back to our bed and breakfast inn. We had a late start on Saturday–the jacuzzi in our room had everything to do with it–but we still had a full day which started at Rue de L’Espoir. I ordered poached eggs on top of crab cakes because I was still remembering the king crab legs I ate the night before at De Wolf Tavern. After brunch, we drove to the art galleries in Reez-Dee and in Brown University. We walked around the campus. The boy thought of how much they both looked like Amherst College, his alma matter. It was very sunny and warm, the perfect autumn day in New England.

We also drove to Federal Hill, Rhode Island’s Italian neighborhood, where we made stops at Scialo Bakery to pick up a couple of tarts, Pastiche to drink iced coffees, Roma Gourmet to buy prosciutto and sopressata, and Antonelli’s Poultry, where you select a live chicken or turkey to be killed for your dinner. Needless to say, the smell in the poultry store left us breathless.

Dinner was at McCormick and Schmick’s where we shared a half dozen oysters and a bowl of mussels with chorizo, plus a bowl of corn chowder and a plate of baby arugula and goat cheese. I decided to let my 5:30pm train go because we were having too much of a good time.

Providence looked beautiful with the sunset’s glow. The neighborhood has a very industrial look, complete with red-bricked warehouses turned into lofts, but it also has the typical colonial houses that are very much New England. Add some maple and oak trees shedding leaves and I’m in-love all over again.