Friday Night in Providence

I headed up to Boston the Friday before Christmas on the Limoliner. After a bit of traffic leaving New York, I met up with RRR and we hit the road to Providence for a post Spain/Portugal reunion with Mitch and Sharpie. Mr. Sharpie, the Ronin's and Mr. Sharpie's college pal rounded out the dinner party.

We checked into the Westin Providence, hopped into one of the hotel's adorable London-inspired cabs and headed to Bacaro. This Italian restaurant is owned by Brian Kingsford and Jennifer Matta, both formerly of the venerable Providence restaurant, Al Forno. If Bacaro is even remotely like Al Forno, I knew we'd be in for a treat!

The gang had ordered some items from the salumeria and a few appetizers before we got there so once RRR and I were settled, we dug in and headed straight for the entrees. Pizza-freak RRR chose a delicious grilled mushroom pizza with a crispy flat crust and plenty of fresh mushrooms and rich tomato sauce. Very nice! Especially when "good pizza"in New England can be a bit of an oxymoron.

I went for the wood-grilled spareribs "Scottadito" with roasted butternut squash and Westport turnips. What a delight! The fall-off-the-bone ribs were sticky sweet but not overpowering and the creaminess of the squash was perfectly balanced by the earthiness of the turnips. Delicious!

As full as I was from my rich dinner, I couldn't resist trying some of the desserts. We ordered the cinnamon bombolini with hot chocolate and the mini ice cream sandwiches. The bombolini were decent, but not being much of a doughnut fan, I was more into the mini ice cream sandwiches.

The mini cookies had more crunch than I had anticipated but were good nonetheless, it just made eating the sandwiches a bit difficult since the ice cream shot out the sides of the cookie on the first bite.

I often don't meet a cookie I don't like and I certainly appreciate where the pastry chef was going here; I would just recommend chewy over crunchy; especially when ice cream is involved.

Overall, this was a delicious meal and Bacaro offers a wonderful menu with a great variety. You can come here for a pizza and salad, wine and charcuterie, or a full blown belt busting meal like my spareribs! Bacaro's a friendly neighborhood restaurant where you can come time and time again and not get bored with the selection.

What a nice gem in the middle of an adorable city!