Happy for a hipper, nattier Nat Porter

By KATHERINE IMBRIE
Journal Staff Writer

• See the menu.

WARREN -- What's in a name? A lot, when it goes from the formal-sounding Nathaniel Porter Inn to the far hipper Nat Porter -- or even cooler, the Nat.

In the case of this Water Street restaurant, last year's name change signified the presence of new chef-owners Nigel Vincent, 30, and his wife, Jen, 22, in a Colonial-era sea captain's house that has been some combination of restaurant and inn since the mid-1980s.

Those who visited the old inn while preservationists Robert and Viola Lynch owned it may fondly recall English-style high teas and an aura of genteel elegance reflective of the Lynches.

These days, the inn is still elegant, but it has been given a speed pass to the 21st century with fresh colors of paint in the dining rooms and an up-to-date menu that reflects the modern culinary mantra of local produce, artisanal foods, and casual, yet sophisticated, ambiance.

You enter through the bar, a cozy space painted coral red with white trim. Tall windows all around let plenty of outdoor light into what was the house's screened back porch. Dinner specials are chalk-lettered on a blackboard on the wall, and there are several small tables for dining, as well as an attractive long wooden bar.

Up a few steps, the main dining room retains the warm feeling of an old tavern, with open fireplaces (there are 10 in the inn altogether) and softly burnished floorboards.

Two smaller dining rooms flank the house's central hall, and these still have the wavy-glass windowpanes, Delft fireplace tiles, and 18th-century painted wall murals that are hallmarks of the painstaking restoration the Lynches accomplished some 20 years ago, resulting in the inn's placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

Word got around

After the Lynches left, the Nathaniel Porter was briefly a bed-and-breakfast inn, but under the Vincents it is solely a restaurant.

Despite their youth, the pair are both already old hands at the restaurant business, Nigel having cooked at the Back Eddy in Westport, Mass., and Jen having worked at several of Southeastern Massachusetts' best restaurants, including the Bridge Street Cafe, Freestone's, Margaret's and the Back Eddy.

They opened the new Nat last June, abetted by sous chef Jason Monoghan and a cadre of young and enthusiastically supportive waiters and barkeeps with an infectiously easygoing yet capable energy. Almost immediately, the place became the darling of foodies from Providence to Bristol, as word got out that there was some serious new-style cooking going on at the old Nathaniel Porter.

The winter menu was a fabulous compendium of hearty cold-weather dishes prepared with novel twists that made them instant classics: Pot roast braised in Guinness . . . pork chops with apple, Great Hill blue cheese and winter squash . . . sliced duck breast with ginger-plum chutney . . . grilled pumpkin polenta with roasted vegetables. In particular, I recall a simple parsnip soup as a perfect miracle.

The Nat's spring menu, which began unfolding a couple of months ago, is still a work in progress, with changes coming almost daily, depending on what fresh ingredients are available.

Even the cheese plate -- a regular item on the first-course menu for $9 -- is different every night, as a new selection of cheeses from the Farmstead shop in Providence's Wayland Square is presented, along with a well-chosen array of sweet tastes to provide contrast. One evening, it might be a piece of honeycomb or slices of apple paired with mellow Cabot aged cheddar; another, it might be a dollop of apple butter or rhubarb chutney to complement a Bayley-Hazen blue cheese.

On a couple of recent visits to the Nat, my companion and I have enjoyed an arugula salad ($7), in which leaves of tangy baby arugula and nuggets of soft goat cheese are dressed with a honey vinaigrette and topped with rings of pickled red onion and toasted hazelnuts. The sweet dressing balances the sharp arugula in perfect counterpoint.

An appetizer new to the spring menu is also excellent: a scallop ceviche ($9), in which pieces of sweet scallop are "poached" in lime juice and mixed with chopped avocado, red onion and tomato, and served in an elegant blue corn tortilla tuile.

A more traditional appetizer is Vincent's take on a Rhode Island favorite: Calamari ($9) are fried light and crispy and served with a smoky-flavored tomato dipping sauce with pieces of spicy chourico sausage.

When I spoke by phone with the chef later, he told me that he likes to incorporate elements of a variety of cuisines, such as Portuguese or Asian, in his dishes and considers the overall style of his cooking to be "American comfort food."

Fun with flavors

Playing with new ingredients as he does, Vincent offers a menu with few constants, so a visit to the Nat almost always offers a surprise or two.

We've recently enjoyed a monkfish "osso bucco," ($21.50), in which the firm white fish was cooked so that it was tender and flavorful atop a hearty medley of sauteed leeks, lentils, carrots and green beans.

Another entree, sliced lamb sirloin in a port wine reduction ($24), was also excellent -- a good-size portion of aromatic lamb nicely complemented by the sauce and served with a rich onion-and-red-pepper polenta cake that was crisp on the outside and tender inside. Delicious.

We also liked a special of perfectly seared tuna served atop an Asian-inspired ginger-scallion fried rice with a side of plum/eggplant chutney ($23), and hoisin-glazed salmon served with a cool mixture of bamboo rice mixed with juicy chunks of blood orange and cubes of cucumber, the whole dusted with crushed roasted peanuts for a salty contrast to the sweetness of the rice ($19).

One entree that disappointed us was a whole roasted young chicken ($17) so small that roasting had turned it dry, as were the roasted potatoes that accompanied it. This dish has since been removed from the menu.

Like the food, the wine list at the Nat changes frequently, but we have found the offerings to be consistently fairly priced, with good choices among both whites and reds in the $20 to $40 range.

We particularly liked a French muscadet, Domaine de la Pepiere ($23), with our fish dishes, and were glad to find it available as an alternative to the ubiquitous Pinot Grigio. A good selection of wines by the glass is also offered at $6 to $8.

Desserts at the Nat are made in-house. Our favorite is the banana cream pie ($6). With caramelized slices of fresh banana nestled with creamy custard in a classic graham-cracker crust, it has been a standard on the menu since the restaurant opened. Our other choice, a creme brulee with fresh berries ($6), lacked the sweetness I expect from this classic dessert.

Creativity in cocktails

A happy surprise at the Nat is its creative cocktails menu, including a couple of specialties ($7) that deserve to become new classics.

My favorite is the Pimmtini, a refreshing combination of Pimm's liqueur, Champagne, peach schnapps and fresh lemon juice, shaken and served in a martini glass. Another inspired mix is Lea's Lemonade: Beefeater Wet gin, house-made sour mix, grenadine syrup and a dash of Sprite, served in a high-ball glass with ice and a slice of lemon.

Such summery drinks seem meant to be drunk outdoors, and later this summer the Vincents plan to inaugurate an outdoor dining patio. They've also started offering live jazz on Friday nights beginning at 9:30 p.m., and have begun mounting what they expect to be changing exhibitions of art by local artists. (The current show is by Rhode Island School of Design painter Kathryn Sparaco.) It's all part of the transformation of the old Colonial Nathaniel Porter into its 21st-century incarnation, the Nat.

****

Bill of fare

Dinner for two at the Nat Porter might add up this way:

Cheese plate . . . . . $9

Arugula salad . . . . . 7

Seared tuna . . . . . . 23

Hoisin salmon . . . . . 19

Bottle muscadet . . . . 23

2 banana cream pie . . 12

Tax . . . . . . . . . . 7.44

Tip . . . . . . . . . . 20

Total . . . . . . . . $120.44

****

Nat Porter, 125 Water St., Warren. (401) 289-0373. www.natporter.com. Casual. Open for dinner Tuesday-Sunday 5 to 10 p.m., bar open to 1 a.m. Reservations accepted. MC, V, DIS, AE. Not wheelchair friendly, because of three outside steps and basement bathroom. Booster seats available. Parking in lot or on the street. Entrees $17 to $24; first courses $5 to $9; desserts $6. Wines by bottle $20 to $40, by the glass, $6 to $8.

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Nat Porter