July 2005
Diner's update

In the musical chairs of the restaurant business, the tony Shelter Harbor Golf Club, on the Charlestown-Westerly line, has hired Johnson and Wales grad Barry Correia away from his post at Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Lenox, Massachusetts, to act as executive chef. Chris Jessop is the new chef at the General Stanton Inn, in Charlestown. Jessop, who has done stints at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, plans a globally inspired menu with Southwest, Cajun, French, Italian and Asian influences. And Federal Hill’s Pane e Vino and Zooma Bar Ristorante executive chef, Giacomo Iannelli, is back from an apprenticeship in Italy where he spent time getting inspiration from three restaurants in that country’s Campania region.

Finally, the former Newport Creamery in Providence’s Wayland Square has a new life. Jaime D’Oliveira, of Mills Tavern (Providence) and Table 28 (East Greenwich) fame, has opened Red Stripe, An American Brasserie, serving lunch and dinner plus weekend brunch.

If you work in the hospitality industry, someone’s looking out for you. Renaissance Restaurant and Catering, on Atwells Avenue in Providence, is offering people employed by hotels, restaurants, bars and clubs a 15 percent discount on their food bill or bar tab every Sunday. Bring a business card or pay stub to prove you work in the business, and enjoy the break.

Do you know a restaurateur who’s also a good citizen? Nominate his place (or hers) for a Restaurant Neighbor Award. The Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association is looking for nominations for the seventh annual awards. Two Rhode Island restaurants will be chosen, making them eligible for the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Neighbor award and a Cornerstone Humanitarian of the Year award. For information, call the RIHTA, 223-1120 or visit www.rihospitality.org.

Got a comment or some restaurant news to share? Send e-mail to Paula M. Bodah.

A real deal

Noodle Nation

Don’t let the extreme makeover fool you. Underneath their muted new colors, the fine food at 271 Newport Avenue is as impossible to disguise as when it called itself New England Fish Factory. Now it’s Noodle Nation, with more than a dozen pasta entrées such as shrimp, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes in a mouth-puckering pesto cream sauce over fettuccine or tender mussels in a white wine lemon butter sauce over linguine. There are also luncheon noodle bowls featuring Cajun, Mexican or Asian flavors, as well as two distinct mac and cheeses. It still sports some of the state’s best calamari: piping hot, with a tender heart inside its crisp envelope. But what really gives it away is the owner’s mandarin taste in mass culture: Donovan on the CD player and "The Daily Show" on TV. Busted!

271 Newport Ave., Pawtucket, 729-9600. Open for lunch and dinner daily 11:30 a.m.—9 p.m. Reservations accepted. Major credit cards accepted. Parking lot. Handicapped accessible.

– Daniel Asa Rose