Sept. 2005
Diner's update

3 Steeple Street Bistro and Bar, in Providence, has recently renovated their second floor which is available for private parties of up to 110 people. The restaurant is also pairing up with Sakonnet Vineyards to celebrate the vineyard’s thirtieth anniversary with a five-course wine tasting dinner, featuring local ingredients. The dinner will be held on September 18 at 3 Steeple Street. For information, call 272-3620 or visit www.3steeplestreet.com.

Bella Vista is maintaining their wonderful view of the water but overhauling just about everything else. Po Chiu, who helped design Lot 401, has already begun making some big changes to the restaurant, which has transformed from Italian fare to Eastern flair. Cardin Lau, the new executive chef (formerly of Haruki), will mix the sushi and sashimi that he’s known for with traditional Western dishes. Expect the restaurant to be closed in October for extensive renovations and, when it opens the following month, it will offer not only a new menu but a new name as well.

For those of us who believe that happiness begins with a good slice of cheese, Farmstead and Campus Fine Wines continue to offer samplings of some truly delicious artisan cheeses with wines to match. Classes meet on the third Thursday of each month at the Farmstead shop in Providence (186 Wayland Ave., 274-7177) at 7 p.m. with a cost of $20 per person. For those who like a slightly more upscale ambience, the Gatehouse hosts similar tastings from Farmstead and Campus on one Friday a month for $25 per person. The Gatehouse dates change from month to month so be sure to call for details (4 Richmond Sq., 845-9494).

There’s still time to enjoy al fresco dining at the Nat Porter Restaurant, in Warren. Their patio opens at 5 p.m. so you can soak up the last evenings of summer with offerings from their seasonal menu. –Karen Deutsch

Got an opinion or some restaurant news to share? Send your thoughts via e-mail to Foodnotes@rimonthly.com.

A real deal

Oxford Creamery

On the far side of New Bedford, in Mattapoisett, is a clam shack that belongs in a memory of childhood. With its blue and white striped awnings and screened-in windows, it’s the sort of place you could easily remember stopping at on the way to the Cape when you were a kid…and you very well might have if you passed by in the last seventy years or so. Maybe it’s the prickly scent of fried fish batter, or the way the customers’ cars are lashed tight with vacation bikes, or the way the outside wall sports a walk-up ice cream window (with creamy ice cream hand-packed the old-fashioned style), or the leisurely way people have of being patient in lines that snake out the door when they know they’re going to get something very good. Or it’s the prices. It’s only $9.95 for a lobster roll with fries and slaw. Two bucks for a burger, three for a bowl of the most clam-generous chowder this side of the Canal. No, you know what it is? It’s the picnic tables that ring the parking lot: Each sports a plastic water bottle into which wildflowers have been blithely, aromatically stuffed. –Daniel Asa Rose

98 County Rd., Mattapoisett, Mass., 508-758-3847. Open Tues.—Thurs. 11 a.m.—4 p.m., Fri.—Sun. 11—8. No credit cards. Parking lot. Not handicapped accessible.