Gluten-Free Dining: the Square Peg,Feeling No Dolor at Dolores
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Fall’s a Beach: Misquamicut FallFest welcomes the season with style Looking for a fun way to ring out the old season and ring in the new? Head to the Misquamicut FallFest, September 17 – 19, for music, food and fun. Each action-packed day promises an exciting lineup of outdoor family activities, from carnival rides and games to a Food Truck Rodeo serving chowder and clamcakes, burgers, candy apples, gelato and more. Where else can you take in a panoramic view of Block Island Sound from high up on a Ferris wheel on a crisp (maybe) fall day while slurping a Del’s? More than 50 vendors will be on hand, offering henna tattoos, face painting, jewelry, candles and other fascinating items and experiences for kids and adults. And speaking of adults, there will be a beer and wine garden situated near the music tent to quench your thirst and gladden your soul. Charles Trefes, president of the Board for the Misquamicut Business Association, says everyone is invited to share in the enjoyment, rain or shine. He encourages visitors to bring friends and family to the three-day festival, celebrating the beauty of the season and Misquamicut State Beach’s seaside charm. Musical guests representing a variety of genres will be performing throughout the weekend and, as in years past, a magician or two will add some surprise. Sunday’s Annual Classic Car Show, in memory of Big John Hodis, former president of the Misquamicut Car Club, will be held in the main parking lot on Sunday from 11am until 3pm. There, trophies, prizes and giveaways will ramp up the show, hosted by classic car super emcee The Doc and 102.3 The Wolf. All classic and specialty cars are welcome, and drivers and their passengers will receive free tickets to the festival — normally $10 (children under 7 are free, as is parking). Misquamicut FallFest takes place Sep 17-19, at Misquamicut Beach. For more info, go to misquamicutfestival.org. As of this writing, facemasks will be optional and no proof of vaccination necessary. Plantastic!: A roundup of vegan restaurants Cranston Raffa Real Food, 19 Sharpe Dr, Cranston* Cumberland Blackstone Herbs + Coffee Bar, 3 Dexter St (at Broad St), Cumberland East Greenwich P.B. Bistro, 241 Main St, East Greenwich* Middletown Plant City X, 619 West Main Rd, Middletown Sprout and Lentil, 796 Aquidneck Ave Unit 3, Middletown Newport Root, 6 Broadway, Newport Pawtucket Garden Grille, 727 East Ave, Pawtucket* Wildflour Vegan Bakery and Juice Bar, 727 East Ave, Pawtucket Providence Veggie Fun, 123 Dorrance St, PVD The Grange, 166 Broadway, PVD* Plant City, 334 S Water St, PVD PiANTA, 65 Bath St, PVD Like No Udder, 170 Ives St, PVD Blush Bakeshop, 408 Atwells Ave, PVD The Glow Cafe and Juice Bar, 389 Admiral St, PVD Beatnic (formerly By Chloe), 223 Thayer St, PVD Smithfield Juice Bar & Co., 266 Putnam Pike, Smithfield Warwick Celebrated, 901 Warwick Ave, Warwick Westerly High Tide Juice Co., 55 Beach St, Westerly* * Restaurants with an asterisk are vegetarian with many vegan options From the Ground Up: Plant-based food events abound this fall September is a big month in Rhode Island for vegans, vegetarians and anyone plant-curious, and I’m going to break down the vegan events you can expect this month. VEG OUT: Vegan Eats and Treats! hosted by RI Food Fights: This month-long event will allow veteran vegans and the plant-curious to explore Rhode Island’s huge and ever-expanding vegan food scene. Participants purchase a food passport for $25 and receive coupons for the 15 participating restaurants. Each restaurant will offer an item, showcasing the sheer amount and variety of accessible vegan dining in Rhode Island. Tickets can be purchased here. For information, go to rifoodfights.com Vegan Night at Narragansett Brewery: On September 17 from 4 – 9pm, Narragansett Brewery will be hosting a vegan night, featuring comfort food from pop up business Basil and Bunny and ice cream from the Like No Udder ice cream truck. RI Vegfest’s VEGTOBERFEST: On September 19, Rhode Islanders are invited to experience Oktoberfest, reimagined. This event, taking place at Trinity Beer Garden in Biltmore Park, will feature 15 purveyors of vegan foods and three different breweries offering vegan beers. Participants will receive a small dish from each participating restaurant as well an array of beers to sample. There are three times for the event, 11am – 1pm, 1:30 – 3:30pm and 4 – 6pm. Tables are sanitized in between sessions. As of now, both the 11am and 1:30pm sessions have sold out and there are limited tickets available for the 4pm slot. Like No Udder Fall Fundraisers: Every Thursday for the month of September, vegan ice cream shop Like No Udder, located in Providence, will donate 10% of their profits of the day to different local organizations. These will include Rhode Island Vegan Awareness, Providence Queer Trans Mutual Aid, Providence Animal Rescue League, Unity Farm Sanctuary and Ten Lives Cat Rescue. Gong Bath Sound Journey with Rhode Island Vegan Awareness: Though not food related, this event helps a vegan cause dedicated to advocating for veganism and a more just, peaceful world. Gong vibrations are said to be a form of sound therapy, inducing a state of meditation and relaxation. The gong bath will be led by Heather Paris, a vegan Kundalini yoga instructor, break-work practitioner and sound healer, and her husband, Thad Paris, a fellow vegan sound healer. The proceeds of this event will go to Rhode Island Vegan Awareness. Several smaller vegan businesses also do pop-ups that are announced closer to the dates of the events. Basil and Bunny, Miss Vegan, the Afro-Indigenous Vegan, and Born from Pain are all vegan businesses to follow to stay in the loop for local pop-up events. Unable to score tickets for some of these events? Don’t worry — there are still opportunities to explore and celebrate Rhode Island’s vegan scene. Only a little later in the year is Providence Vegan Restaurant Week, which will take place October 29 to November 7. This statewide event expands outside of Providence as numerous restaurants demonstrate their dedication to plant-based cuisine by creating two to three special dishes for the event. Elbow-Licking Good!: An early evening chimi crawl gets messy When I told my boyfriend I was doing a Chimi Crawl, he responded as would most Americans raised on Taco Bell: “I love chimichangas!” And while there’s much to love about a deep fried burrito, that’s not what I was talking about. I meant a chimichurri crawl, not to be confused with the South American chimichurri sauce that looks like pesto and is used to dress meat and poultry dishes. The chimichurri I was talking about is a Dominican hamburger sandwich with a special sauce. The idea for a chimi crawl came from my friend Melissa, who texted me after a late night on Broad Street. “Have you ever had a chimi?” Melissa asked. “The Dominican kind?” As a stereotypical, pumpkin-spice loving white girl, the answer was no. “There’s a whole other world out there,” she said, describing the dozen or so late night food trucks lined up all along Broad Street, each promising the best chimi around. Thus, we set a date. On the Saturday before Providence’s Dominican Festival, an apropos time to try our first chimis, Melissa, her friend Carolyn, and I — the tres blanquitas — set out toward South Providence just after 6pm. Melissa warned me that we might precede the trucks at such an early hour, but I insisted; although the youngest of the group, I am, at heart, an old maid. The three of us piled into Carolyn’s SUV and drove past all of the markers I recognized on Broad Street, down as far as the entrance to Roger Williams Park, at which point we turned around. Moving north from this spot is where the trucks start to line up. We parked just a few blocks up, right in front of our first stop: Johnny’s Chimi Place. Johnny’s is a classic, having opened in 1993 as a mobile food truck. Now they’re planted on the sidewalk near Thurber’s Avenue with a few small tables and even a couple of outdoor booths. Even at this early hour, a line was starting to form. Melissa was our designated speaker since she has the best Spanish (I promised to return the favor if we ended up in a Greek-speaking neighborhood). The painted menu was in both Spanish and English, and we opted for the regular chimi, adding the optional onions and cheese for 50 cents. At the last second, Melissa and Carolyn also got a Pastelitos de Carne (meat pie) from the dollar menu because the golden crispy pies looked so tantalizing from the window. We sat at one of the shaded booths bedecked with a napkin dispenser — an essential resource, we learned almost immediately. The chimis came on long hoagie-like rolls, perfectly grilled, with a hamburger patty in the middle, topped with cabbage, tomatoes, onions, a sprinkle of cheese and the secret sauce: a combination of ketchup and mayo that tasted nothing like either but oozed from each bite and trailed down our hands. “My God, these taste just like New Orleans’ rolls,” Carolyn said. “This is amazing,” said Melissa. I was too busy licking my hand to say anything. As an inaugural chimi tasting, this was the quintessential experience. “Seriously,” Carolyn continued. “It’s like the perfect Po’ boy roll. You don’t get that in Rhode Island.” “It tastes vaguely Big Mac-y, but better,” Melissa added.