Upscaling Allens Avenue's Dining Scene

Outside of the PVD epicenter lies The Barstow, a recently opened restaurant eager to appease an eater’s appetite. Born from the brilliant culinary mind of Michael McHugh, who previously worked for such spots as Red Stripe and Mill’s Tavern, this restaurant brings together McHugh’s desire for reinvigorating more areas of Providence and his fascination with the diversity of Mediterranean open markets.

“We feel [South Providence] is the next place for growth,” says McHugh, adding that “all it takes [are] a few businesses to bring people to the area.” This kind of business- and res- taurant-driven urban reinvigoration, he argues, can be seen all across the city: “I remember the area around Broadway itself, you wouldn’t hang out past dark,” but successful stores moved in and the bad vibes moved out.

As for where the Mediterranean open markets come into the picture, McHugh is attracted to their ability to bring together “people of all ages and types and backgrounds,” an enviable quality that he finds worth recreating. He wants The Barstow to be a “malleable” and “customizable” experience. And to accomplish this effect, McHugh created a menu rich with ex- quisite options, so that The Barstow
can be “your drink place and your family sit-down place.”

The menu itself seems to know no end. “During the daytime, it’s a smart healthy lunch mix targeted at office workers, stay-at-home moms and people going out for a quick lunch,” says McHugh. Dinner brings forth an arsenal of dishes that showcase The Barstow’s “full-spectrum [of] Mediterranean” in- fluences, which include “some Italian, some French, some Middle Eastern, some Spanish” and so forth. The restaurant also offers an all-day snacks menu featuring $2-5 items such as crispy chicken with warming sauces and house-made flatbread. “Stuff for when you’re hungry and you want [food] in three minutes,” says McHugh.

Moreover, many dishes straddle the line between exquisite and conventional - a purposeful target, for McHugh wants to “connect [the food] to familiar things for an everyday person.” He adds that bringing this kind of cooking to its peak is about “using the familiar in unfamiliar ways.”