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Food

Food Trucks Roll Into the Market

Calling all foodies. The Providence Alternative Market is hosting a Food Truck event in partnership with Food Trucks In. In addition to the usual vendors at the open-air market there will be seven local food trucks ranging from tacos (Mijos) to vegetarian options (Sprout) to sandwiches on pretzel bread (Noble Knots). There will even be coffee and dessert trucks. The event is free and includes on-site parking. If your growling stomach isn’t enough motivation to go, this alternative market includes herbs and flower vendors, music and food workshops. Sounds mouth-watering. Saturday July 20 from 11am-2pm. Miriam Hospital Arena Lot, 1111 North Main Street, Providence.   More

Theater

Trinity Rep's House and Garden Exceeds Expectations

If you haven't seen House and Garden at Trinity Rep, run do not walk to the box office. It closes soon, and you'll want to see both plays. There is a reason that Trinity has survived so long in a video/game world. Its long-standing ensemble troupe is full of top-notch acting and directing, and all they need is an excuse like House and Garden to show off.

These simultaneously twinned plays aren't mind-blowing insightful meta-performances that transform your understanding of the human condition with multimedia extravagance: they're perfectly made pieces of theater and stagecraft.

The short synopsis: House, at the upstairs theater, is a farce about a "manored" English family falling to pieces. Garden, at the downstairs theater, is a more earthly whirl about love and chaos.

The gimmick: both plays happen simultaneously with the same cast running up and down the stairs in real time. And it works.

The dynamic of two plays happening at the same time in the same building gets under your skin. Most of the time at the theater, you don't really think continuously about anything happening offstage. This time, you can't help but wonder.

When someone goes off in House, what are they doing in the Garden?

When someone races into the Garden, what happened in the House to upset them?

The story lines are nested and intertwined romances. Two youngsters hesitate and blush and stutter their way into new love. The older folk have more scars and secrets. One affair is ending, another beginning. Marriages are crumbling. All done with much laughter and melodrama.

A cynic would say that the entire piece is a marketing scam designed to hook you into buying two tickets, but the cynic would miss the fun. On their own, neither piece of writing is particularly remarkable, but taken as a pair you and your companions will have plenty to talk about after. You really can't help but get involved in both stories, and to see only one show does leave out half the equation. The …   More

Events

Celebrate the Fourth at India Point Park

It’s the land that we love, so let’s get out and celebrate the Fourth of July with The Bank RI Independence Day Celebration at India Point Park. The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra will kick off the night with a patriotic concert to be followed by a dramatic 25-minute fireworks display, set to music. Bring a blanket or a lawn chair and access the park via the walking bridge located at East and Wickenden Streets. Pyrotechnics: the perfect way to commemorate our nation’s birthday. July 4. Free. 7:30-9:40pm. 680-5770.    More

Blog

What's New in PVD

After much hemming and hawing, cluck! is officially open. This woman-owned startup urban farm supply store at 399 Broadway has everything the city boy or girl needs to start their own garden, chicken coop or beehive. They even have a garden startup kit to attract butterflies or bees. How sweet is that?

Finally, someone has moved into the McFadden’s space on 52 Pine Street, and that someone is Hanley’s Ale House & Cigar Shop. This new hangout is great for watching the Bruins ‘Quest for the Cup’ or sitting back and enjoying a nice cigar with a bourbon or scotch. Whatever your poison, Hanley’s Ale House will provide.

Check out Federal Hill’s newest frozen yogurt spot, Snogi. Located at 262 Atwells Ave, it has a popular buffet-style layout, with six different flavors of frozen yogurt and an assortment of fruit and candy toppings. This summer, head to Snogi for a quaint and quick treat.

If you’re looking for modern American cuisine that is accessible and environmentally engaging, birch, at 200 Washington St., is the place for you. The twice nominated Chef Benjamin Sukle (for Food + Wine magazines People’s Best New Chef) creates a menu that follows the seasons and is true to New England. Follow them on Twitter for more updates.   More

The Batman Conundrum

Genre movies have always proven a surprisingly sturdy and effective way to explore the fraying edges of American society – the western and the hardboiled crime flick being two of the best examples. Though they vary in quality from popcorn flicks to prestige pictures, the familiar stories, tropes and character archetypes create an effective and easily relatable framework for filmmakers to ask tough questions and provide social commentary – think of the way The Searchers deals with our country’s ingrained racism and cruelty or Scarface’s funhouse mirror take on the American dream.

These days, the comic book movie seems the genre best suited for such filmic explorations. Indeed, we are living in the Age of the Superhero, not only because these splashy, big budget franchises have become one of Hollywood’s most reliable money makers, but because they have taken on a level of pedigree and complexity that is new and unusual for what have traditionally been popcorn flicks. Big stars and serious actors like Christian Bale and Robert Downey, Jr. are anchoring franchises helmed by critical darlings like Christopher Nolan and Joss Whedon. And in between flashy action set pieces, these films are exploring weighty issues and posing difficult questions. In director Zack Snyder’s reimagining of Superman, the titular Man of Steel grapples with arch villains and existential angst alike, just as Nolan’s Batman found Gotham City plagued not just by crime, but post-9/11 dread and paranoia. The comic book genre is capturing the zeitgeist like never before.

Perhaps this is because the narrative framework, origin stories and archetypes of the comic book world are uniquely suited to deal with the complex and often bewildering state of hyper-reality in which we now live. From Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, from Al-Qaeda to the hacker group Anonymous, never before in human civilization have …   More

Food

Fresh Food From Our Farmers

Looking for a little more than just a sit down dinner? Try the Providence Alternative Market. Every Saturday between 10am-2pm from now until October 26, this “alternative” farmer’s market provides food trucks such as Mijos Tacos and Rocket Fine Street Food, other food vendors, artisans, musicians, crafts and local farmers’ produce. Browse the various artisan pieces and musical performances, all while enjoying a fist full of food in each hand. So what makes this market so alternative? “We’re shooting for the full package,” says Richard Suls, “with workshops almost every week, food trucks, musicians and ample parking. It is really an evolution of the farmer’s market.” To find out which businesses and vendors are coming each week like them on Facebook.    More

Food

Food For The Soul

If pizza isn’t your food of choice, try newly opened Succotash. Operated by executive chef Ryan Keough and Umberto Sorbo of Coco Pazzo, this venue offers a variety of options for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and also includes a full service bar. With culinary that is described as “southern-flare soul food,” this location offers favorites like fried chicken and waffles and cornmeal crusted catfish salad, to a variety of delicious vegetarian and vegan options. Dinner is served after 5pm with succulent entrees like the Apple Brined Calabrese Pork Chops with creole mustard, which can be paired with any of their southern-inspired sides. If you’re an early bird and want to do breakfast as big as they do in the South, try some of their fluffy banana and berries waffles and pancakes or smoked salmon omelet. Even their juices have a unique twist, like Little Havana, a mixture of banana, lime, mint, pineapple and coconut – a refreshing taste of the tropics for the summer heat. Soon to provide special discounts to students around the area, including Johnson & Wales and Brown University, you’ll be sure to see plenty of hungry mouths there.   More

Behind the Scenes of a Superlative Photo Shoot

We went back to school for the cover photo shoot of our July edition. For the third annual installment of our Superlatives Issue, we found two native Lincoln gals who made it to the big leagues as members of the New England Patriots cheerleading squad – who better for our cover photo? In keeping with the high school yearbook superlatives spirit of the story, we brought rookie Brittany Dickie and third-year veteran Jodi Ricci to Classical High School for the shoot with photographer Corey Grayhorse. Needless to say, they caused quite a stir. They slipped in the door relatively unnoticed in the warmup sweats, but once they changed into the iconic uniforms they became an undeniable presence.

First, we met with Principal Scott Barr, who, as you might imagine, was more than gracious in welcoming the ladies into his school.

Next up, we brought them into the library. Not surprisingly, bringing two cheerleaders in uniform into a library full of high school kids proved to be a bit of a distraction.

We also got librarian Jonathan Ryder into the mix, playing off the job's reputation for professional shush-ing.

For the second photo setup, we moved out into the hallway, where student Odina Ellis was kind enough to let us commandeer her locker.

When the bell between classes rang while we were still mid-shoot, our ladies again proved to be the center of attention.

For the final set-up, we moved them out in front of the school's trophy case. Though the ladies were forbidden by NFL policy from jumping or dancing in our photos, that didn't stop Corey from showing off a couple moves.

Of course, fuzzy iPhone photos barely do justice to the incredible work these ladies put in. To see the final results, you'll just have to wait for our July issue. Suffice to say it will be one of our most cheerful covers ever.   More

The Coolest Party Ever

Mark Tuesday, July 9 on your calendar: it just might be the most important date all summer. In the spirit of our third annual Superlatives Issue, we're throwing our first annual Superlatives Party at Aqua – and it promises to be a superlative event. We'll be celebrating the movers, shakers, creators and, yes, cheerleaders featured in our Superlatives Issue with great food, cool music, cocktails by the pool and maybe even a few surprises along the way. We're also excited to have last year's Superlatives cover girls, PVD Lady Project, helping us to make this the coolest party ever. More details will follow, and tickets go on sale soon. Check us out on Facebook or Twitter for updates and announcements – but most importantly, put it on your schedule now! After all, you don't want to miss the coolest, most superlative event of the season.   More

Summer

Fun In The Sun

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Events

Have You Ever Wanted To Travel Through Time

The Manton Avenue Project deserves a round of applause for all the good they do in de veloping the creative voices of kids living in Olneyville by pairing children with local theatre professionals to create original plays. The non-profit welcomes the public to its annual fundraiser, the Manton Avenue Project Gala. This year’s event includes a musical performance of reworked kids’ time travel-themed plays as well as a raffle, an auction and a time machine experience. Bring your creative spirit and prepare to be wowed by these tiny talented thespians. June 7. $50 online at Brown Paper Tickets or $60 at the door. 6-9pm. Fete, 103 Dike Street. 383-1112.

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Events

How The Other Half Lives

The Providence Preservation Society will host the Festival of Historic Houses 2013 (June 7-9) this month. The weekend kicks off with a Friday night progressive cocktail party on the corner of Prospect and Jenckes Streets and continues with a tour of several elegant Prospect Street homes on Saturday afternoon. Participants can nose around, taking in grand architecture, extraordinary interiors, private gardens and sweeping city views. On Sunday, tourgoers will browse loft spaces at Monohasset Mill on the West Side. $35 advance members; $40 advance non-members; $45 day of tickets; $70 advance two-day tickets (Saturday and Sunday). $125 Friday night cocktail event, which includes a ticket for either Saturday or Sunday. 831- 7440.   More

Blogs

What’s new in PVD

Gourmet Heaven has opened at 205 Meeting Street in the space formerly occupied by Cosa Nostra and, before that, Via Via Pizzeria. This is the chain’s fourth location, having made a splash two years ago when it opened Downtown’s only grocery store. Gourmet Heaven also has an extensive prepared foods section and salad bar, and will be open 24/7.

After 28 years in business, Details is closing its doors at 277 Thayer Street. The store’s inventory is on 30% off clearance until the store closes at the beginning of June.

Method Fitness has closed its Wayland Square location in preparation for a move to a bigger facility in Richmond Square, where owner Amahl Harik plans to offer more of their popular programs like boot camp.

Everyone was surprised to hear that Cuban Revolution’s Aborn Street location unexpectedly closed. While there’s no clear story on what happened, some Facebook posts the restaurant made point to problems with their downtown landlord. Cuban’s Valley Street location is open for business as usual.

The Providence Flea is a new, upscale outdoor market selling upscale crafts, jewelry and novelties. It starts June 2 and happens every Sunday through August in the parking lot of the Wild Colonial on South Water Street.   More

Blogs

Cluck You

On Monday, May 13, Cluck!, the humble little urban farming supply store that’s caused the big controversy, was granted the zoning variance necessary for it to open at 399 Broadway – for the second time. Though the same variance was granted once before, it was appealed and overturned by a cabal of opponents whose motivations ranged from at best self-serving to at worst transparently spiteful and spurious. Now, proprietor Drake Patten once again has the green light from the Zoning Board of Review and has reached an agreement to assuage the concerns of one of the main objectors, Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Church across the street. If the subsequent 20-day appeal period passes without incident – which, at least for the moment, it seems as if it will – then Cluck! will be open for business.

I would like to use this column to send a message to those opponents: I suspect we haven’t heard the last of you, but for the moment it seems that you’ve lost your battle – and you deserved to. How could you not lose? Shame on you. This ridiculous charade you staged in order to get your way – raising trivial objections, speculating about unrealistic hypotheticals, trying to invalidate Patten’s progress on ridiculous technicalities and generally just braying like hysterical children – could not conceal the fact that you had painted yourself a rhetorical corner. You essentially forced yourself into the position of arguing that an abandoned gas station was somehow better for the neighborhood than a gardening supply store.

That a small business owner should have to endure months of legal fights, backbiting and fear mongering, rack up exorbitant legal fees and rally the support of hundreds of neighbors simply to earn the right to sell seeds and garden tools in a once blighted property that she has remodeled and revitalized is patently absurd and sends a terrible message about the cost of doing business in our fair …   More

Blogs

Oh Behave

The Williams Street Neighborhood Association has had enough of the unruly Brown off-campus living situation. They feel so strongly about this issue that they have started a petition that can be signed online. The goal is to encourage Brown University to be more proactive about preparing students for living in a community surrounded by residents who are not students.    More

Blogs

Ben Affleck Receives Honorary Brown Degree

Brown, upon celebrating their 245th Commencement on May 26, will be conferring six honorary degrees. One of them, a Doctor of Fine Arts, will be going to Ben Affleck, who recently directed the film Argo. The 40-year-old has had quite the career. From the humble beginning of Good Will Hunting, we have seen this thespian blossom into the director that he is today. He will be accepting this award during commencement and we are all eagerly waiting and hoping to get a glimpse of this Hollywood star. Hopefully Mr. Affleck will enjoy our little city as much as we have enjoyed watching him grow over the years.   More

Blog

See How the Other Half Lives

The other half of town, that is. The Providence Foundation is hosting its annual Downtown Living Tour on June 22. Participants will check in as AS220 before traveling via shuttle (or, if the weather is nice, by foot) to The 903, Avalon at Center Place, The Promenade, Regency Plaza, The Residences, Waterplace and Westminster Lofts. Proceeds from the tour will go to benefit the Downtown Providence Parks Conservancy’s cultural programs.    More

Food

Cullinary Happenings on the East Side

Saúde!

The latest food truck to hit the streets is Portu-Galo. As the name implies, it serves “Portuguese sandwiches and small bites.” Proprietor and JWU alum Levi Bettencourt Medina is serving up classic Portuguese sandwiches on locally made bread, including Bifana (pork loin with garlic and spices), Prego No Pão (steak topped with a pan-fried egg) and spicy Piri Piri Chicken. Small bites include Iberian style Batatas Bravas (potatoes with garlic aioli and spicy bravas sauce) and Chouriço Empanadas. They’ve been making the usual East Side-centric rounds, but, as always, the best way to find them is to follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

Down On The Farm

Pasture to Plate is a new certified mobile kitchen offering dinners and food workshops at local farms. Director Margiana Peterson-Rockney has spent the past four years developing and managing Rosaharn Farm CSA in Rehoboth, an outgrowth of her family’s dairy goat farm of the same name. The first two events are coming up this month: On June 16, there will be a Father’s Day brunch at Rosaharn Farm, with seatings at 10am and noon; and on June 30 there will be a multicourse farm dinner at Little Compton’s Wishing Stone Farm, with seatings at 5:15 and 7pm.

Welcome To Town

Mile & a Quarter  has a new chef. Executive Chef Jose Franco moved to Rhode Island from his home in Los Angeles (his wife is a native Rhode Islander) to take over the riverfront restaurant. Before this, he ran several restaurants in and around LA, where he cooked for a number of celebs, including catering the wedding of Jack Nicholson’s daughter. Look for him to begin revising the menu at Mile & a Quarter over the summer, incorporating more local and seasonal foods.   More

Drink

The Perfect Mint Julep

Ingredients:

6-8 fresh mint leaves

Crushed ice

2-3 oz. bourbon

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. water

Directions:

1. Muddle mint leaves, sugar and water in a glass.

2. Fill glass with crushed ice.

3. Pour in bourbon.

4. Garnish with a sprig of mint

Enjoy.   More

Blog

Talk to the Animals

Have you (or your kiddos) ever wondered what it would be like to be a zookeeper? All month long, Roger Williams Park Zoo is offering visitors the chance to get up close and personal with giraffes, seals and other animals with its group Animal Feedings (May 4-31). The cost is $10-$20 for a feed bucket depending on the type of animal to be fed that day. Parents may share a bucket with a child. There will be limited capacity of 10 participants per day for the group feedings and tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis. Be sure to reserve yours ahead of time – this is sure to win you some major parental brownie points.   More

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