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Olga’s

The Blogetarian’s Review: The Village

by George Evans Marley May 15, 2017

The Village, photos by George Evans Marley

Saturday night and, after an impromptu meeting with RI Pride about Drag Bingo, two of Rhode Island’s busiest gays realized at that moment we hadn’t eaten all day.

So off to The Village, duh.

Located on the corner of Richmond and Point Street (behind Olga’s), The Village is one of the best spots in Providence for any meal. Yes, their brunch is amazing with $15 bottomless mimosas, deviled eggs with a new special accoutrement every time, and the best creme brûlée French toast I’ve ever had!

But tonight, we were here for dinner. We started with shots of whiskey, because after not eating all day we were already making good decisions. Then we chowed down on the hummus platter with feta chunks, kalamata olives and French baguette slices that taste as if they were grilled over a campfire! I was instantly in love! We also split the vegan bean dip served with crisp English cucumbers, baby carrots and warm, fried flour tortilla chips.

Then, the main course: Mac & Cheese. This delightfully creamy goodness was served nice and hot in a cast iron skillet with toasted Panko crumbs on top. It hit the spot and there was even enough to take home at the end.

If you get a chance stop by the Village, if not for their exciting lineup of entertainment, or amazing food, stop by because they were honored for being one of two of Rhode Island’s greenest restaurants!

Hours of fun . . .

Wednesday & Thursday 4 p.m. – 1 a.m.
Friday & Saturday 11 a.m. – 2 a.m.
Sunday 10 a.m. – 1 a.m.

The Village, photos by George Evans Marley

May 15, 2017 0 comment

cooking news

Win a Year of Bacon from Whole Foods Market

by David Dadekian December 9, 2020

written by David Dadekian

Whole Foods Market is holding a bacon contest through the end of July. You can enter by submitting your best recipe or creative use for bacon via their Meat Department Facebook page where you can also vote for your favorite entries (and tell your friends to vote for yours!). The complete details are here:

Win A Year of Bacon! To celebrate our sizzling hot bacon, we’re holding an online contest on Facebook to find the next big bacon idea. Bacon chocolates, cocktails and salt have been hits. What’s next? Share your idea and be entered to win a Year of Bacon. (Yes, a Year of Bacon!) Enter and vote for your favorites in the Bacon Smackdown going on between now and July 31 at facebook.com/wholefoodsmeat.
The grand prize winner chosen by Whole Foods Market receives a Year of Bacon, and the top 10 ideas as “liked” by the Facebook community receive $50 Whole Foods Market gift cards. Winners will be announced August 10, 2012. We expect the competition to be smokin’ hot, so good luck to all!

Theo Weening, Global Meat Coordinator for Whole Foods Market, had this to add about the bacon they sell at Whole Foods Market, “Bacon is one of the most versatile meats out there. I love it with blue cheese on a grass-fed beef burger. My daughter loves to dip it in maple syrup with pancakes. It’s tasty no matter how you slice it. Plus, all of the bacon we sell at Whole Foods Market comes from approved producers who raise the animals without antibiotics and cure the bacon with naturally-occurring salts, rather than synthetic nitrates or nitrites. So it’s naturally delicious.”

Berkshire pork belly after curing for bacon, prior to roasting (reverse view)

Regular readers of this site may recall last year’s Charcutepalooza posts, one of which involved curing your own bacon from pork belly (see above photo).

So to say I’m a bacon fan is a bit of an understatement. One of my favorite uses for bacon (actually two very similar ones) involves putting it in a sandwich, specifically a BLT or a grilled cheese with bacon and tomato. We’re coming up on the prime time of year for both those sandwiches and I cannot wait. For this Whole Foods Market bacon contest I would offer up something a little more indulgent and very local.

BAMT

Serves: 1

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

Seven Stars Bakery baguette OR Olga’s Cup + Saucer foccacia
4-6 strips of cooked bacon
2 thick slices of a freshly picked RI tomato
kosher salt
2-3 slices of Narragansett Creamery mozzarella
fresh ground black pepper
handful of RI arugula
extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Slice in half either an 8" length of baguette from Seven Stars Bakery or a square of focaccia from Olga’s Cup + Saucer. Layer bacon, tomato, a sprinkling of salt, mozzarella, ground black pepper and arugula tossed in a tiny bit of the olive oil, in between the slices, adjusting the salt, pepper and oil depending on the saltiness of the bacon and the strength of the arugula. Eat!

December 9, 2020 0 comment

chefs & restaurants farms

Farm Fresh RI Local Food Fest 2010 at Castle Hill Inn and Resort in Newport

by David Dadekian August 5, 2010

written by David Dadekian

Schartner Farms's blueberries and blackberries

The fourth annual Farm Fresh Rhode Island Local Food Fest was held this past Tuesday evening and by all accounts it was a huge success in showcasing the amazing bounty of local food, culinary talent and delicious products that Rhode Island has to offer. Even the weather happily participated and it was a gorgeous night at Castle Hill Inn & Resort in Newport. There were over 20 farms, 10 food producers and 12 chefs offering food and wine under the tent and across the lawn at Castle Hill. Several hundred people attended the event, but because of the layout and aforementioned pleasant weather, the evening never seemed too crowded.

The clear crowd-favorite of the evening was Tallulah on Thames‘s Chef Jake Rojas serving Blackbird Farm Mini Beef Burgers with red wine onion jam, arugula, and Great Hill Blue cheese aioli on brioche. There was a constant long line of people at Tallulah’s table until they ran out of burgers (Rojas told me he prepared about 480 of them). Anyone who knows me knows I’m partial to Blackbird Farm’s beef and Rojas did them and himself proud.

I have to give high praise to Chef Champe Speidel’s Warm Soup of Four Town Farm Sweet Corn. When I walked over to Persimmon’s table I wasn’t enthused to see a warm soup on a 80+ degree day in Newport, but it quickly became my favorite dish. Yes, it was warm, but it was so light, almost airy. When I asked how it was done, Speidel told me to get a Vita-Prep, as if I didn’t covet one already. The wood smoked chanterelle mushrooms and zucchini just added so much flavor without overpowering the corn’s sweetness.

Special mention goes to Blackstone Caterers’ Fried Green Tomato with Braised Pork Rillette. Having learned to eat—and make—fried green tomatoes in the South, I’m always a little leery to see them in RI, but these were delicious. My only wish was that Chef Derek Jolie could have made them to order as I bet crisp, right out of the frying oil, they would have been even better.

Other food highlights for me were Chef Matt Jennings of Farmstead‘s Lamb Sausage with Red Planet Potatoes & Arugula and Chef Derek Wagner of Nick’s on Broadway‘s Bomster Scallops with a Cucumber-Tomato Salad. Dessert was covered by several people, but you had to get in line early for Chef Bruce Tillinghast of New Rivers‘ Blueberry Ice Cream with Barden Family Orchard’s White & Yellow Peaches. Chef Tillinghast hand cranks his ice cream! Unfortunately for me, The Cupcakerie was cleaned out before I had a cupcake, but Chef Jonathan Cambra of Castle Hill Inn & Resort had a “surprise” item of mini blueberry cream pies.

To find out more about Farm Fresh Rhode Island and their mission to grow the local food system please take a look here. Visit your local farmers markets this summer and buy some amazingly fresh and delicious food or, if this heat is too much for you, head to a local restaurant that gets product from Farm Fresh’s Market Mobile and see what the great chefs of RI are doing with it.