Rhode Island Monthly’s editor, Jamie Coelho talks with afternoon host Mareva Lindo about “The Dish” - the magazine’s dining section.
Interview highlights:
Matunuk Oyster Bar has a second location, how is this different from their first?
Coelho: It’s called “Matunuk Atelier” and it’s a more upscale, contemporary version of what you know as Matunuk Oyster Bar. Unfortunately, they experienced a fire last year right before the high season. And they executed a tent outdoors, but this was always in the works before the fire even happened. Perry Raso, the owner who started out with the oyster farm down in Matunuk always wanted to open this big second location which has a lot more high-end versions of their seafood. So think crudo, sushi, but also the oysters we know and love.
The Courtland Club is known for its Sunday night jazz, but it also has a “secret” Greek restaurant?
Coelho: Paula’s is an amazing Greek restaurant and she has developed some of her family’s Greek recipes into more of like a comfort food style dinner experience. She’s got her dolmas, which are the grape leaves that I love. The mezze platter with all of the different dips that are on there with pita and gyro sandwiches and also an amazing lamb shank. The menu is tiny, but you want to try everything on it. People aren’t really in the loop of it as much, so we’re sharing it as a “secret” Greek restaurant because it’s a little hidden gem.
You wrote about a “book club for restaurants.” Who are the Dishtectives?
Coelho: The Dishtectives are a group of 12 to 14 friends who originally met at Warwick Country Club. When the Warwick Country Club shut down for the winter, they decided to start a weekly restaurant club where they selected a different restaurant in Providence that they could all go to and share dishes and discuss the food. The leader, Marc Lundeberg ended up getting notebooks made with “The Dishtectives” on the front.
What do the restaurants think of a dozen or so people eating in their restaurant while writing in these notebooks?
Marc Lundeberg: They showed interest in us, and we had a great communication about the history of the place and why they put certain things on their menus and how they prepare certain foods that, you know, others don’t prepare in the same way.
Coelho: The notebooks sort of generate the conversation between the server and “hey, what are you all doing here?” And then maybe the chef comes out to talk to them and give them a little bit of background on the dishes. It really opens up this friendly banter between the guests in the restaurants, and they go back and they all do Google reviews about their experience at the restaurants. So, I think the restaurants really enjoy having these big groups in because it really generates a lot of business for them in the long run and maybe some reviews that maybe wouldn’t have been posted otherwise.
Can anyone join the Dishtectives?
Coelho: Well, specifically with the Dishtectives, probably not because that’s a group of friends, but what we saw when Rhode Island Monthly posted the article was many different people, including our readers, started to form groups of their own, sort of like little book clubs but for restaurants.
Because of the popularity with book clubs, this is a similar idea where friends can gather at a different restaurant, maybe on a monthly basis and catch up over great food and drink and support local businesses while they’re at it.
