New restaurants open, but in a different way

PROVIDENCE

In spite of all that has happened with the coronavirus shutdown, hope springs eternal and new restaurants are starting to open in Providence.

On Monday, a fifth, new bistro-edition of Brewed Awakenings opened on Westminster Street. On June 17, Saladworks will fling open its doors on Fountain Street, something it had planned to do in March.

Restaurateur Sam Glynn was getting ready to open his second Chomp Kitchen & Drinks when the shutdown came.

“March 24 was the date we circled for opening,” he said. “We were ready and doing the permitting when it all hit.”

They had a team in training for four days.

“We’ve been derailed since then,” he said.

Derailed yes, but not defeated. Now Providence will see the opening of Chomp at 117 Ives St., on Wednesday, June 10.

But it will be a very different opening than had been planned.

Glynn will start with takeout of his signature burgers from a pared-down menu. The hours will be 4 to 8 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday.

“It’s not the hours we wanted,” he said. “We were planning to serve lunch and dinner.”

Unlike his Warren restaurant site, there is no beer garden. It’s possible he might do sidewalk seating up the road. Accordion doors on the front of the restaurant will allow for some tables to be in a good air flow.

The restaurant will seat 60 at capacity.

“If I’m trying to find the positives, this is an easier way to open a restaurant,” Glynn said.

Just serving takeout allows him to control things, and that feels important right now.

“We are new and we want people to feel safe,” he said.

There are other challenges, too. Big ones.

“Everybody who has us for the first time will get food that’s been sitting in a box,” he said.

They have good takeout boxes that will stay warm and not steam the food, but still it’s a box. They send the sauces home in separate containers for the chicken sandwiches so they don’t get the food soggy.

“Keeping the menu small allows us to keep the quality up,” Glynn said.

On the menu are five burgers including the Mac & Cheese Burger and the Smoky Bandit, made with Pepper Jack cheese, bbq sauce, smoky aioli and jalapeno chips. There are also two chicken sandwiches, chicken wings, grilled cheese and a daily special.

It also allows him to minimize the stress on his team, which Glynn feels is more important than ever.

Niki Holden will run the kitchen in Providence. She comes to Chomp after six years as a chef Roberto’s in Bristol and a stint at the former Spiced Pear at the Chanler on the Cliff Walk in Newport.

Glynn said she wanted a cuisine change and joined the team in December, to work with executive chef Tanner Larkin in Warren, with the intention of getting up to speed.

As for the drinks component, there will no doubt be growlers of excellent local beer, but Glynn has also hired Vito Lantz as bar manager. He is an award-winning bartender.

Glynn opened Chomp in Warren in 2013. He then opened Statesman in Bristol in 2016, which he sold to chef Chris Kleyla in 2018.

Though Glynn is overwhelmingly positive he admits wondering how the restaurant world will weather this, all while operating without any playbook.

He talked about the mental exhaustion that happens when you have to pivot your business in no time at all. That is what all restaurants had to do when their dining rooms shut down on March 16 and they turned to takeout.

Some, like Chomp, had the infrastructure to make ordering easy. Then they honed it with just Glynn and Larkin in the kitchen.

He also talked about the upset of laying off 25 staff via Slack when he couldn’t allow them in the restaurant.

Even after all this, he said, there will be more Chomps because it’s a concept that keeps his team energized.

Details: Chomp Kitchen & Drinks, 117 Ives St., Providence, chompri.com.