Seafood is outstanding in the Ocean State: lobster shore dinner, unique creamy-pink chowder with clam cakes on the side, garlicky snail salad that is a local passion. Rhode Island has a hot dog culture that is unique. Little franks served in what are known, obscurely, as “New York System” eateries get topped with spicy meat sauce and are eaten by fours and sixes. A full-bore chicken dinner eaten in an immense dinner hall is a weekend must. At almost every level of dining, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all well-accompanied by griddle cooked corn pancakes known as jonnycakes (or johnnycakes). Whatever and wherever you eat, have a glass of the official state beverage: coffee milk.
WITH THE EXCEPTION of the hot dog bun, there has never been an edible invention as useful as the ice cream cone. Eat it all and leave nothing behind...
Roast chicken is usually demure, but in Rhode Island it’s outlandish. All around Woonsocket, in the Blackstone Valley north of Providence, the extremely tiny state sports extremely gigantic restaurants...
In New England, doughnuts are an art. We needn't argue their humble virtues in contrast to such upwardly mobile pastries as scones and croissants or the meretricious muffins that...
Hot dogs, the most American food of all, defy the regimentation that has made hamburgers, prime steaks, pancakes, and pizza such conspicuously successful franchise opportunities. (There are more than...
Pancakes make people happy. Arriving at the table in the form of short stacks or lofty towers, or fanned out like a haul of soft gold medallions, they are...
In a varnished wooden booth at Jigger's one autumn day so cold that the windows cloud with steam, we ask the waitress for a cup of soup followed...
For a mouthwatering summer road trip to sleeves-up joints surrounded by magnificent scenery, you can’t beat a seafood-eating expedition along New England's coast. At waterside picnic tables and roadside drive-ins, in...
Unique Regional Dishes After 40 years and 5 million miles spent on the road looking for America's best regional food, we've assembled a list of the quintessential, must-eat food in...
Looking for some stops along your Road trip? Check out our picks for the 6 best restaurants in New England. This is New England, so there is a plethora...
Originally marketed in 1897 to compete with granula, which was the predecessor to granola, Grape-Nuts is an unlikely fun dessert. But in the world of Yankee cookery, the little...
The Ocean State is known for seafood. It also happens to be chicken-dinner country. (The Rhode Island Red Hen is the official state bird.) All around Woonsocket, in the...
Twenty-eight states have an official state drink. For several in dairy country, it is milk. In California, it is wine; in Maine, Moxie; in Indiana, water. Dine around Rhode...
The term diner has come to mean almost any inexpensive cafe that serves breakfast. But true diners are an elite class of eatery. They are mid 20th century design...
Donut devotion as fervid as the commitment devotees have for barbecue. Everybody has a favorite kind. From robust cake sinkers to featherweight glazed, styles vary dramatically. In our experience,...
Indian pudding is one of New England’s fundamental comfort foods. Despite its name, it is not a native American dish adapted by colonist cooks. Early settlers considered just about...
There's no point getting into a flame war over which American hot dog is best. It's impossible, because the nation's hot dogs are so diverse. However, we will go...
A donut’s very shape is satisfying. It is complete, a whole circle, nice to lift and easy to dunk. Almost any recently-made donut from a national chain offers the...
Snail salad is ubiquitous in the Ocean State. It is on Italian menus, seafood menus, and chicken dinner hall menus, a spotlight hors d'oeuvre at waterside picnic shacks as...
Along the Northeast's Atlantic coast, the term "shore dinner" doesn't just mean some seafood on a plate. Descendant of Algonquin clambakes in which clams and corn were layered in...
New York system hot dogs are unique to Rhode Island: little weenies in little buns dressed with ultrafine-grind chili sauce, mustard and onions, plus a sprinkle of celery salt....
