In Our Summer 2025 Issue

Dear Reader,

It wouldn’t be summer in Rhode Island without a “Rhode Trip” and this season we explore Westerly, where the expanding culinary scene continues to cultivate creative makers who proudly put fresh local foods at the center of the table. From riverside restaurants to music, books, art and enough coffee to keep you vibing from morning to night, the westernmost seaside town in Rhode Island offers an abundance of things to do and new tastes to try.

As summer arrives, so does the buzz around local farms and farmers markets, where the fresh produce signals the season’s shift. Traveling the back roads of Li’l Rhody on a bright summer’s day, you’re bound to stumble upon a country roadside stand where the array of fresh produce is grown in a field out back. It could even be the country stand from our story about a farm whose carrots—pulled straight from the soil and still dusted with earth—are a crisp reminder of how good fresh can taste. Sweet, bright and full of flavor, those sunshiny carrots are one crop of many grown by the farmers of Long Lane Farm in Warren. They harvest organic veggies from two acres on their a five-acre parcel of thoughtfully managed farmland. Their story illustrates the bigger picture of small-scale farming currently here in Rhode Island and beyond our region.

In planning your summer activities, don’t miss a trip to Track 15, Providence’s new food hall built in the old Union Station which, in Rhode Island–speak, is also “where Capital Grille used to be.” The transformation of the space is a stunning reimagining of bygone train station architecture with a dynamic look forward to a place where community can gather for a savory mix of local and international flavors. Our story on Track 15 gives you the intel on the talented team of local chefs and restaurateurs who anchor the space and serve up everything from shish tavuk to fresh pastas, tacos to kathi rolls, locally landed seafood, stacked burgers and more.

Another recent arrival to Rhode Island’s food scene you won’t want to miss is chef/owner Cecelia Lizotte’s West African restaurant in downcity Providence, Suya Joint. Lizotte, who resides in Rhode Island, is a 2024 James Beard Best Chef: Northeast nominee, who just opened her second restaurant in Providence this spring, expanding from her original location in Boston’s Nubian Square in Roxbury. She shares her journey with us, from cooking with her grandmother in Nigeria to being nominated for a James Beard Award here in New England.

Be sure to cool off this summer with Big Feeling Ice Cream in Providence, another relative newcomer featured in this issue. We’re relishing their small-batch, farm-to-cone ice cream (and sherbet) scoops in a litany of creative flavors featuring local dairy, fruits and vegetables, too.

Looking ahead to August, it’s not only corn and tomato season but also time for our summer cooking class at Gil’s Appliances in Bristol! This summer we welcome cookbook author and seven-time James Beard Award–nominated chef Jeanie Roland from Ella’s Food and Drink in Westerly. Chef Jeanie will share her talents with us and teach you how to make the most of the high harvest season with creative dishes from her elevated, globally inspired recipes. Be sure to visit EdibleRhody.com to grab your tickets soon—classes typically sell out.

As you explore all the flavors Rhode Island has to offer this summer, please make a point to visit our partnering advertisers, whose priceless support helps grow and sustain Edible Rhody.

Dig in!