Sweet Potato Pie
Owner/General Manager Julia Broome, Kin Southern Table + Bar, Providence
This is one of my favorite desserts to make during the fall and especially for the holidays. Sweet potato pie is a favorite ...
in the kitchen
Kin Southern Table + Bar
Genuine Comfort Food and a Welcoming Vibe Make You Feel Like Family in Julia Broome’s New Downcity Eatery
Laid-off and lonely during the Covid-19 lockdown, Julia Broome did what many in their early 30s were doing: She dreamed of a different future, even a different career. But she did something that few did: She wrote down her dream. She made outlines and lists and plans.
Then she hunted for a location, found contractors and ... opened Kin Southern Table + Bar in downtown Providence at the end of March 2021.
With Downcity still recovering from restaurant restrictions and with reduced presence of office workers who might once have provided a booming clientele for nearby restaurants, Broome exhibited a huge leap of faith.
But with a business management degree (concentration in marketing) from Boston University and several jobs in southeastern Massachusetts (including Plainridge Park Casino and Global Experience Specialists) under her belt, Broome decided: “I just didn’t want to sit around during the pandemic being bored—I had to find a way to stay busy and to focus on something I was passionate about.”
Though Broome was born and bred in Providence, she remembers watching her mom (born in Virginia) and her great-grandmother (living in South Carolina) cook Southern-style food, and she treasured the family times that their meals created.
“I chose the name ‘Kin” because I wanted a safe place where everyone of every background could come and feel like family,” she says.
Indeed, her staff of 13 has become “a very tight-knit family—we even argue like family all the time because we’re super passionate about this place.”
Although her staff give her feedback on many aspects of the restaurant routine, Broome herself developed the menu and most of the cocktails.
“Those dishes were ones I grew up with—it all goes back to my family and the way those things were prepared in my home,” she says. “The chicken wings are especially popular and the catfish and collards are not often seen on a menu.”
The collard greens are simmered with smoked turkey wings; the catfish is given a very light cornmeal coating; the mac ‘n’ cheese has the top layer very crisp—”that almost-burned cheddar taste,” in Broome’s words. The salad has small cubes of roasted sweet potato and kernels of corn—their sweetness balanced against a house-made lemon vinaigrette.
And for the cocktails, Broome wanted “something funky and rum-focused.”
“A lot of the rum has been traditionally made in places that are part of the African diaspora, and we want to highlight that,” Broome notes. “We do go for locally brewed rum with the Boston-based Bully Boy, and we also offer their whiskey.”
The names of the cocktails are definitely fun, and they reference Black culture in several ways. Rapper Busta Rhymes’ hit “Pass the Courvoisier” turned into “Pass the Henny.” “Cut the Check” uses a Tennessee-based whiskey from a Black-owned company called Uncle Nearest, named after the ex-slave turned master distiller in 1856 who became the owner of the whiskey operation after the Civil War.
Broome’s memory of a great night spent in Miami combined with the 2020 film of a mythical meeting between Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown called One Night in Miami to become a cocktail of the same name. Another memory—of backyard barbecues with Kool-Aid that a cousin always tried to spike— inspired “Auntie’s Kool Aid.”
The decor inside Kin underscores Broome’s understanding of the restaurant as a gathering place.
“I wanted it to be warm and comfortable and a bit brighter than the previous space, with pops of color throughout,” she says, with a wide smile. “Having those big comfortable chairs was important. It may be why people stay so long—they want to take a power nap after their meal!”
The large floral mural that greets customers at the front, and across from the bar, was done by local artist Greg Pennisten; the large paintings in the back room are portraits of women in varying shades of brown.
“As a Black woman, it was important to me to have woman-focused images,” Broome stresses. “I also sought out diversity-led or woman-led companies during the construction.”
For the Juneteenth holiday, Broome and staff set up an outdoor “festival” on the street that runs alongside the restaurant, and they were thrilled with the response. She hopes to organize more such outdoor events and to develop a weekly karaoke night.
When she thinks back to those early days in April 2020, she still gets sentimental.
“It’s great to think about putting ideas on paper when I was all alone during Covid,” she recalls, “but the people who weren’t there with you then are now really there for you. I couldn’t have done it without them. They wanted this. We needed something like this in Providence. That makes it all worthwhile.”
Kin Southern Table + Bar
71 Washington St., Providence
401.537.7470 • KinPVD.com
Open lunch & dinner, Tu—Sa
Photo 1: Peach cobbler is served hot with a big scoop of vanilla.
Photo 2: Sweet potato pie
Photo 1: “Dranks” from the bar include Auntie’s Kool Aid (left) and One Night in Miami.
Photo 2: Kin’s menu is inspired by the Southern food Broome watched her mother and great-grandmother cook.
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