A Food Tour Roundup
Mouthwatering Ways to Learn About Local Flavor and Culture
Visitors to Rhode Island often have a “must-do” list of things to see and do on their trip to the Ocean State: Tour a mansion. Sail on Narragansett Bay. Experience Waterfire. Take a selfie at Taylor Swift’s house. And a good number of visitors will want to get an authentic taste of the state. A survey released earlier this year revealed that three in four Americans who have traveled in the last five years went for the food. That’s because any experienced traveler knows one of the best ways to better understand a destination and its culinary breadth is by not only exploring its flavor, but meeting the people who make it happen.
Food tours are nothing new to Rhode Island and the South Coast, but a handful of savory stalwarts, as well as new tours, continue to please the palates of visitors and locals alike.
RHODE ISLAND RED FOOD TOURS
The Newport Neighborhood Food Tour, Downcity Providence Food Tour and PVD Valley Neighborhood Victuals Tour are operated by Rhode Island Red Food Tours, named for the company’s mascot and our official state bird, the Rhode Island Red chicken. Inspired by the creativity of local chefs and “foodpreneurs,” founder and “Chief Tasting Officer” Paula Silva says the dishes are just part of the tour experience.
“When you walk, you really see the architecture and art, and can tell the history within a neighborhood,” she explains. Throughout the three-hour tours, guests experience ethnically diverse flavors at half-a-dozen locations while guides talk about local history; point out landmarks, including filming locations of popular television shows and movies; and introduce guests to chefs and restaurant owners.
From the start, Silva intentionally sought to create a sustainable business model that included small groups and didn’t require vehicles clogging local roads. “I [also] wanted to help sustain these small restaurant businesses by telling their stories and introducing people to them, so they will hopefully go back.”
In Providence, guests belly up to Double Zero’s pizza bar at Plant City, the world’s first plant-based food hall; savor authentic Taiwanese local street food at Charuma; sample classic Rhode Island fare at Dune Brothers Seafood Shack; indulge in sweet treats from longtime Capital City favorite Ellie’s; and sample fresh pretzels and local brews at Malted Barley.
The PVD Valley Neighborhood Victuals Tour, introduced last winter, focuses on foodpreneurs, makers, brewers and distillers within Providence’s Valley neighborhood. Newport’s food tour trades touristy spots for the locally loved Broadway, taking a closer look at both hidden gems and proven favorites like: homemade Jamaican cooking at Humming Bird; from-scratch ramen at Yagi Noodles; legendary sticky pork ribs paired with a specialty margarita from Perro Salado; and authentic tacos from Leo’s, a Latin American market and casual food eatery.
CRIME AND CUISINE ON FEDERAL HILL
As the founder of Providence Tour Company, Bradly J. VanDerStad already knew what it took to make a solid guided walking tour celebrating the Capital City: His Welcome to Providence: A Newcomer’s Tour has been a success since 2018. But he saw an opportunity to hone in on the history, personalities, drama (read: organized crime) and flavors of one specific iconic Providence neighborhood: Federal Hill.
“The history on Federal Hill is fascinating. People are riveted by it,” says VanDerStad. “True crime and food are both really popular in our culture right now, and combining them into a tour experience? People are really, pardon the pun, eating it up.”
Crime and Cuisine, a walking tour along Atwells Avenue lasting just under four hours, starts at Garibaldi Square, the recognizable welcome arch crowned by a pinecone (not a pineapple!). Here, guests learn about the neighborhood’s deeply rooted Italian heritage while savoring dishes that drive home that point. When guests walk into Trattoria Appia (known for years as Trattoria Zooma), they see staff making pasta and filling ravioli by hand before sitting down to a family-style meal reflective of the restaurant’s southern Italian roots. They stop and sample at Venda Ravioli, Roma Italian food market and Pastiche Fine Desserts for a sweet treat, and see places that made headlines, including “The Office,” the headquarters of well-known crime boss Raymond Patriarca.
“We talk only about very well-publicized things, things like big major events that happen on the news,” explains VanDerStad. “It was really important to me that we are respectful because people descended from those who were involved are still living on the Hill.”
PVDTourCo.com/crime-and-cuisine-tour
NEW BEDFORD FOOD TOURS
The last place Pam Shwartz thought she’d find herself as an adult was in her native New Bedford, but she fell back in love with The Whaling City when her wife, and also now business partner, Sara Gonzalez, landed a job there. Shwartz’s family has been inextricably linked to the culinary culture of the city for decades. Her great-grandmother owned and ran a restaurant on Union Street as a single mom in the 1940s and ’50s, and the family ran a dry goods shop and restaurant supply business through the decades. When she realized many of the dishes that were just part of her everyday life were unfamiliar with folks outside the South Coast region—things like coffee milk, chorizo and chow mein sandwiches—she saw an opportunity.
“It’s almost like a lexicon of foods down here that, growing up, I didn’t realize were so specific to the area,” she says. The Downtown New Bedford Food Tour, which covers about a mile, includes Cape Verdean cuisine from Izzy’s Restaurant, a linguica roll (an all-butter soft roll dough wrapped around local Amaral’s sausage and American cheese) from The Baker, and tastes from Delicias de Anita, “a fantastic Central American restaurant that’s definitely one of those under-the-radar places that’s delicious,” says Shwartz.
Since the company’s inaugural launch last year, two tours have been added: Art and Brunch, “where art and gastronomy intertwine to create an unforgettable sensory experience,” and Taste of Portugal, which explores the flavors found on Fall River’s Columbia Street. “We have an incredible tour guide who is a Portuguese language professor,” says Shwartz. “She has such a depth of knowledge about Portuguese culture.”
NEWPORT FOODIES STROLL
When Susan and Thomas Maxwell got more serious about creating the Newport Foodies Stroll, they reached out for help from two brothers in Savannah who they thought ran an outstanding food tour. “And they said, ‘no.’ They said, ‘If you are serious about this, you need to do what we did.’” The brothers advised the couple to enroll in a class in Chicago that teaches how to operate a successful food tour. Though “intense,” the Maxwells say the class gave them the tools to navigate the challenging logistics that come with a unique business.
The couple opted to focus on the flavors of lower Thames Street, home to many of their favorite restaurants, blending in some history along the way. “We didn’t want to go into the revolution, George Washington, the monuments and the battles,” explains Susan. But the Newport Foodies Stroll does stop at the gardens of The Elms, a Newport Mansion, where guides discuss the Gilded Age and, when passing the International Yacht Restoration School, the role of the school and local maritime history. When they get a view of Fort Adams, they discuss the wave of Irish immigrants who helped build it.
As with all food tours, restaurant stops can change at times, but some bites include shrimp tacos from the newly opened La Costa, caprese on skewer with homemade focaccia at Vieste, Wally’s for classic Saugy’s and sundaes from Twist on Thames. “I call it an off-the-beaten-path [tour],” says Susan.
In the off season, their Winter Foodies Stroll is slower paced, a little more like a progressive dinner with three restaurants offering different courses. Susan laughs and says, “In between restaurant stops, we toss in small servings of history.”
Andrea E. McHugh is a freelance writer who has written for the Hartford Courant, Baltimore Magazine, Daily Candy, Design Sponge, Providence Monthly and more. She resides in Newport.
