Rhode Island Dining: Caserta Pizzeria

Caserta Pizzeria
121 Spruce Street, Providence RI

Web Site: http://www.casertapizzeria.com

Caserta Pizzeria is OLD school pizza from an old New England Italian neighborhood. Don’t pass it up.

Some people want to live vicariously through my stomach, in order to re-live their childhood.

One of these people is Andy Patrizio, a friend of mine and fellow technology industry journalist who lives out in the San Francisco Bay area. As soon as he heard I was going to be traveling to Rhode Island and Providence, where he spent the first 25 years of his life, his face lit up. Well, I didn’t actually SEE his face lit up, but I could feel as much with his IM’s and Twitters coming my way.

Andy insisted that I could not leave the city of his youth without going to one of his favorite haunts, Caserta Pizza. I don’t do a lot of Pizza these days, but I do know that New England has legit pizza traditions, such as the style served in New Haven, CT. Like New Haven, Providence has its own version of Little Italy, complete with restaurants, groceries and delis,  and it also has its legendary pizzeria — Caserta’s, which has been in operation for over 50 years.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

New England Dining: Horton’s Seafood (UPDATED)

Horton’s Seafood
809 Broadway, East Providence, RI 02914
(401) 434-3116

Okay, let’s face it — no matter how hard you try to eat healthy when on vacation, you are going to fall off the wagon. For me, this would be fried seafood. But if you are going to fall off the wagon, then it better be worth the fall.

Horton’s Seafood, in East Providence, Rhode Island. Considered by many locals to be the best fried seafood restaurant in the entire city, and by far the best place I have found to sample the main varieties of New England-style clam chowders.

Click Here to listen to the Horton’s Seafood Mini Podcast

Click Here for Hi-Res Photos

You want Fried Seafood? You want Chowdah? You makin’ your way thru Providence? Then head to Horton’s. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Rhode Island Dining: Evelyn’s Drive In

Evelyn’s Drive In
2335 Main Road (Rt. 77) Tiverton, RI
(401) 624-3100

Web Site: http://www.evelynsdrivein.com

Evelyn’s Drive In, on the shores of the Narragansett Bay on Nanaquaket Pond in Tiverton, Rhode Island, is one of the most authentic New England clam shack dining experiences you are going to ever going to encounter.

When I’m traveling  to places that I’m not familiar with, I rely heavily on online sources of information for discovering new restaurants to dine at. Forums such as eGullet and Chowhound used to be where I got most of my recommendations, but now that I’ve long joined the corps of rogue bloggers, I search out “locals” who write blogs like my own, who are close to the action and have the most up-to-date information.

So when I was headed towards Providence, Rhode Island this week on a business trip, I contacted local resident Jennifer Hess, who writes the very excellent cooking blog Last Night’s Dinner.

Jennifer is a recently expatriated  New Yorker who now lives in Providence. One of the recommendations she gave me was for Evelyn’s Drive In, a true New England “Clam Shack” in the historic town of Tiverton, about 22 miles Southeast of Providence crossing the Taunton River and the Braga Bridge. The 41-year old restaurant was featured on a 2007 episode of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” on Food Network.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.