Jamestown is once again flush with restaurants, each offering different menus for enjoying local food & island life
For centuries, most especially since the Gilded Age, Jamestown has leaned into its quieter persona, letting Newport, its louder, flashier island neighbor across the bridge, steal the spotlight. But what Conanicut Island’s culinary scene may lack in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality.
With only a handful of exceptions, nearly all of the town’s eateries dot Narragansett Avenue, where longtime favorites and newcomers are neighbors. In true Rhode Island fashion, many locals still identify newer restaurants by the establishments they replaced; “the old …” serving as a perfectly acceptable address.
Beech, for example, will always be “the old Trattoria Simpatico” to many. Fair, considering the latter had occupied the unique, three-floor restaurant with three bars, multiple dining spaces, and its hallmark, a more than 150-year-old American Copper Beech tree that’s the inspiration for the present-day name. (The tree’s name is “Ruth,” an homage to Ruth Bader Ginsburg.)
This spring, Beech began a new chapter when James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Schlow partnered with local ownership, reshaping the restaurant with an American fare-meets-Mediterranean menu. “It’s just a magical place, a very special property, and so when the opportunity came to be involved, I jumped at the chance,” says Schlow.
Schlow says it’s been important to the team that it “leave the DNA” that makes Beech so extraordinary, including the staff which includes chef Eric Warren, who’s been at the helm the past two years. “We wanted to create something that was not just seasonal, but that would feel good year-round; be a fixture in the community, and our job really is to take what they’ve already started and just continue to keep growing it.”
Warren is sourcing locally, relying on local fishermen, Jamestown Community Farm, and other purveyors to shape the seasonally driven menu. Schlow, who has been visiting Jamestown for many years, says he appreciates Rhode Island’s “great, deep culinary history” and is working to make dining at Beech a memorable experience. The goal, he says, is for patrons to leave thinking, “I want to come back tomorrow, I want to do this again.”
Crudo Oyster Bar
Across the street, Crudo Oyster Bar & Coastal Italian Kitchen opened in December, transforming what was historically a restaurant, then briefly reinvented as a bookstore and wine bar, back into a restaurant. While the offseason may have been the warm-up, the outdoor patio opens the space up to even more diners, allowing them to dine al fresco and take in the salty breeze to splurge on a seafood tower, grilled octopus, a veal or pork chop, spaghetti vongole or traditional Italian favorites. Business partners Tony Lanni and Anthony Quetta have a second Crudo location in Smithfield and another restaurant in Cranston, but Jamestown has easily won their hearts. “They’re absolutely wonderful, probably the nicest, nicest community I’ve ever had a restaurant in,” says Lanni. “They’re unbelievable.”
Sunset Beach Oyster Bar
One of Jamestown’s newest spots, Sunset Beach Oyster Bar, is the realized vision of father-son oystermen Tony and Joseph Pinheiro. After years of bringing their briny bivalves to the Bowen’s Wharf Seafood Festival in Newport, the Charlestown Seafood Festival, and other seafoodcentric events, the duo, who have a two-acre oyster farm in the West Passage of Narragansett Bay, have opened a brick and mortar. Sunset Beach serves up one of the freshest raw bars in town in addition to seafood specialties like shrimp cocktail, clams casino, bacon-wrapped scallops, clam cakes, a lobster roll, and both creamy and traditional clear Rhode Island chowder.
“I retired from road and bridge construction, and we started the aquaculture farm. With my wife, Karen, we’d all been thinking about doing a restaurant here in Jamestown,” says Tony. It’s not only their shellfish handiwork on the menu; it’s their heritage as well. A host of traditional Portuguese dishes, the same ones Tony grew up eating, are offered, including: chouriço and linguica sandwiches; Caldo de Feijão, a Portuguese bean soup with sausage; Carne Alentejana, a pork, seafood and rice dish; Portuguese clams, rice, and chouriço, and for a sweet finale, malasadas, of course. “My wife learned to cook from my mother and my relatives,” adds Tony.
Landlubbers and little ones can grab a hot dog, burger, or chicken nuggets, and the Pinheiros are planning to expand the menu as summer continues. Later this year, they plan to build more indoor space at the year-round restaurant.
Snackbar Royale
The new opening that caught even locals by surprise is by a longtime resident and highly lauded chef. During the quieter months, Jake Rojas was conceptualizing Snackbar Royale — one part seafood-centric restaurant, one part ice cream window, and one part coffee shop. Named one of the best chefs in New England by Food & Wine magazine, Rojas historically is best known for his Tallulah’s Taqueria restaurants (locals might also recall Tallulah’s Tacos first introduction at the shack at Dutch Harbor, or Tallulah’s on Thames, the former fine dining restaurant in Newport).
“As a single dad, I want nothing more than to be in a casual place where my kids can hang out and eat really well-sourced food,” says Rojas. “Everything that I’m doing is based on not being complicated.” His son came up with the name, which Rojas says captures the spirit of their island home. “He’s like, ‘Dad, you love champagne and caviar. You gotta make it royal in some way.’” Rojas describes Snackbar Royale as having a “Euro coastal vibe,” which he says aligns well here. “Jamestown has that a little bit,” he says. “People live an island life here, things move a little slower, and that’s OK.”
This new creation at 1 Ferry Wharf is ideal for grabbing a casual bite or sweet treat, then hopping aboard the Jamestown Newport Ferry, which is docked just steps away.
Standards
Standards is also on the newer side with a year under its belt. In the location that many still call “the old Chopmist Charlie’s,” which stood for a quarter century, the Smith family reinvented the space as comfortable restaurant serving classic American dishes — burgers, pizza, wings, steak frites — in addition to crowd pleasers like linguine and clams (featuring Rhode Island littlenecks), pappardelle bolognese, and organic mushroom risotto. Gluten-free and vegan options are offered. Owned by Vince and Janet Smith with their sons, Hunter, Jake, and Zachary Guerin, Standards is a family affair and has established itself as a gathering place for locals and visitors alike.
Our Table
Marla Romash and her husband Marc Alexander opened Our Table in 2022 as one of many pandemic-era restaurant openings in Jamestown. Before becoming a pastry chef, Romash’s career was in media and politics, serving as White House communications director for Vice President Al Gore, while Alexander honed his career as an executive chef.
“The best part about this restaurant is feeling so much a part of the community,” says Romash. “You really become engaged in people’s lives; in their celebrations, in their sadness, and that’s been the most amazing part of it. My husband and I both love to cook, we both love to serve really good food, we both love to feed people, and so that’ll always be there, but I think one of the best things in the last five summers has been the relationships and the people who are regulars and who come in and we know what they drink, we know what they like to eat, and it’s amazing.”
Slice of Heaven
Maria and Steven Liebhauser opened Slice of Heaven, a name that has aged remarkably well, a quarter century ago. Bearing witness to the comings and goings of other eateries, Slice of Heaven has been a breakfast and lunch stalwart, offering cozy indoor dining nooks, or this time of year, the sail-cloth covered front deck which allows one to hold court on Narragansett Avenue (if you’re a local, you’re almost guaranteed to bump into a fellow islander, just wait a minute or two).
Around town…
Whether for an iced coffee and fresh pastry breakfast with panoramic bay and bridge views, or packing provisions for a Beavertail State Park picnic, East Ferry Deli has been part of the community for three decades. And it’s a landmark year for Stephanie and Lindsay Haigh, who are marking their fifth anniversary of owning The Village Hearth, the magical bakery cafe that had a twodecade history before they took the helm. JB’s on the Water, which opened in 2022, continues to offer waterside dining while the inn property where the restaurant is attached is undergoing ownership changes. The Narragansett Cafe, better known as “The ’Ganny,” dubs itself “Jamestown’s little bar with a big reputation.” Though best known for offering live music, its pub food sandwiches and specialty pizzas continue to be on point. And if you’re in the mood for some wine and charcuterie, head to Grapes and Gourmet for its selection of cheeses and boards, then head out to your favorite Jamestown sunset spot and cheers to living the island life.
