Much like the Greater Boston area, Providence and the communities surrounding it has seen an uptick in sleek, modern (and often high-end) restaurants, which have helped make it a destination spot for diners looking for the type of places you might see in much larger world-class cities for food.
But while Metro Boston continues to see the closing of many of its old-school neighborhood joints as more upscale spots move in, the Providence area remains a region with countless old local hangouts where you might see the same patrons week in and week out. This is especially true when it comes to both the city’s outer neighborhoods and cities and towns just beyond.
Some of these restaurants and bars are so unique that they attract people from outside the area who simply can’t find similar places near where they live. One such spot is a rather fascinating little eatery called Mike’s Kitchen, a well-kept secret only about 10 minutes from downtown Providence that feels a world away.
Providence has a high percentage of Italian-Americans within its borders. The Federal Hill neighborhood is the best-known, and communities just to the north, west and south also have a lot of residents with Italian ancestry, including North Providence, Johnston (which reportedly has the highest concentration of Italian-Americans in the entire country), Warwick and Cranston.
And while Federal Hill is seen as the area’s “Little Italy,” Cranston has one of its own, albeit much smaller and quieter. The charming little neighborhood of Knightsville has a number of Italian restaurants along Cranston Street and Park Avenue, while a few others can be found just outside of the commercial center where the two roads meet, including Mike’s, located three short blocks west of Cranston Street and its dining spots.
Mike’s is one of those restaurants in a space where you’d least expect it to be. Indeed, when you approach its building, the first thing you might see is that it is a VFW hall, or more specifically, Tabor-Franchi VFW Post 2396. But look closely and you’ll see a sign in a window by the front door for Mike’s Kitchen, and when you head into the space, you’ll enter what feels like a dining spot from years ago, with fluorescent lights, a hard tile floor, the type of tables you might find in a function hall and, in the back, a tiny bar with a few seats.
Unsurprisingly, the noise level can be pretty high, but unlike some modern restaurants where much of the noise comes from extremely loud music and tables being packed together (almost like it is done on purpose to keep people from lingering), this is more of a natural, murmuring type of loudness, much like what you might get at functions, which makes sense, because this is first and foremost a social club.
There are a lot of good Italian restaurants in Cranston, so in order to succeed there (especially in Knightsville), you need to be able to offer top-tier food that will keep people coming back, and Mike’s certainly does that. A few other dining spots nearby go just slightly upscale with their Italian food, but Mike’s tends to go the old-world comfort food route, which tends to go with the “dining in the rough” feel of its space within the VFW post.
And there are indeed some very old-school touches here, including the fact that you have to pay separately for the food and the drinks and — this is a very important point to keep in mind — both the restaurant and the bar are cash-only, which is becoming more and more of a rarity these days.
In addition to Italian-Americans, Rhode Island also has a large population of people with Portuguese roots, and the menu at Mike’s, while mostly Italian, also has some Portuguese influences. The appetizers offered reflect this fusion of sorts, including fried smelts, oversized stuffies, outstanding fried calamari with hot peppers on the side and crab cakes with a terrific red sauce.
The main dishes definitely lean Italian – highlights include a rich and savory gnocchi sorrentino with chopped eggplant, mozzarella and tomato sauce; a very old-school grilled chicken aglio olio with rabe and pasta; a classic chicken picatta with plenty of mushrooms, capers and olives; a pasta and tuna dish, which is a relative rarity among Italian restaurants these days; and buttery baked seafood options including shrimp and scallops. Perhaps the best item on the entire menu is an extraordinary polenta in red sauce, which almost looks like a piece of lasagna upon first glance but which has a mild, creamy flavor coming from the boiled cornmeal and which can be ordered with meatballs, sausage and mushrooms.
For those who might be looking for something less than a full meal or perhaps a dish at lunchtime, Mike’s has a number of sandwiches. A few possibilities are chicken, veal and eggplant parm options; a grilled sausage, Italian grinders (including options with ham and tuna) and a true throwback of a sandwich that consists of provolone and rabe and nothing else.
PHOTOS: Mike’s offers Italian and Portuguese food inside an RI VFW post
Desserts include a tri-colored spumoni with plenty of claret sauce while chocolate lovers may want to opt for the bon bons.
And as mentioned earlier, you have to order drinks separately via the bar in the back, and this is the type of place where lovers of martinis and Manhattans will be in their element, as they are made about as well as you’ll find anywhere, though it’s also worth considering ordering a bottle of red or white wine for the table.
There are very few places like Mike’s Kitchen in the Greater Boston area. Hoey’s/AMVETS in Randolph and Lithuanian Kitchen/South Boston Lithuanian Club in South Boston come to mind, but it’s tough to think specifically of an Italian restaurant with this kind of setup anywhere near the local area.
When there’s no traffic, Cranston isn’t all that long a drive from Boston, making it a very doable trip for those who love both Italian food and offbeat dining spots, and for an experience that you’ll remember long after leaving.
Mike’s Kitchen, 170 Randall Street, Cranston, RI, 02920. [No website]
Dining and Cooking