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Eating and drinking – there’s no two finer ways to spend autumn in beautiful New England. These days we have fall food on the brain! Just mentioning RPL’s Team Applegate or The Clancy & Orchard Team makes us want to bake a pie and swig some cider. The season provides a lovely balance. It’s cooler so you can accessorize and dress like an adult, but it’s warm enough that you aren’t factoring windshield scraping into your commute time.
As we celebrate the harvest, discover our community’s many culinary offerings to fill your pantries, refrigerators, and senses with the delights of the season.
Fresh and frozen
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Of course we think of summer salads and fruits, but in autumn many kinds of produce are at their peak. According to a recent Reader’s Digest article, it’s not just apples and pumpkins that shine at this time of year. Oranges, broccoli, mushrooms, lettuce, and all kinds of year-round fare are at their best and brightest right now.
Rhode Island is home to glorious farms from north to south where you and your family can discover all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables. Visit Jaswell Farm in Smithfield and view their beautiful sunflower field or scoot over to Phantom Farms in Cumberland with outdoor seating and tasty pastries. South County offers Sunset Farm in Narragansett for colorful produce and farm-fresh sauces and jams to spice up your cupboards. Clark Farms in Matunuck lets you spice up an afternoon in their Alcatraz Corn Maze, while their variety of herbs and vegetables lets you create a hearty meal. Finally, The Farmer’s Daughter in South Kingstown, just down the road from URI, presents its own sustainably farmed produce plus heirloom pumpkins and gourds – and that’s no joke!
For rainy days spent at home, it’s great to already have one or two meals pre-made and stored in the freezer. Your future self will thank you for providing all the warmth and cozy flavor of a fall meal without any prep! Experts at Food and Wine Magazine list these as ideal freezer fodder:
- Lasagna
- Potato-leek soup
- Chili
- Chicken pot pie
- Enchiladas
Coffee and cocktail
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Autumn is a season of change, and where once stood the venerable and much-loved Provender at Tiverton Four Corners we now find Groundswell Café. Just eight minutes from RPL’s newest office in Little Compton, this beautifully designed café and bakery offers a vibrant, Parisian atmosphere minutes from the sparkling Rhode Island coast. Its locally roasted, organic coffees are right for any time of year, while its house-made granola and apple turnovers satisfy the seasonal sweet tooth.
The sun sets earlier and earlier these days, creating the right conditions for an aromatic living room fire and a strong cocktail to stoke one’s inner fires. Did you know the late singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen invented a cocktail? Dubbed the “Red Needle,” this drink uses seasonally appropriate cranberry juice and always-inappropriate tequila to create a bright and refreshing potable. Mix the two ingredients in a glass of ice with a lemon slice and you’re on your way.
Candy and comfort
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Liquor may be quicker, as Ogden Nash observed, but candy is still dandy. Sometimes, however, the usual Halloween treats just feel like kids’ stuff. Barrington is home to one especially cute candy shop called Sweet Lorraine’s. Featuring local candy makers as well as nostalgic sweets from childhood, this friendly and well-stocked store lets you take a pause to create the perfect box of candy. What says “self-care” better than coffee truffles, pecan turtles, and sea salt caramels? One of their featured brands is Sweenor’s, a Rhode Island institution providing in-season treats with its own tempting shops in Wakefield and Cranston’s Garden City.
Comfort food is meant to be warm and familiar, but even this time-tested genre evolves with new spins on the classics. Providence’s latest in comforting cuisine includes a reboot (how many of those have we seen recently?) of a well-remembered Hope Street fave, Blaze, now in a new Smith Hill location. The East Bay is home to Hunky Dory, gamely established during the pandemic. This eatery presents an unpretentious and delicious menu inspired by chef/co-owner Sam Duling’s childhood of Southern cooking. The West Side of Providence enters this savory story with Black Beans PVD, presenting mouth-watering menu items such as beef rib and waffle sliders, baked mac and cheese, and fried chicken.
Hard and soft
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From hard and soft pretzels to hard and soft ciders, the season offers variety and versatility. Westport, MA is where you’ll find the impressive beverage list of Buzzards Bay Brewing. Enliven a Tuesday evening with a locally made hard cider and zesty options from the Tacofy Food Truck, along with the location’s picturesque farmland.
For drinks catering to the childhood palate, stop by one of our many beautiful orchards featuring the freshest pours of delicious local cider. Pippin Orchard in Cranston is an apple lover’s dream, showcasing apple cider, apple picking, and their uniquely scrumptious apple donuts. Greenville’s Appleland Orchard offers similar treats, along with their unpasteurized apple cider from a four-decade-old recipe. If the family tastebuds are up for one more pucker, scenic Jamestown will quench your apple appetites at the Hard-Pressed Cider Company. Their crisp and flavorful options include hot, mulled cider and even a frosty cider slushy.
Take time to stop and smell the pumpkins and savor the amazing flavors of the season!
