Restaurants in Cranston

When Caprice opened in East Greenwich, The Rhode Show correspondent Joe Zito interviewed owner Kostas Karampetsos and overflowed with enthusiasm for his classic Italian preparations. Drawing from his experience running Tavern by the Sea, Kostas and head chef Domingo Fernandez created a menu of pizzas, pastas, and chicken and veal entrees. They also draw inspiration from East Greenwich’s nearby sea monsters to craft seafood dishes such as the scrod francese and frutti di mare, which peppers linguine with littlenecks, scallops, and mussels. Caprice surrounds its guests with elegant dark wood tables and floors and a fully stocked bar. A long wall of windows admits sunlight during the day, and hanging lamps ribbed with an abstract floral design take over at night. Patrons can pull up leather chairs upholstered with a panel of pastel stripes, or slide into one of the lush semicircular booths lining the walls. Behind a speckled stone bar, bartenders also carefully mix more than a dozen specialty martinis.

Le Central's classic bistro atmosphere charms visitors from the onset with black-and-white-checked floors framed by red and yellow walls. The eatery's farm-to-table approach to French fare keeps admiration flowing, and even helped garner a head-nod and Best Neighborhood Restaurant distinction from Rhode Island Monthly. Below modern hanging lights, tables populate with starters of butter and herb-roasted mussels, house-made charcuterie, and salads rife with roquefort and gruyere cheese. Entrees of locally sourced fish and traditional coq au vin steam with olive tapenade, house-cured bacon, and chili-glazed duck confit.

While sipping on a cocktail or wine at the weathered wooden bar, guests can question the bartender about the bistro's Sunday brunch crepes or the architectural possibilities of crafting a beer hat out of a classic French beret.

Christopher Palios, executive chef and owner of Sophia’s Tuscan Grille, inherited his cooking skills from his Sicilian grandmother, with whom he worked side-by-side as a child constructing traditional Italian dishes. Palios went on to refine his techniques by attending culinary school, traveling to the Caribbean and northern Italy, and working in the kitchens of celebrity chefs Emeril Lagasse and Todd English. Palios uses high-quality ingredients to create innovative dishes that reflect the Tuscan countryside.

Personal touches go into the savory entrees, as seen by the hand-stretched peasant-style grilled flatbreads and the handcrafted nuggets of spinach and ricotta gnocchi. Black n’ blue mussels—simmered with crisp pancetta, gorgonzola, and chives—and linguine with clams pair with diners’ libations toted from home under the restaurant's BYOB policy. House-made desserts round out meals with creamy bites of wild-strawberry spumoni as refreshing as a nap in the produce aisle. To bring the Tuscan experience to their own kitchens, diners may take a cooking class or purchase one of four spice rubs hand mixed and packaged by chef Christopher.

When they first opened Belly Rules, Chef Valter Monteiro and Melissa Gilmete didn't even bother to hang a sign. Instead, they chose to let their cooking speak for itself, whipping up a menu of meaty breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that have attracted the attention of local diners and reporters from the Johnston Insider. The chefs labor over their renowned country-fried steak and eggs, pig-roast platters, and custom burgers while supplementing the menu with Saturday-night specials such as firecracker shrimp or tequila-sunrise scallops. The restaurant hosts special fundraisers on Friday nights and welcomes guests to Monday Cruise Night, where clients can show off their new cars, classic automobiles, or Tonka trucks.

Though the idea of sharing a table with the Godfather, Scarface, and Don Carlo might be scary, it only gets mouths watering at Wise Guys Deli. That’s because these gangster-inspired nicknames simply denote several of the deli's freshly crafted sandwiches, each of which is piled with prosciutto, juicy roast beef, and fried eggplant. The chefs also churn out Sleep with the Fishes specials—seafood-based soups, starters, and entrees—as well as breakfast selections and premade meals from a gleaming deli case.

The sounds of cheers and high-fives from youth baseball and softball teams sponsored by Grumpy's Restaurant & Pub punctuate the hush of patrons tucking into feasts. Five big-screen televisions chatter overhead, tuned to athletic events or emergency broadcasts aimed at whoever keeps taking the mayor's lunch out of the fridge. Plates clatter onto tables, bearing juicy burgers stuffed with cheddar and jalapeños and buffalo-chicken-topped pizzas. On weekend nights, the twang of guitars slipping into tune fills the air as musicians prepare for live sets, and glasses click together at the full bar.