Rhode Island’s Newest Restaurant is Inside the Providence Public Library

Culinary Hub of Providence serves up international offerings while also serving as a job training site for immigrants and refugees.

July 3, 2024

Lauren Clem,

The interior of a sunlit cafe with brick walls and leather chairs for seating.

Culinary Hub of Providence is a new restaurant at the Providence Public Library. (Photos by Lauren Clem)

They say books are good for the soul, and now, they can be good for the stomach, too.

Culinary Hub of Providence is the newest addition to the city’s buzzing restaurant scene, a sleek, warm-hued space that delivers international cuisine in a cafe setting. Located inside the Providence Public Library, the restaurant is a project of Genesis Center, the long-established nonprofit that provides services for Rhode Island’s immigrant community. Students work at the restaurant as part of the center’s culinary training program, serving up dishes that often defy expectations.

“People are really surprised because they think it’s going to be more like a sandwich shop,” says Shannon Carroll, Genesis Center president and chief executive officer.

The restaurant opened its doors last week for a soft rollout that includes weekday lunch service along with a bar, pastry case and coffee counter. Later, the restaurant plans to add dinner service with wait staff, according to CHOP chief operating officer and chef Joshua Riazi. At the moment, patrons order their lunch at the counter before taking a seat in the cozy surrounds featuring cascading greenery and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Empire Street.

The menu has an international flavor, from a Korean cauliflower sandwich to shakshuka with house made focaccia. Even common lunchtime standards take on multicultural flair, like a Cobb salad served with jerk chicken and jicama and eggplant parm topped with Bombay-style roasted red pepper curry. The menu, according to Riazi, reflects the heritage of Gensis Center’s students, who come from around forty countries.

A pastry counter with several plates of bakery items.

Pastries available at CHOP include croissants and empanadas.

“Genesis Center as a whole has really represented the cultural diversity of Providence,” he says. “There’s a lot of Southeast Asian, Caribbean [and] Latin American students, and our menu is designed to reflect cooking processes and also flavor profiles and ingredients from those countries.”

The origins of the restaurant go back nearly six years, when Carroll and Riazi toured the Providence Public Library. At the time, the institution was undergoing a $25 million renovation project, and the pair learned another restaurant had wanted to operate in the building before the plans fell through. The space that would eventually become CHOP, which has its own entrance on Washington Street, was being used as storage.

With an agreement underway, Genesis Center set about transforming the space into a working kitchen. Since the building had never had a kitchen before, an early roadblock was sourcing specialized equipment that could work within the space.

“One of the big challenges that came up was that there’s no hood. There’s no available space to go to the roof for a hood. So all traditional cooking equipment was off the table,” Riazi says.

After a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization resumed buildout. KITE Architects designed the space, while Kyla Coburn took on the interior decoration. The result is a polished dining area with a modern feel that pays homage to both the library’s and organization’s roots. Much of the furniture and décor was reclaimed from the library’s renovation, while other pieces — Indian wedding tables in the seating area, and Moroccan textile throw pillows on the leather chairs — pay tribute to the center’s students. On the back wall, a series of casts for making silverware are a decorative nod to Providence’s Jewelry District. Even the bar, Riazi says, plans to offer an international selection of brands popular around the world.

“I love that part of it because it’s a celebration of our diversity as much as a place to train people,” Carroll says.

Decorative casts shaped like forks, knives and spoons hanging on a wall.

Decorative casts for making silverware are a nod to Providence’s Jewelry District.

Now in its fifth decade, Genesis Center opened in 1982 to serve refugees fleeing violence in Southeast Asia. The center has two job training tracks, health care and culinary. The culinary program currently operates out of a commercial kitchen on Potters Avenue, where Riazi serves as culinary director. With the opening of CHOP, students will be able to spend time in the restaurant’s kitchen and apply for a paid apprenticeship upon completion of the culinary program. The restaurant will also showcase a rotating selection of pastries from Genesis Center graduates.

Hiring for the new restaurant has been a process, as chefs must have both expertise in the kitchen as well as the willingness to serve as mentors to trainees. Eventually, Riazi says, they plan to host visiting chefs and offer workshops in a demonstration area. For now, the restaurant is focused on brunch and lunch as students get up to speed in the new environment. Among the international menu items are several vegetarian dishes as well as gluten-friendly offerings.

“We’ve thought a lot about what makes a restaurant great in the first place, and I think quite a lot of it is hospitality,” Riazi says.

“We want people to come for our mission but come back for the food,” Carroll adds.

Culinary Hub of Providence is currently open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The restaurant is closed on July 4 and July 5. Check the website for updated hours and a menu. www.culinaryhubpvd.com