Dining Review: CHOP in Providence

Some of the dishes on the ever-changing menu might include tamarind-lacquered short ribs over chilled Vietnamese noodles. Photography by Angel Tucker

Maybe it’s unexpected to house a restaurant in a public library. Or maybe it’s kismet. Public libraries, after all, are spaces to escape your daily routine in search of artistic adventure: geographically, culturally, emotionally distant places that expand our horizons, develop empathy in an evolving heart and offer a respite from the grueling machinations of life. 

Or char sui burnt ends. Photography by Angel Tucker

But doesn’t food fit that bill, too? It’s the most visceral and approachable art form as far as translating culture. Want to muster immediate affection for a land you’ve never visited? Eat the food. Want to marvel at a people’s history or their relationship to the terrain around them? Eat their food. 

The culinary stories told in our small state are boundless: what Italy tastes like, how squash might metamorphose, why texture is as critical as taste. Our best restaurants turn food on its head and, because they coax us into loving the unexpected, turn us into more daring, curious and receptive people. 

But CHOP (short for Culinary Hub of Providence), which opened its doors at the Providence Public Library, has a different approach. This kitchen paints in broad strokes, not concerned so much with reinventing established dishes as much as representing the people who author the menu and with amalgamating a global menu. 

The restaurant is a project of the Genesis Center’s job training program, offering language education, support services and workforce development. It’s hard to fathom a better location given the public library’s purpose to broaden community and expand horizons. And while the restaurant isn’t directly in the stacks, the philosophy abounds. 

The interior of CHOP. Photography by Angel Tucker

The interior is industrial but warm, with a collection of antique and modern furniture that feels comfortable without being over-styled. Seating is compartmentalized into vignettes: a reading lounge, a dining room and a double bar that spans the length of the restaurant, which is used for chef and cocktail demonstrations during classes. Books and journals are displayed along the walls and tealights are wrapped in vintage literary leaves as an homage to the upstairs. Fittingly, the windows bask in the lights of Trinity Rep across Empire Street. 

But CHOP’s identity fundamentally emanates from its young staff. One night a server approached an early table to apologize for his two-minute delay. “I was in the back switching from moody music to jungle radio — I just wanted to get your vibe right.” It’s a surprisingly common sentiment — perpetual awareness, that is — given that the restaurant’s central goal is to recognize and elevate those who are often overlooked. It’s also the reason that the eclectic menu works. 

An espresso martini, French 75 and Old Fashioned cocktails. Photography by Angel Tucker

The dishes range from young and pithy (white bean hummus and spicy Korean Brussels sprouts) to mature and redolent, as with the Haitian duck a la orange and the lacquered short rib with Vietnamese noodle salad. The juxtaposition of the two personalities is a bit of a literary reference: colloquial language set into an academic design for the purposes of redefining the blueprint itself. 

Some of those voices are readily recognizable — General Tso’s cauliflower ($7) and tuna poke ($22) are part of the long-established lexicon — while others offer surprises. Dense chicken meatballs coated in panko ($10) might be standard bar food, but the Tunisian chili sauce is the life of the party. Even a plate of poutine ($12) shifts the focus from the fries, which take a third-row seat to the duck confit, which is waiting in the wings to be a main course. 

 Duck confit with mint yogurt. Photography by Angel Tucker

Pastas lean toward comforting, including a four-cheese baked pasta ($18) which seems almost like a meta dish in Rhode Island, though this one eats more delicately than Al Forno’s signature plate. Nearly every entree has some version of cross-pollination, each culture gaining from the diversity of the dish. Polenta sits alongside the Haitian duck ($27) — an unusual starch for soaking up this sauce but one that works entirely. The same holds true for the cold and heavily herbed Vietnamese salad, which rests under a tamarind-glazed short rib ($28) that falls away from itself unprodded. The temperature paradox pulls from Asian cuisine but the plate and its technique is inclusive in nature. This is the microcosm that speaks to CHOP’s broader
goal: to recognize that diversity builds things that are both expansive and well-pitched. 

It’s even more evident in the cocktails ($13–$15) which hit nearly every flavor profile — often in a single drink. Each sip becomes a heterogenous mix that could never exist but for the sum of its parts: lemon lives with tropical trail mix orgeat, tamarind mixes with Kalimotxo grenadine and riesling syrup is steeped with chamomile tea. If it sounds overwrought, then the language is deceiving; each goes down like a juice sprung from a newly discovered fruit. 

The library theme is incorporated throughout the decor. Photography by Angel Tucker

And while CHOP was still working on the dessert course, the kitchen swung into gear as a corporate party began to physically descend on an unrelated table of three. “My boss,” said the same eager server, “who’s cosplaying as a bartender tonight, wanted you to have something extra.” He put down a plate of chewy brownies topped with a whipped chocolate ice cream and chocolate pearls — as delightful and as fully American as dessert can be. 

Though you can expect more international offerings in time, it’s a fitting final statement. All of these disparate ingredients and approaches synthesize in the end, not only by way of taste but through a narrative that manages to collect many voices into a single harmony. 

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CHOP

211 Washington St., Providence, 429-2450, culinaryhubpvd.com 

Breakfast and lunch: Mon.–Fri., 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Dinner: Wed.–Sat., 5–8 p.m. Dinner reservations recommended. Wheelchair accessible. Street parking. 

CUISINE: Melting pot. 

CAPACITY: Sixty plus the bar. 

VIBE: Reading nook meets industrial bar. 

PRICES: Breakfast and lunch: $2.50–$20; dinner small plates: $4–$12; sandwiches: $14–$20; entrees: $20–$30. 

KAREN’S PICKS: Poutine, chicken meatballs, lacquered short rib, duck of all varieties, cocktails.