Let's Shabu

I’ve been hearing about a  new Japanese restaurant that’s near my new work digs and serves hot pot, and serendipitously, it’s where Connect Providence is meeting this month. Prescription for fun! On a Wednesday night, no less.
Ebisu is the name of the restaurant, at 38 Pontiac Ave in South Providence near the Cranston line. It’s the brainchild of three former Haruki employees, including a chef with Japenese and French training. They offer shabu shabu, a way of cooking your food at your own table in a big pot of steaming broth, as well as kushiyaki (yummy things on skewers), noodles, tempura, and lots of sake and interesting sounding sake cocktails. Everything but the (sushi) roll, in fact. I think I can live with that.
Connect Providence, with its usual spot-on foodie instincts (co-organizer Mike Ritz recently started Rhody Food Tours), is holding its monthly meetup there this Wednesday, October 21, from 6 – 8 p.m. There’ll be free food and a cash bar. Sounds groovy.