Sarto is Back Open After Two Years with New Regional Italian Menu
Just like restaurants in Italy use the freshest, local ingredients to create cuisine, Sarto is gathering seasonal Rhode Island ingredients for its own menu that focuses on Italian recipes.
The open kitchen at Sarto in Providence.
Sarto means ‘tailor” in Italian, and the reopening of the Providence G building’s flagship restaurant at 86 Dorrance St. is tailoring its menu to regional Italian, adopting local ingredients for classic dishes. Before evolving into a restaurant, the space formerly served as a tailor shop called Philip Wolfe Haberdasher, as well as an apothecary and other businesses. Sarto restaurant had been closed for nearly two years due to the pandemic, and the space has finally reopened with a refreshed menu.
“In keeping with Italy’s authentic, old-world culinary traditions, we tried to approach our menu the same way an Italian chef opening a restaurant here in the United States might,” says Sarto’s culinary director Gary Hatfield in a statement. “Sarto’s menu features dishes composed of fresh, locally sourced ingredients that honor our region – but with a modern twist.”
Just like restaurants in Italy use the freshest, local ingredients to create cuisine, Sarto is gathering seasonal Rhode Island ingredients for its own menu that focuses on Italian recipes. Expect playful takes on zuppa di vongole (clam soup) laden with sweet/spicy Italian sausage, potatoes, locally-harvested clams, baby kale and light cream, served with housemade focaccia bruschetta. The cacio e pepe dish involves local smoked mussels and Narragansett Creamery’s Atwells Gold cheese. Ragu d coda di bue (ragu of oxtail) features braised oxtail and Italian sausage, while the thirty-day-aged bone-in ribeye is served with Narragansett Bay Sea Salt broccolini, marble potatoes and saba-beef jus.
The drink menu nods to Sarto’s past with cocktails named in the Big and Tall category (or higher alcohol drinks with bold flavors), Light and Layered drinks with lower alcohol and Petite non-alcoholic options. The restaurant previously earned Wine Spectator’s 2021 Restaurant Award, which honors the world’s best wine lists, and they also serve High Limb Noble Series cider and other local draft brews.
“We’re thrilled to open our doors to new and loyal patrons again,” says Karsten Hart, COO for Sarto and parent company, G Hospitality. “We’ve been working hard during the pandemic to continue sourcing local foods and various ingredients to bring our guests the most innovative, delicious tasting dishes in the area.”
Sarto Restaurant is open for dinner Wed.–Sun. from 4 p.m.-Midnight. Make reservations at 401-270-0790 or sartoprovidence.com
