Restocking the Pantry - The Providence Journal

Pantry at Avenue N, once a small narrow space with prepared foods to go, is now an artisanal grocery store that offers some 150 local food products.

Gail Ciampa Journal Food Editor gailciampa

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. — I don't know about you, but when I'm planning for a weekend at home, I find myself on a shopping crawl that takes way more time than I'd like. It usually includes my favorite farm stand, the butcher or deli, and at least two specialty shops for those uniquely Rhode Island things I can't live without, including Narragansett Creamery cheeses and, lately, nuts from Virginia & Spanish Peanut Co.

Nick and Tracey Rabar, owners of Avenue N, the restaurant in Rumford, have similar shopping experiences. And when you combine their lifestyle with their business acumen, you end up with a newly reimagined Pantry at Avenue N.

What was a small narrow space with prepared foods to go is now an artisanal grocery store that has some 150 local food products as well as a bagel (Providence Bagels) and doughnut nook (from Knead) for breakfast sandwiches and treats. Then there's a prepared food case with everything from buttermilk fried chicken to turkey burgers. Fresh produce from the likes of Four Town Farm in Seekonk is artfully arranged in baskets. A dairy case has local milk and eggs. Also for sale is Warwick Ice Cream, Blackbird Farm beef and shelves full of products launched by local companies from the Hope & Main culinary business incubator in Warren.

Followers of the vibrant Rhode Island food scene will see not just iconic names like Daniele cured meats, Central Falls Provisions kielbasa, Blount soups, Dave's Coffee Syrup and the Virginia & Spanish Peanut Co. nuts, but all the new kids producing fresh compound butters, pierogies, sauces, pickles, salt and more are here, too.

Until they expanded the space in December, which was a year in the making, many of the local items were sight unseen in the tiny area, said Nick Rabar. Now the tin-ceiling space is arranged to showcase Rhody at its best.

Big grocery stores can and do carry local products, but the Pantry is small enough to support local farms, and that is one of Rabar's prime goals.

"We want to give local farmers a place to grow their business," he said. "We can pick up 100 pounds of produce so they can keep doing what they're doing at the farm."

Small farms don't always grow enough to supply supermarkets. Though they are lucky enough to sell through the Farm Fresh R.I. Market Mobile program, the Pantry offers another showcase for squashes, beets and greens that may be stored at small farms or growing in greenhouses.

The other true beauty of the Pantry is that nothing will go to waste, Rabar said. If fresh produce doesn't sell out, it will inspire a special in the restaurant kitchen.

Rabar did not have to make new relationships to outfit the new Pantry. As a longtime chef and the host of the "Chef 2 Go" Cox cable show, he's interviewed or cooked with many of the producers.

A CSA, or community-supported agriculture program, is also planned. But it won't be the usual format of a weekly basket full of produce.

"We'll customize it so you don't need to stop at the grocery store to cook with it," he said.

For example, think about a July 4 week CSA pickup. It would have the fresh greens and veggies, but also some of Rabar's hamburger patties, homemade potato salad and the artisan sauces that are now on the store shelves.

Some of those sauces and dips are longtime favorites, like Poblano Farm Salsa, but there are also popular newer ones, such as Backyard Food Company, and newbies like Mesa Fresca, which makes a winning Chimichurri Sauce, and Miss Georgia’s Kitchen Pimento Cheese.

A new website is under construction, as is a phone app that will offer online ordering. The Pantry will also offer delivery.

Visitors to the Pantry will not see a seafood case, but that doesn't mean you can't pick up scallops or clams. The Pantry will partner with Tony's Seafood of Seekonk and Mark Pirri to order the daily catch when he's at the docks picking it out. The new app will make ordering easy, Rabar pledged.

In the past few weeks, the Pantry has also introduced pop-ups featuring other food producers. They hosted Shane Matlock and his Burgundian Waffles and Fountain and Co. craft ice cream.

There are a few inedible items that are just as fun, including floral bouquets from Flowers by Semia and soaps from a goat farm.

Details

The Pantry at Avenue N, 20 Newman Ave., Rumford, (401) 228-6691.

The hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. They are expected to be extended.