Deb Norman’s Stimulus
BY PAUL GRACE PHOTOGRAPHY: MARC CREEDON
Holy $%#@! That was my first thought walking into a hoppin’ Rue de l’Espoir on a recent Wednesday night. The restaurant was busy and loud! My partner Dave looked around the room and said, “what recession… this place is packed.” Ok, but let’s see how long it takes to be greeted and seated. Boom! No time at all and it is the Rue owner herself, Deb Norman, working the door. Our server Tracy stops by our table shortly after Deb departs to offer a greeting and ask “are you here for the burgers?”
We say “maybe” since we are still taking in the action of the joint and hadn’t yet opened our menus. I look around the dining room and all I can see are burgers and fries and beer and women…oh my! And the servers were female too (Deb must keep the males in the kitchen…where they belong!) Obviously the Rue’s Wednesday promotion of a Burger and Draught Beer is a success. For $11.99 you get to have a gay ole’ time building your own burger of organic beef, veggie, lamb, turkey or tuna. Cheese toppings range from gruyere, cheddar and mozzarella to feta, parmesan and goat. Then you can make it a threesome with caramelized onions, carrot and fennel slaw, olive pesto, roasted peppers, sautéed mushrooms or applewood smoked bacon. Good stuff!
beer blitz and order two draughts of Blue Point Toasted Lager as we survey our burger choices. Tracy stops by a minute later to say, “it’s busy at the bar, but your beers will be right up.” Nice touch. Looking around the room, I forgot how nicely laid out the restaurant is with its several different seating options: booths, tables along a banquette, a raised platform section in the back, private corners and window seats, all dressed in warm colors and tones. The bar area is separate from the dining room and is a great space with its windows looking out on Hope, large tables and fun murals. Many restaurants try really hard to get all the right touches down …comfort, lighting, privacy, roominess, sound, good service…and Rue de l’Espoir seems to nail it effortlessly. It was loud but at an acceptable and jovial level and I knew we were at THE place to be on a Wednesday night in little old Providence.
So how were our burgers? They were juicy, flavorful, on a delicious bun and cooked as requested. A wee bit on the small side perhaps and not the biggest pile of fries. We bumped up the order by having an appetizer of Crispy Calamari which came with a poblano and tomatillo relish and crème fraiche; a nice medley of flavors. Two glasses of wine followed the beers along with dessert and the bill was still only $65. Not bad at all.
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY
As many fans of the Rue know, the restaurant is open seven days a week and serves up three meals a day. As Deb noted, that offers diners a broad opportunity to experience the Rue in different ways. My first experience with the Rue more than ten years ago was brunch, many brunches in fact, and I was so impressed with the food that I’ll forever think of the Rue as a brunch restaurant foremost. Deb obviously knows how to survive in the increasingly tough restaurant business; she’s been keeping the Rue going strong for thirty-three years. Her chef, Michael Koussa has been with the restaurant for twenty-eight years, starting out as a line cook when Deb was initially cooking. There’s consistency for you. With the economic downturn, Deb’s promotion of Dollar Daze Mondays (all appetizers at the bar are a dollar from 4:30-9pm) and Burger and Beer Wednesdays have been a big success. And lets not forget Rue Bis, the sister bistro to Rue de L’Espoir. Rue Bis (which translates to “a little bit more”) is located in the jewelry district and offers breakfast and lunch. You can read more about it at therue.com.
NOW ON TO THE FOOD…
A Hmm…and a chin scratch was my initial response to reading the dinner menu as I awaited my burger. Things had moved in a whole new culinary direction from what I remembered and I liked what I saw. How long has it been since I had dinner at the Rue anyway I wondered with a pang of guilt similar to when you haven’t visited your mother in awhile. The extensive menu begins with ten or so appetizers and then moves on to a lengthy list of salads, entrees, lighter plates and a fixed price selection. Among the appetizers, my curiosity was piqued with the Trio of Savory Treats of Muhummara, Caponata and Hummus, a Chicken Liver Paté paired with a cranberry, black olive and dried cherry chutney and a Lobster and Mushroom Madeira Crepe.
NEXT UP ON THE MENU …
are the soups and salads and one can never go wrong pairing a Baked French Onion Soup with a Nicoise or Caesar. Other highlights: a sesame and rice vinegar dressed Line Caught Atlantic Salmon Salad with pea shoots, asparagus, cucumbers and tomatoes and a Baby Spinach Salad with the sweet and salty combination of dried cherries and gorgonzola. Even the House Salad sounds better dressed than usual, with green leaf lettuce, radicchio, cucumber, carrot, toasted pepita seeds and fresh herb vinaigrette.
“EAT SERIOUSLY”
…is the menu title for the entrée section and Deb isn’t kidding. The Duck Duet immediately caught my eye: duck breast and sea scallops with a pomegranate syrup and balsamic vinegar reduction. The Creamy Risotto with asparagus, shitakes, sweat peas and a mascarpone and ricotta salata sounds delicious. Then there’s the Lamb Served Two Ways with its fresh herb dry rub on a baby lamb rack and lamb medallions. I dig the combination of fig, shallot and port wine in the Organic Free Range Half Chicken entrée. A white wine Bouillabaisse of shrimp, sea scallops, littlenecks and cod and twin medallions of Beef Tenderloin pan-seared with shallots and button mushrooms finish up the list of entrées. One of the Rue’s most popular dishes according to Deb is the Seafood Mac & Cheese and that can be found in the Prix Fixe section. Twenty-seven dollars will get you a house salad or soup du jour, and one of four entrée selections such as Chicken Fricasse, Pan Roasted Salmon, Steak Frites and the above mentioned seafood pasta. For dessert, the options are a Crème Brulee or Pot de Crème. There is a lot to experience at the Rue. I’ve just skimmed the surface of this full service restaurant. It’s worth your time to check out the breakfast, lunch, late lunch, dinner and weekend brunch menus and all the latest news by visiting the restaurant’s website at therue.com.
BREAKFAST: Monday-Friday 7:30-11am
LUNCH: Monday-Friday 11:30-5:pm
DINNER: Sunday-Thursday 5-9pm/
Friday and Saturday: 5:-10:30pm
WEEKEND BRUNCH: 8:30-3pm
RUE DE L’ESPOIR
99 Hope Street, Providence, RI
401.751.8890 www.therue.com
