Great BYOB Restaurants
Maggie Lange, GoLocalProv Correspondent
Great BYOB Restaurants

Indian & East Side: Not Just Snacks
Not Just Snacks serves delicious comfort food, of the Indian variety – the goat and lamb curries are remarkable, the na’an is great, and the vegetarian options are fresh and flavorful. While the décor is sparse and a little clinical, it means that Not Just Snacks doesn’t have to hide inadequate cuisine with trendy furnishings. Save room for one of their honey-soaked desserts, and pair your exotic meal with some local beer like Newport Storm’s Amber Ale, a malty, sweet, and refreshing beer. East Side Prescription Center is close by on Hope Street to supply you with whatever poison you pick.
Not Just Snacks, 833 Hope St, 831-1150, East Side Prescription Center, 632 Hope St, 751-1430.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSake, Sushi, Suds: Sakura
If you want to dine with the former axis of evil bring some German beer to Sakura sushi restaurant on Wickenden Street. For your dinner, try a lobster and mango roll or their yam roll, a delicious sweet potato and tempura creation. Next, add some simple but refreshing beer, like Grolsch, to a bottle of warmed sake – Living Jewel is a good bet. Sakura’s boisterous college

Sakura Restaurant, 231 Wickenden St, 331-6861, Campus Fine Wines, 127 Brook St, 621-9650.
Fresh Fare, Booze Below: Meeting Street Cafe
Meeting Street’s obsession with serving fresh flavors is more than obvious. To taste their dedication to delicious ingredients go for something simple and crisp, like their savory Spinach Salad accompanied by gorgonzola, pecans, and apples. Pair a clean, white wine with your meal, like Urban Uco, a yellow-green, citrusy sauvignon blanc. Just off Thayer, Meeting Street Café is located on the second story above Spiritus Fermenti where you can find a college-geared, but surprisingly palatable, collection of beer and wines.
Meeting Street Café, 220 Meeting St, 273-1066, Spiritus Fermenti 220 Meeting St, 273-1999.

If you’re lucky, Tina herself will serve you at this friendly and authentic Jamaican restaurant on Federal Hill. (If you’re not lucky, they will be out of Coco Bread.) Go for something island-oriented, like the Caribbean Style Shrimp, and pick up some classic Red Stripe beer from Gasbarro’s. Also, be sure to arrive starving: the delicious entrees are served as a meal with rice and beans, cabbage salad and sweet grilled plantains. Looking at the token Bob Marley poster and listening to calypso music, you’ll almost feel like you’re in the tropics.
Tina’s Jamaican Caribbean, 223 Atwells Ave, 490-4625, Gasbarro’s, 361 Atwells Ave, 421-4170.
