5 Delicious New Dishes for Fall

5 Delicious New Dishes for Fall

Leaves aren't the only things that change this time of year. From city to shore, chefs are switching over to heartier, heavier seasonal ingredients and preparations and making magic with them. From appetizers to desserts, who choose five fall favorites that inspire, excite, and make us enjoy autumn even more.

Papardalle Bolognese at Centro, Providence

Especially for Italians, few dishes define fall the way a good Bolognese does. This traditional Italian meat sauce is made with cream and cooked for hours, and like a good stew or soup, good Bolognese can’t be rushed. Slow-cooking means that the flavors – and there are many flavors in a good Bolognese – have time and opportunity to meld. Centro’s classic Bolognese is made with beef, pork and veal (each brings a subtle difference in flavor, texture and fat content, important to a rich dish), top-notch San Marzano tomatoes, Grana Padano cheese and cream. It is served with thick pappardelle, the only pasta shape hardy enough for such a delightful sauce. Westin Hotel, 1 West Exchange St, 228-6802. www.centroprovidence.com

Roasted pumpkin pizza at Bacaro, Providence

Pumpkin belongs in dessert…at least, that’s what we learned as kids.  But at Bacaro, Chef Brian Kingsford knows it also makes for a stellar savory-sweetish pizza topping. We look forward to the grilled pizza with roasted pumpkin and

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spicy oil for months. Now a fall classic, this pizza is one of the things that gets us through the end of summer. This pizza is all the things you want for the first cold nights of fall...crispy, earthy and spicy. The combination of the roasted pumpkin and the spicy oil is both delicious and warming and almost makes the cold worth it. We usually indulge in this pizza and some arancini over a nice glass of red wine and discussion about Halloween costumes. 262 South Water St, 751-3700, www.bacarorestaurant.net

Fall salad at Gracie's, Providence

Fall doesn’t usually inspire us to eat salad. After all, salad is crisp and light and refreshing. Unless we’re talking about Chef Matthew Vargas’s fall salad, which features a slow-poached Zephyr Farm egg with braised pork belly, French lentils, frisee and radicchio. The most incredible farm egg, raised in Cranston, is slow poached to keep it tender and creamy. The  Berkshire pork belly is perfectly executed with a crispy outside and tender inside. Rich – almost heavy -- in both flavor and texture, the two star ingredients are accented by the slightly bitter notes of the frisee and the radicchio. It’s not easy to create a salad that is appropriate for fall, but Vargas hits every note with this hearty dish. 194 Washington St, 272-7811, www.graciesprovidence.com

Rib eye steak at Persimmon, Bristol

The end of summer leaves us thinking that steaks are best cooked on a grill and served simply. And while that’s true, autumn requires different preparations of things we eat year-round. These are the challenges that chefs love – how to make food mesh with the season. Sure, that’s easy if you’re using in-season ingredients. But what about a steak? Chef Champe Speidel takes a beautifully marbled piece of rib eye, cooks it to medium rare, and works some seasonal magic, adding layers of flavor like we add layers of clothes. First, a baste of butter and garlic and thyme. Then woodsy trumpet mushrooms, then sweet glazed onions. Finally, a rich Bordelaise sauce. It all enriches the beef without overpowering its delicate flavor. 31 State St, 254-7474, www.persimmonbristol.com

Cappuccino truffle tart at The Shelter Harbor Inn, Westerly

Don’t think that apples and cranberries are the only options when it comes to fall desserts. Fall calls for richness: in flavor, color, texture… and there are few ingredients as versatile as coffee when it comes to richness. We’re about done with fruit by the middle of September, and all-chocolate desserts are so… well, predictable. So at the Shelter Harbor Inn, we opt for the cappuccino truffle tart with Kahlua sauce. After a long meal, the jolt from the cappuccino was a welcome refresher and the chocolate perfectly complemented the coffee flavor. One of the reasons we love this restaurant is that they bake everything in-house – even the breads – so it’s all fresh and flavorful as can be. So break out of that apple tart/pumpkin pie routine and remember, fall is about layers (of flavor!). 10 Wagner Rd, 322-8883, www.shelterharborinn.com