Top 11 of 2011: Eating Right

Top 11 of 2011: Eating Right

It's said that when times are tough, the creative just get more… creative. That must have been the case in 2011, because while Rhode Island struggled against the rip tide of its recession some of the best cuisine was created all over the state.

It was, in fact, a banner year for eating out, and Rhode Island chefs obtained some of their highest notice yet. Providence's Matt Jennings not only was part of a White House contingent of chefs who met with Michelle

Obama, but was a finalist for the 2011 James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Award for Best Chef: Northeast.

(To put that into perspective, the last time a RI chef was in that position, it was Al Forno's Johanne Killeen and George Germon, who won in 1993).

Along with Jennings, top chefs in RI this year focused on not only using locally raised meats and fish and poultry, but being responsible for the whole animal and introducing the adventurous to new and exciting food. Food trucks grew at an astounding rate, offering real gourmet bites as well as street foods, and Trace and Trust, a local seafood movement that linked sustainable local fishing practices with top restaurants, gained Rhode Island national attention. Rhode Island's grand resorts set the highest standards for cuisine alongside quirky neighborhood places. And ambitious, upscale restaurants opened in Newport as well as Providence, as though to challenge us all to enjoy creative, fine food put out by our very neighbors.

It was a banner year by all accounts, and a truly delicious one, and one the state should be proud of.