Sarto Restaurant
Take a look this breakfast sandwich.
And this perfectly made chicken parm.
"Everyone knows it. It's comfortable. It's approachable."
Check out this twirl worthy pasta.
And this fork tender pork.
"It's creamy, it's sweets you get the maple."
Whether it's morning, noon or night, there are just so many reasons you should go...
to Sarto.
Located in downtown Providence, Sarto is a two-tiered, triple threat restaurant, serving Italian at breakfast, lunch and dinner according to Chef Alexander Willis.
"We do all with we do all three- cafe lunch and dinner. Because we're downtown. And we'd like to cater to the people that are down here."
The space itself is stunning, with high ceilings, big windows and a beautiful bar. But just because it's sophisticated, doesn't mean it's stuffy.
"It's comfortable, it's relaxed. Any age demographic can really come in, get food and relax. It's just like having dinner with your family."
'Sarto' means 'Tailor' in Italian, which is a rather fitting name for this restaurant, since the space itself exists in an old tailor shop. And instead of pins and thread, Chef Alex makes his masterpieces with pans and knives, creating an experience with the "perfect fit" for every customer.
"I want them to come in and be able to sit down with their family and friends and just be able to get like a family style meal, multiple courses, but it's not like stiff or rigid, you get them to come to your table, and you eat and enjoy at your leisure."
At breakfast, you can opt for a slice of frittata spiked with broccoli rabe, calabrian chilis and provolone....
Or you can really indulge and go for Sarto's Breakfast sandwich- served on a Portuguese English Muffin.
"It's this Portuguese sweet bread that's cooked like an English muffin. And it's soft, it's sweet. It's a perfect vessel for the breakfast sausage we have because it's just soaks up all the fat from it. You get sweet you get spicy, you get fresh. You know it's a little bit of all the things that you know people really enjoy in breakfast."
When lunch rolls around, you may want to grab a slice of Sarto's sheet pizza. A perfect homage to both Italy and the Ocean State.
"It's very simple. It's bread and sauce. And you know its simplicity is what makes it delicious."
And for something simply sensational, get your hands on a Chicken Parm.
"It's a fried, marinated chicken thigh, then it's covered with our house sauce, lots of provolone. It's a fresh made ciabatta roll. And it's it's everything that everyone knows it doesn't really need an explanation. It's pretty much everything you want, even if you don't like to admit it."
At dinnertime, you can opt for apps like the enormous salumi board which changes based on what's being imported. Artfully arranged fluke crudo garnished with citrus. And ultra addictive fried squash.
"We have we take butternut squash, Acorn Kobocha, delicata and we tempura batter it with fresh oregano and serve it with a banya verde, which is a sauce of parsley, garlic and anchovies. So you really get a big umami burst from all the garlic and anchovies in there. And then after you bite into it you get the crispy tempura with a creamy squash inside. It's a crowd pleaser."
The pasta is just as pleasing with options like the Spaghetti Alla Chitarra spiked with littleneck clams and breadcrumbs. And a Pappardelle Verde smothered in bolognese.
"It's a spinach pasta. It's a wide cut wide flat noodle. And then we serve it with Lamb Bolognese and it's only five ingredients in our Bolognese, so it's very simple and it speaks for itself."
Traditional Italian dishes like Chicken Saltimboca get a modern day spin at Sarto.
"We stuff it with the sage and then wrap it in the San Danielle prosciutto. And then we fry it to order serve it in a smoked chicken brodo with a little bit of spinach and Roman gnocchi. You get the really like herbaceous sage. You get that the crispy proscuitto. You got your familiar flavor chicken and then you have your broth and like the spinach with the Roman gnocchi so it's almost like soup in a way but not."
While New England classics, like pork and beans get the Italian treatment.
"It's pork and beans, you know you think Boston baked beans, but instead of bacon we use guanciale. We have our maple syrup, our roasted apples, the braised pork that is just like fall off the bone tender."
And at dessert, you can end your meal with a sunchoke zeppoli- paired with a salted caramel and bay leaf gelato. Or try Chef's homage to Rhode Island, by way of Italy, with a Coffee Milk Budino.
"When I first moved here, I was introduced to autocrat coffee syrup. It's very Rhode Island. So now we have a coffee milk budino on the menu. So we use the autocrat. We make a pudding with that. And we top it with a chocolate ganache
It's like the guilty pleasure because you don't like thank you like, oh, why don't you use real coffee? But then it wouldn't be Rhode Island. It's like it's one of those love hate things. It's delicious.
And when it comes to the cooking, it's all love from this chef.
"I love making food. If I didn't love making food for people, there was really nothing that really besides the passion of this that really keeps you going in this industry. If I didn't want to make people happy, then I wouldn't be here."
