Otra

 Otra is the word for ‘another’ in both Spanish and Portuguese. 

“That's what Otra is. It's something other than the normal, traditional, one stop restaurant. It has a lot of different things, a lot of different flavors and tastes for a lot of different palates.” 

And with Spanish, Portuguese and French under one roof, you’ll have an experience unlike any other at Otra. 

Set on Main Street in Providence, Otra Restaurant is bringing big flavors to “Little Rhody”.  Owners Brian Kingsford and Jennifer Matta are the dynamic duo behind Providence mainstay Bacaro.  So when the space next door became available, they decided to open “another” restaurant or ‘Otra’, offering dishes inspired from their travels.

“Otra Restaurant is a restaurant that encompasses the entire Iberian peninsula, which includes southern France, Spain, Portugal, all of it together and just such a unique combination of flavors.  It's communal dining, and it's opening to all.”

“The cuisine is not a mixture of these elements.  We're doing French cuisine and we're doing Portuguese cuisine and we're doing Spanish cuisine all on one menu, but they're not mixed together. So it offers a lot of variety for people.”

The decor of the place is minimalistic, relying on the energy from the open kitchen to entertain diners with the sights, sounds and smells of their food being prepared. 

“We put our planchas directly behind our bar, so the customers can actually watch the cooks making the stuff, a la plancha.  It's meant to be a little bit louder and a little bit more involved with the guests making the room very colorful. We're not big on art all over the walls. It's all about the people in the room and the colors on the plate, and we kind of pull it together that way.”

“It's interactive from afar, if you will. So you're getting just enough, but not enough. You get a little bit of the chaos, but not too much.”

Every table at Otra is presented with a paper menu and a pencil, so you just check off whatever you're in the mood for.

“So it's basically almost as if you were ordering sushi. You have a pencil, you have your tapas menu. You sit and you check off what it is you're looking to try.”

“You can pick two or three things to have, stop, take a breath, have another glass of wine, do another two or three tapas and then, you know, decide to stay and have a paella or something else.”

So, you can order unctuous Pork Belly a la plancha, drizzled with an aged sherry gastrique.

A Fish and Chips Pintxo served with a tasty garlic aioli….

And the indulgent Huevos Cabreados; a delicious potato dish tossed table side by your server.

“It's a shoestring potato that we fry. We top it with a fried egg and bravas sauce and a little bit of aioli. ..The egg is broken at the table, and then the egg mixed with the aioli, and the bravas creates a beautiful potato salad that is a classic dish all over Spain.”

Another Spanish classic is the Croquetas de Jamon; golden fried balls of goodness spiked with Iberan ham.

“It's an explosion of flavor and texture. You got that nice crunch, then that silky smooth, and then you're either going kind of lemony and tangy with the aioli.   They’re a big seller.”

There are slowly cooked spare ribs topped with a flavor packed mojo verde.

Clams roasted in Spanish beer with peppers and onions and garlic.

And a Catalonian style wood grilled flatbread topped with caramelized onions, roasted piquillo peppers, anchovies, and Manchego cheese.

“It's a harmonious balance of flavor.  You're picking up the sweetness of the onions, the spiciness of the mustard, you have the saltiness of the olives, all being carried by the vehicle, which is the bread.   It's an absolute must order for the table.”

Since you’re in the ‘Ocean State’, you can rest assured that the seafood is always fresh in dishes like the Moules Frites- cooked in a brandy cream sauce with shoe string fries.  

A Spanish inspired Cataplana made with Toulousain sausage, chorizo and Narragansett Bay littlenecks in a delicious broth.   And the stunning Paella de Mariscos; a dish that changes depending upon what is coming out of the water that day.

“The Paella Mariscos is a classic Spanish Barcelona version of paella. It's basically going to be the bomba rice.  The Marisco itself is a combination of the rice, the different onions and peppers and then seafood, whatever we're pulling in at the moment. So it could be clams, scallops, mussels, shrimp, basically whatever they caught and we put it together with the paella.”

Meatlovers will want to get their hands on the Carne A la plancha- a Prime sirloin steak served with roasted marrow bone, shishito peppers and blistered tomatoes.

Or the Bife A Casa; a Portuguese version of meat and potatoes. 

“This is steak a la plancha with a fried egg atop, and bravas sauce, which is a roasted pepper, a little bit of garlic and tomatoes.  We serve that with just sliced fried potatoes.  When the egg yolk is broken and mixed with the flavors and the juice of the steak. It's an unbelievable flavor and it's a home run steak.”

And the only thing sweeter than the Coconut Tres Leches Cake they serve for dessert is the hospitality you get at Otra.   

“Both Brian and I are passionate about what we do every day. It's a labor of love, if you will. It's not a chore.  It's something quite special, and we put our heart and soul in it, and you will feel it in our food.”