The dishes you know and LOVE
Dine-in , take-out and delivery , 7 days a week
asiagrille . com
140 Hillside Rd . Cranston , RI • 401-298-8855
minimalist form with little more than salt and worthy olive oil . The “ dressed lobster ” ($ 30 ) is even more austere : one small claw with a great deal of tomatotinged mayonnaise . But the steak tartar ($ 21 ) is like a New Year ’ s Eve ball drop : dressed to the nines and submerged in more black truffle than a French forest . ( Joyous mystery : Food is expensive at Bellini but whoever is in charge of the truffles distributes them with abandon . Tagliardi with “ Tartufo Nero di Norcia ” may be a $ 28 plate of pasta but it ’ s also a week ’ s worth of mushrooms and its scent hangs redolent in the air like perfume .)
Meat and seafood entrees are modest in portion but , as with the diners , presented gracefully . Salmon is served on a lush pea puree with white asparagus ($ 28 ) — a Lilly Pulitzer composition on a plate — while sea bass sits alongside perfectly pared artichokes with a sprinkling of capers ($ 39 ). These larger plates are demure in nature and , if they do not elicit the passion of a plate of pasta , they evoke an Italy that is more Audrey Hepburn than Sophia Loren . Female diners counter the culinary countenance with an amalgam of Chanel tweed suits , snug suede leggings , enough jewelry to mimic the chandeliers . Decorative effect in this restaurant — just like the NYC and Coconut Grove outposts — is not embellishment ; it ’ s an integral part of the experience to both be and see beauty in all corners of the room . If it were forty years ago , you ’ d expect to catch someone holding out a cigarette holder for a light in the middle of the dining room . These days ? Another Mr . C cocktail , compliments of a different Cipriani endeavor out in Beverly Hills .
If dessert ($ 14 ) takes a detour back to something more unassuming , it ’ s only because sugar doesn ’ t need to be dressed up to make its mark . Wedges of tiramisu and orbs of chocolate mousse come out like cake at a kid ’ s party : covered in cream and promise . ( There ’ s also a vanilla Bellini cake that wears meringue like a crown , towering with youthful glee , though there aren ’ t any kids in sight — and not one delighted customer seems inclined to bring one the next time around .) Panna cotta with fruit may be the most mature of all the offerings but it ’ s a bowl of pistachio gelato that woos its way into the limelight with simplicity . It adheres to Bellini ’ s central tenet : the classics never fall from grace and every historic city has something worth celebrating . In fact , that ’ s the mantra that clearly led to this marriage between hotel and restaurant and that is fully manifest in the slender architectural space between the two : Beatrice ’ s lobby sits adjacent to the ( former ) exterior wall of the 1887 Exchange Building , which holds the restaurant , and within the high-rise that envelops it . One foot in tradition , the other in modernity ? It ’ s the Cipriani way , from the first Bellini to the final bite . �
98 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l FEBRUARY 2022