The 401
FIRST PERSON
BY
PAUL KANDARIAN
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF PAUL KANDARIAN .
I
Where My Dad ’ s Restaurant Used to Be
The Chicken Roost in Providence was the cornerstone where I spent part of my youth , and although it ’ s gone , the location still stirs up childhood memories .
’ M A HUNGRY EIGHT-YEAR-OLD BOY hanging out one Saturday in my father ’ s restaurant , The Chicken Roost , a long , squatty building on the corner of Fountain and Union streets that he owned for about ten years in the capital city . My busy dad is running around , dare I say it , like a chicken with its head cut off in one of the city ’ s most popular restaurants in the heyday of 1961 downtown Providence . He hands me a brown tray with a mound of his famous fried chicken . “ Where do I eat ?” I ask . “ Just go eat in a booth ,” he says , pointing vaguely behind me . “ I ’ ll join you in a minute .” So I go to the only booth I know in an era known for their proliferation : the phone booth at the back of the restaurant , near the circular metal stairway that leads to the office upstairs . I put the tray on the seat , close the folding door , kneel down and start to eat in the cramped space .
Moments later , my dad is frantic , unable to find me . When he does , he flings open the door and says , “ What the hell are you doing in there ?” “ You said go eat in the booth !” I cry out , my dad roaring with laughter . A reporter from The Providence Journal across the street comes in for lunch , my dad tells him the story and the next day it appears in a tiny blurb in a column that prints snippets of everyday life in the simpler times of “ Leave It to Beaver ” and “ The Andy Griffith Show .”
I have many fond memories of a city in those days I recall draped in dark tones of the times , from hump-fendered cars that spewed smoke and clogged city streets to the fashionable fedoras and cloches on the men and women who strolled them . But none are fonder than my times at The Chicken Roost .
To this day , chicken is one of my favorite foods , especially fried , and I can still taste the way my dad made it . And I can see him
30 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I FEBRUARY 2025