FACING PAGE : Dishes at Thick Neck , including kale salad , grilled mussels and swordfish belly skewers and spaghetti squash . THIS PAGE , CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT : Thick Neck chef Eric Brown ; littleneck clams ; spaghetti squash .
T hick Neck can very easily catch a diner off guard . With its evocative name and bicep-baring logo with a burly arm reaching out of a clamshell , it initially appears aggressively self-satisfied . Walk into the restaurant tucked inside the Dean Hotel — which formerly housed Faust way back when and , more recently , the nowshuttered north — and you ’ ll see the space ’ s familiar layout and quirky aesthetic . There ’ s room for thirty-odd people with decor that still feels like a German beer hall that operates during Prohibition .
Some of this is intentional : Tile patterns meander off into wood floors and various plants and candles pop up irreverently on the bar . A wooden screen hides the kitchen from almost no one . If there is an effective cloak , it ’ s actually the menu itself , which offers only the smallest glimpse — and often serves as a decoy — into the philosophy of Thick Neck ’ s chef and owner , Eric Brown .
Brown has compiled a substantive resume , working in notable kitchens in Chicago . But much of what his menu will tell you is , simply , that you cannot know this restaurant until you eat in it . Maybe he doesn ’ t want to show his cards — or maybe he ’ s betting on diners who love a dare . But one thing ’ s for certain : This place has secrets waiting to be unveiled . The staff is young , exuberant and appropriately irreverent : “ I ’ m not sure what he ’ s got going in that one ,” says one server , about a cryptically described dish . “ But I ’ ll eat that shit every damn day .” ( Fully agree .)
Most of the menu is a series of small plates that runs for $ 20 or less . There are usually two entrees that can occasionally inch up around $ 45 and while they ’ re always worth the
THICK NECK
122 Fountain St ., Providence , @ eat _ thickneck
Open for dinner on Thursday , Friday and Saturday ; brunch on Sunday . Wheelchair accessibility is easier through the hotel . Street parking .
CUISINE Modern .
CAPACITY Thirty-five .
VIBE An invite-only pop-up that you pray
someone gets you into .
PRICES Small plates : $ 5 –$ 25 ; entrees : $ 26 –$ 46 .
KAREN ’ S PICKS Anything . Seriously .
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l JANUARY 2024 113