T here is no greater anomaly than a restaurant on Federal Hill that ’ s not Italian . The unicorns of Atwells Avenue , they dot the landscape with enigmatic unfamiliarity . Isn ’ t the point of a night at DePasquale Square to rate the parms and the piccatas ?
Saje Kitchen is not making any pronouncements about being the outcast of the family . With its white stone bar , black ceiling and green velvet accents , it can readily pass for a classic Chiantipouring favorite . But you ’ d have to ignore the wall of foliage in the doorway to truly believe Saje was old school Italian . It ’ s this bucolic six-foot invite that puts a rustic foot forward and proclaims its allegiance to one of America ’ s most iconic cuisines : Southern food . If it began as the food of humble households , meat and threes have been raised in the twenty-first century to cult-like status . What started with Edna Lewis has expanded into northern homes with the help of Toni Tipton-Martin and Lazarus Lynch . The simple has become sublime coated in cheese , barbecue sauce and buttermilk .
Southern food has a way of making even city folks up north feel at home . There ’ s a certain spell that low and slow cooking creates , a pace that people will default to , not only because it ’ s in their blood but because they want it to be . No one knows this better than Alexander Willis , who heads the kitchen at Saje . He hails from Alabama but spent years
training in Chicago before returning to his roots full-time . Willis makes no bones about his love for the unassuming character of low-country cooking , but he is intent on securing its elevated spot in the restaurant community .
The staff is all about hospitality , determined that the party will go on even with partitions and limited capacity . Regardless of weather , cocktails are a summer cookout in a cup : tequila is tinged with blueberries , gin is shaken with pineapple and mezcal is softened with a hefty dose of pureed watermelon . If the mixers aren ’ t celebration enough , they come packed with dry ice , smoking and bubbling as they arrive . It ’ s a sign of things to come .
There is so much inventory in Southern cooking that it ’ s impossible to cover every base , particularly given that Willis has his sights on pushing historic food into the future . But he manages to re-envision archetypes without forsaking them . Deviled eggs ($ 11 ) — which conjure rabid enthusiasm at their most basic — are topped with lobster and sprinkled with lemon brioche crumbs . Tuna crudo ($ 17 ) is served like a minimalist fan atop buttermilk with benne seeds . Even skewered chicken with Alabama white sauce ($ 13 ) is plated in as demure a manner as barbecue can envision . If all of this tastes like your childhood cookout , it presents like a stroll through a museum of contemporary art .
But to sell Southern soul without the icons is like Lynyrd Skynyrd refusing to play “ Free Bird ” and Saje knows it . Sure ,
*** SAJE KITCHEN
332 Atwells Ave ., Providence , 473-0504 , sajekitchen . com .
Open Tues .– Sun . for dinner . Wheelchair accessibility requires one step through the front door . Street parking .
CUISINE Southern soul through a modern lens .
VIBE Federal Hill to the eye ; Mobile to the tastebuds .
PRICES Appetizers $ 11 –$ 17 ; entrees $ 15 –$ 28 or $ 42 –$ 80 for a family-style platter ; dessert $ 8 –$ 11 .
KAREN ’ S PICKS Chicken , in any form . No joke .
KEY Very Good
Excellent + Half-star
* Fair ** Good *** ****
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l NOVEMBER 2020 79