E veryone knows that the restaurant world has gone through innumerable personal crises in the past few years — most firmly rooted in financial and staffing challenges . But a side effect of simply staying afloat in treacherous waters was to reexamine what was integral to a restaurant ’ s identity and what was , in some way , unnecessary .
When Sarto reopened this year after a COVID hiatus , that evolution was manifest . The space , which has always been striking , remains much the same : The dining room and kitchen sit at the periphery of an impressive bar . The ceiling soars overhead while a trio of pendant lamps the size of cathedral bells illuminate the stools and spotlight cocktails decorated with brass anchors . The dining area , marked by soft teal and natural wood , snakes around the room , decentralizing the energy but creating opportunities for privacy that a square space can ’ t provide .
To some , Sarto feels primarily like a bar ; to others a dining room that feels like it belongs to a hotel , suited for varied purposes . Either way , it remains a depot for what has become a far more approachable incarnation of Italian food .
The Sarto of yesteryear had a strong sense of ego , a place where it was not unusual for servers — with a breadth of culinary and
wine education — to persuade a diner with academic encouragement . The menu was complex — pork shank with amaro borlotti beans , chestnut gnocchi , sunchoke zeppoles — with the waitstaff serving as translators . Its latest version is a more accessible pathway to Italy , though it still maintains a level of technicality that complements the modern aesthetic . Intricacy inspires the menu , but it takes a more rustic form , detailing the Italian countryside rather than its cities .
There are still salumi and formaggio options which zero in on the kitchen ’ s desire to marry European influence with local ingredients . Bresaola and Grana Padano make their way from the Lombardy region , speck and La Tur from Alto Adige in Northern Italy , but finocchiona and Narragansett Creamery ’ s Atwells Gold hail from inside state lines . This is the central philosophy of the contemporary Sarto : Italian food is not a trip abroad ; it ’ s the very essence of Rhode Island .
The menu allows you to build a meal entirely without entrees — revolving plates of seafood and bruschetta heaped with burrata can satiate a group with ease . Sarto has also bought into the restaurant world ’ s best decision in decades : charging for bread . The house deserves at least $ 6 a plate for the day ’ s effort , and the practice has allowed myriad restaurants to show off a talent that used to be farmed out to those with lesser
SARTO
Providence G , 86 Dorrance St ., Providence , 270-2790 , 270-0790 sartoprovidence . com .
Open from 3 p . m . Wednesday – Sunday . Wheelchair accessible . Complimentary valet parking .
CUISINE Italian bar scene .
CAPACITY Seventy-five .
VIBE Roman Holiday meets family dinner .
PRICES Appetizers : $ 6 –$ 16 ; entrees : $ 21 –$ 40 ; dessert : $ 9 –$ 10 .
KAREN ’ S PICKS Focaccia , pasta , porchetta .
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l OCTOBER 2022 109