Providence Bookstore Café

Pasta rather than Proust

by Bill Rodriguez

500 Angell St., Providence, (401) 521-5536
Open Sun-Thurs, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri-Sat till 11 p.m.
Major credit cards
No handicapped access

Gone are the days when you could browse ranks of books and peruse one over a leisurely lunch. Wayland Square's Providence Bookstore Café still tries to get us to slow down and spend some time -- comfy stuffed armchairs in one area, more dinners than sandwiches on the lunch menu -- but the book business made way years ago for an expanded dining area. Apparently, the clamor was louder for calamari than for Colette.

Facing sofas and armchairs invite conversation and companionship, as do chess/checker boards painted on two tables (bring your own pieces). Maps of various Rhody towns adorn the walls. You can still nestle in and read, grabbing a book from a few rows of yard sale titles. But most of the bookshelves are just decorative now, up toward the ceiling, out of the way.

We sat in the lower section, which is down a few steps that face a wide bar. There are seven beers on tap and a broad selection of wines by the glass. This place will never be mistaken for a disco -- it's safe to assume that this is the only bar in town with a pewter collection encased above it. Glass covers the tablecloths, and the green glass shades of desk lamps are probably there to impel a studious appraisal of the menu. Request your breadbasket while you're looking, and get in the mood. The Italian bread is as soft and fresh as can be, and its garlic-infused olive oil comes with a shaker of red-pepper flakes, to pique your taste buds.

Some of the starters veer from the usual. In addition to French onion soup ($4.25) there's corn chowder in a bread bowl ($5.25), hot and spicy wings ($6.95), and calamari ($8.95) tossed in a balsamic dressing that has sun-dried tomatoes, along with the expected pepperoncinis. We chose the crab cakes ($8.95). The three crispy fried cakes in a bed of greens were tasty enough on their own, but the described lime-cilantro dipping sauce was rather bland, with little citrusy snap or evidence of the punchy herb beyond a few green flecks.

Thoughtful service is sometimes worth a codicil in a will, never mind a good tip. So when my dining companion's fork was taken away with his dish and promptly replaced, I made a mental note to call my lawyer.

We came at lunchtime, and for those with lighter appetites there are salads ($4.95-$11.25), and pizzas ($9.95-$10.95), but only three sandwiches ($5.95-$7.95), in addition to three lunch specials. Bigger appetites are targeted here.

My weekly luncheon pal and I were the men for the job, we reckoned. I felt like having seafood, though, and left the tooth-tingling choices to him: steak and chop, chicken and duck. There are pastas and risotto as well. He was in the mood for the roasted duck breast ($18.95), and ended up pleased with his pick. The dark flesh came cooked medium, as ordered, and the Madeira demi-glace was an appealingly sweet complement. The two accompanying skewers of vegetables retained a nice crunch, but the mashed potatoes were not the rich Yukon golds promised.

My order of sea scallops ($17.25) had an unannounced substitution as well, to less disappointing effect -- a deliciously variegated baby field greens salad, instead of arugula. The five plump sea scallops were pan-seared, and the fried risotto cake had an appreciated texture contrast, as well as the oomph of Gorgonzola. Missing was the advertised "rich scallop butter sauce," which would have been good with the plate's guests of honor as well.

The half-dozen desserts ($4.95-$5.95) are made in-house and sounded mighty tempting. Three of them are variations on doing vanilla ice cream one better, with baked-to-order molten-center chocolate cake, hot apple crisp, and something called "Bananas Mondale." The later is a variation on bananas Foster, with Kahlua instead of maple syrup. We were stuffed, though, so we passed.

Restaurants can be cavalier about not declaring substitutions and omissions, since most diners would rather shrug than complain. The Providence Bookstore Café came up with a couple of decent meals that could have been quite good, if the kitchen had just taken the menu as more than a wish list.