Guido's

Home cooking with a friendly flair

by Johnette Rodriguez

102 Hope St., Providence, (401) 273-5812
Open Wed-Thurs, 5:30-9 p.m., Fri-Sat, 5:30-10 p.m., Sun, 5-9 p.m.
No credit cards
Sidewalk access (one step to dining room)

There we were, marooned in Providence on a Thursday eve, snow starting to fall. Should we head for South County, or nestle in somewhere and have supper? Fortunately for our appetites, the latter option won. The drive home was slippery, but that's another story.

The intimate quarters at Guido's (on weekends they also serve dinner in Big Alice's ice cream parlor next door) were just what we were craving, along with the home-cooked food that has been Guido's trademark for the past 22 years. This restaurant was a well-kept secret among East Siders and Brown students for quite some time, but it now draws weekly regulars from Lincoln, Cranston, and other spots outside Providence. Reservations are recommended on the weekends, and if the line gets too long, you can wait in the lounge across the street at the Rue de l'Espoir, until someone from Guido's staff comes to fetch you. Such neighborliness!

The decor is warm in color and mood: pomegranate wainscoting; flowered wallpaper; natural wood tables with wicker-backed chairs; brass and china plates on one wall; soft watercolors of Guido's and Big Alice's interiors on two other walls; and a few family photos on the piano near the kitchen. Weekend dinner music is off the menu for now, but is expected to return in the near future.

Dinner offerings are similarly comforting and unfussy. Spaghetti, linguine, fettucine (50 cents extra) or macaroni can be ordered with a half-dozen sauces, including butter sauce, red or white clam, olive oil and garlic, Guido's fettucine sauce - made with ricotta and no egg - or Guido's tomato sauce, prepared with whole crushed tomatoes, fresh garlic, and Marsala. The latter is memorably well seasoned and meatless. Guido's will add anchovies, mushrooms and/or olives to its aglio-olio. They also do a "special sauce," which is pasta layered with the aglio-olio, then the fettucine sauce, and finally the tomato sauce. All of Guido's pastas are finished in the oven, so that they're brought piping hot to the table, in keeping with owner and founding chef Robert "Guido" Petteruti's own preference.

So there we were, on such a wintry night, and soup seemed to beckon us like red-cheeked youngsters in the Campbell's ads -- especially when we learned that the soup was chicken broth with pastina ($4.50), a childhood favorite of Bill's. The large portion of soup was thick with egg whisked into it, and it was quite delicious.

We pondered other appetizers -- crostinis or salads, roasted peppers with artichoke hearts or stuffed mushrooms, the latter stuffed with garlic bread crumbs and chopped black olives. But we were saving room for our entrees, which sounded ample and certainly proved so. Bill had a hankering for stuffed shrimp ($19.95), and he ordered ziti aglio-olio as his side dish. The five jumbo shrimp had a bread stuffing that wasn't too dry or too buttery, but just right. The shrimp were excellent.

The chicken breast with stuffing and broccoli (a Thursday night special at $15.95) appealed to me, and my side dish was ziti with Guido's special three-layered sauce. The stuffing was seasoned a la Thanksgiving, with celery and onions, and topped with a celery cream sauce. The broccoli was steamed to tenderness (I prefer that to over-crunchy), and the ziti was so good that I wanted to rush home and try to replicate it in my kitchen.

Guido's is popular for its veal dishes, especially the veal saltimbocca with prosciuttini and Marsala, and the veal melanzane (layered with eggplant and mozzarella). There are also four variations of eggplant dishes, a meat-less lasagna, and five more chicken dishes. Each night has its own specialty, and on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, there are "unlimited" specials of pasta with tomato sauce ($9.95) or pasta with Guido's special sauce ($12.95). Both come with salad and bread.

Winter desserts at Guido's are usually from Morning Star Bakery in East Providence. In the summer, they're from Big Alice's. We shared a portion of marble pound cake with whipped cream that capped the meal nicely, though we did reminisce with chef Donald Boss about the bygone days of tagarachi (hot pepper) and adzuki bean flavors in the early days of Big Alice. (They still have other great flavors and hot fudge sauce.)

So, pick up your favorite BYOB beverages (a $4 fee per bottle or six-pack is charged at Guido's), bring your heartiest appetite and a few good friends, and let the family feel of this small bistro swirl around and through you.