Player's Corner Pub

A sporting chance at culinary success

by Bill Rodriguez

194 Washington Street, Providence
621-8738.
Open daily 11 a.m.-9 p.m. or later
Major credit cards
Handicapped accessible

Although the Player's Corner Pub is across from Trinity Repertory Company, the players the pub is dedicated to are not of the thespian persuasian. Player's has always been a sports bar, TVs all tuned to ESPN, conversation at the beer taps all in enthusiastic denial over the Sox's chances for the pennant. The talk, as far as I can tell, is never about the cuisine.

But this may change now that Jimmy Kazounis (as in the restaurant Jimmy's at the Italo) is the power behind the pasta, making it a different ball game indeed.

I have pleasant memories of discovering his restaurant up on Broadway in the Italian-American Club just over from Federal Hill. Trained at his grandfather's restaurant in New York and then at the other CIA (Culinary Institute of America), Jimmy chefed for five years at the Pawtucket Country Club before opening at the Italo a couple of years ago. Now he's cooking a couple of nights a week there and at Player's Corner Pub.

Nevertheless, the sports bar is still a sports bar. When we took a corner table under a pair of Vinny Paz's trunks a few weeks ago, a boxing match flashed on one screen; a golf tournament, on the other. A portion of a nearby wall was dedicated to the Providence Bruins.

Our party of four looked over the bar-food appetizers -- "firehouse" chili, mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and the like -- and decided to share a grilled pizza, more up Jimmy's alley.

There are a half-dozen choices, shrimp to chili, and we settled on grilled chicken and broccoli ($6.95). Good choice. It came out as a pile of slices, each chewy wedge brushed with olive oil and heaped with a forest of broccoli and chunks of chicken and sprinkled with grated cheese.

As for the entrees, they are inexpensive, with the priciest item being a 12-ounce New York strip sirloin at $15.95. We sampled every corner of the menu, except the salads and burgers, and found that, by and large, the Italo club traditions travel well across town.

The grilled chicken breast ($9.95), for example, was no fewer than four pieces, moist and delicately flavored with a lemon-garlic sauce.

Meat and seafood dishes come with "special fries" and oven-roasted vegetables. The "special" refers to the occasional sweet potato among the ordinary potato french fries. Vegetables include the unusual, and welcome, presence of roasted celery, along with carrots and onions.

The roasted veggies were missing on the order of baked scrod ($9.95), but the young cod itself was well prepared -- not a bit dry and baked with a clever mix of white beans and tomato chunks that didn't overcome the fish.

One of the specials of the day, shrimp and scallops primavera ($13.95), was also much appreciated. The briny flavor of the four large shrimp was maintained, while the tender scallops were plentiful. The garden of vegetables simmered in a red sauce that managed a nice blend of garlic and spicy hotness. The linguine was perfectly al dente.

The only entrée that wasn't on the money was mine, grilled double-cut pork chops ($13.95). I'd ordered the marinated version, so they had a tasty glazing. But it was cooked very "well"-done -- juiceless and, sigh, joyless.

The host explained that while he personally prefers them medium, some customers usually send them back for full incineration. This obviously could be solved if the waitstaff explained that the chops are normally served medium, or if they at least asked how the diner wanted them cooked.

We didn't have room for their desserts, which are made off-site by a former Pastiche chef. Next time. Cheap eats and good food convenient to the theater? You can bet there will be a next time for us.