Providence food is a wonderful combination of seafood, some of the best Italian, Irish, Portuguese, and a wide variety of different foods from many countries.

Your Providence dining choices also include Jamaican Caribbean, West African, Thai, Indian, Guatemalan, Sushi…well you get the picture!

Plan on eating a lot while in Providence -you won’t find food quite like it anywhere else. Don’t worry -you can walk it off!

On one of my recent trips, I discovered Cuban Revolution. My favorites on the menu? The variety of tempting tapas, the generous pressed sandwiches on homemade Cuban bread, the yummy spinach and cheese empanadas and the award winning (no kidding!) sweet potato fries. There are plenty of entrees and wraps as well. You can wash it all down with Cuban sodas, strong coffee, beer or wine.

In addition, there are some quirky foods unique to Providence and Rhode Island, and in some cases other spots in New England (though regional differences abound). While your in town give some of these a try.

Dell’s Lemonade – a slushy, not too sweet frozen concoction that gives your brain freeze if you drink it too quick.

Wieners -Sometimes called “gaggers”, these slender hot dogs with a skin that has a crunch to it, are New York System style with meat sauce, onions, and celery salt, dressed by a guy with several of them lined up his arm. This Providence food is found in several small diners including Haven Brothers -the mobile diner that parks in front of City Hall.

Lobster Roll -lobster in a hot dog bun -who would’a thought! While you can find this Providence food downtown, you’ll also find lots of clam shacks along the Narragansett shores. You can find places to grab a lobster roll here Lobster Roll.

Clamcakes -a big ball of fried dough containing chopped clams. The best ones have a thick, crunchy, knotty crust. The best place to get these are in Naragansett.

Coffee Syrup -Autocrat is the world’s leading producer of coffee syrup, the main ingredient in coffee milk, the Official State Drink of Rhode Island. For years, I could only get this when I went “home” to RI -now you can order it online!

Torpedoes also known as Dynamites in the city of Woonsocket. These ground beef sandwiches are blended with peppers, onions and tomato sauce and served on a torpedo roll.

Grinders are submarine sandwiches (no one calls them subs here!) filled with traditional meats and cheeses.

I’ve never been crazy about Pizza Strips but they’re widely popular in Providence. It’s a cold strip of pizza dough covered in a sweet tomato sauce -no cheese or other toppings. You can buy a box full at the bakery or you can buy them by the strip, often found on the counters of convenience stores.

Spinach Pies, also known as a Wimpy Skimpy if you buy them at Casertas pizza, are calzones stuffed with seasoned spinach…sometimes with olives or pepperoni.

Stuffie This is large clam known in RI as the quahog (or quahaug) mixed with stuffing and then baked in its shell.