Where to Eat in Newport, Rhode Island

As a resort town, Newport contains multitudes: the Bellevue Avenue grandees, the funky folk-festival crowd, the day-trippers, the surfer dudes. It’s a summer colony, yes, but also a city, which means it must offer more things to more types of people in that critically short seasonal window when most of the money is made. Where a tiny hamlet like Wellfleet funnels the summer hordes to a handful of restaurants, Newport’s scene is more diffuse, with haute cuisine options such as Restaurant Bouchard.

Perhaps this is why Newport has seen so much turnover of late, with local favorites like Tallulah on Thames and Thames Street Kitchen being replaced by Harry’s Bar & Burger and Winner Winner (fried chicken), respectively. Even the beloved Stoneacre Pantry closed, replaced by a new concept from owners Christopher Bender and David Crowell: La Vasca, a Basque-inspired wine bar and eatery serving tapas, paella, and large-format roasted meats. (FYI: Stoneacre will reopen soon in new digs in Washington Square.)

Drawing from the cuisines of southern France and Northern Spain, La Vasca retains the neighborhood feel that earned Stoneacre a loyal following. Diners cozy up on the long, pillow-lined banquette or gather around the cooper-topped bar. The offerings here lean toward the salty hams, olives, and Romesco sauce you’d expect from a tapas spot, as well as crudos, ceviches, and charred Point Judith squid that celebrate the coastal setting. And then there are Stoneacre classics to tide fans over until its new 5,000-square-foot space is completed: kale salad with miso-Caesar dressing, flash-cooked yellowfin tuna with brown butter and crispy shallots. It’s a wide-ranging menu for a restaurant as diminutive as La Vasca, but paradoxically the small-plates format allows for a larger palette of flavors (look to the success of Cambridge’s Little Donkey for a prime example of this).

Bender and Crowell also run two other local businesses, Wellington Liquors and Radish Patch Catering. Perhaps they’ve cracked the Newport code. If so, the city’s motley crew of visitors and year-rounders will be eating better for it.  515 Thames St., Newport, RI. 401-619-4899; lavascanewport.com

Additional Newport Restaurants Of Note

Cru Café Breakfast and lunch with a fresh-local-seasonal-baked-from-scratch vibe. crucafenewport.com

Newport Creamery Diner classics and ice cream; home of the Awful Awful chocolate shake (“awful big, awful good!”). newportcreamery.com

The Lawn at Castle Hill The alfresco restaurant at this five-star inn is the best place in the state to grab a cocktail and watch the sunset while noshing on classic coastal dishes and steakhouse fare. castlehillinn.com

Fluke Wine, Bar & Kitchen That comma is no mistake: This Bowen’s Wharf spot takes its bar program seriously (there are 40 rums alone). But the food, heavy on sustainable seafood, is sophisticated and delicious. flukewinebar.com

Bouchard Inn & Restaurant This is the restaurant with the all-in-French menu that brings to mind the dining rooms of the old Newport elite (though commoners are most welcome). Don’t miss the pavé de filet de boeuf au Brie. bouchardnewport.com

As Yankee’s senior food editor, Amy Traverso oversees the magazine’s food department and contributes to NewEngland.com. She’s also the cohost of Yankee’s TV series with WGBH, Weekends with Yankee, and the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook (W.W. Norton), which won an International Association of Culinary Professionals cookbook award in the “American” category.

Amy Traverso

More by Amy Traverso