Sisca brings new vision to ProvidenceG
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — It was the octopus on the Garde de la Mer logo that sealed the deal for chef Robert Sisca's return to Providence.
Octopus is his signature dish, so he thought it kismet he take a job under the tentacle seal.
Sisca talked this week about his move from Boston, as well as his changes to Garde and the other restaurants in the ProvidenceG, a recent trip to Australia and his own signature cocktail.
After just a couple of months, he's remade the menu at Garde to offer more variety with first, second and third courses.
"We made it more fun for sharing," he said, and offered the charcuterie, cheese and terrine plate as one popular example. "It's a little more interactive," he said, explaining there are many choices for the charcuterie plate.
He offers it for three, five or seven people with an aromatic variety that includes curried rabbit terrine and chicken liver mousse, cured Berkshire prosciutto and pancetta and cheeses, including unpasteurized Morbier and Humbolt Fog, the goat cheese with a line of ash in the middle.
The second course includes three pasta dishes — think beetroot gnocchi, black pepper chitarra with pork cheeks and a cured egg yolk and thyme cavatelli with lamb shoulder and fava beans. Third courses feature not just sea bass and soon, seasonal halibut, but also a ribeye steak and Berkshire pork chop.
"We know that if 10 people are going to dinner, at least one of them wants to go to a steakhouse," he said. "And of those 10 people, three people might want a pasta."
"Now, there's something for everyone," he said of the menu, which now reflects not just treats from the sea.
Not to be missed is his Spanish octopus, said food and beverage director Jeffrey Mancinho. It's served with native littlenecks and bouillabaisse jus. It's poached in a prosciutto stock and sherry vinegar for 2½ to 3 hours. The tentacles are then cooked to order.
There's also a new craft cocktail list and a commitment to an expanded craft beer list. One of the cocktails is Sisca's own, El Niño, made with a white tequila infused with 10 kinds of peppers from habanero to shishito to bells. Enjoy that with his dish of native Rhode Island oysters served with smoked pepperonicini pearls and meyer lemon. It's his take on oyster pearls.
Today, no restaurant wants to be the special occasion place and soon the black tablecloths at Garde will disappear, replaced by new wood tables. Saturday and Sunday brunch are served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Rooftop at the G not only has a new Sisca menu, including pizzas and truffle popcorn, but a new look unveiled Friday with a new long bar. The GPub, in the basement at the former Providence Gas Co. building, is humming along and its concept will soon be franchised.
Still to come at Garde are dishes inspired by Sisca's recent nine-day trip to Australia, with Meat & Livestock Australia, a trade group. He won the trip in a cooking contest with his spring lamb dish while executive chef at Boston's Bistro du Midi. He visited farms, fish auctions and lamb processing plants from Sydney to New South Wales. On Tasmania, he saw Wagyu cows hanging out on the beach and wallabies and wombats at a wildlife sanctuary.
"It was the trip of a lifetime," he reflected.
He spent the last seven years in Boston, but Sisca began his career in New York City at One if by Land, Two if by Sea before becoming sous chef at Le Bernardin.
His roots in Rhode Island go back not just to his degrees from Johnson & Wales University, but back to Gracie's when the restaurant was on Federal Hill. For the past seven years, he's lived in Cranston with his wife, Bree, a native Rhode Islander. They have 2½-year-old twin sons.
Announcing the appointment of Sisca, Colin Geoffroy, president of GHospitality, said he would bring a new culinary vision to the G and he has already done just that.
—gciampa@providencejournal.com
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On Twitter: gailciampa
