Dining Out

Artful Cocktails

Narragansett's newest restaurant is also one of its most artsy

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SoHo Ristorante is the newest kid on the block in the Narragansett dining scene. Tell us about your inspiration for the restaurant.
We’re serving traditional Italian dishes. Our Italian food isn’t Americanized, and it’s all made to order from scratch, with high quality ingredients. If someone wants something off the menu, we can do that, because it’s all prepared fresh. We use milk fed veal and pound it out every day. We make our own pizza dough. Our fish comes only from Narragansett Bay Lobster, and it’s never frozen. We get it right from the ocean. It’s our size that allows us to do it. If we were big, we’d have to do things differently. We’re making our vodka sauce to order. You couldn’t do that in a bigger restaurant. And we’re not doing it at an extravagant price.

Where did the name come from? What about New York inspires you?
SoHo is a trendy district in New York. The phrase originated in England, as a term for an artsy, upscale area. We wanted our restaurant to feel like a happening place. It’s not the normal restaurant experience. There’s always something going on for the eye. The décor is very contemporary, very Art Deco and appealing to the eye. We have nice lighting, contemporary music. It’s an upbeat tempo. It’s just a different environment.

Tell us about the artful martinis.

We worked with mixologists to create signature martinis. We have artists like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring on the wall. Each artist has a particular style. Belvedere Vodka helped us design martinis inspired by those artists. The Salvador Dali has a hibiscus flower that you can eat. Our Andy Warhol is very crisp, because of his clean lines. They’re nice 10 ounce martinis. It’s a good drink for the value. We’ve also got a fabulous wine list, with glasses from $7 to $30 per glass. We can cover anybody’s taste.

There’s a lot of upscale dining in Narragansett. What sets SoHo apart?
We’re bringing that Providence or Boston Italian fine dining into Narragansett. The traditional dishes that we serve – the bruschetta, the pasta fagiole – we do it differently than most people are doing it. We’re also serving Prime Sirloin (instead of Choice). You’d have to go to the Capital Grille in Providence to get that quality, but you can have it here without leaving South County.

Anything else going on that we should know about?
Monday through Wednesday we offer half-price apps with an entrée. People can have a meal and a couple of drinks and still save money. We’ve got other specials coming up. And we’re planning a Belvedere Valentine’s Party.

Tony Delfarno is the manager of SoHo Ristorante, which is owned by his daughter Alyssa and his wife Lisa. 21C Pier Marketplace, Narragansett. 789-7646.

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