In the Kitchen at Giro's Hometown Grille

Pat Brown is the owner and chef at Giro’s Hometown Grille in Peace Dale, where he’s dishing out fresh, from-scratch food, including creative takes on classic sandwiches, soups, pasta dishes and seafood.

What sets Giro’s apart?
Pretty simply: Everything is made to order, and made in-house from scratch. Nothing comes pre-made. We’re in the business of hospitality, and like to think of the customer as the boss. If a customer wants something that isn’t on the menu and we have it in the kitchen, we’ll make it.

How would you describe your food?
It’s definitely comfort food. We like to use flavors that people know and love, but present them in a creative way. For example, we make an artichoke dip from scratch with four kinds of cheese and then use that as a base for our artichoke and spinach soup.

What inspired the concept for Giro’s?
Before opening Giro’s, I’ve owned three restaurants, all in Florida. But I was born and raised here in Rhode Island and I wanted to come back, so I bought Giro’s. The restaurant has been here since 1933, and I’m the fifth owner. It has changed concepts countless times, and was even a Chinese-and-American restaurant, with sweet and sour chicken and spaghetti and meatballs.

Do you incorporate seasonality into your menu?
Absolutely. Our main menu stays the same year round, but we’re constantly running specials, many of them based on the season. We’ve been using a lot of pumpkin and fall ingredients lately.

I understand that you like to emphasize your use of local seafood.
It’s all a matter of getting the freshest food available. We like to get our fish right off the boats when possible, and it makes a huge difference in the food. Plus we are in Rhode Island. We have some of the best fish you can get right here. People love local flounder and cod, and they’re available year round. One of my favorite seafood items to work with are scallops, and we sell a lot of scallops at Giro’s.

What is the most your popular dish?
That’s a tough one, but one thing we really sell a lot of is Italian sandwiches: Prosciutto, capicola, hot peppers, cheese and Italian dressing on a fresh baguette.

What does the future look like for Giro’s? Anything exciting coming up?
Right now, we’re just going with the flow, feeling out what the customers want and changing every day to make it happen. We have live music starting soon, so we’re excited about that, but we plan on constantly changing to make the experience better for our diners.