Any Rhode Islanders out there? Looking for local specialties...
 

Hey all. The 'rents are coming up for Memorial Day weekend and we may drag them furniture shopping up in West Warwick (Cardi's, RIDC, etc.). Could anyone let me know where we might be able to find (nearby) the uniquely Rhody specialties I've heard about but never tried - coffee milk, stuffies, etc.? Once upon a time there was an article in the NYTimes on RI specialties but I can't dig it up in their archives, and none of my thread searches are coming up with anything that's not six years old now... Thanks for your help!

Del's frozen lemonade is definately a local speciality - look for the green and yellow trucks - they're everywhere. Coffee milk and cabinets can be found at a Newport Creamery. You also can buy the coffee syrup at the grocery store and make your own coffee milk.

If you're looking for stuffies, head over to the East Greenwich waterfront....there are a number of good restaurants on the water there...not too far from the Cardi's and RIDC. I'm sure some places along Main St. in East Greenwich would also have the coffee milk.

Anybody else out there familiar with Lil' Rhody? Thanks!

Up again.

clam fritters

Quahog chowder (or "chowdah") or stuffed quahogs

Cherrystone clams

Portuguese sweet bread (Fox Point in Providence)

Del's Lemonade definitely!

Drink water from a bubblah

Get an Awful-Awful (I think they still exist) or a coffee cabinet at the "Newpawt" Creamery

My old aunt from Pawtucket always put butter on sandwiches, but I really wouldn't recommend tuna on white with butter...

If you are looking for new RI stuff: A gondola ride in Providence, Federal Hill(lots of Italian restaurants, and Pastiche--the best coffee/dessert place in the US, and the East Bay Bicycle Trail (E. Providence to Bristol).

Okay..You can't mention things like coffe cabinets, stuffies and Awful-Awfuls and not tell us what they are!!!

A coffee cabinet is what the rest of the country (except maybe Massachusetts where it's a frappe) refers to as a milkshake. I'm afraid I have no idea why. An "Awful-Awful" was (is?) the signature drink of the Newport Creamery (Rhode Island's version of Friendly's). They are awful big and awful good -- emphasis on the big. They are also mostly air, but extremely filling, and it used to be if you drank 3 you got one free.

I'm afraid I don't know about stuffies. I only lived in RI for a few years though most of my forbears, including my mother, hail from there.

We're going up in August (my mother-in-law's family has a summer place in Middletown) and the first place we head is the Creamery for Awful-Awfuls, the second is a small restaurant near Second Beach (i've blanked on the name) for fried clams, and the highlight of the trip is a lobster picnic on the rocks (cucumber sandwiches, tomato sandwiches, hot dogs for the kids, and lobsters (cooked in a pot of seawater over a driftwood fire) with lots of melted butter for the adults. Yum! I can't wait 'til August. And yes, if you eat/drink three awful-awfuls, you get the fourth one free. I have never heard of anyone who managed it, though.

Stuffies are a quahog dish. Take out the quahog meat, mix with egg and breadcrumbs and onion and spices, put mixture back in quahog shell, and bake. I actually do know quite a few people who have had 3 Awful-Awfuls and gotten the fourth free. I cannot even drink one! You might want to try coming down to Narragansett and going to Aunt Carrie's for chowder and clamcakes and stuffies. There's also another place right across the street from Aunt Carrie's called Iggy's. I do prefer their clamcakes. Del's lemonade is everywhere. You could go to Providence and have some NY System weiners from the Haven Brothers or Spike's Junkyard Dogs (they have one of these at URI in Kingston, too.)

Caserta Pizza on Federal Hill is a RI institution with thick, doughy pizza crust, no frills atmosphere, Wimpy Skimpy ( spinach and pepperoni calzone). Also RIers love their "grinders" aka subs, hoagies etc... Lots of places make good ones but the best I had recently was from Cacierri's Market on ?charles street in Providence.