Beers, Burgers, Bon Appétit at the Providence G

GPub is the newest downtown addition to the food scene and features many from-scratch dishes

Amy Amerantes

Over on Orange street, in an architectural beast that used to be separate buildings – the Providence Gas Building, National Grid addition and the Narragansett Hotel Garage – lives the city’s newest luxury apartment complex known as the Providence G. The residences are already about a year old, but the building’s basement has just recently transformed into a gastropub paradise.

The GPub is one of Providence’s few – if only – gastro pubs. General Manager Brendan Moran explains how the theme is simply a way of filling a gap in Providence’s restaurant scene.

“The city was in need of a pub-style restaurant offering upscale, really good quality food,” says Brendan. “We wanted to provide Providence with something it needed... plus the large space worked perfectly for the idea.”

The interior is impressive and reminiscent of an old factory or historical subway station. As you enter the building and descend into its depths, you are greeted with a vast, open floor plan, slightly dim – but not overly dark – lighting and a range of seating options. A massive bar adorns the far wall, while communal wooden tables, smaller two tops and booths occupy the rest of the room. Subtly placed TVs make it easy to watch “the game” without being obnoxious, and pool tables and karaoke booths make it a perfect spot for group shenanigans.

And then, of course, there’s the meat. And the cheese. And the beer. The holy trifecta of any legit gastro pub. The spacious bar offers over 50 brews – many of them craft – and Executive Chef Aaron Thorpe and his staff make almost everything on the menu in-house, from scratch: burgers, potato chips, fries, hot dogs, truffle cheese, even the ketchup is homemade.

The GPub will be one of three restaurants housed in the Providence G. In midsummer, PVD gains something it sorely needs in the form of a rooftop restaurant specializing in tapas- style Mediterranean dishes, and later this year, an upscale seafood spot will likely be installed.

61 Orange Street, Providence. 632-4782.