Providence restaurant and raw bar, Gift Horse, has been named to the 2024 New York Times list of the 50 best restaurants in the country, what they call The Restaurant List. Publications generate lists daily, but this one counts. So congratulations to owners Ben Sukle, his business partner and general manager Bethany Caliaro, and chef Sky Haneul Kim: This is a huge deal! From the Gift Horse entry, written by critic Pete Wells:
Sky Haneul Kim, the chef, reworks the traditional New England raw bar using the flavors of South Korea, where she was raised. Kimchi of crisp spring asparagus is piled over steamed littlenecks dug from Narragansett Bay. Whipped smoked fish pâté is served with puffed sheets of fried nori. Butterfish, standing in for mackerel, is broiled under a dark glaze of sweet-potato miso. Gift Horse deserves to be talked about in the same breath with Yangban in Los Angeles, Atoboy in New York and a handful of other restaurants that are busy bringing American ways of dining into the orbit of Korean cuisine.
Pete Wells was recently profiled on ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ where he shared his tricks and disguises for eating out incognito. Asked how many meals out he’d had over the past 12 years, Wells replied, “Let’s say between 2,500 and 3,000 meals, maybe. Is that a lot? I can’t tell.”
As it happens, Mr. Wells was raised in Rhode Island, attending Cumberland High. He will continue writing for the Times, but he had started to realize that all the eating was catching up with him. This year he went to a doctor. (NYT 7.16.24)
My scores were bad across the board; my cholesterol, blood sugar and hypertension were worse than I’d expected even in my doomiest moments. The terms pre-diabetes, fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome were thrown around. I was technically obese. OK, not just technically.
Mmmm . . . fatty liver.
Gift Horse hours: Thursday through Monday, 4pm to midnight. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Gift Horse, 272 Westminster Street, (directions)