When fall hits, locals who parked themselves downtown for harbor front dining and cocktails for months feel the slap of a cold breeze in their faces and hightail it up the hill and north for a more urban, less windblown hang.
If the wharves are the extent of your Newport food and beverage mindset, now is the perfect time to check out Lower Broadway. Dotted with funky thrift and head shops, a tattoo parlor, and a string of bars and dining options, the strip is edgy but relaxed and teeming with locals.
At the center of this section of the street is Tavern on Broadway. I confess that I had not found a sense of place here and so rarely patronized it, but then I discovered the secret. If you feel like a stranger among regulars at Tavern, remember the rules about island weather. Wait a minute.
“Every customer is a potential regular,” said GM John Keating, sliding a couple of frosty mugs of suds to the college football fans having lunch at the bar.
Sporting equal parts charming Irish brogue and crusty-on-the-outside attitude, at first, you might not detect Keating’s self-deprecating softy-on-the-inside. Hang on, it emerges, subtly, wittily, if you’re paying attention. Guy’s actually a hilarious ball-buster whose brogue-y bluster belies the stand-up guy he is.
Couples and singles, sports seekers and after-work happy hour gangs are all on a first-name basis with Keating, and despite his front as a tough guy, he’s got strict standards and says sexist or aggressive behavior of any kind is not tolerated at Tavern. “This is a safe space for women,” he said. “No B.S.”
On a Saturday afternoon, attorney and regular Pat Coyne of Newport wanders in.
“You’re late,” says a stern Keating.
“Wow, you are late,” chime in the couple down the bar. “You’re usually here before us!”
Asked what draws him to the place, Coyne lights up. “It’s the camaraderie, the community,” he says. “It’s also the best place to watch sports and I love the food.”
Newport Live Events founder John Begin, creator and organizer of various cocktail wars events citywide, shows up for a drink and offers me a quick tour of the back patio I didn’t know they had, with its dart board and extra seating. Here, late-night, area bar staff show up to play and wind down from their shifts.
The menu at Tavern is pub-style, broadened by a raw bar, and marked by what Keating claims is the best value lobster roll in town. Coyne favors the Old Bay style dry rub wings (my hint after trying them: ask for a very light dusting and get them well done) and the quesadilla (good for a hangover, he asserts). The chili recipe is based on the award-winning version cooked up by the Newport Fire Department, who took the grand prize at the wing contest at last year’s Newport Winter Festival. I tried it. Super tasty.
Balancing out Keating’s old-school “charm” is adorable assistant manager Shey Arrue who, though young enough to be his daughter, he says is an absolute rock star of a co-worker. She regularly rolls her eyes when he gives her lip and handily manages the floor when he’s behind the bar.
At the end of the day, Keating said, his patrons should feel “like family. Like they’re invited into your living room.”
And though he claims it’s “what you see is what you get,” you may have to pay attention to get it. Sometimes, all you need is lively banter, a house-made Bloody Mary, and the company of a bunch of merry customers to make your day. Tavern on Broadway delivers, but now that I gave away Keating’s secret, I may have to work a little harder to become a card-carrying regular.
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