Malcolm Streitfeld
Assistant Arts and Entertainment Editor
“I guess it would be the customers. We get a lot of people here, a lot of great regulars who really support our business, which is great.” That’s what my server Jill told me when I sat down to eat at The Rhody Hen Cafe in North Providence. Located at 1525 Smith St., the Rhody Hen Cafe is a cozy modernist diner I recently went to for breakfast for the first time. I loved it.
To start with, I ordered a peanut butter hot chocolate. This delicious treat is hot chocolate with peanut butter whiskey, topped with a swirl of whipped cream. It tasted amazing and greatly warmed my belly. The chocolate touched my lips and I was entranced and left in dazed euphoria. The hot chocolate was crisp and soothing with just the right amount of sweetness. But the real treasure was yet to come.
I sipped the hot chocolate and scanned the breakfast menu. For a moment, I considered the nova lox sandwich, which is lox, spinach, tomato, red onion, capers, cream cheese and dill with an egg on your choice of bread, served with homefries. But then I decided to try something new instead of eating fish sandwiches like I usually do when I go out. As a big fan of piping hot meals that leave my mouth burning, my eyes were instantly drawn to the loaded chili skillet. This is house made Chili loaded home fries topped with two poached eggs, crispy tortilla chips, hollandaise and a drizzle of mango habanero sauce. This ended up being the perfect thing to cap off my morning.
I began eating by slowly digging into the eggs with my knife and fork. The habanero sauce lit a fire in my mouth that woke me up with a jolt greater than the hot chocolate. This utterly delectable blaze was perfectly complemented by the soft, luscious creaminess of the hollandaise sauce. Whenever I needed to cool down my palette, I turned to scooping up bits of egg with the tortilla chips. The chips balanced out the chili considerably. Their crunchiness added an extra layer of tastiness to an already excellent breakfast.
My goodness, the hot chocolate was so good it left me energized long after I finished my meal. Overall, I had an incredible breakfast meal at the Rhody Hen that ensured I was ready to tackle the rest of the day. Jill was an excellent server and I can’t thank her enough for making me feel right at home.
If you’re ever in North Providence, stop by the Rhody Hen. It’s a great cafe with enriching food and invigorating drinks that will stay with you for hours after you leave. I can’t wait to visit again in the future.