Monday, June 15, 2009

Stanley’s evokes art deco era in Jewelry District

By Denise Perreault PBN Staff Writer

Greg Raheb, owner of the venerable Stanley’s Restaurant on Dexter Street in Central Falls, was scouting around to find a spot for a second eatery, in Providence. He knew he wanted to be downtown, some place with “great exposure,” he said.

He found a place on Richmond Street in the Jewelry District, a former jewelry-enameling plant, and, although it was a bit off the beaten path, “I knew the Jewelry District was an [upand- coming] area,” he said. “I was thinking about the future of the area.” 

That was more than a year ago and his instinct about the location was spot-on.

Since then, Brown University announced in May that it would spend $45 million to renovate an office building at 222 Richmond St. into the new home of its Warren Alpert Medical School, and the month before, the university opened the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at One Davol Square, also part of the Jewelry District. 

Of course, the Jewelry District already was home to other Brown University offices, Johnson & Wales University dorm rooms, Rhode Island Hospital and Women & Infants Hospital, the Garrahy Judicial Complex, several state departments, as well as the Providence Children’s Museum. And the Heritage Harbor Museum is under construction.

And more changes will come once the last vestiges of the old Interstate 195 are gone from the Jewelry District and new sites open up for development in the next few years. Proposed changes include further expansion of Brown and Johnson & Wales into the district, along with a waterfront park, if city officials have their way, and a top-notch restaurant and hotel near Heritage Harbor.

Raheb opened his second Stanley’s Restaurant at 371 Richmond St. in April 2008. He said he sees “a great mix of people” at his establishment, such as families who’ve visited the children’s museum, attorneys and judges from the court complex and businesspeople enjoying reasonably priced lunches. Approximately 30 people work at both restaurants, he said.

The new Stanley’s seats 75, twice the size of the Central Falls site. Like the original restaurant, the main fare is the house hamburger and a variety of French fries. The menu is much the same as it was when Stanley Kryla opened his namesake eatery during the Great Depression. Raheb has added a few items like salads, homemade chili and veggie burgers. There is no liquor license.

He acknowledged it is “not easy” keeping prices low. “We try to cut costs and we try to sell in volume,” Raheb said, “but it is very difficult today because the cost of everything is going up. But with the economy the way it is, we can’t raise prices.” He takes his cue from the original owner because, he pointed out, Kryla started Stanley’s to offer “affordable burgers during hard times.”

The original Stanley, in fact, is the star of the whimsical interior of the new restaurant, where he is transformed into a cartoon-like logo of a fat man munching on a burger with a look of absolute ecstasy on his face. In another scene, he drives a yellow 1930s-era automobile through Providence, familiar landmarks like the First Baptist Church steeple behind him. Local artist Matt Castigliego created the Stanley image and the logo.

“My goal for the design,” Raheb said, “was something that would bring guests back to the 1930s. We took the so-called Stanley’s look we had at Central Falls and made it more upscale, with more branding with the logo.”

The architectural firm of Vision 3 Associates in Providence worked with the Castigliego logo and Raheb to re-create an art deco diner, explained George Nunes, the firm’s senior designer. There is a shiny curved ceiling above the booths, rows of ceiling fans like those used before airconditioning became ubiquitous and a colorful tile-fronted counter faced by orange-topped stools.

The restaurant is airy with high ceilings. But it’s not huge, and seats diners at booths and tables. There is also counter dining and high-top stools just for two. The hamburgers are cooked in an open space at the front of the restaurant. Fried orders are delivered out of a window behind the counter.

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