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CRANSTON -- Over the years Mike's Kitchen has gained the well-earned reputation of serving the kind of family food that has pleased generations. If you want to rekindle memories of what Sunday dinner was at Mama's house where portions were huge, then Mike's is the place to do it.
Okay, so it's set inside the Tabor-Franchi VFW Post 2396, not exactly a place to evoke memories of home, what with giant placards honoring the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard on the wood-paneled walls and a long bar at one end of the very big dining room. Not exactly cozy, but the food served will soon transport you back to home cooking.
Though some may not be familiar with it, Mike's is not exactly an undiscovered gem. You'll find a lot of praise for Mike Lepizzera's food among the many newspaper reviews of the place lining a wall near the entrance and the size of the crowd on a recent weekday evening showed that Mike's Kitchen is a popular dining destination. The menu is extensive for such an unpretentious place and with prices that won't kill the family budget. You'll be handed a double-sided printed menu when you walk in, but there are nearly twice that many more entrees listed on a big three-paneled board at the front of the room. Among the dinner items are a salmon fillet ($12.95), sole Française ($12.95), sole Florentine ($11.95), seafood diablo ($16.95), gnocchi Sorrentino ($11.95), chicken Marsala ($11.95), stuffed squid ($13.95), baked stuffed shrimp ($14.95), eggplant Parmigiana ($9.95), polenta with meatballs or sausage ($9.95), linguine Napolitano ($9.95), veal cutlet "with real veal" ($13.95). You'll also find things not found at a lot of restaurants, including fried smelts and tripe. Portions are generous and many diners left carrying leftovers.
Oddly, the bar belongs to the VFW Post and not Mike's Kitchen, so soda, beer, wine and mixed drinks are sold separately and must be paid for when brought to the table. "I just sell the food," said Lepizzera in a later phone call. When asked what kind of wine was on the menu our server cheerfully replied, "White, red or pink." Glasses of the house wines, Ruffino chianti and Sutter Home White Zinfandel, were $4 each.
Lepizzera has been at the VFW post for 26 years, almost since it opened. Some of his regulars, he said, have been coming back for all those 26 years. They know what to expect. The menu doesn't change much except for the occasional special. Among the favorites, he said, are the "squid, a lot of pasta dishes, tripe, stuffed artichokes . . . the old Italian dishes" which come from his family recipes.
"Mangia" seems to be the motto of Mike's Kitchen. A big plate was piled high with lightly fried smelts ($7.50) that I went through like popcorn, one after another. The dish comes with a small bottle of hot sauce on the side, but instead they tasted so good when dipped in the tomato sauce that covered an order of clams zuppa ($8.95). The clams, 10 plump and tasty ones, didn't seem to mind. There was plenty of sauce to go around. Happily, the clam sauce also contained a generous helping of minced clams to add to the taste-of-the-sea flavor.
Mike's tripe ($11.95) was one of the reasons I'd come to Mike's Kitchen and had brought along a friend who fondly remembered the dish that was occasionally cooked by his mother and his grandmother. Once a mainstay of European cooking several generations ago, you can't find it on too many restaurant menus these days. What tripe actually is -- the lining of a cow's stomach — is admittedly an acquired taste.
"Mmm," said my dining companion after one bite. "The tripe is done just right . . . not chewy. Try some!"
I cautiously dipped a spoon into the fairly large bowl of sliced-up tripe and put it on a side plate. "Mmm" wasn't exactly the word that sprang to mind at my first bite, however. It was not chewy at all. Surprisingly light, in fact, with the consistency of pieces of fat. Not the hard fat you'll sometimes bite into on a piece of steak. More like the piece of fat you'll find in baked beans, though a little more dense and served in a light tomato sauce.
Although my dining companion was eager to try the tripe and declared it perfect, even he had to admit there was a whole lot of tripe in that bowl and was happy to have ordered it as a side accompaniment to the gnocchi Sorrentino. I often think of gnocchi as a heavy meal. Three or four of them and I'm set for the evening. But these were surprisingly light and delicious with diced eggplant, melted gooey mozzarella and a rich marinara sauce.
My veal rolletini ($13.95) was two large pieces of veal rolled around thin slices of ham and cheese, served over a mountain of cavatelli and smothered with a thick and hearty tomato sauce. Our waitress had offered to exchange the cavatelli, which looks like a shell curved in on itself, for another pasta choice. But I decided to stick with what was on the menu. I'd forgotten just how thick and rather gluey cavatelli can be, with more heft to it than your average gnocchi. I wished I'd taken her up on her offer and had penne instead. Otherwise, the rolletini was a fine choice.
Dessert choices are limited to several ice cream treats -- bon bons, a nut roll, spumoni or various ice cream pies. The spumoni ($2.95), topped with cherry sauce was a winner. The strawberry-vanilla pie ($3.95) was fine and, surprisingly, had a vanilla cake base.
Mike's Kitchen won't satisfy anyone looking for a place with atmosphere or pretensions. The tablecloths are vinyl, the lighting fluorescent and those wines of white, red or pink. But Mike and his staff have carved out a niche market for those looking for good food served at reasonable prices and memories of days gone by.
Mike's Kitchen in the Tabor-Franchi VFW Post 2396, 170 Randall St., Cranston. (401) 946-5320. Casual. Wheelchair accessible. Reservations taken, but not on Fridays. Cash or personal checks with ID; no credit cards. Parking lot. Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mon., Wed. and Thurs.; to 2:30 p.m. Tues and Sat. Dinner 5 to 8 p.m. Mon.; to 8:30 p.m. Wed. and Thurs. Open without a break 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Fri. Closed Sunday and Tuesday for dinner. Appetizers $6.50 to $10.95. Entrees $8.95 to $19.95. Full bar service.
BILL OF FARE
Dinner for two at Mike's Kitchen might look something like this:
Two glasses of wine…$8.00
Fried smelts…$7.50
Clams zuppa…$8.95
Gnocchi Sorrentino…$11.95
Veal Rolletini…$13.95
Spumoni…$2.95
Total food and drink…$53.30
Tax…$4.26
Tip…$11.00
Total bill…$68.56
