Rhode Island Monthly Review: The Revival Craft Kitchen And Bar

This neighborhood favorite focuses on elegant comfort food, designed to satisfy on a chilly evening.
Pork tenderloin with bourbon molasses glaze. Photography by Angel Tucker


“Craft” continues to thrive in the culinary limelight, as both an adjective and noun. The former connotes something artisanal, a small-batch something honed at the hands of a local, mad genius. It’s the conceptual engine that drives retail sales and differentiates a new product — beer, spirits, cheese — from the big box generics. But use it as a noun and “craft” takes on something grand: It goes past the domain of the pragmatic and into the elusive realm of art.

There are myriad ways of capturing the dynamic in a restaurant other than food, the most malleable element being interior design. It was clearly at the forefront of the plan conceived by GM Peter Lowre, chef Keegan Dunson and two other partners, when Revival Craft Kitchen and Bar debuted last year. Housed on a corner lot in Warren, Revival pays reverence to New England in its infancy — simple and rustic with flourishes where possible: carved wood and bullseye glass that bends the light of the blue-gray walls. Cooler weather manifests a tavern feel, a sense that everyone is seeking shelter from outside elements with some hearty dish cooked over an open flame.

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