Postcards from Rhode Island

What I ate, where I stayed, and what I did in the ocean state

Jun 24, 2025

Hello! Summer is officially here, and I am headed to Europe next week for three weeks of exploration. I’m actually gone for most of the summer, and my plan is to send digital “postcards” every week from every place I go. These postcards will be for paying subscribers, and will serve as an in-depth travel journal of my time abroad—think of each week’s post as a comprehensive dispatch with a list of hotels I’m staying at, what I ate, did, and bought during my travels, along with snaps and film photos I’ve taken along the way.

To give you a taste of what’s to come, I wanted to share postcards from my trip to Rhode Island over the weekend. Today’s Rhode Island post is free for everyone, but if you want to receive my postcards from New York, London, Slovenia, the Dolomites, Venice, the Berkshires, Corsica, Copenhagen, and Fire Island over the summer, now is a good time to upgrade to a paid subscription. I will also have friends and guest writers contribute postcards from their travels, and these will stay free for all subscribers.

With that out of the way, let’s jump in!

xx,

Bella

Where I stayed

We were in Narragansett for a wedding, and we stayed at The Break Hotel. It was comfortable and the beds were plush—probably the best option in Narragansett. After Narragansett, we headed to Providence for a night—Mark went to school there, and I wanted him to show me around! We stayed at The Beatrice, which was clean, gorgeous, and well-located downtown.

If I came back to Rhode Island, I’d opt to stay in Newport at the Castle Hill Inn. We went for lunch one day (more on that in a second), and it was absolutely stunning. I actually started crying happy tears at lunch because it was so picturesque and I felt so lucky to be there on a beautiful day.

What I ate

Lobster rolls, obviously.

In Narragansett, we went to Monahan’s Clam Shack. It’s supposed to be the best in town, and we found it to be fine but ultimately overwhelming—I get that the goal is to provide value when a lobster roll is $27, but I never like unhinging my jaw to eat anything, and it was a bit dry. We had to ask for extra mayonnaise and lemon to lubricate it enough so it would slide down our throats.

In Newport, we ate an unbelievable lobster roll at Castle Hill Inn. It was more appropriately sized and slathered in tarragon creme fraiche, which was a killer touch. Yes it was $50, but it was worth every single penny, and felt like a necessary indulgence to split. But the view was the most standout part of the meal…

Like are you kidding me? Castle Hill Inn made me realize why people are obsessed with summers in New England. I’m a slut for adirondack chairs and sailboats.

I will say that it was packed, even though we arrived for an early lunch at 11:30. We snagged the last two bar seats with a view, but if you’re going for drinks only, there were plenty of adirondack chairs open. I can’t imagine how lovely it is to watch the sunset here; it’s now on my bucket list.

We had great coffee and matcha.

Narragansett was a ghost town when it came to serviceable coffee options, but we stumbled upon The Nitro Bar in Newport and found it to be fantastic. I’m not on TikTok because I like to keep my anxiety levels low, but apparently The Nitro Bar is TikTok famous, because the line was massively long and snaking and filled with girlies taking more content than you could possibly imagine. We were worried that it wouldn’t live up to the hype, but to my surprise, it really delivered. Excellent breakfast sandwiches, matcha, and espresso. They are known for their flavored iced coffees, but I just can’t fathom ordering a caramelized banana latte first thing in the morning. I’d personally yak.

In Providence, Little City was solid for caffeine, as was Ellie’s, which also had delicious salads, sandwiches, and pastries (get multiple of the small ones to share).

I ate one of the best meals I’ve had this year at Oberlin.

Oberlin in Providence is absolutely fantastic. We ordered the fluke crudo, the spinach and ricotta gnudi, the basque cheesecake, and a crispy Diet Coke out of a can on the side, which really gave me some pep in the sweltering heat. All were standout, and all were eaten without me taking a single photo. Go here. You won’t be disappointed. The basque cheesecake really spawned an obsession for me, and I feel like I need to go to Spain to get my fill of them, straight from the source.

The same restaurant group recently opened Gift Horse next door, which just won a James Beard award. I tried to convince Mark to eat a second dinner with me there after Oberlin, but ultimately we decided that was a crazy idea.

What I did

In Narragansett

We were mostly busy with wedding activities, but we we went to Roger Wheeler State Beach before the festivities. It was gorgeous yet a bit cold, but I still braved a dip in the ocean.

The wedding itself was a fantastic time—it was great to hang out and catch up with friends, the ceremony was picturesque right on the ocean, and I love celebrating love! I was so busy enjoying myself that I didn’t take a single photo of the night, which is always a good sign. Good thing my friends took photos so I could steal theirs!

In Newport

We only had a morning in Newport, but we really squeezed the juice out of it. We got coffees, drove along the mansion-flecked roads, walked the Cliff Walk (I highly recommend to see all of the behemoth oceanfront mansions), and had the aforementioned fantastic lunch at Castle Hill Inn, where we lingered for a few hours eating fruit and sipping coffee.

In Providence

We hit the ground running and made the most of our 24 hours there. First stop was touring the Brown campus so Mark could show me where he spent four years of his life. We walked around college hill for awhile, visited the bookstore so I could buy a hat, and then we went to the RISD Museum, which blew us away. We stupidly went an hour before closing, thinking that it would be small and there wouldn’t be much to see. We were sadly mistaken! There was a lovely impressionist wing, with several Monet paintings and a Van Gogh. I could’ve stayed for hours and hours in their gorgeous air conditioning.

After a day of walking around in 90 degree heat, we checked into the hotel, regrouped, and tried to go to a nearby lake for the rest of the afternoon, because it was so damn hot. Unfortunately the state park was closed (too packed), but instead, I got to see the bookstore my sister-in-law opened, Riffraff. While she no longer runs it or lives in Providence, it was still well worth the stop to see what she built—it was adorable, and if I were a local, I’d be there all the time working on my laptop in the bar area.

We then went for cocktails at Eddy, which was very sexy and a fun, necessary pre-dinner pit stop. After drinks, we walked along the river to the Rhode Island State House. It’s an absolutely beautiful building, and it was an absolutely beautiful night (there was a blimp!!!), so we lingered and called Oberlin approximately 200 times to push our reservation. They probably hated us, but they were so nice about it.

While we got to do almost everything on my list, we never made it to Del’s, a beloved Rhode Island institution known for their frozen lemonades. I was sad, but ultimately I think you should always leave a place wanting more. I’ll be back.

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