Feature: Spotlight on Warren’s Dining Scene

When Cassie Brimmer was a kid, her parents banned her from Water Street in Warren. “I wasn’t even allowed to walk on it,” she says, referencing the once rough-and-tumble reputation of the area. “I would have been in big trouble.” 

But now Water Street is the place to be, and this little town is no longer a pass-through between Providence and Bristol, but a destination with a thriving culinary scene where chefs and other creatives are redefining small-town culture. And it’s where Brimmer and her husband, Lou Cruz, have put down roots. Their restaurant, aptly named Rhody Roots, started as a food truck in 2017 before finding a permanent home in Warren in 2019.

After fleeing her childhood hometown, Brimmer never thought she’d return to Warren. “I swore I’d never come back after moving away,” she says. But when she and Cruz considered the next step for their restaurant, a visit to see her grandfather unexpectedly changed everything. “Lou and I came out here one day to have coffee with my grandfather. After coffee, we walked to the bank to talk about loan options for a restaurant, and on our way, we saw a space that was for rent. So we made a phone call and signed the lease. It’s wild to be back here.” 

Rhody Roots has a diverse menu that caters to a wide variety of dietary restrictions. “Lou and I both have food sensitivities, so it was important to us that we offer something for everyone,” Brimmer says. “When I go out to eat, I sometimes feel embarrassed to order food that won’t trigger a reaction, so we wanted to create a place where everyone feels comfortable.”

That welcoming spirit extends beyond people to their canine companions. The couple offers an extensive meat-forward menu for dogs. “We’re obsessed with our dog,” Brimmer says. “When we moved to Warren, we started going to the dog park and meeting people. The restaurant has outdoor seating, so the people from the dog park started coming to our restaurant with their dogs. It only made sense to create a special menu.”

With its allergen-friendly choices and favorites for the four-legged sect, Rhody Roots has carved out a niche for itself in the Warren food scene, and that’s part of the reason why the area is such a destination. “I wouldn’t necessarily call the restaurants here competitors,” Brimmer says. “Everyone here has their own thing and we collectively draw people here.”

Brimmer and Cruz aren’t alone in staking their future on Warren’s recent growth. A few blocks away, another couple is shaping the town’s food and drink scene in their own way. Joel Cary, who owns Square Peg and Stingy Alley with his wife, Amy, agrees that local restaurateurs work well together. “The restaurant owners here form a community. We always borrow things from each other and everyone has each other’s back. We don’t have to compete because there’s plenty of restaurant clientele to go around.” 

As with Cassie and Lou, it was a bit of serendipity that brought the Carys to Warren in 2011 to open their first restaurant, Square Peg. “When we opened, the whole Warren scene was nothing like it is now,” says Joel. “There was no foot traffic and there were only a couple of restaurants.”

But despite its sleepy feel, Joel felt a connection to Warren. “I always loved it here,” he says. “My grandparents grew up here and my father used to come down here all the time to go to Tav-Vino.” One day, the couple were driving through town when they saw a building for sale – “an antique shop called Square Peg,” relays Joel, “and we thought it would make the perfect spot for a little bar that served sandwiches. So we bought the building, opened the restaurant downstairs, and lived upstairs with all four of our kids. It was nuts.” 

But it was also successful, and after a number of other restaurants moved in, the Carys noticed another niche they could fill, and opened Stingy Alley in 2024. “Warren was missing a place where you could go have a cocktail after the restaurants close,” says Joel. “So we opened Stingy Alley, which is an American take on an Irish pub. It has that community feeling, like a neighborhood spot where you go to have a pint.”

Stingy Alley is an effortlessly cool, intimate venue with dim lighting, exposed brick, and a cozy atmosphere. It has a limited bar menu and serves upscale cocktails, with everything from espresso martinis to house-made infused spirits accented with dehydrated garnishes. “It has an interesting atmosphere on a Saturday,” Joel says. “During the day, everybody knows who everybody is, but at night it’s an entirely different vibe.”

This new(ish) kid on the block is a welcome addition to the Warren scene. “This is such a cute town,” says Brimmer. “There’s no reason it took so long to become a destination.” Joel echoes this sentiment, saying, “I always thought Warren was a forgotten, blue-collar town stuck between Barrington and Bristol, but it was always gorgeous and perfectly situated. It has the best walking streets around, and as young people try to get out of big cities, it’s amazing how many of them find Warren.”

Brimmer agrees that it’s the people who make the town, and she loves the ones who make their way to Rhody Roots. “Warren is weird and our people are eclectic, and we love them for it,” she says. “It’s artsy, queer – exactly what we want. There are a million places for anyone to go.”