The news doesn't come as much of a surprise to those of us who have looked in restaurant windows, or sat inside, and seen in some cases more waiters waiting than diners dining.Sure, part of it might be that when the economy sours, people don't dine out as much. But I suspect that a larger factor is that a city the size of Providence simply can't sustain the number of expensive and trendy restaurants that have opened here in the last few years. It was a bubble that was going to burst, and it did, right after Christmas.
In the past week or so, I've heard rumors of closure about Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, open barely a year, L'Epicureo in the Hotel Providence, and now Mills Tavern, which recently received a top rating in the Mobil Guide.
If the rumors are true, it's sad to see an owner's dream die, and it will be hard for the people who work there. But the truth is, the field has become too crowded, and that's when — just as on all those reality TV shows — somebody's not going to be there next week. Stay tuned for more.
