The Providence Culinary Collective , alongside the inaugural Rhode Island Wine Experience (Wine X, for short), will kick off on Thursday, March 27, and last through the nighttime hours of Sunday, March 30. There will be signature tastings, demos, ticketed dinners, panels with local and national industry professionals, and more.
“If we’re going to be a powerhouse city, we need to show off our talent,” said Adamo while plunging a fork into a bowl of fresh pasta.
PROVIDENCE — On Wednesday, at the modest hour of 5:30 p.m., Kristen Adamo and Rosanna Ortiz were sitting in two corner bar seats and speaking over glasses of wine at Res American Bistro , a cozy downtown restaurant with deep red banquettes and dark wood accents. There’s been a lot of meetings like this, mostly over deep reds, over the last eight months — in Providence, in Napa Valley , and elsewhere — while they’ve plotted to host two festivals that will simultaneously showcase Providence’s robust culinary scene alongside domestic wines.
Some of the events will be free or low-cost and open to the public, where you can sip and eat creative bites from local food trucks. Others will “roll out the red carpet, with caviar and champagne,” said Ortiz. That range, they said, is the point.
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Rosanna Ortiz, left, and Kristen Adamo, right, at a vineyard in Napa Valley, California. Kristen Adamo
The long-time friends are influential women in their own right, particularly when it comes to showcasing the city’s core features. Adamo is the president and CEO of the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau, where she has the ear of politicians and is responsible for bringing millions of dollars in meetings, conventions, and sporting events to Providence. Ortiz is the president and founder of RMO PR, a well-known public relations and project management firm, and the visionary behind STYLEWEEK, a fashion show that’s been held biannually in Providence since 2009, showing off some of the largest as well as up-and-coming designers from around the region.
Adamo has been dreaming up a culinary festival in Providence for nearly two decades, while Ortiz said she has been nurturing the idea of hosting a wine festival for years. But this year’s won’t be a one-off.
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“This is our incubator,” Adamo promises, hoping this will become an annual tradition that will grow over time.
This year’s festivals are the first-of-their-kind in Providence, but some elements will be reflective of other festivals around the country. They spoke to the organizers of Charleston Wine & Food festival, which is a major bash, during their planning, for example.
Unlike many wine festivals around the region, Ortiz said she has prioritized paying her sommeliers. As organizers, she and Adamo really aren’t paying themselves, but some proceeds will go to Feed the Children, an anti-hunger nonprofit that delivers food and other essentials to children and families.
On March 27, they’ll kick off the festival in the morning by reopening the Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson & Wales University. The museum at the university’s Harborside Campus exhibits thousands of historic culinary artifacts, such as a hand-written recipe book that once belonged to President John F. Kennedy’s chef in the White House. It’s free to anyone interested — and has not been open to the public in years. Later in the day, they’ll host a four-course dinner at Oberlin, which will be paired with DuMOL’s 2022 vintage. Ortiz said the dinner will provide “a stunning taste of Sonoma and the Russian River Valley” ($150 per person).
The lamb shank at Cafe Nuovo is slow-braised for six hours with roasted orzo and tomato braising sauce. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
“We’re going to focus on domestic, because no one does. Everyone reaches for Italian and International, when we have plenty of really great wines right in California,” said Ortiz.
On March 28, guests will be able to meet Mary Ann Esposito — the cookbook author, chef, and host of nationally televised PBS series Ciao Italia — at “Uncorking the Future,” a fundraiser benefitting Rhode Island PBS and The Public’s Radio. That same night, chef Russell Pauser is hosting a pairing dinner at Cafe Nuovo, with wine from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars (Tickets: $195 each).
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On March 29, several food trucks will line up outside Veterans Memorial Auditorium for bites, while local beer and wine will be served from Good Vibes Beverages. Wine X will host a tasting event ($55 per person) with the chefs from Track 15, a new chef-driven food hall that’s expected to open later this winter, with 35 wine vendors.
They’ll host a “Vintners Dinner” by chef Kaitlyn Roberts (the owner of Easy Entertaining, a popular catering company) in the space where the Dorrance restaurant used to be ($225 per ticket). At the same time, the Jacques Pépin Foundation is hosting a fundraising dinner at CHOP, the new workforce-development program and restaurant inside the Providence Public Library (Tickets are $200 each).
Inside the former Dorrance restaurant space at 60 Dorrance St., in Providence, R.I. Go Providence
Each day, they’ll also host a “Trash Talk & Tipsy” pairing series, which will explore the perhaps underrated satisfactions of pairing junk food with wine. (Think: nacho cheese Doritos with a pinot noir).
They’ll close out the festivals on March 30 with a drag brunch outside The Dark Lady and The Alley Cat, a champagne and caviar lunch at the Capital Grille, an industry party at Narragansett Brewery, along with a few other events.
“March in Providence is going to be a lot,” said Adamo, who rattled off several major events that will take place prior to the festivals: St. Patrick’s Day, national wrestling matches, March Madness, and more.
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Motioning over a three-page schedule of events for the culinary and wine festivals, Adamo and Ortiz said the schedule is still in flux, and they may be adding more tasting events and ticketed dinners. One of them, which is still being planned, could be right at Res American Bistro.
“This is ambitious,” said Adamo of the food and wine festivals, while holding out her stemmed wine glass for another pour. “But it’s the right time for Providence. And this city deserves a showcase.”
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.