FEAST
In the Kitchen by Jessica Bryant
Good Parma Chef Ryan Mancini dishes on what keeps Twin Oaks and its epic menu going after 84 years Known for its considerable size and consistently good food, Twin Oaks has been a Rhode Island go-to for generations. We sat down with Chef Ryan Mancini, who took over as head chef three years ago, to chat about what makes this 84-year-old restaurant so successful.
Chef Ryan Mancini of Twin Oaks in Cranston works fast to perfect more than 200 menu items
How did you get into the culinary world? I went to culinary school at Johnson & Wales in 2006 and 2007. I was working at a couple of different restaurants, and then I did a culinary internship through Johnson & Wales at Twin Oaks. After that, I was working in Europe and then Texas, so it’s kind of funny that I ended up back here years later.
How do you decide what makes the cut? I run about 20 specials a day and a lot of them are high-end dishes, like grass-fed rib eye. That’s what sells. If something does really well for an extended period of time, then we’ll put it on the menu. What are some of the most popular dishes on the menu today? Our classic customer favorites are our scrod [Baked Scrod with seafood salad dressing], the Open Steak Filet Mignon and our Chicken Parmesan. I’ve heard a lot about the Chicken Parm. We could never change that dish because we sell about 100,000 a year. Twin Oaks can seat up to 650 people. How many people work there on any given night? Right now, our total kitchen staff including cleaning crew is 46 people. We
have such a system in here, and some of them – like our in-house meat cutter or main salad bar produce man – have worked at the restaurant for 30 years. They know the trends and what to prep each week. We’ve got about 100 people in the front of house. What do you think has been the secret to keeping its doors open for so long? I think it’s the consistency. We have such a great core group of people who put everything together each day. Some of our employees have been at the restaurant for 50-plus years. We take care of our good help without a doubt. We have a 401K and health care, and try to provide as much as we can. Twin Oaks is unlike any place I’ve ever worked; it’s a machine. What we do in a normal night, people probably don’t do in a month of business, which is crazy. It’s really tough to manage – some days are easy while other days are extremely hard. What I think really helps keep this place going are the owners, Billy and Susan. Without them, this place wouldn’t go on.
Twin Oaks Restaurant 100 Sabra Street, Cranston • 781-9693 • TwinOaksRest.com
44
PROVIDENCE MONTHLY | May 2017
Photography by Michael Cevoli
Twin Oaks has an insanely large menu. Does it ever change? I believe there used to be 267 items on the menu. I’ve cut it down to the low 200s. We usually redo the menu about twice a year – once in the summer and another during the winter, right before the busy season. But lately we’ve been switching it up to only once a year because when you make an edit, you have to print about 500 menus.