Sogno Ristorante
"A Culinary Divine"
By Stephen L. Cabral

The next time you make the great escape from the city of Providence or its suburbs to the Roger Williams Park Zoo, take a spin into nearby Cranston. The Knightsville neighborhood still remains definitively, Italian. When you get to the lights at the crossroads of Dyer and Park Avenues, pull into the G&M Plaza and look for a sign with bold crimson script on a jet black field. You have arrived at Sogno Ristorante and Bar, Ezio Gentile’s dream come true. He explained: "I have dreamed of opening my own restaurant since I came to America as a Teenager in the 1960’s. When this site became available a few years ago, I just had to move in and name it Sogno! That’s the Italian word for dream. And without a dream You are nowhere in this country." Mr. Gentile was raised in Abruzzi Italy, and still recalls the smell and taste of his grandmother’s pasta fagioli in the family cucina. He has made a point of sharing her recipe with his patrons. The pasta fagioli, which is standard fare in all Italian households, varies considerably in the old country and local ethnic communities. Ezio has replicated the traditional family recipe and features this soup at the top of his menu. "My grandmother was health conscious so her recipe was very light. She taught me how to mix the cannelloni beans, pancetta, celery and plum tomatoes into a chicken stock. Add a touch of spinach, tubetini pasta, garlic and some parmesan cheese, and there you have it," Mr. Gentile stated proudly in his white chef coat
For more information...