A return visit to Dolores on Hope Street in Providence yesterday for an early dinner…

Now, Dolores’ Maria Meza was just nominated for James Beard Foundation Best Chef: Northeast 2024 last week, so you might have to try a little harder to get a reservation, but the food definitely lives up to any hype buzzing aroud Lil Rhody at this moment. (In true Rhode Island fashion, her daughter-in-law is one of my go-to makeup artists. And we were chatting about this nomination the day it was announced.)

My friend K. and I timed our visit perfectly on Monday because we walked in around 4:15pm, 15 minutes after they opened the door for dinner service. There was still a line, but we were thankfully able to get seated at a table in 3-5 minutes. (If you don’t mind sitting at the bar, that’s another possibility.)

We ordered a bunch of plates and each one was beautifully presented, super fresh, and incredibly flavorful.

We started with their Napolitos, a salad made with salt cured cactus (wait, what?), heirloom tomatoes, radish, chiles, cilantro, lime, and queso fresco.

My first time eating a cactus salad, lol, but this was so crunchy, flavorsome and delightful. Think SPRING on a plate.

Next we dug into their Baja Fish TACOS (highly recommend celebrating your next TACO TUESDAY here).

The chipotle sauce was heavenly, and the beer battered haddock was simply out of this world (NOT at all greasy and cooked to perfection).

They also did some SHRIMP empanadas for us (because neither of us eat chicken, beef or pork) and these were not skimpy shrimps. Far from it.

And the crust was light, slightly crispy, and in a word — exquisite. These were phenomenal and I can’t think of a better empanada. Seriously, tho.

Also, a rice and beans plate with grilled veggies was yum. (They will HAPPILY accommodate you if you want to make almost any of the dishes vegetarian.)

Our server took great care of us, too.

If you haven’t been to Dolores yet, I beg you to get there this season.

Take the taco lovers in your world and/or that foodie who follows the scene in the OS (Ocean State) closely.

You’ll be a rock star in their eyes.

Find Dolores at 100 Hope Street in Providence, RI.

As always, if you go after reading THIS, please let them know you were inspired by Patty J and PattyJ.com.