While working on the November issue of Motif, we kept hearing about an indigenous restaurant called the Sly Fox Den Too. It’s a wonderful and quintessentially Rhode Island kind of diner: only open for breakfast and lunch, and packed full of locals. The food, however, ups the game, with an emphasis on fresh indigenous cuisine.
“Indigenous cuisine is the bounty of the season,” said Chef Sherry Pocknett. “Whatever’s in the woods, whatever you’re harvesting, that’s indigenous food.”
Venison, turkey, smoked salmon hash in the morning for breakfast… Is your mouth watering yet?
How about the Sly Fox Benedict, which are eggs over cornmeal pancakes filled with cranberries, scallions and whole kernel corn with two house-made venison sausages?
“That’s one of the most popular things on the breakfast menu,” Pocknett said. Then she laughed. “The hollandaise sauce, that’s not indigenous.”
There are vegan options too, including the delicious succotash soup made with corn, beans, squash and kale.
“I’m not a vegan,” Pocknett said, “but I love cooking for them, because I love exploring what I can make for a vegan. I make some serious stuff. I’m exploring the bounty. We have these wild mushrooms, Jerusalem artichokes, the sun chokes… dandelion greens and beets, cranberries and all the nuts. Right now we have black walnuts. I actually have two trees…”
The prices are reasonable, the food is fantastic, and the message is simple: eat local, and eat fresh.
“It’s our job to take care of this earth,” Pocknett said. “It’s our job to teach our young ones the old ways.”
Sly Fox Den Too, 4349 S County Trail, Charlestown, RI