Critic's Choice: Linger over lunch at these restaurants

Whenever my friend Roberta comes to town, we try to have lunch at Providence on a Friday. That's the only day the Michelin two-star restaurant is open for lunch, in fact. Lunch has a different character than dinner. You tend to talk about different things, maybe because you're more alert at 1 p.m. than at 9. Restaurants are usually less crowded then, so it's quieter. I have a sneaking suspicion that chefs enjoy lunch too, because of that more leisurely pace. I'm not talking about grabbing a sandwich, I mean a meal at a good restaurant.

By S. Irene Virbila

May 12, 2012