With the influence of foreign cuisines in the US, one has to search more than usual to find a restaurant serving a classic three-course American meal. Chef Wagner is sure to make that search a little less tedious with Nicks, located in Broadway. Cooking is made as much an art as Wagner's namesake composer did so with music. Start off with a daily soup and proceed to end your last bite of grilled yellow-fin tuna with the last sip of your beverage only to top it all off with a sundae. As the menu doesn't have much dinner appeal to it, it's no rocket-science that the place is most bustling during the breakfast and lunch hours suiting perfectly after a morning round of golf.

Pakarang is conveniently located on the edge of downtown Providence at the bottom of College Hill. It is also part of a small group of restaurants that deliver, for an additional fee. Exotic dishes such as Dancing Squid, Tamarind Duck, Shrimp Himaparn and Tiger's Tear Salad (with steak) are on the menu, along with more familiar Thai dishes like Pad Thai and Red Curry. This is a good spot for a meal when planning a day or night in Providence.

The calamari here is an award-winner. Bluefin is known for its seafood menu, although it serves beef and lamb as well. You may order Chef Phillipe's Tasting Menu, which includes samples of the chef's favorite dishes. The varied Sunday brunch and the pumpkin soup are also recommended. This is an elegant bar and dining room where you may have a martini or dinner among business guests of the Providence Marriott or upscale urban professionals. Parking is available in the hotel lot. Smoking is allowed at the bar.

Al Forno has long been written up as one of Providence's finest upscale restaurants. The ambience is quiet and casually romantic, with European accents. Their cuisine is Northern Italian, made with the freshest local ingredients. Wood-grilled pizza and clam appetizers are very popular as are their fish and pasta dinners. An olive oil cake is a recommended dessert. An impressive selection of 250 wines complete the wine list and a full bar is available. On the edge of downtown, Al Forno is very accessible; parking is available.

Cafe Nuovo offers contemporary, fusion cuisine; unlike its sister restaurant, the classic European Capriccio's, with a river view and an outside terrace. The Rolled and Stuffed Trout is superb, as is the unique sculptured desserts. Interesting murals adorn their walls. They have a wine list and rooms for private functions. Located on the ground floor of the Citizens Bank building Cafe Nuovo is easy to find and convenient to everything downtown. This is really fine dining with a view.

This new addition to Providence dining has received high praise. Such entrees as Moroccan Chicken with Couscous, or Sea Scallops are served in a small intimate space of two rooms with wood tables on green carpet. The bar opens at 5pm and the first seating for dinner is at 5:30pm. Just off North Main Street on downtown's edge, New Rivers is a very short walk from downtown hotels and only a few blocks down College Hill from the East Side.

This is basically an Irish pub that also contains a Jewish-style deli and American home-style cooked dinners. Opened in 1929, Murphy's has long been a popular place for those working downtown. They can enjoy a full bar, games and dartboard, a jukebox, and a smoking section. Tasty deli sandwiches are a favorite lunch for downtown citizens, and they offer seafood, steak, chicken and other full dinners. They will deliver and cater parties, as well as preparing takeout late into the evening.

This restaurant is right by the river on the edge of downtown and has a glass bottomed floor. You can see parts of the city through the windows as you sample the range of seafood and other entrees. Since it is open for lunch and dinner daily, many people go to have a sandwich or drinks as city traffic hums by on either side of the building. This upscale eatery is convenient to both the Financial District and Providence's elegant East Side.

Providence Phoenix readers have voted Snookers Pool Lounge the Best Pool Hall in Rhode Island for three straight years. This versatile spot on the edge of downtown in Providence's Jewelry District, features 16 pool tables, the Skyline Patio Bar and also serves food and drink into the late hours. Snookers is home to The Green Room, where rockabilly, pop, alternative and garage music from Rhode Island, Boston and New York is performed in an intimate environment with no cover charge. Pool table rates start at $6.50 per hour, $20 to enter tournaments on Mondays and Wednesdays. Food served includes pizza, burgers and grinders.

This restaurant has been serving great food in downtown Providence for more than 12 years. Besides the fact the food in this small establishment is good and reasonably priced, New Japan is just two blocks from four important tourist and business traveler locations: the Civic Center, the The Holiday Inn, the Convention Center, and the Biltmore Hotel. Try the sushi, the curry, or something they call Foil Yaki-fish, chicken, shrimp and vegetables seasoned and then wrapped in foil.