Friday, June 6, 12:00 noon
Members $55, guests $65

There are many unwritten rules about dining out. While some rules change depending on what big-name chef has just penned a kitchen tell-all, there is one that has, up until now, seemed written in stone: even in the best steakhouses, don’t get your hopes up about the fish.

But at 22 Bowen’s Wine Bar & Grille, chefs Gary Jefferds and Brian Mansfield are making their own rules. Located on Bowen’s Wharf in Newport, Rhode Island (where fresh fish practically jump out of the water and onto diners’ plates), 22 Bowen’s serves ethereal lobster fritters with sweet pepper rémoulade, meaty grilled tuna steak, and a delectable herb-crusted salmon, all of which can more than hold their own with the center-cut filet mignon, six-peppercorn sirloin steak au poivre, and even the 24-ounce porterhouse. But don’t let this fish-friendly approach fool you into thinking that 22 Bowen’s isn’t serious about steak. “If you want a first-rate piece of meat,” Paula M. Bodah of Rhode Island Monthly advised, “you’ve come to the right place.”

A graduate of Johnson & Wales University, Gary Jefferds began his career at The Old Grist Mill restaurant in Seekonk, Massachusetts, an outpost of the Capital Grille chain. There, his hard work and dedication quickly paid off. After five months, he was sent to the company’s flagship restaurant, The Capital Grille in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was soon promoted to sous-chef and then to executive chef. It was also at The Capital Grille that he met chef Jaime D’Olivera, who would later tap him to head the kitchen at 22 Bowen’s.

Brian Mansfield, a triple graduate of Johnson & Wales University with degrees in Culinary Arts, Foodservice Management, and Foodservice Education, began his career under chef George Karousos at the Sea Fare Inn in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. He rose to the level of chef de cuisine before moving on to The Capital Grille. Jaime D’Olivera recognized the young chef’s talents and asked him to help with the nationwide expansion of the Capital Grille chain. After opening outposts in Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Charlotte, he left the company to take a position as executive chef of foodservice at Bryant College in Smithfield. Two years later, D’Olivera contacted him to join the team at 22 Bowen’s.

Jefferds and Mansfield have become leaders in the Newport dining scene, showing Rhode Islanders and diners everywhere that rules are meant to be broken.