Wine and cheese come together at Patio Pours in Providence

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent

Wayland Square in Providence's East Side has come a long way since its days as a drive by Brown University and RISD to get to downtown. Now it's a very desirable residential district with a myriad of boutique stores, great restaurants and specialty shops. It's also a fun spot in warm weather to wine and dine outside. New England-style bistro, La Laiterie, and attached artisanal cheese/gourmet foods shop Farmstead host a "Patio Pour" program this summer, featuring boutique wines, housemade charcuterie and unique, local cheeses. The patio pours are held every Tuesday and Wednesday from 5-7 p.m., and on WaterFire Saturdays, the next one of which is Aug. 18. Both culinary entities are run by the husband-and-wife team of Matt and Kate Jennings. Cost is $10 per person for one glass of your choice of featured wine, one featured cheese and one featured charcuterie item. The program runs until Labor Day weekend.

The pours feature unusual and small-batch producer wines, the Jennings said, most of which are rarely available outside the bottle, including Stefano Massone Masera Gavi, Valdesil Montenovo Godello and Glatzer Blaufrankisch. Matt Jennings, a three-time Cochon 555 champion (a popular culinary event that has chefs creating "snout-to-tail" menus from heritage breed pigs), creates charcuterie including the unique pig-ear bacon, hoof and snout terrine and fennel and preserved orange cotechino.

The Farmstead's curated cheese selections include spirit-washed originals like the Drunken Providence, a Gouda-style cheese from Narragansett Creamery that's washed with Thomas Tew Rum from Newport Distilling, and aged for two months in Farmstead's street-level cheese cave, and other creations from Matt Jennings and his team of three cheesemongers.

Matt and Kate Jennings have run La Laiterie and Farmstead for the past 10 years. Matt Jennings is a two-time James Beard Foundation award nominee, and the couple has earned kudos from Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Travel + Leisure and Saveur, as well as mention on the Cooking Channel's "Unique Eats" program.

For more info, visit www.farmsteadinc.com, or call 401-274-7177.