Sad to hear that a venerable Newport, RI institution has closed its doors for good. Located just down from the Thames Street wharves, Sala’s served a mix of Italian food, Asian cuisine, and seafood. Lunch was served downstairs in a very informal setting, while dinner was served in an upstairs dining room that overlooked Thames Street and its quaint shops and pedestrian bustle.

Even though its closing took place months ago, I only learned of it the other day, and being so close to another Goodboys Invitational weekend, it strikes me as particularly sad, since it was my good friend Mike “Doc” Frechette, one of the “founding fathers” of Goodboys Nation, who first brought me down to Newport and introduced me to Sala’s back in the early ’80s. The Doc passed away a few years ago, and to hear of Sala’s closing is just another poignant reminder of time passing by and people and places fondly remembered now belonging only to the ages.

Sala’s wasn’t gourmet by any means; it was good food served at a very reasonable price. I always thought it interesting that you could order your pasta with Italian or Oriental sauce, that you paid for your pasta by the half-pound, and that the meatballs and sausages were purchased individually. The times I went down there with the Doc, the food was always good, and I remember one time when Tracey and I visited there having a particularly excellent veal cutlet that I still remember to this day. Judging from the restaurant reviews on Yahoo! it would appear the place had seen better days before its closing, which is too bad. But I never experienced a bad meal at Sala’s, and, as with the Doc, it will always be remembered fondly.

Increasingly in this day and age of ever-expanding restaurant chains it is places like Sala’s that are ever hard to come by. Which is one of the reasons I love places like New Orleans, Boston’s North End, and Newport so much – with still plenty of room to put places like McDonalds and Applebees, there’s something to be said about leaving space for small, unassuming, and unique eatling places that fit well into their equally-unique surroundings.