The Rue de L'Espoir 39 Years

Trailblazing restaurateur to close Rue de l'Espoir after 39 years ...
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Trailblazing restaurateur to close Rue de l'Espoir after 39 years
Deborah Norman leaves behind quite a legacy, opening her bistro in 1976, long before any of Providence's other notable women made their mark on the local hospitality industry.


PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rue de L'Espoir restaurant will close on Aug. 9 as owner Deborah Norman looks ahead to a little relaxation and travel.

"It's been 39 years," she said. "It's time."

Norman leaves behind a legacy as a trailblazing restaurateur, opening her bistro in 1976, long before any of Providence's other notable women made their mark on the local hospitality industry.

With $20,000, some of it borrowed from friends, Norman started serving quiche and crepes on Hope Street on the city's East Side. She was not just the owner but the cook for the first three years. She not only paid back her loans and bought out a partner, she bought the building when an angel investor stepped in to provide credit. Over time she went from 45 seats to 75, and another 40 in the bar.

As tastes changed, and the way Americans dined moved from classical to casual, the Rue changed too, developing a wider menu built on local fare. Right until the end next month, the restaurant will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week: an unforgiving schedule, even for Norman, who made it look easy.

The sale of the Rue is underway. It will be sold to a pair of local restaurant owners who don't wish to reveal themselves until everything is in place to go forward with their new concept for the space. Norman has sold the Baker Street Rue in Washington Park to a longtime employee Erica Watson, who started as a dishwasher, and her sister Monique Watson; they have renamed it Baker Street Cafe. Norman is keeping Rue Bis, her casual cafe in the Jewelry District, and it will continue to be run by another long time staffer, Merisa Marcotte Dominguez.

Norman laughed at the suggestion she was a pioneer, but admitted that mentoring chefs, who went on to own their own places, has been gratifying.

Still, she had to admit it was a different business landscape 40 years ago, especially for a woman. When a liquor salesman came to the restaurant as she was first opening, he asked her, "Honey, where's your husband?"

"He was taken aback when I said there was no husband," she recalled. But they went on to do business.

"I've never been a shrinking violet so I never felt anything but capable," she said, while admitting she felt she knew nothing in the early years.

"It's a job of a million little details that have to be addressed every day," Norman said of the restaurant business.

The biggest challenge is to reproduce excellence, day after day, because that is what people expect. She is most proud that she has been able to keep that level of consistency for nearly four decades.

The rewards have been rich, she said, including having many longtime staffers with 20 years or more, and seeing second generations of diners come in for milestones in their lives just as their parents did.