Can you get twin lobster rolls at Easton's Beach this summer? New concessions plan OK'd

NEWPORT – Beach-goers can look forward to bathhouses and lobster rolls returning to Easton’s Beach this year as a part of the city’s effort to maintain basic amenities as the city demolishes two of the beach’s main facilities.

“I think it's important to note that the beach is a public amenity,” Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong said at a workshop on Wednesday. “We don’t look at Queen Anne Square, we don't look at Morton Park, we don’t look at Miantonomi Park and say ‘well how much revenue did the park bring in last year and did that offset the expenses of cutting the grass and maintaining the bathrooms?’. This is, at the end of the day, a very important public amenity that Newporters identify with as part of why they live here and why they love this place, as well as visitors.”

With the demolition of the snack bar and carousel buildings on Easton’s Beach already underway and the summer season fast approaching, the Department of Public Services has been scrambling to find ways to provide some level of amenities at Easton’s Beach, such as concessions and bathhouses, while also having space for equipment storage, employee lockers and administrative offices.

The City Council expressed dissatisfaction with the plan the department initially proposed, which had staff using the upper floor of the bathhouse complex and, as a result, made them unavailable for use by visitors this summer. The council passed a resolution on March 27 asking city administration to come up with a new plan that would not reduce beach amenities any further.

What's planned for Easton's Beach this summer

The new plan for beach amenities this summer would allow for visitors to rent out bathhouses following the weekend after July 4.

At a workshop prior to the council’s regular meeting, Recreation and Beach Administrator Erik Reis said once demolition is expected to conclude on June 30, freeing up space next to the rotunda that would have previously been fenced off during demolition that beach staff could use.

While they could try moving out as soon as July 1, Reis said Independence Day is one of the beach’s busiest holidays and it would be difficult for staff to manage moving out of the space it previously occupied and continue operating the beach. Additionally, the demolition schedule may extend past the expected deadline, delaying the opening of the bathhouses further.

Reis also told the council at the workshop that if the city moves forward with this plan, they might have to limit bathhouse rentals to Newport residents, who usually rent out 174 of the 226 bathhouses as staff would still need to utilize some of the bathhouses.

The Department of Public Services is hoping to put a plan together in time for the next City Council meeting on May 8 that will shed some light on the department’s plans for beach amenities in the next two to five years.

Food trucks and Easton’s Snack Bar replica menu among concessions offerings this year

At the later regular meeting, the City Council also voted to approve a one-year contract with Audrain Hospitality to provide food trucks as concessions options for beachgoers. The contract comes with three one-year contract extension options, setting the food truck fleet up to be a fixture on Easton’s Beach in the future as well.

At the heart of Audrain’s proposal is a mobile trailer “Catering Kitchen,” which houses a restaurant-grade kitchen inside and aims to recreate the menu the former Easton’s Snack Bar offered to customers for over two decades, including its popular twin lobster rolls, which Audrain proposed to price at $26.

Alongside the catering kitchen, the plan also schedules for two food trucks to service the beach, one from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the other from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Audrain plans to have its five trucks on rotation for this schedule. In its proposal to the city, the company also states it is developing a mobile app to reduce wait times.

The City Council approved the contract in a 6-1 vote, with Councilor David Carlin against.

“This is an interesting example of perhaps the city working in combination with private industry, we may be able to pull off some really exciting things in the future,” Councilor Mark Aramli said.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Easton's Beach concessions, bathhouse plan receives council approval