Newport Food Scene: How the Newport Chowder Company was born from Muriel's restaurant

This weekend, Oct. 15 and 16, we have another great reason to love Newport: the 31st annual Bowen’s Wharf Seafood Festival.

It’s two days filled with live music, fun and, of course, fresh local seafood to help honor our “Harvest of the Sea.” It’s an event not to be missed, especially if the gods of autumn weather give us another sunny day with a crisp, autumn chill.

If you go, you’ll be overwhelmed by all the great options — from stuffies to lobster rolls — there’s something for all (and some great inspired cocktails, too). But, while you are browsing all the different foods and offerings, be sure you save room for something special: the seafood chowder at Newport Chowder Company.

While they’ve only been selling chowder from their food cart and food trucks for about a year and a half, the Newport Chowder Company can trace its roots back to the 1980s to Muriel’s Restaurant, which was located on Spring Street.

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The famed eatery, which closed in 1999, was a popular spot for breakfast, lunch and dinner with such memorable offerings like Sausage and Cheddar Soup and its Chicken Bombay entree. But it was the seafood chowder created by owner Muriel Barclay de Tolly that made the biggest impact.

It took home top honors at the Newport Chowder Cook-Off for three consecutive years and was even inducted into the Chowder Hall of Fame. Long after the restaurant closed, the call for Muriel’s chowder still rang out. In 2019, Muriel’s daughter, Katie Potter, established the Newport Chowder Company to help answer that call.

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With her mom’s recipe (and support), Katie created the Newport Chowder Company that sold the delicious seafood chowder recipe along with packets of the secret spices online and at local retail markets. The easy to follow instructions could walk any level of home cook through the process of making a wonderful batch of the famous chowder.

The recipe cards could also be customized and became a popular gift for weddings and Newport-themed events. But the people still wanted the chowder.

So in April 2021, Katie secured one of the few mobile food establishment cart permits from the city of Newport and began selling the chowder from a cart at Perrotti Park. It was the first food truck or cart in Newport to specialize in chowder.

After quick success with the cart, a Newport Chowder Company food truck was soon to follow and more recently, a second truck was added to the fleet. At the beginning of the summer, Katie also made the difficult decision to quit her job in the medical supplies field and pursue her dream of Newport Chowder Company full time.

It was a good thing, too, because it was a busy summer for her. Besides a full docket of private events, you could find her cart and trucks all around the island. Newport Chowder Company was at the Broadway Street Fair, The Newport Boat Show, Newport Polo, and this weekend, you’ll find them at the Bowen’s Wharf Seafood Festival.

The key to the flavor of the seafood chowder is found in the secret spices — a recipe Katie and her mom keep close to their chest. Buying the packets at local markets like Clements' Marketplace, Anthony’s Seafood and Aquidneck Meat & Provisions and making a batch at home is still an easy and tasty path to great chowder.

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But the allure of the chowder isn’t just the spices. The magic comes from the recipe itself that was created, perfected and preserved by Katie’s mom Muriel for the past 35 years.

It’s not the typical chowder you find around town, and it’s definitely not a New England Clam Chowder. It’s a seafood chowder made with bits of shrimp, scallops and scrod and reflects the influence of Nova Scotia, where Muriel was born and raised.

It’s a creamy chowder, but between the mixture of fresh seafood and the secret spices, the flavor of each spoonful hits you just right. Drop in a few oyster crackers and you have a bowl of the happiest of comfort foods.

You’ll quickly know why the chowder is award-winning and why Katie and Muriel are heroes among local chowder makers.

Recently, the Newport Chowder Company was honored by winning first place in the Samuel Adams Brewing American Dream Competition at Hope & Main, the culinary business incubator in Warren.

It was a pitch competition with a $10,000 prize. Katie had to lay out the vision for her company and the path she sees for growth in front of business leaders and experts from Sam Adams, then had to face the toughest critics, the people sampling her food at the Hope & Main Schoolyard Twilight Party.

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The win proved to all there are big things ahead for the Newport Chowder Company and this was one more scoop in their ladle of success. With her prize money, Katie hopes to find some commercial space where she can also park the food trucks and cart.

So if you are at the Bowen’s Wharf Seafood Festival this weekend, be sure to swing by the Newport Chowder Company cart and taste for yourself. It will be a hearty part of your seafood filled day. There’s no shortage of good chowder in Newport, so when you find a spot that serves up an extraordinary bowl, get your spoon ready. This one comes from an award-winning recipe that’s over 35 years and each bowl is made with love.

With her mom by her side, Katie Potter is working hard to make sure this chowder keeps making people happy. We’re pretty sure she’ll get there, one tasty bowl at a time.

Dan Lederer is a Middletown resident with 30 years experience in the food service industry throughout New England. He continues to work locally behind the scenes within the industry and remains a devoted fan of all things restaurant and hospitality related. His column appears on newportri.com and Thursdays in The Daily News. Cheers!

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Newport RI Chowder Company born from Muriel's Restaurant