The bar area has been redone and is called A-Bar.

Aspire has opened as the new restaurant at the Hotel Providence with A-Bar as the lounge.

Chef Jennis Heal’s menu is eclectic, serving a variety of small plates including warm ones of crispy duck leg confit and grilled flatbreads and cold ones with oysters, littlenecks and tuna tartar. Large plates include steak frites, baked lobster, veal Bolognese, seared sea scallops, short ribs and fresh pasta. Soups and salads include clam chowder, white miso soup and baby arugula salad and locally grown greens. A moderate-priced menu will be served in A-Bar and include some of those items as well as fish and chips, burgers and calamari. Wine flights, creative cocktails and bottled beers are on the menu with after dinner drinks.

The restaurant currently serves breakfast and dinner with the morning service in the bar area and dinner both in the dining room and al fresco in the courtyard at the corner of Westminster and Mathewson streets. There are also private dining areas. Lunch is planned for the fall.

Newly redesigned by Judd Brown Designs of Pawtucket, gone are the wine racks setting off the dining room from the bar area and the dining room’s oversized classical oil paintings in gold-leaf frames. Paintings of Providence are in their place. Banquettes have been built in on one side and the chandeliers are now contained within cream-colored shades.

Most recently, Heal served as executive chef at Hemenway’s Seafood & Oyster Bar. He held the same position at the Radisson Boston. He is a culinary graduate of Newbury College in Brookline Mass. And he began his career at the Ritz-Carlton Boston, where he eventually became assistant banquet chef. He has also cooked and lived in Paris, at Hotel Meurice and Restaurant Drouant.

To build on its theater district setting, the restaurant hopes to capture its share of the pre-show dining crowd attending events at the Providence Performing Art Center and Trinity Rep, said Greg Stafford, general manager for the Hotel Providence. The restaurant will be equipped for the pace required for that type of dining and will offer special menus for event weeks as well.

Michael McBride is the restaurant’s general manager and director of food & beverage. He comes from Capital Grille, where he was managing partner in the Providence operation. He also worked with the Back Bay Restaurant Group in Boston and was part of the management team charged with opening the steakhouse Abe & Louie’s.

The price range begins with $7 to $16 for appetizers and salads; small plates are $8 to $19; and large plates $17 to $59.

The Hotel Providence was originally opened by Stanley Weiss and he sold the hotel to Michelle Russo and Hotel Asset Value Enhancement, a Tiverton-based hospitality company. Aspire is owned by the hotel.

Details: Aspire, 311 Westminster St., Providence, (401) 521-3333, www.aspirerestaurant.com.Buckners open Troup House on Broadway

Aspire replaces L’Epicureo which Rozann and Tom Buckner opened three years ago. The big space was a contrast to the charm of their cozy restaurant on Federal Hill.

Fans of the couple and their food will be thrilled to hear about last week’s opening of their new Providence spot, Troup House Restaurant at the Italo-American Club of R.I. on Broadway.

Lunch and dinner are served Tuesday through Saturday in the historic house. The Buckners are in the kitchen preparing Italian specialties and pastas, as well as a selection of sandwiches, including Saugy dogs and cheeseburgers, for lunch.

Details: Troup House Restaurant, 477 Broadway, Providence, (401) 228-8500.

– Gail Ciampa