Diver Sea Scallops with Lobster Butter and Balsamic Reduction from CAV to be featured on Tasty Travels.

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The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

On a Sunday night in April, dinner guests at Providence’s CAV restaurant were not alone.

Roaming in and out of the kitchen and throughout the dining room was a film crew from High Noon Entertainment of Burbank, Calif. They were shooting footage that will appear on a future episode of Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels on the Food Network.

Owner Sylvia Moubayed and chefs Chow Malakorn and Neil Roy were front and center as was a lovely dish of Diver Sea Scallops with Lobster Butter and Balsamic Reduction which will be featured.

Tasty Travels features celebrity chef Rachael Ray, in her travel guru role, with insider tips and secrets for where to enjoy a delicious, affordable feast. She may well still arrive for a cameo appearance at CAV but for now, all the video is prepared by the advance team.

Each episode of the show usually features a variety of restaurants in a single city and the episode featuring CAV will be no different. A spokesman for the production company reports that while in town, the producer and cameraman also shot video at 12 other Providence restaurants that are as diverse as one can imagine.

They featured Al Forno, Cuban Revolution, Geoff’s Superlative Sandwiches, Haven Brothers, Julian’s, La Laiterie at Farmstead, Nicks On Broadway, Olga’s Cup & Saucer, Pastiche, Seaplane Diner, Waterplace Restaurant and 10 Prime Steak and Sushi. The show will appear in the fall but no date is set.

Upcoming episodes of Tasty Travels feature Seattle (Friday night at 8:30, repeating at 3 a.m. on Saturday); Los Angeles (Sunday at 2 p.m.); and Denver (May 18 at 2 p.m.)

The format of the show features exteriors of the restaurants, shots of the dining room, kitchen, and of people eating and beauty shots of food dishes.

There are cooking segments but they are more “inspirational” as opposed to “informational,” according to High Noon. So the restaurants featured are asked to submit their recipe of the item prepared on camera to be included on the Food Network’s Web site.

Such publicity means a lot to restaurants, especially to those off the beaten path like CAV which also can suffer when diners seek out the next new thing instead of established favorites.

CAV opened in the jewelry district back in 1989. It was tiny with just four tables. All the rest were rented out to antique dealers.

“So we could pay the rent,” said Moubayed.

“I remember I literally made the tables, purchasing wood tops from the Bowery in New York (which I refinished) and legs also in a different place in the Bowery.”

CAV is an acronym for coffee, antiques and victuals and antiques still set the mood for the restaurant.

While the cuisine has grown more sophisticated, like every restaurant, there are dishes that guests love which must remain on the menu, she said. That would include the fresh pasta rolled and filled with chicken and spinach and a cheese mousse served in a cream sauce

Today, the restaurant’s cuisine also represents the styles of its new chefs, according to Moubayed.

These new dishes include Duck Confit and fanned breast served with Grand Marnier demi glace and drizzled blood orange coulis, served with brandied caramelized onion sweet potato mash.

Tasty travels indeed.

gciampa@projo.com