When expanding into new markets, it's important to cater to local preferences -- otherwise everything would taste just like Rupert Murdoch. For an RI-tailored expansion of a Boston favorite, check out Barking Crab Newport.

Housed in the old Seafare Cafe digs, BCN takes a familiar-feeling, clam-shack-style patio stocked with red-and-yellow awnings and communal picnic tables, then adds some relaxed Newport sophistication: a 200-seat interior resembling an old wooden yacht, or an upscale submarine. Grub starts with imported-from-the-original favorites like Jonah crab claws, spicy beer battered shrimp (tossed in soy molasses sauce), and steamed lobsters running anywhere from the size of a bottle of Diet Tab (1.25lbs) to a painfully large newborn (11lbs). But there are also Newport-only specials, like Pan Roasted Giant New England Salt Cod (w/ potato cake and Swiss chard), Grilled Georgia Bank Halibut (w/ Tasso ham and Georgia pea yellow rice) and Rhode Island Clam Chowder, a clear, broth-based variation that supports the Pawsox and calls water fountains "bubblers".

BCN's still planning out Newport-specific cocktails, so for now you'll have to make do with 13 tap beers, homemade sangria, hard summertime drinks (caipirinhas, Dark and Stormy's, etc), and the Crab Cocktail: with four types of rum, three juices, grenadine, and bitters, it'll make drinkers of any state more gnarled than an evil Australian billionaire.

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