Last modified: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 1:06 PM EDT Serra Da Estrela restaurant served marinated pork with potatoes and salad served with Grao Vasco wine from the Vila Nova region in De Gaia Portugal. (Photo by Drew Pillsbury) Dinner with a twist BY REBECCA KEISTER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF Cumberland, R.I. - In the 1960s, this once prosperously industrial town was wrapped up at the center of the state's immigrant and economic boom. Nowhere was that more clear than on Broad Street, a main drag filled with shops and restaurants that illustrated the town's cultural melting pot. Around then, nearly 40 percent of the street's residents were born in another country, and 10 percent had at least parent who immigrated here. And though the street - now a mix of old-school businesses, a scattering of eating places and some banks - looks quite different, inside it's still the same. In fact, according to Alex Sommer, the statistic is exactly the same. "This place hasn't changed at all," Sommer said. "It's just new people looking for the same thing." He tells me - and around a dozen others - this while we are aboard the Blackstone Valley Explorer, sailing, well, being boated really, slowly down the Blackstone River as part of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council's Broad Street International Food Tour. The tour, which does include food, is running every Wednesday through Aug. 27. Sommer is one of the new people, if not in the immigrant resident way then in the way that he is looking to help put the same things back on Broad Street. Along with the rest of the council, he plans to help revitalize Broad Street with a makeover plan that will return some of the street's old looks and feel. "The plan is too keep it unique," Sommer said. It's an urban preserve plan that the council hopes will return some business to the area, which has seen a slow economic downturn since the river became polluted in the early 1970s. (It has a C grade, which means it can be used for recreation.) They plan to revamp some historic buildings by recreating their old appearances and increase support for locally owned business, especially the street's many ethnic restaurants. Which is the point of this three-hour tour. Each week Wednesday evening, the Blackstone Valley Explorer boards passengers for a roughly hour-long cruise that highlights the area's history. For instance, Central Falls is a heavily populated area, housing some 18,000 residents in just 1.9 square miles. On a tour in late June, we were able to spy several river inhabitants, including beavers, muskrats and even a lost cat. Sommer said at other points during the year (or day), visitors can see swallows, bats, snapping turtles and even wild turkeys. The river tour is relaxing on a summer evening, and provides visitors with an appetizer. This particular evening, we were treated to raspberry and cinnamon pastries from a local bakery. After the tour, participants drive themselves to the Broad Street restaurant selected for that night's tour, which in this case was Portuguese based and was held at Serra Da Estrela and featured a marinated pork dish with potatoes and salad. The only downfall to this tour was that a kitchen malfunction prevented the chef's demonstration portion of the evening that would have illustrated Portuguese cooking techniques. But the family-owned restaurant was cozy and quiet, with window seats blocked off for the tour, and including wine selected to compliment the dish. It also included a Portuguese rice pudding with cinnamon for dessert and the opportunity to take a kitchen tour. Remaining tours, which are $30 per person, include stops at Mexican and Cape Verdean restaurants, as well as a different Portuguese restaurant and a Chinese place. For more information, or to purchase tickets for the tour, visit www.tourblackstone.com.