Rhode Island political cognoscenti know John Rollins as the man who in 1986 won one of the biggest political upsets in Providence history. That was the year that he knocked over urban boss Lloyd Griffin for city council in a ward that covered the heart of South Providence. Rollins, a football standout at La Salle Academy and the University of Rhode Island, was, along with his wife Julia Rollins, a longtime civil rights activist in Rhode Island’s African-American community. But Rollins has traded his political hat and football helmet for a chef’s toque.