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Northwest Corner West Street Grill The trendoids who pack this place at lunch and dinner seven days a week agree with the restaurant critics; the food is intensely flavorful and the sleek black and white digs stylish. Irish owner James O'Shea gives talented French chef Frederic Faveau from Burgundy free rein in the kitchen. He obliges with such dinner entrées as roasted codfish with a balsamic-shallot reduction, pan-seared chicken with a tomato-ginger coulis, and grilled leg of lamb with a lightly roasted garlic cream sauce. An autumn lunch began with a rich butternut squash and pumpkin bisque and the restaurant's signature grilled peasant bread with parmesan aioli. Main dishes were salmon cakes with curried French lentils ($10.95) and a special of grilled smoked pork tenderloin with spicy Christmas limas ($9.95). Indulge in dessert, perhaps an ethereal crème brûlée or a key lime tart. The food here is as assertive and colorful as the striking artworks on a brick wall near the front. (860) 567-3885. Entrées, $25 to $35. Lunch daily, 11:30 to 3, weekends to 4. Dinner nightly, 5 to 9 or 10. Closed Monday and Tuesday in winter.
This handsome white house dating to 1765 has housed many an upscale restaurant. One that should last is the authentic French bistro opened in 2003 by chef-owner Frederic Faveau and his wife Karen Hamilton. Frederic's masterful cooking impressed us first at Litchfield’s West Street Grill and later at the Birches Inn on Lake Waramaug. His food here is every bit as brilliant but less contrived – “more bistro-like, with a more laid-back presentation,” he says – and also less expensive than at similar establishments. His emphasis here is on local and organic ingredients. The main floor houses an atmospheric bar/lounge with booths for dining and a small dining room. Up a staircase passing a window onto the kitchen is the main dining area, a mix of booths and tables covered with white linens and white butcher paper. An outside patio is popular in season. Starters entice, from an ahi tuna and savoy cabbage egg roll to seared sweetbreads with pancetta, bordelaise sauce and arugula. The watercress and duck confit salad is a classic of its genre. Gallic accents embellish entrées like mussels marinière, beef bourguignonne and steak frites. The menu also offers a cheeseburger with Irish cheddar on a sourdough roll, several pasta dishes and grilled seafood. The specialty is grilled leg of lamb in a port wine reduction, served perhaps with mustard greens and a casserole of flageolet beans, roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic and preserved lemon. Desserts reflect the chef’s French heritage as well: the specialty cherry clafoutis from Burgundy, profiteroles, tarte tatin and chocolate marquise. The crème brûlée might bear an Asian accent of ginger and lemongrass. (860) 435-1011. www.pastoralebistro.com. Entrées,
$16.50 to $24. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday 5 to 9 or 9:30. Sunday, brunch
noon to 3:30, dinner noon to 8. Thomas Moran's Petite Syrah Chef Thomas Moran worked around the world for the Four Seasons hotel chain and then cooked for six years for the demanding Relais & Chateaux clientele at the Mayflower Inn nearby. Although not exactly a household word, his name carried weight locally when he and his wife embarked in 2003 on their first solo venture, an intimate bistro in a small white dormered house that long housed the French restaurant Le Bon Coin in the Woodville section of New Preston. His theme is “California Meets New England,” a reference to the light, creative California style with Asian accents he imparts to local ingredients. Appetizers like Maine jonah crab spring roll and a duck confit quesadilla with spicy Chinese sambal are examples. The short menu changes nightly. At a recent visit, you could start with saku tuna tartare with pickled ginger or seared foie gras with pear compote and baby greens. Main courses ranged from Maine diver scallops with steamed cockles, shrimp wontons, Thai noodles and ponzu soy broth to venison medallions with sautéed potato cake and cranberry-chestnut essence. The Florida tilapia fillet was sauced with rice wine-garlic-chile vinaigrette and served with mashed potatoes and baby vegetables. Desserts included a classic crème brûlée and chocolate decadence cake with praline ice cream. The chef claims “a love affair with the California wine country,” which accounts for naming his restaurant for a wine indigenous to California. His small lounge with a copper-topped bar is painted a wine red. He renovated the entry so the lounge is partly open to the beamed dining room appointed in white and brown. The open feeling extends to the guest experience. The exuberant chef tries to meet and greet diners upon arrival “and then do what I like best – cook for fun.” (860) 868-7763. Entrées, $22 to $29. Lunch,
Saturday and Sunday 11:30 to 3. Dinner, Thursday-Monday 6 to 11. Oliva Chef Riad Aamar moved from Doc’s up the road to take over this ground-level café, a snug, grotto-like setting with fieldstone walls, bleached barnwood and a huge, warming fireplace for chilly evenings. In summer, folks spill out from the 30-seat interior to tables on a jaunty, flower-bedecked front terrace nurtured by his wife, Joanna Lawrence. Here, in a kitchen even smaller than at Doc’s, the personable Moroccan-born chef produces dynamite pizzas, super appetizers and a dozen robust pastas and Mediterranean entrées that earned the New York Times reviewer’s highest rating. Typical among the latter are linguini with garlicky shrimp, prosciutto and gorgonzola, sautéed tilapia served over roasted vegetables with saffron-lemon cream, Moroccan-style roasted chicken stuffed with prunes and pinenuts, veal stew and Moroccan lamb tagine. The menu is printed daily. You might start with the house antipasto (roasted vegetables, mixed cheeses and often prosciutto), seared sea scallops wrapped in grape leaves or a spinach and goat cheese tart over baby greens. Many choose one of the thin-crust pizzas, perhaps the artichoke with prosciutto, olives and mozzarella with spinach and sundried tomatoes. Pizzas are served in small and large sizes, and like the appetizers can be ordered “assaggi” style (a sampler of any two). Desserts could be a caramelized pear and marzipan tart, chocolate pot de crème, panna cotta with raspberry sauce, coffee-espresso ice cream or chocolate macaroons. (860) 868-1787. Entrées, $12.75 to $23.75.
Lunch, Saturday and Sunday noon to 2:30. Dinner, Wednesday-Sunday 5 to
9. BYOB.
Beautiful Lake Waramaug sparkles below the popular outdoor terrace at this landmark Federal structure, with the Litchfield Hills rising all around. You could easily imagine yourself beside one of the lakes in the Alps, and Austrian chef-owner Franz Schober feels right at home. Lunch or dinner on the lakeview terrace, shaded by a giant horse-chestnut tree and distinguished by striking copper and wrought-iron chandeliers and lanterns, is a treat from spring into fall. Inside, one dining room is Victorian, while the other is rustic with barn siding and ship's figureheads. The menu always includes wiener schnitzel and sweetbreads Viennese, dishes that we remember fondly from years past. Other possibilities might be broiled salmon, backhendl with lingonberries, chicken cordon bleu, loin lamb chops and filet mignon with béarnaise sauce. The roast pheasant with red cabbage and spaetzle is especially popular in season. For vegetables, you may get something unusual like braised romaine lettuce. Appealing desserts are baba au
rhum (rich, moist and very rummy), white chocolate
mousse, strawberries romanoff and grand marnier soufflé glacé.
The varied wine list offers a number from Switzerland as well as several
from Hopkins Vineyard next door. (860) 868-7295. Entrées, $16.50 to $19.75. Lunch,
Tuesday-Saturday noon to 2, May-October; Saturday only in April,
November and December. Dinner, Tuesday-Friday 6 to 9 or 10, Saturday
from 5:30, Sunday 12:30 to 8:30. Closed January-March.
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