RESTAURANTS
bassador to France from 1776—78 when he rallied French support for American independence — the restaurant’s modern interior is almost unrecognizable, and that’s meant in the best possible way.The menu? It’s French-ish. Or as its new owners describe it, it’s “uniquely French-American.” What that means is some strictly French dishes, like a filet mignon pommes Lyonnaise with a red wine reduction (aka marchand de vin) and oysters with a tangy mignonette. Where the “ish” comes into play is practically in every dish, such as a bacon cheeseburger, but with melted raclette, and other meat and fish entrées that include some French cooking technique or classic sauce. It’s cliché to say, “Don’t skip dessert,” but that applies here. The Benjamin’s pastry and sourdough program is under the direction of pastry chef Melissa Knauer, whose previous stints include Pawling Bread Co. and Arethusa a mano in Bantam. — AD
20 West Lane, Ridgefield
La Casa Mania
Cuisine: Mexican
Two couples, each running a food truck and with young kids, became fast friends and now are running this family-friendly restaurant together. At the heart of La Casa Mania is its fresh take on street food with dishes like their beef birria tacos using beef that’s been slow roasted for hours. Dishes are perfectly seasoned with a well-balanced flavor profile that’s best described as spicy, sweet, earthy and savory. The guacamole is made fresh and even topped with a radish garnish. The tacos come loaded and are of a generous size, so plan on taking home leftovers.The atmosphere also makes this a fun place to hang out. The decor pays a nod to Loteria, sometimes called Mexican bingo, as Loteria cards are handed out with chips so diners can play a game during or after their meal. Don’t expect fancy table settings, though. In keeping with the casual vibe reminiscent of its food-truck origins, meals are served on simple plates atop red-and-white checkered paper. —AV
50 Rapallo Ave., Middletown
La Casita Del Sabor
Cuisine: Latin American This “little house of flavor” offers a mix of Latin American food that is plated and seasoned beautifully. The restaurant, the third owned by the Olmino family, is managed by Cristian Olmino, one of matriarch Maria’s three sons. The other two locations are in Hartford.What brings customers again and again are the dishes that keep with the family’s focus on incorporating different food traditions, with a melting pot of flavors from Mexico, Honduras, the Caribbean and more. A must are the pupusas, dumplings originating in El Salvador offered in three varieties: cheese, beans and cheese, and pork and
cheese. A dozen mofongo dishes are available, a staple dish in Puerto Rico using plantains as its base ingredient. The plantains are so fresh they seem as if they were just picked. Customer favorites include empanadas, carne asada, bistec encebollado and breakfast dishes like huevos estrellados. Portions are large, and the wait service is friendly and quick. — AV
650 S. Main St., Middletown
The Curry Queen
Cuisine: Indian
When Nalini Srinivasan retired in Old Saybrook and took a look around, she noticed something missing, and decided to remedy the situation. She says she wanted to bring more homestyle Indian cooking to the area, “The kind of food we cook at home. I wanted to introduce people to those flavors.” Mission accomplished. One of those people was iconic chef Jacques Pepin, a local who had high praise for the experience.Srinivasan says her mother and grandmother’s cooking inform the tradition at Curry Queen, where she and chef Navin Mishra use a light hand on spices, but the spices they use are always freshly ground and prepared on-site. Curries and kormas make up much of the menu, alongside Anglo-Indian dishes like railway chicken in this humble space with outstanding cuisine. —JG
93 Elm St., Old Saybrook
Esh
Cuisine: Mediterranean “Esh” means “fire,” which is an appropriate concept for one of the hottest new restaurants in Fairfield County. The restaurant was literally built around a bespoke series of wood-fired ovens and grills created by master brick-oven designer Nobile Attie. The menu is Mediterranean, with strong influences from Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece and Morocco. This means lahmajoun flatbread with mixed lamb, red onion, tahini, pinenuts, sumac, parsley and tomato share a menu with Aegean salad, shrimp and vermicelli, and a charcoal-grilled whole branzino with garlic confit and sage. The
flavors are extravagant, and seemingly endless. The portions are large, most arrive with a type of bread, and we recommend getting many smaller plates. You’ll want to try it all. — JG
1401 Kings Hwy., Fairfield
Fire by Forge
Cuisine: Pan-American When the Frog Hollow neighborhood’s beloved Firebox restaurant closed, a new door opened. Fire by Forge is open from breakfast through dinner, offering down-home American classics to Latin favorites, and a wealth of options between that they call “pan-American cuisine.” FbF is also an enterprise of Forge City Works, which offers job training to people with barriers to employment, such as poverty, incarceration, homelessness or addiction/recovery. A new restaurant can be a new opportunity in more ways than one.In our review, we said “Fire by Forge seems almost to move with the sun, gradually opening front to back,” with the front tavern room serving as the breakfast area (look out for Ruby’s Wake-Up Sandwich), the middle section, with booths and photos of employee success stories, to a larger but somehow more intimate space they call the back “wine room.” We’ve enjoyed everything from cornbread biscuits to pan-roasted branzino on a farro piccolo salad, but even a quick stop by for happy hour helps the mission. It’s true feelgood food. — JG
539 Broad St., Hartford
Gather55
Cuisine: New American Money spent at Gather55 helps support Hands on Hartford, a nonprofit that serves economically challenged Hartford residents. But that’s not the sole reason you should go there or why the restaurant has made waves in the Connecticut food industry since it opened its doors. Instead, Gather55 draws fans for its innovative approach to menu-making. The brainchild of award-winning chef Tyler Anderson, Gather55’s constantly evolving menu features several new dishes each month contributed by a rotating cast of celebrated
Connecticut chefs. These are then brought to life by Gather55’s culinary director, chef Rob Maffucci, who also shares some of his own recipes. One recent edition of the menu featured pasta Bolognese from chef Billy Grant (West Hartford’s Restaurant Bricco), alongside Maffucci’s chicken cacciatore and a flourless chocolate torte from pastry chef Kristin Eddy and many more famous dishes from Connecticut’s culinary royalty. This dinner program supports the restaurant’s daytime work as a pay-what-you-want/ participation restaurant that allows visitors to make a minimum donation or volunteer to work in exchange for service, though those who can’t work or pay are never turned away. — EO
55 Bartholomew Ave., Hartford
Geppetto Osteria e Bisteccheria
Cuisine: Italian
Let’s just start with these opening lines from a recent Google review: “I almost cried the last time I dined in this establishment because the food was so good. I’ve never had a meal so tasty, and I was faced with the realization that no meal I would even eat in the rest of my life would compare.” That may seem over the top, but we started hearing raves like that immediately after the owners of Convivium Osteria, a classic Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, opened Geppetto in the fall of 2022. And the praise has been sustained. A peek at the menu indicates why. You can start with a board of meats or cheeses, or opt for an antipasto with a baroque range of flavors: roasted quail, stuffed with sausages, mortadella and almonds, radicchio and port wine reduction. Fresh pastas include housemade squid ink tagliolini with whole shrimp, calamari, cherry tomatoes and Calabrian chili oil. There’s also steaks and chops, housemade desserts, and a nice wine list. If you need more inspiration to make a reservation, just head to Geppetto’s Instagram page. — DPC
24 E. Main St., Torrington
Gioia
Cuisine: Italian Opening a new Italian restaurant on New Haven’s famed Wooster Street is a tall task, but restaurateurs Avi Szapiro and Tim Cabral are up for it. The two shared a wall between Szapiro’s Roia and Cabral’s Ordinary near the New Haven Green, and were brainstorming ideas to work together when they learned about the closing of the venerable Tony & Lucille’s and knew they had found their opportunity.The space has been comprehensively redesigned to accommodate the new full-length bar with an outstanding cocktail program from Cabral and beverage director Michela Zurstadt, along with a dining area, and a kitchen centered on the modern wood-fired grill from which most of Gioia’s menu emerges. A fresh pasta program produces more traditional delights, like gnocchi cacio e pepe, and squash agnolotti for the winter. Gioia also incorporates an Italian market which can become a private dining room, and their own gelato is available either inside or from a walk-up window on Brown Street. A rooftop bar and snacks area is expected to open this year. — JG
150 Wooster St., New Haven
Greer Southern Table
Cuisine: Southern
After three successful, popular Southern restaurants in Norwalk in Mama’s Boy Southern Table & Refuge, Jax & Co. and Peaches Southern Pub & Juke Joint, restaurateur Greer Fredericks moved to the Big Apple to open a counter-style version of Peaches. But that went down just before the shutdowns in 2020, and she decided to close up shop and thought she’d never get back in the hospitality industry. Having moved back to Connecticut, Fredericks was persuaded by developer Jason Milligan to get back in the game and promised her she could design her namesake restaurant, Greer Southern Table, herself.A culmination of all her previous spots, GST showcases all that low-country cuisine from shrimp and grits to gumbo, Appalachian-caught trout, “redneck edamame” (actually hot boiled peanuts), and plenty of New Orleans representation with char-grilled oysters that are an ode to Drago’s Seafood Restaurant, and yaka mein, a popular Cajun noodle soup with tender brisket and rich bone broth. And don’t worry, Fredericks brought along her famous fried chicken and all its accompaniments (mac & cheese, slaw and cornbread), as well as her addictive beet-brined deviled eggs with pickled okra and a meaty chunk of braised bacon. — AD
7 River St., Norwalk
Hachiroku Handroll Bar & Tapas
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi The second Hachiroku offering from owner Yuta Kamori is another authentic addition to the New Haven food scene. The original, Shokudo & Sake Bar on Orange Street in the city’s East Rock neighborhood, boasts iza