Glastonbury eatery knows just what its customers like
Wood-fire pizza, Sunday brunch, a medley of local brews among highlights
What makes The Beamhouse in Glastonbury a success?
Just ask owner Jonathan Lynch: “Who we employ, who we serve, what we serve make [The Beamhouse] a good, creative space for all the people that do work here.”
You find that creativity the moment you walk through the front door. The building oozes rustic, American character from its wood-paneled ceiling to its brick-backed bar. You feel like you are spending time in a classic … well, beam house. And then you get to the delicious, locally sourced menu.
“I think a great place to start is probably our pizza dough,” said Lynch.
“Our pizza dough is an extended fermentation pizza dough,” he said. “So we do a four-to-five-day ferment on that dough before it gets stretched and put in our oven.”
Along with a classic margherita pizza, they have got a sausage and broccoli rabe, fig and guanciale with caramelized onion mascarpone, and a “funghi” pizza with hen of the woods, taleggio, lacinato kale, and Calabrian chile peppers.
Pizzas are served for both lunch and dinner, but plenty more awaits adventurous palettes.
Lunch has a mix of lighter-fare salads and sandwiches. A few standouts are the casarecce pasta with duck ragu and garlic breadcrumbs, the pork milanese sandwich, or a beer-battered haddock.
Dinner features a deeper selection. Start off with over a dozen different starters, like hamachi crudo, smoked bluefish dip, anchovy toast, or endive salad. Follow it with large plates: dry-aged burger, scallops, short rib, duck breast, salmon, and more.
There are also desserts for the sweet tooth in your group, like almond tart or miso brownie.
They also offer Sunday brunch: pork confit poutine with hand cut fries, cheese curds, poached eggs, and duck fat gravy. Smothered focaccia with white bean amatriciana and
sunny side eggs. Chicken and biscuits with country gravy.
“Brunch has become a really, really fun service for us,” said Lynch. Depending on the week, it’s either our second or third busiest shift. We still do our pizzas. And then, of course, the bar program shifts to brunch cocktails, so we do a lot of mimosas.”
So how about the staff behind the restaurant? How did Lynch wind up working at one of the most exciting restaurants in the state?
All in the family
While Lynch didn’t grow up in the restaurant industry, he knew good food, thanks to his mother, Ellen Michalik.
“I grew up with an Italian mother, so she did all the cooking at home,” he said. “It was pretty rare that we went out to eat. Mostly just, you know, special occasions for other members of the family.”
His was a household that sat and had family dinner every night. He got to enjoy all the Italian classics, a parallel to some of The Beamhouse’s dishes. She was also a baker, making Christmas cookies every year for the family.
His uncle, as well, helped influence his passion.
“[He] had a huge, huge passion for cooking and a huge passion for food,” said Lynch. “[He] put himself through culinary school while also running his appraisal company. I always had cookbooks around. I was always talking about food.”
In time, Lynch was working in restaurants — at first to make ends meet, but soon to pursue his own creative endeavors. He went from a pizza maker to a general manager at Rizzuto’s in West Hartford.
But his next step was not Beamhouse. He took a break from the industry and put time into a wine company. It was only when given an opportunity to run the bar at Birch Hill Tavern in Glastonbury by his former partner, Bill, that his spark returned.
Opening The Beamhouse
Bill and his brother Adam helped bring Lynch a new perspective as well as a new venture.
“Eventually [I] had the opportunity to buy into that business,” said Lynch. “I partnered with Bill at Birch.”
Meanwhile, the pair opened another restaurant: The Beamhouse, an old tannery building that operated from the mid-1800s until the 1960s. It opened in August 2018.
“In that time I ended up buying out Bill,” he said. “So now I’m here, solo owner at Beamhouse and loving it.”
You are likely to find Lynch at the front of the house, greeting customers and helping his staff. He will be more than happy to welcome you in or answer any questions — especially if they are Lambic-adjacent.
“A Lambic, it’s a spontaneously fermented style of beer that originated in Belgium, Brussels region,” said Lynch.
Think a craft beer sour but much more complex, utilizing a house yeast and openair fermentation to create some truly unique beers. You will have your pick of local craft brews, too. When it all boils down, local is the name of the game at Beamhouse.
“We’ll probably have some new items on the menu for springtime,” said Lynch. We’re getting into peak season in the Northeast, so we’re excited to have a lot of fresh produce on the menu.”