The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘FEELS LIKE HOME’
Branford restaurant celebrates 10 years on Main Street
BRANFORD — An Angus beef patty with Boursin cheese, pecan wood-smoked bacon, and sauteed mushrooms on a brioche bun. Baked Brie grilled cheese and roasted tomato soup with parmesan-crusted sourdough toast. “Fried Dough” chips with marinara and herb-whipped Liuzzi's ricotta cheese.
Those are among the reasons that the establishment with the distinctive brick exterior will celebrate its 10th year on Branford's Main Street this month.
Just ask Jeremy Destito, who's been coming with his wife most Thursday nights since Home opened in May 2012.
“Jared does some inventive stuff that you don't normally see at other restaurants,” he said “And he changes the menu every six months, so we're always excited to see what he comes up with next.”
Jared is Home owner Jared Schulefand, a former Modern Apizza busboy who honed his gastronomic chops at Johnson & Wales, then spent five years rising through the ranks at the four-star,
four-diamond resort Chatham Bars on Cape Cod.
All along, he was developing an image of the restaurant he would one day open.
“I wanted to create a place that’s casual and relaxed, where fine dining doesn’t require white linen tablecloths, where people feel at home,” said the amiable, curly-haired 39-yearold on a recent afternoon.
That meant soft leather chairs and couches in the front room that further Home’s aim “to provide all the comforts of home without needing to cook, set the table, and wash the dishes,” he said. Not to mention accommodations that include a gluten-free menu and a peanut-free kitchen.
It’s meant a family “Cheers”-like atmosphere fostered by Schulefand’s father, Steve, who tends bar Thursdays through Sunday nights.
“Steve has our drinks ready for us as we’re crossing the street,” Destito said.
Michaela Gavigan started as a busser as a sophomore at Branford High School in 2014. She’s still at Home, having worked there during summers while in college.
“Jared taught me about caring for customers, but also about hard work, that you should do things that make you happy, but work hard while doing it, and everything will come to you,” she said.
That’s why, it seems, Home has lasted as long as it has. “It’s the way Jared treats everyone, customers, staff, vendors,” she said. “It makes people want to keep coming back.”
To hear Schulefand tell it, his hiring of high school students over the years is no coincidence.
“That’s how I started, as a busboy, that’s how I fell in love with it, so it’s nice to pass it along, to teach them early the right way to do things,” he said.
Along the way, the Hamden native has refined his original vision, bringing live jazz to the front room and innovating with boxed picnics for the Jazz on the Green summer series just up the street.
“We actually expanded on that during COVID, and did a full-blown picnicstyle menu that went over really well,” he said. With the resumption of the summer series, “it should be back.”
He also opened the restaurant to local charities, staging benefits to support Feed Branford Kids, as well as a Home for the Holidays event for the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter.
Schulefand noted the support of the community during the pandemic.
“A lot of them started out as customers, and then became friends,” he said. “The fact that they saw us through really brought home how much we love this town.”
As readers have attested year after year, it’s the food, above all, that distinguishes Home, with the restaurant taking home honors as Best American Cuisine, Best Local Restaurant, and Best Bar in the ShoreLine Times Annual Best of Readers Poll.
“We just keep coming back because the food is so good and everyone there is so friendly and welcoming,” Destito said. “It sounds so corny and cliche but going there, it does feel like home.”
Home is at 1114 Main St. Branford. homerestaurantct.com; 203-483-5896.