Your guide to the heart of Litchfield County:
Discover local stories, hidden gems, and must-know events.

Charcoal Chef’s old-school food and drink

By Charles Dubow

The roadsides of America used to swarm with restaurants promising in neon lettering steaks, chops, and cocktails. In these post-cholesterol times, though, such establishments have given way to more ecumenical fare. We modern diners demand the organic, the grass-fed, the exotic, and the new to stimulate our jaded palettes. Fortunately, for those who continue to hanker for such classics as a char-broiled New York Strip, breaded shrimp, St. Louis ribs, pork chops, a hamburger with all the fixings, an ice cream sundae or a dry Martini, there are still places like Woodbury’s Charcoal Chef.

On a recent visit to the Charcoal Chef I was glad to see the parking lot was full of every type of vehicle from Range Rovers to pickup trucks. Inside, the restaurant was packed. Families and couples on a night out filled the tables in the dining room. They don’t come here for the décor (which hasn’t changed in decades), the exquisite table ware (the napkins are paper), or the wine list (which is modest at best). There is nothing here to appeal to a food snob. There is no Wagyu beef, Fiddlehead ferns, or aged balsamic vinegar. But there is good, old-fashioned stick-to-your-ribs cooking that will gratify your taste buds as much as your bank account.

Opened in 1956 as a drive-in truck stop, today the Charcoal Chef is run by Judy Doran—daughter of the original owners Bob and Vee Sanderson—and her daughter Mikey Wescott. (Judy handles the day shift and Mikey does nights.) At any given time, the restaurant will be staffed by various members of their family or long-time staffers who all make a point to make guests feel welcome. And many of their patrons have been coming here for years. Carolyn Klemm, of Klemm Real Estate, is such a fan of their excellent fried chicken that she orders it for her famous parties. “I have been going there for over 40 years and love it.”

So come and bring an appetite. You will love it too. 

Charcoal Chef
670 Main St., North, Woodbury
203-263-2538

By Charles Dubow

One of the odder sights during the height of Covid—a time when we were becoming accustomed to odd sights on an all-too frequent basis—was driving down Route 202 in Marbledale and seeing an empty parking lot in front of The White Horse Country Pub. That’s because as anyone who has ever driven through Marbledale knows, on a normal day the parking lot of The White Horse—not to mention the lot across the street—is usually packed from lunch through dinner with cars and motorcycles belonging to patrons who have come from all over to eat and drink. 

Litchfield does not want for pubs but the award-winning White Horse is in a class by itself. Whether because of its location along a busy road, its charming décor, or the quality of its food, The White Horse is clearly one of the most popular restaurants in the county. 

It’s not hard to see why. With Covid restrictions having eased, The White Horse is once again packed. In one of its three dining rooms or four patios, families gather, birthdays are celebrated in front of the fireplace, young couples canoodle in booths, at the bar fans line up to grab a beer and watch football, and the wait staff whiz by wielding trays of food and drinks. 

The long and customer-friendly menu is also one of the reasons for its ongoing popularity. Fancy a traditional British pub meal? The Shepherd’s Pie, Bangers and Mash, and Fish and Chips—all washed down with English ales such as Bass or Old Speckled Hen—are the best around. Of course, if you want a burger, The White Horse has one to suit every palate; including, but not limited to, its classic pub burger, its Akaushi burger—8 oz. of Wagyu beef—and, for heat-seekers, its Red Knight Fire burger, complete with fire-roasted jalapenos and poblano chilies. (It even has a veggie burger made of quinoa, black bean, sunflower seeds, vegetables & herbs.) Steak lovers won’t be disappointed with its char-grilled 12 oz. Black Angus Strip. In the mood for something more exotic? Try the Persian Lamb Koftas, Chicken Tikka Masala, or Moules Frites. 

The beauty of The White Horse is that it caters to all tastes and makes everyone feel welcome. No wonder it won Litchfield Magazine’s Annual Reader’s Choice in multiple categories including Best Burger, Best Brunch, and Best Casual Dining.

whitehorsecountrypub.com
860-868-1496
258 New Milford Turnpike, Marbledale

David Di Stasi’s brilliant Italian cooking

By Charles Dubow

“For the holidays this year I am thinking of doing something special and traditional, like a variation on the Feast of the Seven Fishes,” says David Di Stasi, head chef and co-owner of Materia, a new Italian restaurant in Bantam. That would be a meal worth eating, given that David knows his way around a fish. After all, before opening Materia in March with his brother Michael, he was cooking in southern Tuscany for three years and before that worked for five years at Le Bernardin, arguably the world’s greatest seafood restaurant. 

The brothers, who were born and raised in Watertown, took over the former La Cupola and David introduced a menu that focuses on fresh meats and produce sourced from local farms. “Everything we do here is seasonal,” he says. “That was something I learned in Italy. When you use the best ingredients you don’t need to make food complicated. Fresh pasta, fresh ragu, and fresh herbs. Who needs more than that?”

The emphasis on the best ingredients is the basis of the restaurant’s name. “La Materia Prima is Italian for the best raw materials,” says David.” That’s what we are all about here. Keep it simple but delicious.” 

And the food is delicious. I am a native New Yorker who lived in Rome and have enjoyed my fair share of Italian food and David’s work is easily some of the best I’ve ever eaten. His terrine of pumpkin, brown butter, parmigiano and ossetra caviar drizzled with aged Modena balsamic vinegar was decadent and revelatory. The combination of sweet and sour, soft and crunchy, with just the right balance of umami made me want to weep with pleasure. 

He is also a wizard with more traditional fare as well. His tagliatelle with a ragu of beef and pork was perfection. The fresh pasta—all the pasta is made in-house—was light yet firm, the ragu hearty yet delicate. Equally fine are the roasted King Trumpet mushroom, squid ink ravioli, vitello tonnato, and braised pork chop. In fact, everything is pretty terrific. Expect great things from this young man. 

materiaristo.com
637 Bantam Rd., Bantam
860-567-3326

By Charles Dubow

The White Hart Inn in Salisbury is one of the grande dames of Litchfield County. Originally built in 1806 as a farmhouse, it has been a place where both locals and weekend guests can enjoy a pint in the Tap Room, have a sundowner on its spacious front porch, celebrate a wedding, or eat lunch on its wide lawn.

But for a while it seemed as though the White Hart was finished. In 2010 new owners renovated the inn’s interiors at great expense and introduced an overly elaborate menu. The plan backfired and the inn sat dark for four years. The grande dame appeared to have taken her last bow.

Then in 2014 new owners brought the old girl back to life. They hung works by Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Terry Winters, Donald Baechler, and others on the walls and installed a new team in the kitchen. One on that team was Paul Pearson, who is head chef. Born and raised in England, Paul first came to the States in 2004 to work at Blantyre in Lenox, MA, and has also worked at Community Table in Washington. 

Today his goal is to create traditional food that is low key and family friendly. “We don’t need to have a fancy menu. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be refined. The goal is to make the White Hart a place where the whole community can come.”

Part of that plan has been to streamline the menu and to offer take-away food from White Hart Provisions. Unlike in the past, today there is one menu for both the restaurant and the Tap Room, offering a selective choice of appetizers, entrees, and desserts utilizing local and seasonal ingredients. The beef used in the hamburger, for example, is from Whippoorwill Farm in nearby Lakeville, and the lettuce from Common Hands Farm in Hillsdale, NY.

Other favorites include the chermoula roasted chicken; grilled peach with goat cheese and dukkah; and lentil dahl with cauliflower, crème fraîche, scallions, and toast.

“I love this part of the world,” says Paul. “The products available, the openness, the seasons. I feel so lucky to live here and raise a family.” Diners at the White Hart are lucky to have him.

whitehartinn.com
15 Under Mountain Rd., Salisbury
860-435-0030

By Charles Dubow

“Just don’t order the Brussels sprouts,” said my 20-year-old daughter as we sat down for dinner at @ The Corner in Litchfield. I’m glad I didn’t listen to her. That’s because chef Carlos Perez’s Hawaiian Truffle Brussels Sprouts might just be one of the best things I have ever eaten. A combination of crispy sprouts, pineapple, bacon lardons, local honey, black garlic, and truffle parmesan with a maraschino cherry glaze—the intense flavors pop and mingle in your mouth, the combination of warm layers of sweetness and salt overwhelm your taste buds, leaving you almost weeping with pleasure.

“I love experimenting with food,” says Perez. “I just knew it would work.” The slender, heavily-tattooed chef has been at @ The Corner since May of 2020 and has led a remarkable turnaround at what had once been a local burger joint.

A graduate of the International Culinary Center, Perez, 34, is not new to Litchfield. Born and raised in Woodbury, he was executive chef at the venerable West Street Grill, and worked at Bobby Flay’s ground-breaking Mesa Grill in Manhattan. In addition to revitalizing the menu, Perez is active on social media and has introduced pop-up dining events, including a Korean evening and one dedicated to the late Anthony Bourdain.

Like many passionate young chefs he has embraced farm-to-table, adapting his menu to the change of seasons, but his special quality is that he actually trained as a pastry chef; a fact that, once known, immediately explains his ability to bring complex tastes together while also focusing intensely on the textures and mouthfeel of his ingredients. For example, his unbelievably light sea scallops paired with spinach and artichoke risotto was the savory equivalent of a creamy lemon meringue pie served with macaroons. Sublime. Equally delicious are his flank steak with ramp chimichurri, insanely good truffle asiago fries and, well, pretty much everything else.

Anyone who can make Brussels sprouts in such a way that my daughter will eat them is a good cook. The fact that she practically fought me to finish off what was left in the bowl proves he is a great talent.

Closed Mondays.

@ The Corner
3 West St, Litchfield
860-567-8882

By Charles Dubow

Residents of the Northwest Corner might be excused for thinking that a little bit of France has appeared in our midst. That’s because veteran chef Robert Arbor has opened Le Gamin, what is arguably the best authentic French bistro in Litchfield County. Born in Fontainebleau and schooled at the French Culinary Institute in New York, Arbor has taken over a closed restaurant in Sharon Center and done something wonderful with it. This should come as no surprise to long-time New Yorkers who may remember Arbor’s Le Gamin in SoHo, where the classic cuisine was always unfussy and delicious, and the coffee was served in enormous bowls. (Although the original is gone, there remains another outpost in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.) “I didn’t want to open another restaurant,” he says with a laugh. “But we had recently bought a home in Sharon and I kept driving by this empty space. It was calling to me.”

After opening in February, word quickly spread. Local farmers came by offering him their fresh eggs, milk and vegetables, and local residents descended on him for French comfort food, practically hugging themselves over their good fortune. Not only is Arbor doing a cracking business in take-out—“People call me up and ask for a three-course meal for eight all the time”—but the bistro’s outdoor patio and indoor seating are packed for lunch even on weekdays. Reservations recommended for weekends.

In addition to offering a regular menu ranging from crepes, home-made foie gras (heaven), duck omelettes to croque monsieur, duck confit and l’entrecote, there are always daily specials such as cassolette d’escargots and roast chicken. Throughout the day a steady stream of patrons pop in for coffee, and fresh-baked croissants and baguettes.

Arbor, who now divides his time between Sharon and Brooklyn, has ambitious plans for Le Gamin and looks forward to working with even more local farmers and getting a liquor license. For the time being, it’s BYOB. “What I am particularly looking forward to is reviving the old MacDougal Street tradition of hosting an annual boules tournament on Bastille Day. That was always a good time.”

Open seven days 10 am – 8 pm.

Le Gamin
10 Gay Street
Sharon
[email protected]

By Charles Dubow

Some people claim they don’t like dessert. Anthony D’Amelio loves to change their minds. “Customers will come in and tell me they ‘aren’t dessert eaters,’” he says, “but I will still send them out a little something, a complimentary macaroon, a scoop of ice cream, a bonbon, and that usually does it. Every time they come back they order dessert.”

D’Amelio is the pastry chef and baker at Swyft Restaurant in Kent. The desserts and breads he makes have turned what many people see as a sideshow when dining out, into the main event. A veteran of famous restaurants such as Mercer Kitchen, Payard—where he learned to make his wildly popular macaroons—and Jean-Georges, as well as a graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York, D’Amelio wants diners to understand that desserts are not about sweetness. “Most people think of desserts as sugar but I try to achieve a more balanced flavor using fresh local ingredients and inserting multiple components that complement each other.”

This complex layering of textures and tastes was something he learned while cooking in France. “My cheesecake looks like a candy bar because it’s covered with white Valrhona chocolate, but when you eat it there’s an almond crust on the bottom, then a cream cheese layer infused with Meyer lemon, and a topping of mousse flavored with coconut. The crunchy and the smooth, the light and airy, the sweet and the acid, blend perfectly together.”

While he is passionate about pastry and bread-baking, D’Amelio is also justifiably recognized for his ice cream and sorbets. “I’ve even had customers come in here and ask me to open up a gelateria here in Kent.” But don’t expect to return each time and be served the same item. This talented patissier changes his menu regularly according to the season and availability of ingredients, which he sources from as near as Rock Cobble Farm in South Kent and as far as Sicily.

“I’m an impatient person and get bored easily. I love to experiment and always want customers to have something new on their palette.”

Swyft
3 Maple Street
Kent
860-592-0404

By Charles Dubow

When we first started coming up to Litchfield County for weekends we went to Lakeville. The two things we always looked forward to most were the chance to take our long-suffering city dog for a walk in the country and the food at Mizza’s. Our house was right up the road and every Friday night as soon as we had unpacked I would pick up a few of their delicious pizzas or one of their dinners.

We now live full-time in Washington and our kids are older, but we still try to get to Mizza’s as often as possible even though it is 40 minutes away. Our son graduated from Salisbury School so he was lucky enough to continue to order in from there on a regular basis. (Mizza’s does a thriving business with both Salisbury and Hotchkiss.)

What makes Mizza’s so great? It’s not the décor, which is pretty basic. But don’t get thrown by that. The reason to come here is for the food, which is always terrific. In addition to its excellent thin-crust pizzas, the comprehensive menu also offers an array of toothsome meals, from fried calamari and potato skins to hamburgers, wraps, salads, grinders, pasta, calzones, strombolis, lasagna, stuffed shells, milk shakes and, yes, full dinners. Our favorites are the chicken pesto dinner—sautéed with spinach and tomatoes and served over linguine, the chicken Florentine, and the linguine with clams—side salad and bread included. Each one is a feast.

The other reason to come is the warm welcome. Owners Eddie and Bianca Canie, and Eddie’s brother Todi, who have been there since 2006, are not only terrific cooks but they also set the tone for the place, calling out greetings from the kitchen. Regulars are always met with a smile and maybe a little extra like a free dessert—my daughter loves the chocolate cake—or a soda.

During COVID the restaurant has stayed open and in warmer months it has plentiful outdoor seating on the deck. It also offers free delivery but unfortunately they don’t come as far as Washington. I only wish they did.

Mizza’s Restaurant & Pizza
6 Ethan Allen Street
Lakeville
860-435-6266

By Joseph Montebello

In an area rife with outstanding restaurants, choosing the best of the best was challenging to say the least. But our readers stepped forward with their favorites, beginning with Community table in Washington, first place winner as favorite restaurant. In 2018 Ct reopened. Now in the capable hands of restaurateur Joann Makovitzky and renowned Charleston chef Christian Hunter, the food and the atmosphere are superb, with tempting fares like butter poached blackfish loin, 24-hour braised beef short ribs, and housemade cannelloni.

If bread be the staff of life, then Niles Golovin is its patron saint. For almost 25 years, the award-winning Bantam Bread Company has been a mecca for superior baked goods. It is our Readers Choice for best bakery. Housed in an old farmhouse in Bantam, it exudes the charm of a French boulangerie, producing artisan breads and rustic pastries made with the finest ingredients “from scratch, by hand, and all natural.”

Located on Washington’s historic green is The Po Café, Readers Choice for favorite new restaurant. It officially opened in October with Maggie Colangelo at its helm. As former baker and owner of Food for Thought and 9 Main, she has created a warm and cozy spot with food to match. Serving her signature bakery items and desserts, as well as freshly made sandwiches, salads, and smoothies, including homemade pop tarts, it is a welcome addition.

Good service goes hand in hand with enjoying good food. Arethusa al Tavolo in Bantam is our Readers Choice for best service. Co-owner George Malkemus firmly believes that superior service is essential for a restaurant to be successful. The enthusiastic and caring wait staff adds considerably to the enjoyment of a meal. The restaurant has taken steps to keep its staff and its patrons safe with temperature checks, good table spacing, and a mask policy.

Where can one find a restaurant with 52 awards, four patios, three dining rooms, two fireplaces, and a river with a waterfall? The White Horse Country Pub in New Preston Marbledale, home of the Readers Choice favorite hamburger. While the menu lists close to a dozen, it is the house signature burger that steals the show: ½ lb. blend of black angus sirloin, brisket, and short rib, with applewood smoked bacon, caramelized onions, romaine leaf, tomato, and sage derby blue cheese sauce on a buttered brioche. And what better place to eat this succulent gem but on the back terrace facing the river and the waterfall, earning the White Horse the award for favorite outdoor dining. Additionally, this restaurant is also home to everyone’s favorite brunch. Offering too many delectable dishes to list here, the pub checks all the boxes for a very special restaurant.

If pizza is your food of choice, head on over to Pizzeria Marzano in Torrington, our Readers Choice for the best pizza. Jon Eucalito opened his pizzeria when he was 21 years old. Twelve years later it is in a bigger space and offering a new Roman-style pizza cooked in their custom made brick oven with a thicker crust and a soft and airy interior, a unique addition to its list of mouth-watering pizzas, sandwiches, and salads.

A new member of the restaurant community is Toast & Co. in Litchfield, which opened in 2019. Our Readers Choice for favorite coffee, it offers far more than the average cup of Joe. In the age of COVID, Toast offers comfortable sheltered outdoor seating where one can enjoy fresh brewed cups of hot coffee, café au lait, hot chocolate, chai tea, espresso, and a menu of accompaniments from muffins to specialty sandwiches.

Readers Choice Guide

In honor of its centennial birthday this fall, the Mayflower Inn & Spa, Auberge Resorts Collection; welcomed acclaimed chef April Bloomfield as chef-in-residence to oversee all dining operations at the 58-acre Connecticut resort, including both on-site dining  venues; The Garden Room, the hotel’s upscale signature restaurant, and The Tap Room, harking back to her British roots serving hearty, reimagined pub-style fare in a tavern-like setting.  

The highlight of chef Bloomfield’s residency centers around the opening of The Garden Room, set in the hotel’s main dining room with a new design by interior designer Celerie Kemble. Bloomfield’s menu celebrates elegant rusticity, while the design draws inspiration from the natural world and surrounding gardens with a large-scale floral mural and vibrant greenery throughout.

This holiday season, chef April Bloomfield serves two distinct three-course pre-fixe festive menus on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, featuring ingredients from local Connecticut farms prepared with English sensibilities. “To celebrate the holidays, we created a special and celebratory dining experience for Christmas, incorporating more luxurious and festive dishes that emphasize the spirit of togetherness,” shares Chef Bloomfield. The pre-fixe menu include Guinea fowl and lobster mushroom terrine with sherry and apple jelly to start; roasted halibut with manilla clams and parsley sauce or roasted spiced pork loin with roasted apples and sherry jus as mains; followed by decadent desserts like mince pies with whipped creme fraiche, creme pot with caramelized roasted citrus, and pistachios and Christmas pudding with brandy butter. 

Chef Bloomfield’s Christmas eve and Christmas day feasts will be offered in The Garden Room for $120/pp (adults), $75/pp (children); optional wine pairings available.

Mayflower Inn & Spa
118 Woodbury Rd
Washington
860-868-9466