The Pink House Opens the Door to a Cornwall Renaissance
By Charles Dubow
Photos by Sabrina Eberhard
Open only since August, award-winning chef Gabe McMackin and his team—co-owner and creative director Marina Muñoz, manager Michael Regan, and executive chef Cedric Durand—have quickly established West Cornwall’s The Pink House as one of the most exciting new dining destinations in Litchfield County.
The restaurant—which is actually painted red—is only the first step in a plan led by local investor David Ellen and the West Cornwall Development Group to revitalize the pretty but sleepy town. “The Pink House is the big Italianate house on the property. It had once been painted pink, and that is what people remember, and that’s what gave our project its name,” says the Argentina-born Muñoz, a fashion industry veteran who recently moved to the area full-time to raise her young children. “The idea is to eventually also have a retail space, a grocery, and a café—maybe even a boutique hotel down the road—to make West Cornwall more of a destination.”
Muñoz got involved when she first thought about opening a store in part of The Pink House itself. She pivoted to the restaurant when Ellen told her that the space previously occupied by frank.food company would soon be available.
“Running a restaurant is something neither David nor I had much experience doing. Friends of mine spoke to me about Gabe McMackin, and recommended we meet,” she says. McMackin, a Woodbury native who went to The Taft School and washed dishes during the summer at the Hopkins Inn, has strong ties to Litchfield County.
Over the years he has worked at some of the best restaurants in the county and in New York, including Thomas Moran’s Petite Syrah (now Community Table), The Mayflower, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and Gramercy Tavern. His Clinton Hill restaurant The Finch won a Michelin star before closing in 2020. Most recently, he had been executive chef at Troutbeck.
McMackin’s menu, which he created with Durand (a Frenchman who cooked for Daniel Boulud), is sophisticated without being fussy. “I want to try to give people a way in by offering them something familiar with a layer of surprise,” he says. A perfect example is his smoked pork ribs: The sweet tanginess is beautifully offset by acidic Savoy cabbage slaw, the combination of which results in one magnificent mouthful. Another memorable dish is maitake mushrooms with einkorn (an ancient grain), nuts, seeds, and what McMackin describes as a “puree of Green Things.” It was rich and chewy and wonderfully satisfying.
Other delights include the warm sourdough bread (served with cultured butter and honey); the hamachi crudo with sungold tomatoes, pickled Fresno peppers, and cilantro; and the smoked steelhead trout served with smoked trout roe, whipped egg, garlic confit, and tiny potato chips.
“I want the first and last bite to evolve,” he says, “so that, like a really good wine, the meal opens up as you enjoy it.”
And speaking of wine, the list is excellent, with an emphasis on natural wines.
34 Lower River Road, West Cornwall —thepinkhousect.com
