"So
this is Connecticut???"
a clearly astonished truck driver from Maine asked
as he arrived at the Still River Café a few weeks
ago with 30 cubic yards of certified organic compost
from Winterwood Farm.
He explained that southern Maine, where
he lived, had pretty much become a suburb of Boston
and said that Eastford reminded him of the way
Maine used to be.
We have always felt that the rural charms
of The Quiet Corner-farms, rolling hills, stone
wall, winding roads, pristine lakes and rivers
-- are unique in Connecticut and often comment
that we feel as though we are living in a Currier
& Ives print.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that
they are unique in New England as a whole.
We are incredibly fortunate to live and
have our restaurant here.
We
have been very busy since the last newsletter.
This is the most demanding period in the
gardening calendar made all the more so by the
fact that we are not only harvesting what we planted
in greenhouses and cold frames in February for
use in the restaurant but transferring all of
the warm weather seedlings into the gardens.
We
have also been involved with a number of food-related
functions.
These include participating in the
"DISH" panel discussion on the restaurant business
which was held at Real Art Ways in Hartford on
April 30th (if it had been held a year ago we
would have been in the audience!!!) and contributing
to the "Heart & Sole Benefit for the Interval
House" which was held in Hartford on Saturday,
May 5th.
We
are auctioning off a multi-course dinner for six
which will be paired with seven of the world's
rarest white and red wines at the Connecticut
Culinary Master's Classic
to benefit the Connecticut Children's Medical
Center. In September we will be one of twenty
featured restaurants at The
Celebration of Connecticut Farms
in Glastonbury which has been described as "the
hottest food event in the state" by Connecticut
Magazine.
We were also asked to contribute an article
to a beautiful new publication in Connecticut
called Edible
Nutmeg which will appear in
July in the Summer issue.
The magazine is distribute free of charge
and can be found at numerous outlets throughout
the state.
We
have made a few changes to our hours in honor
of the luxuriously warm weather and long daylight
hours of summer.
We are open Friday and Saturday evenings
for dinner and accepting reservations from 5:00
p.m. until 9:00 p.m. We
offer a "First Seating" prix fixe
special for anyone who makes a reservation and
is seated by 5:30 p.m. which features an appetizer,
entrée and dessert for $35.00 per person.
We have ordered some French bistro tables and
chairs for our outdoor deck which will make for
a lovely excuse to enjoy an aperitif before your
meal. We have also brought back our
popular $26.00 wine pairing on Friday and Saturday
which includes a sparkling wine as an aperitif
and a choice of any two of three different white
or red wines to accompany appetizers and entrees.
As always, brunch and lunch are served
on Sundays from noon until 2:30 p.m.
We
are also planning a couple of special events about
which more information will come shortly.
One is a multi-course prix fixe-only celebration
of Bastille Day on Saturday, July 14, an event
about which we are all excited and no one more
so than our French-born and -trained chef, Laurent
Olivier.
On August 24 and 25, we will also be hosting
one of our closest chef friends on the island
of Saint Barthélemy in the French West Indies,
Franck Mathevet, who owns the wildly popular and
critically acclaimed Wall House restaurant.
We
are happy to report that May was our busiest month
to date eclipsing even our opening month when
there was much interest generated by the excitement
over the first pour of wine in Eastford, so, to
be absolutely safe, plan on calling ahead for
a table before you come.
We can usually accommodate anyone who calls
even as late as the day they wish to come.
We hope you will find time to come and
savor summer with us.
Bob
and Kara Brooks
