Still River Cafe - General Information

The Still River Cafe reopened for the 2008 season on Friday, March 21st, the first weekend of spring and a time of unlimited optimism for gardeners and growers throughout the northern hemisphere. By the sun reaches the vernal equinox, the produce we planted in the fall that has wintered over in greenhouses and cold frames is practically begging to be harvested, and the seedlings which we started in February are flourishing. We had intended to reopen on Valentine's Day as we attempted to do last year (we were thwarted by an ice storm in 2007), but we were in the midst of a number of construction projects and knew that if we did not finish them while the restaurant was closed they would be delayed for the foreseeable future.

The most visible of these is the work we have done in the entry and bar area which we have endeavored to separate from the dining room adding comfort and privacy for those sitting at tables closest to the door and providing a place to have to have a drink for those arriving early for dinner. We are happy with the way it turned out and hope you will be too.

The winter break also gave us an opportunity to recharge our batteries and reflect upon what we have done and where we would like to go in the future. The challenge in 2007, our first full year in business, was to continue to improve our menu, wine list and service and survive our initial round of restaurant reviews. We are honored by the by the overwhelmingly positive response to Still River Cafe in The New York Times, Connecticut Magazine, the Hartford Courant, the Norwich Bulletin and Zagat's to name a few and are pleased that we were recently named as one of six Connecticut restaurants designated as an Editor's Choice destination in 2008 by Yankee Magazine. And while we recognize that providing the most pleasurable dining experience possible is and must remain our primary focus, we have also decided in 2008 to focus on issues which are near and dear to our hearts and inspired us to open Still River Cafe in the first place.

Very simply put, we left the security of our law careers and created the state's only restaurant which raises virtually all of its own produce because, like many of you, we were concerned about the presence of herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics and other chemical additives in the food our family consumed. We were also growing increasingly alarmed by the disappearance of open spaces and family farms as well as the environmental consequences of industrialized food production upon which so much of the contemporary American diet depends. We have all read that the average American meal travels 1,500 miles before it reaches our plates, and it is now estimated that nearly 25% of the world's carbon emissions are attributable to the way we produce and transport food-an amount equal to that contributed by all of the automobiles on the planet.

To be sure, it is daunting to figure out what we as individuals can do to make a difference, and the situation is made even more confusing by the number of people and businesses seeking to cash in on the public interest in things local, seasonal and organic. It is also easy to become discouraged with the lack of political leadership in this area. The risk is that we will all become numb to these issues or, worse, cynical.

At Still River Café, we strive to tread as lightly on the environment as possible. We never use chemicals of any kind in our gardens; we grow all of our own vegetables and obtain the food we do not produce ourselves locally thereby greatly reducing the distance our food must travel (and assuring incomparable quality and taste); we compost all of the vegetable waste generated in our kitchens (we even compost our menus which are printed each week on recycled paper); we save and filter the oil we use in our kitchen for fuel for our diesel tractor (and, as a consequence, have a tractor which smells delightfully of squash blossom beignets!); and we recycle all of our cardboard, cans and bottles. We are also bottling our own sparkling water as we think there is no justification for flying water half way around the world when the water from our own well is so delicious. The company from which we purchased the equipment that carbonates our water was created by two scientists as a way of raising funds for projects to provide safe drinking water in the Third World. Still, we feel we can and should do something more to try and have an impact beyond our restaurant.

Accordingly, our goal in 2008 is to use our farm / restaurant as an inspiration to our guests to consider raising some of their own produce-organically-- in their own backyards-a revival of the Victory Gardens concept which, during World War II, provided nearly 40% of the country's food production. To that end, we are hosting a series of Work for Food Saturday's where we invite you to join us working in the gardens for a day and, as an added enticement, offer you a gift certificate for brunch for two at Still River Café in return. We will supply the rocks, weeds, insects and tools; you bring a willingness to get your hands dirty and a desire to learn about organic gardening.

We also invite you to join us for one of our Rain Forest Dinners which will begin with a tour of the gardens and discussion of organic gardening techniques, followed by a cooking demonstration in our award-winning kitchen, and topped off by a seven-course tasting menu featuring-as always-the produce grown just feet from our restaurant door. The cost for the Rain Forest Dinner is $125 person and 25% of the proceeds will be donated to The Nature Conservancy's Rain Forest Project-an amount calculated to enable the Conservancy to preserve enough of the Amazon rain forest to offset the annual carbon emissions for one year for each guest who comes to the dinner.

Our other news is that we had a very successful Mother's Day and donated a portion of the proceeds to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Foundation which is dedicated to finding a cure for breast cancer and insuring quality care for all. Each guest also received a pink Susan G. Komen for the Cure® wristband commemorating the day and the cause. We will be participating in the "21 and Vine" event on May 29 from 6:00 - 9:00 at the Hartford 21 which is hosted by Spiritus Wines and benefits the Hartford Food Share and the Audubon Society's 10th Annual Owl Garden party June 19th in Pomfret Connecticut.

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Posted May 20, 2008

Please join us on Mother's Day at the Still River Café. In honor of mothers everywhere, we will be donating 15% of our profits on Mother's Day to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation which is dedicated to finding a cure for breast cancer and ensuring quality care for all.

We will be serving our full dinner menu and will be open special hours from 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

To learn more about the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, you can visit their website at www.komen.com.

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Posted May 1, 2008

We celebrated our one year anniversary on August 31, 2007 which was a milestone of sorts. As those of you who are familiar with the restaurant industry know (and as was pointed out to us repeatedly by those who sought to dissuade us from taking the plunge into this crazy business), 50% of all new restaurants fail in their first year. We didn't. To the contrary, we have seen our business grow steadily month by month. We have also been extremely fortunate to receive a flurry of positive restaurant reviews. In August, Connecticut Magazine awarded us 3-1/2 stars (out of a possible 4) and referred to our menu as "culinary artistry on dazzling display." In September, the New York Times gave us a rating of "Extraordinary"-- the highest rating possible which has only been given to two other restaurants in Connecticut. That was followed by a 4-star rating (out of 4) in the Norwich Bulletin in a review which described our restaurant as "one of the best in Connecticut." A couple of weeks ago, we were notified by ZAGAT that they had selected us for inclusion in their "America's Top Restaurants 2008" guide.

While the reviews in the New York Times and Connecticut Magazine have been a major boost for our business, they have also have produced some very amusing telephone calls from the 203 area code that go something like this:

203 area code caller: Congratulations on (the New York Times or Connecticut Magazine) review!

Kara or me: Thank you.

203 area code caller: You know what this means don't you?

Kara or me: We think so.

203 area code caller: Where's Eastford?

Kara or me: It's near Pomfret.

203 area code caller: [Silence]

Kara or me: Woodstock?

203 area code caller: [Silence].

Kara or me: Union?

203 area code caller: [Forget about it].

Kara or me: It's right off the road from Hartford to Boston.

203 area code caller: [Flicker of recognition]. The Merritt Parkway?

And so it goes. (Click here for actual directions)

On a personal level, our reactions to the favorable press we have received has been a little complicated. Coming from the ultra-competitive, winner-take-all world of the law, it would be easy to pound our chests and trumpet the various reviews and awards as a vindication, a triumph or a victory, but that begs the fundamental question: a vindication of what or a triumph or victory over whom? In reality, the only victories we are interested in now are personal. We want to do what we love to do and make other people happy in the process. To the extent the accolades we have received help us do that, we are pleased to have received them. It's that simple. In addition, as we have explained to visitors to Still River, we didn't get into the restaurant business simply to own a restaurant. No one in his or her right mind would do that. Instead, we did it because we wanted to create something unique and out of the ordinary. To have the Times refer to our little restaurant as "Extraordinary" is therefore particularly gratifying.

From a grower's perspective, the Summer of 2007, like all summers, had advantages and disadvantages. We were spared a wet spring, the bane of growers everywhere who attempt to extend their seasons by planting seeds and transplanting seedlings as early as possible. On the negative side, we were inundated by Japanese Beetles in almost biblical proportions. Everywhere there was a blossom or a tender leaf, there was a gang of beetles wreaking havoc and destruction. As organic growers, we dealt with it the only way we know how: by picking them off plants one-by-one and dropping them in a bucket of soapy water. Beetles have a surprisingly wide range, however, and no sooner would we finish collecting beetles for the day than a survivor would put out the word to all of the neighboring beetles that there was a feast to be had for free at Still River Café.

Like everyone in Connecticut, and people living east of the Connecticut River in particular, we were also visited by a severe drought which began in the middle of the summer and lasted well into the fall. Indeed, during one 10-week span, we got less than ½-inch of rain. As we subsist solely on well water both in our home and the restaurant, we were left with no choice but to water our gardens sparingly. We had to prioritize which plants would get water and decided to let the more drought-tolerant varieties fend for themselves.Unfortunately, this meant greatly reduced yields of eggplant and peppers. Our prized heirloom tomatoes weathered the lack of water reasonably well. On the bright side, we had bumper crops of

garlic, potatoes and onions. Our various salad greens, which got the lion's share of our irrigation efforts, flourished as well.

The kitchen continues to modify and diversify our menu introducing new amuses bouche, appetizers, entrees and desserts each week. We have acquired a "smoker" for the kitchen which has taken some getting used to. Initially, it was producing such prodigious amounts of smoke that Kara would emerge from the kitchen bleary-eyed and coughing and smelling like someone who had just gotten off a trans-Atlantic flight in the 1960's filled with Russian KGB agents or French philosophers. After a few tries (and no doubt the sacrifice of a certain amount of lung capacity), however, she got the hang of it and is using it to impart a nice seasonal flavor to root vegetable soups as well as to make a dazzling Kobe beef carpaccio dish accented with arugula which is thriving in our cold frames. We have continued to expand our relationships with local suppliers, most notably Cato Corner Farms in nearby Colchester, the principal cheese purveyor at New York City's Greenmarket at Union Square, which provides the majority of the selections on our cheese plate. Our wine list is growing as well, and we are very excited about a relationship we are forming with a Connecticut distributor specializing in small, independently-owned, "garagiste" vineyards and winemakers using organic and biodynamic growing practices.

We are planning a special, multi-course, prix fixe New Year's Eve dinner before closing down for our winter break. Details will follow shortly, but space is limited and you should plan on reserving early if you want to join us. As we did last year, we will reopen on Valentine's Day.

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Posted November 15, 2007