ELM
73 Elm Street
New Canaan, CT

www.elmrestaurant.com

    Connecticut towns like Old Saybrook, Essex, and Lyme lie too far north of New York to be called bedroom communities, but New Canaan, 45 miles and 65 minutes by train from Grand Central, most certainly is—and it’s also the eighth wealthiest suburb in the U.S. at that.
     Dating back to 1731, the 22-square-mile town has many of the same bucolic charms of those to the north, but New Canaan’s real estate values are in the stratosphere for the old colonials, the pre- and post-war mansions, and modernist houses built by architects like Marcel Breuer and resident Philip Johnson, whose famous Glass House is here.
    The very tidy town center is mostly filled with Georgian-style red brick structures, and Elm Street, lined with the requisite trees, is a stretch of upscale  boutiques, a movie house, and one of the finest restaurants in the state, which takes its name from the street.  When Elm opened in 2012, the chef-partner, Brian Lewis, was a star on the rise whose cooking I praised; he left in 2014 and this year just open his own new restaurant in Westport named Cottage, which I shall be reporting on soon.
    His replacement at Elm, Luke Venner (left), is a formidable choice, with his own style but one that has always characterized the restaurant’s kitchen, sharply focused on the seasons and the provender available, particularly if it’s from New England's land and waters, with purveyors like Millstone Farms in Wilton and Smith’s Acres in Niantic, listed on the menu.  Venner, a bearded South Dakotan, comes to Elm after stints at NYC’s BLT Fish and BLT Steak, and he’s kept on a number of the old menu's categories, from snacks to desserts (eating at the bar is very popular here, and the bartender is first-rate).  He’s also kept the homey touches like serving warm Parker House rolls with soft butter.
    The slender space is bisected, with a bar to the left and main dining room to the right, with a bright open kitchen to the rear, and it can get extremely loud when packed.  The lighting is kind to everyone, though the décor is minimal, the tables unadorned, which doesn’t help the decibel level.  The crowd is largely composed of locals with a heightened sense of what food in the ‘burbs could and should be, which is the polar opposite of what’s being served in the area’s country clubs.   Indeed, Venner’s cooking reminds me of that at the much heralded Nomad in NYC.
    The night I visited, the kitchen was blessed with bay scallops, which were served proudly raw and delicately sweet.  Burrata had a creamy center, dressed with an interesting pesto made from pulverized nasturtiums, set on grilled bread ($18).  Tuna tartare with Subarashi pear, radish and soy mustard ($21) was nicely seasoned and of good texture, but an otherwise fine pumpkin and apple soup ($14) was ruined by the strong taste of smoked bluefish.
    There were two excellent pastas on the menu—a carnaroli risotto with black truffle and mascarpone ($26) that could not be improved upon for its simple elegance and richness, and a rigatoni with spicy, hot ‘nduja-riddled bolognese sauce dusted with Parmigiano ($24).
    So often these days black bass—or bass of any kind—is a disappointment, sometimes not even bass, but Venner’s had all the flavor you could wish for, along with Littleneck clam broth, a little tarragon and a hit of wasabi to brighten it all ($34).  Just as wonderful was his breast of duck with rye dumplings and a Saskatoon berry jus ($36), as good a cold weather dish as you’ll find, and I loved the marriage of flavors in  the Mangalitsa pork confit with spiced carrot and chimichurri ($34).  As the simplest of  dishes on the menu, Venner’s hanger steak delivers in chewy texture and juiciness, served with roesti potatoes, charred chard and a nice dollop of cool sour cream jus ($36).  I did not try the grass-fed beef burger with raclette cheese and Russian dressing ($18) because it is from insipid grass-fed beef.
    Pastry Chef Kara Koehmstedt, recently of NYC’s progressive restaurant Cosme, turns out exceptionally good desserts (all $8) that balance the homey, seasonal qualities of the area with real finesse, as evidenced in her poached plum with oat cake, plum ice cream, and mascarpone cream;  a pumpkin cheesecake with crunchy crumble and white cheese mousse; a dense but moist chocolate cake with chocolate and orange cream, and “dream sickle” ice cream; and good old-fashioned Italian zeppole fritters filled with ricotta and served with jam and maple ice cream.
    Elm’s wine list is robust, has depth and is very pricey.
    You can find this quality of food in Manhattan, but it’s still rare in the city’s suburbs, and rarer still to find any up there that can match the beautifully balanced cuisine at Elm.  

Elm is open  for lunch Mon.-Fri.; dinner nightly; brunch Sat. & Sun.

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR

    It’s become something of a problem that I’m finding more and more wines either flawed (corked, oxidized, incomplete malolactic) or just not very good to begin with.  The corked or oxidized wines may in fact be just one bad bottle or the whole batch.  Poor or badly made wines, on the other hand, are what they are, and their increase has become so chronic that I’ve started to bring two different wines to my dinner table each night, so that if one turns out to be of poor or flawed quality I just open a different wine and hope for the better. (The bad bottle I taste the next day to make sure.)

    So, here are a slew of wines I’ve been either enjoying or finding to be not worth drinking.  Others are so intentionally stylized to taste a certain way that they are worth mentioning for that alone.  

Renwood Zinfandel Fiddletown 2012 ($25)—Like Longfellow’s little girl with the little curl, Zinfandel can be either very good or very bad.  Renwood makes a wide array of zins, and this well-priced example from the Sierra Foothills has the boldness and boot to please those who love the varietal.  With 94% Zin, 5% Syrah and 1% Petite Syrah, the cherry fruit notes provide a delicious added incentive to drink this wine with dishes that have a bit of sweetness, like the pork ribs with a guava glaze my wife made last night. The 14.5% alcohol is commendable in a varietal that too often goes way higher. 

Amapola Creek Zinfandel Monte Rosso Vineyard 2009 ($36)—As I just said, zins can go into the alcoholic stratosphere, and this Sonoma example sure does, at 16.1 percent. The wine is massive in an overwhelming way and tastes like cherry syrup rather than a fine wine.  Richard Arrowood has always made zins in this style, dense to the point of being cloying.  This might work, as would Port, which has 20% alcohol and sweetness, with some French triple-cream cheeses.  

Red Rock Winery Malbec Reserve 2012 ($13.99)—Over the past few years Malbecs have been among the most impressive wines coming out of Argentina, but now, it seems, following that recognition, the onslaught of lesser examples has begun, as when bad pinot grigio flooded the market after the first really good examples showed that Italian varietal’s best side. Red Rock gets its name from red rocks that point the way to the winery in Mendoza, and it appears to be a deliberate choice to be in English for the American market.  But the flavors are overripe, cloying and out of balance, without saying anything about Malbec’s own particular flavor or Mendoza tarroir.  

Joseph Drouhin Vosne-Romanée 2012 ($80)—I almost hated myself for opening this vintage so soon, but, with a Christmas goose on the table I couldn’t resist, and it was a magical marriage.  This is what a Burgundian Pinot Noir is supposed to taste like—elegant, velvety, with a fruit-acid balance that will only become richer in a year or two.  The wine was aged for 14 to 18 months (20% new oak), which softened rather than affected the flavor too much.  The tannins are already soft, and I‘m already looking forward to next Christmas.  

Gap’s Crown Vineyard Three Sticks Pinot Noir 2013 ($65)—Younger still than the Vosne-Romanée, this Sonoma County Pinot Noir shows off the mid-weight of the varietal from a warm climate. It’s what California Pinot Noir should taste like, rather than an imitation of a Burgundy.  It’s a little pricey—this is only the estate’s second vintage—but the year had a near perfect climatic confluence of heat and cold, rain and dryness.  There’s good spice here and an admirable 14.1% alcohol level.  

Presqu’ile Vineyards Chardonnay 2013 ($45)—The name means “almost an island,” referring to a spot owned for generations by Matt Murphy’s family in the Gulf Coast pretty much destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The 200-acre winery, in California’s Santa Maria Valley, dates only to 2006, but already it’s producing delicious, well-rounded, silky Chardonnay under enologist Anna Murphy (Matt’s sister).  The valley’s cool breezes and modest rainfall help keep the grapes in equilibrium (85% of the grapes used are from the estate), and their choice of clones makes their Chardonnay bright with acidity and refined fruit flavors without the overuse of oak that would make it taste like caramel candy.  

Chȃteau Genins 2013 ($11)—More and more I’m happy to see such wonderful, low-priced Bordeaux come into the U.S. market, and this example, with its quaint old label, is the kind of red blend that the people of Bordeaux drink on an everyday basis.  It shows off the clay and limestone soil components of the region, is medium-bodied, has an easy-to-drink 12% alcohol, and can be enjoyed with anything (except seafood) you might put on your dinner table tonight.   

Petit Chapeau Bordeaux 2013  ($11)—A blend of 60% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Entre-Deux-Mers region, this is said to be from a single estate, though that info is not printed on the back label.  Yet, despite being a Daniel Johnnes Selection (Johnnes is one of the world’s most respected sommeliers), this is a depressingly dull red wine at a time when similar Bordeaux from lesser regions are showing an admirable new character (see Château Genins above).  It has very little taste at all and certainly none of Bordeaux; not a terrible wine, just not much of a red wine at all.  

Ehlers Estate E 1886 Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 ($100)—When wines arrive in thick-walled, heavy bottles with special closures, I tend to think there might be more in the packaging than inside, but Bernard Ehlers winery dates to 1886 and this 2012 vintage shows its breeding.  At 14.5% alcohol it hits that California sweet spot above which Cabernet Sauvignon gets treacly.  Instead, the tannins are soft, the fruit pronounced but not syrupy, and it is just begging to be drunk with a thick, seared steak or lamb chops with enormous pleasure.  The components are 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot.  

Torres Mas La Plana Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 ($60)—Torres has championed Cabernet in Spain for decades now (the number “40” on the label refers to just how many years) and has proven that it is a match for many of the best in France and California. Produced in the Penèdes region, the wine achieves the right, noble balance, with 14.5% alcohol, that gives body, Iberian character, and silky texture, with fruit, tannin and acids getting along just fine. This is a very easy wine to drink at a very decent price for this kind of quality, and it will get even better over the next five years.  

Porrera vi de Vila Vall Lach Priorat 2011 ($65)—When I mentioned “stylized” wines, I meant wines like this Priorat, which the label says “denotes not only a region but celebrates the unique terroir of a particular village,” where old-vine Carignan is produced.  The bottle itself is thick and heavy and the alcohol soars to 15.5%, making this a massive, two-dimensional wine of fruit and tannin (70% Carignan, 30% Garnacha) that raised my eyebrows after the first sip but then I wagged my head after the second.  It is deliberately made to be, as The Donald might say, huge!  As one wine magazine wrote, it tastes of “tar and rhubarb,” while another rightly says, it is “not for the faint of heart’—neither of which sounds to me like a well-made, balanced Priorat